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{{for|the 14th century Chudasama king with similar name|Khengara}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}

'''Khengara''' was a [[Chudasama dynasty|Chudasama]] king of [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurashtra]] region of western India who reigned in the 12th century. His capital was at [[Junagadh]]. He was a contemporary of [[Jayasimha Siddharaja]], the [[Chaulukya dynasty|Chaulukya]] ruler of [[Anhilwad Patan|Anahilapataka]]. According to bardic tales, he was a son of [[Navaghana (late 11th century king)|Navaghana]] and had succeeded him.

==Battle with Jayasimha Siddharaja==
Jayasimha's [[Dahod]] inscription (VS 1196/1140 CE) boasts that he imprisoned the king of Saurashtra; this is most probably a reference to his victory over Khengara. In ''Siddha-Haima-Shabdanushasana'', [[Hemachandra]] has given two examples of grammar mentioning Jayasimha's victory over Saurashtra. The verses attributed to Ramachandra, disciple Hemachandra, in ''[[Prabandha-Chintamani]]'' of [[Merutunga]], Jayasimha is referred as ''Giridurgamalla'', i. e. the "Champion of the Giridurga or [[Junagadh]]". The [[Someshvara (13th-century poet)|Someshvara]]'s ''Kirtikaumudi'', the ''[[Puratana Prabandha Sangraha|Puratana-prabandha-sangraha]]'', and the ''Prabandhachintamani'' - all mentions Jayasimha's victory over Saurashtra.<ref name=AKM/><ref name=IAMJV>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.3740|title=Kavyanushasana by Acharya Hemachandra|last=Parikh|first=Rasiklal C.|author-link=Rasiklal Parikh|publisher=Shri Mahavira Jaina Vidyalaya|year=1938|volume=II Part I|location=Bombay|pages=CLXXVIII-CLXXXIII|chapter=Introduction}}</ref><ref name=BG1>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.280094|title=Gazetteer Of The Bombay Presidency: History of Gujarat|last=Campbell|first=James Macnabb|publisher=The Government Central Press|year=1896|volume=I. Part I|location=Bombay|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.280094/page/n200 175]-177}}</ref>

Gulab Chandra Chaudhary opines that Merutunga, in ''Prabandha-chintamani,'' wrongly identifies [[Navaghana (late 11th century king)|Navaghana]] with Khengara; mentioning Navaghana in prose and Khengara in verses while all other sources mention Khengara.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.49663|title=Political History Of Northern India from Jain Sources (c. 650 A.D. to 1300 A.D.)|last=Chaudhary|first=Gulab Chandra|publisher=Sohanlal Jaindharma Pracharak Samiti|year=1954|location=Amritsar|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.49663/page/n273 249]-251}}</ref> Jinaprabha's ''[[Vividha Tirtha Kalpa|Vividh Tirtha Kalpa]]'' mentions death of Khengararaya by Jayasimha. Someshvara's ''Kirtikaumudi'' mentions that Jayasimha had defeated powerful Khengara of Saurashtra in battle as a lion kills an elephant. Prabhachandra, in ''Prabhavaka-charitra'', also mentions that Jayasimha killed Khengara.<ref name=AKM/> According to ''Puratana-prabandha-sangraha'', Jayasimha's officer Udayana killed Khengara but it Jain chronicler Prabhachandra, in ''Prabhavaka-charitra'', noted that he had died in the expedition against Navaghana. The ''Puratana-prabandha-sangraha'' further adds, Udayana died fighting in the battle with Sangan Dodiaka.<ref name="IAMJV" />

Based on the multiple tales and Navaghana's confusion with Khengara, Campbell theorises that Jayasimha might have led multiple expeditions against the more than one king with similar names.<ref name="Sankalia1941">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.282975/2015.282975.The-Archaeology|title=The Archaeology of Gujarat: Including Kathiawar|last=Sankalia|first=H. D.|publisher=Natwarlal & Company|year=1941|page=33|author-link=Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankalia}}</ref><ref name="BG1" />

The bardic tales also says that Khengara was killed in battle but the Dahod inscription mentions that he was imprisoned only.<ref name="IAMJV" /> According to Jayasimha Suri, after defeating Khengara, Jayasimha appointed Sajjana as the governor of [[Girnar]]. Merutunga also supports this claim, although he calls Sajjana, the descendant of Jamb, the governor of Saurashtra.<ref name=AKM/>

=== ''Prabandhachintamani''<nowiki/>'s Navaghana ===

If [[Merutunga]] has wrongly identified [[Navaghana (late 11th century king)|Navaghana]] with Khengara in ''Prabandha-chintamani'', the following account is given in it:

Navaghana is mentioned as the ''[[Abhira tribe|Abhira]] Ranaka'', similar to Hemachandra's reference to [[Graharipu]] in ''Dvyashraya''. Merutunga claims in his prose that Navaghana defeated Jayasimha eleven times, but Jayasimha went himself twelfth time after capturing newly fortified Vardhamanapura (now [[Wadhwan]]). Merutunga's claim cannot be taken literally: 12 was a favourite number of the Jain writers, and he may have used the number to emphasize the seriousness of the war. Jayasimha besieged Junagadh fort. Navaghana's nephews had agreed to show the secret entrance of the fort on condition that Jayasimha will not kill Navaghana with weapons but with coins which they meant that Jayasimha will only collect a tribute from him. When Jayasimha entered the fort, he captured Navaghana from his great palace in which he was hidden by his queen. He was not killed with weapons but he was beaten to death with vessels full of coins.<ref name=AKM/><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.314113|title=Prabandhachintamani|last=Acharya|first=Merutunga |author-link=Merutunga |publisher=Singhi Jaina Granth Mala|year=1940|editor-last=Muni|editor-first=Jinvijayaji|editor-link=Jinvijay|series=3|volume=I|location=Ahmedabad-Culcatta|pages=76–77|language=hi|translator-last=Dwivedi|translator-first=Hajariprasadji|chapter=3}}</ref>

=== Bardic legends ===
==== Khengara's vows ====

The Bardic accounts mentions that when Jayasimha ascended, [[Navaghana (late 11th century king)|Navaghana]] was the powerful ruler of Junagadh. Jayasimha had defeated and humiliated him. They say that his son Khengara was made to four vows by his dying father; to slay Harraj of Umeta, to destroy the fort of [[Bhoira]], to break down the gate of Anahilapataka and to split the cheeks of a [[Charan]] named Mesan who had spoken disrespectfully of him. Along with fulfilling all other vows, Khengara broke the gates of Anahilapataka when Jayasimha was engaged in [[Malwa]] which enraged Jayasimha and he attacked Junagadh. The bards also mentions the [[Ranakadevi]] as the immediate cause of war.<ref name="IAMJV" /><ref name="GBP1884">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c70MAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA711|title=Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency : Kathiawar|publisher=Government Central Press|year=1884|editor=Watson|editor-first=James W.|volume=VIII|location=Bombay|pages=493–494}} {{PD-notice}}</ref><ref name="Parikh">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.325016/page/n163|title=ગુજરાતનો રાજકીય અને સાંસ્કૃતિક ઇતિહાસ: સોલંકી કાલ|last=Shastri|first=Keshavram Kashiram|publisher=Bholabhai Jeshingbhai Institute of Learning and Research|year=1977|editor-last=Parikh|editor-first=Rasiklal Chhotalal|editor-link=Rasiklal Parikh|series=Research Series - Book No. 69|volume=IV|location=[[Ahmedabad]]|pages=137–138|language=gu|trans-title=Political and Cultural History of Gujarat: Solanki Era|author-link=Keshavram Kashiram Shastri|editor-last2=Shastri|editor-first2=Hariprasad Gangashankar|editor-link2=Hariprasad Shastri}}</ref>

====Legend of Ranakadevi====
{{main|Ranakadevi}}
[[File:1899 photograph of Ranak Devi Temple from south-west, Wadhwan, Kathiawar.jpg|thumb|Ranakadevi shrine from south-west, [[Wadhwan]], 1899]]
The bardic accounts of Saurashtra represents the battle between Khengara and Jayasimha as a tragic romance of Ranakadevi.<ref name=IAMJV/> However, this legend is not credible.<ref name=AKM/>

Ranakdevi was a daughter of the potter of Majevadi village near Junagadh. The fame of her beauty reached to Jayasimha and determined to marry her. Meanwhile, Khengara marries her which had enraged Jayasimha. Jayasimha besieged Junagadh. Following betrayal by Khengara's nephews, he entered the fort, killed Khengara and captured Ranakadevi. Ranakadevi committed [[sati (practise)|sati]], the self-immolation on funeral pyre of his husband at Vardhamanapura (now [[Wadhwan]]).<ref name=IAMJV/><ref name=BG1/><ref name="GBP1884"/>

===== Historicity of Ranakdevi =====

Several ''Soratha''s (couplets) uttered by Ranakadevi in these bardic accounts evokes sadness but their usefulness as the historical material is doubtful. Even the existence of Ranakadevi is doubtful. Ranakadevi is not mentioned in ''Puratana-prabandha-sangraha'' or ''Prabandha-chintamani'' but instead they give name Sonaladevi and Sunaladevi respectively. The Apabhramsa verses uttered by Sonaladevi after death of Khengara counts eleven and eight in these works respectively.<ref name=IAMJV/><ref name=BG1/><ref name=":1" />

===Date of the battle===
There is no direct evidence of the year of a defeat of Khengara. [[Bhagwan Lal Indraji|Bhagwanlal Indraji]] assumed that Sajjana was the governor of Saurashtra based on the Girnar inscription dated VS 1176 (1120 CE) but no such inscription is found and the only inscription of Jayasimha in Girnar is undated and does not mention Sajjana.<ref name="IAMJV" /> The ''Vividha Tirth Kalpa'' mentions that Sajjana, the governor of Saurashtra, built [[Girnar Jain temples|Neminatha temple]] on [[Girnar]] in VS 1185. The ''Prabandha-chintamani'' mentions that Sajjana spent three years' revenue in building the temple. If it is true, Sajjana was the governor of Saurashtra in VS 1181-82 (1125-26 CE). So Saurashtra might have been won before that 1125-26 CE.<ref name=IAMJV/><ref name=":0" />

Shri Simha Samvat connected with Siddharaja is mentioned in several inscriptions in Saurashtra around Prabhas which starts in VS 1170 (1114 CE). For example, the inscription in the Sodhali Vav, a [[stepwell]] in [[Mangrol, Kathiawar|Mangarol]] has a date in two eras; VS 1202 and Shri Simha Samvat 52. If this era was founded to commemorate the victory of Jayasimha, the battle might have happened in 1114 CE.<ref name=IAMJV/>

=== Aftermath ===
Historical evidence indicates that Jayasimha was unable to capture all of Khengara's territories in Saurashtra; Jayasimha's successor [[Kumarapala (Chaulukya dynasty)|Kumarapala]] had to send an army against Saurashtra. According to Prabhachandra, Jayasimha was unable to annex Khengara's kingdom because a large number of Khengara's followers continued to offer resistance.<ref name=AKM>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffAdAAAAMAAJ |title=Chaulukyas of Gujarat |first=Asoke Kumar |last=Majumdar |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |year=1956 |page=69 }}</ref>

The Saurashtra fell under the Chaulukyas by 1300 CE and the Chudasamas continued to rule Saurashtra as their feudatory till 1420 CE.<ref name="Sankalia1941"/>

==Dates and succession==
Based on the literature, it is known that he was a contemporary of Jayasimha Siddharaja who reigned from c. 1092 – c. 1142 CE thus Khengara must be reigning during the late years of his reign in the 12th century.<ref name="Parikh2">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.325016/page/n163|title=ગુજરાતનો રાજકીય અને સાંસ્કૃતિક ઇતિહાસ: સોલંકી કાલ|last=Shastri|first=Keshavram Kashiram|publisher=Bholabhai Jeshingbhai Institute of Learning and Research|year=1977|editor-last=Parikh|editor-first=Rasiklal Chhotalal|editor-link=Rasiklal Parikh|series=Research Series - Book No. 69|volume=IV|location=[[Ahmedabad]]|pages=137–138|language=gu|trans-title=Political and Cultural History of Gujarat: Solanki Era|author-link=Keshavram Kashiram Shastri|editor-last2=Shastri|editor-first2=Hariprasad Gangashankar|editor-link2=Hariprasad Shastri}}</ref>

According to the ''Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency'', Khengara reigned from 1098-1125 CE and he was succeeded by his son Navaghana (1125-1140 CE), followed by Kavat (1140-1152 CE) and [[Jayasimha (Chudasama dynasty)|Jayasimha]]/Graharipu (1152-1180 CE). Though these dates are not reliable.<ref name="GBP1884"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Chudasama dynasty}}
[[Category:12th-century Indian monarchs]]
[[Category:Chudasama kings]]

Khengara (12th century king) - Revision history

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