Negotiating Identity and Status

Abstract

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-Pratīhāras 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 Pratīhāras 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 Pratīhāra ruler in the copper plates of the family and the use of titles like Ādivarāha 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 brāhmanas, 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-Pratīhāras of Kanauj within the broader historiography on the theme.