GUARDIANSOF INDIA’S HERITAGE

Guardians / The people / Kanhadadeva

Jalore ruler · remembered defender

Kanhadadeva

Reigned c. 1292–1311 AD

A later poem connects him with an attempted recovery of sacred objects taken from Somnath.

Explore the story ↓
No verified likeness
No verified likeness is used in this edition. The initials are a placeholder, not a portrait.
RajasthanSeat of rule and rescue narrative

A life in context

Kanhadadeva ruled Jalore and died during the Delhi Sultanate’s conquest. Padmanabha’s Kanhadade Prabandha, composed in 1455 AD, makes him the hero of a much earlier rescue story.

Other chronicles and modern historians differ over the participation of his forces and the outcome. The story appears here as disputed historical memory, with no claim that the recovered object has been identified.

Beyond these sites

  • Defended Jalore during conflict with the Delhi Sultanate.

Life and context sources: Kanhadadeva — historical accounts and reference trail · Kanhadadeva — biographical overview.

THE WORK OF PRESERVATION

Places, actions & evidence

Events placed in 1299 AD; poem of 1455 AD · Rajasthan

The contested Somnath rescue narrative

Disputed account

The Kanhadade Prabandha tells of recovering sacred objects from a returning army.

Kanhadadeva’s role
Defender in a later literary account
How it happened
The poem describes armed intervention; other chronicles and historians offer conflicting accounts.
Who helped
The poem names Jaita Devada; other accounts bring in rebel soldiers.
What endured
An enduring literary memory, not a demonstrated surviving recovered object.

What the evidence leaves open. The poem was written roughly a century and a half later. The participation of Jalore’s forces and the rescue’s outcome remain contested.

  1. Kanhadadeva — historical accounts and reference trail ↗
    1299 expedition; comparison of chronicles. Review notes.