kingdom · South Asia

Lohara dynasty

1003 CE – 1320 CE (approx.) · capital Srinagar

The last major Hindu dynasty of Kashmir, under which Kalhana wrote his chronicle, the Rajatarangini.

Origins

In 1003 Queen Didda of the Parvagupta dynasty was succeeded by her nephew Sangramaraja, a prince of Lohara, a hill state in the Pir Panjal range. He founded the Lohara dynasty and resisted Mahmud of Ghazni, whose attacks on the fortress of Lohkot in 1015 and 1021 failed.

Rule and society

The dynasty's reign was marked by struggles between kings and the landed Damaras. King Harsha, who ruled from 1089 to 1101, was a cultured patron but melted down temple images to pay his troops, and was killed in a revolt. A second branch began with Uchchala. Under Jayasimha, Kalhana wrote the Rajatarangini in 1148 to 1149, a Sanskrit verse history of Kashmir and one of the few true histories of early India.

Decline and legacy

Later Lohara kings were weak. After a Mongol raid under Dulucha in 1320, the Ladakhi prince Rinchan seized power, and in 1339 Shah Mir founded the Sultanate of Kashmir, ending Hindu rule.

Lineage

Parvagupta dynasty 949 CE – 1003 CELohara dynastyKashmir Sultanate 1339 CE – 1561 CE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Lohara dynasty. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lohara-dynasty
MLA
“Lohara dynasty.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lohara-dynasty. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Lohara dynasty.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lohara-dynasty.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Lohara dynasty’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lohara-dynasty (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻