The Khayaravalas are believed to have originated from the
Kharwar tribe and the local tradition of the Kharwars states them to have historically been the rulers of Rohtasgarh wherefrom they originally migrated to
Palamu.
Pratapadhavala is considered to have been the first powerful ruler of this dynasty when he came into power in the middle of the 12th century. He left rock inscriptions throughout his reign in the
Sanskrit language. An inscription from Pratapadhavala dated to 1158 and found on a rock-cut image of
Durga near
Tilouthu states that he travelled on a pilgrimage accompanied by five female slaves, a doorkeeper, a court
pandit and his household. His inscriptions also make clear that Pratapadhavala described himself as a
Kshatriya and used the title
Rajadhiraja.
Chandi was the
tutelary deity of the Khayaravalas and the historian, Sayantani Pal, has put forward the idea that Chandi was originally the tribal Goddess of the Kharwars who was later
Sanskritised into her current form. The Khayaravalas adopted the
brahmanical mode of worship which helped them develop from a form of "
tribe sovereignty" to "
territorial sovereignty". This also brought them on par with the other landed elites of the region. There are remains of archaeological find-spots in the area previously controlled by the dynasty. These find-spots include inscriptions of King Pratapdhavala in Phulwaria, the Tutrahi fall rock inscription of Vikram Samvat 1214, Tarachandi rock inscription of Pratapdhavala of Vikram Samvat 1225, Copperplate inscription of Udayaraja and Indradhavala of Vikram Samvat 1254 and
Rohtas inscription of Shri Pratapa of Vikram Samvat 1279. ==Ruler==