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The decline of this great people is involv- ed in mystery, but there can be little doubt that the Rajputs arose in power and glory in Western India as the Valabhis declined. Digitized 232 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. For many reasons the Rajputs may be considered the successors of the Valabhis to supreme power in Western India, as the Valabhis themselves, were the successors of the Guptas. And the haughtiest of the Rajputs, viz., the Ranas of Mewar traced a fictitious descent from the Valabhis. While the Rajputs imme- diately succeeded the Valabhis in Guzrat, and Puttun arose as Valabhipur declined in the latter half of the 8th century, there was no such continuity in the history of Northern India. There, the great dynasties of Ujja- yini and Kanouj disappear from view, as we have seen before, about the middle of the eighth century. From that time to the middle of the tenth century the history of Northern India is an absolute blank. We have accounts of the Chalukyians in the South, of the kings of Kashmir in the extreme North-West, of those of Bengal and Orissa in the extreme East ; but the centre of Hindu civilization and culture, the Madhyadesa stretching from Kanouj to Magadha has no history | No dynasty rose to sufficient distinction to leave a record, no event transpired which lived in the traditions or writings of the people, no great invasions or great revolutions took place of which any trace can be found. These two centuries have left us no literature to speak of, as we have seen in the last chapter, and no great works of art or industry in the shape of buildings in Northern India. A mysterious cloud hangs over these dark cen- turies which historians have not yet been able to lift. Digitized by Google CHAP. II.] VALABHIS AND RAJPUTS. When the dark and impenetrable cloud is removed in the middle of the ioth century, we find new actors and new scenes. Buddhism is practically extinct in India, and the absolute supremacy of Pauranik Hinduism is contemporaneous with the political supremacy of a new and brave nation, the Rajputs. The Rajputs have issued out of their kingdoms in Gujrat and Southern India, and are the masters in Delhi, in Kanouj, in Ajmir, in the most distant parts of India ! Everywhere they carried the banner of Pauranik Hinduism and of Brahman supremacy ! And the Brahmans rewarded them for their toil, and recognized the new race as the Kshatryas of modern times. From these results then we are enabled to know the history of the two dark centuries, from the middle of the eighth to the middle of the tenth. That unhappy period was a period of internecine wars and of religious persecutions, and of the crumbling down of old institutions and dynasties. Ancient houses fell from senile decay or through violence, a new and sturdy race stepped forward in their places. It was a repeti- tion of a scene which had taken place, at least once before in the history of India. Thus, in the fifth and fourth centuries before Christ, the vigorous and young Magadhas, considered a few centuries before as outside the pale of Aryans, rose in power, extended their con- quests, and established their supremacy over the ancient kingdoms of the Kasis, the Kosalas, the Kurus, and the Digitized by Google 234 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. Panchilas ; and when the Greeks came to India,, they found the PrAchyas or Magadhas supreme in Northern India. In the same way during the obscure 8th to ioth centuries A.D., the Rajput races, scarcely considered within the pale of Aryan Hindus before, stepped forward in the midst of the struggle of races and nations, and by their superior might and bravery made room for themselves on the empty thrones of the kings of Kanouj, Delhi, Lahore, and other places. As in the 5th to 3rd century B.C., so in the 8th to ioth century A.D., it was not a question of dynastic supremacy, but of racial supremacy, — a new, brave and vigorous race stepping forward in each case to the places vacated by ancient and cultured but effete races. And as if to make the parallel complete, each political revolution was accom- panied by a religious revolution. The spread of the Magadha power over the ancient and cultured races of India facilitated the spread of a new religion like Bud- dhism against the ancient and learned creed of the land. And the rise of the Rajputs finally secured the triumph of Pauranik Hinduism and stamped out Buddhism from India. We have in the Introduction to this work seen that the History of Europe, from the 5th to the ioth cen- tury A.D., affords a still more remarkable parallel to the history of India from the 8th to the ioth century. Both in Europe and in India ancient rule and ancient institutions were destroyed; new races asserted their Digitized by Google CHAP. II.] VALABHIS AND RAJPUTS. 23S rule and their authority over the land ; and these new races again, the German masters of Europe and the Rajput masters of India, had to face the rising power of the Mussalmans. Europe maintained her independence, India struggled but fell. We have seen that the Rajputs were scarcely reckoned among Aryan Hindus before the 8th century. We find no mention of their name in the literature of the coun- try or in the records of foreign travellers, and no traces of their previous culture. Conjectures have been made as to their origin. Dr. H. H. Wilson and others have held that they were the descendants of the Sakas and other invaders who swarmed into India for centuries before the time of Vikram&ditya, who were defeated by that king, but nevertheless spread themselves and set- tled down in India, specially in Western and Southern India. Dark hints are thrown out in the Purinas to indicate that the Rajputs were new comers. Thus the primitive Parihara, Pramara, Chalukya, and Chohan races are fabled to have sprung from four warriors conjured into existence by the sage Vasishtha from a sacrificial fire he had kindled on Mount Abu. And the 36 Rajput tribes are said to have been derived from these four pri- mitive races. The Chalukyas established themselves in Gujrat, founded the new capital Pattan, and indeed usurped the supreme power so long held by the Valabhis. The Parihara branch settled down in Marwar, the Digitized by 236 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. Pramaras established themselves in Western Malwa, and the Chohans came more to the east towards Delhi and Ajmir. There were other Rajput tribes for whom other descents have been imagined. Thus the Ghelote Ranas of Mewar, said to belong to the solar race, claimed descent from R&ma through the Valabhi princes of Gujrat. There is a tradition on the other hand con- necting the Rathores of Marwar with Hiranya Kasipu of Indian mythology. Whatever the origin of the Rajputs may be, there is no doubt whatever that they were new comers within the pale of Hindu civilization and religion. Like all new converts they were fired with an excessive zeal to revive the religion they embraced. The des- cendants of a Sil&ditya would have hesitated to take measures against Buddhism such as the new Hindus felt no hesitation in adopting. Brdhmans worked on the zeal of this new race of Kshatriyas, and wherever Rajput kings conquered and ruled, monasteries went down, temples and Hindu gods multiplied. The spirit of Sankar&ch£rya inspired many a humbler theolo- gian and preacher; and they found responsive audi- ences and willing workers in the new Kshatriya kings, who had no old history of their own, no endearing as- sociations or regard for Buddhist institutions, no ancient and historic pride such as had characterized the ancient Kshatriyas. Janaka and Gautama Buddha had vindicated the dignity of Kshatriyas by claiming Digitized by Google CHAP. II.] VALABHIS AND RAJPUTS. 237 equality with Brdhmans ; the Chohan and the Ra- thore now vindicated their claims to be regarded as Kshatriyas by establishing the supremacy of Br&hmans who gratified them by that ancient and much-coveted name. By the middle of the tenth century Bud- dhism was practically dead in India, Hinduism was everywhere re-established and triumphant, and Kanouj and Mathura and a hundred other towns were beauti- fied with those noble buildings and temples which struck the Sultan of Ghazni, half a century later. Rajput history is a portion of modern Indian history, and it is not our object to recount it here. We will only mention one or two striking facts which marked the close of Hindu rule in Northern India. The first serious Mahommedan invasion of India was that of Muhammad Kasim 711 A.D. Kasim met a brave and determined enemy in Dahir the king of Alor. But Hindu bravery was unavailing against the superior discipline and practical knowledge of war of the Moslems, and Dahir fell fighting gallantly within view of his capital. Kasim was soon after recalled, and India was free from foreign invasions for nearly three centuries after. In the latter half of the tenth century Jaipal was the great Rajput king of Western India, and his dominions stretched from Delhi to Lahore. Jaipal faught against Sabaktagin and then against Mahmud of Ghazni bravely but in vain ; and his son Anangapal and all the Digitized by 238 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. princes of Northern India made a combined and deter- mined effort to oppose and vanquish the invader from Ghazni. The result was the same. The determined bravery and devotion of the Rajputs were unavailing against the skill and discipline of the Moslems. We next come to Shahabuddin Ghori, the real Mahommedan conqueror of India. Western India was ruled by three great Rajput kings at the latter end of the twelfth century. Prithu Rai Chohan ruled Delhi and Ajmir, and in both these places the ruins of his forts are still visible.