Jalauka (also known as Jaluka) was, according to the 12th century

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

i chronicle, the

Rajatarangini ''Rajatarangini'' ("The River of Kings") is a metrical legendary and historical chronicle of the north-western part of India, particularly the kings of Kashmir. It was written in Sanskrit by Kashmiri historian Kalhana in the 12th century CE. The ...

, a king of Kashmir, who cleared the valley of oppressing Malechas. Jaluka was reputed to have been an active and vigorous king of Kashmir, who expelled certain intrusive foreigners, and conquered the plains as far as

Kannauj Kannauj ( Hindustani pronunciation: ənːɔːd͡ʒ is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is a corrupted form of the class ...

. Jalauka was devoted to the worship of the Hindu god

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

and the Divine Mothers, in whose honour he and his queen, Isana-devi, erected many temples in places which can be identified.

Historicity

The story of Jalauka, notwithstanding the topographical details, is essentially legendary, and no independent corroboration of the Kashmir tradition has been discovered. ''Rajatarangini'' mentions that Jalauka's father and predecessor as

Ashoka (Gonandiya) King Ashoka, of the Gonandiya dynasty, was a king of the region of Kashmir according to Kalhana, the 12th century CE historian who wrote the ''Rajatarangini''. According to the ''Rajatarangini'', Ashoka was the great-grandson of Shakuni and son ...

. According to the dates given in that text, this Ashoka would have ruled in the 2nd millennium BCE, and was a member of a dynasty founded by Godhara. Kalhana also states that this king had adopted the doctrine of Jina, and appeased ''Bhutesha'' (

) to obtain his son Jalauka. Despite these discrepancies, multiple scholars identify Kalhana's Ashoka with the

Mauryan The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until ...

emperor

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

, who had adopted Buddhism.

Romila Thapar Romila Thapar (born 30 November 1931) is an Indian historian. Her principal area of study is ancient India, a field in which she is pre-eminent. Quotr: "The pre-eminent interpreter of ancient Indian history today. ... " Thapar is a Professor ...

equates Jalauka to the Mauryan prince

Kunala Kunala ( IAST: ) (263 BC – ?) was a son of Emperor Ashoka and Queen Padmavati and the presumptive heir to Ashoka, thus the heir to the Mauryan Empire which once ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent. After the departure of Mahendra, ...

, arguing that "Jalauka" is an erroneous spelling caused by a typographical error in

Brahmi script Brahmi (; ; ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system of ancient South Asia. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as 'lath' o ...

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite book , last=Lahiri , first=Nayanjot , author-link=Nayanjot Lahiri , title=Ashoka in Ancient India , year=2015 , publisher=Harvard University Press , isbn=9780674057777 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bJ_XCgAAQBAJ Rulers of Kashmir