Ror dynasty

The Ror dynasty (Sindhi: روهڙا راڄ) was a Hindu dynasty on the Indian Subcontinent. The Rors ruled from Rori, the capital of Sindh now town of Sukkur, Pakistan, which was built by Dhaj, Ror Kumar, a Ror Kshatriya, in the 5th century BCE. Rori has been known by names such as Roruka and Rorik since antiquity. Buddhist Jataka stories talk about exchanges of gifts between King Rudrayan of Roruka and King Bimbisara of Magadha.^[1] Divyavadana, the Buddhist chronicle has said that Ror historically competed with Pataliputra in terms of political influence.^[2] The scholar T.W. Rhys Davids has mentioned Roruka as one of the most important cities of India in the 7th century BCE.^[3]

Shortly after the reign of Rudrayan, in the times of his son Shikhandi, Roruka got wiped out in a major sand storm.^[4] This event is recorded in both Buddhist (Bhallatiya Jataka) and Jain^[5] annals. It was then that the legendary Dhaj, Ror Kumar (Rai Diyach in Sindhi folklore) built Rori Shankar Rohri and Sukkur in Pakistan in the year 450 BC.

List of rulers

Following the foundation of Rori Shankar is Rohri and Sukkur in Pakistan by Dhaj, Ror Kumar, 41 kings followed him one after the other until Dadror. Listing them starting from 450 BC until 489 AD, the dynasty grew as follows:^[6]

The bards report that Dadror was poisoned by his head priest, Dewaji (Rai Dynasty#Chronology of Rai rulers of Sindh) in 620 AD and he was followed by five Brahmin kings before the capture of Rori or Al Ror by the Arabs. On the other hand, written records like the Chachnama report that the Brahmin usurper was Chach and not Dewaji. Considering that the bards may have made a mistake in their orally transmitted reports from generation to generation, we can place a greater faith on the date of 620 AD and that corresponds well with Chach, the usurper's lifetime. That would mean that the dynasty reported as the Rai Dynasty was a continuation of the founding Ror Dynasty of Rori and Rai Sahasi II was not killed by Chach jumping onto his horse's back in an open field (as in Chachnama) but in cold blood by mixing poison in his food.

References

1. ↑ http://www.borobudur.tv/avadana_07.htm
2. ↑ "The Divyavadana (Tibetan version) reports: 'The Buddha is in Rajgriha. At this time there were two great cities in Jambudvipa: Pataliputra and Roruka. When Roruka rises, Pataliputra declines; when Pataliputra rises, Roruka declines.' Here was Roruka of Sindh competing with the capital of the Magadha empire." Chapter 'Sindhu is divine', The Sindh Story, by K. R. Malkani from Karachi, Publisher: Sindhi Academy (1997), ISBN 81-87096-01-2
3. ↑ Page 317, Lord Mahavira and His Times, by Kailash Chand Jain, Published 1992 by Motilal Banarsidass Publications, ISBN 81-208-0805-3
4. ↑ Page 174, Alexander's campaigns in Sind and Baluchistan and the siege of the Brahmin town of Harmatelia, Volume 3 of Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta, by Pierre Herman Leonard Eggermont, Peeters Publishers, 1975, ISBN 90-6186-037-7, ISBN 978-90-6186-037-2
5. ↑ Story of Udayan and the town of Vitabhaya
6. ↑ Pages 89-92, Ror Itihaas Ki Jhalak, by Dr. Raj Pal Singh, Pal Publications, Yamunanagar (1987)