Dynasties of ancient Kashmir

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Rajatarangini of Kalhana is a rare chronicle that gives us a fairly direct insight into how things happened in pre-Islamic era. It gives a long account of kings of Kashmir.

Gonanda I: The first king of Kashmir Gonanda I was a relative (bandhu) of Jarasasamdha of Magadh (Rajatarangini I 59). We can take that to mean that he belonged to the same family.

Lost and Unknown kings: Skipping over "lost kings" we come to Lava of an unknown family. After his family, Godhara of another family (anya-kulodbhavah) ruled (I 95).

Mauryas and Kushanas: We now come to Asoka who built many stupas, and his son Jalauka, presumably Mauryas. Then after a Damodara ("of Asoka's kula or another"), we have Hushka, Jushka and Kanishka, obviously the Kushanas.

Gonandiya: After an Abhimanyu, we come to the main Gonandiya dynasty, founded by Gonanda III. He was (I 191) the first (aadyah) of his race, ("like Raghu was for the Raghus"). Nothing is known about his origin. His family ruled for many generations.

Some others: Eventually a Pratapaditya, a relative of Vikrmaditya (not the Shakari; II 6) became king. After a couple of generations a Vijaya (from another family: anya kulajo II 62). His son Jayendra was followed by Sandhimat-Aryaraja who had the soul of Jayendra's minister Sandhimati.

Gonandiya again: After him, Meghavahana of the Gonandiya family was brought back from Gandhara. His family ruled for a few generations. Meghavahana was a devout Buddhist and he prohibited animal slaughter in his domain.

Huns: Placed within the two periods of Gonandiya rule are Mihirakul and Toramana, we know that they were Huns, but that is not noted by Kalhana. There is some confusion about timing here.

Karkota dynasty: (625-1003)we are on firmer ground here. Gonandiya Baladitya made his ashva-ghasa-kayastha named Durlabhavardhana (officer in charge of fodder: III 489) his son-in-law because he was handsome. Lalitaditya Muktapida, the great conqueror was born in this noble family.

Utpala: In the Karkota family, Lalitapida had a concubine, a daughter of a Kalyapala (IV 678). Her some was Chippatajayapida. The young Chippatajayapida was advised by his maternal uncle Utpalaka or Utpala (IV 679). Eventually Karkota dynasty ended and a grandson of Utpala became king.

Kutumbi: After the Utpala dynasty, a Yashaskara became king. (V 469). He was a great-grandson of a Viradeva, a Kutumbi (V 469). Here I think Kutumbi = kunabi (as in kurmis of UP and Kunbi of Gujarat/Maharastra). He was the son of a treasurer of Karkota Shamkaravarman.

Divira and Lohara: After a young son of Yashaskara, Pravaragupta, a Divira (clerk), became king. His son Kshemagupta married Didda, daughter of Simharaja of Lohara. After ruling indirectly and indirectly, Didda placed Samgramaraja, son of her brother on the throne, starting the Lohara dynasty. The Lohara family was founded by a Nara of Darvabhisara (IV 712). He was a vyavahari (perhaps merchant) who along with others who owned villages like him had set up little kingdoms during the last days of Karkotas. The Loharas ruled for many generations. The author Kalhana was a son of a minister of Harsha of this family.

Damar and others: After Loharas, a Damara family ruled. Then a general Ramchandra became king. His daughter Kota Rani married Tibetan Rinchan, who became Muslim.

Thus we have these, with a guess about their origin:

Kshatriya
Maurya
Kushan
Gonandiya
Huna
Karkota: an ashva-ghasha-kayastha, a son of a Naga divinity
Kalyapal (liquor vender)
Kutumbi (farmer ?)
Divira (clerk)
Lohara: Vyavahari (merchant)
Unknown

Only one dynasty can be directly linked with an ancient Kshatriya clan, and that too belonging to a somewhat pre-historical period. Note that there were quite a few Brahmins in Kashmir, in fact they formed a powerful lobby. Occasionally some of then refused to accept agraharas from some rulers, but they do not seem to have objected otherwise. The concept of four distinct varnas must have become obsolete even by then.