Temples as a Tool for Negotiating Identity and Establishing Power

The Gurjara-Pratiharas of North India were one of the first four patrilineal clans of the caste group referred to as the Rajputs. Although their significance has largely been overlooked by historians and students of history, their influence on art and culture and their political sway over the major part of North India from the 9th to the 11th century cannot be ignored. One of the most debated subjects in relation to the Gurjara-Pratiharas is their origin and identity, a topic that has, over the years, acquired racial, colonial and nationalistic tinge. Study of the archaeological sources, however, reveal that the Gurjara-Pratiharas probably rose from a varied background and not from the “sacrificial fire altar” as their court historians claim and their contribution to art, especially temple art and architecture was a motif of legitimation of power. The Early Medieval Indian society (circa 700-1300 CE) was highly caste-ridden, where power was centralised with the ruling clans. Negotiating one’s identity and establishing the authority to rule was therefore a social necessity for any emergent new caste group. Through an intensive study of the existing historiography, the epigraphic evidence and the temples of the period, this paper attempts to examine the origin of the Pratiharas, and also study how constructing a temple served as a tool to negotiate identity and establish power in a religiously and socially divided society.