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Negotiating Identity and Status

Legitimation and Patronage under the Gurjara-Prathras of Kanauj

Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University

A relatively recent thrust in Indian historiography has been on explorations of the making and functioning of various ideological structures through which the state in early India derived legitimacy. The present article extends the theme to the state under the Gurjara-Prathras of Kanauj, who ruled large parts of north India from the late eighth to the early eleventh century AD. It begins by highlighting how the Prathras of Kanauj made a conscious attempt to distance themselves from their Gurjara identity, through a variety of means. Association with the solar lineage, projection of devotion to a specific brahmanical deity by each Prathra ruler in the copper plates of the family and the use of titles like divarha were some of the strategies used. The article also delineates the shift in the nature of religious legitimation as the locus of the state shifted from Jalor in southern Rajasthan to Kanauj in Uttar Pradesh. The analysis also indicates a dichotomy between the forms of patronage extended by the sovereign, who had an inclination towards giving grants of land to brhmanas, and that of the subordinates, who were more involved in temple-building activities, probably to cater to the needs of their local contexts. The article thus attempts to situate the case of the Gurjara-Prathras of Kanauj within the broader historiography on the theme.

Studies in History, Vol. 22, No. 2, 181-220 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/025764300602200202


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