shtrakutas [573]. Pulakesin II. of
this Chalukya dynasty successfully resisted an inroad of the great
emperor Harsha Vardhana of Kanauj, who aspired to the conquest of the
whole of India. The Rashtrakuta kings governed for two centuries,
and in A.D. 973 Taila or Tailapa II., a scion of the old Chalukya
stock, restored the family of his ancestors to its former glory,
and founded the dynasty known as that of the Chalukyas of Kalyan,
which lasted like that which it superseded for nearly two centuries
and a quarter, up to about A.D. 1190. In the tenth century apparently
another branch of the clan migrated from Rajputana into Gujarat and
established a new dynasty there, owing to which Gujarat, which had
formerly been known as Lata, obtained its present name [574]. The
principal king of this line was Sidh Raj Solankhi, who is well known
to tradition. From these Chalukya or Solankhi rulers the Baghel clan
arose, which afterwards migrated to Rewah. The Solankhis are found
in the United Provinces, and a small number are returned from the
Central Provinces, belonging mainly to Hoshangabad and Nimar.

Rajput, Somvansi

_Rajput, Somvansi, Chandravansi._--These two are returned as separate
septs, though both names mean 'Descendants of the moon.' Colonel Tod
considers Surajvansi and Somvansi, or the descendants of the sun and
moon as the first two of the thirty-six royal clans, from which all
the others were evolved. But he gives no account of them, nor does it
appear that they were regularly recognised clans in Rajputana. It is
probable that both Somvansi and Chandravansi, as well as Surajvansi and
perhaps Nagvansi (Descendants of the snake) have served as convenient
designations for Rajputs of illegitimate birth, or for landholding
sections of the cultivating castes and indigenous tribes when they
aspired to become Rajputs. Thus the Surajvansis, and Somvansis of
different parts of the country might be quite different sets of
people. There seems some reason for supposing that the Somvansis of
the United Provinces as described by Mr. Crooke are derived from the
Bhar tribe; [575] in the Central Provinces a number of Somvansis
and Chandravansis are returned from the Feudatory States, and are
probably landholders who originally belonged to one of the forest
tribes residing in them. I have heard the name Somvansi applied
to a boy who belonged to the Baghel clan of Rajputs, but he was of
inferior status on account of his mother be