Kashmir HopeA living record923 CE
Cakravarman first takes the throne
Kashmir Valley · Political history
Cakravarman’s first accession belongs to a period of repeated changes of ruler. The chronicle later records his removal and restorations.
The succession of 923
Cakravarman, also written Chakravarman, first became king of Kashmir as a child in 923. His father was Nirjitavarman and his mother Bappatadevi. Kalhana says his father placed him on the throne before dying. This first accession began a reign that lasted until his removal in the year conventionally given as 933, or more fully 933–934.
The date comes from the succession sequence in Book V of the Rajatarangini. Nirjitavarman’s death is placed in Magha of Laukika year 3998, rendered as 923 by Stein. No Gregorian month or day is assigned here. The account identifies Cakravarman as a child but does not establish an exact age at accession or a birth date.
This article concerns the first reign and its immediate aftermath. Cakravarman later returned to power, lost it again and returned once more. Those events belong to the entries beginning in 935. A single uninterrupted reign from 923 to 937 would conceal the changes of ruler recorded in the chronicle.
Mother and grandmother as guardians
Kalhana says Cakravarman was initially under the guardianship of Bappatadevi and subsequently, for ten years, under that of his grandmother Ksillika. This places two women at the centre of the account of the young king’s government. Their roles should not disappear behind a dynastic list that gives only the name of the sovereign.
The passage is brief. It does not provide a separate starting date for each guardianship, a complete list of the women’s decisions or a precise division of responsibilities between them and the ministers. The reported ten years should not be used to invent a detailed month-by-month regency calendar.
Kalhana follows the notice of their care with a hostile comparison: he says the king’s youth concealed the bad character that would later emerge. That is a retrospective judgment shaped by the chronicler’s account of Cakravarman’s later conduct. It is not evidence that the child displayed particular traits, or that his guardians knew how his adult reign would develop.
Partha’s competing claim and the armed factions
Cakravarman’s accession did not settle the claims of his brother Partha, who had ruled before Nirjitavarman. The chronicle says Partha wanted to take his father’s throne and describes a battle between the Tantrins and the Ekangas. These armed bodies had already influenced earlier successions, including the removal of Sugandha and Nirjitavarman’s installation.
The alignment in this particular battle requires care. Stein’s translated text places the Tantrins on Partha’s side, but his note records a manuscript reading that instead makes the Ekangas his partisans. The existence of rival forces is clear in the narrative; the disputed wording prevents an unqualified statement that every detail of their allegiance is settled.
The passage does not give a detailed battlefield account, troop numbers or a secure modern location. Cakravarman’s continued place in the subsequent narrative establishes the succession that Kalhana recounts. It does not justify adding an undocumented personal victory by the child king.
Removal in 933–934
Kalhana dates the end of Cakravarman’s first reign to Laukika year 4009, which Stein renders in the narrative as 933–934. The Tantrins overthrew him and installed Suravarman I. The dynastic table abbreviates the accession year to 933; the fuller range preserves the uncertainty attached to a year expressed in a different calendar.
Suravarman was also a son of Nirjitavarman, but his mother was Mrgavati. The change therefore transferred the throne between branches of the same royal household. Mrgavati’s brothers, the sons of Meruvardhana, were influential ministers. The family connections help explain why succession politics extended beyond the immediate contest between two kings.
The chronicle next says Suravarman’s own uncles and ministers undermined him by failing to pay what the Tantrins expected. After about a year the troops restored Partha. This account places military payments at the centre of repeated changes of ruler. It does not state a complete financial balance or an exact sum that Cakravarman himself failed to pay when first removed.
The path towards later restorations
Cakravarman remained a claimant after losing the throne. In the sequence that follows Suravarman and Partha, Kalhana says he offered substantial wealth and returned to power in Ashadha of Laukika year 4011, conventionally 935. Later in that year he again lost control when unable to meet the Tantrins’ demands.
The subsequent struggle involved the brothers Sankaravardhana and Sambhuvardhana. They must be distinguished: the narrative identifies Sambhuvardhana as the minister who secured the throne for himself, while Sankaravardhana later led troops against Cakravarman. Cakravarman’s next return depended on an alliance with the Damara Samgrama and belongs to the events of 936.
These later episodes explain why the first removal was not the end of his political life. They also show why the history needs several dated entries. Childhood guardianship, loss of the throne and a later military restoration were different phases, involving different supporters and circumstances.
Coin evidence and the character of the sources
A Classical Numismatic Gallery catalogue attributes a 6.39-gram copper coin to Chakra Varman. Its photograph shows two strongly stylized figures, described in the catalogue as a seated goddess and a standing ruler making an offering. The catalogue reads parts of his name in Sharada letters and associates the ruler with 923–933, 935 and 936–937.
The inscription reading remains a catalogue attribution rather than an independent reading established here. The photograph does not date the coin to one particular reign, and the record does not provide a documented excavation context. It supports further study of his attributed coinage without resolving the details of the succession narrative.
Kalhana provides much more information about Cakravarman’s later struggles than about the routine business of his first reign. The guardianships, rival claim, first deposition and subsequent returns form the recoverable outline. Further manuscript and numismatic work may clarify individual points, but campaigns, reforms, buildings or administrative acts should not be assigned to this period without evidence.
Reviewed 1 October 2026. Research records are retained by the editors. Corrections and additional evidence are welcome.
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