In 10 th century India, Queen Didda became the ruler of which of the following regions of north India?

Correct — D. Didda ruled Kashmir in the second half of the tenth century, first as regent for her son and then her grandsons, and afterwards as sovereign in her own name until her death in about 1003 CE.

Almost everything known about her comes from Kalhana's Rajatarangini, the twelfth-century Sanskrit chronicle of the kings of Kashmir.

She made Sangramaraja of her own Lohara family her successor, and the Lohara dynasty ruled Kashmir after her → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Kannauj — Kannauj in this period was the seat of the Gurjara-Pratiharas, whose empire was then breaking apart. It was a prize fought over by rival dynasties, not Didda's realm.
• (b)
  Delhi — The Delhi region was Tomara country in the tenth century, and it became an imperial capital only with the sultans much later. Didda's court was in the Kashmir valley.
• (c)
  Malwa — Malwa in central India was ruled by the Paramaras from Dhara, the line that produced Raja Bhoja in the eleventh century. It is nowhere near her territory.

Kashmir has an unusually well-documented early medieval history because of one book: Kalhana's Rajatarangini, written in the twelfth century as a chronicle of its rulers.

Didda appears there as regent and then queen, holding power for decades through the deaths of her husband, her son and her grandsons.

Her nomination of Sangramaraja brought the Loharas to the throne, and the dynasty held Kashmir into the twelfth century. She is one of the few women in early medieval India to have ruled in her own name rather than only as a consort.

Key facts

• Didda ruled Kashmir until about 1003 CE, first as regent and later in her own right.
• Kalhana's Rajatarangini, a twelfth-century Sanskrit work, is the main source for her reign.
• She was succeeded by Sangramaraja, who began the Lohara dynasty of Kashmir.
• Kannauj in the tenth century was held by the Gurjara-Pratiharas.

Common traps

• Placing any early medieval queen in Delhi by reflex, which belongs to Razia Sultan in the thirteenth century.
• Treating Rajatarangini as a chronicle of India as a whole, when it is a chronicle of Kashmir.
• Reading a woman ruler as necessarily a regent, when Didda later reigned in her own name.

No directly related past PYQ was found.