Gwalior
The dynasty held the country around Gwalior in three branches, at Gwalior itself, at Dubkund and at Narwar. They began as feudatories of the Chandelas and asserted independence in the eleventh century, occupying the strategically vital fort that commands the route between the Ganga plain and Malwa.
Their name is usually explained as deriving from a word for tortoise, and the family is sometimes connected with the later Kachwaha house of Amber, though the link is asserted rather than demonstrated.
Building
The two Sāsbahu temples on the Gwalior fort, built in the late eleventh century, are the dynasty's principal monuments — the larger of them a Vaiṣṇava shrine with a tall pillared hall. The name, popularly explained as mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, is a corruption of Sahasrabāhu, the thousand-armed.
The Kacchapaghātas also patronised Jainism, and the rock-cut Jain colossi cut into the Gwalior scarp — begun somewhat later — belong to a tradition their period established. They were displaced by the Delhi Sultanate's advance at the end of the twelfth century.
Further reading
- Hawley, John Stratton. A Storm of Songs: India and the Idea of the Bhakti Movement. Harvard University Press, 2015
- Kramrisch, Stella. The Hindu Temple. Motilal Banarsidass, 1976
- Michell, George. The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms. University of Chicago Press, 1988
- Basham, A. L. The Wonder That Was India. Sidgwick & Jackson, 1954
- Kulke, Hermann. A History of India. Routledge, 2004
See also
This entry was last revised on 1 August 2026.