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The Solanki were a Hindu Rajput dynasty of India, who ruled the kingdom of Gujarat from the 10th to the 13th centuries. They were a branch of the Chaulukya clan of Rajputs. Anhilwara (modern Patan) served as their capital. Gujarat was a major center of Indian Ocean trade, and Anhilwara was one of the largest cities in India, with population estimated at 100,000 in 1000. The Solankis were patrons of the great seaside temple to Shiva at Somnath in Kathiawar; Bhima Dev helped rebuild the temple after it was sacked by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1026. His son Karandev conquered the Bhil king Ashapall or Ashaval, and after his victory established a city called Karnavati on the banks of the Sabarmati River, at site of modern Ahmedabad.
After 1243, the Solankis lost control of Gujarat to their feudatories, of whom the Vaghela chiefs of Dholka came to dominate Gujarat. In 1297 Gujarat was conquered by the Delhi Sultanate.
Descendants of the Anhilwara Solankis ruled the state of Rewa, in Bagelkhand (eastern Madhya Pradesh). Vyaghra Deo, brother of the King of Gujarat, moved to Bagelkhand in the middle of the twelfth century, and obtained the fortress of Marpha, 18 miles northeast of Kalinjar. His son Karandeo married a Kalchuri (Haihaya) princess of Mandla, and received the fortress of Bandogarh as her dowry. Bandogarh served as the seat of the Solankis of Bagelkhand until its destruction by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1597. After the destruction of Bandogargh, the Solankis moved their capital to Rewa. From 1812 to 1947 the Solanki rajas of Rewa were a princely state of British India. In 1947, the last Raja of Rewa acceded to newly-independent India.
Solanki rulers of Gujarat
- Mulraja I (942/960-995/997)
- Durlabharaja (1009-1021)
- Bhima Dev I (1021-1063). Son of Durlabharaja.
- Karna I (Karan Dev I) (1063-1093). Son of Bhima Dev I.
- Sidhraja Jaisinh (1093-1143)
- Kumarapala (1143-1173). Descendant of Karna I.
- Ajavapala. Son of Kumarapala.
- Bhima Dev II (died 1242)
- Tribuvanpal (1242-1244)
- Mulraja II
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