Lohara dynasty

Lohara dynasty
Founded	1003
Founder	Samgrāmarāja
Final ruler	Sūhadeva
Dissolution	1320

The Lohara dynasty were Hindu rulers of Kashmir between 1003 and approximately 1320. The early history of the dynasty was described in the Rajatarangini (Chronicle of Kings), a work written by Kalhana in the mid-12th century and upon which many and perhaps all studies of the first 150 years of the dynasty depend. Subsequent accounts, which provide information up to and beyond the end of the dynasty come from Jonarāja and Śrīvara. The later rulers of the dynasty were weak: internecine fighting and corruption was endemic during this period, with only brief years of respite, and this gave rise to the growth of Islamic supremacy in the region.

The seat of the Lohara dynasty was a hill-fortress called Loharakotta, the precise location of which has been the subject of academic debate over a prolonged period. Stein, a translator of Kalhana, has discussed some of these theories and concludes that it lay in the Pir Panjal range of mountains, on a trade route between western Punjab and Kashmir. As such, it was not itself in Kashmir but in the kingdom of Lohara, centred around a group of large villages collectively known as Lohrin, which itself was a name shared by the valley in which they were situated and a river that ran through it. The Lohara kingdom probably extended into neighbouring valleys.

Didda, a daughter of the king of Lohara called Simharāja, had married the king of Kashmir, Ksemgupta, thus uniting the two areas. Compared to other societies of the period, women in Kashmir were held in high regard and when Ksemgupta died in 958, Didda assumed power as Regent for her young son, Abhimanyu II. Upon the death of Abhimanyu in 972 she performed the same office for his sons, Nandigupta, Tribhuvanagupta and Bhimagupta, respectively. She killed each of these grandchildren in turn. As Regent she effectively had sole power over the kingdom, and with the killing by torture of Bhimagupta in 980 she became ruler in her own right.

Didda subsequently adopted a nephew, Samgrāmarāja, to be her heir in Kashmir but left the rule of Lohara to Vigraharāja, who was either another nephew or perhaps one of her brothers. From this decision arose the Lohara dynasty of Kashmir, although Vigraharāja even during her lifetime made attempts to assert his right to that area as well as Lohara. What was to follow was around three centuries of "endless rebellions and other internal troubles".

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