Chauhan

The Chauhans of Jalor were a Songara branch of the Chauhan clan, descended from the Chahamanas of Nadol. Around 1160 Kirtipala, son of the Nadol king Alhana, received twelve villages and made his seat on Sonagiri hill, where Jalore fort stood; his line took its name Songara from that golden rock.

At first feudatories of the Solanki kings of Gujarat, the Jalor Chauhans grew strong under Udayasimha in the early thirteenth century. They made Iltumish of Delhi retreat from Marwar.

Their last great ruler Kanhadadeva defended Jalore against Alauddin Khalji, a feat celebrated in the epic Kanhadade Prabandha. When Delhi's army besieged the fort in 1311, the garrison crowned his son Viramadeva, who died within days; Kanhadadeva fell fighting as the fort was stormed. A kinsman's line survived at Chandravati and Mount Abu, becoming the ruling house of Sirohi.