Previous Year Question

Pair 1 is incorrect. Champaka is identified with present-day Chamba, situated in the Western Himalayas in present Himachal Pradesh; it was not in Central India. Historical works on medieval India list the Himalayan hill states as Champaka (Chamba), Durgara (Jammu), Trigarta (Jalandhar) and Kuluta (Kulu). The official history of Chamba district, Government of Himachal Pradesh, also records the region's ancient political tradition and the transfer of the capital by Sahilla Varman to the area of present-day Chamba.

Pair 2 is correct. Durgara was associated with the present Jammu region. This identification is supported not merely by later historical books but also by medieval/epigraphic evidence. A historical discussion of a Chamba copper-plate refers to the “lord of Durgara.” The name Durgara subsequently became associated with the forms Duggar and the Dogra tradition. Hence, Durgara–Jammu is correctly matched.

Pair 3 is incorrect. Kuluta corresponds to the present Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh, not Malabar. According to the official history of Kullu district, the name ‘Kullu’ is believed to have been derived from ‘Kuluta’, and a first-century CE coin refers to “Virayasa, King of Kuluta.” The Chinese traveller Xuanzang also described this region as Kiu-lu-to. Kuluta is additionally mentioned in Kalhana's Rajatarangini.

An important contemporary/epigraphic clue is that the historical discussion of the Chamba copper-plate refers to the rulers of both Durgara and Kuluta. This reinforces their identification as political regions of the Western Himalayan zone rather than states of Central India or Malabar.