Alha (

देवनागरी Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental syste ...

: आल्हा ;

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

: Ālhā ) was a legendary general of the Chandel king

Paramardideva Paramardi (reigned c. 1165–1203 CE) was a king of the Chandela dynasty of central India. He was the last powerful Chandela king, and ruled the Jejakabhukti region ( Bundelkhand in present-day Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh). Around 1182–1 ...

(also known as Parmal), who fought

Prithviraj Chauhan Prithviraja III (IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; reign. – 1192 CE), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, with his capital at Ajmer in present- ...

in 1182 CE. He is one of the main characters of the '' Alha-Khand'' ballad.

Origin

According to the legend, Alha and Udal were children of the Dasraj, a successful commander in the army of Chandel king Parmal. They belonged to the Banaphar clan, which are of mixed

Ahir Ahir or Aheer are a community of traditionally non-elite pastoralists in India, most members of which identify as being of the Indian Yadav community because they consider the two terms to be synonymous. The Ahirs are variously described as a ...

and

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

descent, Purana states that Mahil a Rajput and an enemy of Alha and Udal said that Alha has come to be of a different family (kule htnatvamagatah) because his mother is an Aryan Ahir. The ''

Bhavishya Purana The 'Bhavishya Purana' (') is one of the eighteen major works in the Purana genre of Hinduism, written in Sanskrit. The title ''Bhavishya'' means "future" and implies it is a work that contains prophecies regarding the future. The ''Bhavishya ...

'', a Sanskrit text, states that Alha's mother was called Devaki and was a member of the Ahir caste. The Ahirs are among the "oldest pastoralists" and were rulers of Mahoba.

Folklore

In addition to the ''Aalha Khand'' and the ''Bhavishya Purana'', the story of Alha is also found in a number of medieval manuscripts of the '' Prithviraj Raso''. There is also a belief that the story was originally written by Jagnik, bard of Mahoba, but no manuscript has been found.

Notes

References

* * * * * *

External links

*{{Cite book , last=Mishra , first=Pt. Lalita Prasad , title=Alhakhand , language=hi , edition=15 , year=2007 , publisher=Tejkumar Book Depot (Pvt) Ltd , location=

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

(India) , pages=614 Rajput era History of Madhya Pradesh 12th-century Indian monarchs Chandelas of Jejakabhukti Medieval India Rajputs Ahir history Indian legendary characters

Origin

Folklore

See also

Notes

References

External links