ART. I.-The exploded Myth of Agniku.las. BY c. v. VAIDYA, M.A., LL.B. It is well-known that of the 36 traditional Royal Kshatriya families of India four are considered as Agnikulas or fire-born, viz., the Chauhan, the Chalukya, the Paramar and the Pratihara. That is to say while some of the 36 are considered as solar race and others are considered as lunar race Kshatrivas these four a.re looked upon as fire-born or Agnikulas. This idea is generally entertained even now and is, in fact. the orthodox view, so to say, with the present day Rajputs. For example, the princes of Kota, Bundi and Sirohi who are Chauhan Rajputs fully believe that they are Agnikulas or fire-born Kshatriyas. The story of this birth from fire of these four clans is given, for the first time, I think. by Chand Bard3i, the bard of Prithviriij Chauhan in his well-known poem the Prithviraj Rasa, and as this poem enjoys the prestige of the Mahabharata. in the eye of the Rajputs, the story is implicitly believed by them. The story is thus given in Rasii. Samaya I Rupaka 127 : ''Once the Rishis wished to perform a sacrifice on Mount Abu ; but they were molested by Rakshasas. They implored Vasishtha to protect them and he performed a special sacrifice on his fire and brought out four warriors in succession. first the Pratihara, then the Chalukya,. then the Paramar and when these three could not defeat or destroy the Rakshasas there came out the fourth Chahumana, a four armed terrible being and he by the aid and blessing of Durga Bhaviini and the various gods defeated and dispersed the demons or Danavas." The story is of course intended to emphasise the greatness of the progenitor of the Chauhan clan to which the poet's hero Pri­ thviraj belonged. And,it is based on a Puranic account about the founding of the Achalesvara temple by Vasishtha on Mount Abu or Arbuda.; but the story of Vasish(ha's sacrifice with the hirth of four warriors is unquestionably a creation from the poet's l11·ain and has 110 Puranic foundation. But as the poem gained popularity with the Rajputs, it came to be universally accepted and all the Hajput families including the four so-called A~nikula clans themselves believe in it implicitly. 3 2 THE EXPLODED :\IYTH OF AGNIKULAS. Now epigraphic evidence has already proved that this story is merely the poet Chand's creation, for stone-records show that these four clans did not represent themselves as Agnikulas from the 9th to the 1:!th century (when the Risa is believed to have been composed) and even later. The Pratihii.ra, the first, and the Chauhan the fourth clan Ra.jputs are said in the records to be solar-race Kshatriyas, while the Chalukyas are represented as lunar-race Kshatriya.s. There is still some doubt about the Para.mars who alone are said to be fire-born in their records ; but as I shall show later on, thev too did not look upon themselves as Agnikulas but as solar-rac~ Kshatriyas. Thus the records of these clans themselves of the 10th to 13th or 14th centuries declare them to be Solar or Lunar race Kshatriyas and yet strangely enough they believe themselves now tu be Agnikulas. Epigraphic records have been discovered by scores since the days of Tod and it is no wonder that Tod gave by his acceptance of the Agnikula tradition, its final authority. But it is strange that after the discovery of these records historians should still stick to the Agnikula myth and should still adhere to the inference they used to draw from it, viz., that the Rajputs generally, and the four clan Ra.jputs especially, are descended from foreign peoples who have been incorporated into Hindu society by the Brahmins in recent times by a fictitious process of purification by fire. Sir William Crooke who has just edited (1920) the famous history of Tod, with notes based on up-to-date information. observes in his introduction " The Annals describe how bv a solemn act of purification or initiation, under the superiritendence of one of the ancient Vedic Rishis, the fire-born septs were created to help the Brahmins in suppressing Buddhism and other heresies and in establishing the ancient social polity, the temporary downfall of which under the stress of foreign invasion is carefully concealed in the Hindu literature. This privilege was, we are told confined to four septs known as Agnikula, the Paramar, the Parihar, the Chalukya or Solanki and the Chauhan." Though Sir William Crooke adds that Para.mar was the only dan which laid chim to this distinction before the time of the poet Chand who flourished in the 12th century of our era, he is not yet prep'l.red to abandon the whole myth as a poet's fancy and abrnion also the theory of the foreign descent of the RJ.jputs whh:1 is principally based on this story of the Agnikula creat'on. Ct seerni, however, that the story of the Agnikula ore:i.tion s not only an em'l.nation from a poetic brain but is based ·urther up m a miiconception of that poet's idea. For it appears that even Chand did not intend to put forth a new race or- Vamsa for the Iour ,,Jans wh~, as epigraphic 3 THE EXPLODED MYTH OF AGNIKULAS. 3 ,records prove, in his time and before him and even after him ;believed themselves to be solar or lunar race Kshatriyas. I .Propose in this paper to place before you the considerations and arguments which substantiate these two positions. It must be stated at the outset that nobo<ly attaches any .historical value even to the solar or lunar race tradition in the sense that some races were actually born from the sun or the .moon. For nobody can believe that these orbs could have been the progenitors of human races. The tradition is, however, important in the sense that this belief is very ancient and goes .back even to the Vedas and it shows that Aryan peoples came to India in Vedic times in two hordes which called themselves .solar race people and lunar race people. .The coming of two -different hordes of Aryan peoples into India is shown even by linguistic differences still existing as expounded by Sir R. ·Grierson who to my mind was the first to point out the coming into India of two hordes of Aryans in ancient times. The addition of a third race not Aryan but Turanian in recent times, i.e., in centuries later than the Christian era is supposed to be -evidenced by the Agnikula tradition, and it is argued that these foreigners Sakas and Huns, Gujars and Mehers were incorporated into the Kshatriya caste already existing by the fictitious process of purification by fire. The question, therefore, is impor­ tant whether the four clans Chauhan, Chalukya, Paramara and Pratihara did represent themselves as Agnikulas in early times, and if not whether Chand Ba.rdai, the writer of the Prithviraja Rii.sa really represents them as other than solar and lunar race Kshatriyas. The answer to both questions is in the negative as I proceed to show. That the Chauhans represented themselves in their records .as solar race Kshatriyas is now admitted on all hands. The Harsha stone inscription dated V. E. 1030 or A. D. 952 (Ep. lnd. II. p. 119) shows distinctly that the Chiihama:r!as were believed to be solar race Kshatryas ( ~"fi~('I') ~ ~('l'T ~~~ ). The Prithviraj Vijaya, a poem written by another poet in the court of Prithviraj himself as shown by }Ir. Harbilas Sarda of Ajmere, distinctly calls the Chauhans as solar race Kshatriy~ (e. g., he ruled over the heads of kings like his ancestor the sun) and Harbilas further says that an inscription of Visaldeo IV (A.D. 1153-63) also states the same. The Hamir Mahii.kavya gives the same extraction (Hamir being a noted Chauhan king after Prithviraj and the Kavya being composed after 1400 A.D.) and gives a different story from that of the Riisii.. It says that once Brahma.deva or the <ireator wished to perform a sacrifice and as he was revolving 3 4 THE EXPLODED MYTH OF AGNIKULAS. this idea in his mind the lotus in his hand fell. The place where­ it fell on the earth became the Pushkar or lotus lake and there· a sae;rifice was performed and for its protection the sun gave a powerful warrior, viz., the first Cha.hamii.na. This story brings the Pushka.r lake, the worship of Brahma, who has his temple there alone in the whole of India, and the Chauhan kings who ruled this land, together in one legend. These inscriptions and stories bring out the fact that in the 10th to the 14th centuries, the Chahamanas were believed to be solar race Kshatriyas. It may be noted that the Bijolia inscription of Samvat 1226 says that the first noted Chauhan king Siimanta was born of a Brahmin of the Vatsa. gotra ; but this does not contra.diet the solar race tradition, much less assign them a fire-origin (B. R. .A. S. Vol. L','). The case of the Pratihara. Ra.jputs is equally clear. The Gwalior inscription of Bhoja published by Mr. D.R. Bhandarkar (Arch. S. R. 1903-4, p. 280) gives a detailed history of the line and states that the Pratiharas were descended from Lakshma.r;ia., brother of Rama.