Allat: Tenth-Century Guhila Ruler of Mewar — RAS 2026

Study Material

Paper Prelims

Unit 1

1. Allat was a mid-tenth-century Guhila ruler of Mewar, remembered in bardic khyats as Alarawal.
2. Shaktikumar's 1034 CE inscription places Allat between Bhartrubhatt and Narvahan in the early Guhila dynastic sequence.
3. Allat married the Hun princess Hariyadevi, an alliance cited as evidence of tribal lineages entering the early Rajput order through matrimony.
4. Allat shifted Guhila political activity from Nagda to Ahad, making Ahad the new working centre of Guhila power.
5. Allat raised the Varah temple at Ahad, linking his political relocation with temple patronage and public religious architecture.
6. Allat's VS 1010 (953 CE) inscription names a learned circle around Ahad, including Rishi, Prabhata, Guhila, Garg, Rudraditya, Vamadev, Vailuk and Palu.

Key facts

Allat was a mid-tenth-century Guhila ruler of Mewar, remembered in bardic khyats as Alarawal.
Shaktikumar's 1034 CE inscription places Allat between Bhartrubhatt and Narvahan in the early Guhila dynastic sequence.
Allat married the Hun princess Hariyadevi, an alliance cited as evidence of tribal lineages entering the early Rajput order through matrimony.
Allat shifted Guhila political activity from Nagda to Ahad, making Ahad the new working centre of Guhila power.
Allat raised the Varah temple at Ahad, linking his political relocation with temple patronage and public religious architecture.

Key Points at a Glance

1
Allat was a mid-tenth-century Guhila ruler of Mewar, remembered in bardic khyats as Alarawal.
2
Shaktikumar's 1034 CE inscription places Allat between Bhartrubhatt and Narvahan in the early Guhila dynastic sequence.
3
Allat married the Hun princess Hariyadevi, an alliance cited as evidence of tribal lineages entering the early Rajput order through matrimony.
4
Allat shifted Guhila political activity from Nagda to Ahad, making Ahad the new working centre of Guhila power.
5
Allat raised the Varah temple at Ahad, linking his political relocation with temple patronage and public religious architecture.
6
Allat's VS 1010 (953 CE) inscription names a learned circle around Ahad, including Rishi, Prabhata, Guhila, Garg, Rudraditya, Vamadev, Vailuk and Palu.

Who was Allat, the tenth-century Guhila ruler of Mewar?

Allat was a mid-tenth-century Guhila ruler of Mewar, remembered in bardic khyats as Alarawal, who stood in the Bappa-line succession between Bhartrubhatt and Narvahan.

For modern location context, according to Census 2011 from the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, Udaipur district's total population was 30,68,420; Ahad, the seat to which Allat shifted Guhila political activity, lies within this wider modern district landscape.

Dynastic Sequence

Shaktikumar's 1034 CE inscription places Allat between Bhartrubhatt and Narvahan in the dynastic sequence:

Shil
Aparajita
Bhartrubhatt
Allat
Narvahan
Shaktikumar
Vijaysingh

This sequence matters because it fixes Allat inside the early Guhila line rather than leaving him only as a bardic memory. The inscriptional order also connects him to the Bappa line, the lineage frame through which later Mewar tradition remembered its early rulers.

Matrimonial Alliance

Hariyadevi: Allat married the Hun princess Hariyadevi.
Historical significance: Historians cite the alliance as concrete evidence that tribal lineages joined the early Rajput order through matrimony.

The marriage is therefore not just a personal detail. In Rajasthan history, it is used as evidence for the social formation of early Rajput groups, where older ruling and tribal lineages could enter the emerging Rajput order through political marriage.

Ahad Shift and Temple Patronage

Political shift: Allat shifted Guhila political activity from Nagda to Ahad.
Varah temple: He raised the Varah temple at the new seat.

The shift from Nagda to Ahad shows a change in the working centre of Guhila power. The Varah temple, raised at the new seat, links Allat's political relocation with temple patronage and public religious architecture.

Learned Circle Around Ahad

Allat's own inscription, dated Vikram Samvat 1010 (953 CE), names court scholars:

Rishi
Prabhata
Guhila
Garg
Rudraditya
Vamadev
Vailuk
Palu

This list signals a learned circle around Ahad. It also shows that Allat's court is remembered not only for dynastic placement, marriage alliance and temple patronage, but also for the presence of named scholars attached to the new Guhila seat.