Chronology of Chudasama dynasty

The early history of Chudasama dynasty of Saurashtra (now in Gujarat, India) is almost lost. The bardic legends differs very much in names, order and numbers so they are not considered reliable. Mandalika Kavya, a Sanskrit poem by Gangadhara, gives some information on dynasty but it has little historical value. Some of their inscriptions gives their early genealogy but they too differ in order of succession. Ranchhodji Diwan, A. K. Forbes, James Burgess and Gaurishankar Oza had tried to fix genealogy and chronology. Based on the dates of the inscriptions assigned to Chudasama kings and other literary sources, the genealogy and chronology of latter half of the dynasty can be established fairly. Still it is certain that they ruled about from about Vikram Samvat (VS) 900 to VS 1527 (c. 875 CE to 1472 CE).

Chronology and genealogy of the later half of Chudasama dynasty based on inscriptions

Chronology and genealogy

Based on inscriptions

There is no inscription of the period before the king Mandalika I available. Still it is certain that they had established their rule in the Saurashtra region before the Chaulukya king Mularaja came to power in Anahilavada because literary sources tell about battles between Chudasama kings and Chaulukya kings; Mularaja and Jayasimha Siddharaja. Dhandusar inscription (VS 1445) says that the founder of the dynasty was Chudachandra ( also known as ChudaSamma ). A Vanthali inscription tells about Mandalika, a kings whose kingdom was captured by Jagatsimha, a feudatory of Chaulukya king Viradhavala. This Mandalika king must be another Mandalika king mentioned in latter half genealogy. As Viradhavala is known to live in VS 1288, he must be assigned the same date. As Vanthali inscription date VS 1346, it must have been under the Jagatsimha's family till then. It seems that a later Chudasama king Mandalika regained Vanthali when Chaulukya rule weakened. So the later genealogy starts from him in later inscriptions. The Chudasamas continued to rule till VS 1527 (1472 CE) when they were defeated by Gujarat Sultan Mahmud Begada. As inscriptions says about their resistance to Gujarat Sultans, it can be said that they were the most powerful dynasty in Saurashtra region at that time.

Ruler	Relationship	Reign CE	Accession year Samvat	Ra Khengar Mahal/ Neminath Temple inscription on Mount Girnar	Hani Vav Dhandhusar inscription	Mahaprabhu Bethak near Revatikund, Girnar inscription	Uparkot Junagadh
				c. VS 1506-07/c. 1454 CE	VS 1445/1389 CE	VS 1473/1417 CE	VS 1507/1451 CE
Mandalika I	son of Yashodhavala	1294–1306	1350	Mandalika		Mandalika
Navaghana	son of Mandalika I	1306–1308	1362	Navaghana
Mahipala I	son of Mandalika I	1308–1331	1364	Mahipaladeva		Mahipala
Khengara	son of Mahipala I	1331–1351	1387	Shangara (Khangara)	Khengara	Khengara
Jayasimha I	son of Khangara	1351–1378	1407	Jayasimhadeva	Jayasimha	Jayasimha
Mahipala II	son of Jayasimha I	1378–1384	1435
Mokalasimha/Muktasimha	son of Jayasimha I	1384–1396	1440	Mokalasimha	Mokalasimha	Muktasimha
Mandalika II	son of Mokalasimha	1396–1400	1452			Mandalika
Meliga	son of Mokalasimha	1400–1416	1456	Melangadeva		Meliga	Maligadeva
Jayasimha II	son of Meliga	1416–1430	1472			Jayasimha
Mahipala III	son of Meliga	1430–1451	1486	Mahipaladeva			Mahipala
Mandalika III	son of Mahipala III	1451–1472	1507	Mandalika			Mandalika

Early attempts

Ranchhodji Amarji (1825)

Ranchhodji Amarji, Diwan or prime minister of Junagadh State wrote Tarikh-i-Sorath in Persian in 1825. Ranchhodji wrote that Chudasamas belonged to Chandravanshi and they are descendants of Shri Sadashiv and said to have come from Sindh. He wrote that the regular succession of nine men named Navghan, ten named Jakhra, eleven named Alansingh and other individuals of with various names have ruled.

He had written the following chronology in Tarikh-i-Sorath:

Accession date Samvat	date CE	Ruler	Relation	Reign
		Rao Dayat		Tale of marrying daughter of Siddha Rao (Jayasimha Siddharaja?) of Gujarat.
874	817	Navghan	son of Dayat	saved by Devait of Alidhar(Gir Somnath District) from Siddha Rao when boy, regained Junagadh. Conquered Sindh.
916	859	Khengar	son of Navghan	36 years, attacked Patan, slain by Siddha Rao, tale of Ranik Devi who ended ner life in VS 952 (895 CE)
952		Mularaja	son of Khengar	35 years and six months
987		Jakhra	son of Mularaja	21 years
1009		Ganraj*	son of Jakhra	38 years and 4 months
1047		Mandalika	son of Ganraj	48 years and 2 months, joined Bhimadeva against Mahmud of Ghazni who had attacked Somnath temple
1095		Hamira Deva	son of Mandalika	13 years and some days
1108		Vijayapala	son of Hamira Deva	54 years and six months
1162		Navaghana	son of Vijayapala	2 years
1184		Mandalika	son of Navghana	11 years
1195		Alansingh	son of Mandalika	14 years
1209		Dhanesh	son of Alansingh	5 years. some copies says 9 years.
1214		Navghan	son of Navghan	9 years
1224	1167	Khengar		46 years
1270		Mandalika	son of Khengar	22 years, 3 months, 22 days. Some copies says 32 years.
1302		Mahipala	son of Mandalika	34 years, five months, 3 days. Some copies says 34 years.
12 Magshar 1336	1279	Khengar	son of Mahipala	54 years and 13 days. conquered Diu and other 17 islands, repaired Somnath, Sams Khan took Junagadh under Tughluq order. Khengar took refuge in Mount Girnar.
1390		Jayasingh	son of Khengar	11 years, 8 months, 11 days.
6 Bhadarva 1402		Mugatsingh or Mokalsingh	son of Jayasingh	14 years, 13 days.
4 Ashvad 1412		Madhupat	son of Mugatsingh	5 years, one month, six days.
10 Kartika Sud 1421		Mandalika	son of Madhupat	17 years, 6 months, 3 days.
1439		Malek	brother of Mandalika	son of slave-girl. 11 years, 11 months, 24 days.
1468		Jayasingh	son of Malek	captured Zanzira (?). 18 years, 3 months, 14 days.
1486		Khengar	son of Jayasingh	Ahmad Shah of Gujarat attacked Junagadh, Khengar and his divan Hira Singh took refuge in Uparkot in 1470 (?) where he died. 22 years.
1489		Mandalika		Kiwamu-al-Mlik, Amir of Sultan Mahmud, attacked Junagadh in VS 1520 and captured Mandalik in 1527 (1470 CE) when Junagadh fort fell. Mandalika embraced Islam and died in Ahmedabad where he is buried in Manek Chowk. after 2 years, his son restored as Jagirdar came to known by title of Raizada.

After defeat by Mahmud Begada, the sons of Mandalika was given Jagir of Junagadh and made Jagirdar but the powers were exercised by Thanadar appointed by Ahmedabad kings and later by governors.

Accession date Samvat	date CE	Ruler as Jagirdar	Relation	Reign	Thanadar
1529/1528		Bhupat Singh		31 years.	Tatar Khan, son of Zafar Khan
1560		Khengar	son of Bhupat Singh	22 years.	Malik Ayaz and Tatar Khan Ghori
1581		Navghan	son of Khengar	28 years, 11 months, 20 days.	Sayyid Kasam and Mujahid Khan Belim
1608		Shri Singh	son of Navghan	34 years, 1 month, 10 days	Khan Azam Kokaltash became Subahdar of Ahmedabad in place of Khan Khanan and conquered Junagadh in 1633.
1642		Khengar	son of Shri Singh	22 years	Mahmud Shah and Bahadur Shah of Gujarat who gave Junagah as Jagir to his Amirs. 13 years with Tatar Khan as Thanadar.

James Burgess (1876-1882)

James Burgess translated Târikh-i-Soraṭh in English as Târikh-i-Soraṭh, a history of the provinces of Soraṭh and Hâlâr in Kâthiâwâd from Gujarati translations of Persian manuscripts. The translation was edited by James W. Watson and published finally in 1882. He had consulted several manuscripts and taken support of an inscription in Vastupal Jain Temple on Mount Girnar to fix the chronology given by Ranchhodji Amarji which he had published in Report on the Antiquities of Kathiawad and Kachh and subsequently in the translation as an editor note. He had added information of other sources and had done conjectural corrections in the dates as seem required. These corrections are applied only to the dates when converted into CE and where doubtful marked with a (?).

Ranchhodji had listed the reigns of the first four kings beginning with Navaghana I extend over 151 years and then a blank occurs of 22 years between Navaghana II and his successor Mandalika I. Burgess had included Khengar II (1107? CE) omitted by Ranchhodji. Burgess notes that Ranchhodji had omitted Navghana (1235?) after Mandalika whom he had assigned 22 years and 3.75 years, beginning in VS 1270 and the next ruler Mahipala's reign begin in VS 1302 thus 10 years were unaccounted for, or about the same time Navaghana IV reigned. He also noted that Ranchhodji gave three successors of Mugatsingh in order; Madhupat (VS 1416-1421), Mandalika (VS 1421-1439), Malek (VS 1439-1450) which is probably derived from an inscription in Revatikunda which gives following genealogy: Mandalika lll; his son Mahipala; his son Khangara lV; his son Jayasimha; his son Mugatsimha; his sons Mandalika and Melak; and Jayasimha, son of Melak. The chronology in the text is confirmed by the Mandalika Kavya. Burgess had allowed the dates VS 1421 and 1439 to stand but proposed alteration to 1428 and 1433.

Burgess has noted that some copies give the date VS 874 of Navghan's accession, and allow 42 years for his reign. He disapproves of James Tod's counting Chudachandra as the fortieth prince before his own time, and the eighth before Jam Unad, whom Tod had placed in VS 1110, assuming that Chudachand must have lived about VS 960.

MS date Samvat	Probable date CE	Ruler	Relation	Reign
-	904?	Ra Dyas or Dyachh	the third descent from Ra Gariyo/Graharipu, the grandson of Ra Chandrachud, the first of Chudasama dynasty	Ra Dyas was defeated and slain by the king of Patan VS 874 (917 CE). Some copies give VS 874 as the date of Naughan's accession and allow 42 years for his reign counting Chudachand as the fortieth prince before his own time, and the eighth before Jam Unad whom he places in VS 1110 assumes that Chudachand must have lived about VS 960. Very little dependence however can be placed on such a computation. He says he was contemporary with Ram Kamar, the fourteenth prince of Ghumli.
894	937?	Navaghana or Naughan	son of Ra Dyas	invaded Sindh and defeated Hamir, the Sumara prince VS 890.
916	959?	Khangar	son of Navaghana	killed at Bagasara by the Anhilvada Raja, possibly by Mularaja who ruled from 942 to 996 CE and defeated Graharipu of Vanthali.
952	968?	Mularaja	son of Khangara	perhaps of Anhilvada.
1009	992?	Navaghana II	son of Mularaja	ruled for 38 (18?) years.*
1078	1021?	Mandalika, son of Navaghana		joined Bhima I of Gujarat in pursuit of Mahmud of Ghazni VS 1080, A.H. 414.
1095	1038	Hamir Deva	son of Mandalika	13 years.
1108	1051	Vijaypala	son of Hamiradeva
1162	1085?	Navaghana III		subdued the Raja of Umeta
-	1107?	Khangara II		slain by Jayasimha Siddharaja of Anahilvada Patan.
1184	1127	Mandalika II		11 years
1195	1138	Alansimha		14 years
1209	1152	Ganesha or Dhanesha		5 years
1214	1157	Navaghana or Naughana IV		9 years
1224	1167	Khangara III		46 years
1270	1213	Mandalika III	son of Khangara III	22 years. Mentioned in the Girnar inscription.
-	1235?	Navaghana or Naughan V		Amarji omits Nanghana after Mandalika, to whom he assigns a reign of 22 years 3.75 months, beginning in VS 1270 and then makes Mahipala's reign begin in VS 1302, leaving 10 years unaccounted for, or about the same time as Navaghan IV reigned.
1302	1245	Mahipaladeva (Ra Kavat)		34 years, built a temple at Somanath Patan
1336	1279	Khangara IV	son of Mahipaladeva	repaired the temple of Somanath, conquered Div &c. Shams Khan took Junagadh
1390	1333	Jayasimhadeva	son of Khangara IV	11.75 years, and subdued 84 petty chiefs.
1402	1345	Mugatsimha or Mokalsimha	son of Jayasimha	14 years
1416	1359	Melak Deva	son of Mugatsimha	saved Jhala Krishnaji, who sought his protection from the Yavana.
1421	1371	Mahipaladeva II or Madhupat		married Kunta, daughter of Arjuna, the son of Bhimaji. Arjuna was succeeded by Dudavanish (? Duda of Sathi).
1439	1376*	Mandalika IV	son of Mahipaladeva	defeated Sangana of Okha
1450	1393	Jayasimhadeva II		apparently "the Rai of Jerend or Jiran" mentioned in Firishtah as defeated by Muzaffar Shah I of Gujarat in 1411 CE. He is said to have taken Zanzira (?) from the Gujarat Sultanate.
1469	1412	Khangara V		war with Ahmad Shah
1489	1432	Mandalika V		restored the Uparkot in VS 1507, subdued by Mahmud Begada in 1469-70 CE.

After their subjugation to the Ahmedabad kings, the dynasty seems to have been preserved as tributary Jagirdars for another century; the list of these princes stands thus:

Accession date CE	Jagirdar	relation	reign
1472	Bhupat	cousin of Mandalika V	32 years
1503	Khangara VI	son of Bhupat	22 years
1524	Navghana VI	son of Khangara	25 years
1551	Shrisimha		35 years, Gujarat subdued by Akbar
1585	Khangara VII		till about 1609

Note that some copies give the following chronology:

Year in AD	Ruler	Notes
1047	Jakhara	successor of Mularaja
-	Gunaraja	?Kunaraja
1076	Mandalika

Thus James Burgess has suggested a possible alternate chronology:

Year Samvat	Year AD	Ruler	Reign
952	895	Mularaja	36 years
988	931	Jakhara	21 years
1009	952	Navghana II	38 years
1047	990	Gunaraja	31 years
1078	1021	Mandalika	17 years

James W. Watson (1884) and Harold Wilberforce-Bell (1916)

James W. Watson, in Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Kathiawar Volume VIII (1884), had given the chronology of Chudasama kings. The early kings in chronology were based on the bardic legends and latter chronology was based on the inscriptions.

Harold Wilberforce-Bell wrote The History of Kathiawad from the Earliest Times in 1916. He expanded on the chronology of Watson. In corroboration to inscriptions, the kings starting Mandalik I were correct in chronology but dates of accession varies from later chronologies. He presented following chronology:

Ruler	Accession start CE	Accession end CE	Notes
Chudachandra	875	907	Founder of dynasty
Mularaja	907	915
Vishwavarah	915	940
Graharipu	940	982	Uparkot fort rebuilt. Battle with Chaulukya Mularaja
Kavat	982	1003	Uga Wala tale
Dyas	1003	1010	Battle with Chaulukya Dularaj (Durlabhraja?)
Chaulukya viceroy	1010	1020
Navghan	1020	1044	Regained from Chaulukya with help from Ahirs. Expedition to Sindh. Sack of Somnath in 1026 by Mahmud of Ghazni.
Khengar I	1044	1067	23 years
Navghan II	1067	1098	21 years. Defeated by Siddharaj
Khengar II	1098	1125	Youngest of four son of Navghan II, defeated chief of Umeta, broke gate of Analihavad Patan and Siddharaj attacked in return, Tale of Ranik Devi
Navghan III	1125	1140	Navghan III regained throne expelling Chaulukya viceroy
Kavat II	1140	1152	12 years
Jayasimha/Graharipu II	1152	1180
Raisimha	1180	1184
Mahipal II/Gajraj	1184	1201
Jayamal	1201	1230
Mahipal III	1230	1253	battles with Kathis.
Khengar III	1253	1260	subdued Kathis.
Mandalik I	1260	1306	Alaf Khan raided Saurashtra, lost Vanthali to Rathod chief.
Navghan IV	1306	1308
Mahipal IV	1308	1325	17 years
Khengar IV	1325	1351	Restored Somnath and expelled Delhi Sultanate appointed governor.
Jayasimha II	1351	1369	18 years
Mahipal V	1369	1373	recovered Vanthali in 1370.
Muktasimha	1373	1397	Tughluq order to remove capital to Vanthali
Mandalika II	1397	1400	3 years,
Malek	1400	1415	Brother of Mandalika II. Conflict with Ahmad Shah I of Gujarat.
Jyasimha III	1415	1440	25 years
Mahipal IV	1440	1451
Mandalik III	1451	1470	Defeated by Mehmud Begada in 1470 and told Mandalik to embrace Islam. His descendant restored as Jagirdar.