Parihar Gotra
परिहार
At a glance
Related Gotras
Common surnames
About
Parihar (Pratihar, Pratihara, Padihar) is a Rajput clan. The Pratiharas of Kannauj ruled much of northern India from the eighth to the early eleventh century, and a branch held Mandor in Marwar until the Rathores took it. The dynasty's inscriptions trace it to Lakshmana, who was Rama's door-keeper (pratihara); later bardic tradition makes the clan Agnivanshi. Community sources give the Kashyapa gotra and Chamunda as kuldevi. Branches differ.
Founding Rishi
Pravara Lineage
The Pravara is the line of illustrious ancestral rishis recited in ritual, from the first ancestor down:
Regional Spread
The Parihar Gotra is predominantly found in:
Etymology
Pratihara and its later forms Parihar and Padihar come from the Sanskrit pratihara, 'door-keeper'. The dynasty's own inscriptions give the reason: the ancestor Lakshmana acted as door-keeper for his brother Rama. Tod's bardic account gives a different one, that the first Parihar issued from the fire-pit at Mount Abu without a warrior's bearing and was set to guard the gate (Prithi-ha-dwara).
Historical Journey
The inscriptions tell of two related houses. The Pratiharas of Mandavyapura (Mandor) are known from the Jodhpur inscription of Bauka (837 CE) and the Ghatiyala inscription of Kakkuka (861 CE). They name Harichandra, called a vipra (a Brahmin) in the records, and his second wife Bhadra, of a Kshatriya family, whose four sons took Mandavyapura. The imperial Pratiharas also claimed descent from Lakshmana. Nagabhata I led a confederacy that turned back an Arab army from Sindh in about 738. Vatsaraja and Nagabhata II then fought for Kannauj, which Nagabhata II held after about 816. Under Mihira Bhoja and Mahendrapala I the dynasty reached from the Sutlej to Bengal and past the Narmada. The Rashtrakuta king Indra III sacked Kannauj in about 916, feudatories broke away, and the Ghaznavid raid of 1018 drove out Rajyapala. Jasapala, the last ruler of Kannauj, died in 1036. Origin is disputed. The dynasty called itself Pratihara and never Gurjara in its own records, though neighbours' inscriptions call it Gurjara. One school reads Gurjara as the name of the country, Gurjaradesa; another as a tribe, which some historians think was foreign and others native. Dasharatha Sharma placed the first centre in the Bhinmal-Jalor area. The fire-origin story is recorded first for the Paramaras, in a poem of about 1000 CE, and was extended to the Pratiharas and other clans in the later recensions of the Prithviraj Raso. A Pratihara line kept Mandor until the fourteenth century. Tod says the Rathores, led by Chonda, took Mandor from the Parihar; the family tradition, retold by Wikipedia, says the Parihar gave it in dowry to Rao Chunda in an alliance against the Tughluqs. Tod lists twelve Parihar subdivisions, of which the chief were the Indha and Sindhal. Crooke records Parihar families around Etawah, Unao and in Bundelkhand, among them the Raja of Uchahara. Crooke, following Cunningham, also gives a Parihar dynasty at Gwalior from 1129 to 1211, but Gwalior inscriptions show Kachchhapaghata rule continuing in the same years, so this page does not rely on it.
Migration & Diaspora
The dynasty began in the Gurjaradesa country of Rajasthan, moved its seat to Avanti and Kannauj in the eighth and ninth centuries, and broke into small states after the Ghaznavid invasions. A branch stayed in Marwar at Mandor, where the Indha line is named by Tod. Others moved east and south to Bundelkhand, the Doab and the Chambal ravines. Crooke's Unao account has a Parihar family coming from Jigini and the Jumna country in the time of Humayun. The Wikipedia note that Parihar is a clan name in the Rajput, Meena, Gujjar and Gadia Lohar groups means the name alone does not show Rajput descent.
Presence Across Regions
Rajasthan (Mandor, Jodhpur, Merta, Bhinmal)
Rajput
The original country. Mandor, five miles north of Jodhpur, was the Parihar capital before the Rathores, per Tod. The Padihar of Khakhu lived at Ghatiyala and honoured Chamunda in community accounts.
Madhya Pradesh (Bundelkhand, Gwalior)
Rajput
Crooke records Parihar families in Bundelkhand and the Raja of Uchahara, who claim to have preceded the Chandelas. Russell records Parihars in Sagar, Damoh and Jabalpur.
Uttar Pradesh (Etawah, Unao, Hamirpur)
Rajput
Crooke places Parihar clans in the Chambal and Jumna ravines of Etawah and in Unao's Sikandarpur, where they hold an estate of eighty-four villages.
Other communities
Meena, Gujjar and others
Wikipedia notes that Parihar or Pratihar is also a clan name among Meena, Gujjar and Gadia Lohar families. This page describes the Rajput clan only.
Notable Personalities
Nagabhata I
c. 730 to 760
Pratihara ruler who led a confederacy that repulsed an Arab army from Sindh in about 738; the Gwalior inscription of Bhoja praises him for it.
Nagabhata II
805 to 833
Won Kannauj and made it the centre of the Pratihara state. He is also credited in Wikipedia with rebuilding the Somnath temple.
Mihira Bhoja
9th century
Pratihara emperor whose reign took the dynasty to its widest extent; his inscriptions run from the Sutlej to the Gorakhpur country. The Arab traveller Sulaiman described his cavalry in 851.
Mahendrapala I
885 to 910
Emperor under whom the dynasty reached its peak. The Pehowa inscription of his reign is the earliest record of the Tomaras.
Nahar Rao of Mandor
12th century
Parihar chief whom Tod names for an unsuccessful attempt to hold his independence against Prithviraj Chauhan, which gave a pass of the Aravalli a name.
Stories & Legends
Lakshmana at the gate
The Jodhpur inscription of Bauka and the Ghatiyala inscription of Kakkuka trace the Mandor Pratiharas to the brother of Rama, identified as Lakshmana, who served as Rama's door-keeper (pratihara). That, the inscriptions say, is why the family is called Pratihara. The imperial Pratiharas of Kannauj told the same story. Later bards replaced it with the Abu fire-pit, in which the first Parihar rose from the flames without a warrior's bearing and was posted at the gate.
Chamunda moves to Jodhpur
Community accounts say the goddess Chamunda was the kuldevi of the Pratiharas at Mandor. When Rao Jodha founded Jodhpur he had her image brought from Mandor to Mehrangarh fort, where the Chamunda Mataji temple was established in 1460 according to Wikipedia. The goddess is still worshipped by the Jodhpur royal house. The same sources say the Rathore kuldevi is Nagnechiya Mata.
Ritual Significance
Gotra: community listings, including the Pratihara history blog and a Rajput gotra table, give the Parihar the Kashyapa gotra; one listing instead names Kapila with Kashyapa as a pravara. I found no gazetteer or inscription that settles it. The pravara and Veda above are those of the Kashyap page on this site. Families should confirm the gotra with their purohit. Kuldevi, in Parihar tradition: Chamunda, with Gajan Mata as the vara devi. Tod's bardic text of the four fire-born clans names Gajan Mata as the Parihar goddess. Community sources describe a Chamunda temple at the village of Chamunda near Ghatiyala, about thirty kilometres from Jodhpur, and the Chamunda Mataji temple in Mehrangarh. A rajputs.net listing instead gives Yogeshwari Mata for Parihar and Chamunda for Padihar. The Deval branch is said to honour Sundha Mata. Which goddess a family honours depends on its branch and village.