Shobhita (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: Śobhita, r. c. 982–986 CE) was an Indian king belonging to the Naddula Chahamana dynasty. He ruled the area around

Naddula Nadol is a census town in Desuri tehsil of Pali district, India. Ashapura Mataji temple and Shri Nadol Tirth attract pilgrims. History Nadol was originally called Naddula. The Chahamanas of Naddula (called Chauhans of Nadol in vernacular lege ...

(present-day Nadol in

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

), and achieved military successes against the

Paramaras of Chandravati The Paramaras of Chandravati ruled the area around the Arbuda mountain (present-day Mount Abu) in India during 10th-13th centuries. Their capital was located at Chandravati, and their territory included parts of present-day southern Rajasthan an ...

Reign

Shobhita was a son of his predecessor

Lakshmana Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja (). ...

. He is also known as Sohita or Sohiya. According to the Sundha Hill inscription, Shobhita "took away the glory of" the lord of Arbuda (

Mount Abu Mount Abu () is a hill station in the Aravalli Range in Sirohi district of the state of Rajasthan in western India.The mountain forms a rocky plateau 22 km long by 9 km wide. The highest peak on the mountain is Guru Shikhar at above s ...

). Historian R. B. Singh theorizes that this lord of Arbuda was probably Aranyaraja, a ruler of the Paramara branch of Abu.

Dasharatha Sharma Dasharatha Sharma (1903–1976) was an Indologist with particular interest in the history of the Rajasthan region of India. Born in the Rajasthani city of Churu, he studied in the city of Bikaner and at the University of Delhi. He had degrees ...

identifies him with another Paramara ruler named Dharanivaraha, who had been attacked and defeated by the

Chaulukya The Chaulukya dynasty (), also Solanki dynasty, was a dynasty that ruled parts of what are now Gujarat and Rajasthan in north-western India, between and . Their capital was located at Anahilavada (modern Patan). At times, their rule extended ...

king

Mularaja Mularaja () was the founder of the Chaulukya dynasty of India. Also known as the Chalukyas of Gujarat or Solanki, this dynasty ruled parts of present-day Gujarat. Mularaja supplanted the last Chavda dynasty, Chavda king, and founded an independe ...

. Sharma theorizes that Shobhita sided with Mularaja in this conflict. Shobhita has been described as the lord of Dhara in the

Sewari Sewari or Sewadi is a village located in the Bali Tehsil of Pali district of Rajasthan state, amidst the Aravalli Range The Aravalli Range (also spelled ''Aravali'') is a mountain range in Northern- Western India, running approximately in ...

inscription of his descendant Ratnapala. Dhara was the capital of the imperial

Paramara dynasty The Paramara dynasty ( IAST: Paramāra) was an Indian dynasty that ruled Malwa and surrounding areas in west-central India between 9th and 14th centuries. They belonged to the Parmara clan of the Rajputs. The dynasty was established in either t ...

Malwa Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also syno ...

. Historian D. C. Ganguly speculated that "Dhara" was a mistake for "Thara", which was a city in the 12th century

Mewar Mewar or Mewad is a region in the south-central part of Rajasthan state of India. It includes the present-day districts of Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Pirawa Tehsil of Jhalawar District of Rajasthan, Neemuch and Man ...

region. However, according to

, Shobhita fought against the Paramaras of Malwa, and occupied their capital Dhara. R. B. Singh notes that Shobhita's successor

Baliraja Bali-rāja (r. c. 986–990 CE) was an Indian king belonging to the Naddula Chahamana dynasty. He ruled the area around Naddula (present-day Nadol in Rajasthan). He was involved in a conflict with the Paramara king Munja, with both sides claim ...

is said to have defeated an army of the Paramara monarch Munja. Singh theorizes that Shobhita might have captured Dhara for a brief period, while Munja was busy in his southern campaigns against the

Chalukyas of Kalyani The Western Chalukya Empire ruled most of the western Deccan, South India, between the 10th and 12th centuries. This Kannadiga dynasty is sometimes called the ''Kalyani Chalukya'' after its regal capital at Kalyani, today's Basavakalyan in the ...

. Shobhita was succeeded by his son Baliraja. A Mount Abu inscription wrongly names Baliraja as the predecessor of Shobhita: this is directly contradicted by other inscriptions of the family.

References

Bibliography

* * Chahamanas of Naddula 10th-century Indian monarchs {{royal-stub