Ananta (Lohara dynasty)

Before Ananta ruled on Kashmir, there was another ruler, a close relative of Ananta, who possibly ruled the region for less than a month. Kalhana, a notable historian of Kashmir, has covered in his book that Srilekha, Ananta's mother was responsible for the early death of the reigning king as he was murdered by the queen in ambitious of throne. His killing had given her a chance to crown herself. Soon after his death, she made necessary arrangements and took coronation-bath to announce her ambitions to ascend the throne of Kashmir. But, due to her untoward actions for placing herself on throne, she was prevented by "Ekanga" nobles (royal bodyguards) and crowned Ananta instead. For the wellness of the state, Srilekha became regent of king who was crowned at a very little age.[5][6]

King Ananta's administration was well organized during the initial period, however, his top officials were highly dishonest and corrupted. Gradually, his kingdom reached to unstable position. He put a lot of efforts to restore the existing administration but couldn't reformat. His failure led the kingdom to get divided into many Mandalas (modern: divisions). His wife was a wise queen and she reformed the state finance which consolidated his power and as a result, administration was restored jointly by king and his wife. Historians of the 11th century recorded his administration "always-divided". It was also recorded that his wife removed all dishonest officials and recruited new ones.[5][7][8]

Antanta is believed to had won many victories over other kings during his reign, but evidences collected by the historians do no satisfy it.[9] "Tribhuvana" was the commander-in-chief of army. His forces were recruited from Damaras. The chief took the revolt against him to invade the region and the battle started between the two. Forces didn't not fell into conspiracy planned by commander and they started supporting the king instead. King moved into the battle and made the earth shake. When he was moving around the battle place, He saw a number of slashed-bodies on the ground. One of king's attendants reported their names one by one. Ultimately, Tribhuvana admitted his defeat and surrendered himself to the King. It was suggested that king was an affectionate person and he recruited the opposite forces and deployed them at "Aksapatal" office (modern:levy for maintenance of tax department) under a fixed agreement.[10]

The King's wife Suryamati had two brothers but both of them were believed to be greedy and had hunger of treasure. They came to Kashmir where they earned trust and confidence of the King as they were always in need of money to fulfill their habitual requirements. Due to being extremely unfair and dishonest princes, the state treasury had reached to its critical stage. With extravagant habits of chewing Betal leaves which had to be brought from the foreign countries, cost huge amount, the treasury had started vanished. After an interval of some years, the treasury became empty due to their daily expenses. The wise queen rebuilt the state finance by taking the charge of the affairs. After some time, the two princes died and things were restored to normal due to which, king achieved his past glory to the extent that he now started annexing the neighbouring territories.[11]

Ananta, the son of Srilekha was married to a princess who was very beautiful. Besides being a beautiful princess, she was wise and blessed with good administrative-reforms that led the king spent his whole life under her influence. The queen "Suryamati" or "Subhata" was the daughter of "Kangra", the king of Kullu.[11][12]

Since king was blessed with a son, "Suryamati", king's wife made many attempts in favour of his son "Kalasha" or "Kalsa" to place him on throne in 1063. King was not ready to accept the proposed-reign, and decision taken by the king affected their relationship heavily and feud continued for nearly twenty years. In 1063 when secondary position was offered by his wife to king, his son engaged in ill-treating and suggested his father to leave the Palace and seek shelter in Parnotsa (now Poonch). This behavior shattered their family and created many altercations between the king and his son. This was the critical situation for king to overcome. He couldn't tolerate compelling arguments started by his wife and ultimately, he thrust a dagger through his abdomen and ended his life in 1068 AD.[13]