Sankaravarman
{{short description|King of the Utpala dynasty, 885 to 902}}
{{Infobox royalty
| title =
| name = Sankaravarman
| image = Sankaravarman, Dupatalas (Kashmir) Circa 883-902 CE.jpg
| caption = Coinage of King Sankaravarman, Dupatalas (Kashmir) Circa 883–902 CE{{Cite book |last=Mitchiner |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tMeWoAEACAAJ |title=Oriental coins and their values: Non-islamic states and Western colonies : A.D. 600–1979 |date=1979 |publisher=Hawkins |language=fr}}{{Cite book |last=Cunningham |first=a |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.127720 |title=Coins Of Mediaeval India From The Seventh Century |date=1894}}
| succession = King of Kashmir
| reign = 855–902 CE
| predecessor = Avantivarman
| successor = Gopalavarman
| house = Utpala dynasty
| father = Avantivarman
| mother =
| spouse = Sugandha Devi
| issue = Gopalavarman
| religion = Shaivism
}}
Sankaravarman was a ruler of the Utpala dynasty, a Kashmiri Hindu dynasty, which ruled over the Kashmir region of northern India from 8th to 10th century CE. The kingdom was established by Avantivarman, who ended the rule of Karkota dynasty in 855 CE.
Following the death of Avantivarman in 883 CE, a civil war broke out among his descendants resulting in Sankaravarman ruling from 885 CE until his death in 902 CE.{{cite book|title=Cultural heritage of Jammu and Kashmir|page=88|first=K|last=Warikoo|publisher=Pentagon Press|year=2009|isbn=978-8182-743-76-2}}{{cite book|title=Ancient Indian History and Civilization|first=Sailendra Nath|last=Sen|publisher=New Age International|year=1999|page=295|isbn=978-8122-411-98-0}}
Accession and early rule
The death of Avantivarman led to a power struggle, His son and Successor Sankaravarman, had at first to contend for the throne with his cousin Sukhavarman, who had been set up as Yuvaraja, as well as with other rivals. When the civil war was successfully ended, Sankaravarman, according to the Chronicler, started on a round of foreign expeditions. Kalhana, with poetic magniloquence, describes these as " reviving the tradition of the conquest of the world," such as he attributes to earlier Kasmir heroes.{{Cite book |last=Marc Aurel Stein |url=http://archive.org/details/RajataranginiVol1 |title=Kalhana's Rajatarangini Vol 1 |date=1900}}{{PD-notice}}
Military
The Sankaravarman's force included "Nine lakhs infantrymen, Three hundred elephants and one lakhs cavalry".
Sankaravarman was a great conqueror,{{Cite book |last=Lawrence |first=Sir Walter Roper |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ue8LAAAAIAAJ&dq=shankaravarman+was+a+great+conqueror&pg=PA188 |title=The Valley of Kashmír |date=1895 |publisher=H. Frowde |language=en}} He led many conquests in South and North of his Empire.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j4ZIEAAAQBAJ |title=J4Zieaaaqbaj}}
The Darvabhisara was the first conquered territory, we must conclude that Sankaravarman's initial efforts were directed towards the recovery of the hill-trade which stretches from the Pir Pantsal range towards the plains of the Punjab, and which had been lost to Kasmir during the rule of the later Karkotas. At the advance of Sankaravarman's host, Prthivicandra, ruler of Trigarta, the present Kangra, is said to have approached the king in order to offer homage, but to have subsequently fled in terror.
The main force of Sankaravarman's attack appears to have spent itself in a victory over Alakhana, the ruler of Gurjara. This territory, the name of which is preserved in that of the modern town of Gujrat, comprised, as I have shown else where, the upper portion of the flat Doab between the Jehlam and Cinab rivers south of Darvabhisara, and probably also a part of the Punjab plain farther east, Alakhana is said to have saved his kingdom by ceding to Sankaravarman the Takka-land, by which designation a tract adjoining the lower hills east of the Cinab is probably meant. Where ' the superior king ' Bhoja is to be located, whose power Sankaravarman is next supposed to have curbed, remains doubtful. His identity with the king Bhoja whose rule over Kanauj is indicated by inscriptions ranging between a.d. 862-883, has been frequently assumed, but cannot be proved. During the reign of Mahendrapala, Bjoja's successor, Sankaravarman, had wrested all the territories and areas from the Gujara-pratiharas which had earlier been subjugated by King Bhoj.{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Fauja |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fLW1AAAAIAAJ&q=shankaravarman |title=History of the Punjab: A.D. 1000-1526. Editor: Fauja Singh |date=1972 |publisher=Department of Punjab Historical Studies, Punjabi University |language=en}}
Sankaravarman's greatest victory against the king of Gujara in the Punjab, the latter being helped by the Lalliya Shahi.{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=Sailendra Nath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&dq=shankaravarman&pg=PA296 |title=Ancient Indian History and Civilization |date=1999 |publisher=New Age International |isbn=978-81-224-1198-0 |language=en}} Sankaravarman led a successful expedition to Kabul, where he defeated Lalliya, the Brahman ruler of Kabul.{{Cite book |first=Bansi |last=Pandit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zsoC6GWr47QC&dq=shankaravarman&pg=PA24 |title=Explore Kashmiri Pandits |date=March 22, 2008 |publisher=Lulu.com |access-date=January 17, 2024 |isbn=978-0-9634798-6-0 |language=en}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{authority control}}
{{india-royal-stub}}