Sources of Rajasthan History: Inscriptions, Coins, Khyats, Archives Notes

At a glance

Tod's Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan (1829) gave the region the name 'Rayathan' or 'Rajasthan'; Kaviraja Shyamaldas's Vir Vinod is a history of Mewar.
The early dated records include yupas, posts of Vedic sacrifices dated in the Krita era, at Nandsa, Barnala, Badva and Bijayagadh.
From the 18th century the princely states struck rupees in the Mughal emperor's name, often Shah Alam's, with a mark of their own; the British kaldar rupee later replaced them.
The Rajasthan State Archives has its headquarters at Bikaner; it began in 1955–56 as the Department of Archives, and its records go back to Akbar's reign.

Kinds of source

Kind	What it gives	Examples
Archaeological	Inscriptions, copper plates, coins, monuments and excavated sites	Excavated sites are on the ancient-civilisations page
Numismatic	Coins of ancient republics, the Guptas, the Pratiharas and the Rajput states	Bayana hoard, Jhadshahi, Akhaishahi
Literary	Poems and the prose khyats and vigats	Nainsi ri Khyat, Dayaldas ri Khyat, Vansh Bhaskar
Persian chronicles	Histories written at the Sultanate and Mughal courts	Taj-ul-Maasir, Baburnama, Akbarnama
Archival	Bahis, farmans, pattas, parwanas and letters kept by the princely states	Rajasthan State Archives, Bikaner

Inscriptions (shilalekh)

Inscriptions are cut on rocks, pillars and the walls of temples, stepwells and tanks. Many praise a ruler and list his ancestors, and are called prashastis. Medieval ones are mostly in Sanskrit or the local speech, in Nagari script.

Inscription	Date	Place, language, script	What it records
Barli	Year 84; G.H. Ojha read it as year 84 of the Vira (Mahavira) era, 443 BCE, while A.H. Dani and D.C. Sircar place it in the 1st century BCE from the shape of its letters	Barli village, near Ajmer; Prakrit in Brahmi; now in the Ajmer museum	A fragment dedicated to Lord Vira (Mahavira)
Ghosundi	2nd century BCE (G.N. Sharma); not before the second half of the 1st century BCE (A.H. Dani)	Ghosundi village, near Nagari, about seven miles from Chittorgarh; Sanskrit in Brahmi; found in pieces, a large piece in the Udaipur museum	A stone enclosure round a place of worship of Sankarshana and Vasudeva; an Ashvamedha sacrifice by Sarvatata of the Gajayana gotra
Nandsa yupa	Krita year 282 (about 225 CE)	Nandsa, Bhilwara district, about 36 miles from Bhilwara town (near Gangapur, west of Bhilwara); a pillar about 12 feet high in the bed of a tank	A sattra (Vedic sacrifice); the pillar was set up by Soma
Barnala yupas	Krita year 284 (227 CE) and Krita year 335 (278 CE)	Barnala, in the former Jaipur state; now in the Amer museum	Two yupas of Vedic sacrifices
Badva yupas	Krita year 295 (238–39 CE)	Badva, Baran district (in the former Kota state); three pillars of the Maukharis	Sacrifices by three brothers, Balavardhana, Somadeva and Balasimha
Bijayagadh (Bayana) yupa	Krita (Malava–Vikrama) year 428 (371–72 CE)	Bijayagadh fort, Bayana, Bharatpur; Sanskrit	Vishnuvardhana, son of Yashovardhana, set up the pillar at a Pundarika sacrifice
Kanaswa	VS 795 (738 CE)	Kanaswa village, near Kota; in a Shiva temple	Names the Maurya king Dhavala; records the temple of Shivagana, his feudatory
Harsha (Harshnath)	VS 1030 Ashadh sudi 15 (973 CE)	Harshnath temple on Harsha hill, near Sikar; Sanskrit, 48 verses	The Shakambhari Chauhan line down to Vigraharaja II, in whose reign it was cut; the temple was built by Allata

Inscription	Date	Place, language, script	What it records
Sundha hill prashasti	VS 1319 Vaishakh (1262 CE)	Sundha hill (Sugandhadri), about 10 miles from Jaswantpura, Jalore district; Sanskrit in Devanagari, 59 verses on two slabs	Praise of the Jalore Chauhan Chachigadeva and his ancestors; composed by the Jain monk Jayamangalacharya, engraved by the sutradhar Jesa
Chirwa	VS 1330 Kartik sudi 1 (1273 CE)	Chirwa village, about 8 miles north of Udaipur, on the door of a temple there; Sanskrit in Nagari, 36 lines, 51 verses	Guhila rulers Padmasimha, Jaitrasimha, Tejasimha and Samarasimha; the talaraksha officials. Composed by Ratnaprabhasuri, written out by Parshvachandra, engraved by Kelisimha
Samadhishwar temple	VS 1485 (1428 CE)	Samadhishwar temple, Chittorgarh fort; a black stone slab in the east wall of the hall, 43 lines, 75 verses	The Guhila line down to Mokal, and Mokal's works at Chittor; composed by Ekanath, son of Vishnubhatta, engraved by Visal
Kumbhalgarh inscription	VS 1517 Margashirsha vadi 5 (1460 CE)	From the Mamadev (Kumbhashyam) temple at Kumbhalgarh; of its five slabs, the first, third and fourth and a piece of the second are in the Udaipur museum, and the fifth is lost; Sanskrit in Nagari	Mewar's rulers down to Kumbha, with a description of Mewar and Chittor. Its author is uncertain: G.H. Ojha held it was Mahesh, G.N. Sharma thinks it was probably Kanha Vyas

Elsewhere: the Bijolia inscription (1170 CE) is on the Chauhans page; Bauka's Jodhpur inscription (837 CE) and Kakkuka's Ghatiyala inscriptions on the other-dynasties page; the Kirti Stambh prashasti on the Mewar page; the Raj Prashasti of Rajsamand on the temples page.

Copper plates (tamra-patra)

A copper plate, or dan-patra, records a grant: the donor and the receiver, the occasion, the land with its neighbouring fields, and the witnesses. They throw light on land, crops and dates. Mewar's grants often open with 'Shri Eklingji prasadat' (Kheroda does; Nadia and Karera open 'Rana Shri Kumbha adeshat'); Kumbha's plates measure land in hal.

Plate	Date	Ruler	What it records
Kheroda	VS 1494 Magh sudi 11, Thursday (1437 CE)	Kumbha	Ten hal of land in Kheroda given to Upadhyaya Joshi Jana after Kumbha's atonement at Eklingji; 400 tankas also given
Nadia (Sirohi)	VS 1494 Ashadh vadi (1437 CE)	Kumbha	Land given in Ajahari pargana; suggests the Abu region was under Kumbha by then; now in the Rajputana Museum, Ajmer
Karera	VS 1517 Posh sudi 15 (1460 CE)	Kumbha	Three hal of land in Karera given at a chandra-parva (lunar festival)

Coins (sikke)

Coins give rulers' names and lines, the extent of states, and their economic condition. The Pratihara Adivaraha coins on the other-dynasties page; the Chauhan coins (Ajayaraj, Somaldevi) on the Chauhans page.

Coin or hoard	Where found	What it shows
Punch-marked silver coins	Rairh, Tonk, in the excavations of 1938–40	3,075 in K.N. Puri's report (3,074 in G.N. Sharma); pieces of silver stamped with symbols such as the sun, an arrow, a fish, a bell, a plant or an animal
Malava coins	Rairh; thousands at Nagar, near Uniara (Tonk)	Some read 'Malavanam jayah' (victory of the Malavas); at Rairh, with a lead seal of the Malava republic, they mark a Malava centre
Gupta gold coins	Near Bayana, Bharatpur	A hoard of Gupta gold coins, catalogued by A.S. Altekar
Gadhiya coins	Mewar, Marwar and elsewhere	Debased silver and copper coins with a blurred figure. Webb traces them to the Sassanian (Persian) type; G.N. Sharma holds they are not Persian but thinned Kshatrapa and Pratihara designs

State	Coin	Facts
Mewar	Chittori, Bhilari and Udaipuri rupees; Swarupshahi; Chandori; Dhingla, Bhilari, Trisulia, Bhindariya and Nathdwariya copper paise	The Chandori rupee was struck by Maharana Bhim Singh and named after his sister Chandra Kunwar; Swarup Singh later melted them down and issued new Chandori coins
Marwar	Vijayshahi; Lalluliya and Rururia rupees; Bhimshahi copper	Vijay Singh opened the mint in 1761; mints at Jodhpur, Nagaur, Pali and Sojat; the Lalluliya rupee came from the Sojat mint
Bikaner	Rupees in the Mughal emperor's name	The mint opened under Maharaja Gaj Singh after a sanad from the emperor
Jaipur	Jhadshahi	Marked with a jhar, a sprig of six branches
Jaisalmer	Akhaishahi silver	The mint was set up in 1756 by Maharawal Akhai Singh
Pratapgarh	Salimshahi silver	Struck from 1784, first under Salim Singh; also current in Dungarpur, Banswara and Malwa
Dholpur	Tamanchashahi	A pistol (tamancha) is its mark; the mint opened in 1804
Jhalawar	Madanshahi	The old Madanshahi was struck from 1837 to 1857, the new one after 1857

Literary sources

Works on the Chauhans (Prithviraj Vijay, Prithviraj Raso, Hammir Mahakavya, Kanhadade Prabandh) are on the Chauhans page and the Kuvalayamala on the language and literature page. The forms khyat, vat and vigat are explained on the language and literature page.

Work	Author	Source for
Muhnot Nainsi ri Khyat	Muhnot Nainsi, dewan of Jaswant Singh of Marwar	Histories of Marwar, Bikaner, Udaipur, Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh, Kishangarh, Amer, Bundi, Sirohi and other states, with clan genealogies hard to find elsewhere
Marwar ra Pargana ri Vigat	Muhnot Nainsi	Each pargana of Marwar: its history, population, land types, crops and irrigation
Dayaldas ri Khyat	Dayaldas, a Charan of Bikaner, trusted by Maharajas Ratan Singh, Sardar Singh and Dungar Singh	Bikaner from Rao Bika, to Maharaja Anup Singh in the RBSE book and to Maharaja Sardar Singh's accession in G.N. Sharma; built on genealogies, pattas, parwanas, bahis and farmans
Vansh Bhaskar	Suryamall Misan of Bundi	Bundi in detail and the other states briefly, written after Tod; its older parts rest on bards' tales, and it grows more reliable as it nears the author's time
Suraj Prakas	Karnidan Kaviya, court poet of Abhay Singh of Marwar	Eyewitness accounts of Abhay Singh's wars, and the society of his time

Persian work	Author	Gives
Taj-ul-Maasir	Hasan Nizami	The course of the first Muslim invasions
Tabaqat-i-Nasiri	Minhaj-ud-din	How Muslim power spread to Nagaur, Jalore and Ajmer
Khazain-ul-Futuh (Tarikh-i-Alai)	Amir Khusrau	Alauddin's attacks on Chittor and Ranthambore
Baburnama	Babur	The battle of Khanwa
Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari	Abul Fazl	Rajasthan's rulers who resisted or allied with Akbar; produce, army and society
Maasir-ul-Umara	Shah Nawaz Khan, completed by his son Abdul Hai	Lives of many Rajasthani rulers, princes and chiefs who served the Mughals

Archival sources: Rajasthan State Archives

Merger	From 1 July 1960 the Unit Record Offices of the old states were merged with it as the Rajasthan State Archives, with 20 district archives offices at the time
Holds	Mughal-period Persian farmans, nishans, manshurs, akhbarat and vakil reports, and the bahis, pattas and parwanas of the princely states
For visitors	A museum at the Archives that shows important documents and copper plates

Record	What it is	What it tells
Farman, nishan	Persian orders from the Mughal court to Rajasthan's rulers	Jaipur's series runs from Jahangir to Bahadur Shah
Sanad	Grants by the emperors	Parganas given to Jaipur's rulers as jagirs
Akhbarat and vakil reports	News-letters and envoys' reports from the Mughal court	The court's daily happenings; Jaipur's vakil reports light up Mughal–Kachhwaha and Mughal–Maratha relations
Kharita	Letters between rulers	A state's relations with the Mughals, the Marathas and its neighbours; kharita bahis hold copies
Patta and parwana	Grant deeds and orders of a state	Patta bahis hold copies of the pattas a state issued
Bahi	Bound registers of accounts and copied documents	Jodhpur kept hakikat, byav (marriage), kharita and patta bahis

Remember: often mixed up

Barli or GhosundiBarli, near Ajmer, is a Jain record to Lord Vira · Ghosundi, near Nagari (Chittorgarh), is a Vaishnava record of Sankarshana and Vasudeva.
Yupa or prashastia yupa is a sacrificial post (Nandsa, Barnala, Badva, Bijayagadh) · a prashasti praises a ruler and his line (Sundha hill, Chirwa, Kumbhalgarh).