Synopsis of History of Lohanas - by R. T.Somaiya (from another group)

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Synopsis of History of Lohanas - by R. T.Somaiya

Lohanas are

"Raghuvanshi Kshatriyas " . Since Raghuvanshis were Suryavanshis, naturally

Lohanas are also 'Suryavanshis'. Going deep in the history of Lohanas would

mean going deep in the history of Raghuvanshis and Suryavanshis. Most of it is

in the form of legend. Whether legends are historically true or not, is a

subject of great debate. One thing is sure that it gives insight to various

aspects of our origin and history till the time that recorded history began.

 

While travelling in South East Asia I had come across a book in which the

legend had recorded that after passing away of Shri Ram, his kingdom was

divided between his 2 Sons – LUV & KUSH. Luv was given all the territories

- east of Ayodhya, and Kush was given west of

Ayodhya. Two Sons of Bharat namely Pushya and Taksha joined with Kush. This is corroborated by history which says that

Pushya founded a new city in the name of

Pushyapur which over the centuries got the modem name Peshawar

and Taksha founded a new city

by the name Takshasila which at present is known as Taxila in the land from

where their grandmother Kaikeyi hailed. She was the princess from highlands of

Kekay now known as North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Area in which I

read this book was Laos

which is known even today in their local language as Luvpradesh and in modem

French version Laos

which is pronounced as 'Lao'. Over the centuries the descendents of Luv

extended their empire up to the Chinese sea and beyond upto Bali and including Indonesia. Bali is named after the mighty king, Wali – brother of

Sugrieve of our and their Ramayan. They call their ramayan as Ramakien i.e.

Ramakhyan – the life story of Rama, because they are connected with Ram of

Raghuvansh. The eastern empire also included Champa (now known as Vietnam),

Kamboj now known as Cambodia, Laos and Thailand then known as Siam Pradesh, Burma

which was known as Dwaravati etc. Until 200 years ago, prior to Bangkok, Ayodhya was capital of Thailand. That Ayodhya still exists.

Present king's name is Bhumibal Atulyatej Rama the Nineth. Thanon Surawongse

i.e. Suryawansh Marg in Central Bangkok today

is not without their roots in Raghuvansh. And confirms their descent

from Suryavansh.

Names of kings of Laos such as

Sinhanouk and Ranariddha – do they sound Chinese or Bharatiya? The theory of

Bharat Varsh from Coasts of Mediterranean to Bali are full with legends

supporting their roots from India.

 

Similarly, the

empire of descendents of Kush included North,

West and North Western India, Gandhar (Afghanishtan), where they established a

new capital in the name of Kapisthala in honor of Hanumanji. In modern time it

has been shortened Kapisa which is to the north of Kabul.With advent of Islam

and Gandhar falling into the hands of Muslims, a new city was established by

them near Kapisa by the name of Kabul. They also occupied Central Asia and

established a new city

Shrimarkandpur honoring their suryavanshi descent. Markand means Sun. So the new city was Suryapur or Sun city.

Over the times 'Pur' got dropped, the original name got shortened and the city

today is known as Srimarkand – Samarqand. Not only that, the largest Sun temple

was also built at Samarqand by them which was in ruins few centuries ago but

now even the ruins have vanished.

I have all the

reason to believe that descendents of Kush went right upto Mediterranean sea

i.e. going upto Egypt.

The capital city established by them there was known as Heliopolis

(old name of Cairo) Helio is Sun and Polis is

city so in good old days Cairo

was also to say in our language Suryapur. In their language Sun was Raa and all

the kings were considered as sun personified. We also called our kings Raa e.g

Raakhengar. it got improved from Raa to Rao and Rai and Rana aiso. Rana Pratap

was a great Suryavanshi king whose story is well recorded in history. Even

Egyptian kings had names such as Ramses I, II etc. Suryavanshis were Shiv

bhaktas. Near Pyramids in Cairo

you can see even today Sarcophaguses of bulls. Holy bulls were buried so well

that their tombs exist even upto today. Coins of Shahi Kings of Afghanistan

show Nandi (bull) on one side and horseman on the other. Kushan king also had

Shiva with Nandi on one side and king on the other. What is Sphinx? Murty i.e.

idol of Narsimha who killed Hiranyakashyapu an Assyrian king – grandfather of

Baliraja who ruled over lands presentiy know as Arabia.

These are pointers to our possible links. I can give many more examples but

some other time.

With that short

history now we come to Facts:

 

Lohana is short form of

Lohar Ranas because as per the recorded history Lohanas ruled over Kashmir from AD 1003 to 1338. It has been recorded as

Lohar dynasty-I and Lohar dynasty-II and subsequently rulers from the same clan

upto 1338, after which there were mass conversions to Islam. Many of us

migrated under compulsion to Punjab, Sindh, Kutch and Gujarat

and today they are known as Punjabi-Lohanas, Sindhi-Lohanas, Kutchi - Lohanas,

Halai-Lohanas, Depalas and Goghari-Lohanas. Those who resisted the conversions

and/or migrations, were killed and there was mass holocaust as recorded in Kashmir history.

For the benefit of

readers, to give more historical facts, I am giving below the names of kings

who ruled over present day Jammu-Kashmir and adjoining areas in Himachal upto

Bhimnagar with their dates:

First

Lohara dynasty

 

 

 

Sangramdev

(Samgramaraja), nephew of Didda Rani

 

 

1003-1028

 

 

 

 

 

Hariraja,

s/o Sangramadev (21 dys)

 

 

1028

 

 

 

 

Anantadev,

s/o Sangramadev

 

 

1028-1063

 

 

 

 

 

Kalasa,

s/o Anantadev Anantadev in real control unit 1079 (d.1081)

 

 

1063-1089

 

 

 

 

 

Utkarsha,

s/o Kalasa

 

 

1089

 

 

 

 

Harsha,

s/o Kalasa

 

 

1089-1101

 

 

 

 

Second

Lohara dynasty

 

 

 

Uchchala:collateral

Lohana Line

 

 

1101-1111

 

 

 

 

Salhana,

br./of Uchchala

 

 

1111-1112

 

 

 

 

Sussala,

br./of Uchchala

 

 

1112-1120

 

 

 

 

 

Bhikshacharya,

s/o Bhoja, s/o Harsha(d.1130)

 

 

1120-1121

 

 

 

 

Sussala:restored

 

 

1121-1123

 

 

 

 

Jayasimhadeva

I, s/o SussalaSussala in real control until death in 1128

 

 

1123-1155

 

 

 

 

Mallarjuna,

s/o Sussala: in revolt 1131

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gulhana,

s/o jayasimha:

 

 

1155-1165

 

 

 

 

Avantidea

(Vantideva), s/o Paramanuka

 

 

1165-1172

 

 

 

Dynasty

of Vuppadeva

 

 

 

Vuppadeva

(Bhupa Dev or Bhupati Dev )

 

 

1172-1181

 

 

 

 

Jassadeva(Jassaka),

br./o Vuppadeva

 

 

1181-1199

 

 

 

 

Jagadeva,

s/o Jassadeva

 

 

1199-1213

 

 

 

 

 

Rajadeva,

s/o jagadeva

 

 

1213-1236

 

 

 

 

Sangramadeva,

s/o Rajadeva

 

 

1236-1252

 

 

 

 

Ramadeva,

s/o Sangramadeva

 

 

1252-1273

 

 

 

 

Lakshmanadeva,

adopted s/o Ramadeva

 

 

1273-1286

 

 

 

 

Period

of anarchy & invasionsFollowed by Moslem Dynasty.

 

 

1286-1338

 

 

 

These kings

had issued their coins which can be seen in Pratapsinh

Museum, British Museum-London, in Coin

Cabinets of American Numismatics Society, USA and hundreds of private

collections.

Prior to getting Kashmir under our rule, rulling system in Loharpradesh

was more of the style of federation which can be witnessed in surnames of

Lohanas. The rulers of smaller areas were known by their areas such as

Raichadda, Raimangia, Raithatta, Raikundalia, Raichura, Raivadera, Raj Popat

etc.Some surnames were known from the place from where they had come e.g.

Dodechas are from Dodda which is now in jammu, Kotechas are from Kota i.e. today's

Quetta, Dhamechas, Sonecha - Soneta, Hindocha etc. Unadkats are from Unnadkot.

Unnad means Sun. Prior to Lohanas ruling over Kashmir;

they had their own capital in Loharpradesh at Ohind near Poonch /Rajouri

and the fortified town was known as unnadkot i.e. Suryakot so all the Unadkats

hailed from that part of Loharpradesh. Now it is corrupted to Unadkath,

Annadkath etc. For strategic reasons when we moved our capital from Ohind to

Nandana, we got the surname Nandani also. Like that most of the Lohana surnames

can be traced to their ruling area and / or their place of domicile or in some

cases to their brave ancesters, some fo whome were kings e.g. Sejpal we had a

line of kings with such names, namely Anangpal, Jaipal, Madanpal, Trilochanpal,

Sejpal etc. parmani from king Parmanuk, sayta from king Sayata, Bhimani from

Bhimdev. Similarly we had a dynasty known as Karkotak which

had kings by the names of Lalitaditya, Pratapaditya, Vinayaditya etc. With drop

of "kar" from Karkotak, the descendents of this dynasty came to be known as

Kotak. These are not anecdotes. These are facts and historical data giving

period of their rule exists so also their coins exist and can be seen in the

places aforesaid as also in many numismatic books. I will give them in

later articles.

Rulers of Afghanistan

were known as Shahis as they were descendents of Kidarkushans who in turn had

descended from Kushans. Kushan kings used to write their names on their coins

with title Shao – Nano – Shao i.e. King of Kings which in modem parlance would

be

Shahenshah which

sounds as Muslim word but it is not so. Shao - Nano - Shao is close to 2000

years old title when Islam did not exist. As per the book I had read,

Kushans were descendents of Kush. Their

history, their specific descendents who ruled over an area extending from

Samarqand in north to Chachpradesh i.e. delta of Sindhu river where it meets

the Indian Ocean and from Herat

in the west to Bhimnagar in Himachal Pradesh..

This is a historical

fact recorded in hundreds of history books. A coin of first Kushan King Wima

Takto - which means 'Bhim the victorious'. Takto is a Central Asian word

meaning 'victorious'.. Shaka in

Sanskrit means Vijay Victory . I will illustrate these coins in later articles

..

Wima Takto's reign period is reckoned as from circa AD 55- to AD 105.

It is believed that it was he who started Shaka Samvat commemorating his

victory of their ancestral kingdom and Which exists and continues even today.

From their period till the last Lohana King i.e. 1338 more or less continuous

chain of kings and their coins exist for everyone to see in various museums in

different countries of the world. I do not know of any other race which ruled

for over 1200 years and we should be proud that we belong to the same

worthy race of Suryavansh-Raghuvansh.

If we try to put down all that history at one place in a book form, it

can make a nice glorious record of our history and our ancestry but for that

there has to be a separate project. Lohanas today know only about one brave

warrior i.e. dada jasraj who existed appx. Between AD 970 and 1000. If our

history is re-written on the basis of above outlines the world will be

surprised to know the large number of heroic and illustrious warriors and

rulers from amongst our ancestors. Life of Jasraj is a nice example of the

courage and valor of Lohar Ranas because he killed Sabuk-tigin - father of

Mahmud Gazni, in the year AD 997, in his own court in Kabul, in presence of his courtiers and still

escaped with his party. History has recorded that to avenge the death of his

father, Mahmud Gazni attacked Loharpradesh three times and failed to capture

Loharpradesh but in one of those aggressions Jasraj lost his life. So

alsoMahmud tried to capture Kashmir where we were ruling and failed all the 3

times.He had succeeded in capturing Punjab and other parts of India which is

part of history known to everyone but I repeat that our military supremacy was

so good that even he could not capture our areas though he succeeded in various

other parts of India.

Here I would like to

add that this being the historical fact, our legends saying that Dada Jasraj

killed Chengizkhan and that Taimurlang also lost his life at Dada's hands,

needs to be corrected. Chengiz died in the year AD 1227 while fighting with

Tanguts in Mongolia

and lies buried in Burkan Qaldun-Mangolia. So aiso, Taimur died in AD 1405 at

Otraer on Jaxartes river in war against China. The most important thing

that history tells us is that it was our ancestors who stood guard at North

West Frontier of our country and served as successful sentries for over twelve

centuries and defended our borders valiantly­. We should record in our

annals accordingly.

I hope this short

synopsis will give inspiration to more young people to delve deeper in our

history and publish their research for the benefit of entire Lohana community

which is today spread ail over India, UK, USA, Canada, Africa and other parts

of the world. It will be my pleasure to assist.

Coins of our various

dynasties and kings aforesaid are available with many Museums & coin

collectors, most of whom are not connected with Lohanas .therefore our history

has remained obscure. The serious students of our history should now procure

them wherever possible as a supporting evidence to our history. It is rather

late, but worth an effort.

Whatever coins I have I will put

up on our website and I am sure that will make you all proud and confirm our

HISTORY.

..

After take over of reigns from us, our gold, silver and copper coins were

systematically melted down to manufacture coins of Sultans. Our coins were even

otherwise a taboo for them because they portrayed King and Lakshmi on them.

Human pictures are forbidden in Islam, so from that point also our coins ere

withdrawn by subsequent Muslim rulers. So, our coins have vanished. What we

come across some times are those from fresh excavations in our erstwhiie areas.

From that also, I have seen bulk goes to coppersmiths in local

bazaars for making copper utensils which are very popular with local populace.

 

Joshi's book Jasraj

- a legend - proved an inspiration for me and prompted me to spend more than 50

years in travels to all these lands and picking up threads of our history from

everywhere. From Cairo to Bali.

I will rest in peace if the younger members from our community will now

continue this work and bring out more hidden treasures of our grand history.

 

For questions and

comments you may contact me on email and let me know on what aspect you would

like to know more:

rtsomaiya

or

rtsomaiya

R.T.Somaiya

[Guest guest]

I've read that Kapisa is Begram.KB _,___

[Guest guest]

I 've read that Kapisa is Begram.KB _,

This is something totally new to me. So, I don;t even know what you two - Somaiyaji and you are talking about :)Please enlighten us. (at least me) Kishore patnaik

[Guest guest]

Dear Kishore,

Here's what I found on Kapisa:

 

Historical Atlas of South Asia, ed. by Joseph E. Schwartzberg,

2nd impression w additional material

Oxford U. Press, 1992.

 

Alphabetical Listing

p. 332 Bagram v. Kapis(h)i

p. 347

Kapis(h)i (mod. Bagram)

Alexandria

Kaisana

Kapis(h)a

 

Kapisthala v. Kaithal [Haryana]

 

Kathie B.

[my email appl. doesn't have diacritical marks]

[Guest guest]

KAPISA was corrupted form of KAPI STHALA which was capital city of Afghanistan of that period. It was given the name in honour of Great Kapi Hanuman . Secondly, Wima Kadphises was from Kapisa as the kharoshti legend on his coins readsWima KAPISASYA i.e. Wima of Kapisa. This system of identification with one's place of origin still continues with many in India.Rajsinh Dungarpur or Mansurali Pataudi or Chittoor Balakrishnan etc.I hope the point is clear.Best RegardsR.T.Somaiya--- On Sun, 14/9/08, kishore patnaik <kishorepatnaik09 wrote:kishore patnaik <kishorepatnaik09Re: Synopsis of

History of Lohanas - by R. T.Somaiya (from another group) Date: Sunday, 14 September, 2008, 8:03 PM

 

I 've read that Kapisa is Begram.KB _,

This is something totally new to me. So, I don;t even know what you two - Somaiyaji and you are talking about :)Please enlighten us. (at least me) Kishore patnaik

 

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