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With 444 years of rule, the Tomars were the longest ruling Dynasty of Delhi. The Mughals were to follow with 316 years and then the Mamluks with 98 years of rule. Still, no one ever talks about these magnificent settlers of the Capital of modern India. NRI Achievers brings you a feature on the lesser known history of Delhi and its magnificent rulers of yore …

Roughly 3000 years ago, when Lord Krishna advocated Pandavas in the court of Dhritrashtra, Prince Duryodhna half-heartedly agreed to give five villages to them. These villages were Paniprastha (now Panipat), Sonaprastha (now Sonipat), Baaghprastha (now Baghpat), Tilprastha (now Tilpat in Faridabad) and largest of all, Khandavprastha (later changed to Indraprastha). These villages suffered badly during the war of Mahabharta in Kurukshetra. While the Pandavas were ruling these villages from their small palace, which they called Indrapatta or Indraprastha, they built five temples in the vicinity. One of these temples is the Yogmaya Temple, around which the town of Yoginipura was established (now called Mehrauli). Later, this area was taken up by Mauryans. Some historians say that in 50 BC, a Mauryan King Raja Dhillu renamed this town of Yoginipura to “Dhilli” or “Dhillika”. Till here, history is very ambiguous and mostly referred as Mythology. The only reference we get is from Vikram Samvat 1189-1230 by Vibudh Shridhar, where he writes: There are countless villages in the country called Haryana. Villagers there work very hard and are very brave. They don’t fear anyone or accept anyone’s dominion. They are centrally managed from Dhilli (read Delhi).

MAHARAJA ANANGPAL

In 736 AD, Raja Anangpal Tomar I (or Bilandev Tomar), a Chandravanshi Puruvanshi Kshatriya came to this Yoginipura (or Dhillika). Our old books mention it in this manner: Anangvalu (read Anangpal) is famous everywhere and breaks the skulls of his enemies. He even caused the great Sheshnaag (on which earth is stable) to shake. The following lines from a tablet in Delhi Museum also confirms that Tomars established this city of Delhi: In the country called Haryana, which is equivalent to heaven on earth, Tomars built a city called “Dhillikakhya” (read Dhillika or Delhi). The first Tomar king of Delhi, Maharaja Anangpal, had 10 sons, who were sent to rule different pieces of land. The second emperor of Delhi, Raja Vasudev Tomar, ruled from 754 – 773 AD. The sixth emperor of Delhi, Karnpal Tuar, sent 5 of his sons to establish new townships. On 26th April 1005 AD, Raja Jaipal Tuar became the 14th king of Delhi. Before he came to power, he had already fought with the then most powerful Amir Subaktegin of Ghazni (predecessor of Muhammed Ghazni). He was later always referred to as the Great Jaipal Tomar, the king of Delhi and Lahore. He fought many wars and even lost the kingdom of Kannauj to Rangatdhwaj Gahadavala (Rathore), which played an important role in the later history if India. His younger brother Jethpal Tomar captured Paithan and his descendants are called Pathania Rajpoots.

MAHARAJA ANANGPAL II

On June 17th 1051 AD, another powerful person was crowned as the 16th king of Delhi. He was Raja Anangpal the Second. He was also known as Anekpal or Anaypal. He established LAL KOT, the very first fort of Delhi. This fort is presently situated in the Sanjay Van, between Mehrauli and Jawaharlal Nehru University. It’s bastions and ‘Burjs’ are still existing and covered with thick forest. During all these years, several temples were built in and around this area. Maharaja Anangpal II uprooted the Vishnu Stambh installed by Raja Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya) in Udaygiri caves (MP). This Stambha had a Garuda (or Chakra) on top and was made of rust-resistant composition of the metals with a high content of Phosphorus. Anangpal got this IRON PILLAR to Delhi and installed it outside his Fort. It still stands proudly in the courtyard of Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque of Qutb Complex in Mehrauli. He even got his name inscribed on it with date. Prithviraj Rasao talks about it in this manner:Anangpal established the “Killi” in Dhilli. This tale cannot be removed from history ever. 9 of his sons established different cities in India. The interesting part is that the next king of Delhi, Raja Tejpal Tomar, who established Tejora (between Gurgaon and Alwar) also built the famous Shiv temple in Agra called “TejoMahalya”. This temple was very unique in every sense. Some historians link it with the present Taj Mahal. However, it must be noted that no connection of Taj Mahal being Tejomahalya was ever found by any established historians and only few fantasy writers tried to create a hype about it. Indians being very sentimental about the religious structures, easily fell prey to these false claims and started believing in what these writers had to spitMAHIPAL TOMAR AND MAHIPALPUR The next king (18th ruler of Delhi), Raja Mahipal Tomar went little to north and established another town called “Mahipalpur”. This town today is near the Delhi International Airport and is flooded with hotels. The National Highway 8 (Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway) passes through this historic town. He even got back Hansi and Thanesar (then called Sthaneshwar) from Madud, grandson of Md. Ghazni. Mahipal also built a water Bund, walls of which still exist between Vasant Kunj and Mahipalpur in Delhi.

MAHARAJA ANANGPAL III

19th king of Delhi, Arkpal Tomar, or Dakatpal Tomar or more popularly known as Anangpal III was the last emperor of Delhifrom Tomar Clan. He had his daughter rajkumari Kirtimalini married to Raja Someshwar Dev Chauhan of Ajmer. Anangpal III sent his 3 sons to rule different parts of country.

1. Rao Salivaahanji Tomar (Rao Salunji) was sent to rule Tomaravati (aka Tanwaravati aka Toravati), which Anangpal II established in Patan, Rajasthan. It had 380 villages spread across 3000 sq. Km. He became the 1st ruler of this independent territory and his present descendant is Rao Sahib Digvijay Singhji, the head of Tomar Clan in India, who was crowned on 11th September 1991 as Rao of Patan.

2. Rao Ajmalji Tomar, his second son settled at Pokhran and Jaisalmer. One of this descendants is “Baba Ramdevji”, the deity in Rajasthan.

3. Rao Sohanpalji ruled Morena and later conquered Gwalior Maharaja Anangpal Tomar III called his daughter’s Son, the great Prithvi Raj Chauhan, the king of Ajmer, and gave him the throne of Delhi before proceeding towards Chambal down south. This marked the end of Tomar rule in Delhi and started the Chauhan Clan. Unfortunately, Prithviraj (aka Rai Pithora) was the first and last Chauhan ruler of Delhi.

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