Parmar Gotra
परमार
At a glance
- Founding Rishi
- Vashishtha
- Veda
- Rigveda
Related Gotras
Common surnames
About
Parmar (Paramara, Panwar, Puar) is a Rajput clan whose best-known kingdom was Malwa, ruled from Dhara (Dhar), Ujjain and Mandu between the tenth and fourteenth centuries. The oldest account of its origin, a poem of about 1000 CE, has the sage Vashistha raise the first Paramara from a fire-pit on Mount Abu. A Paramara inscription gives the Vashistha gotra. The kuldevi in Parmar tradition is Sachchiya Mata of Osian; Tod's bardic text names Sancher Mata. Branches differ.
Founding Rishi
Pravara Lineage
The Pravara is the line of illustrious ancestral rishis recited in ritual, from the first ancestor down:
- 1Vashishtha
- 2Indrapramada
- 3Abharadwasu
Regional Spread
The Parmar Gotra is predominantly found in:
Etymology
Paramara is read as 'enemy-slayer' in the Navasahasankacharita, which says Vashistha gave the title to the hero he raised from the fire-pit. Tod gives a similar bardic account in which Indra's image of grass came to life crying 'Mar! Mar!' (slay, slay), whence the name Pramar. The forms Panwar, Pawar, Puar and Ponwar are later spoken variants.
Historical Journey
The earliest source for the fire-origin story is the Navasahasankacharita of Padmagupta, court poet of the Paramara king Sindhuraja, written about 1000 CE. In it Vishvamitra takes Vashistha's wish-granting cow on Mount Abu, and Vashistha conjures a hero from the fire-pit, who brings the cow back and is called Paramara. The story is not found in earlier Paramara records. Later recensions of the Prithviraj Raso widened it to four fire-born clans; the earliest copies of the Raso lack the story, which may be a sixteenth-century addition. Colonial-era historians read it as evidence of foreign origin, a theory weakened because the story is absent from the earliest Paramara records. Some historians, including Dasharatha Sharma and Pratipal Bhatia, argue from the Patanarayana temple inscription, which gives the Paramaras the Vashistha gotra, and from Halayudha's calling Munja 'Brahma-Kshatra', that the family began as Brahmins who became warriors. Arvind K. Singh points to other records that call them Kshatriyas. D. C. Ganguly proposed descent from the Rashtrakutas, a guess that critics say rests on a gap in the Harsola plates of 949 CE. The dynasty rose as a vassal of the Rashtrakutas. Siyaka, whose Harsola plates date to 949 CE, sacked the Rashtrakuta capital Manyakheta in about 972 CE. His successor Munja (Vakpati II) was a patron of poets and was defeated and killed by the Western Chalukya king Tailapa II between 994 and 998. Sindhuraja followed, and then Bhoja, the best known of the line, an empire builder and a scholar whose writings cover grammar, poetry, architecture and yoga. Bhoja is credited with the Bhoj Shala at Dhar and the town of Bhojpur. After the twelfth century the Paramaras lost ground to the Chaulukyas, Yadavas and the Delhi sultans. Mahalakadeva, the last known king, was killed by Alauddin Khalji's general Ayn al-Mulk Multani in 1305, and inscriptions suggest rule continued in a corner of Malwa to about 1310. Tod says the Pramara sent out thirty-five branches (sakha), among them the Mori of Chitor, the Sodha of Umarkot and the desert, the Sankhla of Pugal and Marwar, the Vihal of Chandravati, the Mepawat of Bijolia and the Umat of Umatwara in Malwa. The Wikipedia list of branches adds the Paramaras of Chandravati, Bhinmal-Kiradu and Jalor, the Ujjainiyas of Bhojpur (Bihar), the Sodhas of Amarkot, and the Nimbalkars of Phaltan.
Migration & Diaspora
From Dhara and Ujjain the clan spread west into Rajasthan and Gujarat, where Abu and Chandravati, Bhinmal and Jalor held Paramara branches under the Chaulukyas, and east to Bihar, where the Ujjainiya line ruled Bhojpur and later Dumraon. A Sodha line ruled Amarkot (Umarkot) in Sindh until the eighteenth century, when Jodhpur annexed it. Several princely houses claim Paramara descent: Tehri Garhwal, Baghal in Himachal Pradesh, Danta, Muli, Rajgarh, Narsinghgarh, and Chhatarpur. The Maratha Puar houses of Dewas and Dhar also claim descent from the Paramaras. These are claims, not documented lines.
Presence Across Regions
Malwa (Dhar, Ujjain, Mandu, Rajgarh, Narsinghgarh)
Rajput
The centre of the Paramara kingdom. The Umats ruled Umatwara and the houses of Rajgarh and Narsinghgarh descend from them, per Tod and Wikipedia.
Rajasthan and Gujarat (Abu, Chandravati, Bhinmal, Jalor, Pugal)
Rajput
Branches that ruled under the Chaulukyas and later the Chahamanas. The Sankhla are the Parmar branch of Pugal and Marwar in Tod, and the Mepawat held Bijolia.
Sindh and Tharparkar (Umarkot)
Rajput
Tod's Sodha branch; he records Umarkot as the place where Akbar was born and the seat of the prince who sheltered Humayun.
Bihar (Bhojpur, Dumraon)
Rajput
The Ujjainiya branch, named for Ujjain, whose cadet families founded several principalities in the Bhojpur country.
Maharashtra and the Central Provinces
Rajput and Maratha
Russell records a Panwar clan around Nagpur and elsewhere in the Central Provinces. The Puar rulers of Dewas and Dhar claim Paramara descent.
Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand
Rajput
The ruling houses of Baghal and Tehri Garhwal trace their founders to Malwa.
Notable Personalities
Munja (Vakpati II)
Late 10th century
Paramara king and poet who patronised scholars and fought the Chahamanas, Guhilas and Kalachuris. He was defeated and killed by the Chalukya king Tailapa II.
Bhoja
11th century
The best-known Paramara king, scholar and author. Credited with the Bhoj Shala (a Sarasvati temple and school) at Dhar and the founding of Bhojpur. The Paramara empire reached its widest extent under him.
Udayaditya
Late 11th century
Younger brother of Bhoja, who held Malwa against the Chaulukya king Karna. Tod places his death in 1096.
Mahalakadeva
Early 14th century
The last known Paramara king of Malwa, killed by Alauddin Khalji's army in 1305.
Stories & Legends
Vashistha's cow and the first Paramara
In the Navasahasankacharita, Vishvamitra seizes Vashistha's wish-granting cow on Mount Abu. Vashistha performs a sacrifice, and a hero rises from the fire-pit, defeats Vishvamitra's army and brings the cow back. Vashistha names him Paramara, 'enemy-slayer'. Scholars note that the poem names only the Paramaras as fire-born, and that the four-clan version came later.
Indra's grass image
Tod's translation of the bardic account says that after the gods debated, Indra made an image of durva grass, sprinkled it with the water of life and threw it into the fire. A figure carrying a mace rose from the flame crying 'Mar! Mar!' and was named Pramar. Abu, Dhar and Ujjain were given to him as territory. The bards give this as the origin of the Pramaras.
Ritual Significance
Gotra: Vashistha. The Patanarayana temple inscription gives the Paramaras the Vashistha gotra, and the Agnikula legend has Vashistha as the sage who raised the first Paramara. The pravara and Veda above are those of the Vashishtha page on this site. Families in different branches may name other gotras. Kuldevi, in Parmar tradition: Sachchiya (Sachiya) Mata, whose temple is at Osian near Jodhpur. Popular and temple sources describe her as the clan goddess of the Parmars, dating the temple to the eighth to twelfth century with different accounts of its builder. Tod's bardic account of the four fire-born clans names the Pramara goddess as Sancher Mata; I take this to be the same tradition, but did not find a source that says so. The goddess is also the kuldevi of the Oswals and some other communities. The Paramaras of Malwa were mostly Shaivas, in Wikipedia's summary of the inscriptions, and Sarasvati was honoured at the Bhoj Shala in Dhar. Which goddess a Parmar family honours depends on its branch and village.