Captain Tod's Comments on a Sanscrit Inscriptio?i. 145 



Rcijivdrd, though it requires some patience and enthusiasm to listen to the 

 tale, and, from the Doric dialects, transfer any thing like the spirit of the 

 originals into an European dress. I shall presume to embody a few passages 

 from Chand, which may be listened to from feelings of curiosity, and as 

 belonging to the subject of our Inscription, Prithwiraja. 



VisALA Deva, whose name appears on the pillar at Delhi, was his great 

 grandfather, and lived at a most momentous period in Hindu history, when 

 Mahm6d of Ghizni, with his legions from the north, carried his desolating 

 visitations into the most remote part of India. The Chdhamdna annals re- 

 cord victories gained by Visala Deva over these his foes ; in one of which 

 he lost his life. Ferishta tells us of the failure of Mahm6d in his attack on 

 the citadel of Ajamer, in his route to Somandt'h. It may have been on some 

 one of these occasions, that an addition was made to the various inscrip- 

 tions on the pillar of Delhi, as a memorial of his having delivered Aryavarta 

 from the barbarian. Saungadeva succeeded him, but he appears to have 

 been driven from Ajamer. Somesa, his son, was the father of Prithwi- 

 raja, who was the first and last of the Chdhamdna race that enjoyed the 

 sovereignty of Delhi. His ancestors, however powerful, appear to have 

 become tributary, if not vassals, to the imperial dynasty of the Tudrs. This 

 (the Tudr') dynasty, descending from the ancient Pdndavas of the Mahd- 

 bhdrata, still enjoyed supreme power. Somesa Chdhamdna, and Vijaya 

 Pal (Rhatore) Prince of Canouj {Canyaculja, Canawqjja), had each married 

 a daughter of Ananga-pAl, the Tom&ra sovereign, but had no male issue. 

 SoMESA had supported the imperial throne, when shook by rebelUon, headed 

 by the chief of Canouj. This service, and the circumstance of his ha\'ing 

 married the favourite daughter, obtained for her son, Prithwiraja, adop- 

 tion to the TiUir family, and nomination to the succession, during Ananga- 

 PAL'slife: and at this court he was brought up from infancy, while his 

 father enjoyed his independent sovereignty ; and continued to do so after 

 his son's accession, who, at length, united both crowns. This is not the 

 first instance, of what I may (to borrow an appropriate term) call the Sa- 

 liqiie law of India, being set aside ; but the instances are rare. I at present 

 recollect but two which are conspicuous; one was the succession of the 

 Solan/d successor to the Chaora dynasty of Nehrwdla-Pattan ; the other 

 was tiie Chdhdn heir to the Solan/d, in the same family. The female is 

 never the medium of the transmission of honours amongst these martial 

 races, though they pay her high deference and respect on all occasions. 



Vol. I. U 



