Origin of Delhi & Tomars

Roughly 3000 years ago, when Lord Krishna advocated Pandavas in the court of Dhritrashtra, Prince Duryodhna half heartedly agreed to give five villages to them. These villages were Paniprastha (now Panipat), Sonaprastha (now Sonipat), Bahakprastha (now Baghpat), Tilprastha (now Tilpat, in Faridabad) and largest of all, Khandavprastha (later changed to Indraprastha). These villages suffered badly during the war of Mahabharta in Kurukshetra. While the Pandavas were ruling these villages from their small palace, which they called Indrapatta or Indraprastha, they built five temples in the vicinity. One of these temples is the Yogmaya Temple, around which the town of Yoginipura was established (now called Mehrauli).

Later, this area was take up by Mauryans. Some historians say that in 50 BC, a Mauryan King, Raja Dhillu named this town (Yoginipura) after him and started calling it “Dhilli” or “Dhillika”. Uptil here, the history is very ambiguous and mostly referred as Mythology. the only reference we get till here is from Vikrami Samvat 1189-1230 by Vibudh Shridhar, where he writes:

हरियाणए देसे असंखगाम, गामियण जणि अणवरथ काम|
परचक्क विहट्टणु सिरिसंघट्टणु, जो सुरव इणा परिगणियं|
रिउ रुहिरावट्टणु बिउलु पवट्टणु, ढिल्ली नामेण जि भणियं|

Transaltion: There are countless villages in the country called Haryana. Villagers there work very hard and are very brave. They don’t fear anyone or accept anyone’s dominion. They are centrally managed from Dhilli.

 

Maharaja Anangpal I

What happened in 736 AD, started developing the history of Delhi, as we see it today. This was the year, when Raja Anangpal I (or Bilandev Tomar) established Delhi. Our old books mention it in this manner:

जहिं असिवर तोडिय रिउ कवालु, णरणाहु पसिद्धउ अणंगवालु ||
वलभर कम्पाविउ णायरायु, माणिणियण मणसंजनीय ||

Means, Anangvalu (read Anangpal) is famous everywhere and break skulls of his enemies. He even caused the great Sheshnaag (on which earth is stable) to shake.

The following lines from a tablet in Delhi Museum also confirms that  Tomars established this city of Delhi

देशोऽस्ति हरियानाख्यो पॄथिव्यां स्वर्गसन्निभः |
ढिल्लिकाख्या पुरी तत्र तोमरैरस्ति निर्मिता ||

Translation: In the country called Haryana, which is equivalent to heaven on earth, Tomars built a city called “Dhillikakhya” (read Dhillika).

The first Tomar king of Delhi, Maharaja Anangpal had to rule a small piece of land. He had much free time to produce 10 heirs. (Don’t you dare ask me any question about Dhritrashtra, who had 98-100 sons). These 10 sons of Anangpal were sent to rule different pieces of land in the country of Tomars.

	Son of Anangpal Tomar	Territory’s modern name
1	Vasudev Tomar	Delhi
2	Satrawala Tomar	Bhiwani
3	Indrapal Tomar	Aligarh, Badaun, Barelley, Shahpur
4	Kodyana Tomar
5	Bodana Tomar
6	Nihal Tomar
7	Somwal Tomar	Meerut, Ghaziabad, Mujjafarnagar
8	Saleriya Tomar
9	Sipala Tomar
10	Kaliya Tomar	Part of Haryana and Rajasthan

NOTE: Tomars are also known as Tanwar and Tuar

The second emperor of Delhi, Raja Vasudev Tomar ruled from 754-773 AD. The sixth emperor of Delhi Karnpal Tuar sent 5 of his sons to establish new townships.

	Son of Karanpal	City Established
1	Vachhal Tomar	9th king of Delhi
2	Nagdeo Tomar	Nagor & Nagda near Ajmer
3	Krishanrai Tomar	Kishangarh near Ajmer & Khasganj between Etah and soron
4	Nihalrai Tomar	Narayanpur near Alwar
5	Somasi Tomar	Ajabpur between Alwar and Jaipur
6	Harpal Tomar	Harsola & Harsoli near Alwar

On 26th April 1005 AD, Raja Jaipal Tuar became the 14th king of Delhi. Before he came to power, he had already fought with the then most powerful Amir Subaktegin of Ghazni (predecessor of Muhammed Ghazni). He was later always referred to as the Great Jaipal Tomar, the king of Delhi and Lahore. He fought many wars and even lost the kingdom of Kannauj to Rangatdhwaj Gahadavala (Rathore), which plaid an important role in the later history if India. His younger brother Jethpal Tomar captured Paithan and his descendants are called Pathania Rajpoots.

Maharaja Anangpal II

On June 17th, 1051 AD, another powerful person was crowned as the 16th king of Delhi. He was Raja Anangpal the second. He was also known as Anekpal or Anaypal. He practically changed the shape of Delhi and made it much more powerful. He established LAL KOT, the very first fort of Delhi. This fort is presently situated in the Sanjay Van, between Mehrauli and Jawaharlal Nehru University. It’s bastions and ‘Burjs’ are still existing and covered with thick forest. During all these years, several temples were built in and around this area. Maharaja Anangpal II uprooted the Vishnu Stambh installed by Raja Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya) in Udaygiri caves (MP). This Stambha had a Garuda (or Chakra) on top and was made of rust-resistant composition of the metals with a high content of Phosphorus. Anangpal got this IRON PILLAR to Delhi and installed outside his Fort. It now stands proudly in the courtyard of Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque of Qutb Complex in Mehrauli. He even got his name inscribed on it with date. Prithviraj Rasao talks about it in this manner:

हुं गड्डि गयौ किल्ली सज्जीव हल्लाय करी ढिल्ली सईव |
फिरि व्यास कहै सुनि अनंगराइ भवितव्य बात मेटी न जाइ ||

Means: Anangpal established the “Killi” (nail) in Dhilli. This tale cannot be removed from history ever.

It should also be noted that some historians believe that since this Iron Pillar was not fixed properly, people started calling it “Dheeli Killi” (Loose nail). From here, the name Dhillika came up. However, if this is true, how come we get reference of this name even 500 years before this guy attempted this brave act.

9 of his sons established different cities in India

	Son of Anangpal II	Cities Established
1	Bhumpal Tomar	Narwar, near Gwalior
2	Indrapal Tomar	Indragarh
3	Rangraj Tomar	Taragarh (near Ajmer)
4	Achalraj Tomar	Achner (near Bharatpur)
5	Draupad Tomar	(ruled from) Hansi
6	Sisupal Tomar	Sirsa (in Haryana) & Siswal (Sirsa Patan)
7	Surajpal Tomar	Surajkund (Faridabad)
8	Beejpal Tomar	Buhana

Interesting part is that the next king of Delhi, Raja Tejpal Tomar, who established Tejora (between Gurgaon and Alwar) also built the famous Shiv  temple in Agra called “Tejo-Mahalya”. This temple was very unique in every sense. Some historians link it with the present Taj Mahal. however, it must be noted that no connection of Taj Mahal being Tejomahalya was ever found by any established historians and only few fantasy writers tried to create a hype about it. Indians being very sentimental about the religious structures, easily fell prey to these false claims and started believing in what these writers had to spit.

Mahipal Tomar and Mahipalpur

The next king (18th ruler of Delhi), Raja Mahipal Tomar went little to north and established another town called “Mahipalpur”. This town today is near the Delhi International Airport and is flooded with hotels. The National Highway 8 (Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway) passes through this historic town. He even got back Hansi and Thanesar (then called Sthaneshwar) from Madud, grandson of Md. Ghazni. Mahipal also built a water Bund, walls of which still exist between Vasant Kunj and Mahipalpur in Delhi.

Maharaja Anangpal III

19th king of Delhi, Arkpal Tomar, or Dakatpal Tomar or more popularly known as Anangpal III was the last emperor of Delhi from Tomar Clan. He had his daughter rajkumari Kirtimalini married to Raja Someshwar Dev Chauhan of Ajmer. Anangpal III sent his 3 sons to rule different parts of country.

1. Rao Salivaahanji Tomar (Rao Salunji) was sent to rule Tomaravati (aka Tanwaravati aka Toravati), which Anangpal II established in Patan, Rajasthan. It had 380 villages spread across 3000 sq. Km. He became the 1st ruler of this independent territory and his present descendant is Rao Sahib Digvijay Singhji, the head of Tomar Clan in India, who was crowned on 11th September 1991 as Rao of Patan.
2. Rao Ajmalji Tomar, his second son settled at Pokhran and Jaisalmer. One of this descendants is “Baba Ramdevji”, the deity in Rajasthan.
3. Rao Sohanpalji ruled Morena and later conquered Gwalior

Maharaja Anangpal Tomar III called his daughter’s Son, the great Prithvi Raj Chauhan, the king of Ajmer, and gave him the throne of Delhi before proceeding towards Chambal down south. The marked the end of Tomar rule in Delhi and hence started the Chauhan Clan. Unfortunately, Prithviraj (aka Rai Pithora) was the first and last Chauhan ruler of Delhi. I’ll write about Prithviraj Chauhan and his conquest in later articles. This one was dedicated to Tomars, and especially the “Anangpals” of Delhi.

– Vikramjit Singh Rooprai