Hey guys, welcome back to my blog! Today I have a little summary of the life documentary of one of Kashmir’s most famous kings, Lalitaditya! Kashmir is such a beautiful state because of all the landmarks built by Lalitaditya! Oh and I almost forgot, these kinds of stories make great history lessons. So without further adieu, onwards!

Lineage:

Lalitaditya was the fourth ruler of the Karkota dynasty of Kashmir. Known for being a master builder, Lalitaditya built many of the most sacred temples in India. As for his lineage he was the grandson of Durlabhavardhana, the son in law of the last emperor of the Gonandiya dynasty, Baladitya who was heirless. Baladitya got his daughter married to Durlabhavardana in hopes that he would become king and take over his throne. So when Baladitya died, the dynasty of Gonandiya transitioned to become the Kashmiri Karkota dynasty with Durlabhavardana as the first emperor. When Durlabhavardana died, his son Durlabhaka ascended the throne with  the name Pratapaditya. Pratapaditya had fallen in love with his best friend’s (Nona’s) wife, Narendraprabha. Pratapaditya didn’t tell Nona that he was in love with his wife. But when Nona heard of this he voluntarily gave up his wife for the sake of his friend. And it was to this queen that three sons were born, Chandrapida, Tarapida, and Muktapida. Chandrapida first succeeded his father to the throne but ruled for only 8 years before Tarapida used black magic sorcery to kill him. And so when Tarapida took over the kingdom, his own brahmin officers used similar black magic sorcery to kill him, making Muktapida the new king. Muktapida took up the throne and then the name, Lalitaditya. 

The Reign:

Lalitaditya ruled for a period of 36 years from 724 CE to 760 CE. Those 36 years that Lalitaditya had ruled for, were the most beautiful and vibrant years for Kashmir. A little  background about what fueled Lalitaditya’s first conquest, the Arab rulers of Sindh had always dreamt of capturing and ruling the land of Kashmir. The Arabs were able to capture Sindh and end the dynasty that had ruled before in a tragic way. However, everytime they tried to attack Kashmir, they would brutally lose. So right when Lalitaditya started his reign, the Arabs were planning to avenge Kashmir and take over it. However Lalitaditya knew of this revenge plan and he began preparing his army. And so when Lalitaditya met the Arab ruler, Junayd on the battlefield, he easily vanquished them in no time at all. This was because Lalitaditya had a lot of cavalry and foot soldiers in his army instead of big elephants. Usually Indian kings had more elephants than cavalry against the Arabs who had fast moving horses and camels. Lalitaditya’s life conquest was to drive the Mughals out of India. And he won many, many battles against them, but I’ll document only the most important ones.:) After his defeats, the Arab king, Junayd, decided to shift his focus to Kannauj. And so to defeat him once again, the king of Kannauj, Yashovarman, joined hands with Lalitaditya and they vanquished Junayd and his forces. But to add to Junayd’s disappointment, the Arab trade ports  in Sindh were decaying. Even the power that they had over Sindh was weakening. And Lalitaditya quick as ever took this opportunity to chase the Arab rulers out of Sindh. This was Lalitaditya’s strategy. He would chip away at the main King while waiting and then pounce on the chance to reoccupy parts of the Arab rule. Like this, he took back so much of the Arab rule. This kept the Arabs and their rulers out of Kashmir for almost a century. However  after Lalitaditya’s son, no one was strong enough to maintain the large empire and just less than a century Kashmir was in absolute shambles. Anyways, here’s a fun fact: Lalitaditya was also a very passionate builder and built many beautiful temples and monuments during his “digvijay” or victory tour. It was Lalitaditya who had built the famous Martand Sun Temple.

You can read the full story of Lalitaditya in the book Bravehearts Of Bharat. He was arguably the greatest king Kashmir ever had! His story of grit and determination will definitely inspire you! I’ll leave the link to the book down below until then don’t forget to sub to my blog and share my posts! 

Bravehearts Of Bharat: https://a.co/d/8VP4o3J

XOXOXOXO,

Monkey Me