The Interesting Raja Suraj Dev

Temple at Babor (Courtesy: Jammu Daily)

The history of the Himalayan states of North-west India remains a subject of much obscurity, with thinly packed materials available, as historians like Karuna Goswamy have remarked. In the midst of all this, documents like the Rajdarshani or the Vanshavalis in other regions has served to be a much valuable work. While so called credible historians criticize them as sources of history given fanciful claims, it is interesting that the same cabal also does not hesitate to refer to similar fanciful accounts elsewhere, as for example is the case for Mahavamsa of Sri Lanka. Absence of archaeological evidence is a call for more such work, and not the case of 'unreliability' as some would claim. 

Be that as it may, the Rajdarshani as was written by Ganesh Das Badehra is an interesting account for it did have instances of the 8th-13th century AD period that can be verified in historical sources that we know of, especially for instance the Chamba copper plates or Kalhana's Rajatarangini. In this regards, it is important to point out the history of the founder of the Dev dynasty, which also continued well into the 20th century in the form of the Jamwals, making it perhaps one of the longest lineages of its kind in India and elsewhere. 

Raja Suraj Dev had ascended the throne around 815 AD, as the Rajdarshani indicates, and it is a well established fact that the capital of the Jammu region was known by the name of Babbapora or Banehr, where the capital was located, which also gave the region its name. What we do know is that the Dev rulers were certainly a feudatory or an ally of the Shahiya rulers who ruled Kabul and had an empire stretching across the North-West Frontier Province. Given the peripheral nature of Banehr, the existence of a relationship does certainly make sense.

 

The extent of the Hindu Shahi Kingdom (Courtesy: University of Vienna)

Hindu Shahi coin (8th century)

Hindu Shahi coin, obverse

Suraj Dev had recovered much of Jammu, and merged it to make a larger state. As per Rajdarshani, he had extended his empire all the way up to Tibet, though this bit seems unreliable. What is certainly known though is that a unified Jammu started to emerge, and was probably locally called Durgara or Dugger, which may have preceded the word Dogra itself. 

• Suraj Dev was a renowned ruler, and was considered a progressive reformist and able administrator. As per Dr. Sukhdev Singh Charak, he had divided his state's affairs into seven affairs, which on closer examination clearly seems somewhat on the lines of the ashtrapradhanamandala system that was considered ideal under Indian political theories. These affais were clearly heard in correspondence to the week's seven days of the week, and each was entrusted with a separate Vakil, who on the appointed day, conducted himself into the presence of the Raja and submitted his report and sought his guidance and instructions. The seven Vakils or ministers bore separate titles each and performed different functions, as laid out by Dr. Charak:

• Raj Mehta or Mehta-deodhi, was the minister of royal household, workshops and building
• Vakil-i* Riyaya or Mehta Raj Mehtri, was minister of public welfare
• Mehta Dalpati was the commander-in-chief of royal forces 
• Mehta Kachehri or Mehta-Tharha was minister for civil and military accounts
• Mehta Dharma Rai was the minister for religious affairs
• Mehta Rang Ras was minister for entertainment and reception
• Mehta Karond Singh looked after law and order in the state

This system was so popular that it clearly lasted for more than five centuries, and interestingly was also adopted by several offshoot states, most of which in the course of time became part of the Jammu region. 

Another important aspect of his rule was a military reform. Suraj Dev set up a standing force of 700 cavalry and 2,100 infantry. Of these, a contingent of 300 foot and 100 horsemen each was always on duty every day. Every footman equipped with shield and sword with short javelin, while horsemen possessed bows and arrows as well as shields and swords on their bodies. This actually helped arm the soldiers better, and also implied that soldiers clearly had to be better trained and more disciplined if they were to be able to wield more than one type of weapon.

Suraj Dev fought with Hindu Shahi rulers of Kabul; was captured and kept imprisoned in a cage by Sherif Khan, commander of Sultan Muhammad of Ghazni in 850 AD. There is a legend as per the Rajdarshani that Suraj Dev was asked to choose between Islam and death, and he chose the latter being a Rajput. His queen, Neela Rani, had apparently seen him being buried alive in a brick tower in disguise, and committed Sati to be with her husband, in life and in death. 

Of course, due to invasions by the Ghaznavids in later periods, hardly anything has survived in the ancient capital of Babbapura, which is known as Babor today. Close to Udhampur. The temple has amazing artistic sculpturing on its walls and pillars that have stood the test of time. Some historians have in fact remarked that the Babor and Krimchi temples of Jammu the style of Kashmir temples that were permanently lost in later periods, making them even more valuable, as they give a good picture of the kind of temples Kashmir must have had in pre-Islamic times.