>SUM1: Adding short description: "C. 25 – 561 CE dynasty of Kashmir" (Shortdesc helper)

2021-10-14T01:46:10Z

Adding short description: "C. 25 – 561 CE dynasty of Kashmir" (Shortdesc helper)

New page

{{Short description|C. 25 – 561 CE dynasty of Kashmir}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox country
|native_name = (Gonanda dynasty II)
|conventional_long_name = Gonanda dynasty of [[Kashmir]]
|common_name = Gonanda dynasty
|era = [[Middle kingdoms of India|Pre Classical India]]
|status =
|event_start =
|year_start = c. 25 CE
|date_start =
|event1 =
|date_event1 =
|event_end =
|year_end = c. 561 CE
|date_end =
|p1 = Kushan Empire
|flag_p1 =
|p2 = Kidarites
|flag_p2 = Kidarite_Tamga.png
|p3 = Alchon Huns
|flag_p3 = Alchon_Tamga.png
|s1 = Karkota Dynasty
|flag_s1 =
|s2 =
|flag_s2 =
|image_flag =
|flag_type =
|image_coat =
|image_map =
{{Location map+
|South Asia
|float = center
|width = 280
|caption = <div style="text-align: center;">Purported location of the Gonanda dynasty and neighboring polities circa 500 CE</div>
|nodiv = 1
|mini = 1
|relief=yes
|places =
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=32|N |long=75|E |label=<div style="text-align: center;">[[Alchon Huns|ALCHON<br>HUNS]]</div>|position=bottom |label_size=90|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=35|N |long=64|E |label=[[Sasanian Empire|SASANIAN<br>EMPIRE]]|position=bottom |label_size=90|mark=File:1000x1.png|marksize=0}}
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=34.2|N |long=74.8|E |label=|position=top |label_size=70|mark=U+25A2.svg|marksize=25}}
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=38|N |long=60|E |label=[[Hephthalites|HEPHTHALITES]]|label_size=90|mark=1000x1.png|marksize=0 }}
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=26|N |long=80|E |label=[[Gupta Empire|GUPTA<br>EMPIRE]]|label_size=90|mark=1000x1.png|marksize=0 }}
{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=18|N |long=73|E |label=[[Vakataka dynasty|VAKATAKAS]]|label_size=80|mark=1000x1.png|marksize=0 }}
{{location map~ |India |lat=31|N |long=90|E |label=<div style="text-align: center;">[[Zhangzhung|ZHANGZHUNG<br>KINGDOM]]</div>|label_size=70|mark=1000x1.png|marksize=0 }}
}}
|map_caption =
|capital =
|common_languages = [[Sanskrit]]
|religion = [[Hinduism]]
|government_type = Monarchy
|leader1 =
|year_leader1 =
|leader2 =
|year_leader2 =
|leader3 =
|year_leader3 =
|title_leader =
|legislature =
}}
The '''Second Gonanda dynasty''' (or '''Restored Gonanda dynasty'''), according to [[Kalhana]], ruled [[Kashmir]] just before the [[Karkota Dynasty|Karkotas]].<ref>S.R. Bakshi (1997), ''Kashmir: History and People'',p.63</ref><ref>Nagendra Kr Singh (2000), ''Buddhism in Kashmir'', p.115</ref>

== Sources ==

=== Literature ===
No contemporary literature exists.

The sole mentions are retrieved from the third book of ''[[Rajatarangini]]'', an 11th century work by Kalhana, which aimed to sketch an outline of Kashmir's history since ancient times, and did discuss the Karkota dynasty in depth.<ref name=":23">{{Cite book|last=Siudmak|first=John|url=https://brill.com/view/book/9789004248328/B9789004248328_003.xml|title=1. Historical and Cultural Background of Kashmir Up to 1003 AD|date=2013-01-01|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-24832-8|pages=11, 16–19, 251, 262|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Zutshi|first=Chitralekha|title=Kashmir|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2019|location=Delhi|at=Especially Blessed Landscape/Peripheral Kingdom|chapter=Kashmir as Sacred Space}}</ref>{{Efn|At least three other Rajataranginis were composed in medieval Kashmir. They are since-lost.{{CN|date=October 2021}}}} Kalhana claimed to have depended on a variety of sources — earlier historical works, dynastic genealogies, inscriptions, coins and Puranas.<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal|last=Witzel|first=Michael|date=1990|title=On Indian Historical Writing: The role of the Vamsavalis|url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jjasas1989/1990/2/1990_2_1/_article/-char/ja|journal=南アジア研究|publisher=Japanese Association for South Asian Studies|volume=2|pages=10–11, 30|doi=10.11384/jjasas1989.1990.1}}</ref>

=== Coinage ===
Several coins bearing names roughly consistent with the names of the Gonanda rulers — ''Śrī Meghamah'' (prob. king Meghavahana), ''Śrī Pravarasenah'' (King Pravarasena), ''Śrī Tuysīna'' (prob. King Tunjina), and ''Śrī Toramaņa'' (Toramana) — have been recently discovered.<ref name="JC">{{cite journal|last1=Cribb|first1=Joe|title=Early Medieval Kashmir Coinage – A New Hoard and An Anomaly|url=https://www.academia.edu/32663187/Early_Medieval_Kashmir_Coinage_A_New_Hoard_and_An_Anomaly|journal=Numismatic Digest volume 40 (2016)|language=en}}</ref> These coins are quite rare, made of copper, silver, or debased gold, and generally follow [[Kushan]] and [[Kidarite]] designs.<ref name="JC" /><gallery widths="200px" heights="100px" perrow="4">
File:Post-Kushan Gandhara Kidara Shahis Sri Pravarasena Circa 6th-early 7th century CE.jpg|Coinage of [[Sri Pravarasena|Pravarasena]], supposed founder of [[Srinagar]]. ''Obverse:'' Standing [[Shiva]] with two figures seated below. Name "Pravarasena". ''Reverse:'' goddess seated on a lion. Legend "Kidāra". Circa 6th-early 7th century CE.<ref name="JC"/>
File:Sri Tujina. Circa 7th century CE, Kashmir.jpg|Coin in the name of ''Sri Tujina''. Circa 7th century CE, Kashmir.<ref name="JC"/>
File:Alchon Huns Toramana II Circa AD 540-570.jpg|Coin in the name of ''Śrī Toramaņa'' (the Kashmir ruler named Toramana).<ref name="JC"/>
</gallery>They show on the obverse a standing [[Shiva]] figures, variously accompanied by animals or ''[[Gana]]'' attendants, with the name of the king in the [[Brahmi script]].<ref name="JC" /> On the reverse, the Goddess [[Ardoxsho]] or [[Sri Lakshmi]] appears seated, with a [[Kidara I|Kidara]] monogram to left, and ''Jaya'' in Brahmi to right.<ref name="JC" />

==Accuracy==
The third book of the ''[[Rajatarangini]]'', the last Gonanda dynasty of Kashmir ruled for about 590 years, until the establishment of the [[Karkota dynasty]].<ref name=":16">{{Cite book|last=Stein|first=Marc Aurel|title=Kalhana's Rajatarangini: a chronicle of the kings of Kasmir|publisher=[[Archibald Constable]]|year=1900|location=Westminster|pages=86-97, 136, 142 (Introduction), 120-185 (The Rajatarangini of Kalahana: Fourth Book)}}</ref> However the chronology is widely deemed to be faulty and on cross-vetting with coins and inscriptions from outside Kashmir, the names of some of the Gonanda rulers are found to roughly correspond with the [[Alchon Huns]], who ruled hundreds of years later than the time-frame assigned by Kalhana.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yVft0FqSxc0C&q=karkota|title=The Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Ancient Kashmir and its Influences|isbn=978-9004248328|last1=Siudmak|first1=John|date=5 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Cribb|first=Joe|date=2016|title=Early Medieval Kashmir Coinage – A New Hoard and An Anomaly|journal=Numismatic Digest|publisher=Numismatic Society of Bombay|volume=40|pages=98}}</ref> In Kalhana's narrative, names of some rulers are reshuffled and/or repeated multiple times across the first and third book, some stories are retrofitted and recycled, some reigns are impossibly long, and some rulers are telescoped into the past.<ref name=":25">{{Cite book|last=Dezső|first=Csaba|title=Hunnic Peoples in Central and South Asia: Sources for their Origin and History|publisher=Barkhuis|year=2020|isbn=9789493194014|editor-last=Balogh|editor-first=Daniel|location=Groningen|pages=296–308|chapter=X.1.3: The Kashmir Secular Tradition}}</ref>[[File:Coin of Meghama(...). Circa 7th century CE, Kashmir.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Possible coinage of Meghavahana.<br>'''Obverse''': ''[[Shiva]] Pashupati'' ("Lord of the Beasts"), making a mudra gesture with right hand and holding filleted trident; behind, a lioness or tiger. Trace of legend ''Meghana...'' in Brahmi.<br>'''Reverse''': Goddess seated facing on lotus, holding lotus in both hand, [[Kidara]] monogram to left, ''Jaya'' in Brahmi to right. Ci]]

== Establishment ==

== Rule ==
This sections gives a literal description of the content of the third book in Rajatarngini. Efforts by historians to probe into individual kings are mentioned.

=== Meghavahana ===
Meghavahana was the son of Yudhisthira I's great grandson, who had been granted asylum by Gopaditya, the king of [[Gandhara]]. Meghavahana had been selected the husband of a [[Vaishnavite]] princess at a [[Swayamvara]] in another kingdom. The ministers of Kashmir brought him to Kashmir after Sandhimati proved to be an unwilling king. Meghavahana banned animal slaughter and compensated those who earned their living through hunting. He patrnozed Brahmins, and set up a monastery. His queens built Buddhist [[vihara]]s and monasteries. He subdued kings in regions as far as [[Sinhala Kingdom]], forcing them to abandon animal slaughter.

Kalhana assigns a regnal span of 34 years.

=== Shreshtasena (Pravarasena I / Tungjina II) ===
Son of Meghavahana. Kalhana assigns a regnal span of 30 years.

=== Hiranya ===
Son of Shreshtasena, assisted by his brother and co-regent Toramana. The king imprisoned Toramana, when the latter stuck royal coins in his own name. Toramana's son Pravarasena, who had been brought up in secrecy by his mother Anjana, freed him. Hiranya died childless. Several coins of a king named Toramana have been found in the Kashmir region. This king is identified by some with [[Hephthalite Empire|Huna]] ruler [[Toramana]], although his successor [[Mihirakula]] is placed much earlier by Kalhana.{{sfn|Stein|1979|pp=65}} Kalhana assigns a regnal span of about 30 years.

=== Toramana ===
Son of Pravarasena I, Vice-king of Hiranya.<ref name="JC" /> Kalhana assigns a regnal span of years.

=== Matrigupta ===
According to Kalhana, the emperor Vikramditya (alias Harsha) of [[Ujjayini]] defeated the [[Shakas]], and made his friend and poet Matrigupta the ruler of Kashmir. After Vikramaditya's death, Matrigupta abdicated the throne in favour of Pravarasena. According to D. C. Sircar, Kalhana has confused the legendary [[Vikramaditya]] of Ujjain with the Vardhana Emperor [[Harsha]] (c. 606-47 CE).<ref>{{cite book|author=D. C. Sircar|url=http://dli.serc.iisc.ernet.in:8080/handle/2015/131352|title=Ancient Malwa And The Vikramaditya Tradition|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal|year=1969|isbn=978-8121503488|pages=111|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617064610/http://dli.serc.iisc.ernet.in:8080/handle/2015/131352|archive-date=2016-06-17|url-status=dead}}</ref> The latter is identified with [[Shiladitya]] mentioned in [[Xuanzang]]'s account. However, according to M. A. Stein, Kalhana's Vikramaditya is another Shiladitya mentioned in Xuanzang's account: a king of Malwa around 580 CE.{{sfn|Stein|1979|pp=66}} Kalhana assigns a regnal span of 4 years and 9 months.

=== Pravarasena II ===
Historical evidence suggests that a king named Pravarasena ruled Kashmir in the 6th century CE.{{sfn|Stein|1979|pp=65}} According to Kalhana, Pravarasena subdued many other kings, in lands as far as [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashtra]]. He restored the rule of Vikramaditya's son Pratapshila (alias Shiladitya), who had been expelled from Ujjain by his enemies. Pratapshila agreed to be a vassal of Pravarasena after initial resistance. He founded a city called Pravarapura, which is identified by later historians as the modern city of [[Srinagar]] on the basis topographical details.{{sfn|Stein|1989|pp=439-441}} Kalhana assigns a regnal span of 60 years.

=== Yudhisthira II ===
Son of Pravarasena II. Kalhana assigns a regnal span of 39 years and 8 months.

=== Narendraditya I ===
Son of Yudhishthira II and Padmavati. Kalhana assigns a regnal span of 13 years.

=== Ranaditya I (Tungina III) ===
Younger brother of Narendraditya. His queen Ranarambha was an [[avatar|incarnation]] of Bhramaravasini. The [[Chola dynasty|Chola]] king Ratisena had found her among the waves, during an ocean worship ritual. Kalhana assigns a regnal span of 300 years.

=== Vikramaditya ===
Son of Ranaditya. Kalhana assigns a regnal span of 42 years.

=== Baladitya ===
Younger brother of Vikramaditya. He subdued several enemies. Baladitya (apparently) had no male heir but a daughter Anaṅgalekhā and did not wish his territory to be annexed by in-laws.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last=Rangachari|first=Devika|date=2002-04-01|title=Kalhana's Rājataranginī: A Gender Perspective1|url=https://doi.org/10.1177/097194580200500103|journal=The Medieval History Journal|language=en|volume=5|issue=1|pages=46, 48|doi=10.1177/097194580200500103|issn=0971-9458|s2cid=144377502}}</ref><ref name=":16" /> To avert such a possibility he married her to Durlabhavardhana, a low-caste employee having no royal lineage.<ref name=":16" /> However, after Baladitya's death, Durlabhavardhana ascended to the throne with help from a minister, and claimed descent from the mythical Naga king [[Karkotaka]], establishing the [[Karkota Dynasty]].<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal|last=SEN|first=TANSEN|date=2004|title=Kaśmīr, Tang China, and Muktāpīḍa Lalitā-Ditya's Ascendancy over the Southern Hindukush Region|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41933381|journal=Journal of Asian History|volume=38|issue=2|pages=141–162|issn=0021-910X|jstor=41933381}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Zutshi|first=Chitralekha|title=Kashmir|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2019|location=Delhi|at=Aryavarta|chapter=Kashmir as Sacred Space}}</ref><ref name=":72">{{Citation|last=Pal|first=Sayantani|title=Karkota dynasty of Kashmir|date=2016|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe049|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Empire|pages=1–2|publisher=American Cancer Society|language=en|doi=10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe049|isbn=978-1-118-45507-4|access-date=2021-03-18}}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite web|last=Witzel|first=Michael|date=September 1991|title=THE BRAHMINS OF KASHMIR|url=https://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/KashmiriBrahmins.pdf|url-status=live|pages=24–28}}</ref><ref name=":16" />

This view is accepted by Witzel.<ref name=":24">{{Cite book|last=Witzel|first=Michael|title=Around Abhinavagupta: Aspects of the Intellectual History of Kashmir from the Ninth to the Eleventh Century|year=2016|isbn=978-3-643-90697-7|editor-last=Franco|editor-first=Eli|series=Leipziger Studien zu Kultur und Geschichte Süd- und Zentralasiens|location=Münster, Germany|pages=609–643|chapter=Kashmiri Brahmins under the Karkota, Utpala and Lohara Dynasties, 625-1101 CE|editor-last2=Ratié|editor-first2=Isabelle}}</ref> Kalhana assigns a regnal span of 36 years and 8 months.

==See also==
* [[Karkoṭa dynasty]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

==References==
{{reflist|1}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonanda}}
[[Category:Gonanda dynasty]]
[[Category:Kashmiri people]]
[[Category:Kashmir]]

Gonanda dynasty (II) - Revision history

>SUM1: Adding short description: "C. 25 – 561 CE dynasty of Kashmir" (Shortdesc helper)