The country
Vāgaḍa is the broken, forested country of what is now Dungarpur and Banswara, on the borders of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Malwa. The Paramāra branch that held it is attested by inscriptions from the tenth century onward and was subordinate at various times to the Malwa Paramāras and to the Chaulukyas of Gujarat.
The region's temples at Arthuna, built under this dynasty, are its principal surviving monuments — a group of Śaiva and Jain shrines in the Māru-Gurjara manner.
Succession
The branch disappeared in the thirteenth century and the country passed to Guhila chiefs from Mewar, whose descendants ruled the states of Dungarpur and Banswara until 1948. The transfer is characteristic of Rajasthan's dynastic history, in which territories change hands between clans while remaining within the same broad political order.
Further reading
- Kulke, Hermann. A History of India. Routledge, 2004
- 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
- Talbot, Cynthia. Precolonial India in Practice. Oxford University Press, 2001
See also
This entry was last revised on 1 August 2026.