The Tomaras of Gwalior (also called Tomar in modern vernaculars because of schwa deletion) were a Rajput dynasty who ruled the Gwalior Fort and its surrounding region in central India during 14th–16th centuries. They are known for their patronage to the cultural activities in Gwalior.
The Tomaras originally held a small fief as feudatories of the Tughluq dynasty of Delhi Sultanate. In the 1390s, they gained control of Gwalior, and became independent in the subsequent years. They fought several battles with the Delhi rulers to maintain their independence, and paid tribute to Bahlul Lodi to avoid war. They were displaced from Gwalior by Ibrahim Lodi in the first quarter of the 16th century, although their descendants continued to hold fiefs at other places.
Sources of information
Much of the information about the Tomaras of Gwalior comes from the Gwalior Fort inscriptions, the contemporary chronicles by Muslim writers, and the various history books on Gwalior (known as Guwaliar-namas). Two notable Guwaliar-namas include Gopachala-Akhyana and Qulyat-i-Guwaliari.
The Gopachala-Akhyana of Khadagrai exists in several different manuscripts. It was written in Hindi for the Tomara chief Krishna-simha, who was a descendant of the Tomara kings of Gwalior. The text was composed during the reign of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. A later manuscript contains several omissions from and additions to the original text, and covers the history of Gwalior down to its conquest by the Maratha general Mahadaji Scindia.
Qulyat-i-Guwaliari was also written during the reign of Shah Jahan, by Syed Fazl Ali Shah Kadiri Chishti. The author cites Tarikh-i-nama by Ghanshyam Brahmana as his source for the history of Gwalior. Chishti's genealogy of the Gwalior rulers is contradicted by other sources, including Gopachala-Akhyana, the Muslim chronicles, and the Tomara inscriptions. For example, he uses the name "Paramala-deva" for the first Tomara ruler Virasimha, and claims that the king belonged to the Paramara clan. A later manuscript contains several additions to the original work, and covers the history of Gwalior down to its conquest by the British General Popham.
Other Guwaliar-nama texts include:
Guwaliar-nama of Badili Das; a continuation of Khadag Rai's book
Guwaliar-nama of Hiraman B. Girdhardas, a Munshi of Motmid Khan
Guwaliar-nama of Motiram and Khushal, commissioned by Captain William Bruce after the British conquest of Gwalior Guwaliar-nama of Khan Jahan and Shaikh Jalal Hisar
Origin
The 1631 Rohtas Fort inscription states that the Tomaras belonged to the lunar race (Somavaṃśa), and traces their ancestry to the legendary king Pandu. The various medieval chronicles connect the Tomaras of Gwalior to the Tomaras of Delhi, whose power had declined after the Chahamana and the Ghurid invasions of Delhi in the 12th century. Like the Rohtas inscription, Khadagrai's Gopachala-Akhyana traces the ancestry of the Tomaras to the lunar deity Chandra. Its different manuscripts differ about the number of kings who preceded Virasimha, the first Tomara ruler of Gwalior. One manuscript states that as many as 208 Tomara kings preceded Virasimha. These manuscripts count the legendary king Janamejaya and the Delhi Tomara king Anagapala among his ancestors. These genealogical lists are obviously fictitious.
The various sources provide different names for Virasimha's grandfather. Virasimhavaloka, which was composed during Virasimha's reign, names his father as Devabrahma (or "Devavarmma" in one manuscript), and his grandfather as Kamalasimha. Later sources, which appear to be inaccurate, give different names for these two people. For example, one manuscript of Khadagrai's Gopachala-Akhyana names the father as Brahmadeva and the grandfather as Ghatama-deva. Another manuscript of the same text names the father as Sultansimha and the grandfather as Kunwarpala, while stating that Brahmadeva is another name for Virasimha.
