Poona Oriental Series. No. 36
THE RASHTRAKOTAS
AND THEIR TIMES
* political, aJrinnistfative* rellgmiis, Mfeial. tconmmc md liicfa.
flic Deccan (i» Soulliem Oyjarat, JVfabaraslitra,
k, , Nizam's Dominions, anci Nortliern Mysore*)-
tluring C, 750 AJX to C. 1000 -A.D.
. v''i0iiltSfe*;'''<Be»»fi5a; "ITindB ;
lira w of Important Towns ancl Cities in Gujarat ancl"''^'
, ■ Katliiawa-r/ , , '* JT/istorf 'of
-P ^J A- Sr'
ORIEHTAl' book AGENGt'
£W,
transliteration
,n the transliteration scheme followed in
>wing deserve to be noted
ong vowels : by a line above the short ones.
books by the same author
1. A HUtory of Important Ancient town* an
Cities in Gujarat and Kathiawar; reprinted
{iota the Indian Antiquary,
of print.
2. A History of tkc m
Western '8acf ord Unwewity Press,
Bombay.^oiy. Pp. stvi + 144 . Price Rs. 3
3. Edueydon in Andent India. The Indian Book
sjZ Benares City. 1934. Pp. vi+386.
tk Price R». 3-
through several stages. In the beginning, almost every-
thing appeared to be of the nature of a dim legend; hardly
any historical data were available. When the key to the
ancient Indian inscriptions was discovered, abundant bistori-
^ -at material became available, and the energies of scholars
some time directed towards the task of assorting it.
1 he first generation of scholars was naturally engaged in
letermining the chronology and giving the frame-work of^the
pohtiral history. These problems became more or less
^wingto the commendabie zeal
1>f the Indian Government and of the various research societies,
^ ’im in India and abroad, immense historical material
^ecame available in course of time. Th(s discovery of the
' rthas astro, which coincided with the political awakening
^ ® gave a powerful impetus to the study of , the
•olitical institutions of Ancient India, The material now
callable is, however, so ample that the historian need hot
, anger be exclusively or mainly occupied with the court, but
give equal attention to the cottage.
' j, In this book, which substantially represents Ta thesis
pcepted for the D. Litt. degree of the Benares Hindu Uni-,
•Yersity. an attempt has been made to give a compr^ensive
history of the Deccan under the Rashtrakutas (c. 750-1000 A. D.);
The first Part ( Chapters I-VI ) deals with the political
iislory of the Rashtrakufa dynasty. More than 40 3''ears
:iave elapsed since the late Drs, R G. Bhandarkarand Fleet
jWrote upon this subject. During this time, several new
tocriptions of the Rashtrakutas and their ^contemporaries have,
jeen published, necessitating the rewriting of the history of
|ic dynasty, Some idea of the new' material, that has be-;
come subsequently available in this period, may perliapj b
gained, when it is pointed out that in the present work, i
was found necessary to devote about four times the ' spac
that wPs' found -more than sufficient by • Bhandarkar an-
Fieei for narrating the political history of the house,
a novel, political history cannot be all new or
is, however, hoped that scholars' will find
the Rashtrakutas expounded here much more full;
any book so far published,
points, -and conclusions will be met w..,,,
Jeali'ng with the predecessors of Dantidurga, will be fouriq
to be substantially new’* and originaL The political relation
of the Rashtrakutas with their contemporaries and feuda^
tories have been fully discussed.' The history of the feudal’
tories, however, has not been dealt with in delail as it
outside the scope ofr the present work.
Part n ( Chaipters VII-^XII, ) contains a coniparaii^l
study of the Rashtrakuta .administration. The boohs on |}i|,.
subject of Ancient Indian Politics are now so numerousi,
that the students of the subiect may be incliried to feel somi'
apprehension at the prospect of a new one being added tci{
their number. It is, however, confidently hoped that ||
perusal of this part will show that epigraphical dociimentll
have a rich store of material bearing on the subjecl. whicT' |
has been practically untouched to the present day. Thfl
information from the Rashtrakufa inscriptions has been in|
several places compared to, contrasted with, and in some']
cases, where it seemed justifiable to do so. supplemented by; *
the data supplied by the earlier, contemporary, and lateHi.
inscriptions and works on the Nltisastra. DharmasSsiml
■■and'AftkasMsira. ■ ' ■ ■ ' " ■ ^
Part III (Chapters XIITXVII) attempts to delineate Ui
Religious, social, literary, educational and economic condilkw'
ofthetimp. Here the back-ground had to be ncce^arill '
_ Lihe|
uriginaL l!;|
the history ofi
than m
Several new suggestions, 'vJew|
hh, and Chapter I
wider. The method in this part is also comparative. I have
not only tried to show what the things were m the LJecoan
under the Rashtrakutas, but also introduced comparisons wth
a- view to illustrate the state of affairs in the earlier an
times. In this part the treatment has been mainly conhneo
to the Deccan under the Rashtrakutas; in a few cases
clence from Northern India is also considered with a view to
emphasise the points of similarity and contrast. m
sidering the economic conditions, the data supphe ^ i
Choia records had to be utilised, as it was ?_
so in order to interpret properly the numerous as .ra ^
inscriptions, hailing from the northern districts o' - a
country. Epigraphical sources have been primari y
upon, but at every step an effort has been made to^ow o
far the realities of the situation, as disclosed by t einscrip
tions, confirm, modify or contradict the picture base upon
the Smrtis and Puranas. As social and religious cus oms
and institutions do not change suddenly, the imormation in
this part is in some cases supplemented by the data supp le
by the 7th and the 1 1th century inscriptions also.
The reader will thus find in this work not only Ae
pxilitical history of the times, but also the religicws, socia ,
economic, literary and administrative history of the age.
Unlike most of the books on the subject of Ancient Indian
Histoiy. he will find here equal attention given to the cultural
as well as to the political history. A perusal of the book wE
show that there hardly exists any work at present, whfch
offers so complete and comprehensive a study of any period
in Ancient Indian History.
The main sources of the bocJt are the inscriptions of the
Rashtrakutas, ihrir contemporaries, and their immediate
predecessors and successors. These are supplemented by
the accounts of the Arabic travellers and the valuable boA of
Alfa^uni. Contemporary works like Somadeva’s Yas'adihka
and NUwakyamria, Pampas Vikrarnarjunamjaya and later
Smitis and PuraQas have also been utilised. Later tfavel-
. lers like Marco Polo, Ibn Batuta, Bernier and Tavernier
have also been consulted with a view to see whether they
■could throw any light on our period.
For the purpose of Parts If and I!I, I have thoroughly
studied the whole of the Dharmas astra, Nlimasfra, and
Arikasasfra literature, and the relevant portions from the
Puraijas and the later Nibandhas. My principal aim is to
find out how far the epigraphical data confirm, modify or
contradict the conclusions based upon the theoretical works
on tli«>rs^bject.
In Part in the aim is merely to describe the social/
, religious and economic conditions of our period. No attempt
is made to account for the changes that we witness taking
place at this time. To a student of the Dliarmas'astra
literature, the temptation to initiate this enquiry is almost
'irresistible, but that would have been beyond the scope of
the present work and would have unnecessarily increased its
' size. I hope to write in course of time a few monographs
on the origin, development and history of the various socio-
religious institutions of the Hindus. The first of these,
dealing with the history and development of Education in
Ancient India, has been just published.
In conclusion I would like to offer my hearty thanks
to the Oriental Book Agency and its enterprising manager
Dn N. G. Sardesai for 'undertaking the publication of this
work, and to Mr. S* R. Sardesai, the manager of the
Samarth Bharat Press, for printing it neatly,
Benares Hindu University,
February 20, 1934.
}
A, S. Aitekar
Transliteration ••• ii
Preface — *.# li
Abbreomtions *.* *.« .•* viii
PART I- — Political History
Chapter I, Early Rashtrakuta Rulers* Their Slock,
** Home and Relations with the Prede-
cessors of Dantidurga.** !
Chapter II, The Rise of the Rashtrahutas; Inclra !,
Dantidurga and Krshna I .#* 29
Chapter III, The Empire at its Zenith — 48
Chapter IV^ Amoghavarsha I and the Gujarat Branch 71
Chapter ' V, From Krshna I! to Govinda IV ... 90
Chapter VL Last Four Rulers ... IH
PART II — A Comparative Study in the Rashtrakufa
Administration
Chapter VIl, Political Divisions ... ... 135
Chapter VIII, Central Government : King and Ministry 130
Chapter IX, Provincial, District, Divisional and
Town Government ... ..<* 173'
Chapter X, Village Government ... iSS
Chapter XI, Revenue and Expenditure ... 212
Chapter XII, The Military and the Police, and the
Feudatories ... ... 246'
PART III — A Comparative Study in the Religious, Social,
Economic. Literary, and Educational Conditions of the Times
Chapter XIII, Religious Condition
Chapter XIV, Social Condition
Chapter XV, Economic Condition
Chapter XVI, Education and Literature.
ChapterXVIl, Conclusion ...
Eixata and Addenda
Bibliography ...
Index ... ■ ... , *
269
317
^"353
m
%
In
ABBREVIATIONS
Amg-
A S. R.
A S. S. I.
A. S. W. I.
B.G.
B. I-S. M. j.
E.C.
-El
Elliot
1. A
3. A. S. B.
j: B. B. R. A. S.
, j. B. O. R. S.
J.M.
3. R. A S.
Ardhamagadhl
Archaeological Survey of India. A:iuuai
Reports, New Series.
Archaeological Survey of South India
Annual Reports. * ,
Archaeological Survey of Western India.
Annual Reports.
Bombay Gazetteer.
journal of the Bharata Itihasa Samsho-
dhaka Maiidala, Poona (Marathi).
Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum.
Dynasties of the Canarese Districts of the
Bombay Presidency.
Epigraphia Camatika.
Epgraphia Indica.
Elliot, History of India, 7 vols.
Indian Antiquary.
Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
Journal of the Bombay Branch of the
Royal Asiatic Society, Bombay.
Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research
Society, Patna.
Jain- M aharashtri.
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Societv ,
London. •
Maharash{rl.
South Indian Inscriptions.
Alberuni's India, edited by Sachau.
'Skt.
PART I-POLITICAL HISTORY
CHAPTER I
- Early Rashtrakuta Rulers,
Their Stock, Home, and Relations with the
Predecessors of Danlidurga.
Before proceeding to narrate the history of the Imperial
Rashtrakuta dynasty, the historian has to consider a few preli-
minary but impoitant questions. Who were the RashlraWStas?
What was their home ? When and how did they first rise into
political prominence ? Were there any ruling Rashfrakuta
families before the time of Dantidurga ? These questions
have to be first considered to clarify the later histosy. We
shall first discuss the question of the early Rashtrakuta families
as it will naturally throw considerable light over the remaining
problems mentioned above.
Earlier Rishtrakiila Ruling Families.' :■
Ancestors of Dantidurga excepted, Abhimanyu of Mana-
pura, Nannaraja of the Mullai grant and Karkkaraja of the
Aniroli-Chharoli record are the only Rashtrakuta rulers,
whose h >use3 are knowm to have flourished earlier than the
house of Dantidurga. A number of other rulers, however,
have been considered as belonging to the Rashtrakuta stock
by some earlier writers; it will be first shown why these views
are untenable.
(I) While editing the ^ Kadaba plates^ Hultzsch had
suggested that Akalavarsha Subhatuhga, mentioned in Merkara
plates as having flourished in the 5th centuiy A.D., might
be a Rashtrakuta prince, possibly the father of Indra who,
according to the Kaulhem plates, was defeated by the early
!. A., XII, pp. 13#,
2 PREDECESSORS OF DANTIDURGA
Chalulcya prince . Jayasinha* Akslavarslia Subliatiinga no
doubt looks like a .Rashtrakuta name, but \vc have to omit this
king altogether from 'our consideration, as ihe Merkara plates
have been shown to. be a forgeiy.
It is no doubt true that a few records of the later Chalukya
d 3 masty, uijs., the. Kauthem plates of Vihramaditya Ye»
woor^^^’^ and Nilganda^^^' plates of Vikramadii^^i VI, and Sona-
vade^®^ and plates of Jajrasinlia refer to a Roslilrakula
.dynasty said' to have flourished earlier than that of the Chain-
kyas of Badami* We are toM in these records that after ruling
for .5p.. generations. at. :''Ayodh 3 ^a, the Chakikyas migrated to the
'South and ruled .there for '16 generations. Then tfieir glory was
eclipsed .fo.r a time owing to the ascendancj’^ of the Raslitraku|as.
But soon there arose the valiant Ja^^asinha, who conquered the
RashlTakuta king Indi'a, the son of Kishna, and reestablished
the fortunes of his family. If this version of history be true,
no doubt we have -evidence for the existence of a Rashfrakula
dynasty, ruling prior to c. 500 A.D., somewhere in central
Maharashtra or northern KarnMaL Bui there is ample evi-
dence to show that the defeat of the Rashlrakulas, attributed
in these records, to Jaj^asinha, is not based upon any reliable
tradition. In the- first place, the records in question are full of
mythological details; a Chalukya djmasty ruling for 59 genera-
tions at Ayodhya is not known to sober history. The most
conclusive reason, however, for ignoring the theoiy^ that
Jayasinha had really defeated a Rashtrakuta king Indra in
c. 500 A.D., is the fact that not a single record of the early
Chaiukyas of Badami refers to this incident. This silence will
appear the more significant when we remember that the
Chalukya records mention a number of petty rulers like the
Kadambas, the Maury as, the Nalas etc,, who were supplanted
by the early rulers of the dynasty. It is inexplicable why
3. i. A., XVI. pp. 15i If. 4. L A,, VIII. pp. U fL
5. E. L. XIII, pp. 12 If. , 6. B. I. S, M. J., X. pp. 87 (1
•1
HAD JAYASINHA CONQUERED RASHTRAKUTAS ?
the Cliaiiikya rulers of Badam! should have conspired to
condemn to oblivion the most significant achievement of
Jayasinha, whom they were claiming as the founder of tiieir
dynasty. Fleet’s theory in this respect appears as the most
plausible one; the defeat of RashtrakOt^ Indra, son of Krshna,
attributed to Jayasinha in c. 500 A.D., is probably due to the
fact that the historians of the later Chalukyas, like some of their
present-day successors, believed that history" repeats Itself.
They knew that Taila II, the founder of the later ChrtiiilQ'a
empire, had defeated Rashtrakuta king, Indra IV, the (grand-)
son of Krskna III; they atlribuied -an exactly .similar fe^- -lo,
the founder of the early Chalukya d 3 masiy as ■ well. ■ Goins of'
a king Krshna have been discovered in the Centra! Provinces
which seem to belong to a fairly early date. But there is
nothing: to connect the king Krshna of the coins v^^ith Krshna, "
the father of Indra, said to have been defeated by Jayasinha* :
The Krshna of the coins may be perhaps the Kaiachuri ruler ’
Krshnaraja, whose grandson Budharaja was defeated . by -
■Mangaiisa/*^
(2) Fleet had suggested that king Attivarman, mentioned .
in a grant hailing from Guntur district may probably have
been a Rashtrakuta prince This suggestion also is to be
ruled out of order, because there is hardly anything to support
it. The provenance and the characters of the grant show that
it is very probably a Pallava record. The mythological des-
cent from Hiranyagarbha, which Attivarman claims, would
also suggest that he was a Pallava, rather than a Rashtrakuta
ruler. Rashtrakuta rulers of no branch whatever make any
mention of Anandamaharshi with whom Attivaniaan claims
to be connected. The only ground for suggesting that
.Attivarman may have been a Rashtrakuta is the expression
Kandharanrpatikulo(Ibkufena\ nsed with reference to Atti-
^ varman. But this expression ' is . hardly sufficient to prove
a’ E.L, V. p.295. ^ 9. I. A., IX. p. 102. , . '
of the Oanares^e ButricUf p, 33i, .
predecessors of 'DANTIDURGA
that Attivarman was a Rashlrakuta prince; for the name
fehna is used by several non-Rashtrakuta rulers as well,
the Canarese apabhransa of Kvshna is kannara an
““ 'S"“¥£'Kom.HJingam graa. ot Ravidatta <"• mentions
that the founder of the grantors dynasty was- a king calle
Shrmitmam Hul.sseh had placed *is -"f
m,dat.d, in lb. 5th e«.tung A.a. and JL ”
founder's name. Rashtravarman, may suggest Ramaakuta
oWordlhip o;er Punnadu Visha^a ( modem Salem and
Coimbtore districts). If this suggestion were to be accepted,
■ would follow that there was a Rashtrakuta kngdom m ^
5lh century, which extended right up to Coimbtore. This view
is however, untenable: the grant has been proved to be a
forgery probably ofabout the 9 th centm-y A.D.; and_^’en
nfwere genuine, the mere occurrence of the term ms/i fra
in the founder's name, Rashtravarman. is hardly sufficient
prove that he was a feudatory of the Rashtrakutas.
Having shown how a number of records, which were re-
the previous writers as possible sources ol
information about earlier Rashtrakuta rulers, do not sup^y
information in that connection, I propose to discuss the
information we possess about Abhimanyu, Nannaraja and
Karkkaraja, whom their records expressly describe as
Rashu-akutas. Let us see whether any of these rulers can be
ected with the predecessors of Dantidurga.
The earliest of these rulers is king Abhimanyu, one of
describes his great-grand-father Manafska as
the most prominent among the Rashtrakutas. Manmka s son
Devaraja, and grand-son Bhavishya, and the grantor
Abhimanyu was a son of the latter. Unfortunately the grmt
is not dated, nor is its findspot known. On palaeographi-
grounds we can place it in the 7th century A.D. , About
12, E. L» I, p. S,
XVIII. p. 366.
pp. 163
ABHIMANYU OF MANAPORA
'.the locality ' of the territory over . which Abhimanyu was
we' cao' get some idea from' the statement in the plates tliat
Ee.'ivas gracing Manapora by his presence, when he made the
grant of village' Undivatika to the Siva temple at Pethapah-
gmdha, which is recorded in the charter. Dr. Bhagwanlal*s view
that Manapura is the same as- Manyakheta or modem Ma!-
khed^^^^ has to.be reiectedr'for, if the later Rashtraliiita capital
was really known as Manapura in the 7th century, it is difficult
to understand ' why the epithet pura of .Manapura should have
been changed into kheia, especially ■ since this change was
calculated to belittle the importance of the place. For, pura
denotes, a city or a capital, while kheia is used . only in,^ con-
nection with smalF towns. Further,: it must be remembered
that Abhimanyu and his ancestors were petty rulers, and if we
identify their Manapura with Malkhed, the Ir dominions, w e
shall^have to suppose, were vei-y extensive* For, Paiigarika,
the Siva temple of which received the grant, has been id#nti*
fied by Hultzsch*'^'^’ and Fleet^^^^ with Pagara, 4 miles north
of Panchmarhi in Houshangabad. district. C, P., and- Usidi’^a*
tika, the village given, "with one of. the villages called
Oontia in the same locality. Abhimanyu would thus be ruling
over a kingdom at least 400 miles in length, which would
hardly have- been the case,, since such' a kingdom in the-: 7tli,
century would have cut across the dominions of the early
ChMukyas. Fleet’s suggestion that Manapura, which was’
probably founded by Manuka, may be Manapura in Malva,
the chief town of Manapura sub-division, 12 miles southwest
of Mhow, seems more probable, for it is only about 100 miles
west of the village granted.
The Rashtrakuta house of Abhimanyu was thus ruling
over the Mhow- Houshangabad tract in Central India. 'The
question whether it can be connected with the house of Danti-
durga cannot be settled at present The seal of the grant of
, ...-fl. j.B. B.R. A. S., XVI, p.m ■ 13. E. I., VIII, p, le.
16. L A,, XXX, p. 503,
6
PREDECESSORS OF DANTIDURGA
Abhimanyu is lion, whereas that of the Rashirakutas of
Malkhed is either Siva or Eagle. Nor is there any similarity
in the "names of the. members of the two. , families. The
territory over which Abhimanyu was ruling 'was, however,
immediately to "the north of .the kingdom of 'the Rashlrakuta
king Nannaraja,:who.wa.s, -as. will .be". .presently, shown, very
probably either. 'a direct or a collateral ancestor of Dantidurga.
Since on palaeographical grounds," the" grant of Abhimanyu can
be placed in the middle of the 7th century, Manauka, Devaraja,
Bhavishya and Abhimanyu become the contemporaries, as
will be shown below, of Durgaraja, Gavindaraja, Svamikaraja
and Nannaraj a respectively of the Tivarkhed and Multai plates.
The kingdoms of these Rashtrakuta families were also
contiguous to each other. It is not unlikely that the two
houses may have been connected with each other by blood
relationship; but definite evidence to establish such connection
is Still wanting.
The next definite mention of Rashtrakuta kings is to be
seen in the Tivarkhed and Multai plates. The name of the
grantor of the Multai plates has been read by Fleet as Nanda-
but an examination of the facsimile published by him
makes it absolutely certain that the name of the king is Nanna-
raja and not Nandaraja, Fleet has mistaken the partially
faint lower na for da; a comparison of this letter with nda in
il. 2 and 6 will show’' clearly that the letter in question is nna
and not nda.
If we compare the genealogies in the Tivarkhed and
Multai plates, we shall find that they are absolutely identical.
In both the plates the grantor is Nannaraja and his father,
grand -father and great -grand -father are Svamikaraja, Govin-
daraja and Durgaraja respectively. But the Tivarkhed plates
were issued by Nannaraja in Saka 553 or in 63l"’2 A.D. (^^),
whereas the Multai plates purport to be issued by the same
ruler in S aka 631 or 709“7!0 A.D. If Fleet’s reading in the
17. L A., XVin, pp.230ff. 18, E. L, Xl, pp. 276 £E ^
RASHTRAKUTA NANNARAJA
7
Multai plates were rorrect, it was possible to argue that
Nandaraja was a younger brother of Nannaraja'and, therefore,
'*niay have been on the throne even .78 ■ years later than the^
eider brother. But it is shown above that the grantor of
the plates in question is Nannaraja, and not Nandaraja,
and therefore identicai with the ruler who had issued the
Tivarkhed plates. In his grant issued in 631*-2 A.D.,
Nannaraja claims that unlike ■ his- ancestors, he was a ruler
entitled to the dignity of the panchamahas ahda, which he had
personally won. He must be at least 25 at' this time; could he
be then still on the throne 78 years later? We have got the case
of Nizam-uhMuik, who died when he was i04; so this 2 S not
impossible. But we must confess that such a long reign, as
distinguished from life, is very rare, and it is therefore almost
certain that the date of one of the two records is wrong.
There are good grounds to hold that the date 709-10 A.D.
supplied hy the Multai plates* may not be genuine. The
genealogy of the Multai plates starts in verse, but after the
first verse there is a sudden brealc A sentence in prose fol-
lows but the concluding portion of it, tasyatmavanaimajo, is
again the fragment of a verse. The record, therefore, does not
seem to be genuine, at least it is not carefully drafted or
copied; and the date it supplies to us may not be genuine.
The genealogy of this Rashtrakuta house, as we gather it
from these two records, is as follows: —
( 1 ) Durgaraja.
j
(2) Govindaraja, son of No. L
(3) Svtoikaraja, son of No. 2.
(4) Nannaraja Yudhasura, son of No. 3.
Known dates, 631-2 A.D. and 709-10 A.D. (?)
Since the- reign of Nannaraja commenced earlier than 631 A.D.,
we<TOay assign his predecessors to the following periods*
,jLSsumipg an average reign of 20 years.
t
8 PREDECESSORS OF DANTIDURCA
Durgaraja 570~590 A.D*
Govindaraja 590-610 A.D.
Svamikaraja 610-630 A.D.
Nannaraja, known dates, 631 A.D. and 710 A.D. (?)
Can we establish any connection between the Rasli|ra-
■kutas of the Tivarkhed and Multai records with the predeces r
sors of Dantidurga? It may be at once admitted' that direct
evidence to connect the two houses is not yet forthcoming: but
the available data make it extremely probable that Dantidurga
was either a direct or a collateral descendant of Nannaraja of
the Tivarkhed and Multai records. The seal of the two plates
issued by him is Garuda or Eagle, which was also the seal of
Dantidui-ga and his descendants. The names of Nannaraja and
his ancestors are either similar to, or identical with, the names
of many of the predecessors and successors of Dantidurga.
One of the latter’s uncles, who was probably a younger
brother of Krshna I, and was governing the territory round
Daulatabad in 793 A.D. was Nannaraja. The formation
of the name Svamikaraja is similar to the biruda Prchhaka-
raja which was borne by Indra^'^'^^ Govindaraja, the name
of Nannaraja s grand-father, is repeated four limes in the main
Rashtrakuta line ruling at Malkhed, and once in the Gujrat
branch. .The great-grand-father of Nannaraja was Durgaraja and
his name may have paved the way of the formation of the name
Dantidurga. This close similarity in the names of the mem-
bers of the two houses can hardly be explained, except on the
assumption thi^t the two families were connected with each
other, indra, Karka, Govinda, Dhruva, Akalavarsha Subha-
tuhga, Akalavarsha Krshna and Dantivarman were the names
of the different rulers in the Gujrat Rashtrakuta branch, whose
blood relationship with the house of Malkhed cannot be doubt-
ed; and all these names are repetitions of the names of the
earlier rulers of the main line. The names of four out of five
rulers of the Gujrat branch of the Chalukyas, vis. the ^wo
19. E. L, IX, pp. 195 H. 20. E. I., XVllI, p. 235.
DANTIDURGA’S PATRIMONY IN BERAR
9
Jayasinhavarmans, Vinayaditya, Mangalarasa and Avanijmms*
raya Pulakesin are borrowed from those of the main Cha*
lukya line. If the names of Nannaraja and liis ancestors are
identical with or similar to those of the predecessors and
successors of Dantidurga, the presumption is possible
that there was a close family connection between the two
houses." ■
. It will be presently shown that . the early exploits of
Dantidurga and his father, Indra,- e. the latter' s feat , of
carrying away by force ( rakshasa vivaha ) a Chaiukya prin-
cess from Kaira, Dantidurga’s occupation, at the beginning of
his career, of Gujrat and northern Maharashtra and the defeat
of the kings of Sindh, Malva and Kos'ala, would indicate
that the family must have been ruling in the feudatory capacity
somewhere in the c entral or wes t ern port ion of Central Indi a , ,
prior to the ris e of Dantidurga in c. 745 A .D. XX^e learn from,
the Tivarkhed and the Mullai grants, that Nannaraia was also ,
ruling in a portion of the territory above indicated. The Tivar-
khed plates , were issued from Achalapura, which is the
s-ame as Elichpur in Berar ; Tivarkhed itself was granted', ■
away by the charier, and it is only 35 miles from Elichpur,
The villages referred to in the Multsd plates have not yet been
identified, but Multai, where the plates were discovered, is
only about 20 miles from Tivarkhed. Nannaraja and his an-
cestors were ruling in Berar and their capital was probably at
Elichpur. The exploits of Dantidurga also can best be ex-
plained if we assume that his patrimony was somewhere in
Berar. This province occupies a central position with refe-
rence to Kaira, Ujjain, Sirpur and Satara, where we know that
his forces were operating at the beginning of his career.'*'
And finally, the known chronology of the two houses does
not only not go against the proposed connection between them
but does support it. Assuming an average reign of 20 years
{exc^t where the succession was not from father to son), and
^ ^ * See tRe a<ljommg map.
10
PREDECESSORS OF DANTIDURGA
working back from the known dates of Krslina !, we get the
following genealogical and chronological table:—
(1) Durgaraja, c. 570-590 A.D.
(2) Govindaraja, son of No. 1, c. 590“610 AX\
(3) Svamikaraja, son of No. 2, c. 510-’630 A. Do
(4j . Nannaraja Yudhasura, son. of No. 3 , c. 630 * 650 ' A. D.: ,
Known dates, 631 A.D. and (?)' 709 A.D. . •
(5) Dantivarman, probably son of No. 4, 650 ”670 A.D.
(6) Indra Prchhakaraja, son of No. 5, c. 670 •*690 A.D.
(7) Govindaraja, son of No. 6, c. 690*710 A.D.
(8) Karka I, son of No, 7, c. 710“’730 A.D.
(9) Indra f, son of No. 8, c. 730~745 A.D.
(10) Dantidurga, son of No. 9, c. 745*756 A.D.
Known dale, 754 A.D.
. (11) Kvshaa !, uncle of No. 10, c. 756-775 A.D.
Known dates, 758, 768 and 772 A.D.
N, B. — In the case of Indra I and his son Dantidurga,.
a reign of 15 years only has been assumed, as Nanna Gun^*
valoka, a younger brother of Indra I, was still alive in 792
A.D., as the D aulata bad plates show
If we reject the date 709 A.D., supplied by the Multai
plates, as not genuine, it will appear very probable that
Nannaraja was the predecessor, and veiy likely the father, of
Dantivarman, the earliest known ancestor of Dantidurga. If.
on the other hand, that date has to be accepted as genuine, the
probability would be that Dantivarman was a younger brother
of Nannaraja Yudhasura, ruling somewhere in Khandesh, over
part of the dominions of his elder brother. Nannaraja may
have had no sons, or they and their descendants may have
been eclipsed altogether by the successors of Dantivarman.
To sum up, the similarity and identity of the names of the
members of the two families, the close contiguity of the places
where they were ruling, the identity of the seal design, and
the striking manner in which the known dates of the roeitibers
fCARKA OF GUJRAT AND DANTIDURGA
11
©f the two families can he worked up into a rnutueilly adjust*
ing chronological and genealogical table.-'ali these make it
extremeh^ probable* if not almost certain, that the ancesiors of
Dantidurga were ruling somewhere in Berar, and were either
the direct or collateral descendants of the Rashtrakufa king
Nannaraja Yudhasura, who w^as ruling at Elichpur in Berar in
the middle of the 7th centurj^^' A.D.
There remains to be considered the Rashtral^ufa ianiily
disclosed by the Anlroli-Chharoli plates of Karkaraja If* dated
757 The following genealog^^ is supplied by the
record".
(1) Karkaraja !, c. 690-710 4 .D.
(2) Dhruva, son of No. 1, c. 710-730 A.D.
(3) Goviiida, son of No. 2, c. 730-750 A.D.
(4) Karka H son of No. 3, c. 750-770 A.D.
Knowm date 757 A.D.
From this record we learn that the village of Sthavara.-*: "'
paliika, z. e. modem Antroli-Chharoli, was granted away .by
Karka li in 757 A*D. Since Antroli-Chharoli is iO miles to
the north-east of Surat, and since the donee hailed from
Jstmbusara in the Bharoch District, it is clear that Karka II
w^as ruling over Sural and Bharoch districts. It is, how-
ever, almost certain that the immediate ancestors of Karka II
were not living in this locality* or if they were doing so they ^
were wielding no ruling powers. For, in the earb^ decades
of the 8ih centur^^ A.D. the districts in question were being
governed partly by the Gujrat Chalukyas, and partly by the ■
Bharoch house of the .Gurjaras. The rule of Karka 11 in |
southern Gujrat, therefore, must have been of recent origin. I
The seal of Karka II of the Antroli-Chharoli record is
the same as that of the main Rashtrakuta branch, mz. eagle;-
the names of the ancestors of the donor are those, which fre**
quently figure in the main Rashtrakuta line. Karka II was a
contemporary of Dantidui’ga and .was -ruling over a portion of'
22. J. B. B;R. a. S.. XVI. pp. 106 ft
•12
' PREDECESSORS OF DANTIDURGA
Lata, which the latter claims to have conqisered. It is there-
fore quite clear that the house of Karka oiust have been
closely connected with that of Dantidurga, but what precisely
that relationship was we do not know. Bhagwanlal Indraji has
• suggested^®^^ 'that Dhruva of the Antroli-Chharoli record may
' be assumed to be another brother 'of Indra I, the father of
Dantidurga. On this hypothesis the genealogy of the
'line with known dates will be as under:-
Karka I
mam
Dhruva
i. ■■
Govinda
Indra I
1 “
Dantidurga
754 A.D.'
Krshna I
758, 768 and *772 A. D.
Nannaraja
793 A.D.
Karka II
757 AD.
There is nothing impossible in the above genealogy and
'■chronology. Nanna, the youngest brother of Karka I, we may
-assume, was born in c. 715 A.D. and Dhruva,- his eldest
brother, ' may have been his senior by about 20 years.
Ohruva^s son Govinda may have been born in c. 715 A.D. and
•his grandson Karka II, in c. 735 A.D. Indra may have been two
, years younger than Dhruva, and his son Dantidurga may
'have been born in c 720 AD. Indra seems to have been the
most ambitious of the four brothers and his son Dantidurga
■may liave begun his military career in c. 745 AD. when lie
was only about 25. Shiyaji and Babar are known to have
■begun their careers at even an earlier age. Dantidurga’ s
nephew may have actively assisted him in his conquests when
he was only a youth of 20 ; the uncle may have rewarded the
services of the nephew by appointing him the governor over
•the newly conquered province of Lata. After the -death of
^Dantidurga in c- 760 A.D. Krshna, his eldest surviving uncle,
‘may have succeeded him, being the most senior member of
23. J.B.B. R. A.S.. XVI. pp. i06ff.
;/0UjFw\T.KARK::A..NOT DANTIDU'RGA’S GRANDFATHER II.
the ■ houses ' The drawback in ' this ■■ theory is the necessity of ^
■assuming that Dhruva, Govinda and Karka I! were, all of them»
the ' eldest sons of their parents, and even after .making this,
assumption we find that Karka I! has to be assumed' to have
joined his uiicle, when he was onb^ just a boy of 18 or 20, It
is also difficult to understand why youth of about 20 should
have been preferred by, Dantidurga for the Gujrai viceroj^alty-
.to his two mature, uncles. ' .
.Re.cently Dr D, R. Bhandarkar has tentatively advanced
the view that Karka. 11 and his father Govinda of the
Aniroii-Chhamli record may be identified with Karka and
Govinda, father and grand-father respectively of the Indra I
of the main Rashtrakuta house. He points out that the
genuineness of the Samangad plates of Dantidurga is not
above suspicion and therefore we may ignore the date 754 A.D.,
supplied by this record for Dantidurga.
This view also is not free from difficulties. If Karka and
his father Govinda of the Antroli-Chharoli record are to be
identified with the father and grand-father of Krslina I of the
main line, Dhruva and Karka I of the former record will have
to be identified with Indra I and Dantivarnian of the main
house. We shall have to assume that eilher Dhruva and
Karka were the ifruc/as of Indra ! and Dantivarman or vice-
Versa. Rashtrakuta kings have used several birudas, but there
is not a single instance of any of the names Dhruva, Karka^
Indra or Dantivarman being used as a hiruda. So far these
names have been known only as personal names.
In the second place the known dates of Dant idurg a and
Kishna I militate against this view. Even supposin,^ *it; to
be proved that the Samangad record is a later forgery, the
chronological difficulties involved in this theory are not solved.
The new plates published by the Bharata Itihasa Samsho*^
dhaka Mandala now supply 758 A.D. as the earliest date for
Kphi^a I, and if we accept 757 A.D. as the dale of Dantidurga a
'24, E. L. XVni, p. 238. 25. B. L S. M. J., VIII, pp. 10-^,
14
PREDECESSORS OF DANTIDURGA
grandfather Karka, the reigns of Danticiurga and Fiis father
Indra will have to crammed in the incredibly short space
of about a year! The reigns of both these rulers were event-
ful; Indra I had come into hostile contact with the Gujr^t
Chaluhyas, and Dantidurga had in the course of a brilliant
career defeated the kings of Malva, Sindh* Kosala, Lata and
Sris'aiia, besides annexing the northern dominions of the early
Chalukyas. How could all this be achieved in the course of a
single year? Even if we assume that Indra had predeceased
his father, the difficulty would not be got over, for one year is
too short a period for the achievements of Dantidurga.
A third possible view in this connection is to regard
Karka 1 of the Antroli-Chharoli record as a younger brother of
Indra Prchhakaraja of the main line, and to make his descend-
ants Dhruva, Govinda and Karka !I contemporary cousins of
Govinda, Karka and Indra of the main line. This view pre-
sents no chronological difficulties like those in the first two
theories; Karka II, according to this theory, becomes an elder
contemporary of Dantidurga and he may quite possibly have
rendered him valuable assistance in his military plans, in re-
turn for which Dantidurga may have appointed him his deputy
in southern Gujrat. It must, however, be admitted that the
assumption that Karka I was a younger brother of Indra I is
based upon mere conjecture. It has to be confessed that the
precise relation of the main line with the Rashtrakutas of the
Anlroli-Chharoli record still remains to be discovered. That
the two houses were related in some way is fairK- certain; the
ill "behaved relative, whom Krshna I ousted soon after his
accession, was very probably either Karka I! or his successor.
The Naravana plates of Vikramaditya II, dated Saka 664,
.( January 743 A.D. ) state that the village Naravana in
‘Ghiplun taluka of Ratnagiri district was given to certain Brah-
manas by that ChMukya king at the request of Rashtrakula
•"^Govindaraja, son of Sivaraja. The charter was issued when the
- 26 . B.LS, M. j., X, pp,9fE
.RA:SHXRAKUTA'GOV1NOA-''OF/CHIELO
"king was encamped: at "Adityavadka; ■■or.Aiiodern., Aitavade':::iri
Satara district, . ' It is net' possible : to ' connect this' .RasMtraku.ta
Govindaraja either wilb the' main line or with the ancestors: of ,
Karka I! of the,, Antroli-Chhamli ' records ' He ;CaB.not :;'^b^
G.ovinda of the main, line, for the latter was great -grand-father,
of Danlidurga and he could not "have. ..been possibly alive in
743 A, D., when the Naravana plates were' isstiecl.' 'Nor :ean,.
•we identify him with Govinda, the .father' of 'Karka II '.of the
Anlroli-Cliiiaroli record.. , It is true- that no' chronological diffi,,-
cuity arises in connection with- 'this. ■ identification.; for the'
.known date of Karka 11 , nzk..- 757- A.D., - fits in well , Vvith; the
known date of Govinda of the Naravana plates, viz, 743 A.D.
The father of Govindaraja may have been an officer under
Vikramaditya II in northern Konkan and his son may have
carved out a principality in southern Gujrai at the downfall of
the Chaiukyas. There is, however, an almost fatal obiection,
to this view; the father of- Govindaraja of. the Naravana
■plates is Sivaraja, whereas 'that of Govindaraja of the Antroli-
Chharoli record is Dhruvaraja. There is no evidence so- far
forthcoming to indicate that either Dhruvaraja or Sivaraja was
ever used as a forada, by the Rashtrakutas. It may be also
pointed out that Govindaraja of the Antroli-Chharoli record was
using feudatory titles, whereas Govindaraja of the Naravana
plates has not even the title of a Sumanta. The latter was
probably a mere district officer ruling over some portions, either
of Satara or of Ratnagiri district. It is, therefore, veiy likely
that he was in no way connected with the Rashtralcota family
that later ousted the Chaiukyas.
\ Having indicated the probable relationship of the main
Rashtrakuta line with earlier and contemporary Rashtrakuia
ruling families, let us now consider the question of the stock
and nationality of the house of Dantidurga. We may refer
only very briefiy to mythological or semi- mythological views
in lUs connection. Later Rashtrakuta records claim ■that the
dynasty was descended from the race of Yadu* Bhagw^nlal
16
PREDECESSORS OF DANTIDURGA
Indraii had conjectured that this theory was started in c. 930
A.D., to explain the change injh&iikem^
seal from lion to eagl^jwbicius Yish^ Ihis
suggestroSThowever. is not happy: lion was the emblem of the
Rashtrakutas of Manapura and not of MalkheA The seal-
emblems on the early Rashtekuta records the A as plates
of Yuvamja Govinda. the Paithan plates of Govmda III, are of
Garuda or eagle. , On some of the later records the emblem
is that of seated Siva but the lion emblem ligui-es nowhere.
The earliest date, now known, when the Rashtrakutas are
1 • • J is 87i A.D.» when the baofan
seen claiming descent from Yadu
plates were issued. 63yeaii> eaiiiei, , , TU^
tala, had nat even dreamt of claiming this decent
W.ni.Dindo,i plates of Govinda Hi. dated 808 A.D., whle
referring to the birth of that monarch, observe that when he
came on the horizon the R-ashtrakuta race became mvincible
like the race of the Yadus when Muran was born in ib
It is fairly certain that the birth of Govinda III
kuta family would not have been compared to that of Krshpa
in the Yadu race, if the Rashtrakutas had at that time thougi
of claiming connection with it by descent. It is probably the
simile in this verse. which sugg^ted to t^ later ^ J
poets the idea of claiming a descent from the "t adus, ^
since it seems fairly probable, from the seal ^^^ejn o the
eagle, that the earlier rulers were, like the Imperial Guptas,
Vaishnavas. r». t i -
/ R. G. Bhandarkar had suggested that the Rashtrakutas
/'had probably sprung f rom
! nameof Tuhga‘^®b sincelntKeKSrirad and Decdtplat^
' it is stated that the family had its oiigin rom
27. L A., XI. pp. 157 ff. . ^ «
28. Cf . Yasmin sarvagu^as'raye ksLitipatau S'ri-Rashtrakutanvayel
jSte Yadavavans'avanmadhuripau SsMalangliyali parwh 11
29. E. L IV, pp, 278 30, E. I., V, pp. 192 it
Hi. H. G.. III.
RASHTRAKUTAS, RATHORS AND REDDIES
a kiag named Tunga. The above plates, however, mention m
the immediately next line.,£atia.asA. .descendant or perhaps
a s on of Tonga, and observe that the RashtrakutaTaini^^ was
known afterTiirn, Both Tunga and Ratta are imaginaiy rather
than real rulers, and even if we suppose that the family was
descended from them, we find ourselves in no better position
about the solution of the question of the stock and the original
home of the Rashtrakutas.
■ Fie^t has suggested that since^the names Rathor 'anci
Rathod are to bc' derived from the term Rashtrahuta, we : may
connect the Rashtrakutas with the Raj pu tana- Kanauj coun-
try, which seems to be the original habitat of the Rathor clans
of the Rajputs, But the Rathors come to our notice much
later than the southern Rashtrakuta families, and it is quite
pDSsible that the Rajput Rathors may be the descendants ef
some ^ members of the Deccan Rashtrakuta families, left ■
behind in northern India during the northern campaigns of
Dhruva Govinda III, Indra III and Krshna ill.
Burnell was inclined to hold that the Malkhed Rashtra
katas were Telgus and were of the same stock as the Reddies
of the Andhra land/'^'^^ This vie w, however, does not bear close
scrutiny. The Reddies are at present scattered even over Tamil
country and north-eastern portions of, Mysore State; but thde
original home and present stronghold is the Andhra countty
The Reddies of M5^sore are undoubtedly of Telgu origin/^'^’
and those, in Tamil districts still speak a broken Telgu dialect,
which clearly proves their northern origin. If we suppose . that
the Rashirakutas were the ancestors of the modem Reddies,
their original home will have to be located somewhere . in the
.Krishna- Godavari doab. In that case it is reasonable tq eX'
pect that they would have first come into prominence in . thist,
locality# ■ As it is, not only did the, Rashtrakuta expansion not.
32. G. L ii,- p. 384. ■ ■ ' . ^ ^ .
33. South I'ndian Falaeographi^t pAOi .jz
34. - Imjpm’al XVill, p. 19L ■ 'l.
.. ' ' ■
IS
PREDECESSORS OF DANTIDURGA
litegin from the Telgu-speaking area, hut most of it was never
jj»luided in the Rashtrakuta dominions. The Chaiukya rulers
.overthrown by them were those of the main and the Gujrat lines.
The Vengi kings continued to defy them down to their fail.
The mother-tongue of the Rashtrakutas was Canarese and not
Telgu, as will be presently shown. The Reddies were a class
of traders and cultivators and they are not known to have dis-
tinguished themselves by military exploits in any period of
ancient Indian history. It is but once that they are known to
have founded a kingdom, and that was after the fall of the
Ganapatis of Warangal, when for about a century, c. 1350-
.1450 A. D., they were holding portions of Krishna and Raj-
mahendri districts. The change of Rashtra into Radda or
Reddies is also not possible in the Telgu dialect, though it can
take’ place in the Tamil one.'*®’ Under these circumstances it
is not possible to identify the Rashtrakutas with the ances-
tors of modern Reddies.
C/S^mdya^holdsih^ of Malkhed
were a MarShbspeaking family, and" were the ancestors of
the modem Marathas.'*®’ This view also seems to be unten-
able, for it can be shown that the family belonged to the Cana-
risse stock and its mother-tongue was Canarese.
., A survey of earlier history is necessary in order to decide
whether the Rashtraktitas of Malkhed hailed from Maha-
i^tra or Karnatak. It is as early as the time of A^oka that
We first hear of the Ralhikas, a term to which we have to
trace the Rattas and Rashtrakutas of later centuries. There is
no philological difficulty in postulating this derivation; the name
is spelt as Ristika at Gimar, Rastika at Shahabazgarhi, and
Ratraka at Mansera, showing that all these terms are to be
derived from the Sanskrit term Rashtrika. It is true that
there is no trace of the sibilant of the original word in the
terms Rat^ka or Ratta, but the Mansera form Ratraka shows
35. Ibid. Vn. p. 158.
36. History of Medieval Hindu India, II p. 249 (Marathi Edition),
, :RAXTAS- AMD RATOIKAS '!§
ihm the term Elshtrika'ass.timed a form altogether devoid' of
any. sibilant ill some;: diaiectSv / As a:Biato fact the form
Ratraka of Mansera supplies ns the link between Rashfrika
and Rattika or Ratta. ^ Pischel besides quotes several cases
of a Sanskrit shia becoming a simple in Prakrits. Cf. ,
Skt Iska; ■ - . , Me. J. M.:and Ao,^^^
. Skt Aushtrika;:' : -M:. -Uttiya.
Skt. Sandashta; .■ ■ M. ,Sandatta. '
It will be seen that this tendency to change the original
shia into tfa IS lO' be mainly seen, in the Maharashtri' ■ and
Jaina-Maharashtrl, and it is. precisely in 'the south,; where
these dialects, were, spoken , that we find the change of original
Rashtrika into Ratta.
In my opinion the vari-ous Ratta or . ; Ra sh{mku|a' famil ies
of our period iv^'elhe^d Scehdahts.- ^T’some^f : the Rath ika:
familieCthat'^^re l^^ over small : tracts in the fetidatoiy
capacity since the iinie-..oLA4aha.
Rathikas as westerners, .but they also associate th^ with the-
Bhoiahas,~'i/$ich wiO'sEdw 'tEj^they were occupying portions
of MahaJ^itra'and" Berar" as' to
them is m'lhe Nanaghat ihscKpiiomof .Queen Nayanika, where ■
we learn that she was the. 'daughter: "of - -Maharathi Tranaka-;
yira, whose statue was- erected by the -side of his ' daughter al ,
Nanaghat* • ■ There existed at this time- numerous feudatory
rulers known as ' -In -connection -with the western
expedition of king Kharav'eia his Khandagiri inscription tells
us that he carried away ■ the wealth .and crowns of all the
rathikas and bhojakas. There are two records at Karli^"®^ be*
longing to a little later period.’ recordmg the benefactions of
Maharathi Gotiputa Agimitanaka and Maharathi Vasithiputa
■Somadeva. The latter grants a village which shows that he
was a ruling chief. A Bhaja record -discloses the existence
of a Maharathi Vinhudatta, and a Kapheri one, that of a
S7* * Grummatik der Prakrit^-SprachetK 'Section 304. >
38. h B. Bi'R. A*.S,, V-,. pp. 15,2-3. -v'’- • 3% mid. p. 62. '
20
PREDECESSORS OF DANTIDURGA
Maharathim Nagamulanika^ who was the daughter of: a maha-
r^a and sister of a mahabhoja. This record again 'shows^
like that of king Kharavela,' that mihis mi maharathis were
feudal chiefs, and not mere generals ■ or local district officers.
It is usually supposed that the ■ Rathis and Maharathis
were in power in Maharashtra only, but there is definite * evi-
dence to show that some of them : were occupying portions of
Karnafak as welh Lead coins bearing the , legend ‘Sadakaiii*
Kalalaya-Mahtothi- ’ have been found near Chitaldurga/^^^^
These coins belong to the middle of the 3rd century A.D.
■The Hirahadagalii grant of Oharmamaharajadhiraja •Suva-
skandavarman^^^^ is addressed, among others, to Rathikas, We
further find that some of the Maharafhis were closely connect-
ed with Can^rese families. ■ , The cumulative evidence of two
Kanheri records shows that Nagamulanika, who was-, married
to a Maharathi, was the:daughter of Haritiputra Vishnu -kada
Chutu-Satakarni, who wa^ a Canarese prince ruling at Bana-
vasi/^^^ Some of the Maharathis were Naga- worshippers ;
the name of the queen of Satakarni I, Nayanika or Naganika^
suggests that her Maharathi father was a Naga-worshipper,
One of the lion-pillars at Karli was the gift of a Maharathi,
Agimita-naka or Agnimitra-naga, whose name also shows that
he was a Naga-worshipper. The donor of one of the Kanheri in-
scriptions, who was the wife a Maharathi, is NagarnOlaniha
or Nagamulanika and her . son’s name was Skandanaga.
One of the inscriptions of her father Vinhu-kada-chutu, dis-
covered at, Banavasi.is'upon a stone slab bearing-. the- represen-
tation of a five-headed, cobra. , . Naga -worship Was extensively
practised by the early inhabitants of Mysore/^^‘^^ and since
some of the Maharathis were Naga.-.worshippers and connected
40. Rapson. pi 57i Plate VIil, Noi 233,
41. P.2. . ; ' ■ _
' 42. Rapson, Catalogu&/p, LHI. Luders. Li$t, Ko. 1021. ’
43, A. S. Wa...V. ■ V.
44. Rice, Mysore and Coorg from InscripUom^ p* 202.
CANARESE; IMMIGRANTS .'Ar.-ELiCHPUR:
'it:
by.niarriage with -'Canarese 'familiesv- -we- . 'are jastifieci ' iB:V.
conciiidmg that Rathis and Maharathis were in power also •in''
parts of Kamatak, especially since .coins 'of .Sadakana'.:
.Kalalaya . Mahara.lhi are discovered in. the' heart ■ of 'Kafnatak
near 'Chi taldiirga.. In .the face of ■.-these facts it, can no longer',
be maintained that the ; :,Ra|hi 'and.-Maharathi families were
confined only to Maharashtra.; ■■■
We can now take . np^ .-the ■ question as to whether- the
Raslitrakatas of Malkhed originally. belonged to Maharashtra
or Kamatak. We have shown already . how the -main line, -
that was later estayished:. at Malkhed, has to be connected
with the RashtrakOta family; ruling, .-at-;. Elichpur. But Danti-.
durga and his ancestors were -not-, natives, of Berar. Canaresc 1
was their; modier tongue* .. Jt- was.. 'Canarese and not Maha*.
rashtn literature that: flourished at their court. Amogha-
varsha I of the line was either himself the author, or at least
the inspirer,mf the o!d.est .Canarese .work on poetics. The
sign -manuals of Karka and, Dhruva-of .-the- Gujrat branch of
the house in the Naosari' plates of and the Baroda
grants of and 835,^'^®^;. AvD.; are in the south- Indian
proto -Caoarese , characiters, .‘.■whereas- ■the ■ records themselves
are to be seen inscribed in the usual script of the locality of
the period in question. If the home of the Malkhed Rashlra-
kutas were in Maharashtra, it is difficult to explain how they
could be using the script of Karnatak as their mother script
It is true that much earlier than 812 A.D. the Rashtrakuta
empire had embraced the whole of Karnatak, but if the
family had originally belonged to Maharashtra, its members
deputed to rule over southern .Gujrat could not be seen using
for their sign-manual .a script that, was current neither in
southern Gujrat, nor in. , Maharashtra but in Karnatak. The
fact that the recently published Jura inscription of Krshna HI,
found in Bundelkhand, should be using the Canarese language
■' 45r 'See Supra, cKaptejf. XV, ’’ ‘ 46.' J. 'B. B. R. A. S., XX, p. 135,
to describe his achievements cao also be expiaineci oril 5 '’ on
the assumption that Canarese was the mother tongue of the
Rash toko tas of Malkhed;
The use of the Canarese script and language by the mem-
bers of the family of Dantidurga is not, however, inconsistent
with die theory, here advanced for the first time, that Danti:-
durga’s ancestors were direct or, collateral descendants o,f
Naanar^'a of Elichpur. • It is shown already how a riuinher of
Radii families were .long domiciled ifi Kamaiak even before
the 3rd century A,D*’ . ■■Under the : Chalukyas of Badami, a
C anarese -speaking dynasty ^ founded in soutiiero Guirdt',
and another in the Telgu-speaking- Andhm cduntry. The pre-
decessors of Dantidurga-.may ■similarly have carved a domain
in Berar away from. their home.in'Karnatak.,
• There is also evidence available- to show that- the home
of the house of Dantidurga 'vras in a' Canarese-s peaking loca-
lity. A numbe r of Rishtrakuta rec ords describe the rulers by
the epithet
o f tawns. ’ "epltEc^'^ischa^ed into^XilfSIly apum -
pinitgaia ‘emigrants from Lattalura, the best of towns' in some
of the records of the Rattas of Saundattid'^^^ Lattalura, to
which the Rashlrakutas belonged, need not have been neces-
sarily included wdthin ‘ the - jurisdiction of Nannaraja and his
ancestors. Manalera,' 'a general of Kislina III, has been
49. Siinir and Nilgund inscription's Amogliavawha I, I. A , Xli^
'' p. 218; and E. !., VI, pV l02. _ '
50. J. B, B, R. A., S.. X’ pp; 167 (L in two of tiie Saundatti Ratta
records Krshna the founder of the house is described as Kkandar%i -
^JUravaradMs' a. iThis. however, cannot show that Kandimra-
pura w'as the hoihe of the RSshtrakStas/ since the vast majority
of records describe them ’m ijaitaiurapurumradhis 'a, ft is
likely that Kandharapura was only an imagraary city since we
do not hear of It anywhere efse. If at ’ all it was a real city^,
^ Krshi?a III alone may have been associated ‘witli it ; it wai noi
the home of the ■family,'; ■
latur was the origin al home
ao,»«.s : t“ t
trSoi^ " yX:'
™y be R«“P" '" R^atata fa™li'' Woae^* “
Snttaf ir.dia.°' But later on he himself abandonea this
"'■wfThaX nale of I pliX^s
and not Lattanurapuiu. His later view that Lattaltira may be
f"l. . R„ j„. District of Hyrirabad State seems to be bitting
the ttath ’ Phonetically the change of Lattalura into Latur
the tratn. Lattalura, being dropped by
boXX tho^oSnal form will assume the garb of UtaUra
P^S- this X will Uer change into LglOra. die of
*e*double' consonant Ho being compensated by the doublmg
°' ‘''&XlXM‘’rpho„etieaifficul«-. there is nothing ,b
stsnd^gXsrtL idenLation of Umtara widi UOr . As
1 matS of fact all the known facts of histow can W »pl«n-
ed only on this hypothesis It has been shown already that
ti Rathis and the M.harathis were «T\TbSr dm
KarnStak as well, in the early centuries of the Chn^.an |r ^
So them may, quite possibly, beoi a R*
local sway at Laturt which is almost due east of Poona a
south of Berar. This family may have later ^g'^ted lo t/
Elichpur or same other place nearby in Berar,
mja was ruling in 631-2 A.D, . Elichpur is only about ISO
miles north of Latur, and the emigration is quite possible.
And by assuming that Dantidurgas ancestors m Berar were
” -XBDECESSOKS op DANTmuPGA
immigrants from Latur we ca l
were using Canarese ’ language if J,ov, a
Later IS now a Canarese-spealdnc» «■ ^*'°^0‘Canarese
case during our period; for we lefmT" ^isoT
wbch was composed in the S f
^sewas then spoken between thl cl-''''^ A.D.. that
The ,mm.grant rulers naturally stucf 1^".
\ Aeir stay in Berl wl language a.j
the Maratha families IlingrBar^ T ^^’^emhct t
stdl use their mother longue Id "■ «ntl
there is nothing impossibfe in "he in Personal mlf'
rese Rashtrakuta family. ruliLfR^^°®«»«^ that the S ’
contiguous to CanaresIStL was
tongue and script ^ ® Preserved its I
If W#=!i _ -.S ■sr-.,
exploit wert»,"ST°' '"'‘“"•“T C D 'V .
india. and nl^ in Gn^ J' »
Chalufeyas of BadRm; • ■^^^^Qrashti-’a „ i /
ofU.,ird,„iri™Tdo™Tl“‘''»>“UAa’i
^er hand, wa aaanTfe, A KHahnT, If
L.„n, „a can 'in
perfonnad in Central In'S'^’G?’ ""V 'Soits
53 . 4 g^ ^ »ierely political
RATH! : HAS' 'Md; ETHNIC ' SIGNIFICANCE 25
administmtive significaiiceriio^ of ..them was. used ■ id' - demote
any tmbal -or ethnical, stock R. G. . Bhandarkar- has r argued
that the name Maharashtra is doe to the province heing'^^ occu-
pied in' the' early days. by. the- rathis and the maharMhis/^^'^'
but' with due deference to the views of that learned scholar^ it
must 'be'’co.nfessed that ■•there is no evidence to show that- the
mfAfs and''^ the maharathiS" were the names of any- ..tribes,
Aiyan».' non -Aryan or mixed. M-r. C.- V# Vaidya holds that the
'Rashl.rahutas'i'epresent the captains of the- Aryan army, .who
parcelled out the districts' in Maharashtra, among .themselves*
This view again ignores the presence of the Rashtrakotas in
Andhra coonliy, and of the 7'athis and the maharathis
in' Karnatak right upto Chitaldurga. The Naga worship*' which
prevailed extensively among the rathi and the maharaiki
families, is surely no argument to prove their Aryan Idrigin,
We must, therefore, conclude that the facts so far known do
.not support the view that the Rashtrakotas belonged tO' ^ any
particular stock, either Aryan or non- Aryan. , =
A point of minor, importance remains to be' considered, ■
what was the real and original name of the RashtrakOta
family. After an elaborate analysis of the epigraphical evi-
dence upon the point/ Fleet has come to the conclusion
that ‘ while Rashtrakuta was the formal appellation which it
was customary to apply to the kings of Malkhed in ornate lan-
guage, the real practical form of the family name wa^ Rate.’
He then points out that the form Ratta was not derived from the
form Rashtra or Rashtrakuta, but that the reverse was the case.
This controversy as to the original form of the word
R^hfrakuta is partly due to a misunderstanding as to what we
mean by the term * original- ' Fleet, while maintaining that
Ratfa was not derived from Rashtra, does not assert that Ra||a
is a desi or Dra vidian word of non -Aryan parentage. We
have already pointed out a number of cases, where original
shfa in Sanskrit becomes simple fta in Maharashtrf and Jain-
54. B. G., L ii. p. 143. • 55 . E. I.. VI!, pp. 220 If,
PREDECESSORS OF' DAMTIDURGA
2rj
There is, therefore, no phonetic difficiilfey-ia
deriving the term Ratfa from the Sanskrit term Rashtra or
Rashtrakuta, As to the question which of these wm the
original form, the answer will' entirely depend upon what ’ we
mean by * original k From the 3rd[ centuiy B.C. to about the
4th century A. D.. Prakrits w'ere usually used for epigraphicai
purposes, and perhaps for daily intercourse as well. The
form rafhi was therefore the original or earlier form in vogue,
when the terms RUshirahuim and Rashtrapaiis began to be
generally used on the use of Sanskrit becoming common for
epigraphicai purposes. In this sense Rathi or Raiia is no
doubt the earlier form, but philologically and historically ihe
tetm’ Raiia has to be admitted as a derivation Irom and con-
traction of the term Rashtraku'ta.
• The Rathis and the Maharathis were, as we have seen
abo\''e. small local rulers. The Hindu imperial theory and
practice were generally against the policy of annexation, as
will be shown in Chapter XII, Section B: the local chiefs were
often converted into district officers and mce versa, accord-
ing to the changes in the political situation. The terms
Rathika, Rashtriya, Rashtrapati and Rashtrakuta were used
to “denote local chiefs, district officers, and big landlords.
From the Girnar inscription of Rudradaman we learn that the
Mauryan governor in Kathiawar was styled Rashtxiya. From
the Hirahadagalli grant of S'ivaskandavarman we find that
district officers were known as Ratkikas^^’^^ Numerous
Vengi records show that the term Rash tiakuta denoted im-
portant landlords in Andhra country during our period/^^^
A ’number of Gurjara and Valabhi plates show that Rashtrapati
was the title of the district governor. In the recently
published Naravana plates 'of Vikramadi'tya Gowndarafa,.
DAMTfVARMAM-'
17 '
who is- called \Rashtrakuta in ' 'the- record, may have bepi
either a district, officer or a big landlord, who' wielded a fair
amount of inf ioenee- with the ' Chalukya emperor." ^ ' ■
Whether the Rashtrakutas ■ df Malkhed were originally
local rulers or district officers or mere landlords is difficult ‘ to
judge. Many of the Rathis of the 3rd century B.C. must liaye
been reduced to the position of district governors at the rise of
the Andhra empire. Some of them must have again become
^ petty local rulers with the fall of that empire. Their 'Status in '
many cases must have been again reduced by the eatdy
Chalukyas, when they rose to power. With reference to tli^
ancestors of Dantidurga we notice that Yudhasura Nannarhji^
was the first to claim the Panchamahas bias* His pi^edeces'^
sors, therefore, may have been either local officers or mere
landlords. They rose to power first under Nannaraja, arid
it is possible that his descendants may have continued to enjoy
the feudaioiy status, won for the famil 5 '^ by Nannaraja.
We shall conclude this chapter With a survey of the
careers of the predecessors of Dantidurga. The earliest of theiri
known from the records of the Malkhed house is Dantivarman
who, according to the theory'' here proposed, was either a son
or a brother of Nannaraja. He is known to us only from the
Dasavatara cave inscription/®^^ which gives us only a cori-
ventional account of his bravery and career. It is doubtfoli
however, whether he was in any way greater than his pre*
decesso'r, w^ho was proud to announce the fact of his having
won the Panchamahas ahdas. One of the scions of the Guji^rit
Rashtrakuta branch, the younger brother of Dhruvar^‘a, w^‘s-
named after him. The probable time when Dantivaf#v
man ruled is 650—670 A.D., whether we make the : calculatidri
from the known date of Dantidurga or of Nannaraja, allowing
an average of about 20 years per reign.
The next two membei's of the "fariijly,^ indra alias Pr^
chhakaraja and Govinda b are equally, shadowy. They pro«,
61. A. S. ¥, p. 87^'. '' 62'.. ;E,. VI. pi 285,
PREDECESSORS OF DANTIDURGA
m
bably ruled fi^om c. 670-^690 A,D. and 690-710 A.D. respectively.
The Baroda plates of Karkaraja Suvarnavarslia of the Giifrat
branch, dated 8I2.A.D., inform us that even among gods, with
the- exception of S^ankara, none was saluted by Govioda
This may show that he was a zealous Saivite. Fleet^^^^ .and
R. G. Bhandarkar^^^^ have suggested that this Govinda' may
be identified with the king Govinda, who along with Appoyika,
invaded the Clialukya dominions from the north of the Bhima,
^ taking advantage of the confusion of. the war of succession
between Mangalisa and Pulakes'in.^-®^'^ This theory looks
plausible when it is remembered that Govinda ! was ruling in
Berar, and could therefore have invaded the Chalukya domi-
nions only from the north of the Bhima. The proposed iden-
tification is, however, impossible; Govinda! must have been at
least 25 when he attacked Pulakes'in in c. 610. A.D., and we
know that his grandson Krshna.I. was alive and ruling in 772
A.D. f. e, 162 years later dian the time of his grand-father.
This chronological difficulty is fatal to the theory of Fleet and
Bhandarkar, that Govinda, first an opponent and then an ally
“ of Pulakes'in, is the same as the grand-father of Krshna I
. The next ruler was Karka 1, who unlike his father was a
Vaishnavite/^’^ Very little that is historical is known about
him* He had at least three sons/^^^ of whom Indra !, the
father of Dantidurga, seems to have been the eldest. He may
have been born very probably in c. 700 A.D. Kyshna !,
who succeeded his nephew, seems to have been a younger
brother. of Indra L He may have oeen junior to Indra I by
about ten years; his age at the time of his death in c. 775
A.D.,;may have been about 65. Nanna Gunavaloka seems
to have been the youngest child of Karka I, since he is known
. 63. 1. A., Xlf, pp. 1,58 64. Dn'msfleSf pp, 386-7,
65. Early History of the Deccan, p, 194.
66. Aihole inscription, E.‘I., V!. pp. 5 ff,
^ 67. Baroda plates of Karka. i. A., XII, pp. 158 ff.
■ 68. If we accept the view of Bhagwanlal Indraji, ( see ante, pp,
I2“13 ) the number of the known sons of Karka becomes fonr.
CAREER- OF; IMDRA
29
;tO';iiaTC-'’been;; alive 4n -795 A.D.* when- the ' Daulalabad i>Iates '
were issued by-his son.Sahkaragana/®^^ - His birth' may- 'be
'.placed in’ Cv 715 :or 720 A.D/ ^ . ,
' ■ Of' the three' brothers Indra seems to have been the-most
ambitioiis.' :' 'That'he had married a Chalukya' princess-'' was-
'knowii- since :the ;publicad "of the Samangad plates, thentoe--;;'
of -the; ^ princess - Bhavanaga ': came to light with- the Bhmdak ; ^
■ plates-^-'^®^^ of her brotherdnda'w'Krshnal. The recently publishdi''' ■'
■Sanjan -plates 'inform us .'that Bhavanaga was carried away, by-' ■'
force from-- her marriage panda! at Kaira by Indra'l/'^-^^' '-‘Since' '
Datidurga, the issue of this union, began his - career ■earfier';- , '
than c. 750 A.D., the marriage must have taken place 'some
time is c. 725 A,D,. A few more facts about the career of Indra
will be narrated in the next chapter^ where the career of hia
illustrious son Dantidarga will be described.
/ „ , CHAPTER II, ■ ; ^
’ The Rise of the Ri^htrakSlas
. ' ; , Indra I. Dantidurga,: and , Krsfaoa I
A bird's-eye-view of the political condition of India in
general, and the Deccan in particular, in the first half of the
8th century would be necessary to understand properly . the
rise of the Rashtrakuta house. The histoiy of Kashmiir . peed
not be considered, for after the death of Lalitaditya Muktapida
that kingdom did not come into contact with the kingdoms . in
the rest of India for a long time. We do not know who.. . was
occupying the imperial throne of Kanauj after Yasovarman, It
would appear from the Chachmma^^^ that Rai Hari Chandet*
CI»"-"ln(lrarSjastatogrib9Sc!yas'ChSlalcyanrpSi:mai5m
* Rakshase^ta viv3hena ra^e Khelikama^dape, ’ v
1. Elliot, I. pp. 207-208.
m THE RISE OF THE RASHTRAKUTAS
was ruling there in c. 715 A.D., but this king is yei a mere
to us. The same is the case of Vajrayiidha^ who is sup*
posed to have been the predecessor of Chakrayudha by some
"writers. Bengal was fust recovering from anarchy under the
leadership of Gopala,!. In the Deccan itself the Chalukya
empire was powerful, but its strength was being wasted in
hereditary wars with Paiiavas. The precise extent of the
(Jlhalukya kingdom at the time of its overthrow is no: easy to
determine* Its southern boundary line must have been a
changing one, as the wars with the Paiiavas were being
continuously fought with varying success. A subordinate branch,
related by blood^relalionship to toe main line, was no doubt
ruling at Vengi; but it had become practically independent
■ of the main, line at this time, though, the imperial title Mate-
rajadhiraja Parames'vara Parama-bkatiaraka was not assum-
^ ed by its rulers before the time of Vijayaditya II. The northeni
boundary of the Chalukya kingdom wa^ probably the Kim in
southern Gujrat; beyond that river stretched the kingdom of
the Gurjaras of Bharoch (or rather of Nandipurl, to be precise)
which embraced the territory between the Kim and the Mahi.
How much further east of the Kim valley the sway of the
Chalukyas extended is difficult to determine, for the history of
the Central Province of this period is still shrouded in mys-
tery. Portions of this province must have passed under the
ChaJukya sway with the overthrow of the Kalachuri prince
STaiScaragana by Mahgalis^a towards the end of the 6th cen-
tury A.D., but whether they continued to be ruled by the
Ghalukyas by the beginning of the 8th century is not known.
Portions of Berar were being ruled by the ancestors of Danli-
durga; the Multai and Tivarkhed records^"’ do not mention the
name of the suzerain ruler,* but it is almost certain that he
must have been the Chalukya king upon the throne. From the
Udayendiram plates of doubtful authenticity it would
THE DECCAN’ 'IN 750 A,D.-
3!
appear that there was a fairly powerful king in the Vindhya
regions at this time named -Prthvivyaghra, who is claimed. To
ha#e been defeated by the Pallava ruler. Nandivarmaii* Who this
prthvivyaghra was^ and how far he had encroached upon the
Ghalukyan kingdom, we do not know. It is, however, possible
that Prthvivyaghra may have been 'another name of ' .Jaya-
va,rdhana of S^ailodbhava dynasty who, in his Ragholi -plates,
which on palasographical grounds have been assigned to. the
middle of the 8th centui'y by Rai Bahadur Hirala!/^^ styles
himself PaiYimamahes^ para Sakalavindhyadhipaii MaM^
rajadhiraja Paramesmra, Whether this identification is True
or not, it is clear that the Chaiukyas must have lost a portion
of their dominions in the north by the rise of Jayavardliana,
In the eastern- Kos'aia, there was. kingdom at Sirpur ■ ne'ar
Raipur, where king Udayana was ruling by the middle of the
8lh‘ century In Raiputana’ and Malva there ruled two Guiiara
houses, one at Bhinmal and another at Ujiain. ■ Both these,
along with the kingdoms of Valabhi and Nandipurs, were being
considerably harassed by the raids' of the Arabs of Sindh' in
the second quarter of the 8th century A.D.
Such then was the political- condition in India, when
Indra I began his political careen 'The Sanjan plates inform
us that he had married the Chalukya princess Bhavanagi by
rakshasa form of marriage at Kaira/^^ This event must have
taken place some time after 722' A.D. Kaira was then still under
the rule of the Valabhi house, as the Gondal plates, of Sila-
ditya V show/^^ Very soon thereafter Kaira and PancLmahal
districts were lost by the Valabhi kingdom;, no record belong-
ing to that dynasty comes from this area during the next 29
years. This negative evidence - is confirmed by the Kavi
plates of Jayabha'rta 10 of BHaroch,^'^^ -where-that ruler claims
to have defeated the king of Valabhi by .the skill of his sword.
4^ Hiralal, List of InscripHom in C. P* and Berar, p. 18,
"5. E,J., XVIII, pp, 235 ff,
4 J. B. B. R, A, S., XI, p. 1 !2,, , ' 7, ,■ 1, A,, V, p. 112,, , ■■ ■;
THE RISE OF THE RASHTRAKUTAS
32
It would seem that Jayabha«a III had made an alliance with
the ^Gujirat Chalukya ruler Mahgalarasa, and that the allied
forces had wrested away the continental districts from the
Valabhi king in c. 725 A.D. Indra I seems to have, very
probabb’, served in this campaign as one of the feudatories
of the Ghalukya king; it was in that capacity that he may have
been present in Kaira, when he carried away the Chalukya
princess by force from the marriage pandal there. Bhava-
naga may have been a daughter of Mahgalarasa or Pulakesin.
Hindu marriage is indissoluble and, therefore, the estrange-
ment caused by this rakshasa marriage could not have lasted
long. The Chalukya ruler may have soon reconciled himself
with ’the accomplished fact; the marriage may have also
added to the prestige and patrimony of Indra in Berar.
The Kaira and Panchmahal districts were not held for a
long time hy the Gurjara-Chalukya forces. From A 1 Biladuri
we learh that Junaid, the Arab governor of Sindha, had sent
expeditions , to the kingdoms of Marwar, Bharoch, .Ujjain,.
Malsra.and Bhinmal.^®’ The account of the Muslim, chroni-
cler is confirmed by the Naosari plates of Pulakewraja, dated
739. which state that the Muslim army, which had
defeated the kings of Sindh, Kachchha, Kathiawar and the
Ghayda, Maurya, and Guriara rulers, was repulsed by Pul'ake-
sin, i Since the" grant is dated 739 A.D.. and since Pulake-
5 irt’e accession took place in 731 A.D.. the Muslim raid must
have taken place between these two dates. The havoc of the
Muslim raid and the effort to repulse it must have we^ened
the states. in Gujarat and Malva, and Dantidurga must have
decided to fully exploit this situation when he began his
carei^r in c. 745 .a.D. at the age of about 22 or 23. His
imagination must have been fired to some extent by his des-
cent from the Chalikyas on his mother’s side.
8. Elliot, 1. p. 109. . •
9. B.G.. hi. p, 109. . ; ' , ~
GENUINEMESS: , OF , SAM ANGAD PLATES
m
' Oar sources :'of: information about- Dantidurga are two con-
temporary records, the Samangad plates dated 754 A.D,
11. 1. A. XI, pp. Ill ff. The genuineness of this record has heen
recently called into quetion by Drs. Sukhtankar and Bhandarkar { E, L
XIV, pp. 121-2; Ibid, XVII!, p. 236). Dr. Sukhtankar *s conclusion, which
is mainly based on palaeographicai grounds, is that the plates are a few
decades later than the alleged time of their issue. The palasographicai
test is, however, a hardly convincing one when the difference is only of
a few decades. If we compare the Talegaon plates of Krishria I with the
Samangad plates, we no doubt find that the duct of the former is much
more archaic than that of the latter; but the s' a in the latter record is
more archaic than the s"a in the former. The sign-manual of Dadda
Pras^antaraga in his Kaira Plates of 659 A.D, is in characters at least
two centuries later than that date. (J. R. A. S.. 1864, p. 205). The same
is the case of the Mathura Jain inscriptions of the Kushana period,
whose characters are much in advance of their age. It is clear from the
last two cases that the current hand was considerably in advance of the
monumental writing, and it is not impossible that the characters of the
Samangad plates appear a few decades later than the date of the record,
not because it is not genuine but because it is written in the current,
rather than in the monumental script of the period, The names of the
villages have been tampered with in this record, and if we have to sup-
pose that the record is not genuine, it will be a case of double forgery*
Palseographical evidence being inconclusive in this matter, attention
may be drawm to a few points which would show that the record is a
.geiiuineone;,;''',-
-^i, The verse t— '
r?Tf iri i
does not occur in any other Rashtraktita record; and it will be soon
shown that the armies of Dantidurga had operated in the vallies of these
rivers. If the record were not genuine, or based upon a genuine record,
and if it were forged by the krctmavid Brahmanas of Karad, the donees
of the grant, the rivers mentioned in connection with the exploits o£
Dantidurga would have been big rivers like the Ganges, the Jumna etc,
and not insignificant ones like the Mahi, the Mahanadi and the Reva.
The fact that these comparatively unimportant rivers are mentioned
would show that the grant 4s either genuine Or based on an original
document issued by Dantidurga,
CP. T-Oi,
THE RISE OP THE RASHTRAKUTAS
■aBci tlie fragmentary Ellora Dasavatara cave inscription/
( Continued from last page )
11. TKe %v*riter of the Talegaon plates of Krslitla 1 is tke same in#
'dividtial as the writer of the Samangad plates issued 15 years earlierl It
is very likely that Indra, who composed the grant, was serving both
under Dantidurga and Krshija. When it is remembered that the Tale-
gaon grant is not based or modelled on, the Samangad one or vice .versa*
the identity of the composers can be explained only on the assumption
that the record is a genuine one. Forged records are not likely to be
eorrect on such minute points.
iii, The date of the Antroli-Chharoli record, 757 A.D., is not the
date of Karka, the grandfather of Dantidurga, as shown in the last chapter.
So there is nothing impossible in Dantidurga being a ruling prince in
755-'4 A.D. when the Samangad grant was issued.
It may be pointed out that even if we accept the view of Dr*
Sukhatankar, the plates will have to be pronounced to be a few decades
later than the alleged date of their issue. If such is the case, we %vill
have to assume that the present plates are a later copy of an originally
genuine grant, and therefore their value as a record describing contem-
porary incidents cannot be much diminished . The Samangad plates in
that case will stand on the same level as the Konnur Inscription of
Amoghavarsha. The latter record was no doubt not written in S^aka 7S2,
hut it has been shown recently by Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar { E. XVIIl,
p, 235 ff, ) that the record is a genuine copy of an earlier grant,
12. fCielhorn seems to assign this record to the reign of Amo-
ghavarsha I, ( E. I. VII, Appendix, p. 13 ) hut this view is not correct.
The record does not refer to any king later than Dantidurga but merely
supplies S'arva as an epithet of that king. This becomes quite clear from
an analysis of the record, V. 23 describes Dantidurga*s victory over the
rulers of LSta, MSlva. BadSimi, etc., V. 24 compares him to a number
of gods according to the usual notions on that subject, and V. 25 after
describing his bravery concludes with the line: —
II ‘ S^rl Maharaja S^arva
was terrible like a mad elephant to the enemy who was ambitious of
conquest.
Then immediately follows the line: —
^ I ' Who had made in
UJ jay ini in a wonderful way the great gift prescribed for kings. *
Bf.O.
DASAVATARA GAVE INSCRIPTION AND DANTIDURGA; 'SS
and the notices' aboufliim in' the records of , his , successors*
From these we learn that the rulers : of Kinchf, ■ Kaiinga,
Srisaila, Kosala, Malava, Lata, 'Tanka, and. Sindh were' de*
feated by Dantidurga,^^^^' Our records, however, do- not
supply any clue as to whether the overthrow of the Chalukyas
preceded or followed the defeat of other kings mentioned in
them.
But before we proceed to determine the probable chrono*
log3^ of these wars, we have to consider a serious discrepancy
(Continued from last page)
This line obviously refers to which Dantidiurga
had given at Ujjayini, as we know from the recently puhiished
Sanjan plates of Amoghavarsha I, It is, therefore, clear that Maharaja
S^arva who is mentioned in V. 25 of the Das^iivatara record must be
obviously Dantidurga, whose exploits are the topic of eulogy from V. 23,
If we assume that it is Amoghavarsha I and not Dantidurga who is
referred to in the last line of V. 25, which refers to king S'arva, ive
shall have to suppose that the record passes over, entirely unnoticed,
as many as four rulers, viz. Krishna I. Govinda II, Dhruva and Govinda
III, This is extremely improbable, since the author of the Das'Svatara
inscription has devoted several verses to describe the imaginary careers
of the predecessors of Dantiduaga. He would have waxed ten times elo-
quent in describing the a exploits of Dhruva and Govinda Ilfi
Buhler, who had edited the record, had realised that king S'arv^a could
not he identified with Amoghavarsha Ij he had proposed to regard him as
a brother or a minister of Dantidurga. (A. S. W. I., V, pp. 186 ff.) This
-view, however, overlooks the fact the V. 25 describes the If f
ceremony of S'arva as something which other kings could not have
thought of emulating, even in dream. This statement would have been
altogether inappropriate and wide of the mark, if S'arva were a younger
brother or a minister of Dantidurga. To conclude, the last ruler mentioned
in this record is Dantidurga S'arva and therefore the record may well
be a contemporary document. But as it is incomplete, one cannot be
positive on the point*
13. Cf, Ellora Innscription V. 23, Samangad grant lines, 21“22,
Begumm plates of Indra III, E. I, IX, pp, 24 ff. The Das^SvatSra record
•gives the name of the last mentioned king as Sandhubkupa hut this is
obviously a mistake for Sindhuhkupa^
in the itasntraKum rui;uru»
lukyas. Some of the records ascribe the defeat of ivirtivarman
H to Dantidurga and odiers to Kyshiia I. There can, however,
be no doubt that Krshija I only completed the work of. his
nephew. It is no doubt true that the Wani-Dindon and
Radhanpur^'®’ plates of Govinda III, dated 808-9 A.D., Baroda
plates of Karka,^^®'^ dated 812 A.D., and the l-fepadwanj
plates of Krishna 11,^'^' dated 910 A.D.. give the credit of the
overthrow of the Chalukyas to Krshna !, but this is obx^usiy
due to the fact that these records altogether pass over
durga, because he was only a collateral ancestor. The Sanjan
plates of Amoghavarsha dated 871 A.D., and the
Cambay'’®’ and Sangli'®®’ plates of Govinda IV. dated 930 and
933 A.D. respectively, no doubt mention Dantidurga, but give
the credit of the Chalukya overthrow to Kyshija I. But these
are late records and their testimony will have to be rejected in
favour of the undoubtedly earliest and almost contemporary
records, uiz. the Bharala Itihasa Samshodhaka Mandala””.
Talegaon'®” and Bhanduk'"^’ plates of Krshna I dated 758,
770 and 774 A.D. respectively. These records were issued by
Krshna I himself . and they not only do not claim the credit
of the Chalukya defeat for him. but actually give it to Danti-
durga. There can, therefore, be no doubt that it was Danti-
durga, and not Kyshiia I who gave the first decisive blow
to the Chalukya house. The later records ascribe that feat
in some cases to Krshtia I, partly because they pass over
Dantidurga altogether, and partly because Krshna I com-
pleted the work of his nephew and humbled the Chalukyas of
Vengi as well.
Dantidurga seems to have begun his career by attacking
15. E, I., VI. pp. 242
17, E. I., I. pp. 52 ff.
19. E. I.. VII. pp. 36£f.
21j B. I.S. M. J.. VIII, 165-8.
23. E. I.. XIV. pp. 101-02.
14. I. A„ XI, pp. 157 ff.
16. I. A.. XII, pp. 158 ff.
18. E. I., XVIIl, pp. 235 ff,
20. I.A..XII, pp. 249ff.
22. E. !.. XIII, pp. 275 ff.
EARLY CAREER OF DANTIDURGA
■ his eastern neighbours in Udayana of Sirpur
near Raipur and Jayavardhana of Srivardhana near Ramtek,
who was probably also known as Prthvlvyaghra/^^^ If the
Udayendiram'' plates/^^V issued by Nandivarman li in his
21si year, are geniune or based* like the Konnur inscription
of Amoghavarsha I, on a genuine record, it would appear
that Dan tidurga and Nandivarman 11 were co-operating with
each other in this expedition : for the Udayendiram plates
claim that Nandivarman II had captured Udayana. the king of
the Sabaras, and defeated Prthvlvyaghra, another S^abara
chief, who was presumptuous enough to perform an Asvamedha
sacrifice. Since several records of Dantidurga claim for him
also the credit of defeating the Kosala ruler or rulers, it seems
very likely that he had made an alliance^®'^^ with the Pallava
ruler Nandivarman, the natural enemy of his prospective
24. Udayana*s great -grand -son Chandragupta was defeated by
Govinda III in c. 810 A.D. It is, therefore, very likely that Udayana
himself was on the throne at this time. See E. I., XVIIl, pp. 240 and
XI, pp, 185 f£.
25. Jayavardhana is called |
in the Ragholi plates; he may, therefore, well have been the same as
the S'abara chief, PrithvIvySghra, who attempted to perform an AsVa*
medha according to the Uda 3 >-endiram plates. With reference to Nandi-
varman he was a northerner.
26. S.I. I. II.. pp. 365 ff.
27. Dubreuil has suggested that Danlivarman cemented this alliance
by giving his daughter S'ankha in marriage to Nandivarman ( Pallavas^
p. 75 ) There are several difficulties in accepting this theory. In the
first place it may be pointed out that the Bahur plates simply mention
that S'ankha was a Rash^trakuta princess; the name of her father is not
given. ( S, I. L, II, p. 515). We have seen already how there were
several Rathi or Rashtrakilta families in Andhra and Karnatak; it is not
impossible that S'ankba may have belonged to one of these and may have
been altogether unconnected with the house of Dantidurga. In the
secon^ place it may be pointed out that Nandivarman, who had married
S'ankha, was the son of Tantivarman { See V, 12 of the Bahur plates;
S. I, L, 11, p. 515 ), while Nandivarman, who was the ally and [P. P. 0,
38
THE RISE OF THE RASHTRAKUTAS
opponent Kfrtivarman if. It is no doubt true that a number of
records, like the Dasavatara one, state that Dantidurga had
defeated the king of Kanchi as well ; but this statement is not
against the theory of alliance. For Nandivarman I was not
the son of his predecessor Paramesvaravarman, as the
Udayendiram plates were supposed to prove. He was bom
in a collateral branch and seems to have supplanted b\^ force
either Paramesvaravarman or his successor. Dantidurga
may probably have helped Nandivarman in this war against
his predecessor. Hence his records may well claim that he
had defeated the Pallava king. It was probably when Danti-
durga was cooperating with the forces of Nandivarman that he
may have defeated or come into hostile contact with the ruler
of Snsaila in Karnul district.
After strengthening his position by the defeat of his
eastern neighbours and by his alliance .with Nandivarman,
Dantidurga seems to have attacked the Gudaras of Bharoch
and the ChMukyas of the Gujrat branch, and annexed their
dominions. These kingdoms were already exhausted by the
Muslim raid and its repulsion, and Dantidurga’s task may not
have been very difficult.
Dantidurga‘s successes must have made a collision with
Kirtivarman II inevitable, and it seems to have taken place
before January 754 A.D. when the Samangad plates were
issued. We are told that the Chalul^ya emperor was easily
defeated merely by the frown without even any weapons
( Continued from last page )
contemporary of Dantidurga, was the son, either of Paramesvaravarman,
according to the earlier view based upon the Udayendiram plates, or of
Hiranya, according to the present view based upon the Kasakudi and
Velurapalaiyam plates# No record, however, designates his father as
Tantivarman. It must, therefore, he admitted that there is no conclusive
evidence to prove that SVnhha, the Rashtrakuta princess, was a daughter
of Dantidurga married to Nandivarman IL ^
28. See Kasakudi plates of Nandivarman, S, L I*, II, No. 78, and
Velurapalaiyam plates of Vijayanandivarman III, S, I. L, 11, No. 98.
LATER CAREER ' OF'' DANTIDURGA
39
being raised this slatement/if not an exaggeration, wouM
show that the overthrow of the ChaJukya emperor was
brought by strategem or treachery. Dantidurga was enabled
by this victory to occupy Khandesh, Nasik, Poona, Satara
and Kolhapur districts, as the findspot and the villages men-
tioned in the Sam^ngad plates would show. Kirtivarman,
however, continued to hold sway in Karnatak right up to
Sholapur even after this defeat. In 757 A.D. we find him en-
camped with his army at Bhadara-Gavittage/^^^ a village on
the northern bank of the Bhima in Sholapur district. Either
Dantidurga or his successor Krshna I soon completed the
Chalukya overthrow. The second defeat, the whereabouts of
which are still unknown, was decisive ; for not only do we not
find any record of Kirtivarman subsequent to 757 A.D. but the
records of the later Chalukyas themselves state expressly that
the glory of the Chalulcyas set with Kirtivarman II.
Dantidurga* s attacks on the rulers of Tank, Sindha and
Malva now remain to be considered. Tanka has not been so
far identified. Arabs of Sindh were now and then attacking
their western neighbours and Dantidurga seems to have defeat-
ed some of these raids. Some time after the first defeat
of Kirtivarman, Dantidurga seems to have led an expedi-
tion to Ujjain either to heir the Gurjara-Pratihara ruler
Devaraja, or to take advantaf j of the defeat that was inflicted
on him by the rival Gurjara ratihara king, Siluka, ruling at
29. Cf. I
H a*, xl pp. iii,^
30. Vakkeri plates of Kirtivarman li, E. I., V, pp* 202 ff.
31. ct^ tfWrST: I
Yewoor Inscription, I, A,, VIII, pp. 11 ff.
THE RISE OF THE RASHTRAKUTAS
Bhinma!/*^^^ This becomes quite clear from the Das'avatara
record which states that Dantidurga.was occupying a palace
of the Gurjara ruier^*^^ and from the Saiijan plates where we
are informed that when Dantidurga performed the Hiranya^^
garhhadana ceremony at Ujjain, the Gurjara ruler acted as his
door-heeper. ■ ■
After the conquest of Gujrat, Dantidurga appointed
Karka 11 of the Anlroli-Chharoli record as his governor of the
province. Karka II was a relative of his as sho^\-n already.
The Antroli-Chharoli record does not claim that either Karka
or any of his ancestor had conquered southern Gujrat. Since
a number of records ascribe that conquest to Dantidurga, it is
clear that Karka owed his position in Gujrat to that king. It
may be pointed out that Karka’ s titles do not show that he
was an independent ruler.
A review of Dantidurga’ s career will show that he was a
leader gifted with political insight and possessed of great
organising capacity. He could see how the Chalukya empire
had become weakened by its incessant wars with the Pallavas
and how the petty states of Gujrat, exhausted by the Muslim
forays, could no longer hold their own against a resolute con-
queror. Forming wise alliances, proceeding cautiously step
by step, utilising the services of his youthful nephews and
mature uncles, he gradually enlarged his kingdom until it
included southern Gujrat, Khandesh, Berar, and northern
32. The line; ‘ ^ ’ in the colophon ol
Harivans'a of Jinasena has to be construed to mean that Vatsaraja was
ruling at Avanti; the lines in the Sanjan plates
CHARACTER AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF DANTIDURGA 41
Maharaslitra The theory that he oppressed his subjects
and was overthrown by his. uncle Krshnal- is, as .will
be shown in the next section, no longer tenable. Like
most other founders of new dynasties he seems to have
been 'a wise . and able ruler. In religion he shared, orthodox
Hindu beliefs. When he vras at the sacred tifthu Ujjain,
he performed there the HiTanyQ^(ifhh(iTH<xhcidciTi(i\ he must
have obviously believed that the ritual would endow him
with a divine body. On the rathasaptami day of 754 A.D
he weighed himself against gold and distributed the money
among the Brahmanas. He showed his devotion to his mother
by bestowing, at her request, lands in several villages on
worthy Brahmanas. The precise date of his death is
not known but since his successor was on the throne in 758 A.D.t
it is clear that he must have died not long after 754 A,D.»
when he could hardly have been much above 30. When we
remember how young he died, his achievements will have
to be pronounced as unique.
Krishna I
Dantidurga was succeeded by his uncle Krshna I pro-
bably because he left no male issue. This reason is no doubt
given by the Kadba plates which were issued in the reign
of Karka II, but a record from Chitaldurg confirms it. This
record^^^^ informs us that when Dantidurga died without a
son, Kannara, his junior uncle, succeeded him.
The view that Dantidurga was deposed by his uncle
Krshna for oppressing the subjects was based upon a mis-
understanding of the verse: —
34, Samangadi plates, I. A., XI, pp. Ill fE
35, E. C„ XI. CKitaldurga No, 49, Alas plates of Fuvaraja Govinda
yefer to Dantivarman, as the person
■ at wiic^e recitiest tiie grant "was made. But since Danlivarman of tins
record is not tke son of Indra, it will not be possible to identify him
with Dantidurga,
42
THE RISE OF THE RASHTRAKUTAS
II I
occurring in the Begumra plates of KrshQa II. The reading
of the last pari of the first line is * Kshaiaprajabadhah * in the ^
Talegaon plates of Krshna I himself, and the Paithan plates !
of Govinda III, * Krtaprajapalah ’ in the Dauiatabad plates of :
S'anharagana, and ‘ kshitau prajapalah ’ in the Alas plates of
Krshna’ s son Govinda II. It is, therefore, clear that this line I
either praises Krshna I for removing the miseries of the f
subjects or observes that Dantidurga was also a ruler of the |
same category ; the correct reading of the last word of the first
line in the Begumra plates is clearly, * akrtaprajabadhe ’ and '
not krtaprajabadhe. A verse in the Baroda plates of Karka ?
of the Gujrat branch no doubt says that Krshna I had ousted
a relative, who had gone astray, but the Bharata Itihasa
Samshodhaka MandaJa,^^^^ Taiegaon^^^^ and Bhanduk^''^^^
plates of Krshna I himself make it abundantly clear that this
relative could not have been Dantidurga. As Dr, D. R.
Bhandarkar observes, Krshna I would not have tolerated v
a eulogy of his murdered nephew in his own grant, and added
at the end that when the victim of his machinations had
departed from this world, he ascended the throne. The rela-
tive ousted by Krshna was very probably Karka II of the
Antroli-Chharoli record who, we have seen, was a distant
cousin of his. The Antroli-Chharoli record itself shows that
Karka I! was even then entertaining imperial ambition. Karka
there styles himself * Samadhigatapanchamahas ahda-pamma*
hhattaraka-maharajadhiraja-paramesvara ; It will be seen
that here Karka is trying to smuggle cleverly for himself the
imperial title after first using the feudatory one to which
alone he was entitled. After the death of Dantidurga he may
have openly declared himself emperor. It is, therefore, very
36. I. A., Xm. pp. 66 ff. 37. B. L S. M. VOI. p. 165,
,,, 38. E. L.^in. pp, 275 ff. 39. E. L, XIV, pp, 121 ff.
‘ pp. 275ff.
WHO WAS RAHAPPA ?
probable that the relative ousted "by, ■ Krshiia: was' ■ Karka; II,,
he was certainly not Dantidurga.
A verse occurring in four records of the Gujrat branch
states that Krshna obtained the title of Rajadhirajaparame-^
s'mra after defeating Rahappa who had become inflated with
' pride about his strength. This Rahappa must have been
different from the relative, whom Krshna had ousted, for he
is nowhere described as a relative of Krshna, He cannot be,
therefore, Karka of the Antroli-Chharoli record. The present
state of our knowledge, however, does not enable us to identi-
fy this potentate with certainty. A ruler of Mewar, bearing
that name, is known to have flourished in c. 1200 A.D.: an
inscription from the same province, dated 723 A.D., refers itself
to the rule of Maharajadhiraja Parames'vara STi-Dhavalap-
padeva.^^^^ It may thus appear that in some of the ruling
families of Mewar, names ending in ppa were current, and it is
not impossible that Rahappa, the opponent of Krshna I, may
have been a ruler in Mewar, possibly a hitherto unknown son
or successor of king Dhavalappa just referred to. It has also
to be remembered that the last part of the name Rahappa
bears? a Canarese appearance, and since Krshna I is said to
have obtained the imperial position after defeating Rahappa,
it is not impossible that Rahappa may have been either
another name of Kirtivarman, or a biruda of the contemporary
Vengi ruler Vishnu vardhana defeated by his heir-apparent. It
must, however, be confessed that in the present state of our
knowledge no identification, that can be unreservedly ac-
cepted, can be proposed.
41. Kavi Plates of Govinda, 827-8 A. D., I. A., V, pp, 145 ff,
Begumra plates of Dhiuvaraja II, 867-8 A.D., I. A,, XII, pp, 181 ff, ,
Krshna, 888-9 A. D„ I. A., Xlli, pp; 46ff.
Surat plates of Karka, 821 A, D. (being editfcd by the %vriter in
* ' ’ E. I.) ,
•44 THE RISE OF THE RASHTRAKUTAS )
Kfshna was a mature man of about 45 when he succeed* ;
ed his nephew in c. 756. He had very probably participated |
■in many of the campaigns of his nephew, and it is veiy pro* i
bable that the final defeat of Kutivarman was his achieve* j
ment. For Klrtivarman was holding his own in Kamatalc t;
as late as 757 A.D., L e. three years after the last known date -
of Daniidurga and one year before the first known date of
Krshna h The Bharata Itihasa Samshodhak Mandala plates I
of Krshna, issued in September 758, do not refer to his defeat I
of the ChMukyas; it is probable- that the event was yet lo |
take place then. But not much later than that date he must ‘
have completed the Chalukya overthrow, and annexed the
southern part of that kingdom. •
He must have spent some time in consolidating his
position; but that was not much. Soon he undertook an I
offensive expedition against Gangavadi; for his Talegaon •
plates^^'^^ show him encamped in 768 A.D. at Manne in
Mysore state during the course of that expedition. An echo
of this invasion of Gangavadi is heard in a lithic record .
from Tumkur district, immortalising the memory of a
hero, who had fallen in the war caused by the rising of the
Rattas against Gangavadi. Since this record refers itself to ,
the reign of Snpurusha, it is clear that this aged ruler was on
the throne of Gangavadi when Krshna invaded it after -
annexing the Chalukya dominions. The issue of Talegaon
plates from Manne, the Ganga capital, shows that Krshna
was successful in his expedition. Krshna s expedition
against the Gangas was not known before the publication of
his Talegaon plates.
The Chalukyas of Vengi were next attacked, and this
expedition was under the charge of Yuvaraja Govinda whom
we find encamped on the confluence of the Musi and the
Krishna — hardly 100 miles from Vengi itself — in 770 A.D, while
43. E. L. XIII, pp. 275 ff. 44. E. C,. Xil, Maddagiri, No. 99,
CAREER AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF KRISHNA
45 .
conducting that expedition^^^h Vishnuvardhana IV, who was
then upon the Vengi throne, was defeated by Govinda. As a
■result of this victory a major part of the modem state of
Hyderabad must have passed under the Rashtrakuta sway,,
The recently published Bhanduk plates of Ki'shna show
that in 772 A=D. practically the whole of Marathi C. R was then
.under his rule.
Krshna I had also brought under his sway sauthero Kon-
kan. From the Kharepatan plates of Rattaraja, we learn
that Sanaphulla, the founder of the line, had obtained the
territories between the Sahya and the sea through the favour
of Krshnaraja.^'^^^ S'ilaharas were for a long time ver 5 ^^ loyal
feudatories of the Rashtrakutas; allowing about 25 years per
generation for the ancestors of Rattaraja, we find that Sana’’
phulla has to be placed in the latter half of the 8th century
It is therefore evident that Krshnaraja, who had placed Sana*
phulla in charge of Konkan, must be Krshna L
The date of the death of Krshna I is not known, but it
must have taken place some time between the 23rd of June 772
A.D., when the Talegaon plates were issued and October 775
A.D., when the Pimperi plates were issued by his son
Dhruva, which do not refer to Krshna I as living or ruling.
Krshna was undoubtedly an able ruler and a skilful
general. During his short reign of about 18 years he enlarged
the kingdom he had inherited to three times its original size by
annexing Konkan, Karnatak and the major portion of Hydera*
bad state to his empire. He had humbled down the Ganga
and Vengi lulers and the expression ‘ Kanchlgunalankrt^
vis mmhhara nijamniteva sa tena hhukta* occurring in his
Talegaon plates, may perhaps be referring to the defeat of the
Pallava ruler of Kanchi as well, though we have no other
evidence on the point. It is clear that by his conquests
45. ^ Alas plates of YuvarSja Govinda. E. I., VI, pp. 208 ff.
46. E. 1.. XIV. pp. 121 ff. 47. E. I.. Ill, pp. 292 ff.
THE RISE OF THE RASHTRAKUTAS
Kishna I had secured for Us house a dominating position in ^
the Deccan paving thereby the way of his successors to parti- |
cipate in the politics of the north He was also a great builds '
and caused to be excavated the ELora Kailasa temple which ,
isoneof the architectural wonders of the world, since the i
whole structure is hewn out of solid rock i j . '
The overthrow of the Chalulcyas was complete deci- .
sive. and it is only rarely that we come across even Chaiuk^ [
feudatories in the first century of the Rashtrakuta rule. Only
three such feudatories come to our notice, (i) kattiyira of f
Did^ur inscription was possibly a Chaiukya chief but he
wara verv petty ruler. Kattiyiradeva. who is mentioned as
an ancestor of later Chalukyas in Managoii inscription, may
possibly be this Kattiyira. (ii) Kadba plates of Govinda III
disclose another Chaiukya feudatory named Yasov^man.
but since he had to requisition the services of the Ganga
chief to secure the permission of Govinda HI for certain gvmts
.. • bn uraci a ruler of even a mediocre feu-
EARLY RASHTRAKUTA CAPITAL
Raslitrakutas, from the beginning, since the verse in question
mentions Subhatuhga, which was one of the hirudas of Krshna I,
as ruling at Malhhed. This view, however, does not seem
to be correct, since Subhatunga is known to have been a
hirada of Krshna 11 as well* Besides a verse in the Karda
plates of Karha II distinctly states that Amoghavarsha I
built Manyahheta, which could put to shame even the capital
of gods/^'^^ It would, therefore, seem that before the time of
Amoghavarsha I some other city than Malhhed was the
capital of the empire, especially as no record earlier than his
time refers to Malhhed as capital. It has been suggested
that Mayurakhindi or Morhhind, a fort in the district of Nasik,
may have been the pre-Malkhed capital, since Wani-Dindori,
Radhanpur and Kadba plates of Goyinda III were issued from
that place. But the expression used in these records is
Mayurakhiniisama-oasitena maya and not Mayur'akhiniivasiav^
'yena maya. It is, therefore, quite possible that at the time of
the issue of these records Govinda III may have temporarily
encamped in this fort. In the Wani-Dindori plates the village
granted is described as included in Vatanagara vishaya of
Nasika desa. If Morkhinda of Nasik district were really the
capital at this period, it is strange that the vishaya or desa in
which it was situated should not have been designated after
it It would, therefore, appear that Mayuraldbindi was only a
military station and not a capital This same circumstance
would go against the view that Nasik was the capital The
Dhulia^^^^ and plates besides show that Nasik was
the seat of a viceroy, and not of the central Government, in
the 8th century. Latura was the original home of the family,
from which it had migrated in Berar a few centuries earlier;
and it was also included in the Rashtrakuta kingdom in the
reign of Krshna I But there is no evidence to show that the
earlier rjulers of the family had made their ancestral home
the rise of the RASHTRAKUTAS I
once more their capital. Paithan also was not the capital as ‘
the Paithan plates of Govinda III would show. As it is. we |
have to confess that the early capital of the house cannot be ;
determined with certainty. It is. however, not improbable ;
that Eiichpur in Berar. where the ancestors of Uantidurga [
were ruling before the rise of the house, may Ji^ve continued i
to be the capital, till it was changed to Malkiied. Lousens
has recently suggested^^^^ that the Rashtmkuta capital may
have been located somewhere in the vicinity of the hbra ;
caves in the time of Dantidurga. Ho thinks that the place
called as ‘ Sooloobunjun ’ in the Indian atlas sheets, which is
just above the plateau near the Elora caves may have been
the actual locality of the capital, since what look like ihe ■;
remains of a town and a very large tank are still to be ;
seen in the place. This view is a probable one. but Ae
identification of the pre-Malldied capital with booloobunjun
can be accepted as proved only when more substantial evi-
dence can be adduced. As it is. we have to admit that we ;
have no definite knowledge as to the precise site of the capital :
before it was shifted to Malkhed.
Krshna I was succeeded by his eldest son Uovmda rra-
bhutavarsha Vikramavaloka soon after 772^’^ A.D. He had been
56. Cousens. The Ohalukyan Architecture, p. 1 .
1. Fleet’s a view that Govinda 11 did not suoceeed at all tt®
throne cannot he maintained any longer. The expression ‘
can support the theories both of dethronement and supercession; for
the root ' means to jump over as well as to set aside or
transgress. Baroda plates of Karka Suvarnavarsha dated 881-2 A.D.,
Kapadwani grant of Krishna 11, dated 910-11 A.D., and Begumra
plates of Indra HI. dated 914-5 A.D., no doubt omit the ^me
of Govinda 11 from the genealogy; hut jlus was because [P. T. 0.
DID GOVINDA II ASCEND THE THRONE ?
4 ^
selected by his father as his successor and was annointed as
yamraja some time between 770and 772^^^ A.D. He had already
distinguished himself on the battlefield by defeating Vishnu
vardhana IV of Vengi/^^ He appears to have been a great
cavalry leader, for the Kadba plates issued by Govioda III,,
a son of Dhruva I who had deposed him, mention how
Govinda 21 used to win victory by the sole help of his
■ favourite ■ horse,
Daulatabad plates describe how Govinda II relieved
Govardhana and despoiled a king named Parijata^^\ But at
present we neither know who this king Parijata was, nor why
it was necessary to relieve Govardhana, Since Govardhana is
Continued from last page
Ke was a collateral member. It may be pointed that the first two of the
above-mentioned records omit the name of Dantidurga as well, DeoHand
Karhad plates of Krshna III mention the name of Jagattunga as a prince
who did not ascend the throne; but they make no such statement about
Govinda If. Govinda III was the son of Dhruva I who had deposed
Govinda 11, and still his earliest record — the Paithan plates of 794 A.D.— •
describe how Govinda II appeared under the white imperial umbrella.
Another record of his, the Kadba plates of 814 A.D„ actually describes
the coronation of Govinda il. Daulatabad plates of 793“4 A.D., issued in
the reign of Dhruva himself, describe how Govinda had to be deposed by
Dhruva in the interest of the dynasty, as he had entrusted the administra-
tion to some strangers and was being deserted by the feudatories. There
can, therefore, he no doubt that Govinda II did actually rule, although it
may he only for a short time. This conclusion is supported by the
Chalkeri record No, 34 ( E. C, XI ) which uses the expression * Prithvi*
rajyam-geyije ’ ‘ruling over the earth * with reference to
son of Akilavarsha, Cf.
Prabhutavarsha was a hituda of Govinda III as well, but he cannot
be the king here referred to, for he was not the son of AkSlavarsha hut
of DhSravarsha. The title ‘ * is also a variation of the title
« ’ which we find him using in his Alas plates. { E. I., VI,
pp, 208 ff. )
2, The Talegaort plates of 770 refer to him as simple GovindarSja,
while the Alas plates of 772 describe him as ’
^ 3, Alas plates. E. U, VI. pp, 208 ff. ^ ' 4. E.j;,, IX,, pp. 185 ff, ■
50
THE EMPIRE AT ITS ZEHITH
situated in Nasik district, it is probable that its relief may
refer to a temporary victory of Govinda over Dhruva, his
rebellious brother, who, we know from the Dhulia^^^ and
Pimperi^^^ plates, was ruling over Nasik and Khandesh as
the governor under his elder brother.
Soon after his accession Govinda abandoned himself to a
life of pleasure and vice^'^b This must have made his adminis-
tration unpopular and inefficient. Karhad plates of Krshna
state that Govinda practically entrusted the whole admi-
nistration to Dhruva, as his mind was engrossed with the en-
joyment of pleasures. This must have given Dhruva a golden
opportunity to usurp the throne for himself. He proceeded
cautiously; we find him sometimes issuing grants under": his'
own authority, sometimes we notice him recognising Govinda
as the de jure sovereign, but nevertheless issuing the land grant
on his sole responsibility It seems that Govinda soon realis-
ed what his brother was -aiming at; he immediately removed
him from the administration and entrusted it to some stranger.
Feudatories, realising the internal dissensions, became luke-
warm in their loyalty. This supplied Dhruva with a suffici-
ent excuse to revolt openly against his brother; declaring
that there was the danger of the Rashtrakuta family itself
being ousted from the throne, he proceeded to fight with his
brother, not so much to gain the throne for himself, as to
5. E. VIII, pp. 182 ff. 6. E. !., X, pp. 81 ff.
7. See Karhad plates of Krshna III, E. !., IV, pp, 278 ff. and the
Kharda plates of Karka, L A., XII, pp. 263 ff.
8. E. I„ iV, pp. 278 ff.
9. In the Pimperi grant issued in 775 A.D., Dhruva altogether
ignores his elder brother Govinda,, who was the reigning sovereign; in
the Dhulia plates of 779 A.D. ( E. L, VIII, pp, 81 tf. ), we find that
Govinda II is mentioned as the ruling emperor, hut the grantor Karka
makes the grant with the sanction, not of Govinda, the emperor, hut of
his own father Dhruva,
OVERTHROW OF GOVINDA II
retain it for the Rashtrahutas^^^^^ He first tried to induce
Govinda to abdicate, which he naturally refused to do.
Govinda tried his best to put down the rising of his brother;
he sought and obtained help from the rulers of Kanchi,
Gangawadi, Vengi/^^^ and Malva, Dhruva, however, sue*
needed in defeating the confederacy and winning the throne
for liimselfi
This event probably took place in c« 7B0
JTT ^ II
Daulatabad plates; E. I, IX, pp, 193 ff,
11. Pampa in his Vikramarjtinamjaya states that Ankesarin I,
the sixth ancestor of his patron Arikesarin II, ( c. 925-950 A.D. ) had
penetrated into the kingBora of a king named Nirupamadeva, with the
ministers of Bengerivishaya. ( J. B. B. R, A. S. XIV. p, 19), Allowing 25
years for each generation, the time of Arikesarin I works out to be
775-800 A.D. It ’would, therefore, appear that this Chalukya feudatory
had joined the party of Govinda against Dhruva. Can king Bengeri-
vishaya possibly stand for the Vengi ruler ?
12. The above account of the reign of Govinda is -Based on the
assumption that his Dhulia plates are genuine. It must be admitted that
this record, though issued in 779 A.D., appears to be some decades
later than the Pimperi plates of 779 A.D. But it has been shown already
\a7lte pp. 33-4] that the palseographical test cannot be regarded as the most
decisive one, when the difference is only of a few decades. The xmpor®
tant factor in connection with the genuineness of the Dhulia plates is the
genuineness of their date. The plates were issued on the 10th day of the
bright half of Pausha of S'aka 701. Prof. Kielhorn, after making the
necessary calculations, wrote: ‘ The date of this inscription for S'^aka
Samvat 701 expired regularly corresponds to the 22nd of December 779
A D« On this day Makara or Uttarayana Sankranti took place at 4 h,
30 m., and the 10th titlii of the bright half of Pausha commenced 6 h*
44 m. after the mean sunrise/ (E. L, VIII. p. 183, n. 2.). Astronomical
calculations thus show that the Dhulia plates are genuine, or at least
based on a genuine original document. The Pimperi record is also
genuine, but we cannot suppose that Govinda was expelled as early as
" ' ' • - ' [P.y.o.
52
THE EMPIRE AT ITS ZENITH
Nothing is known about the scene of this war of succes-
sion, but since most of the allies of Govinda hailed from the
south, it is not improbable that the decisive battles may have
been fought in that direction. It is not known as to what fate
overtook Govinda after his defeat; nothing is further heard of
him. He may have died in battle or may have been imprison-
ed or hilled by his brother Dhruva. It is not known whether
Dhruva treated his elder brother with the sapie consideration
with which Govinda III treated his own elder brother, Stambha,
when the latter had risen in rebellion.
Dhruva Dharavarsha
After the overthrow of his elder brother above described,
Dhruva ascended the throne. From the Dhulia plates of
Govinda !l, we find that Dhruva was still professing himself
to be a subdrdinate of his elder brother in 779 A.D. In what
year precisely Jie overthrew his brother and ascended the
■ throne is not definitely known at present ^ From Jinasenas
Harimns a, we learn that in 783 A.D. king Snvallabha, son of
Ki'shna, was ruling the south. This statement, however, does
not enable us to determine^ the date of the accession of
Dhruva, for the description ’ Srivallabha, son of Krshna/ can
suit Govinda II as well as Dhruva. It is true that the Paithan
^ plates of Govinda il! issued soon after his accession, mention
( Continued from last page )
October 775 A.D. Krsh^a I was still on the throne in June 772 A.D, It
would be difficult to imagine that in the short space of about 3 years all
the following events took place : — accession of Govinda 11, his misrule,
his entrusting the administration, first to Dhruva, and then to some
strangers when the former showed disloyalty, Dhruva’s effort to induce
Govinda to abdicate, the latter’s successful attempt in securing for him-
self the help of the hereditary enemies of his house, and the defeat of
this big confederacy by Dhruva. As both the Pimperi and the Dhulia
plates are genuine, the above reconstruction of history* here j)ropo 3 cd
for the first time, seems to be the only way out of the difficulty, created
by the overlapping dates of these documents.
DATE OF DHRUVA’S ACCESSION 53
Srivallabha as an epithet of Govinda 11 and Kalivaliabha as
that of Dhruva. But Sravanbelgola Inscription No. 24, which
is an almost contemporary document, describes the father of
Stambha, i. e, Dhruva, as Srivallabha. '^®’ Another contem*
porary record from Matakeri in Mysore district'’^’ refers to
Dharavarsha Srivallabha as the overlord of Kambarasa, prov-
ing thereby that Dhruva was known both by the epithets of
Srivallabha and Kalivaliabha. Since Srivallabha was thus
the epithet^ of both Govinda 11 and his immediate successor
Dhruva, Srivallabha mentioned by Jinasena as ruling in
783 A.D. can be either Govinda or Dhruva. But since
the latest known date of Govinda II is 779 A.D. which is
supplied by the Dhulia plates discussed above, it may be
reasonably assumed that Srivallabha, who is mentioned by
Jinasena as ruling over the south in 783 A.D. may have been
Dhruva rather than Govinda II. For, if we place the usur-
pation subsequent even to 783 A.D., say in 784 or 785 A.D,,
Dhruva will have a short reign of about 8 years. His exten-
sive conquests in the south and north, which will be soon
described, will make it abundantly clear that they presupposed
a somewhat longer reign.
At the time of his accession in c. 780 A.D. Dhruva was a
mature man of about 50; for. when the Dhulia pl-tes -were
issued in 779 A.D., his son was a growm-up man invested with
the Panchamahas'ahdas, and taking an active part in the
administration. Dhruva’s age. however, had not quenched
his military ambition as his hirada ‘Kalivaliabha’, ‘one who
loves strife or war,' will show. After his accession Dhruva
must have spent some time in consolidating his position by
compelling the refractoiy feudatories, who were about to
overthrow his brother s yoke, to recognise his sovereignty.
Then he proceeded to punish those of his neighbours w’ho had
54
THE EMPIRE AT ITS ZENITH
sided with his brother in the war of succession. We have
seen already how the rulers of Talwad, Kanchi, Vengi, and
Malva had championed the cause of his brother. It is precise-
ly against these Idngs that we find the armies of Dhruva
operating during the greater part of his reign.
Dhruva first proceeded to punish his southern neighbours^
The first blow was directed against the Ganga principaiity.
The aged Ganga ruler Sri-purusha Mutta-rasa who was
defeated by his father Krshna I, was now dead, and was
succeeded by his son Sivamara II. The Manne plates/
alleged to have been issued in 797A.D., are no doubt spurious,
but the statement made therein, that Sivamara was interested
in logic, dramaturgy and Pdtanjala-Mahabhashya may well
have been founded on good tradition ; it would show that he
was more a scholar than an administrator.. His authorship of
a book on war-elephants did not prove to him of much avail
against the elephant-phalanx of Dhruva, who managed to
defeat and imprison him. The statement in the Rashtrakuta
records that the Ganga ruler was imprisoned is confirmed
by some Ganga documents as well. The Manne grant, above
referred to, states that Sivamara was entangled on all sides
in difficulties. The Gattiyadpur plates inform that
Sivamara put his younger brother Vijayaditya upon the throne
who, like Bharata, knowing the earth to be his elder brother's
wife, refrained from enjoying her. The simile makes it quite
clear that Sivamara was absent from the kingdom in the
Rashtrakuta prison, and that his younger brother was trying
to carry on the struggle against the invading forces in the
absence of the jure ruler. Dhruva, however, was com-
pletely successful in his expedition; he appointed his eldest
son Stambha to govern the newly conquered province.
16. E. C.,XI, p. 41.
17. See Wani-Dindori plates, 11, 9—10: I-A,, XI, p. 157,
18. E, C., XII, Nanjangad No. 129.
CAMPAIGN IN NORTHERN INDIA 55
After the annexation of the-Ganga principality, Dhruva
attacked the Pallava ruler and - besieged, his ,, capital
A verse in the Radhanpur plates informs us that the Pallava;
ruler ' was defeated and compelled to surrender a large number
of" war-elephants to the victor. .
After punishing his southern neighbours for siding with
his elder brother, Dhruva turned his attention to Northern
India. As DharmapMa of Bengal is known to have ■ marriedv
a Rashtrakuta princess, Rannadevi, daughter of king Para-
bala,^^^^ it was ones believed that Dhruva had undertaken the
northern expedition as an ally of Dharmapala against their
common enemy Vatsaraja, the Gurjara-Pratihara ruler. This
view is, however, no longer tenable as the a of the
Sanjan plates of Amoghavarsha I, recently published, distinct-
ly says that Dhruva fought also against the Gauda ruler in
his northern expedition. The real motive of the northern
campaign of Dhruva seems to have been to teach a lesson to*
Vatsaraja, who had tried to espouse the cause of Govinda IL
19. The identity of this RSshtrakuta prince is still uncertain. He
cannot he Parahala of the Pathari pillar inscription, for the latter*s date
is 861 A.D. (E, I., IX, p. 248). The reign of Dharmapala had ended
about 50 years at least before that year, and therefore be could not have
been Parabala’s son-in-law. Fleet had proposed to identify him with
Govinda III {Dynasties, p, 198), but this ruler is not known to have had
this biruda.
20. Cf. wr i
%gps^3rrf3r sfrsfrg; li
21. The statement of Jinasena
i
has to be understood to mean that Vatsaraja was ruling at Avanti'»*
©specially since we know from the Sanjan plates that there was a
Gurjara-Pratihara ruler at Avanti in the time of Dantidurga also. The
Malava ruler, who helped Govinda II, must, therefore, have been this
Vatsaraja or perhaps a local governor of his, and one of the reasons that
induced Dhruva to undertake this expedition in the north musfc»have been
to punish the Gurjara-Pratihara ruler for bis partisanship with Govinda If.
56
THE EMPIRE AT ITS ZENITH
Later on Dhruva may have attacked Dharmapala as well, as
the latter may have tried to thwart his plans, regarding him as
a possible nval in the overlordship of the north towards which
iie liimseir was aiming.
It is not necessaiy for us to enter into a detailed discussion
^ the very complicated history of northern India of this period.
Only facte, relevant for our enquiiy. need be referred t
Ihe Gwalior inscription of Bhoja of the Gurjara-Pratihara
dynasiy informs us that his great-grand-father Valsaraja hid
wrested away the empire from the Bhapdi family. Kanaui
in our period was occupying the position of Pataliputra in an
ooner age. and we Imow from the Harshacharita that
Bhan^iwas a maternal-uncle of Harsha. Indrayudha who
r^d^r^d probably have been
a d^cendant of this matemal-uncle of Harsha. and it is
possible that his family in that k i
Rhur.A;UA mk ^ ^ ^ ^ known as
Bhapdikula. The statement in the Gwalior inscription that
Bhandikula may
^pport thyiew that soon after 783 A.D.. Vatsaraja attacked
indrayudha does
not seem to have been immediately deposed; for some time
^continued to occupy the imperial thmne at Kanauj Ta
^re puppet in the hands of the conqueror. This must have
rous^ the lealousy of Uharmapala. who was also an aspirant
for the overlordship of northern India. Dharmapala decided
o champion the cause of Chakrayudha. who was probably a
relative of Indrayudha. The Bengal ruler, however, suffered
verse in the beginning ; for a verse'”' in the Wani-Dindori
ri ! TT '^as elated by the easy victory
that he had scored over the lord of the Gaudas The RencfT
rfe. dote.,^ V hio, co„ld „« fcav. bTtorf.
latter.s„cH„oTOto have saM ,„y ,,pediti„„ oat.y.
22. A. S, R., 1903--1 p. 280.
23. Cf. I
24a. Likely to be publisbed in E. L. vol, XX or XXI
DEFEAT OF VATSARAJA' AND DHARMAPALA " ‘^57
province of Bengal The Sanjan ' plates, on the" other, hand,
show that the armies of Dharmapala were operMfig, jn-tbe
Ganges-Jumna Doab in the course of his wars with the
Gurjara-Pratlharas. *
At the time of Dhruva’s intervention in the northern
Indian politics, Dharmapala had again rallied up his forces and
advanced into the Doab with a ' view to capture Kanauj.
Dhruva must have first attacked Vatsaraja, his immediate
neighbour, in c. 7S9 A.D. The latter was probably engaged
in meeting the second invasion of Dharmapala, and so Dhruva
could get a decisive victory, capturing the two white umbrellas
of the Bengal ruler which Vatsaraja had snatched away from
him in a former battle. This defeat of Vatsaraja brought
Dhruva into contact and conflict with Dharmapala, who
was already in the Doab. Each must have regarded the
other as standing in the way of the realization of his imperial
ambition and a conflict was inevitable. , We have no details
of the militaiy operations, but the Sanjan plates of Amogha-
varsha I, distinctly asserl^^^^ that the defeat of the Gauda king
took place in the Ganges -Jumna Doab. The statement in
the Sanjan plates is confirmed by verse 22 of the Surat
plates of Karka Suvariiavarsha, which I am at present editing for
the Epigraphia Indica, where Dhruva and God Siva are both
described as ‘ Gahgaughasantatinirodhavivrddhakirtih,
There is a pun on the expression, and with reference to
Dhruva, it can refer both to his imprisonment of the Ganga
ruler, as well as to his campaign in Ganges valley. The term
oiha is not very happy if taken in connection with the imprison-
ment of the Ganga ruler. It can be more appropriate with
reference to the campaign in the Ganges valley, when the huge
southern army, consisting of elephants, horses and soldiers
THE EMPIRE AT itS ZENITH
may have, while encamped on the banks of the Ganges?
appeared to be obstructing the flow of that river either while
bathing in it or crossing it across, „
in the Baroda plates of Karka Suvaraavarsha has now
to be interpreted as referring to Dhr ova’s occupation of
the Ganges- Jumna Doab; the poet imagines that the acquisition :
6f heaven by Dhruva, which is mentioned in the latter half of
this verse, was due to his being in possession of the holy
Juimna and the Ganges. Prinsep s view that this verse refers to
Dhruva s drowning himself in the confluence of the Ganges
and the Jumna^^^^ can no longer be accepted.
Dhruva s expedition in northern India was merely of
the nature of a digvijaya. It probably brought him no substan-
tial gain, apart from fame and booty, that might have been
obtained. Boundaries of the Rashtrakuta empire did not
alter as a result of his successes against Vatsaraja and
Dharmapala. It does not seem that he was in a position to
follow up his victories in the Doab by marching upon the
capital of either of his opponents. He was far away his
base; and perhaps he was too old to press his armies on to
Kanauj. It is also possible that he was anticipating some
trouble about the succession after his death, and was* therefore,
anxious to return to the south in order to abdicate in favour
of his favourite son Govinda. Whatever the real causes, the
Rashtrakuta armies soon retired to the south, enhancing no
doubt the military prestige of the empire, but adding very
little to its area.
Dhruva died some time between April 793 and May
25. I. A., XII, pp. 157ff. 26. J. A. S. B., 1839* pp. 304 fL
CHARACTER AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF DHRUVA 55
794 A.D/^''^ He was one of the ablest of the Rashtrahiita
Fillers. During a short reign of about 13 . years ■ he . not: only-
reestablished the Rashtrahuta ascendency in the south, which
was seriously -endangered by his predecessor’s loose and
vicious government, but made the RashtrakOtas an all-India-
power# For the first time after the Andhra occupation of
portions of Northern India, after a lapse of nearly nine centuries,
a' Deccanese force crossed the Vindhyas^and .entered into, the
very heart of Madhyades a, defeating each of the tivo rival
claimants for the imperial position in the North. His depo-
sition of his elder brother is an unfortunate circumstance
casting reflections upon his moral character; but if Govinda
was really a weak and vicious ruler, which certainly seems to
have been the case, there was more than ample political
justification for the step taken by Dhruva. His northern
campaigns no doubt did not result in the enlargement of the
Empire in that direction, but in the south, after the imprison-
ment of the Ganga ruler, his dominions were annexed and,
the boundary of the Empire was pushed to the Kaverf.
Govinda III
Dhruva had a number of sons. The names of four of
them are known, — Stambha Ranavaloka, (Kambarasa in
Canarese), Karka Suvarnavarsha, Govinda and Indra, and it
is not unlikely that he may have had more. Stambha was a
viceroy over the newly annexed province of Gangawadi,^^^^
Karka Suvarnavarsha was carrying on the administration of
Khandesh, even before his father’s accession; Govinda,
27. Dhruva was living when the Daulatahad plates were issued in
April 793 and dead when the Paithan plates were issued by his son in
May. 794 A.D.
28. From an inscription at Matakeri in Myso-re district, we learn
that Stambha was the governor of Gangawadi when DhSrSvarsha
S'rivailabha was ruling the earth. E. C., IV, p. 93,
29. E. Q,, IV. p, 93. _ .
30. DhuHa plates of Govinda II, E. I., VIII, pp. 182 £f.
and Indra, who
at by Govinda,
in the military
the empire at its zenith
who was selected by the father for succession
was later put in the charge of southern Gujn
were probably cooperating with their father in
^ ° emperor must have realised that if a war of
Xrd°forthe“t^ ^ong them must he
apSSt heir-
iL. „d £ °z: - tT” ™
as followed by a formal coronation, and Govinda was
But the old emperor apprehended trouble in spite of the
.LrLT“”T.''u“^ to at
'^a quoted in
he W, foottote would show. Goviud,. however, opts^
■ isproposi Sts difficult at present to determine JSther
pri^i^d abdication did actually take place The Paithan
’’ *“"''>«* 0»™Ja obtained the lowj!!!
W his father a, a formal coronation-' and their iT
Pemi,httmt‘s?Zf a “S'
1. in these mcords wiUi ™fer.Z' t TnZttrsr
31 . ^wmrnrgT r%s^=3jFn%»i}i%{w. „
ftcr%TfTO*f I
^11^ tncr,,.i% njtiir ^i^
Radhanpur plates. E. I.. !V, pp. 242 ff.
REVOLT'. OF STAMBHA.'
But it is equally probable tbat realising , that installation as a
Yuvaraja was no guarantee against a war of succession, as was
shown by his own overthrow of his elder brother, Dhruva
may have actually abdicated, in favour of Govinda in spite of
the filial protests of the latter. Govinda* s actual installation as
an emperor, he may have thought, may minimise the prospects
of his succession being opposed, after his death. In the present
state of knowledge, therefo/e, it is difficult to decide whether
Dhruva had actually abdicated towards the end of his career ;
it may, however, be safely assumed that Govinda was the de^
facto ruler in full charge of the administration when his father
died.
The accession of Govinda III took place peacefully, for
the Paithan plates, issued within less than a year of the death
of Dhruva, do not refer to any war of succession. But Stam*
bha, who was an elder brother of Govinda, was smarting under
the humiliation of his supercession, and soon formed a formid-
able confederacy of twelve kings to gain the throne to which he
was legally entitled. The names of the allies of Stambha are
not known, but we cannot be far wrong in assuming that they
must have been some of the neighbouring and feudatory
rulers who must have been smarting under the treatment
they had received from the dead emperor. The San j an plates
inform us that a number of high officers of the state also
joined the cause of Stambha,
33. Such was the case with the Ganga ruler whom Govinda had
released, probably with the intention of creating a rival against his
brother, who was governing Gangawadi. the patrimony of the released
king. S'ivamara Muttarasa. the Ganga ruler, however, joined Stambha
wbo, anticipating the imperial crown, may have promised Gangawadi to
its legitimate ruler in order to get his assistance in the fight with Govinda.
Fleet’s suggestion that the glorious Kattiyira who is mentioned as reign-
ing over the earth, while DosirSja was governing Vanavasi 1200D, may
have been an ally of Stambba, would be plausible only if we assume that
this DosirSja was different from the DosirSja who was governing portions
of Karnatak under Kirfcivarman in 757 A,D. (E.T„ - VI, pp. 253 ff.)
€2
THE EMPIRE AT ITS ZENITH
Govinda had anticipated the storm and was well prepar-
ed to meet it. By following a policy of conciliation he had
endeared himself to a number of his feudatories, who
now stood by his side. His brother, Indra, helped him
zealously, and it was probably in recognition of Lis services
on this occasion, that he was appointed to the Gujrat vice-
royalty. Besides, Govinda was himself a great soldier and
■skilful general He, therefore, soon defeated Stambha and his
twelve allies and made his position secure. A verse in the
Sanjan plates claims that Govinda treated his enemies
leniently after the revolt was put down. Such really was the
case, for the ring-leader of the confederacy, Stambha, was
reinstated by Govinda in his Ganga governorship where he
continued to govern at least till 802
.Stambha was,, governing Gangawadi during Lis father's'
life-time, and it is therefore very likely that the centre of cam-
paign against him must have been south Karnatak. Govinda^s
■expedition against the Ganga i-uler must have been under-
taken immediately thereafter. Seeing a war of succession
impending, Muttarasa, the Ganga ruler, ( c. 765 - c. 805 A.D, )
assumed imperial titles soon after his release from the
Rashtrakuta captivity; he may have very probably joined
the side of Stambha, who may have promised to restore his
kingdom to him when he would become the Emperor. We can,
therefore, well understand why the Radhanpur plates call him
haughty,^^’^ and the Sanjan plates ungrateful Govinda
defeated him easily, for the Radhanpur plates observe that
34. Sanjan plates of Amogliavarsha, v. 17, E. L, XVlII, p. 244.
35, Ihidi V. 18. 36. See note No. 39 below.
37, In his earlief inscriptions, as Fleet has pointed out, his title is
simple Ma’naraja whereas, in his Hoiawadi record he assumes the imperial
title Konguni Rajadhiraja Parames'vara STlpurusha E. L» V,, pp.
156458 ff.
37. Cf. I E.I., VI, p. 242.
38. Cf. : II v. 18. E.I. XVlIl p. 244..
WAR WITH THE GANGAS AND THE PALLAVAS 63
■a mere frown was sufficient for the purpose. The defeated
ruler was again imprisoned in c. 798 A.D., and Gangawadi was
again annexed to the Rashtrakuta empire. Stambha was
reappointed to the Ganga viceroyalty which he continued to
rule down to 802 A.D. at least. ‘Later on he was succeed-
ed by Chakiraja, sometime before the issue of the Kadba
plates in 814 A.D. Grown wiser by the fate of Ganga. ruler,
Charoponnera of Nolambawadi recognised the su2eraint3^ of
Govinda.^^^^
.. Govinda next turned his arms to Kanchi. That kingdom :
had been already once attacked by his father, but Govinda
found it necessaiy to invade it once more, probably’- because
its ruler had sided with Stambha. The Kanchi ruler was
defeated sometime before 803 A.D.; for we learn from the
British Museum plates of Govinda III, that at the time
when they were issued in 804 A.D., Govinda was encamped
at Ramesvara Tirtha, wLile returning from his victorious
expedition against the Pailava king. Govinda^s victory was
not decisive, for towards the end of his reign, he iiad to
attack the Pallavas once more.
Freed from the worries in the south, Govinda turned his
attention to the east. Vishnu vardhana IV and Vijayaditya
Narendraraja were his contemporaries, but since we have to
39. A copper-plate grant from Manne, dated 802 A.D*, mentions
Ranavaloka S'anclia Kambhadeva as the elder brother of Prithivivaikbha
Prabhutarasa Govindarajadeva who meditated on the feet of Dharavar-
shadeva. This grant was made by Stambha with the permission of
Govinda, a fact which clearly shows that Stambha had been pardoned
by Govinda and reinstated in the Ganga viceroyalty after the imprison*
meat of the Ganga ruler. E. C. IX, Neiamangal No, 61.
40. Some records from Chitaldurga district show that Charuponnera
of Nolawbalge was a feudatory of This Govinda ia
obviously Govinda III, E. C.. XI, Nos. 33-34,
41. ' L' A., XI, p. 126.
64
THE EMPIRE AT ITS ZENITH
place the expedition against Vengi later than 804 A.D. his
Chaluhya opponent was very probably Vijayaditya, who is
taown to have ruled from a 799 to 843 A.D. Govinda attacked
bm probably because of the old feud between the two houses.
He was a new ruler ^d therefore a good target for an
aggresswe conqueror. The Vengi ruler was defeated: a verse
in the Kadhanpur plates states that he was compelled to
prepare a compound for the conqueror’s stables, and another
in the banjan plates of Amoghavarsha I describes the humilia-
tion to which he was subjected, when compelled to cleanse
the floor of Govmda s camp. The war which broke out at this
time between the twostatgs. lingered for twelve years in which
»= many as 108 battles are said to have been fought-
, L • iifcive Deen rougnt;
duimg^the lifetime of Govinda the victory seems to have been
with the Rashtrakuta forces, but things changed with the
accession of the boy emperor Amoghavarsha.
After reducing to subjection almost all the important
kings to the south of the Narmada, Govinda organised an
expedition into northern India. Many new developments
had taken place there since his father’s retirement to the
south. Taking advantage of the crushing defeat inflicted
upon Vatsaraja by Dhruva, and of the preoccupation of
Govinda III m the south, Dharmapala had captured Kanauj
and put his own nominee Chakrayudha on its throne with the
assent genuine or forced, of most of the kings of Madhyade^a
and the Punjab. But Dharmapala did not enjoy his
jT fighting against the southern powers
“'"““-I
See Idara grant of Ammaraja r. I, A., XIH, pp, 55
^ 1 ^ ^ PT IJ Bhagalpnr grant.
Khalimpur grant of Dharmapala, E. I
NORTHERN INDIA IN c. 805 A,D,
65
imperial supremacy in northern India for a long time*
Nagabhata If, who had succeeded Vatsaraja on the Pratfhara
throne, soon recovered his position, ■ He formed an alliance*
as Dr. R, C. Majumdar, has pointed out, with the Mahomedans,
of Sindh, the Chalukyas of Vengi, and the local rulers in
eastern and western C. P., and attacked Dharmapala and
Chakrayudha/^^^ His -attack' was ' successful and both
Dharmapala and Chakrayudha were defeated. He then sub-
jugated the territory round Dholpur and led an expedition to
the west defeating the chiefs in Malva and northern Gujrat.'"'"^^
Nagabhata II was thus at the height of his glory and power, when
Govinda III decided to attack him sometime in 806 or 807 A.D.
The northern expedition of Govinda was boldly planned
and skilfully executed. He entrusted a number of his
generals with the work of subduing or keeping in check the
rulers of Vengi, Orissa, Kosala and Malva, his brother Indra
was sent to attack the Gurjara-Pratiharas in their home
province, and then he himself proceeded in the direction of
the Doab and Kanauj to attack Nagabhata himself some-
time in 806 or 807
45. E. L. XVin. pp.87ff.
46. mm f
Gwalior inscription of Blioja, A. S, R,, 1 903-4.
47. Ibulv, 8.
48. The Sanjan plates actually mention the name of the Gurjara-
Pratlhara ruler as Nagabhata (y, 22). Before the publication of this
record the name of the Gurjara Opponent had to be inferred, since it was
given in no Rashtrakuta record. Buhler bad proposed to identify him
with some member of the Chavotaka house. (I, A., XII. p, 158. )
49. Since the Gurjara defeat is mentioned in the Radhanpur plates
issued in August 809 A.D;, and since Govinda was just completing Ms
expedition against the Kanchi ruler in 804 A.D. the above conclusion
about the date of this expedition will appear as very probable, when it is
also remembered that the Vengi expedition was undertaken prior to the
advance to the north.
THE EMPIRE AT ITS ZENITH
Apart from a few local reverses/^^' success seems to have
attended Govinda s arms everywhere* The army under the
Gujrat viceroy Indra was ultimately %'ictorious ; the Baroda
plates of his son Karka, issued in 811-2 A.D., state that Indra
was able to rout out single-handed the lord of the Gurjars.
The expeditions against the central Indian rulers were equally
^ccessful/®^’ After defeating the ruler of Chitrakufa
Govinda himself marched into the Doab. Me defeated
Nagabhafa 11 and apparently pressed right up to the Himalayan
ranges. Nagabhata s defeat was fairly decisive; he had to
retire to the deserts of Rajputana. Chakrayudha was a mere
puppet and offered voluntary submission. Dharmapala also is
said to have done the same, probably because he was
shrewd enough to realise that it was politically uise to
humour Govinda III, who had indirectly obliged him by over-
throwing his greatest enemy, Nagabhata II. Govinda, he knew,
would soon retire to the south, leaving him free to exploit
the situation created by the defeat of the Guiiara-Pratihara
ruler.
_ Bahukadhavak, a contemporary and feudatory of Nagabhata II
m Kathiawar, is said to have defeated a Karnataka army in a crant of his
grandson Balavarman (E. I., IX. pp. 1 ff). This victory may^ have been
a local success against the army of Indra, the Gujrat viceroy.
51. The defeat of Ko^Ia king. Chaadragupta. is specifically men-
tionedin ‘he v. 22 of the Sanjan record; v. 24 makes the general
statement thapll the central Indian kings were reduced to submission
by the generals of Govmda. E. L, XVI 11 p. 245.
52. V. 23 of the Sanjan record refers to the resounding of the
Himalayan caves by the noise made at the time of the bath of the army
o Govmda in the Ganges. It is possible, however, that this resounding
of the Himalayan caves may be merely poetic, and the armies of
Govinda may not have marched much beyond the Ganges-Jumna Doab
The RSshtrahu.ta records do not claim the conquest of Kanaufat tht
time, and since Kanauj was not conquered, it is not li!-,.!,, , 1 . ^ V ■ ,
could have gone in the close vicinity of the Himalayas' ^
53. m^Wr ^ ^ HfcRrfr l Sanjin plates. Wd.
RESULTS. OF THE MORTHERN. EXPEDITION m
Govinda*s expedition in northern India was merelj" of the
nature of a digpijaya. He compelled both Nagabhata II and
Dharmapala, each of whom waS' seeking, to make the titular
-king Chakrayudha a puppet in his own .hands, to*- recognize
his suzerainty. : He did, not annex any portions of their nor-
mal' kingdo.ms, though he must have exacted heavy tributes
from them. The same was the case with the central Indian
rulers, perhaps 'with the - exception' -of -Mai va. We do not
know who the Malva' ruler was, who' in the Wani-Dindori^^'^^
plates is described as submitting' to Govinda. He may possi-'
bly have been a 'feudatory governor of - Nagabhata II, appointed
. to' govern Malva when: his master- was preoccupied with the
conquest of Kanauj. The statement in Baroda plates of
Karka, issued in 812 A.D., that Karka was made a door-boit
to protect Malva against the Gurjara attack, suggests that
Malva was almost assimilated to the Rashtrakuta dominions
-as a result of this expedition. ^
Govinda then marched westward and was welcomed by
king Sarva at his capital Sribhavana or modern Sarbhon in
Bharoch^^^^ district with the presents of the choicest heir-looms*
54. !. A.. Xli, p. 157,
55. An inscription hailing from Gudigeri in Dharwar district (E. L,
VI, p. 257) which, on palaaographicai grounds can be assigned to
c. 800 A.D., refers to a glorious maharaja, Marassalha by name, as
ruling over that district. Fleet had opined {Ibid} that this ruler may
be the same as king Maras'arva, who, in the Radhanpur plates, is described
as submitting to Govinda at the mere news of his approach to the
Vindhya regions. This view is, however, untenable. Maras arva was a
petty ruler ruling at Sarbhon in Bharoch district as will become evident
from the following reasons : —
(i) The statement in the Wani-Dindori plates, that Maras'arva
hastened to present his heirdooms to Govinda, as soon as his spies
reported to him the arrival of the conqueror in the vicinity of the Vindhyan
ranges, makes it abundantly clear that his dominion must have been
in the vicinity of that mountain ; if he were really ruling in Dharwar
district,, the advent of Govinda in the Vindhyan regions would not have
frightened him, { OonUnued on the ?iext page )
THE EMPIRE AT ITS ZENITH
Gavbda spent the major part of the rainy season of 808 A.D.
at his capital, maturing the plans of the campaigns against
the kings of the south, who had shown signs of insubordina-
tion during his absence in northern India and formed a con-
federacy against him/^^^ It was during his stay at Sarbhon
that Amoghavarsha was born in the monsoon of 808
Continued from last page
(ii) The reference to the presentation of the choicest heir-loorns by
Maras'^arva -would show that before that time, he was an mdependent
ruler. But Dharwar was in the very heart of the Rashtrakufa empire
under the direct imperial administration ; no independent king could
have survived there down to c, 808 A.D. Marassalba of the Gudigeri
record must have been a third-rate feudatory, — -supposing that he
belonged to this period — ; for an inscription from the district of Shimoga
shows that Rajdaityarasa was Govinda’s governor over Banavasi 12000,
and that Chitravahana was ruling over Alurakhed 6000 under him at this
time. [ See E. C., VI 11, Sorab Nos. 10 and 22 ].
(iii) At the beginning of the monsoon of 808 A.D. Govinda’s army
had just returned after prolonged operations in Northern and Centra!
India, and it is therefore very unlikely that he would have subjected it to
a long march to the Tungabhadra, The fact that the Radhanpur plates
were issued from Mayurakhindl in Nasik district in July 808 A.D. would
also show that Govinda did not proceed to the south, immediately after his
northern campaign but spent the rainy season in the north. S'ribhavana
ought to be, therefore, identified with Sarbhon in Bharoch district, and
not with Shiggaon, the headquarters of BankapurTaluka in Dharwar dis-
trict, about 30 miles north of the Tungabhadra, as Fleet has suggested.
There is also some phonetic difficulty in identifying Shiggaon with STi.
bhavan. The same difficulty is encountered in considering the view* of
Wathen that S^rlbhavana, where Govinda was encamped, is modern
Co wldurg in Mysore.
(iv) The Sanjan plates of Amoghavarsha I, recently published,
show conclusively that Sb-ibhavana is Sarbhon in Bharoch district. They
describe the capital of Maras^arva, as situated in the Narmada valley
at the foot of the Vindhyas (v, 25), This description applies very
accurately to Sarbhon in Bharoch district* and not to Shiggaon in
Dharwar district. It need not be added that king S'arva of the San-
jan record is the same as king Maras^arva of the Radhanpur plates,
56. Sanjan plates of Amoghavarsha, v. 30 E. L, XVII!, p, 246.
57. Ibid. vv. 26-27,
SECOND CAMPAIGN IN THE SOUTH
69
From Srlbhavana or Sarbhon he proceeded to the sooth
to teach a lesson to the Dravidian kings who had formed an
alliance against him. The members of this confederacy were
the rulers of Gangawadi, Kerala, Pan4ya, Chola and Kanchi
kingdoms. These were all of them defeated/ Several
battalions of the Ganga army, or perhaps some members of the
royal family, were put to the sword, Kanchi was once more
occupied, and the Chola and Pandya kingdoms were overrun.
The fate of these states frightened the king of Ceylon who
hurried to offer submission, sending his own statue and that
of his minister to Govinda, while the latter was encamped at
Kanchl/^^’^ Govinda sent them on to Malkhed to be put in
front of a Siva temple as columns of victory.
The southern campaign, which was undertaken subse-
quent to the monsoons of 808 A,D., must have required at least
two years and may have terminated sometime in 810 or 811
A.D. Govinda probably undertook no more expeditions; he
was getting old, his end was approaching, and towards the •
close of his reign he must have been occupied in making some
arrangements to ensure the succession of his only son, Amogha*
varsha, who was born as late as in 808 A.D. Govinda was alive
on the 4th of December 813 A.D, when the Torkhede plates
were issued by him. His death took place soon thereafter,
for there is evidence to show that Amoghavarsha ascended
the throne sometime in the next year.
58, Jbtd, V, 30 59. JMd, v. 33
60. im V, 34,
^ it
ft is clear from this verse that the statues were transported from
Kanchi to here i Malhhed from where the plates were issuedi
It is, besides, very unlikely that Govinda would have ever thought
of erecting these Kirtistambhas at Kinchl which he had only
temporarily occupied.
THE EMPIRE AT ITS ZENITH
Govinda was, psrhaps, the ablest of the Rashtrakuta em-
perors* He not only put down the confederacy that was form-'
ed to oppose his accession but also enhanced the prestige" of
his kingdom and added to its area, Malva in the north and
Gangawadi in the south were annexed to the empire. Both
Nagabhata and DharmapMa, who were aspiring to the impe-
rial position in the north, were overthrown by him. The victo-
rious march of his armies had literally embraced ail the terri-
tory between the Him^ayas and Cape Camorin. Even the
king of Ceylon was terrified into submission. Never again
did the prestige of the Rashtrakutas reach this high level
Indra III, no doubt, conquered Kanauj but he could not
proceed beyond the North Pennar in the south. Krshna III
had indeed conquered al! the states defeated by Govinda III
in the south but could not enter the Madhyadesa and
defeat the principal kings in north India, The statement of
the Wani-Dindori plates that with the advent of Govinda III
the Rashtrakuta djmasty became invincible to its enemies is
no boast of a court panegyrist but a plain statement of fact.
The success of Govinda was due to his bravery, states-
manship and power of organisation. He is compared to Partha
in the Baroda plates of his nephew Karka,^^^^ and the Naosari
plates^®^^ issued by the same ruler describe how Govinda was
accustomed to plunge straightway into the thick of battle
without caring to consider the odds against him. His fondness
for sport also attests to active habits and personal braveiy.
His successful campaigns in the north and the south attest to
his generalship and power of organisation. His victory over
Stambha at the beginning of his reign speaks volumes for his
diplomacy. His creation of theGujrat viceroyalty^®^^ under his
62. 1. A., XII, pp. 158 ff. 63. J. B. B, R, A. S., XX, pp. 135 ff.
64, I, A., Xl, pp. 126 ff.
65, ft is usually supposed that Gujrat was reconquered by Govinda
and handed over to his brother Indra, But no record, contemporary
ACCESSION OF AMOGHAVARSHA
7 !
brother Indra not only secured the ■northern boundaries of the
empire, but enabled his child successor to regain the throne*
For, both Indra, who predeceased him, and his son Karka,
were loyal. to the imperial throne and defended, it against
internal and external enemies.
CHAPTER IV
Amoghavarsha I and the Gnjrat Branch . ..
As shown already Govinda III was alive in December
813 . He died early in the first half of the next year^^^ and
was succeeded by his only son Amoghavarsha. He was a boy
Continued from last page
or later, attribules the conquest of that province to him. The word is vara
in the expression ‘ ’ which occurs in the Baroda plates
(Ij A., XII, p. 160) may well be due to metrical exigencies. It may be
pointed out that the Baroda plates of Dhruva il use the expression
‘
Pimpri plates of Dhruva is a resident of Jambusara would also suggest
that southern Gujrat was included in the Rashtrakuta kingdom before
the accession of Govinda III.
66. Bhagwanlal Indra ji*s view that Indra aided certain Rashtrakuta
feudatories, who had risen against Amoghavarsha, (B. G.. I, i., p. 124)
was based upon a wrong interpretation of a verse in the Baroda plates.
Indra was dead before the accession of Amoghavarsha and, therefore,
could not have helped any feudatories against him.
L Sirur inscription of Amoghavarsha I { E. 1., Vll, p. 203 ) is dated
in the 52nd year of his reign, the day being the new moon day of Jyeshfcha.
S' aka 788. The new moon day of Jyeshtha, S'aka 737, which must
have fallen sometime in May or June of 815 A.D., must have therefore
fallen in the first year of Amoghavarsha^s reign which, therefore, must
have commenced sometime between May-June of 814 and May*June
of 815. The death of Govinda may probably have then taken place in
the first half of 814 A.D.
72 AMOGHAVARSHA I AND THE GUJRAT BRANCH
of six at his accession and Govinda, foreseeing his approach-
ing end, may have arranged for a regency during his son's
minority. Karka Suvarnavarsha, a son of his brother Indra
of the Gujrat branch, who had loyally stood by his side during
the revolt of Stambha and others, was selected as the head of
the regency/'"^^ and for some time the administration continued
(2) The statement of v. 35 of the Sanjan plates of Amoghavarsha I
that Govinda III went to heaven because, inter alia, the one son, he had,
was able to hear the yoke of the three worlds, would no doubt suggest
that Amoghavarsha was a grown up youth at the time of his father's death.
But this statement is more poetic than real and is contradicted by the
earlier statement in vv. 25-6 of the same plates, that he was horn at the
close of the northern campaign of his father.
(3) This inference is based upon the fact that all the records of the
Gujrat Rashtrakuta branch, which mention the restoration of Amogha-
varsha give its credit to Karka. The recently published Sanjan plates of
Amoghavarsha I, however, tell us that it was with the help of Patalamalla
that the boy emperor could regain the throne. But the Surat plates of Karka,
which I am editing, give the credit of the restoration to Karka himself.
These plates were issued in May 821 A.D. and are thus almost a contem-
porary document; and their testimony can hardly be brushed aside. The
discrepancy between these two records can be explained in two waysJ
(1) Patalamalla may have been another relative or feudatory of Amogha-
varsha, who may have co-operated with Karka in overthrowing the con-
federacy against the boy-emperor. The Gujrat branch records would
naturally ignore him and give the entire credit to Karka who belonged
to it. (2) Or, Patalamalla may be the same as Karka, the former being
an epithet of the latter. Paitalamalla is obviously a hiruda rather than
a proper name ; Bhagwanlal Indraji avers that it was a hiruda of Karka,
but cites no authority for the statement { B. G., I. i., p. 124 ). It is not
improbable that he made that statement on the authority of some un-
published Rashtrakuta record, like the Baroda grant of Dhruva II to
which he refers, but which is yet to see the light of the day. But so far,
no published records including the Surat plates of Karka himself, %vhich
I am editing for the Epigraphia Indica, assigns this hiruda to him. I he-
lieve that it may eventually be found out that Patalamalla was a hiruda
of Karka, as BhagwSnlal had asserted. Were he really a different rela-
tive or feudatory of Amoghavarsha, it is difficult to imagine why the
P* P. 0.
73
'DETHRONEMENT OF THE BOY-EMPEROR
to be carried on without any bitch; 'for. the Naosari plates of
Karka Suvaniavarsha, which were issued in SI6 A*D.> tnentioii
Amoghavarsha as the ruling emperor and are altogether silent
about the revolt and the part which their donor had played in
quelling it
But clouds were gathering fast. .Almost at each pre-
vious succession there were troubles, and the presence of the
boy emperor on the throne must have aroused imperial ambi-
tions in several hearts. There arose factions in the imperial
family ; ministers became disloyal ; the Ganga ruler, who had
been set at liberty, declared independence and sheltered rebels
\ against his feudal lord; feudatories began to kill imperial
\officers and assert their own independence and the heredi-
tlary enemies of the empire began to invade it. No records
nave handed down the names or the localities of the rebels.
They were completely successful for a time. Amoghavarsha
was deposed and there followed confusion and anarchy,
probably because the rebels must have begun to fight among
themselves for the imperial crown. The records, published
so far, enable us to determine the time of this rebellion only
very roughly ; it is not mentioned in the Naosari plates issued
Continued from the last page
SanjSn plates of Amoghavarsha should ignore him altogether and give the
whole credit of the restoration to Pataian>al!a. It is possible to argue
that the omission of Karka in the Sanjan record is deliberate ; his des-
cendants having rebelled against Amoghavarsha. the latter may have na-
turally ignored the services that he had rendered to him, in a document
that he had issued when the memory of that rebellion was still fresh in
his memory. This explanation is, however, not quite convincing, and I
will prefer to assume that PStalamalla was a biruda of Karka.
4. J. B, B. R. A. S.. XX, pp. 135.
5. Sanjan plates of Amoghavarsha, vv. 38-39.
6. V, 40 of the Sanjan plates describes the setting of the Rashtrakuta
sun Amoghavarsha and v. 41 his subsequent rise, A later record also
says that Amoghavarsha regained the throne which he had lost. See
Kapadwanj grant of KvshJja II, 910 A.D., E. I.. I.» pp. 54 ff.
74 AMOGHAVARSHA I AND THE GUJRAT BRANCH
in 816 A.D. v/hereas its quelling is described in the Baroda
plates of Karka’s son,'Dhruva, issued in 835 A,D, The Surat
plates of Karka, which I am editing, enable us, however, to
determine the time of the rebellion almost accurately. They
were issued on the 13th of May 82 i A.D., and describe the
restoration of Amoghavarsha to the throne, brought about b}?^
the exertions of Karka. It is, therefore, clear that the rebellion
took place sometime between 816 and 821 A.D. It may have
very probably lasted for about 3 or 4 years, since the descrip-
tion given thereof hy the Sanjan record makes it clear that it
was a very serious and prolonged affair.
Karka, alias PMalamalla, soon retrieved the situation. We
do not Imow what steps he took to restore the boy emperor to.
the throne, but the Surat plates issued by him in 821 A.D. malce;
it clear that he was completely successful before May of tha|
year. At his restoration, Amoghavarsha was still a boy of
12 or 13 and the entire credit for his reinstatement must, there-
fore, go to persons other than himself.
Idar grant of Amma I of the eastern Chaiulcya dynasty
refers to a 12 years’ war waged by Vijayaditya 11 with the
forces of the Rattas and the Gangas^^^ sometime between
c. 799 and c. 843 A.D. This war took place in the beginning
of his career and we have seen how Govinda IJJ, who
commenced it, was successful in his own The later
period of this war coincided with the early years of the reign
of Amoghavarsha, when there was complete anarchy in the
Rashtrakuta empire. At this time, Vijayaditya must have
carried everything before him. V. 13 of the Begumra plates
of Indra III states that Amoghavarsha I raised the glory of his
house that had sunken deep in the Chalukyan ocean this
statement no doubt occurs in a late record, but there is nothing
improbable in Vijayaditya having fully exploited his successes
by helping the rebels to oust the boy-emperor, whose father
7. I. A., XIV, pp. 197 ff. 8. See ante, p. 64.
9. E. L, IX. p. 24.
75
WAR WITH THE EASTERN- CHALUKYAS
had put him to the humiliation of being ■compelled to cleanse
his court-yard. Nay, the rebellion itself may have arisen as a
result of VijayMilya*s successes.
In the Sirur grant of Amoghavarsha I, dated 866
he is being represented as being worshipped by the ruler of
Vengl Three later records supply more information in this
connection. The Sangli plates of Govinda issued in
933 A.D. stale that a right royal feast was offered by Arnogha*
varsha I to Yama on the battlefield of Vingavalli, where he
met the Chalukyas and the Abhyushakas. The Karhad plates
of Krshna IIJ, issued in 958 observe that the wrath
of Amoghavarsha I was not extinguished even when the
Chalukya house was burnt to ashes. The Karda plates of
Karka II describe him as the fire of destruction to the
Chalukyas. It is, therefore, clear that Amoghavarsha had
signally defeated the Vengi ruler sometime before 866 A.D. This
defeat cannot be placed in the first half of the 9lh century;
for Vijayaditya was upon the throne till c. 843 A.D. and the
wording of the Idar plates of Amma makes it clear that he
was ultimately successful against the Rashtrahotas. Arnogha^
varsha was not in a position to inflict such a defeat for a
pretty long time after his attaining the majority, as he w^as
soon thereafter involved in a war with his GujrH cousins and
had besides to face a number of minor risings.
The success of Amoghavarsha against the Vengi forces
has to be placed sometime about 860 A.D., when he had
emerged successful from the preoccupations above referred to,
The king of Vengi defeated by him was then Guriaga
Vijayaditya (c. 844--C. 888 A.D.), It is no doubt true that the
Idar grant, above referred to, states that after defeating the
Gangas and hilling Mangi, this ruler had frightened Krshna
and burnt his city, the name of which is given as Kiranapura,
76
AMOGHAVARSHA I AND THE GUJRAT BRANCH
int e Maliapundi grant; this incident, however, refers to
the reign of Ki’shpa II and not to that of liis father Amogha-
, varsha 1. The statement in the Rashtrakuta records, that
Amoghavarsha finally inflicted a crushing defeat upon the
Vengi opponent* is supported by some of the Chaluhya records
themselves. The Idar grant, above mentioned, observes that
after the time of Gunaga Vijayaditya, the Vengi kingdom was
occupied by Rashtrakuta forces and that Bhima had to
reconquer it from Krshnall, sometime after his own accession
in c. 888 A.D* The claim of the Rashtrakuta records to a crush-
ing victory over Vengi is then correct, and we may place it
sometime about c. 860 A. D.
Dr. D. R, Bhandarkar has recently shown that there
are no real genealogical discrepancies in the Konnur inscrip
tion of Amoghavarsha I ; we would, therefore, be justified
assuming that though the record was put on stone about
couple of centuries later than the time of the events it
it must have been based upon a genuine document,
thi s record i t appears that the reign of Amoghavarsha was
period of internal revolts and that before 860 A.D. at least
serious rebellions had broken, challenging the imperial autho-
rity. The first of these was the one that had broken out when
he was a child, the second when he was engaged in his wars
with his Gujrat cousins, and the third sometime later.
Details about these revolts are not given, but it seems that the
third was a veiy serious one^^^^ when the situation was saved
only by the timely arrival of his Banavasi viceroy, Bahke^^'a.
It would seem that Krshna, the heir-apparent, had joined the
rebels, and Bahkeya defeated and destroyed the enemy forces
14. E. L, IX, p. 48.
15 .
16. E. I., XVIIl, pp. 236-7,
17, See Konnur Inscription, vv, 28-9, E. I., VI, pp. 30 If,
RELATIONS WITH NORTHERN, POWERS
when Krshna had left ■ In .return his loyalty and
signal services, Bahkeya was made the governor of Banavsi
12,000, Belgol 300, Kundarge 70, ' Kundur 500 and
Purigeri 300.
What with these internal revolts and what with his na-
turally spiritual temperament, Amoghavarsha had neither the
time nor the inclination to take energetic part in the politics
of northern India. The revolt of his Gujrat cousins, which
will be soon described, had also seriously handicapped him.
His Gurjara-Pratihara contemporary, Mihira Bhoja, was ex-
tending his dominions right upto Kathiawar, but Amogha-
varsha did not lift even a finger to arrest his progress. Had he
the ability or the temper of his father, he would surely have
opposed tooth and nail the Gurjara-Pratihara expansion just
beyond his own borders. Nor does he seem to have interfer-
ed much with the affairs of Bengal. A passage in his Sirur
inscription no doubt states that the ruler or rulers of Anga,
Vanga and Magadha also paid homage to him. But some
of the Pala records also claim that Narayanapala had defeat-
ed a Dr-avida king, who must in all probability have been
Amoghavarsha I himself. The conflict with Gauda kingdom
must have taken place towards the end of his career, sometime
after the defeat of the Vengi ruler. It would seem that after
occupying Vengi maniala the generals of Amoghavarsha ad-
vanced through Orissa further eastwards, when they may
have come into hostile contact with Vanga forces. Only a,
18. Cf, ^ I
f^rff^r wc: ii
t’<%c3T m u
19. A marcli through Baghelkhand and Bihar was impossible owing
to the rise of the Gurjara-Pratlharas. Amoghavarsha’s conflict with the
Gauda ruler could not have taken place before the rise of Mihira Bhoja,
for he had not attained majority before 830 A.D. His own position was
for a long time very insecure.
7 a AMOGHAVARSHA ! AND THE GUJRAT BRANCH
few minor skirmishes may have happened and they too of an
indecisive nature ; as a result each side was free to claim the
defeat of the other.
The Sirur record of Amoghavarsha I states that the lord
of Malva was also a feudatory , of that: emperor. , It,- is not
, possible to identify this feudatory; he could not .have been the
ruler of the whole of eastern 'and western Maiva* for the larger
. part of that territoi^y was under the influence of the Giirjara-
Pratiharas. Parmaras rose to power under Upendra sometime
-after '900 A. D. ; so Amoghavarsha S', feudatory could not have
-been that ruler. He may' probably- have been some petty
local magnaieo no'W professing allegiance tO' Bhoja and then to
Amoghavarsha I,' according to the exigencies ' of the political
..'situation.
Shiaharas were- -put' in charge of Konkan by KrshpaL In
the time of Amoghavarsha Pullasahti was ruling that province
as a Rashtrakuta feudatory from his capital at Puri or
modern Elephanla. Gujrat and Konkan, however, continued
- to be governed by Gujrat Rashtrakuta feudatories down to
B88 A,D., as the Bharoch' plates of Krshna II show. ,
Amoghavarsha’ s policy towards his southern neighbours
-.was also a. defensive one. From his Ko.n.nur inscription, we
learn that his Banvas! vi.ceroy Bankeya had defeated a Ganga
chief who may have been P^^hvlpati II, who claims to have
saved king Dindi’s son from Amoghavarsha On another
. occasion he had crossed the Kaveri and invaded the territories
beyond, but was compelled to retire by a sudden and urgent
call of his master to quell a rebellion. These southern expe-
ditions seem to have been , rather defensive than offensive ;
even Gangawadi, which had recovered its independence
towards the beginning of his reign, could be annexed no more.
Amoghavarsha had to follow a policy of conciliation, and an
20. L A„ XIII. pp. 134 fl.
21, Udayexidiram plates oF Prthvipati II, S. I. L, 11, p, 384,
.careers; 0.F, .'INDR.A :AN:D-, KARfCA
79
alliance was brougiit about with the Gangas, which was
cemented' by ■ the; marriage of 'his' ■, daughter Chandrobeiabba
with' the Ganga crown' prince Bhutuga. "
Giijrat Rashtrakita Branch
' v Gujrat Rashtrakuta branch founded by Indra was, roughly
speaking, contemporary, with the...; life-;.of ■■ Amoghavarsha 1 .
It would be convenient to discuss. its .history from the beginning
to, the end at this place,, as it is- essential to do so to undei>
stand, the career of Amoghavarshap-roperly.
Sometime after ,' his accession Govindallf put his younger
brother Indra in charge of southern Gujrat, probablyjn c. SOC A.D,
He was thoroughly loyal to his eider brother, protected
the province assiduously and cooperated with his feudal lord
in defeating Nagabhata II. Soon thereafter he died, for we
find that his eldest son Kark'a Suvarnavarsha. was ruling the
Gujrat kingdom in 812' A. From the Torkhede plates
issued in December of the next year, we find that Karka's
■younger brother was then occupying some important adminis-
trative post, having the power of creating sub-feudatories/®^^
Karka’s valuable services to the imperial house, when
he managed to restore Amoghavarsha to the throne, have
been already described. Karka was probably acting as
regent for the boy -emperor in his minority throughout, and
may therefore have spent most of his time at Malklied. It
is usually supposed that his younger brother Govinda, who
had issued the Kavi plates^®"^ in 827A.D., was a usurper
22. The lines I
in the Baroda plates of Karka refer to Iac3ra*s successful intervei
with Govinda III in favour of southern feudatories, who had jo
Stamhha, and not to any hostile action against his imperial overlord
23. Baroda plates. L A., XII. pp. 157 ff. ■ "
24. E. L, in. pp. 53 ff.
25. ‘ !. A., V. p. 146,
80 AMOGHAVARSHA I AMD THE GUJRAT BRANCH
but this view ignores the most significant fact that Govinda in
these plates devotes as many as full four verses to the praise
of the administration of his brother Karka, and two of these,
which contain a very genuine and heart-felt tribute, do
not occur in any grant either of Karka himself or of any
of his descendants. Is it likely that a usurper or rebel
would go out of his way to describe in glowing terms the
administration of the victim of his usurpation It
appears to me that all the known facts can be explained by
the assumption that Govinda of the Kavi plates was simply
Karka’ s deputy, acting on his behalf during his stay at
Malkhed, while engaged in acting as Amoghavarsha’s regent
Kavi plates do not refer to Govinda’s accession at all It
is true that they refer to Karka as “ Sunurbabiiuva Khalu
tasya mahanubhavah, ” but the verb babhuva need not denote
that Karka was dead; for the Torkhede grant of Govinda
uses precisely the same line for Karka, although there can
be no doubt that Karka was living when that grant was
issued in 8i3 A.D. Dhruva, who succeeded Karka in c* 830,
was not his eldest he was probablj?' an inexperienced
youth during his father’s absence in the south, whereas
Govinda was already a responsible officer in 830 A.D. Karka,
therefore, may have naturally selected him to act on his behalf
during his absence* At the time of the Kavi plates, he was
still merely the regent, since he does not refer there to his
accession. The later records of Gujrat Rashtrakutas omit
26. Cf. I
flrcfn^f 5 f it
I. A., V, p. 145 it
27. E.L, in. p, 53.
28. Baroda grant of Karka refers to another son, Dantivarman,
■who was the JDutalca of that grant. He must have been then a grown
tip youth. Since Dhruva succeeded his father. Dantivarman may have
probably predeceased him.
WARS OF ■‘THE GUJRAT.RASHTRAKUTAS
:l>rotlier', against
of his have be
le genealogy, not because he was a usurper, but
was' never a ' Je jaf 6 ruler. The supposition that he
against Amoghavarsha received some support from
the fact that his Kavi plates take the genealogy of the main
line down to Govinda III, and omit Amoghavarsha altogether.
But this omission was accidental ; for if Govinda was a rebel
against Amoghavarsha he must have been an enemy of Karka
as well; for the latter was championing the cause of the
former. In that case Govinda would not have praised his
whom he was fighting. Nor would a favourite
been selected by Karka*s son, Dhurva I. as the
ient of a land grant.
Karka Suvarnavarsha was succeeded by his son Dhruva I
alias Dhlravarsha in c. 830 A.!).; , we have a land grant of
his. issued in 835 A.D., wherein he recognises Amoghavarsha
as his feudal lord. But very soon thereafter, the Gujrat
►ranch was entangled in a long war with a king called
llabha, which lasted for three generations. Dhruva I lost
life on the battle-field while repelling the forces of his
enemy, his followers joined the enemy and his son Akala**
varsha S'ubhatuhga too had to regain his ancestral dominions
from the enemy, mz, king Vallabha. His victory over his
enemy, however, was not a decisive one, for his son Dhruva II
had to continue the fight. He had to face a powerful Gurjara
army on one side and the forces of Vallabha on the other
And his relatives had grown disloyal and an unnamed younger,
brother of his was conspiring against him.^*^^ He was
able to tide over this situation with the assistance of his brother
Govinda. We find him firm upon the throne in 867 A.D., when
he had emerged victorious from the crisis.
The identity of king Vallabha, the enemy of the Gujrat
line, presents some difficulty. The Gurjara-Pratihara ruler»
29. See Baroda grant of Dliruva II, I. A., XIV, p. 197.
30, See Baroda grant of Dhruva II, I. A., XIV, p. 197.
82 AMOGHAVARSHA I AND THE GUJRAT BRANCH
Bhoia I. was at this lime engaged in subduing Central India.
Northern Gujmt. and Kathiawar ; and one is tempted to con-
dude that the long-drawn war of the Gujrat house may feve
been with him. But the name of the enemy-king is stated to
be Valiabha, and Bhoja is not known to have been known by
that title. This title. Valiabha, makes it clear, that the oppo-
nent of the Gujral branch was a Kashtrakiita ™ier. There
were several Rashtrakuta feudatories under the Malkhed hou^
who had to be subdued by Amoghavarsha before he couid
regain the throne. Was this king Valiabha who was fighting
with the Gujrat house for about twenty-five years (c. 838-
c 863 ) a Rashtrakuta feudatory of Amoghavarsha, or was he
rf yng
the existence of a Rashtrakuta fami^iy in Malva durmg the
first half of the ninelh century. Ihis inscription which is
dated 861 A.D.. informs us that an unnamed elder brother ol
leija. the grand father of Parabala, had conquered Lata
countiy. after defeating the Karnataka army, and that his
father Karkaraja had inflicted a crushing defeat upon a kmg
called Nagavaloka. It cannot, however, be mainiamed that
Dhruval, hisson.and grandson were engaged in fighting
with a king or kings of this Rashtrakura branch. It is no
doubt true that Jejja’s elder brother is represented as the
conqueror of Lata. when,Dhruva and his successors were
ruling ; but Akalavarsha Subhatuhga had lost his thrown in
his war with Valiabha in c. 840 A.D.. while Jejjas elder
brother must have flourished much earlier, as his grandson
was ruling in 861 A.D. It is possible to argue that Jena’s elder
brother conquered Lata in c. 840 A.D. from Akalavarsha
Subhatuhga and was succeeded not by Jejja hut by his son
Karkaraja, and that the king Nagavaloka defeated by the latter
may have been Akalavarsha or his son Dhruva of the Gujrat
line with an aou/ok -ending epithet. This argument, besides
32. E. I.. IX. p. 248.
IDENTITY OP JEJJA AND NAGAVALOKA
8S:;
being based upon an unproved assumption that Nagavaloka
was an epithet of Akalavarsha or Dhruva II, ignores the fact
that the Pathari pillar record nowhere states that Nagavaloka
was a ruler of Lata or Gujrat. The fact, that even the name
of Jejja’s elder brother, who had conquered Lata, is not
mentioned in Parabala’s record, suggests that Parabala and
his father Karka had nothing to do with Lata, and, therefore,
could not have been the enemies of the Gujrat
Rashtrakutas/^'^^
33. The identity o£ the elder brother of Jejja, who had conquered
Lata, and of king Nagavaloka who was defeated by his nephew, Karka,
is stiil a matter of uncertainty. The avaloka -^ending epithets were
peculiarly associated with the Rashtrakutas ; Dantidurga was Khadg^va*
loka, Govinda II was Vikramavalota, a relative of his, Vijayaditya,
at whose request he had issued the Alas plates, was Manavaloka,
Stamhha was Ranivaloka, Nanna and his grandson Tuhga of the
Bodhagaya record were Gundvaloka and Dharmavaloka respectively.
It is possible to argue, especially since we know from the Konnur record
that Amoghavarsha had to face several rebellions of his feudatories, that
Nagavaloka, the opponent of Karka, was Amoghavarsha himself. But
Nagavaloka as an epithet of Amoghavarsha is not known from any
record, and the Pathari inscription does not give the least hint that the
war with Nagavaloka was a war with the Malkhed RSshtrakutas. Under
the present circumstances. Dr. D, R, Bhandarkar*s theory that Jejja was
a younger brother of Govinda III and Indra and his son Karka had
cooperated with him in defeating Nagavaloka or NSgahhata 11 of the
Gurjara-Pratlhara dynasty seems to he the most probable one (i. A., XL,
pp. 239-40). Karka’s reign may be placed between c. 810 and c. 840 A.D.
and that of Parahala between c. 840 and c. 865 A.D. Nagavaloka's identity
with Nagabhata I! is rendered all but certain by a statement in
PrabhSvakacharit^ according to which, Nagavaloka. the grand -father of
Bhoja I, died in c. 834 A.D. The date of the death of Bhoja’s grand-
father seems to be wrong since Bhoja himself is now known to have
ascended the throne earlier than 836 A.D. ( Ahar plates of Bhoja,
E. L,XIX, pp. 18 ff,). But Prabhavakacharit mB.y be right in stating
that NSgahhata veas also known as Nagavaloka. it is very likely that
Karka may have been appointed by his uncle Govinda III to rale over
Milva after its conquest and annexation*
84
AMOGHAVARSHA! AMD THE GUJRAT BRANCH
The Vallabha of>'ponent of the Gujrat branch was ari:
obviously powerful ruler and he could not have been a
mere feudatory. We have, therefore, to identify him with
Amoghavarsha I . himself^^^\, 'Pi’thvivailabha and
Lakshmivallabha^*^®^ are known to have been his epithets, and
these may have contracted, into, simple vallabha. The
Begumra record of . Dhurva and Gujreit plates''"'' oF
Dantivarman further make it quite clear that Dhriiva I,:.
Akalavarsha, and Dhruva 11 were fighting against one and the
same enemy, a fact which supports the identity of Vallabha
with Amoghavarsha, since he was a contemporary of all these
kings. From the Konnur record we further know that
Amoghavarsha was twice deserted b 5 ^ his feudatories in the
latter half of his reign and could not retain his hold upon the
throne without the help of his zealous general Ba2ike3"a. It
would, therefore, appear that the friendly relations betweeti
Amoghavarsha and his Gujrat cousins came to an end soon after
835 A.D*; either Amoghavarsha was ungrateful or Dhruva I be-
came too overbearing, puffed up by the consciousness that it was
his father who had restored Amoghavarsha to the throne/"^®^
34. Bkagwahlal Indraji had seen in the following verse of the
Kapadwanj grant of Krshna U (E. I., f, page 54) an evidence of Amogha-
varsha’s invasion and devastation of the coastal tract between Bombay
and Cambay in his war with the Gujrat Rashtraklltas {B.G.,I, i., p. I26| :<— «
9g?arwicl4'iT; ... ... ... I
But the third line shows that 1 , 2 refers to the trouble at the beginning
of the reign and therefore “ Kailthikabhi’' must be regarded as a mistake
lor “ Kant ®^k^b ban.* V
j 35. Kanheri inscription, I. A., XIII, p, 133,
: 36. Nilgund inscription. E. I., VI, p. 99, 37. I. A., XI! p, 179
^ , 38. E. I., VI. p. 287. 39. E. !„ VI. p. 29.
I not likely that the rebellion of the Gujrat house was
instigated by the Gurajara Pratihairas, for in one place, we are definitely
'i / ' informed that the 'Gujrat house had to face King Vallabha on the one
! j hand and the Gurjara ruler on the other. (Begumra grant, I.A., XII, p, 179}
WAR W-ITH AMOOHAVARSHA
85
A war broke out in which Amoghavarsha was first success-
■ful. AkMavarsha, however,, managed to regain the throne
after defeating the imperial forces. Amoghavarsha then
•recalled Bahkeya, who had 'been sent to reconquer Ganga-
wadi, and with his assistance ''he'was once more able to
harass Akalavarsha and Dbruva !L It would seem that
ultimately sometime is- c. 860 A. D., a' peace .was concluded,
probably because Bhoja I had threatend an invasion, Dhruva II
.may have consented to recognise. Amoghavarsha’ s sovereignty
and Amoghavarsha may have helped him in frustrating Bhoja s
plans. Bhoja’s invasion was not apparently a serious
one, and Dhruva claims to have repulsed it single-handed
sometime before 867 A.D.^^'^^: This seems to be the only..
.c>ccasion when Bhoja I and the Rashtrakutas came into conflict
with each other. Neither side seems to have been anxious
to renew the old historic wars between the two houses.
, It would be' conv-eeient to discuss the remaining history.,
of the Gujrat branch at this stage though it continued to rule
■down to the reign of Amoghavarsha’s successor. Dhruva II
had three brothers, one of whom had joined his enemy. Of
the remaining two. Govinda had rendered him valuable assis-
tance in his wars with Amoghavarsha, and Dantivarman was
ruling under him as a local governor in 867 A.D. This latter
succeeded him some time after 867 A.D., and in 888 A.D.
we find Dantivarman’ s son Krshiiaraja Akalavarsha upon the
throne. This Krshnaraja participated in his feudal lord’s
wars with the Gurjura Pratiharas and claims to have defeated
the enemy at Ujjain/^^^
Soon after 888 A.D., the Gujrat branch came to an end.
The reasons for its disappearance are not yet known. On the
41. Cf: ffit ^ t
Begomra plates, L A„ XII, p, 154*
86 AMOGHAVARSHA I AND THE. GUJRAT BRANCH
one hand, we do not know of any successor of Krshiiaraia
and on the other, we find that Kyshija II and Indra III were
directly administering Southern Gujrat.
The territories over which the Gujrat branch ruled were
bounded on the north by the Mahi. The Baroda grant of Karka
grants Baroda itself, his Naosari plates were issued from
Kaira; Baroda plates of his successor Dhruva I were issued
from Sarvamangala near Kaira ; all these show that the Mahi
was the northern boundary/*^* The territory beyond was
being governed by the feudatories of the Gurjara-Pratihara
empire. The southern boundary seems to have varied ;
according to an unpublished Baroda grant of Dhruva II. dated
867 A.D., his dominion stretched from the Mahi to the Nar-
mada only.^^*’ But a copper plate of this very monarch issued
four years earlier grants a village near Naosari,''*®’ showing
, that his jurisdiction had then extended upto the Tapi. The
strip of the territory between the Narmada and the Tapi
seems to have been transferred between these two dates to
the Silaharas of Konkan by Amoghavarsha I, The Surat
plates of Karka, which I am editing at present, grant a piece
of land in Amba^taka, a village near Naosari, showing that
in his time the Tapi was the southern boundary. It is very
likely that Amoghavarsha may have granted the territory bet-
ween the Narmada and the Tapi as a reward for the loyal
43. Fleet suggests the possibility of the Rhshtrakuta rule having
extended for some lime right upto Sindh after the fall of Valabhi, since
two Arab writers. Ibn Hauhal and A1 Istakhri state that the RSshtrakSta
kingdom extended from Kambaya to Saimur.' This view, howeW, is
^tenable, forKambayaandSaimurarenoton the confines of Sindh.
1 he first IS Cambay at the mouth of the Mahi and the second is Chaul
30 miles to the south of Bombay. It is not improbable that some por-'
tion of the territory near the mouth of the Mahi may have been lost to
Balavarman or his feudal lord Bhoja I soon after 867 A.D. See Una
inscription of Balavarman. E. I., IX, p. I.
U. Referred to by Bhagwanlal Indraji in B. G. I. i o 127
45. Begumra plates, I, A., XII, p. 179.
'EStlMAl^E OEr'AMOGHAVAESaA;
87
■'Services of ' Karba* vdhdcE the ' Gujrat', 'Rashtraldltas;^
■to hold . 'It was\probabIy taken away, from them'
at 'the end of ^the long ieud with Amoghavarsha l* '
their authority 'Could not have extended beyond the; longitude.
■75r for the ' Ujjain kingdom was not permanently included:; in;
the Rashtrakuta empire.
Let us now revert to the career of . Amoghavarsha. His
latest known date is Phalguna Suddha 10, Saka 799 { L e,
March, 878 A.D.) when the Jayadhavala-tika of Virasena was
finished. He had at this time completed the usual allotted
span of human life and ruled for about 64years/^^^ His death,
therefore, may well be presumed to have taken place not long
after this date. We may place that event in c* 880 A.D.
Krshna II, who succeeded him, is the only known son
of Amoghavarsha, Chandrobelabba, who was married to
the Ganga Crown Prince Bhutuga, is the only daughter of the
emperor/^^^ :.■ .r;
Amoghavarsha’ s reign was long, but it was not brilliant
from the military point of view. During his rule Gangavadi
and Malva were lost to the empire. The defeat of the Vengi
ruler Gunaga Vijayaditya was the only substantial military
achievement, Amoghavarsha did not, like his father and grand-
father, intervene in the politics of northern India, although
there were provocations enough for such an intervention*
The frequent internal revolts that broke during his reign left
him no time to undertake an expedition in the north. He does
not. besides, seem to have been a military leader or a lover of
war, like his father and grand-father. It was rather peace,.
46. R. G. Bkandarkar had suspected that there might he something
wrong about the dates of Amoghavarsha on the ground that it was very
improbable that a king should have ruled for so long a period {Early
Mistory of the Deccan. svkpp\^m&nt-g,%). But the Sanjan plates hav
now shown that Amoghavarsha was a child of six at his accession ; he
could, therefore, have ruled for 64 years. .
88 AMOGHAVARSHA I AND THE GUJRAT BRANCH
! r
literature and religion that attracted him« He was either t he
author or the inspirer of Kavirujamuf^a, the earliest work in
■Canarese on poetics. He was a patron of literature; Naga-
varmanll (a 1150 A. D.), Ke&aja (c. 1225 A.D.) and Bhatfa-
.kalanfea, (c. 1600 A.D.) . all agree in staling that Amoghavarsha
was very liberal to men of letters/^^^ His Sanjan plates also
aver that he was more liberal than the famous Vikramaditya
■himself In religion Amoghavarsha had great leaning
towards Jainism. Jinasena, the author of Adipiwana , claims
that he was the chief preceptor of Amoghavarsha/
fianitasarasam^raha, a Jain mathematical work by Mahavlra*
charya, written in the reign of Amoghavarsha, describes him
as a follower of Syadyada. Though there can be thus
no doubt that Amoghavarsha was immensely impressed by
.the gospel of Mahavira, he had not altogether ceased to
•.believe in the tenets and beliefs of Hinduism. He was
a devotee of Mahalakshmi and the Sanjan record slates
:t^l he had on one occasion cut off and offered one of
•the fmgers of his left hand to that Goddess, in order to
ward oft a public calamity. That this is not a cock-anddmll
■stoiy ts proved by the unexpected confirmation of the Sanjan
record oy the Karnatahasaahdams'asanam of Bhattakalahalca.
n jf- Nrpatuhga excelled Bali twice.
Uadhichi three times, and Jimutavahana a hundred times and
;^ibi certainly a thousand times.<s^> These comparisons
remind us of the wording of v. 47 of the Sanjan plates, ivhere
dso the sacrifice of his finger by Amoghavarsha is compared
to he sacrifice of Jimutavahana. S'ibi and Dadhichi. and shown
to be immensely superior to theirs.
; Amoghavarsha thus not only listened to the precepts of
i-eligion. but also practised them. The concluding verse of
5o’ EG Sanjan plates vv. 47-48.
^ 50. B. G. I., „.p. 200. Amoghavarsha referred to fcy these writers
AdipnrSija was com-.
pieted m the rejgn of Krishna ii. 51. L A., 1904, pp. 197 ff.
MAO' :amqghavarsha A
89
.Pras nottaramalika wa^' first to,,, inform us that its author*
Amoghavarsha* had abdicated, convinced of the futility of iife.
This stateroent;' 'W believed by all, for. the' authorship:
of this poem was ascribed in some quarters to Sahkarachaiya
and in' others to. Vimala. The Sanjan record affords conclusive'
evidence that Amoghavarsha had abdicated v. 47 informs us
that he had given up the kingdom more than once. It would
seem that he was often putting his Yuvaraja or the ministry in
charge of the administration, in order to pass some days in
retirement and contemplation in the company of his Jain gurus.
This again shows the pious monarch trying to put into practice
the teachings both of Hinduism and Jainism, which require a
pious person to retire from life at the advent of old age in
order to realise the highest ideals of human life.
We can now understand the discrepancy between the
"Saundatti record of Prthvirama^*^^^ according to which
Krshna II was ruling in 875 A.D., and the Kanheri record
according to which Amoghavarsha I w^as on the throne in 877
A,D. Even before 861 A.D., when the Sanjan plates were
. issued, Amoghavarsha had abdicated more than once; during
the concluding years of his reign, his retirements from the
administrative duties must have been more frequent and pro-
longed. He may have been at that time only a theoretical
sovereign, his son Krshna being the de facto ruler for all
practical purposes. It was, therefore, natural that in the
documents issued in this period, there should be some con-
fusion as to the name of the ruling king; some would mention
the name of the de jure ruler, and some of the de facto one.
52. j. B. B, R. A. S., X, p, 200. It may also be added that the date
of this record is not quite above suspicion, Pj'thvirama's grandson was
ruling in December 980 A.D. ( Ibid, pp, 211 ff. ) ; it is. therefore, not
very likely that his grandfather could have been upon the throne in 875
A.D. To get over this difficulty Fleet has suggested {B. G., I., ii, p, 211,
note 1 ) that Prtbvirama's overlord may be taken to be Krsh^gia lil and
• not K|shigia Hi The date of the record goes, however, against this view,
53. L A., XIII, p. 135.
CHAPTER V
From Krishna II to Govinda IV
Krishna II
Unlike most of his predecessors, Kfshna II could ascend-
and retain the throne without a war of succession* The exact
date of his accession is still not possible to determine, but it
cannot be much later than March 878 A.D., which is the last
known date of his father, since the latter was by that time
more than 70. We may, therefore, tentatively place his acces-
sion in c. 880
Krshna II had to engage in wars %vitli most of Lis
neighbours. On the south, he had to fight with the Gan gas
and the Nolambas, on the east with the Vengi Chaluky^as, and
on the north with the Gujrat Rashtrakutas and Gurjara-Prati-
h^as. He was the son-in-law of Kokkala, the Chedi ruler/*^
and his son Jagattuhga was married to Lakshmi, a daughter
of his wife’s brother Sahkargana alias Ranavigraha. He
derived considerable help from these Chedi relatives
in times of need. The statement in the Bilaharf
inscription of Yuvaraja II that Kokkala had conquered
the whole earth planting Bhojaraja and Krshnaraja as his
columns of fame in the north and south respectively, is not
to be interpreted and understood too literally to mean that
1. The earliest known date of Krshna 11 is S88 A.D* supplied
by the Bettigiri inscription. ( E. I., XIII, p. 189 ) An inscription from
Kunimellihaili in Dharwar district, dated 896 A.D., refers itself to the
reign of Mahasamantadhipati Kannarvallabha. It is quite certain that
Krshna was not a Yuvaraja at this time. The feudatory title applied to
him in this record must he either an accidental mistalce, or Kannaradcva
of the record was different from K^shija 11 . The later alternative is
improhahle. as Dharwar was at this time under direct imperial adminis-
tration, the local governor being Lokaditya, the son of Bankeya, the
famous general of Amoghavarsha,
2, Sangli plates of Govinda IV, I, A,, XII, pp, 247 ff»
’ 3. E. I., I, p. 156.
RELATIONS -WITH THE EASTERN, CHALUKYAS 91:
Koldsiala had defeated his son-in-law Krshna IL It simply
means that he had ^rendered assistance ' tO' him, an interpreta--
lion, which is supported by the Benares plates of Karnadeva,
which simply say that Kohkala had extended protection to
JCrshDa and, vBhoja, 'Kokkala*s ' conciuests ,are ' nowherO'
described, and it is not unlikely that he may have derived
his importance from his family connections with the-
Rashtrakutas and possibly : with the Gudara-Pratlharas.
The political relations between the Chalukyas of Vengi
and Krshna II are very difficult to determine at present
A synthesis of the known facts in this connection presents
almost insuperable difficulties, Vijayaditya III (c. 844-c. 888
A,D.) and Bhima I (c. 888~c. 918 A.D.) were the Chalukya
contemporaries of Krshna IL We have seen how Amogha^
varsha claims to have defeated the Vengi ruler and how the
Idar record admits that towards the end of the reign of
Vijayaditya III, Vengi Mandala was overran by the Rat|a:S.'V:
The Kaluchamburu grant* however, states how Bhima I
defeated a great army sent by Krshnavallabha along with
some relatives of his own and then protected the earth/
It is, thus, clear that Bhima I succeeded in regaining indepen-
dence for his house sometime in the reign of Krshna IL
But the relations of Vijayaditya III with the Rashtrakutas ,
after his defeat by the latter are still a great mystery. The
Idar plates inform us that Vijayaditya III attacked the Gangas
at the instigation of the lord of the Rattas, cut off the head of
Mahgi in battle, frightened Krshna and his ally Sankila, and
burnt their capital whose name, however, is not stated. The
4. E, !., n. p. 396i
5. cf . 1%^ I
^ u
mm t
FROM KRISHNA II TO GOVINDA IV
kiiiiog ol' Mangi was an undoubted nistonc iact; it is rererrea
in several eastern Chalukyan records and tlie Musuli-
pattan plates of Vijayaditya III himself record a grant to a
Brahmana, Vinayadiaarman by name, who had suggested to
the grantor the way to kill Mangi while the battle was
raging. From the Maliyapundi grant we learn that Maiigi was
a Nolamba chief, and that Sankila, who had joined with fierce
Vallabha was a ruler of Dahala country/^^ The same grant
tells us that the city burnt was Kiranapura and that Krshna
was statying there at that The Pithapuram inscrip-
tion^^^^ of Mailapadeva, however, states that Vijayaditya burnt
Chakrakota, frightened Sankila (who was residing at Klrana-
€o7iUnued from last page
f ccir (?) I
^ II
The expression * in this verse is translated by Fleet
as ‘ Challenged by the lord of the Rattas/ but the root does not
possess the sense of challenging.
7, The Pithapuram inscription describes the incident with a grim
humour; Gf.
n jy, p. 233 v. 9 .
iaiw|55rtrff^ra#^ ii
1% ^3m>n^wicgcn%5rss; «
aw 3IW i e. i., v. p.
9- fw ^ JtPr iTfreift
ibu.
10 . t e. i.. ix, p. 5 i.
11. I
ftswffnis ^swTOi;, il
E. 1 ., IV. p. 239.
DISCUSSIOM OF A DIFFICULT PASSAGE
91.
pum and was helped by Krshna), acquainted (lit united)
Vallabhendra with his bravery ( L e. by defeating him ), and
^cepied elephants from the Kalinga ruler. And finally we
ieam from the Kalachumbaru grant that Vijayaditya III w’-as
worshipped by king Vallabha who could be obviously none
other than Krshna II.
The above-mentioned exploits of Vijayaditya divide
themselves into two parts : those performed in the south and.
those in the north. We have already seen how Vijayaditya
was signally defeated by Amoghavarsha I. . , It seems that' '
after this defeat either Amoghavarsha or Krshna II suggest
ed to the defeated ruler the idea of attacking the Gangas and
their feudatories, the Nolambas, offering free passage to the
Vengi army and probably some help also in men and money/
can mean ’ who restored (Krshna )
to his dignity * as well. It will he shown below that the known
situation requires a sense similar to the one suggested in the text. Th6
root *yu^ means to unite as well, as to separate ; the translation*
* who separated Krishna from his glory ’ would be better still,
I3. Cf. the expression ‘ * ^ in the Jpassage quoted iet
the foot mote No. 6 above. This lord of the Rattas who incited the
Vengi ruler could not have been Pritbvlrama, the Ratta feudatory of
Krshna II; besides being a petty ruler, be was not an immediate neighbour
either of Vijayaditya or of the Gangas to make his incitement to the for^.
mer to attack the latter psrobable. I freely admit that the theory advanc*
ed in the text above that Vijayaditya attacked the Gangas at the insti«
gation of his enemy Amoghavarsha or Krishna 11 looks a little unconvinc*
ing. In politics, however, the enemies of today become friends of to*
morrow ; the conduct of Greece and Italy in the last world war is a per.
tiaent example. It is possible to argue that the Ratta chief, who incited
Vijayaditya, may have been a hitherto unknown feudatory Rashtrakuta
ruler, whose advice the Vengi ruler may have followed without any sus*»
picion. The term Rattes'a, however, can hardly be appropriate with refer,
ence to a mere feudatory and can properly denote only the Rashtrakuta
emperor ruling at the time. Fleet’s view that Vijayaditya was challenge
ed by the Rattas to attack the Gangas is also unconvincing, for ‘ sancho.
dita* cannot mean * challenged by. ' The theory propounded above im
the text is therefore the only oiie' that; explains the facts known so faist
94
from a !1. TO GOViNDA IV
The suggestion was a diplomatic one, for whosoever may
succeed in the campaign, th# RashlTakutas were bound to be
benefitted as both the Gangas and the Vengis were their ene*
■ mies; and the defeat or stalemate would weaken either or both
©f them. At this time .(c. 870-880 AO.), Satyavakya Kohgmiib
varma Butuga 1 had just come to the throne or his father
Rachamalla s reign was drawing to a close. It was, therefore,
a nice opportunity to attack. The' Nolambas of Noiambawadi
who were the feudatories of the Gangas, had to bear the brunt
of tbe attach as Noiambawadi lay between Vengi-mandala
and the Ganga territory, Vijayaditya defeated Nolamba army
killing, probably by some trick/^^V its general Mangi, who
seems to have been a relative of the ruler of Noiambawadi.
He then advanced into Gangawadi and besieged and
apparently captured a fort/^^^
Emboldened by these successes Vijayaditya and his
nephew, Yuvaraja Bhima, must have tried to throw off the
Rashtrahuta yoke, especially since K^shna II had just ascended
the throne. With this end in view Vijayaditya led some
daring raids in the north-eastern portions of the Rashtrahuta
empire. The passages quoted in foot-notes Nos. 6, 9, 10 and
11 make it clear that Krshpa and Sankila, who were the
opponents of Vijayaditya, could only have been Krshna II
of Malkhed and his brother-in-law Sankula or Sanharagana
of the Chedi house. The passage in the foot-note No. 9
14, In the passage quoted in foot-note No. 9 above we find VijayS-
ditya making a grant to a learned Brahmana on the occasion of an eclipse
as a reward for the advice that he had given in the thick of battle
vhich enabled him to kill Mangi. Since Vijayiditya could bring about
the death of Mangi by following the advice of a Brahmana who, to judge
from his name and from the fact that he is the donee of a grant made
on the occasion of an eclipse, was a non-fighter, it is probable that
some trick may have been played to bring about his death.
15. It may be pointed out that about half a century later the
Chalukya ruler of the time, Amma I. was also engaged in fighting with
fe combination of the Gangas and Nolambas. E. I., VI, p. 47.
VIJAYADITYA DEFEATS KRISHNA !I
95
distinctly says that Sanhila was a mler of Dahala and
the S4ngli plates<“> of Govinda IV inform us that
Krsh4a 11 was a younger sister of Sankula. ^ ° ’
SaXila of the passages quot^ in *
is iviously the same as Sankula of the Sangh plates. 1 his
ciclusion is further supported hy the localities tnentioned m
^nnection with this raid. The passage m the fooi-note No. 11
lefers to the burning of Chakrakuta and tins is the same
r'the fort of Chakrakotya in the centre of Bajar state.
' Kiranapura^®' which was subsequently besieged or burnt has
S t yet been identified, but I tlunk that it is the same as
Kirinpur. a small town in Baleghat distnct of C. P. about
150 miles to the north of Chakra^ta or Chakrakot^a.^^ y
construing together the verses in foot-notes
it becomes clear that Kiraiiapura was
orKtshna, but that these rulers were for the time be g
staying in that city. Ktshna. the ally of Sankila. c^ be none
oSlr fhan his brother-in-law Krshna II. Jouveau Du^euil s
Seo^Xt he may be the Ganga-Pallava Pnthvl-Krshna
faZtbe accepted, since both Chakrakuta and Kiraiiapura
lay far away from the Ganga-Pallava
be Kishiia of theGuirat Rashtj^ta branch The epithet
• Ugravallabha” given to Sanhila s ally.^’^>
was a great ruler and not a petty feudatory. Besides. Sankila
16. I. A.. XII. p.247. . ,
17. Chakrakotya occupied a strategic position and was. in later times,
captured by Rajendra Chola. See S. I. * • V r
18. Fleet had conjectured 7x 1 102
. . /r . .g jJo 11) is now confirmed by the Maliyapundi
record (foot-note ^ f Krshpa. The latter may have
?o?of this place there is now no scope for conjectures.
19. See foot-TOt« '
from KRISHNA 11 TO GOVINDA IV
.a,h„ ^ *, o, , trzz™cz°
from the batt e-field. Nor can Sankilas dly ttr
he founder of the Paramara dynasty, firstly because
not a ruling prince m c. 880 A.D.. and secondly becaus
not bear the epithet of Vallabha Th^ I ^ i ^ ^
who flourished in c 880 aTJ l
Jh <5 I • 1 ? who could have mn
in Sanhilas battles near Chatrakuta and Kiranapurl
Rashtrah^a emperor Krshna 11. who was SanlT '
in -law. The verse in the foot-note No !i do
rti. iam&ation , fo, Vailabhmdra i„ claul I W
need not be taken as different fmn-j k ^
;nar
' the situation afte-
successor Bhima i claims to haw
Jp Karnataka allies in the
d Feruvanguragrama/®« Bhima
his successes; for his
ightinginthiswar. It may. how-
a authority trained aup.a™
^-adaji. in ChWdurj District
aaradavaskinsdo^asa ‘d'"
I
ii:
CONFLICTS WITH THE GURJARA-PRATIHARAS ?7
of war was Malva ; a fragmentary Pratihara inscription from
Bhavanagar Museum, recently published/^^^ refers to the
Narmada in connection with Bhoja’s attack on a king called
Krshnaraia, who must be obviously Krshna II ; and. the
Begumra plates of Krshna of the Giijrat braiich, i dated
B88 tell us how the grantor feudatory defeated the
enemy at UjjayinI, while king Vallabha was watching the army
movements, Begumra plates of Indra inform us that
old men vividly remembered in 914 A.D. (w^hen the plates were
issued) the. brave feats of the late Rashtrakuta emperor in the
sanguinary wars with the Gurjaras. The crovsm prince Jagat-
tuhga also participated in these wars as also the Chedi
ruler/ These wars seem to have profited neither party ; they
may have been of the nature of the frontier affrays. From
A1 Masudi, we learn that the Gurjara-Pratiharas used to
maintain a strong force in the south to keep the Rashlrakutas in
check/"^^ frontier clashes were therefore inevitable, and victory
must have remained some time on one side and some time on
the other. Krshna was too weak to think of emulating the
example of Dhruva I or Govinda III, and Bhoja was too old tO'
undertake a serious expedition against his southern neighbour/^^^
22, E. L, XIX., pp. 174-7. 23. L A., Xill. p. 66,
24. E. I., iX, p. 24. 25. 1. A., XO. p, 265.
26. Elliot: Ilistoi^y of lniMat Vo], I, p, 22.
27. In his historical appendix to lIttaTapurtt77.a, which was completed
in S' aka 820 i.e, 908-9 A.D,, the elephants of Ki|;shna are represented
hy Gunachandra to have drunk the waters of the Ganges and enjoyed
the cool shade in the forests at Cape Kamorin. cf:—
I cl 1% I
^FT ^ gf r !i
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute Ms. No. 1191 of
1886-91. folio 360.
This is conventional praise ; we know that Bvvshna*s rule did not
extend beyond Banavasi 12,000 and so his army could not have reached
Cape Kamorin. Similarly his soldiers could not have entered the waters
of the Ganges as the Gurjara Pratihara rule was firmly established in tho
Ganges vally.
fill? ^
i
m
FROM KRISHNA I! TO GOVINDA IV
It was some time in the last decade of tlie 9tli century^
that the career of the Gujrat Rashtrakufa branch came to an
Old SS8 A,D. is the latest date, so far known, for its last
ruler Krshna, when he was fighting at Ujiayim under his
ieudal lord Krshna IL But soon thereafter t!ie two rulers
became enemies and a war ensued, Sangli^^^^ and Cambay
plates of Govinda IT refer to the evacuation of Khetaka by
the enemies of Ki-shna II ; this must refer to the expulsion
of the Gujrat ruler Krshna or his successor from Kaira/'^'^^
We come across no inscriptions of the Gujrat branch after
888 A.D.; the Kapadwanj grant of Krshna 11, dated 910
■ ::reveals 'the existence of a new feudatory Prachanda of
■ Brahmavaloka house. To judge from the names of its mem*
bers, : this seems to have been a Canarese family, ruling
■under direct imperial supeiwision over the Kapadwanj Kaira'
area, which was formerly being governed by the Gujrat
Eashtrakutas, In the time also of the next ruler Indra III
we find Gujrat being directly controlled from Malkhed. In
his Begumra plates of 914 A.D* Indra regrants a village named
Trenna, which had been formerly bestowed upon the donee* s
ancestors both by Dhruval and Dhruva II of the Gujrat branch*
The donee’s descendant was anxious for a regrant of the
? village, obviously because the grantor’s family was no longer
I in power in southern Gujrat We may, therefore, conclude
i that the Gujrat branch came to an end in c. 900 A.D.
Krshna II was not an able and gifted ruler like his
* grand-father. His only military achievement was the defeat
and destruction of the Gujrat branch, which certainly was
not a very great exploit, considering how petty that kingdom
28, I. A., VoL XII. pp. 247, 29. E. I., VO, p. 29. '
30. The view that Khefaha in this passage is the same as Malkhed is
hardly tenable. Milnyakheta is nowhere known to have been referred
to as Khetaka ; whereas the ancient name of Kaira was Khefaka*
Besides M^nyakheta is not known to have been occupied by any enemies
at this time. 31, E. L, I. p. 52.
estimate OE KftlSHMA 11
99
was. He could just maintain his own against Bhoja I and
Mahendrapala* and he was worsted by Chalukya Bhima of
Vengi. ‘Gangavadi, which, had seceded from the Rashfrakuta
empire during the weak rule of his father, could not be
reconquered by him/®^^ He was just able to maintain a sfaim.
and that too with the assistance of his father-in-law and
brother-in-law. Like his father he was a Jain; Gi^abhadra, the
famous Jain author of the last five chapters of Adipurana was
his preceptor/^^^ There is no sufficient evidence to investigate
into the question as to how far the adhesion to Jainism of
Amoghavarsha I and his son Krshna II was responsible for
the military and political decline of the Rashtrakuta empire
during their rule. It may, however, be pointed out that a
number of fervent followers of Jainism like Bankeya, ChMukya
Narasimha, Srivijaya, and Nolambantaka Narasimha were
very able and fiery military leaders. [See also, supra. Chapter
XII!, section C, in this connection.]
Indra HI
Krshna II was succeeded by his grandson Indra III. His
son Jagattmiga had predeceased him; both the Karhad^^^^ and
Deoli'^^^^ plates of Krshna III inform us that Jagattunga was
taken- ; to heaven^ by the Creator before his accession to- the '
throne, as if at the pressing request of the heavenly damsels. '
Nausari plates of Indra III describe him as meditating on
the feel of Akalavarsha, showing that Indra III was the
successor of Krshna II, and not of his own father Jagattunga-
The latest known date pf Krshna II is 912 A.D. but the
aged emperor lived for two years more. He died towards the
close of 914 A.D.; for w^e know from the Nausari plates of
32, Ml/sore Inscriptions, No. 113. p, 29»
33. J. B. B. R. A. S.. XXll, p. 85. ■ 34. E. L. IV, p. 278.
■ 3$. E, !,. V. p. 190. 36, J. B. R. A. S.. XVIII, pp. 253 ff;
37. ■ E.€ , Vni. Sofab Ho. 88;
FROM KRISHNA 11 TO GOVINDA iV
Indra III that he had gone to Kurundhaha^^^’ from his capital
Manyahheta on the 7th day of the bright half of Phalguna.
S aka 836 (24-2-915 A.D.) for the purpose of Pattabandhotsava
or coronation ceremony. Since on this occasion Indra granted
afresh four hundred villages resumed by previous rulers, it
must obviously have been the time of his formal coronation.
His accession, which was a peaceful one, could not therefore
have taken place much earlier.
Indra was probably a man of 33 at the time of his acces-
sion and he ruled for about five years only. His career, if
short, was a brilliant one. Before his formal coronation in
rebrua^ 915, he had sacked Meru and conquered a king
named Upendra who had annexed or relieved Govardhana.
The historical information conveyed by the second quarter
ol this verse is still a mystery. Kielhom thinks that Meru
may be Kanauj.‘^»> Dr. D. R Bhandarkar suggests that
Upendra may have been another name of Mahipala the
Guqara-PratThara emperor ;<«> both these suggestions’, be-
sides being based upon pure assumption, ignore the significant
fact that the f^ts, referred to in the verse in question, were
performed by Indra before his coronation. It is almost incon-
ceivab.e that Indra would have carried out his expedition
against K^aui during the short interval between his father’s
death,and his own formal coronation. Upendra. conquered
by him, seeins to be the Paramara chief Krshnaraja, who,
according to the Udaipur Pra4asti. was also known as Upendra-
raia. Vakpati alias Muhja, who was a contemporary of
Tailapa, ( c. 980 A.D. ) was Upendra s great grandson. The
38. R.G. Bhandarkar identifies Kurundhaka with Kandoda on the
Tapti. B. G.. I, ii, p. 203. It is equally possible that the place mav be
Kurandwad m Kolhapur state.
39- I
^ ^ J. B. B. R. A. S., XVIII, p. 253.
40. E. VI!. Appendix p. 16 n. 2. 41. Ibid, pp. 38 ff.
EXPEDITION AGAINST KANAUJ
known dates.of ' Siyaka, grandson of Upendra, range from
949 to 973 A.D.V Upendra*s' . rule, therefore, must have 'beea^
between c#. 900-925 A.D. ■ Paramaras were in the beginning
very probably .leudatories' of the Gurjara-Pratiharas ; at- their-
instigation Upendra seems to have attacked Govardhan in
Nasik district at the beginning of Indra’s reign. Indra defeated
him, compelling the Paramaras to transfer their allegiance to
his own house. The Harsola grant attests to the fact that the
Paramaras' were professing ■ allegiance to the Raslitrakutas
subsequent to Indra s conquests/^^^
The defeat of the Paramara chief Upendraraja was only
a preparatory step to the contemplated invasion of northern
India, After the death of Mahendrapala in 908 A.D., there were
troubles of succession at Kanauj ; his son Bhoja II could retain
the throne only for about two years. His younger brother
Mahipala wanted to oust him. The Chedi ruler Kokhaia had
espoused his cause and was for a time successful ; but
Mahipala soon managed to get the throne, probably with the
assistance of some feudatories. The dissensions in the Imperial
family must have divided the feudatories also into two
camps, rendering the task of an outside invader the reverse of
difficult. The lime of the invasion of Indra HI was thus very
opportune ; he had not to break any formidable confederacy
as Govinda III had to do, when he attacked Nagabhata, nor
had he to cross swords with two powerful claimants for the
supremacy in Northern India, as Dhruva and Govinda III had
to do. The achievements of Indra III were, however, more
dramatic than those of his predecessors.
Unfortunately we have no detailed information about this
campaign. From the Cambay plates we learn that he first
42. Report o£ the third Oriental Conference, Madras, pp 303-308.
43, Cf , #1% efl'TO’W 4^ |
^ ’TTTO H E. L, il, pp 306*7,
FROM KRISHNA II TO GOVINDA IV
attacked Ujjayim/^^^ then crossed the Jamuna and finally
captured Kanauj itself. Mahipala, the Gurjara-Pratihara
emperor, became a fugitive and was pursued by Chalukya
Nirasimlia, one of the generals of Indra. The poet Pampa, a
protege of Narasimha, informs us that his patron * ‘plucked from
Gurjara king's arms the Goddess of victory, whom, though
desirous of keeping, he had held too loosely. Mahfpala fled as
if struck by thunderbolt, staying neither to eat nor to rest, nor to
pick himself up, while Narasimha pursuing bathed his horses
at the junction of the Ganges and established his fame.
Mahipala seems to have been pursued upto Allahabad.
The testimony of the southern records as to the defeat
and flight' of Mahipala. is confirmed by a fragmentaiy' Chan-
della inscription from Khajuraho/^^^ from which we learn
to ii
Agreeing with my predecessors 1 have assumed in the text that “ ^T5'-
in the above verse refers to UjjayinT. It may be, however,
pointed out that Ujjain is not on the way leading from Malkhed to
Kanauj; and it is not improbable that the first line refers to Kalpi, where
also there still exists a temple of Kalapriya. Kalpi is situated on the
way to Kanauj. If the crossing of the Yamunai referred to in the second
line took place immediately after the halt in the courtyard of Kalapriya,
then it will follow that Indra did not pass through Uijain.
45. , introduction, p. XIV.
46. The junction of the Ganges referred to in the text above must be-
with the Jamuna and not with the sea; for there is no evidence to show
that Indra III had come into conHict with Rajyapala. It is, however,
likely .that Mahipala may have fled, not towards Allahabad, for tha ^
would have brought him closer to the Chedis, who were Indra’s allies,
but towards Gorakhpur. Narasimha may have pursued him for a while,
and then proceeded to Allahabad on his way back to the Deccan.
ACHIEVEMENTS -OF INDRAill
im
that Mahipala was reinstated on the throne, probably by
Harsha. The northern campaign of Indra thus produced
a more dramatic result than was ever achieved by his
predecessors Dhruva and Govinda, neither of whom had
succeeded in occupying the Imperial capital Kanauj. More
tangible and substantial results would probably have
followed if Indra’ s career had not been cut short by his
premature death, which must have necessitated the retirement
of his army to the south.
While Indra was himself engaged in the north, his gene-
rals in the south were equally active. A record of one of
them, Srlvijaya, has been discovered at Danavulapadu in
Cudappah district. Although a pious Jain, Srlvijaya was a
powerful general and claims to have defeated his master* s
enemies/ Another record from the same locality informs
us that this general was also a poet. We must not, however,
confound this poet-general Srlvijaya with Srlvijaya quoted in
Kavirajamarga ; for the latter flourished at least a centurv
earlier than the general of Indra.
Indra III was thus a very capable and brilliant general.
During his short reign he succeeded in shattering the prestige
of the Imperial Pratiharas, and the Rashtrakuta army again
became a terror in the north.
Before passing to the next king I propose to give a
genealogical table showing the intimate family relationship
that existed between the Rashtrakutas and the Chedis. Indra
himself, his younger brother Amoghavarsha, and the latter’s
son Krshna III, as also the father and grand-father of
Indra ill had all taken wives from the Chedi family of Tripuri,
This matrimonial alliance must have been of considerable
help to Indra III and Krshna III in their northern campaigns.
Amogbavarsha I
Koliala I
1
KrshQaraja-daughter^^^\ Sankaragana, Ai^iina Mogdfiatursga
( name not Ranavigraha
known)
(eldest son &
successor)
jagattunga = Lakskmi^^®^
1 =Govindamba^®^’
Indra III===4=
Ammanadeva Y uvaraia I
* i r *
=========^
Amoghavarsha III = Kundakadevi^^^^ ^
1 .. ! Lakshmana
I 1 . 1 Khottiga-
Amoghavarsha II Govinda IV Krshna Hi deva^'^^^
= A Chedi princess
(•name not known )
Vikramaditya IV==Bonthadevi^^^
Taill 11
49. m ^f^ri^rr it
W5fTffn%R: W: li A.. Xil, p. 265.
50. cmr
Sangli plates say ^??Wi {h A., XII, p. 247),
showing that S'ankaragana of the Karda grant is the same as
Ranavigraha. Jagattunga had thus married his maternal nucleus daughter ,
a custom recognised as legal in the Deccan*
51. Ibid. Govindamba was a younger sister of Lahshiri. Jagattunga
married her when he was staying with the Chedis, while out on an ex-
pedition in the north. R. G. Bhandarkay*s objections to the theory that
Govindamba was another wife of Jagattunga have been answered by
; Fleet. See G,, :L,ii,- p. 414, n. -5. It may be noted that Vikramaiitya II
of the Western Chalukya dynasty had married two uterine sisters,
Lokamah'SdevI and TraiiokyamahSdievi*
52. Sangli plates of Govinda IV, I. A., XII, p, 249.
53. Cf. iw^3r>^%cl'p!; sncf: I
Kadba plates I. A, XII, p. 265. 54, Ditto,
55, The name of this princess is not kno-wn; the Deoli plates simply
P. T. 0.
FROM KRISHNA II TO GOVINDA IV
ACCESSION OF AMOGHAVARSHA II ' 105
Amogliavarslia II aad Govinda IV
Indra died in c. 917 A.D. and was succeeded by his eldest
son Amoghavarsba ir* Fleet's view that Amoghavarsha II did
not reign cannot be accepted^ The Bhadan plates of
Aparajita Silahara, issued within 80 years of the event in
question, distinctly say that Amoghavarsha II ruled for a year;
and tiieir testimony is confirmed by the Deoli and Karhad
plates of Krshna III, wbicb also distinctly say that he did
rule. The evidence of these plates is particularly cogent
because, with reference to a prince like Jagattunga, wh5 did
not ascend the throne, they expressly mention the fact of his
having not ruled.
The omission in the Sangii plates of Govinda IV of the
name of Amoghavarsha II, and the statement there, that the
former meditated upon the feet of Indra Nityavarsha and not
upon those of Amoghavarsha, his immediate predecessor,
show that the two brothers were on inimical terms. The
phrase ^tatpadanudhyata^ does not necessarily indicate that
the two kings immediately followed each other. Some of the
Chalukya grants assert (l. A., VI, pp. 184, 194) that Duriabha
meditated on the feet of Chamunda though Vallabha w-as his
immediate predecessor. Amoghavarsha II was a youth of
only about twenty five^’^^^ at the time of his accession and his
Continued from the last page
say ol Krshna III that the Chedis were the elderly relations of both kis
%vife and mother, showing that he had taken a Chedi princess for his
%vife. Whether KuudahadevI was his mother as she was of his brother
Khottigadeva, is not known.
56. L A., VIII, pp. 11 ff. For facility of reference, the relationship
with the later Chalukyas also is shown in this table.
57. B. G., I. ii., p.. 416.
58. Amoghavarsha I was born in 808 A.D.; his son Krshna in c. 830,;
his son jagattunga in c. 850; his son Indra in c. 870, and his son Amogha-
varsha 11 in c, 890; Amoghavarsha*s age at the time of his accession thus,
works out to be about supposing' that, .all' his"; ancestors were' 'bofr*-"
when' their .fathers' were only •.20.. :
106
PROM KRISHNA II TO GOVINDA IV
death within a year could not have been entirely due to Lis
deep love for his father prompting him to go to Leaven as
soon as possible, as the Karhad plates of Krshna III would
make us believe. The Cambay and the Sangli plates of
Govinda IV state that he neither treated his elder brother
cruelly, — though he had power to do so, — nor acquired ill-
fame by committing incest with his brother*s wives. That
Govinda should go out of his way in refuting these charges
shows that there must have been ugly rumours current about
bis treatment of his elder brother and his wves; that these
rumours had some foundation is made clear by an unpublished
grant of the ST^ahara ruler Chhadvaideva, now in the Prince of
Wales Museum, Bombay. This S^ilahara ruler Was a contem-
porary of Krshna II! and his grant says that Govinda IV, who
was overthrown by Amoghavarsha, was himself guilty of
injustice. It thus becomes clear that Govinda was sus-
pected of having dealt unfairly with his brother. He may
have peacefully superseded him, sparing his life, or may have
brought about or hastened his death. 836 S'aka or 9 16- 17 A,D.
is the latest known date of Indra^^®^ and S'aka 840 or 918-19 A.D.
is the earliest date of Govinda So the short reign of
about a year of Amoghavarsha II probably took place in
917-18 A.D.
The reign of Govinda IV, who succeeded Amoghavarsha If,
was one of the least glorious ones. He was a youth of about
20, and his Sangli plates inform us that he was as beautiful
as God of Love. Most of his time he spent in the pursuits of
pleasures; Kharepatan plates of Rattaraja state that he was
the abode of the sentiment of love and was surrounded by a
59. mm mm: il
Dacunha collection of copper plates in the Prince of Wales Museum,
Bombay. 60, Hatti Mattur inscription, I. A., XII, p. 224,
61, JMd.p. 223.
MALADMINISTRATION OF GOVINDA IV 10?
bevy of dancers/’^’ Deoli and Karhad plates also describe
ym as the very essence of love and its pleasures, and state
that he took to evil ways, which led to diseiffection of ministers
and that he eventually perished. He, however, enjoyed Hfe
for about 15 years. He probably found no time to look after
foreign affairs; a line in his Sangli record says that the Ganga
and the Yamuna served his palace, suggesting that
Allahabad was still in his possession. This,^ however, may
have been pei-haps the case at the beginning of his career,
when the Rashtrakuta armies may have been still in the noith,
Govinda IV, however, had neither the ability nor the inclina-
tion to try to hold the provinces conquered by his father.
Some time during Govinda’s reign, Mahipala reoccupied,
Kanauj and the Rashtrakuta forces were either driven back or
had to retire.
Bhima II of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty, who was a
contemporary ruler, claims to have defeated a great army sent
by king Govinda. This Govinda is almost certainly
Govinda°IV. The defeat of the Rashtrakuta army must have
taken place towards the end of the reign of Govinda. since.
Bhima 11 ascended the throne in c. 934 A.D. This reverse may
have hastened Govinda s fall. ^
The Deoli and the Karhad plates of Krshna simply state
that the vicious life and lascivious ways of Govinda IV ruined
his constitution, alienated the sympathies of his subjects and
feudatories and led to his destmction. The manner of his los-
ing his kingdom is described by Pampa in his Vikramarjuna'
tiijaya where he praises hi^ patron Arikesarin II under the
title of Arjuna. In the 9th Asvasa of the above work, m a
prose passage after v. 52. we read;—
“ How can a thought of ill-will occur to you on seeing*
and hearing the greatness of that ocean of suppliants ( sic,
62, E. L. III. p. 298.
63, 511 wr •
64, E. I.. VIII. p. 12c<
FROM KRISHNA II TO GOVIKDA IV
Arikesarln ) who, when Goviodaraia was wroth with Vijaya-
'ditya, the ornament of Chalukya race, unflinchingly laid him
behind and protected him. the valour of this crest-jewel of the
feudatories, who drove into retreat and conquered the great
feudatories, who came at the command of the universal eni»
peror Gojjiga- the strength of arm of Arikesarin, who bringing
to ruin the emperor who confronted him in hostility, fittingly
conveyed the universal empire to Baddegadeva, who came
trusting him.
Pampa was out to glorify his patron, and so we must
accept this version with a grain of salt ; but it is quite clear
from this account that the feudatories of Govinda rebelled
against him, and eventually offered the crown to his uncle
Amoghavarsha II alias Baddegadeva. Deoli and Karhad
plates also confirm the version of Pampa ; they state that
Amoghavarsha was pressed by the feudatories to accept the
•throne to ensure the preservation of the Rashtrakuta gioiy*
Amoghavarsha III does not appear to have prompted the
rebellion himself ; even when the crown was offered to him
he seems to have consulted an oracle before accepting it. if
we are to trust the Deoli plates. He was at this time
advanced in years and he had, during his nephew’s reign, led
a life of retirement, mostly devoted to religion. The Karhad
and Deoli plates style him as the foremost among the thought-
ful, the Bhadan plates of Aparajita refer to his austerities,
-a verse^^®^ in an unpublished grant of Chhadvaideva describes
how Amoghavarsha purified his wealth, along with his soul,
by the sacred waters of coronation. The last mentioned state-
ment makes it clear that Amoghavarsha III actually ascended
the throne and ruled.
% Though Amoghavarsha III may not have himself prompted
the rebellion, it is quite probable that his ambitious son
66. I 67. E. I , lit, p. 271
LIGHT FROM THE VIDDHASALABHANJiKA I0§
Krshiia and other partisans may have worked hard to exploit
the situation in order to secure the crown for him. Both
Amoghavarsha III and Kfshna III had married Chedi princesses
as shown already. We may, therefore, well accept the
statement of the spurious Sudi plates that Amoghavarsha
was staying at Tripuri, when Butuga II married his
daughter It is, therefore, not unlikely that the Chedi ruler
Yuvaraja I, who was Amoghavarsha *s father-in-law, may
have helped his son-in-law, who was an exile at his court, by
joining the confederacy that aimed at placing Amoghavarsha
upon the Malkhed throne. In the Viddhas salahhanjika of
Rajasekhara, who was late in his life residing at the Chedi
court, we seem to get an echo of this confederacy. The
drama is a love story of the usual type, but it is fairly certain
that its hero Karpuravarsha Y uvaraja is the same as Keyura-*
varsha Yuvaraja I, who was the father-in-law of Amogha^
varsha III. In Act II of this drama we are told that a
king of Kuntala, Chandamahasena by name, was residing at
the Chedi court as an exile from his own kingdom, and to-
wards the conclusion of the IVth Act, we are informed that the
Chedi forces, which were espousing the cause of the exile
king of Kuntala, were successful against the enemy in a battle
fought on the banks of the PayoshnI, a tributary of the Tapti,
and that the exile prince was crowned king of his own coun-
try. There is some difficulty in accepting these obiter dicta
of Rajas ekhara as referring to Amoghavarsha’ s accessions
Rajas'ekhara does not retain the real names of the actors in
these historic events. He names the exile Kuntala chief
once as Virapala ( Act IV ) and once as Chandamahasena
( Act II ). KeyOravarsha’s marriage with Virapaia’s daughter
68 , m (?) *
ipf 3T^|c^'^1"W(c3Tr TO l\
bacunha collection of copper plates in the Prince of
Wales Museum, Bombay,
69. E. L, ni, P. 166. 70. Konow, KarpuramanjarC pp, ISUS*
would seriously go against the view that Virapala stands for
Amoghavarsha III. Bui it is not unlikely that the last men-
tioned episode may have been a poetic invention intended to
complicate the love affairs in the drama, and not a historic
fact. Amoghavarsha III was a devotee of Siva and the title
of Chandamahasena, given to him hy Rafas'chhara, is thus
appropriate. We would not be far wrong in assuming that „
Keyuravarsha espoused the cause of his son-in-law, and that
one of the decisive battles, which ended in the overthrow of
Govinda iV, was fought in Khandesh on the banks of the
PayoshnL We do not know who were the allies and suppor-
ters of Govinda IV. An unpublished Silahara grant, once in
.the possession of Prof. H. D. Velankar, Wilson College,
Bombay, but now untraceable, after referring to the accession
of Amoghavarsha HI went on to observe: —
This verse would suggest that Karkara, a relative or
feudatory Rashtrakuta chief, fought on the side of Govinda,
lout was overthrown by Amoghavarsha III and his allies.
The latest known date of Govinda IV is 934 and
the earliest known date of Amoghavarsha 111 is the 7ih of
September, 937 The rising against Govinda IV and
the subsequent accession of Amoghavarsha III must have taken
place some time during these three years. Honale inscriptions
Nos. 21-23, dated 934 A.D., refer to Suvarnavarsha as the over-
lord/^^^ whereas Shikarpur inscriptions Nos. 194 and 322,
coming from the same district, Shimoga, but dated in the
next year, do not refer at all to the rule of Govinda. It
would thus appear that the combination against Govinda was
. 71. E. C., VII, Honale, Nos 21-23.
,.-72. E. C., XI, Chitaldurg No. 76.
FROM KRISHNA II TO GOVINDA IV
MARRIAGE WITH BUTOGA
formed in 935 A.D. and the accession of AmoghavarsLa III may
be placed in the next year, since from an inscription from
Isamudru^^^^ we learn that he had ascended the throne earlier
than the 7th of September 937 A.D. It is very likely that
Krshna, the son of Amoghavarsha, may have taken a leading
part in putting his father upon the throne ;-vhe was an ' ambi-
tious prince^ ^ father to accept
the crown.
CHAPTER VI
Last four Rulers
Amoghavarsha III
The reign of Amoghavarsha III, which commenced in
€. 935 A.D., was a short one of about four years : for his son
Krshna III was already upon the throne in May 940 A.D., when
the Deoli plates were issued by him/^^ Being himself a man
of religious temperament, he must have presented a strong
contrast with his vicious predecessor. Actual administration
was very probably entirely in the hands of the crown prince
Krshna.
Revakanimmadi, a daughter of Amoghavarsha Ilf and an
elder sister of Krshna III, was married to a Ganga prince,
named Permadi Butuga II. Since the first child of this
union Maruladeva was born while Amoghavarsha II! was upon
the throne, and since the mother of Butuga II was active
enough in 974 A.D. to supervise the administration of the village
Pattu Pebbala, the statement of the Hebbal inscription/^^
that Revakanimmad/s marriage took place during the reign of
Krshna II, does not seem to be correct The statement of the
same record that at the time of the marriage of his great-grand-
daughter, Krshna II gave away as dowry Banavasi 12,000,
_ 73. E. C*. XI, Chitaldwrg Na. 76.
E. L, V. p. 190. ‘ ■ 2,*. ly, p,.351. ' ' ' /
112
LAST FOUR RULERS
Belvola 300, Porigera 300, Bagenad 70, and Kinsiikad 70
to his great"grand-son-m4aw seems to be equally unreiiabie,
for the Atkuf inscription informs that these districts were
given by Krshnall! to his brother-in-law, as a reward for his
bravery in hilling the Chola crown prince Rajaditya.
The Sudi plalBs inform that Amoghavarsha was
staying at Tripuri when this marriage took place. These
plates are no doubt spurious, but for reasons discussed already
in the last chapter, we can well believe that statement,
Buiuga also was then not the ruling Ganga prince, for Erey-
appa was at that time ruling at Talkad.
The crown prince Krshna undertook the task of putting
his brother-in-law upon the Ganga throne. He killed Dantiga
and Vappuga, who were probably Nolamba princes and
feudatories of Rachamalla, the Ganga ruler then upon the
throne. Then he attacked and hilled Rachamalla himself, and
put his brother-in-law upon the Ganga throne. Isamudru^®^
inscription, which was inscribed on 7th of September 937 A.D.,
refers to Amoghavarsha as the ruling emperor and concludes
as follows: —
Paleyar Deva attacked and smote and slew the
Pande king in Sripura; Indra s son smote a Pallava king,*.
This Kannara of great might slew Ganga Permadi and gave
3. E. L, V!, p.55. 4. E. L. HI, p. 176.
5» Ayyapadeva Nanninga was the Nolamba chief in c, 919 and he
was an ally of Ereyappa, whose successor Rachamalla was killed by
Krsbna, The name of Nanniga*s son was Anniga. [E. !., X., pp, 54 IL]
The names of Dantiga and Vappuga bear a family resemblance ta
Nanniga and Anniga, hence the conjecture in the text.
Fleet notices a record at the Mahakuta temple of Badami, dated
October 934 A.D,, which refers to Mabasamanta Bappuvarasa, who was
a very Bhairava on a minor scale to the enemies of the brave Gopila
(B. G.i I. ii. p. 417 n. 3). This Bappuva could have been assumed to be
the same as Vappuga hilled by Krshpa, were it not very improbable that
such an enemy could have challenged the authority of Amoghavarsha 111
in the very heart of the empire, 6, E, Ci, XI. Chitaldurg 76 *
OGCO.PATION' OF B'UNDELK H AND
IlS:
the throne to Bhuvaliabha. Thus did those of the RashtralcOta
line slay and gain renown/* The first two incidents, here
referred to, have yet to be definitely identified, but the last
one is obviously the same as the overthrow and destruction of
Rachamalia by Krshna and the enthronement of his brother-
in-law, Botuga.
Krshna then marched northwards and defeated the
Clieclis, though his mother and, wife had been born in
that family* The forts of Kalanjara and Chitrakuta, situated
in the very heart of Chandella country, were occupied by
the Rashlrakuia army, and the Gurjara-Pratihara em-
peror lost all hope of capturing them. An inscription/^^- re-
cently published, confirms the testimony of the Deoli plates.
This inscription was found at Jura in the Maihar State of the
Baghelkhand Agency. It is written upon a stone and con-
tains a eulogy of Krshna III in Canarese. That a Canarese
eulogy of Krshna should be discovered in Baghelkhand can
be explained only on the assumption that the claim to the
conquest of Chitrakuta and Kalanjara is well founded. The
Rashtrakutas continued to hold these forts for about ten years;
they were reconquered by the Chandella king Yasovarman
some time before 953 A.D.
I have assumed here that the exploits of Krshna des-
cribed above were performed while he was yet a Yuvaraja,.
and not subsequent to his accession. In this respect, I differ
from previous writers; an analysis of the Deoli plates, how-
ever, supports my reading of the situation. These plates
were issued in May 940 A.D* After mentioning the accession
of Amoghavarsha III, verse 19 of this record says that his son
7. It is not possible to argue that fC^^shna assisted his Chedi relations,
in holding these places against the Chandella; for the Deoli plates,
issued in May 940 A.D., soon after the capture of Kalanjara, state that'
Krshria HI had conquered the elders of his wife and mother. This,
shows that Kphna was not co-operating, hut fighting with the Chedis.
8. E. L. XIX, p. 287,
114
LAST FOUR RULERS
Krslina proved his strength even while a Kumara or a prince.
Vv. 20-25 then mention the killing of Dantiga, Vappiiga, and
Rachamalla and the capture of Kalanjara and Chi^akuta
V. 26 then observes that all the feudatories between the Eastern
and Western ocean obeyed the commands of Kifshiia. who
himself, however, was always obedient to .his father* V.,27.,.,.„
then informs us that his father died, happy to have seen his
son embraced by the damsel fame. Then follows a descrip-
tion of the coronation of Krshna 111.
The above analysis of the Deoli plates makes it abso-
lutely clear that the restoration of Butuga to theGanga throne,
and the capture of Chilrakuta and Kalanjara were the achieve-
mentsof Krshna while yet a crown-prince. It may also be point-
ed out that Amoghavarsha was alive on the 3rd of December ,
939 A.D.^°’ and that all the above campaigns in southern
and central India could not have been physically possible
within a period of four months. And yet we shall have to as-
sume that such was the case, if we are to hold that these cam-
paigns were subsequent to his accession; for the Deoli plates,
issued by Krshpa in May 940 mention all these achievements
of his. The title Paramabhattaraka Parames'vara-maharaiadhi-
raja given by the jura record to KrehoalU would not go against
my hypothesis. The pras'asti may have been composed and
inscribed a few years later, and in the meanwhile Krshna
may have succeeded his father and conquered Tanjore and
Kanchi. It is also possible that Krshiia may have under-
taken a second expedition in Baghelkhand after his accession,
■when the Jura inscription may have been inscribed.
A record from Sravan Belgola*^’®* refers to a battle
between Rakkasa-mane and Koneya Ganga when Bogya, a
servant of Ganga-Ysgra, rallied his retreating forces and made
the whole forces of Vaddega and Koneya Ganga flee with
, 9. E. C.. XI, ChitaUurga No. 77, dated grTtm ^ ’t'T.
10. E. Cn n, No* 138 { New Edition ntimtermg }.
ACCESSION OF KRISHNA
" lerrori „ , : - Although' it cannot ' he provecl: at^ present that Koneya
waS' another name' of:' Butuga .and. ' ■ Vajra ' .of Rachamalla, the
- record : shows that the - forces ' of Amoghavar sha III, who was
also known as Baddega, werC' opei'ating against the Gangas,
-showing thereby that it was in his reign, and not in that of his
son, , that ' Butuga was put ' on the Ganga throne, Krshna,
therefore, was clearly a crown-prince when he performed ' the'
.above-mentioned exploits.
Amoghavarsha died some time after the 3rd of Decem-
ber 939 A.I>. and before May 940-A.D., happy to, see that his
son had proved himself an able and successful general.
Krishna III
Krshna 11! ascended the throne some time in December
,739 He had already established the reputation of
his arms while still a crown-prince; still he seems to have
waited for a while after his accession before undertaking fur-
ther campaigns. His accession seems to have been a peaceful
one; the spurious Sudi plates of Butuga II no doubt state that
Butuga secured the kingdom for Krshna on the death of
Baddega I. e. Amoghavarsha So far, however, there
is no evidence forthcoming to show that there was any trouble
at the accession of Krshna III. His prestige was already very
great and it does not seem likely that any serious claimant
may have challenged his accession. The only possibility
that we can conceive of is that if Krshna were absent at the
time of his father's death in northern India on his military
expedition, there may have arisen some trouble, which Butuga
may have put down before the return of Krshna. The inva-
sion of Chola kingdom by Krshna III did not take place
earlier than the 3rd year of his reign, and we know of no
military conquests earlier than that date.
11. Sorah No. 476 ( E. C.. vn I ) supplies 939 as the earliest date
for Krshna as emperor. His father was alive in December of that year
( E. C., Xl. pp. 29-30 ). Hence the statement in the text. See supt^a,
pp, 1'22^3, foot'iiote No, 39’. ' ' i”2. E, L, III, p* 176,
116
LAST. FOUR RULERS
Krshija first turned his attention to the soiitli.^^ ' ' h
Gangavadi his brother-in-law Butuga; w^as. .upon the throne;
the Baiia prince Vihramaditya Illwas an ally of his* since he
calls himself a dear friend of .Krshnaraia/^''^.'^ The Chok
king Parantaka was an 'ambitious .ruler; "he, had conquered
Banavadi and put the Ganga-Bana prince* Prthvipati II
Hastimalla in its charge. Krshna decided to attack the Chola
kingdom, apparently to reinstate Vikramlditya III, but realk
to annex as much of the south as possible to his empire.
The Kanyakumari inscription of Parantaka states that the
Choia king had himself fought with Krshnaraja and defeated
him, earning thereby the title of Virachola. ^ Tlie time and
place of the defeat are not stated; but the record, if not an
empty boast, must be referring to some engagements that may
have been fought before 944 A.D., wherein he may ha%^e scored
some local successes. But these were minor ones and did
not affect the main issue; for, we have overwhelming evidence
to show that Krshna III was occupying Tondai-Mandalam
from c. 944 to the end of his reign. Siddhaiingamadam inscrip-
tion from South Arcot district, dated in the fifth year of
Ki-shna’s reign, refers to the conquest of Kanchi and Tanjai or
Tanjorer^®’ the Solapuram inscription from North Arcot
district is dated in Saka year 871 or 949-50 A.D., the year in
which the emperor Kannaradsvavallabha, having pierced
Rl^aditya, entered Tondai-Mandaiamr^®’ an inscription from
the Ukkala Vishnu temple in the North Arcot district is dated
in the 16 th year of his reign and mentions him again as the
conqueror of Kanchi and Tanjore/'” The same is the case
13. Udayendiram grant of Vikramaditya III, E. Ij XI, p, 232. Hultzsch
has himself abandoned his earlier view that this Kyshrta was Krshiia II
and quite rightly ; for, the great grand-father of VihramSditVa was
alive in 909 A, D. E. I„ VlII, p. 3.
14. Travancore Archaeological Series, III, p. 143, v. 48.
15. Madras Epigraphical Collection for 1909. No, 375.
16. E. L* VO, p, 195, 17. Referred to at E. L. i V, p. 82.
ANNEXATION OF TONDAI-MANDALAM 1 17
with two inscriptions from Tiru in Chingleput district, dated
in the 17th and I9th year of Kannaradeva/'®' The Karhad
plates^^^ were issued in 959 A.D., when Krshna was encamped
at Melpati in North Arcot district, engaged in parcelling out
the territory there among his servants, and accepting heavy
tributes from the lords of Mandalas. An inscription from
Vellore'*®' district is dated in the 26th year of his reign. The
veiy fact that so many inscriptions hailing from the territory
usually governed by the Cholas and Pallavas are dated in
Krshna’s reign shows, especially when considered in the
light of the Karhad plates, that the whole of Tondai-Maijda*
lam was directly administered by Krshna 111 throughout the
znajor pai't of his reign.
According to the Siddhalingamadam inscription, we have
seen that Krshna had already concjuered Kanchi and Tanjore
before the fifth year of his reign. His accession took place
either in 939 A.D., or perhaps in 940 A.D.. and, therefore, his
occupation of Tondai-Manqalam may be placed in c. 945 A.D.
T. A. Gopinath Rao's view'*'' that Tondai-Mapdalam could
not have been occupied befoi-e the battle of Tahkolam
ignores the possibility of that battle itself being the result of
a counter-move on the part of Parantaka to oust the invador.
The entry referred to in the Sholapuram inscription would be
recording the further advance of the Rashtrakuta army after
the victory at Takkolam,
The decisive battle in the war was fought at Takkolam
in North Arcot district in 949 A.D. The Choia army was led
into the battle by the crown-prince'**' Rajaditya, while the
18. E. I., Ill, p. 285. 19. E. I.. IV. p. 278.
20. E. I.. HI. p. 81. 21. E. 1.. XV, p. 51.
22. The earlier view that Rajaditya had already ascended the throne
before the battle of Takkolam had to be abandoned in view of the dis.
covery of inscriptions dated in the 45th and 46th years of Parantaka.
See E. I,,XIX, p. 83, for further information. The earlier view is
defended by T. A. Gopinath Raoin E. I,. XV. p. 51, but his arguments
are not convincing.
U8
LAST. FOUR RULERS
Raslitrakita forces were strengthened by a contingent under
the Ganga ruler Botuga IT, The Cholas fought stubbornly,
and the Atkur record^^^^ admits that for a time the Rashtrakuta
forces were overwhelmed; none dared to counter-attack. But
Maiialera and Botuga succeeded in making a rally; the
latter dashed against the crown -prince, killed the elephant he
was riding, got into the howdah and killed him there. The
earlier view that Butuga killed Rajaditya treacherously, while
embracing him or taking a walk with him, was based partly
upon a wrong meaning ascribed to the term * bisit^eye * and
partly, upon the mistake of reading* Kalla -age for K aim-'
The' death of Rajaditya in- the' battle of Tahhola.m' is
confirmed b\’ the Cliola records themselves; the large Leyden
states that Rajaditya. died during the battle with
Krshna, while seated on the back of an elephant, ft will be
noticed that this record also supports the view that treachery
played no part in the death of the crown -prince.
The Sudi plates of Butuga II are no doubt spurious
but their statement that after the defeat of Rajaditya’ s forces
Butuga besieged Taniapuri or Tanjore under orders from
Krshna, vvell have been a historic fact. The epithet
* Tanjaiyunkoi'>4u’ or the conqueror of Tanjore has been given to
Krshiaa III, as we have seen already, in so many records found
in Tondai-Mandalam, that the conclusion becomes inevitable
that he had conquered and occupied the Chola capital at least
for some time, The statements in the Karhad plates that
Krshiaa defeated the Pandyas and the Keralas, exacted
tributes from the king of Ceylon and planted the creeper of his
fame at Ramesvara may all of them be true ; they receive an
unexpected corroboration from Somadeva, who finished his
Yasastilaka about two months later than the issue of the
23. E. I., VLp.56.
24. J. R. A. S., 1909, pp. 443 ff. Fleet, who was responsible for the
earlier mistake, has admittedi the accuracy of the new reading.
MARCH TO RAMESVARAM
m
Karhad plates of Krshna !il, r. e. in May 959 A.D. At the
end of this work the author speaks of Krshnaraja as a glori-
ous monarch, who had subdued the Pandyas, the Cholas, the
Cheras, and Sinhala. After the overthrow of the Chola
army ^ and the capture of Tanjore. march to Ramesvara could
hardh^ have presented any insurmountable difficulties*
: Krshna was not content with merely defeating the ' Cholas:;
the fact that so many inscriptions from Tondai-Mandalam'
are dated in the reign of Krshna III makes it clear that, the
northern portions of the Chola kingdom were annexed by
him to his empire. The statement in the Karhad plates
that Krshna was encamped, at the time when the plates were
issued, at Melpati in North Arcot in order to parcel out livings
z. e. territories among his dependents and receive tributes from
feudatories, also shows that part of the Chola kingdom was
annexed and placed under the charge of Rashtrakuta officers.
The territory to the south of Tondai-Mandalam could not be-
annexed, as we do not come across any records from - that
area recognising the sovereignty of Krshna III. The Ganga
ruler Butuga II, who had acquired the throne with the help of
Krshna, was his right-hand man in this campaign ; in recog-
nition of his valuable services Krshna conferred upon him.
Banavasi 12000, Belvol 300, Kinsukad 70, Bagenad 70 and
Purigere 300/ The latest known date of Butuga is April 953
Fie died a few years later while his brother-in-law was
still upon the Rashtrakuta throne, and was succeeded by Lis
son Nolambantaka Marasimha, born not of Revakanimmadi,
the sister of Krshna III, but of another wife named Kollavarasi.
The new ruler continued to be as intensely loyal to the
Rashtrakuta connection as his father, and helped Krshna in his
military campaigns.
Kishna’s commitments in the south affected, in the latter
part of his reign, his position in the north. He had committed
27. P. 419 (Nirnayasagara edition).
28. Alkur Inscription, E. I., VI, p, 57.
29. i&tci, p. 180.
120
LAST FOUR RULERS
the blunder of alienating the sympathies of his Chedi relatives
by attacking them in his campaign in the north while a
Yuvaraja; and the Chandellas rose to power tinder Yasovarman
...and .'Dhanga, The Khajuraho inscriptiort^’^®'^ shows . that . the'
fort of Kalanjar was recaptured by the Chandellas before
953*4 A.D., and Chitrahuta could not have remained much longer
under the Rashtrakuta control. The Marathi C. P., however,
continued to be under the rule of Krshna; Deoli plates grant a
village in the district of Chhindwara, and in the same district
two fragmentary inscriptions of his have been discovered/"
We have already seen how the Paramara chief Krshnaraia
or Upendra was defeated by Indra 111, sometime in c. 915 A.D,
The Paramaras continued to be the feudatories of the
Rashtrakutas dov%m to the time of Krshna III, for the recently
published copper-plates from Harsola,^^^^ issued by S! 3 ’aka
in 949 A.D., referred to Akalavarsha Prthivivaliabha, the son of
Amoghavarshadeva, as the feudal lord of the Paramaras.
We find that the Harsola plates refer to villages in Khetaka
division L e. modern Kaira district in northern Gujrat, as being
under the immediate government of the Paramaras. Southern
Gujrat was reconquered by Krshna JJ; it would seem that it
was handed over to the Paramara feudatories by the successors
of Indra III for administrative purposes.
In the latter half of his reign Krshna had to undertake
expeditions to the north, SVavana Belgola epitaph of
Marasimha^’^'^^ states that he conquered the northern regions
for Krshna III and thereby acquired the title of the King of
the Gurjaras. It is thus clear that Krshna had to attack
some ruler, who had risen to eminence and was defying his
authority in Gujrat. Konow thinks that the Gurjara king,
who was defeated by Krshna and Marasimha may have been
30. E. L. I, p. 124.
31. Hiralal, List of Lnscriptiona in (7. P. and Berar p. 81
32. E. I., XIX, pp. 236 ff. 33. E. I.. V, p. 179,
CONFLICT WITH THE PARAMARAS
121
Mularaja/^^^ It is, however, more likely that Sfyaka, the
Paramara feudatory of the. Rashtrakutas, governing Malva and
V .northern Gujrat, may have been the ruler defeated by
.Mirasiifiha and Krshna III Holkeri inscriptions Nos* 23 and 33.,.'
dated 968 and 965 A,D. respectively,- refer to two of Marasimha*s
captains, Sodrakayya and Goggiyamma, as Ujjenlbhuiangas/''^^^
These captains were appointed to rule over Kadambalige 1000
, probably as a reward for' their services in' the expedition
against the Ujjain ruler. Since Siyaka’s dominions included
northern Giijrat in 949 A.D., we can well understand how
Marasimha II became known as Gurjaradhiraja by his victory
over that ruler. We have seen how Slyaka was a Rashtrakuta
* feudatory in 949 A.D.; his sack of Malkhed in 972-3 may have
been a revenge for the defeat that was inflicted upon him by
Krshna III.
We have seen already how the Jura inscription refers to
Krshna’ s conquest of Kanchi and Tanjore, The inscription
is unfortunately not dated, and therefore the question, whether
Krshna had led another expedition in the north after his
accession, cannot be definitely settled. It is possible that
after the defeat of the Paramaras, the army of Krshna may
have once more overrun Bundelkhand. But this is not very
likely, since the Chandellas had grown powerful by this lime
and reconquered Kalanjar before 953 A.D. Krshna also was
very busy in the south. Under these circumstances it seems
most likely that there was no second expedition against the
Chedis and the Chandellas, but that the Jura Prasasti was
inscribed subsequent to the conquest of Kanchi and Tanjore
in c 946 A.D.
The recently published Arumbaka plates of Badapa^^'^^
inform us that the Eastern Chalukya king, Amma II, was
34. E. I., X. p. 78, 35. E. C„ XI. 36. E. I., XIX, p. 287.
37. cf. I
122
LAST FOUR RULERS
driven out by Badappa, son of Yiidhamaiia II, with the help
of Karoa. Since the epithet Vallabha is added to the name
of Karna, it is almost certain that Kariia is the same as
Krshna III, the form Karna being a wrong Sanskritisation of
Kannara, the Prakrit name of Krshna. It would thus appear
that Krshna completed his masteiy over the whole of the
peninsula to the south of the Narmada by putting his own
ally on the throne of Vengi. This he must have accomplished
at the fag end of his reign.
An inscription. , from Kollagailu., dated Sunday: the 6th
day of the bright half of Kshaya PliMgana of Saka 889 A.D.
L e. 17th February 968 A.D., states that Krshna had died in
that year and that Khottiga had succeeded him. His death,
therefore, may be placed early in 968
38. The usually accepted period for the reign of Amma I! is from
c, 945-c, 970 A-D. and, Krshna seems to have died before February 96B
A.D, But the eastern Cbaluhya dates are not very rigidly fixed, and a
difference of a couple of years is, therefore, not an insurmountable
difficulty in identifying Kariiavallabha with Krshna III.
39. Mad ras Epigraphical Collection for 1913 No. 236. There is some
difficulty in determining the exact beginning and end of the reign of
Krshna III, The latest known date of his father is 3'“12-939 A.D.
( E. C , XI, pp. 29-30), The earliest known date for K?^sbiia himself is
the one supplied by Sorab No. 476 ( E. C., VII! ), which is also 939
A.D. It is a pity that the month and the day of the year slioiild not have
been given in this record. Krshna*s accession may be, thercrore, placed
in December 939 A.D. or Margasirsha S"aka 861. Now quite a large
number of his inscriptions have been found dated in the 28th year of
his reign, ( C, g. Nos. 125 of 1906, 364 of 1902 of the Madras Epigra-
phical Collection ) and one hailing from Kilur Virattanes\mra temple in
soiitjh Arcot district is dated in the 30th year of his reign [No. 232 of the
Madras Epigraphical Collection for 1902 ]. Now supposing Krshna
ascended the throne in December 939 A.D. or MargasTrsha S^aka 861,
the 30th year of his reign will begin in December, 968 A.D. of
Margas'Irsha, S' aka 890. But from Kolagallu stone inscription in Beiiary
Taluka, we know that Krghna had died before the 6th day of Kshaya
P. T. 0.
ESTIMATE OF KRISHNA HI
123
Krslina was the last able monarch in the Rashtrahuta
dynasty. None of ■ his. predecessors had so, completely ;domi-.
nated the Peninsula as he could do. Even Govinda III could
not bring under his direct, administration territories, of .the
Pallava kings. Nor could he put upon the Vengi throne a
friend or nominee of his. In the north, Ktshi^a s policy ,: wa:.,,
first successful, but later on he had to relinquish his advance
positions., in . the Chandella country. , He .could , not ,counfceraet
the influence of .Yasovarman and Dhanga, .and .committed . a
great mistake in allowing his Paramara feudatories to rise to
great power on the northern frontiers of his kingdom. But it
must be admitted that what he lost in the north was more
than compensated by his solid gains in the south. He must
have been an able ruler and skilful general; otherwise his
achievements would not have been possible.
Continued from the last page
PliSlgima of S'aka 889 i, e, before the 17th Februa.ry '968 ' A.D. ( No .-234,
of 1913 ); . It ,13 po,ss’Lbie to argue that the death,, of Krshna,:, took , place';
between the 5tii and 15th day of Chaitra of S^aka 890; for, Holkere No-
23 ( E. C. XI), dated Chaitra S^Uddha Panchanii^ refers to Krshna as
sovereign ruler, while Sorab No. 531 ( E. C., VIII ), dated Chaitra
S^uddha PfiUTiUmC, refers to his successor Khottiga as the ruling
emperor... B.ut , the ,, me,nti'on . „ of"".-Kr 3 hna • , a-s ,the .ruling ..emperor'
in Holkere No. 23 was very probably due to the fact that the news
of his death had not travelled till then to Simoga distidct. Krshnahs
death, tkerefore, took place before February 968 A.D, or Phllguna
889 'S^ aka. Now, since Krshna. ascended "the-, throne .not earlier , tha.n
D.ecember 939 A.D. , his ,30th year, referred ..to- in., -Kolagallu ',.,inscriplion.,'
mentioned above, could not have commenced before December 968 A.D.
But Krshna had died at least ten months before that date and therefore
the 30th year of his reign was impossible. This discrepancy can b§ ex-
plained on the supposition that Amoghavarsha til, being mostly preoccu-
pied with religious practices, his son was the de facto ruler even in his
father’s life»time. His regnal years may have been counted in some loca-
lities from a date earlier than his formal coronation or his father's death.
This overlapping of dates is similar to that of the reigns of Amoghavarsha I
and his son Krshna IL The causes in both cases were probably the same,
124
LAST FOUR RULERS
Khottiga Nityavarsha Amoghavarsha IV
_ in had a son, who was the father of Indra IV.
Bui he seems to have predeceased his father, and his son be-
ing too young, Kholtiga, a younger brother of Krshna III,
succeeded to the throne early in 968 A.D. The Deoli grant of
Rrshna III was made in 940 A.D. for the spiritual benefit of
Jagatlungadeva, a younger brother of Krshna, who was dearer
to him than his own life. It is possible that this Jagaltuhga
^ay e l e same as Khottiga; for the Deoli plates state that
jagattuhga was extremely beautiful and we know from the
Adargunchi inscription that “ Rattakandarpa was one of
Lf ®P'“ets of Khottiga. If Jagaltuhga was not the same as
lottiga, he may have been another brother of Krshna III.
It was in the reign of Khottiga that the Rashtrakuta power
began to dec ine. The first blow was given by the Paramaras
rom the north. Arthuna inscription of Paramara Chamunda*
mya. dated 1079 A.D.,<^»> refers to king Sri Harsha’s ^
With the lord of the Karnatas. That the opponent of Harsha
was not Tai apa or Karka HI is proved by the Udaipur
f ^ kings of Malva^^'’’, which distinctly says
that Harshadeva captured the royal gloiy and splendour of
ottiga ®va. The first land grant of Vakpati 11, the successor
^ blyaka or Sri-Harsha is dated in 974-75 A.D., and that of
ar a 111, the successor of Khottiga, in September 972 A.D.
Harsha and Khottiga were thus contemporaiy rulers, and the
statement of the Udaipur pras'asti, therefore, may be ac-
cepted as corr^t: It is further corroborated by Dhanapala,
the author of Patyalacfichhi. who informs us in v. 276 that his
work was written at Dhara in Vikrama Samvat 1029 f. J.
972-73 A.D., when Manyakhefa was plundered by the king of
vf^AmnalfT'”' Kholtiga had very likely the epithet
^^moghadeva.^SeeE.I.,XVI,p.284, 41. I. A.. XIL. p. 256.
SACK OF MALKHED
Malva/^^^ Sravana-Belgola epitaph of Marasimha II states
that the scenes of his victories were the banks of the Tapti,
the Vindhya forests, Manyakheta, etc. The victory at Manya-
Hieta presupposes the presence of ■, an enemy in that place.
This record, therefore, indirectly confirms the statements in the
'Paramara records that the Rashtrakuta capital was plundered
by Siyaka. ,
We have seen that Khottiga was alive early in 972 A,D„
when Manyakheta was sacked : he seems to have died during
the war with the Paramaras, for we find his successor issuing
the Kharda plates ^^^Mn September of the same year. Sorab
inscription No. 455 is dated in 972, and refers to Karka as the
ruling emperor. We may, therefore, place the death of
Khottiga and the accession of Karka II, in the middle of 972A.D.
Karka II
Karka II was the son of Nirupama, a younger brother of
Krshna III and Khottiga. It cannot be said definitely whether
this Nirupama is the same as or different from Jagattuhga,
who is mentioned as a younger brother of Krshna III in the
Deoli plates. It would appear that either Khottiga, like
Krshna III, left no male issue, or that Karka managed to
usurp the throne after his uncle's death.
.The Kharda grant of Karka II describes his glory and
exploits in glowing terms; we are told that he was a terror to
the Pandyas, had fought with the Hunas with an untrembling
mind, and had defeated the armies of the Cholas and the
Gurjaras. But all these exploits seem to be more imaginary
than real; for he was hardly 18 months upon the throne, when
he was defeated and ousted from it by Taila 11. ^The Gadag
inscription of Vikramaditya Vf states that the Saka year in
which the Rashtrakutas were overthrown was Srimukha; so it
must be Saka 895. The overthrow of Karka then took place some^
time between March 973 and March 974. A,D. But since the
126
LAST FOUR RULERS
latest known of Karka is July 973, we may reasonably
conclude that he was defeated in the autumn or winter of 973 A,
■ ' ' The fall o( the mighty Rashirakuta empire was indeed
dramatic* In December 967 Krshna III was the master of
practically all the territories to the south of the Narmada; in
December 973 his^ nephew was' overthrown and the Rashtra-
kota empire remained only in memorj/. The causes of this
dramatic downfall are not far' to seek The forward and
aggressive policy of Krshna III: ' must ■ have caused a severe
; "drain on 'the treasury,- and alienated the sympathies of his feu-
datories and neighbours, His' commiiments in the south left
him no time to control the north. To permit the Paramfiras to
■rise to power w^as a great tactical blunder., A still greater one
was the vvar with the Chedies-, who w?ere so closely connected
with the Rashlrakutas and seem to have helped the accession
of Amoghavarsha III. The sympathies of the Chedies were
alienated; Tailall was a nephew L e, sister’s son of Yuvaraja II,
the reigning Chedi monarch/^^^ and therefore the Chedi
court probably must have actively helped Taila against
the Rashtrakutas. The cession of the Banavasi 12,000,
Belvola 300, Purigeri 300, Kinsukad 70 and Bagenad 70 to the
Gangas must have seriously impoverished the Imperial trea-
sury, as the Ganga ruler thus obtained control over most of
the territories to the south of the Krishna/*^^ The territories
under the direct Imperial administration further diminished in
extent by the rise to semi-independence of the Silaharas of
Konkana, the Rattas of Saundatti and the Yadavas of
iSeunadesa. These were young, growing and ambitious states,
only awaiting an opportunity to throw off the imperial yoke.
47, Gundur inscription, I, A., XII, p. 272 (Ashadha month).
48. Hebbal inscription, E. L, IV, p, 355.
49 Bhillama I. T, grand -father of Bhillama in, who had issued the
Kalas-Budruk plates in 1025 A.D., was probably a contemporary of
iCarka, He had married a daughter of RSshtrakuta Jhanjha (E. I. XIL
p. 212) who probably belonged to the RS»h|rakuta faction opposing Karka*
Bhillarna 11, therefore, may have joined the confederacy to oust Karka,
GENEALOGY OF TAILA II
127
Karka*s councillors were vicious, and his own character
was' probably not much diffei-ent; This must have ali-r
enated the sympathies of. his subjects and feudatories.. .-Some ^
of the Rash trakuta kinsmen must have espoused the cause - of
his enemy Taila,' because the latter’s wife Jakavva was the
■daughter of Bhammaha or Brahmahara, who was a Rashtra-
kuta chief. The prestige of the Rashtrakuta arms was'
besides completely shattered . by the occupation' and plunder
of the capital 'by the Paramaras a couple of years before.
Taiia II, , who •• eventually ■ overthrew the Rashtrakuta
empire, is claimed by later records to have descended from an
uncle of Kirlivarman n of the early Chalukya dynasty. The
genealogy as given in the Kauthem, Yewur, Nilgund and
Miraj grants is as follows:—
Vijayaditya
I
Vikramaditya I!
Kirtivarman II
A brother { described HhimO:-'
papakmma. Name not given.)
Kirtivarman III
1
Taiia 1
Vikramaditya III
Bhima
1
Ayanna == Krishnanandana
. . ’*1
Vikramaditya IV = Bonth^evi
(daughter of Lakshmana,
the Chedi king )
Taiia II = Lakshmi, daughter of Rashtrakuta Brabmahabha,
50. The Nilgund inscription thus describes the two principal advisors
and generals of Karha, E. I,, XIL p» 1^0*
128
LAST FOUR RULERS
The above genealogy seems to be suspicious. It claims
for the later Chalukyas a descent from the early Chalukyas
of BadamT, but, as pointed out by R. G. Bhandarhar, no record
of theirs claims for them Manavya Gotra and descent from
Hariti, as is invariably the case %vith all the records of the
earlier Chalukyas. Kirtivarman III of the above genealogy
was a contemporary and cousin of Kirtivarman li, who was
overthrown by Dantidurga. His time, therefore, must be
c. 750-c. 770. The next five generations of the genealogy will
thus cover a period of about 200 years, giving an average of
40 years per generation, which is obviously extremely
improbable. The genealogy may be correct upto Taila;
Kirtivarman III and his unnamed father seem to be imaginar^^
personages. The genealogy m.akes Kirtivarman 11! a cousin
of Kirtivarman II, but it is w^ell-knowm that contemporai'y
cousins in Hindu families do not usually bear the same names.
Further, if the connection of the house of Taila II with the
earlier Chalukyas were really genuine, it is strange that the
secretariate of Taila II should know the names of all the
ancestors, but that its information should fail just in the case
of the founder of the house, who. it is alleged, was a brother
of the Chalukya king Vilsramaditya II. It is, therefore, clear
that the genealogy beyond Taila I is not above suspicion.
The question, therrfore, whether Taila II was really connected
with the Chalukyas of Badami must be left an open one.
There is nothing to enlighten us as to where the ancestors
of Taila were living or ‘ ruling ’. We have seen already that
Yas'ovarman, a Chalukya feudatory, son of Balavarman, was
holding some petty Jahagir in Dharwar district in the time of
Govinda IIl‘®^’: but in the ancestry of Taila II neither of these
names appear. Chalukya mahasa mantas Marasirnha and Goggi
are referred to in a few records from Mysore State ; but they
also do not figure among the known ancestors of Taila IL
51* Kadba plates, E. !.* IV. p. 340.
ANCESTRY OF TAILAPA II
Chalukya Arikesarin II, who had taken part in the dethrone-
ment of Goyinda IV, also cannot be connected with Taila
Pampa in his Vikramarjanavijaya gives the genealogy of his
patron for as many as eight generations, but we nowhere
find any of the ancestors of Taila II in it, as a glance at the
genealogy given below will show: —
Yudhamalla Chalukya { who ruled over Sapadalaksha )
Arikesarin I ( who with the ministers of Bengerivishaya pene-
« trated into the kingdom of Nirupama. See ante.
P- 51 n. 10 )
Narasimhabhadradeva
Dugdhamalla
Baddega ( who had captured Bhima )
Yudhamalla H
Narasimha ( who def^eated Mahipala during the campaigns
sj ol mdra 111; see anfe. pp. 102. )
Arikesarin 11 ( Patron of Pampa : helped the accession of
Amoghavarsha III; see ante. p. 102;)
Finally we have to consider the case of the Chalukya
chief Vijayaditya, who was shielded by Arikesarin 11, against
Govinda II. ^ The name of this person also does not figure in
the known genealogy of the house of Taila II. It seems that
the ancestors of Taila were too insignificant: for even the title
Rajan , which in our times did not convey invariably even the
status of a feudatory, is not given to tliem by their powerful
and illustrious descendants. It is therefore extremely unlikely
that the daughter of Krshna, whom Ayyandeva had married,
could have been a daughter of Krshna II of the Rashtrakufa
52, J. R. A. S., 1882, p. 19. 53. See ante.pp. 107-8
dynasty/^^^ especially since neither Ayyandeva nor Ki-shna
is given even the courtesy title ‘ Rajan/ The place where
•they were living, is also unknown; it might perhaps, be .'v;:
■suggesled that since Taila was a son-in-law of the Checli ruler
^Lakshmana, and since the northern parts of the Rashlrahuta
dominions first passed under his control, he may have been
living somewhere in the northern portion of the state of
Hyderabad.
How Taila II suddenly became strong enough to chal-
lenge the mighty Rashtrakutas, and who his allies were, is still
a mysteiy. We have already seen how it is very likely that
the Yadava ruler Bhillama li of Seunadesa may perhaps have
been one of his allies/^^^ Pampa states that his patron
Arikesarin il had put to flight Bappuva, a ^munger brother of
Karka. But Arikesarin II was dead before 959 A.D. when his
son Vadyagaraja (Baddegall?) v;as ruling, and therefore
Bappuva, the younger brother of Karka whom he put to flight,
may have been a brother of Rashirakuta Karkara who was
a partisan of Govinda IV, Baddega II may have possibly
sided with Taila IL Since Taila’s father had married a
daughter of the Chedi ruler Lakshmana, whose son was ruling
that kingdom at the time of his accession, it is possible that
he may have derived some assistance from his maternal
uncle, especially since Krshna M had committed the blunder
of alienating the sympathies of that house by wantonly attack-
ing its territories in his northern campaign. It has to be .
observed, however, that no Chedi records mention any such,
help given to Taila.
54. This was Fleet’s suggestion made with some hesitation at p. 427
of his DyTidstiBSm At p. 379 of the same work he had proposed to iden-
tify this prince with Ayyapadeva. a general of VTramahendra, who was
killed in a war with Ereyappa. This is also a conjecture which would
require further evidence before it can be accepted.
55. See p. 126, n. 49, 56. Yas'astilahachampu,
LAST' FOUR RULERS^
■OVERTHRC) W V OF THE ' EM'PI RE
m
Tile: ■ struggle between Tailail . and Karkka If -waS' an
: intense' one; for, the Managoli inscription admits that it
: was with an exceedingly great effort that Taila' acquired'
the sovereignty of the land. ■ Karkka was supported by - two
of his Rashtrakuta kinsmen, who were his generals, and who^
are described in the records of the conquering dynasty'^^^^ as"
orueL insolent and overbearing, and are compared , to ■ the
moving' feet of Kali incarnate. These two generals were
killed in battle: but the fate of Karkka himself is not known
with certainty. If he also v/ere hilled in the war, there is no
reason why the Chaluhya records should have kept silent over
that incident. It would seem that he managed to fly to the
south; two inscriptions from Sorab Taluha, Nos. 476 and 479,
dated about 991 A.D., mention Maharajadhiraja Paramesvara
Paramabhattaraha Sii-Kakkaladeva as the lord of the world.
It is not unlikely that this Kakkala may have been the same
as Karkka II, who may have managed to hold some local
sway in the south of his empire for a few years, and may have
been presumptuous enough to use his former imperial titles,
even when he was the ruler of a petty state.
The main task of Tailail was accomplished after the defeat
of Karkka 11; he had, however, to fight with a number of other
Rashtrakuta claimants for the vacant throne for some time.
The powerful Ganga feudatory, Nolambantaka Marasimha,
espoused the cause of Indra IV, a grandson of Krsbna HI and the
son of his own sister. He crowned him king but his protege,
who was perhaps too young and inexperienced, could not main-
tain his own. His epitaph at Sravana Belgola^^^^ no doubt
describes him as * hero among brave men * the bravest of the
brave*, *a marvel among those who take by force (the glorv
of the enemies) ’ ; but these are all conventional adjectives*
57. E. L. V, p. 20. 58. Kauthem plates, E. L. XII. p. 152*
59. Rice, ImcripUons fromSravanaBelgola No. 59, (second edition)*
60. Ibid No. 57.
A mrial from Dasarhalli , ia Bangalore district refers to
ladra as tiie ruler of the -place. If we assume with Rice that
the probable date of this ..record, which is not dated, is about
980 A.D., then it will follow that Indra continued to hold some
•authority for a couple of years. But the effort to reinstate
Indra IV soon failed; his maternal uncle MarasirfiLa died by
the Sallekhma vow before August 975 A.D.; and we find
Indra IV doing the same on the 20th March 982 A.D.
When it became clear that Indra IV could not maintain
his own against. Taila II, Parichaladeva, the successor of
Marasiridia, set himself up as emperor in opposition to Taila.
His Mulgund inscription/®^^ dated February 975 A.D., claims
that he was governing, without any disorder, Lis kingdom
which was bounded h-y the eastern, western, and southein
ocean and by the great river ( i. e, the Krishna ) on the north.
This is an obviously exaggerated statement, but it shows that
he was sufficiently powerful The epithet Chalukj^a-Pancha-
nana given to him in this record further shows that he was
fighting against Taila IL The expedition against him was
led by Nagadeva , a general of Tail a. The battle betv/een
the two was a sanguinary one, and the Chaiukya forces had
actually begun to flee away from the battle when the situa-
tion was saved by Bhuteyadeva, who made a counter-attack
wherein he decapitated P^chaladeva. For this exploit Taila 11
conferred upon him the title of Ahavamalia and made him
a Mahamandales'vara/^^^ The overthrow of Panchaladeva
must be placed before 977 A.D.; for in that y^ar his successor
Rachamalla Ilfwas already upon the Ganga throne/^^^
Taila II was thus able to retain the throne against all
the claimants that arose to fight for it after the overthrow of
Karka II. It must have required some time for him to com-
pel all the Rashtrakuta feudatories to recognize his overlord-
61. E. C., XI, Bangalore No. 37. 62. E. L, VI. p. 260-
63. Torgala inscription, I, A., XII, p. 98.
64. Peggu-nr inscription, !..A., VI, p. 102.
i,ast";four rulers
FEUDATORIES TRANSFER' -ALLEGIANCE
ship,, Santivarman,- the Ratta chieftain -of Saundatti, is 'Seen
ignoring his , sovereignty in 980 A.D.; his ' successors, however,
are all of ' them seen professing allegiance to -the new
imperial house. The Silaharas- were deeply attached to the
Rashtrahuta house as would appear from the mention in their
records of, their Rashtrakuta overlords even when they had
been overthrown long ago. They also were compelled ■ by
Taila to, transfer their allegiance to his, family, ' The Yadava
king Vaddiga became a zealous supporter of Taila and parti-'
,cipated in his wars against the Paramara king Munja, It is
needless for the historian of the Rashtrakutas to follow further
•the career of Taila If.
PARTI!
A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN THE
RASHTRAKUTA ADMINISTRATION
CHAPTER VII
Political Divisions
In order to understand properly the administrative
machinery of the Rashtrakuta empire, it would be necessary to
recall to memory its wide extent. The empire usu^y ex-
tended over southern Gujarat. Marathi districts of the Central
Provinces, Konkan. the whole of Maharashtra, practically
the whole of the state of Hyderabad. Karnatak, and
portions of the state of Mysore. Its northern boundary
extended from Cambay to Houshangabad; the eastern boun-
dary. which is rather difficult to determine precisely, probably
ran through Houshangabad. Nagpur. Chanda, Warrangal and
Cudappah. The southern boundary was formed partly by
the Northern Pennar, beyond which extended the Sana ^d
the Nolamba principalities, and partly by an imaginary line
starting from the sources of the Northern P ennar and passing
through Chitaldurg to the Arabian sea. The western boun-
dary was, of course, the Arabian sea. Sometimes, as under
Govinda III and Krshna III, the empire embraced wider
areas, but the annexation of territories beyond the boundaries
above indicated was temporary, for the Rashtrakutas did not
succeed in permanently amalgamating them with their empire.
It should not be supposed that all these areas were directly
governed and administered by the imperial government frorri
Malkhed; for there were numerous feudatories enjoying vari-
ous powers of internal autonomy. How these were controlled
by the imperial government will be indicated in a later
chapter of this part.
RASHTRAKUTA ADMINISTRATION
I ms wide empire must obviously have been divided into
several provinces for administrative purposes. The Rashtrl!
feufa land-grants usually refer to Rashtrapatis. Vishaxapatis
and Gramakrnas in the stated order. The almost tvarble
^^shtrapatis makes is quite clear that
R shtja was the largest administrative unit and Visha-<a
I S su dmsiom Under the.KaIachuris and the early Chaluhyas
who preceded the Rashtrahutas in northern Maharasfca
unit, but the Rashtrahutas seem to have reversed
K nomenclature, giving the name Rashtra to the larger and
FzsAaya to the smaller unit, the term Mandala was used
do no, .„y Mcrj^lu divisions i„ *0 W provin"^
to Rlilr' **“5' r i"v.rially
D!MENS!ONS OF A BHUKTI
!37
a vishaya roughly corresponded to a modern district, usually
consisting of about 2, *000 villages and hamlets)
'The next territorial division was a hhuhtu The ofiicerio
charge of its administration was called a bhogapati or bhogika^
Our records do not refer to him along with Rashtrapatis and,
Vishayapatis, probably because he did neither come into
■ ■■direGt contact with the grantees of the land grants like ■ the
gramakata, nor possessed considerable revenue powers like
the rashtrapatis and vishayapatis. The Samangad plates of
Dantidurga refer to Kopparakapanchasatabhukti, and the
Konnur inscription of Amoghavarsha I mentions Majjantiya*
saptati-grama-bhukti. The Paithan plates of Govinda III
show that- Pratishthana- bhukti contained several groups of
12 villages. It is. therefore, clear that the bhuhti division
contained about 100 to 500 villages and hamlets. It thus
corresponded sometimes to the modern Taluka or Tahsil, and
sometimes to the subdivision of a district under the present
British administration,
(It is not to be supposed that the above conclusions about
the dimensions of the units referred to, hold good universally.
The use of the terms used to denote territorial divisions
differed from province to province and age to age.) Thus
bhuhti, which was a sub-division of a vishaya in the Deccan
and Kathiawar, was used to denote a territorial unit larger
even than a mandala in the contemporary Gurjara-Pratlhara
empire of the north, as is clear from the Dighva-Duboli grant
of Mahendrapala/^^ The term denoting a territorial division
corresponding to a modern district, current in Kathiawar, was
ahara or aharani and not vishaya, as was the case in the
Rashtrakuta empire. The fact that the Wani-Dindori plates
should refer to Nasik as a desa and the Dhulia plates of Karkka
Pratapasila, issued 29 years earlier, should describe it as a
vishaya shows that these terms were sometimes used eyeUi in
RASHTRAKUTA ADMINISTRATION
official d(^uments with a certain amount of looseness. The
ac t at Karhataka is called a vishaya both in 768 A.D. when
. 10.000 village „a h.ml«s and in ,054 A.D. whe"
« con.,stod of only 4.000. shows that the old nomenolatun,
" u””* '■•d 'Wed in
. Ihe conclusions above mentioned are, therefore, onlv
(The villages in each bhukti were divided into smaller
groups each group being named after its principal village.
. villages contained in ' it!'
Rur^dh«
silf ^ s'^bdivi-
and P ■ Karpatavanijya, Vatapadraha,
wav taluhas or sub-divisions respectively. This peculiar
way o. nomenclature was not confined to small divisions
that AIatage-sapta-4ata, Afihottaha-chaturaiiti. show
pre eience to terms like mskaya and bhukii. This would show
that the dicta m the Mahabharata,<=> Manu<fi> and Vishnu
aS" OOQ^il '^Sether 10. 20.' 100
art i ^ purposes was based on
actual practice, and not on imagbary calculations.
ha J , territorial unit was the village. Sometimes small
for ^ village were amalgamated with it
J r'T*' ''■‘W ™«. however,
varm ‘^*®t*'''=tive existence; when king Nandi -
naltoakT'^-fi*'' Kumaramangala a^d Ven-
na turakotta villages into one and name the new group 1
wtfira'??’’-
5. SSniiparvan. 87, 3-5. g. Vjj jj^
7. Ill, 4-6. o t? I ITT
8. E. I.. Ill, p. 144.
FIGO'RBS NOT INDICATIVE OF REVENUE
13 ^'
cities formed' administraliw onits-
:by tiiemselves and were under the charge of special 'officers-
: 'known as Purapatis or Nagarapatis. Since early time this cus-
tom prevai!ed;)Arthasastra of Kautaiya, II 36, and Manusmriti,.
Yll 121, both lay down that towns and cities were to be
under the jurisdiction of separate officers. Jaugada special
edict No, I of Asoka mentions nagaravoharakas who were in
charge of town government in his administration. Under
the' Gupta administration' cities like Kotivarsha^^^ and Giri--
nagara^^*^' were under the charge of officers specially entrusted
with their control, supervision and government.
The numerical figures attached to some of our territorial
divisions mentioned above require further discussion. It has
been stated that these represent the number of villages and
hamlets included in the divisions concerned; but there are
several other interpretations in the field. Rice had proposed to
regard these figures as indicating the revenue in gold coins
of the divisions concerned/ The use of these figures in
such a sense is not unknown; the fertile Ashte group of
Villages in Satara district is still popularly designated as
** Ashte-lakh-and-a-quarter, because it used to yield a revenue
of that amount when the other groups were paying much less*
There are, however, several difficulties in accepting the theory
that these figures in the vast majority of cases denote the
revenue of the units concerned. It is difficult to imagine how
the revenues of Banavasi 12,000, Gangawadi 96,000, Nolamba-
wadi 32,000 etc. continued to be the same throughout, since
these figures are almost invariably associated with them in
different centuries. The figures, if interpreted as the revenue
amounts, are besides too small even if we proposed to regard
them as referring to Kalanju, the usual gold coin current in the
locality. It was not an unknown practice in our period to
9. E. !,. XV* pp. 130 §L 10. C. L I.* Ill* No.' 14.
11. Bhandarkar Qommemoration pp. 238-9.
1'40 RASHTRAKUTA ADMINISTRATION
maicate the revenues of a division by giving its figure after
It, but the method followed was different. A concrete case
of such a use is supplied by the Mudiyanur Bau inscrip,
tion, which describes Andhramaijdala as ‘ dvadas a-sahasra-
i^iima-sampadita-soptardhalaksha-viskaya', a country with a
revenue of seven and half lakhs accruing from 12,000 villages
included in it. None of the numerous expressions occurring
in our records is similarly worded. Another difficulty in
accepting this theory is the fact that the larger part of govern-
ment revenue in our period was collected in kind and not in cash.
If the government revenues were entirely collected in cash,
then nomenclature of divisions after the amount of the revenues
collected in them was likely to he current. There is also a
fether difficulty. SrI-Budhavarsha was a feudatoiy of
Sikharika-dvadasa in southern Gujral in 813 Bankeya,
Ae viceroy of Banavasi, had appointed his son Kundate as
the off icer over Nidgundige 12. If we accept the theoiy
k l! applicable, we shall have to suppose
mat Mahasamanata Budhavarsha was the ruler over a state
he revenues of which were 12 golden coins, and that the
mighty governor of Banavasi. a favourite of the reigning
emperor Amoghavarsha, had appointed his son as an officer
over a division the revenue of which was the same amount
12 go.den coins. Could a person have acquired the feudatory
^tus^if his income were so small? Could the mighty
Banavasi governor have appointed his son to a post less im
portant than that of a village patel or accountant ?
Nor does it appear very likely that the figures could have
stood for the population of the divisions concerned. We have
a solitary expression referring to Gangawadi as Shannavati-
sahasmvisha^aprakrtayah,'-^^^ but this expression is used while
mentioning the witnesses to the document in which it occurs
FIGURES NOT INDICATIVE OF POPULATION 141
and, 'therefore, means that the transaction is known to .or'
attested by the whole population of the province of Gangawadi
96.000, The population theory further presupposes that census
was regularly taken during our period. No evidence can*,
however, be adduced to prove that such was the case. The
view that was once advanced that the Khandagiri inscription
of king Karavela mentions the population of Kalinga was
based upon a wrong interpretation of the expression ‘ Pamil-
sahi satasahasehi pakatayo ranjayati' occurring in that record.
35.00. 000, however, represents not the number of the subjects
of Kharavela but the sum he spent in promoting their welfare.
This interpretation will be further absolutely inapplicable
and absurd with reference to small units like Sikharika 12
mentioned above. The view that these figures do not re*
present the entire population of the divisions, but the fighting
force that could be mustered from them or the number of
house-holds that were comprised in them is open to a similar
objection. It may be further pointed out that the inapplicability
of these views in not confined merely to the cases where the
figures are small ; for it is extremely unlikely that Banavasi
12 . 000 , Gangawadi 96,000 and Nolambavadi 32000 , which
together comprised an area greater that the modern state of
Mysore, had a population of only 1 , 40 , 000 .
As against the interpretation here advocated that these
figures refer to the villages and hamlets comprised in the
divisions concerned Rice contends that the figures in many
cases are too large to admit of that interpretation. He points
out that Gangawadi 96,000 could never have comprised 96.000
villages, even supposing that its area was entirely covered by
villages only and by nothing else. The same is the case with
Nolarnbawadi 32,000 and Banavasi 12 , 000 . Dr. Pran Nath,
in a recent work of great interest, seeks to get over this diffi*
cuhy by proposing a new interpretation for the term grama.
He contends that in the time of the Guptas and even much
earlier it appears that the word grSma was used in official
RASHTRAKUTA ADMINISTRATION
records for an estate and in poetical and literary works for a
tillage or settlement/^^^ He interprets the figures after
the names of the divisions as referring to estates contained
in them; thus Konkana 14,000, ^aoavasi 12,000 etc. meant that
-:these units comprised of so many estates.
With reference to the theoi^y^ that grama in our inscriptions
means an estate and not a village, it has to be confessed that
the arguments adduced to support it do not bear close exami-
nation. The passage quoted from AbhidhanarajsnJra does
not mean that in the remotest period of Indian history the
word grama was used in ten different meanings, viz. (l) cows
igavah); (2) grass {trinani)* (3) boundaries {slma); (4)
pleasure-gardens ( arama ); (s) well {udapana); {6} servants
{chela) \ ( 7 ) fences {bahih); (s) temple (devakala) ; (9)
an estate (ai^agrak); (lO) owner {adhipafijS^'^^ A glance at
the commentary, relevant passages from which are quoted
below, will show that the word never conveyed such
Stiidy i'l the Economic Conditio ns of Ancient
17. /HcZ, p. 28.
18. irr% ctwTf
qifr ^ aar n
3t*r 1 5i«wt W: srrf i ^wr>T
' JiTJT I crat I
infl ft ft" ^ g I
ncir #cr sRsr ^ crfr ’irifr ii
’irtr ^■3n% crt: ^r#r
*1^ ? srf^ fEf^T >Hw:JTra?-fpmT Jrwr'JirRfr
sra^'cfi 5T
st efcsirr iictT: ?inr:
JiTiT: I . S:i[cRr f^iTirT iWtcr t TO ST.Wcit
gTOfsfTTO TOT% cmrf^r ^ rnTra^ww TOr% STO i cir ^ rg htw
I sTf TOft' ^niT: i smpt
c p. 't. 0.
TEN VIEWS ABOUT THE- VILLAGE AREA
diverse meanings. .The verse in question ref ers -to ten different
theories about the extent of area that, was denoted by the term
§fama» : The first .theory maintained that it, could comprise
not only the area of settlement, but also the territory upto the
limits of which the cows go out while grazing. The second
theory contended that grama could not denote so extensive
an area, since cows often go out for grazing in the fields
of contiguous villages. It maintained that only that much area
which is traversed by the grass and fuel gatherers in the course
of the day can be comprised in the meaning of the term
in question, • The third view maintained that even this inter-
pretation is open to a similar objection and, therefore, grama
denotes only the area included in the boundaries of the village
in question. The fourth view reduced even this extent and
prefered to regard as comprising only the area upto
the village well The subsequent views go on curtailing the
extent of ^ram a still further till the climax is reached when it
is contended that grama means that temple or village-hall
which was first built in the village, and around which the
settlement subsequently grew. The commentator further
observes that grama ^ in the opinion of some, meant the indivi-
dual houses of the speakers; the last view cited by him is
that the term can be used to denote the headman of the
village as well. It may be pointed out that the sense of the
landed estate is nowhere advanced by any of the schools
referred to in the Kosha.
( Continued from last page }
I i w \ nm,'
mr wr ^rr ft* u
144 RASHTRAKUTA ADMINISTRATION
The second passage .relied upon to prove that irama can
mean an estate is a sentence in Nasik cave inscription No. 5,
The passage in question, runs as under:—
. " Ahmehi pmajitanam ■hhikhnnam game KakhaMsa pma
kheiam dattam;ta cha khetam im)kasate ta cha gamo na Pasaii.*
Senart, who has .edited the inscription, translates the
passage as follows: ‘ We have here on mount Tiranhu formerly
given to mendicant ascetics dwelling in the cave, which is a
pious :gift ' of ours, a' field in the village of Kakiiadi; but this
'.■field is not tilled nor is the village inhabited/ It will be .seen,
from the original passage and its translation by Senart that it
can hardly support Dr. Pran Nath’s conclusion that * a ksheira
could be .described as -a grama and that the ^ word vasaii was
used in the sense of cultivation as well as that of habitation/
As -a matter of fact the passage differentiates a ksheira or
field from a grama or village in the clearest possible way.
Further, it can hardly be advanced that in chapters 171 and
173 of the Arthas'astra of Kaulalya,the word grama has been
used in the sense of an estate. The passage clearly refers to
the devastation of ordinary villages. But there is no room for
doubt as to the sense in which the term grama has been
used in the Arihas astral for while describing the coloni-
sation of new areas the book says, ‘ Villages, con-
sisting each of not less than a hundred families and not more
than five hundred families of agricultural people of Sudra
caste, with boundaries extending as far as a krosha or iwo^
and capable of protecting each other shall be formed.’ ^
This passage can hardly be consistent vrith the view that
Kautalya uses the word grama in the sense of an estate.
With reference to the objection raised by Rice against
the view that these figures cannot be possibly interpreted as
the number of the villages comprised in the divisions concern-
ed, it may be pointed out that it may be a valid objection
19, Arthas'astra, Dir,. Shamasastri s translation, p. 49.
21. Konnur inscription. E, I., VI
23. I. A.. X. p. 284. 24. E. I.,
DECCAN FIGURES REFER TO VILLAGES
only with reference to large numbers like those associated with
.Banavasi. or Gangawadi and. 'not with reference to smaller"
figures associated with vishayas and bhuktis in the inscriptions
hailing' fro.m, Gujarat, Maharashtra- and northern Kamatak '
- India is a fairly vast country and the usage may have quite
conceivably differed province by province and century by
-Gentury* Whatever may .be the difficulties that may be ■ pre-
sented by the figures associated with the- divisions in other''
provinces, there can be .no doubt that the theory, that they
represent the number of villages, not only does not encounter
difficiikies in the -provinces just mentionedj but is actually
supported by the wording of several documents. Compare,
for example, the following expressions : —
( ■%) ■
( ^ )
(- \
The express mention of grama in association with the numbers,
mentioned in the above passages makes it fairly obvious that
we have to interpret these numbers, even when the term grama
is not immediately used alter them, as indicating the numbers,
of villages and hamlets included in the divisions concerned.
Nor can it be argued that the gramas mentioned in thia
connection are mere estates or fields and not ordinary villager
consisting of village-settlements, the cultivable land, pasture
and waste land, if any, that lay round the settlement. For, ia
a large number of cases the gramas mentioned in our rccorda
can be actually identified and they are found to be ordinary^
villages of the above description. Thus Kanttograma, above
RASHTRAKOTA ADMINISTRATION
referred to, mentioned in the Surat plates, is the village of
Kattargam near Sorat/"^^ Villages of Vilavade, Paragava,
and Aitavade mentioned in the Samangad plates of Dantidurga
still exist, occupying the same relative positions, and bearing
names which are hardly different from those given in the
plates in question. Ail these are villages of the ordinary type
and none of them is an estate. The village of Vatapaciraka
given in the Baroda plates of Karkka is modem Baircda, the
villages of Jambuvavika, Ahkottaka, and VaghacLha which
are stated to be to the east, west and north of Vatapaciraka
are the same as modern villages of Jambuvada, Akota and
Vaghodia which are to the east, west and north of Baroda.
None of them is an estate, all of them are villages of the
ordinary type. Talegaon plates of Krshiia^"^^ record a grant
of Kumarigrama along with the adjoining hamlets of Bhama-
ropara, Arulava, Sindigrama and Taravade which was
situated to the west of Khambagrtoa and Vorigrama and to
the east of Alandiyagrama and Thirugrama. Most of these
villages still exist and have been identified by Dr. D. R.
Bhandarkar. Kumarigrama is Karehgaon, Bhamaropura is
Bhowrapur, Arulava is Uruli, Sindigrama is Seedoneh,
Taravade isTurudi, Khambagramais Khanegaon,Vorimagrama
is Boree, Alandiya is Chorachi Alandi, and Thirugrama is
Theur. The Konur inscription of Amoghavarsha grants a
§rama or village called Taleyur situated in Majjantiya bhukti.
The inscription adds that the king also granted 12 nipartanas
of land in each of the 30 villages of that division, the names
of which are given. Out of these 30 villages, 13 can be
identified and they are within a radius of 7 or 8 miles from
Kolanura where the Jain temple, which was the assignee of
these lands, was situated. They are all villages of the ordinary
type and cannot answer the description of an estate. Now one
and the same document cannot be using the term grama in
two different senses. If the term grama used in the expression
ESTATE THEORY UNTENABLE
147
‘"adbhuUimrtkhutrinsatsmpigra^ means a village of
the ordinary type, it most mean ' the same ' thing in the
expression Majjantiyasapfatigramahhuktu
Another difficulty in accepting the view, that the figures
we have been discussing indicate the numbers of estates
comprised in the divisions concerned, is the fact that sometimes
the grama included in a division is situated miles away from
the headquarters. ■ Thus the village of Kannadige granted in
the Hon wad inscription of Somesvara I is in Bijapur Taluha»
, about a hundred miles from Karhataka or Karad, the capita!
of Karhataka 4,000 in which it was situated. It must be
confessed that if Karhataka 4,000 meant a division of 4,000
estates situated round about Karhad, it is almost impossible to
explain the existence of one of these estates nearly a hundred
miles from Karhad, unless we assume that big Zemindaris
existed in the Deccan of our period, about which, however,
there is no evidence yet forthcoming. A grama in the
Karhataka 4,000 can be found in Bijapur district, only if we
assume that the term indicated a village and not an estate.
The figures associated with the territorial divisions of the
Deccan in our period are small, and we have seen that they
can be interpreted as referring to ordinary villages comprised
in the divisions concerned. But how are these figures to be
interpreted with reference to Gangawadi, Nolarnbawadi and
Banavasi, where, as pointed out by Rice, they are too large to
admit of that interpretation ? It may also be confessed that
we do not usually come across the inclusion of the term grama
after these figures, as is the case with a number of records
from the Deccan, as pointed out before.
It may be pointed out that in our period the average
wiilage was much smaller and the number of hamlets included
under it was much greater than is the case now. We get
■concrete evidence on the point from Inscriptions Nos. 4 and 5
R/VSHTRAKUTA ADMINISTRATION
at the Rajarajesvara temple^ inscribed towards the iaeginning
of the ilth century. These two reccrds mention the grant c-f
about 35 villages made to the temple by king Rcjcrcja. Out
of these, only one has an area of more than about a ihousan j
acres, four have an area of 500 to 1,000 acres, ihrce, an area cf
300 to 400 acres, seven, an area cf 20C to 3CC acres, six, an area
of 100 to 200 acres, three, an area c£ 50 to iCC acres, six, an area
of 25 to 50 acres and, two, an area of even less ehan 25 acres.
The village (grama) of Gonturu. granted by /\mma i, had
12 hamlets (gramafikas) attached to In SS7 A.D. the
village of Beli-ur had also 12 hamlets under it, and the revenue
of ■ all ■ these ■ put together was only 80 coins, presimiably
Kalanjus,. . and 800 measures of paddy It is quite clear,
from the amount of revenue, that the village in question, as.
well as the hamlets included under it, must both have been
very snialL 'It may . be further observed that these: small
villages cannot satisfy the description of estates or fields.
Inscriptions Nos. 4 and 5 from the Rajaraieivara temple make
it clear that even villages wdth an area of 50 to 100 acres are
described as having their village sites, threshing floors, temples,
tanks, burning grounds for high caste men, the same for the
pariahs, etc. Only two of these villages, Kaniaranagar and
Nagarakarkurichchhi, whose areas were about 42 and 20 acres
respectively, can be called estates; for, they included only
cultivable land and no village sites. Another inscription from
north Arcol district mentions the grant of a certain piece cf
land by the citizens of Melpadi, the eastern boundary of which
is stated to be Pulikkuran, which is described as one among
the villages that were acquired and belonged to the grantor
city as hamlets (Pidagai), and which was not divided into
house sites. These three hamlets can certainly be described
as estates or fields rather than villages, and they would
support the theory of Dr. Pran Nath that grama meant an
A POSSIBLE EXPLANATiGN
149
■estate and not a ..viliage. ' , It musL however, be pointed out
that these are the only instances where we have a clear case
of the term §rama being used in that unusual sense. ' In a!i
other cases which are almost innumerable, we have the word
used, in the ordinary sense. To conclude, in the extreme
south of India the average village in our period was very much
.snialier than the present typical village, it .is, therefore,:
not impossible that the numbers associated with Gangam^adi,
Nolambawacli etc.' may represent ■ the villages and hamlets
inciodad in them, if assume that the .numbers, .were
exaggerated to a certain degree.
The theory of exaggeration of numbers is, however,
based on an unproved assumption, and it is quite likely that
the figures occurring after these divisions may mean something
else. It may be pointed out that the figures associated with
llie divisions in southern Karnatak and Tamila country .a.re .all
in thousands. In this respect they pointedly differ froiii'
■those associated with small territorial divisions in the Deccan,,
where they are usually small and precise. Rice has observed
that Nads were often called ‘thousands’ in Karnatak. It is,
therefore, not unlikely that Banavasi’ 12 , 000 , Gangawadi 96 , 000 ,
Nolambawadi 32 , 000 , Tondai 48,000 etc. were so designated,
not because they contained so many villages, but because
they consisted of 12 , 96 , 32 , and 48 divisions or nais.
This seems lo be die most likely explanation of these
figures that can be thought of at present, a nad should
have been popularly called a ‘thousand’ is a question that
remains to be answered. Perhaps in .theory a ndi w'as
popularly supposed to consist of a thousand villages, though
in actuality it may have had many less. It is also not
unlikely that the term ndi was first applicable only to bigger
divisions actually containing about a thousand villages, but
that later on it came to denote much smaller divisions. The
precise interpretation of these thousands associated with ndA$
is at present not possible. ^ _ ,, ,
CHAPTER Vm
Central Government': King and 'Ministry ■
iKing'in -ministry was the normal form, of the government ,
in the Rashtrakata empire. Feudatory administrations were
also governed by the same principle, ■ Neither iiterature* , nor '
epigraphical records, nor accounts by foreign travellers disclose:
the existence of a non-monarchical form of government a!iy-«
where in the Deccan of our period.^ This is natural, for even
in the north, governments were, all monarchical at this time,
as we know from the account handed down by Yuan Chwang.
Tribal or republican forms .of government, which are known to
have been persisting in northern India down to the 4th century
A.D., cannot, however, be traced in the south, even in the
earlier period. This is rather strange when we remember
that the village council was more democratic and elective in
the south than was usually the case in the north. This may
be due to the dearth of historical material relating to the earlier
period of the history of the Deccan, or to the possibility of
democracy not having extended beyond the scope of the
village government
^ Kingship at this period was hereditary throughout India.
We nowhere come across any elective type of monarchy in
our period, either in the south or in the north. We get only
one clear case of the election of a king which is referred to in
the Rajafarafiginh jThis case occurred in 939 A.D., when at the
death of S'urvarman there was no heir of the Utpala dynasty
to succeed him, Kamalavardhana, who had actually become
the de facto king, requested the Brahmanas to elect a king/
anticipating that none but himself would be elected by them.
After considering the claims of several claimants, the Brah«
mana assembly decided to elect Yasaskara. This, however,
is the only known case of the genuine election of a king by
a section of the general population as distinguished from
KINGSHIP NO LONGER ELECTIVE
151
ministers or feudatories ; but the observations of Kalhana 'On
the occasion show that a person who resorted to such a course
was regarded as qualifying himself for admission into a luna-
tic asylum / L Feudatories and ministers had sometimes a :
determining voice in deciding as to who should be offered the
crown, as when Gownda II was deposed in c. 780 A«D.» or
Amoghavarsha HI installed in c. 936 A. D,) But statements ■
made even with reference to these occasions like
Samantairatha Rattarajyamahimalambarthamahhyaiihitah
* He was requested by the feudatories to accept . the.
throne for supporting the glory of the Rashtrahuta empire,*
are more figurative than real For we have already seen that
Amoghavarsha III and Dhruva owed their elevation to the
throne more to their own exertions than to the votes of the
feudatories® iThe kingship was thus hereditary in our period
and the crown passed usually to the eldest, and sometimes
to the ablest son, as in the case of Go\anda Ill.i
lln the Rashtrakuta administration, the advice of the
Smritis that an heir-apparent should be selected in the life-
time of the ruling king was usually followed. Sulaiman*s.
statement, that the princes in India name their own success-
ors,^^^ refers to this practice of the nomination of the
W- II II
n ii
%qf 11 fj
II m II
TOC II II
2. Elliot I, p. 6. Electio^ as a possible means of getting a kingdom was-
unknown also to Somdeva, a contemporary writer on politics; cL
^ 1 v. 26.
152 CENTRAL GOVERNMENT: KING AND MINISTRY
Yuvaraja. Usually the choice fell upon the eldest son» hnt
he was not recognised as a Yuvaraja before he w^as formally
annointed as such. ) Thus in the Taiegaon plates of
Krshnaf'^^ his eldest son is simply referred to as Goviiidaraja,
whereas in the Alas plates issued two years later lie is described
as a Yuvaraja. Since the \iiiage in the Taiegaon plates was
.granted at the request of Govindaraja, it is clear that he
must have been a major by that time. And though the eldest
son* he had not^at that time received the coronation as an
heir-apparent, would appear that the heir-apparent
had to attain a certain age, probably 24, before he could be
formally annointed. If the king had no son, or if the one
he had was a minor and the times were troubled ones,
sometimes the younger brother was made the Yuvaraja.lThus
.a Palase Kadamba grant refers to Bhanuvarman, the younger
brother of the ruling king, as Kamyan nrpah or Yuvaraja,
While the Ganga ruler Sivamara was rotting in the
Rashtrakuta prison, his younger brother Vijayaditya was
made Yuvaraja, and the Gattavadipur plates tell us that he
refrained from enjoying the earth, knowing her to be his eider
brothers wife.^^^
\The Yuvaraja had the status of a Panchamakasabda-
SSmanta and was invested with a necklace which was the
insignia of his office, |as would appear from the observation of
Govinda III to his father, that he was quite content with the
necklace with which he was invested hy the latter at the
time of his appointment as an heir -apparent/ He was
a member of the ministry, according to the Niti-sastra
writers of the period, and we find him exercising the royal
prerogative of granting villages, When the ruling emperors
were old and of a retiring or religious disposition like Aniogha-
varsha I or Amoghavarsha III, the heir-apparenls exercised
3, E. L. Xin, p. 275. 4. I. A.. VI, p. 28.
5. E. C., in, Nanjangad No, 129.
6 E. L, IV* p. 242* , 7. Alas plates, E. L, Vi. p, 210.
POSITION AND POWERS OF THE YUVARAJA
153
almost all the powers of the ruling kings. We have already
seen how this was responsible for the overlapping ol the
reigns of the kings just mentioned and their sons, who succeed-
ed them.^^^ {The Yuvaraja usually stayed at the capital.
He was hardly ever deputed as a viceroy to an
vince under the Rashtrakuta administration. The reasons
wereobvious; if the Yuvaraja were absent Irom the capital
his chances of succession were likely to be affected by the
machinations of other aspirants to the throne. This was a
real danger in the Rashtrakuta dynasty, whose records are too
full of the wars of succession. The Rashtrakuta practice was
to depute younger princes and cousins as provincial governors.^
'Fhus'Dhruva was a governor at Dhulia in 779 A.D. before he
rebelled against and ousted his elder brother Govinda H;
Dhruva’s cousin Sanharagaija was a governor m Berar m 793
A.D. Indraraja of the Gujarat branch had appointed his younger
son Govinda as a provincial governor. These exarnples
can be multiplied almost ad infinitum. Tne only case oi: tne
eldest son being a provincial viceroy is that of ^tam a, ou
his viceroyalty of the newly conquered province oi Gangawa i
was rather an exile than an appointment.^ He ^vas sent there
by his father who had superceded his claims in the Yuvaraia
selection.
(When a king was a minor, usually a male relative was
appointed to act as the regent. During tne minority o
Arnoghayarsha I his cousin Karkka was appointed to carry
on the administration on behalf of the emperor.^^ 1 he claims
of Indra IV were being pushed forth by his maternal unc e
Marasimha, who was his regent. (It is interesting to note
that we nowhere come across queens or princesses as re-
gents or governors in the Rashtrakuta administration.; Under
the Western Chalukyas queen governors were not unknown ;
thus Vijayabhattarika, the senior wife of Chandraditya, the
8. pp. 89 and ll!2. 9., Torkhede Inscription. E. 1., 53.
154 CENTRAL GOVERNMENT : KING AND MINISTRY
ivetaladevi, another wire or the same monarch, was the gover.
nor of the airahara of Ponnavacla/”^ AkkadevI, an eider
sister of jayasimha III, was governing Kinsukad 70 in 1022 A.D.
KumkumadevI, an elder sister of Viiayaditya was admi-
nistering Purigere 300 in 1077 Lakshmidevl, the
chief queen of Vikramaditya VI, was in charge of 18 ag'm-
haras in 1095 A.D. That lady governors should have been
so common under the Chaluk^'as and altogether unknown
under the Rashtrakutas is indeed strange. Can we explain
this fact on the assumption that the latter Clialukyas, unlike
the Rashtrakutas belonged to a stock which was considerably
under the influence of matriarchy ?
IThe regency must have lasted during the minority. The
writers on politics like Sukra lay down that the king must be
a major before he assumes the control of administration. That
the injunction was observed in practice is clear from the state-
ment of AhMasudi that no king could succeed to the throne
before he was The age given by this traveller seems
to be wrong, but his statement may be taken as corro-
borating the Smriti view that minors could not be entrusted
with the administration.'^ Kharaveia, we know, could not
assume the reigns of government before he was 24.
( A few words may be said about the Rashtrakuta, court.
We have no detailed description of the pomp and splendour
of the royal court in any contemporary document, but a few
hints given by our records can be utilised. The access to
the court was regulated by the royal chamberlain and his
10. J, A., Vn. p. 163. 11. I. A.. XiX, p. 274 and p. 271.
12. 1 . A.. XVm, p. 37. 13. Elliot Lp. 40.
GLORIES OF THE IMPERIAL COURT
155
staff ; a verse in tiie Sanjan plates of Amoghavarslia I ' says
that even feudatories and foreign potentates had to wait out-
side the portals till they were called for audience. It would’
thus appear that Rashtrakuta kings transacted their business
systematically; only those were admitted in the audience hall
whose business was about to be considered. The court was
suiTOunded by regiments of infanliy, cavalry and elephants ;
these' were intended partly to secure safety and partly tO"
show off imperial pomp. Very often the elephants and horses
carried from the defeated enemies were exhibited outside the
royal court along with other valuable booty/ Abu Zaid,
a contemporary of the Rashtrakutas, has observed that the
kings of India were accustomed to wear earrings of precious
stones, mounted in gold, and necklaces of great value formed
of pearls and precious stones. In the Rashtrakuta court also
veiy probably the king must have appeared on ceremonious
occasions in rich dress and ornaments. He was attended, as
was the case with almost all the kings in contemporary drama
and fiction, by courtesans and dancing girls; this custom was
so common in our period that even Somadeva, the Jain
writer of our period, is compelled to countenance Ai-
Idrisi records its prevalence in the Chalukya court of Anahila-
pattana/^^^ and the Nilgund inscription confirms the same
conclusion when it informs us that Amoghavarsha 1 had
covered all the territories of the numerous chieftains and
hostile kings with thousands of courtesans. It would appear
that the sovereign rulers used to compel their feudatories
to accept some imperial courtesans in their courts. These
used to be in immediate attendance on the kings and, there-
fore, must have served as ideal spies. yThe gifts given by a
concubine of the Chalukya king Vikramaditya II just before
the rise of the Rashtrakutas would show that many of
14. Sanjan plates. E. I., XVIII, p. 235 ff.
15. Nitivak^mrta, XXIV, 29, 5L
16. Elliot, I. p. 8*8 17. E. I., VI p. 102,
156 CENTRAL GOVERNMENT: KING AND MINISTRY
these courtesans must have been fairly rich and may have
wielded considerable power and influence. Al-Idrisi tells us
that the Chalukya rulers of Gujarat used to go out once a
week in state, attended only by women, one hundred in
number, richly clad, wearing rings of gold and silver upon
their hands and feet, and engaged in various games and
sham-fights, — a description which reminds us of llie Second
Act of Sahuntala, where we read of king Dushyanta being
followed by araazon archers, while out on hunting. The
statement in Kadba plates^ that the raoan-faced damsels
of the court of Krshna ! used to delight the ladies of the
capital by the movements of their lotus dike hands, , which
could skilfully convey internal emotions, might ■: perhaps-"
show, that a similar custom prevailed in the Rashtrahuta
court also. It is a little unlikely that all the ladies of the
capital could have been admitted in the royal court; in that
case they may be seeing these dances in some processions,
it is true that the British Museum plates of Govinda do
not refer to any Yavanis or courtesans accompanying the king
when the}-^ describe the boar -hunting of the king. But the
king was at that time out on expedition and, therefore, the
Yavanis or courtesans may not have figured in the hunting
party.
^.The Yuvaraja and other princes of the blood ro3"al,
members of the ministry, the chamberlain and his assistants,
military officers and other high dignitaries of state were the
most prominent members of the royal court. Poets also were
there, for the Rashtrakutas were liberal patrons of literature,]
as will be shown in chapter XV. By the side of the poets,
we might imagine, were sitting t^e astrologers. There is
definite evidence to show that astrologers were maintained
at the court of the Gujarat Rashtrakutas, and when we
remember the great hold of astrology on the popular mind
CHE'eKS'ON THE ROYAL POWER
157
during our period, we may not be wrong in assuming.; that', the
astrolo.§er3 figured in . the,' Malkhed court also. It,,' may .be.
pointed; ou t tiia't the, Kamandaka-niti-sara^ BL work probably
wri'tien at about ■ our period, lays down that' a' ■ royal '
astrologer should be always maintained at the court/^^^ The
doctor is known to have been one of the court officers' of the
.Galiadwalas*/^^^ for obvious reasons he could hardly Lave
been: absent from the Rashtrakuta court as well Merchants,
presidents' of guilds, a'nd other notables of "the capflai were
prominent' among the non -official members of, the royal, coiiru
The character of the Rash irakota monarchy, -whether it
was limited or arbitrary, wWid be a question of great interest
to the present-day reader. It may be pointed out that the
Hindu monarchy was in theory always limited, but the con-
stitutional checks thought of in our period by the theorists on
the subject were of a different nature than those to which we
are accustomed in the present age. Spiritual sanctions, effects ^
of careful and proper education, force of public opinion, divi-
sion of powder with a ministry, supremacy of established usage
in the realm of law and taxation, devolution of large powers
to local bodies whose government was democratic in sub-
stance if not always in form, -these were the usual checks on
monarchy relied on by the Hindu political writers. Though
it is not possible to agree with all that Mr. K. P. Jayaswal says
about Paura and Janapada bodies serving as constitutional
checks upon the king, it is clear that in some cases at least
these bodies did exist. Deccan records, however, prove
that the terms Paura and Janapada were not used to denote
popular representative bodies in the Rashirakuta period.)
Among the officers and bodies enjoined not to interfere wiih
the enjoyment of landed property given to the donees,.
Pauras and Janapadas do not figure in the period we are
studying with the solitary exception of the Deoli grant of
158 CENTRAL GOVERNMENT.- KING AND MINISTRY
Krshna But that record omits all officers usually
mentioned in such connection like Raslitrapatis, Vishayapatis,
Gramakutas, Yuktas, _and Niyuktas and substitutes the ex-
pression * SarPaneva svajanapadan in their place. It is clear,
therefore, that Janapada here stands for subjects in general
and not for their representative assemblies. The expression
^ Janapadan in the expression ' Rashfrapati-mshayapatU
naiarpati - gramapati - niyuktaniyukia - rajapuruska -janapadan\
occurring in a S'ilahara record of 1026 also refers to
the subjects of the realm in genera! and not to any popular
assembly.
Although the term Janapada v/as not used in the sense of
a popular representative council, it is not to be supposed that
; non-official bodies possessing administrative powers did not
exist in our period. Such bodies certainly existed in villages,
and probably in districts (Vishayas) and provinces (Rashtras)
as well; their members were known as Gramamahattaras,
Yishayamahattaras, and Rashlramahattaras respectively. J It
= has been already shown by me elsewhere ^"^ithat the expression
; , Gramamahattara denoted a member of the non-official village
li ■ council. Analogy would, therefore, show that
I ras and Viskayamahattaras may have, very probably, con-
slituted a body of the notables and elders in the province
J and district respectively. Some kind of divisional popular
;i lx)dies seem to have existed in Tamil country also, and
;■ there is no wonder if we found them in the Deccan proper
during our period.^
{Members of the district council, Vishayamahattaras, are
:■ referred to in the Kapadwanj grant of Krshna IJ, and those
i of the provincial council, Rashtramahattaras, in the Dhulia
23. E. i., V, p. 195. 24. I. A., V. p. 278.
25. Altekar, J. Village Communities in the We&tern
India^ pp. 20-21. (Humphrey Milford, 1927).
26. R. C. Majumdar, Corporate Life in Ancient India, pp 211-13.
27. E.L, 1. p.55.
DISTRICT AMD' PROVINCIAL COUNCILS
m
plates of Karkka, son of ■ These bodies were not
innovations of the , , Rashirakutas., for the Vadner • plates . of '
Kalachuri king ' Budharaja. , dated 609 also refer to
■ Rashtramahattaradhikarinah,y
must be, however, admitted that out of the numerous •
Rashtrakuta grants, mentioning various officers and bodies,'
only^ the above two records mention the members of the
district ' and provincial councils. This circumstance can,
however, be explained on the assumption that these councils
were not normally expected to interfere with the enjojmient.
of the lands granted to the donees, rather than by the
hypothesis that they did not exist except under Govinda I!
and Krshna 11. There is nothing improbable in the evolution
of the bodies of Yishaya- and Rashtramahattaras on the
analogy of the council of Gramamahattaras which existed
almost everywhere in the Deccan from c. 500 to c. 1300 A.D. The
Rashtrakuta charters may be mentioning Gramamahattaras
and omitting Vishaya and Rashtramahattaras, because the
first mentioned councillors, being the members of local village
bodies, were, unlike the last-mentioned ones, directly con-
cerned in the matter.)
^Our records, however, do not give any clue as to what
were the powers of these councils of the district and provincial
notables or representatives, whether they were elected, if so,
by whom, how frequently they met and how they transacted
their business. Considering the means of communication in
our period, it would appear very probable that the meetings
of these bodies could not have been very frequent Their
powers, therefore, must have been considerably less than
those of the village councils. If they were as powerful as the
village councils, one would have heard much more about
them than is actually the case at present An officer called
^ MahattamasarmdhiJmrin * is mentioned in the Begumra plates
28. E. L, VIII, p. 186. 29. E, L. XII, p, 130.
28. E. L, VIII, p. 186.
160 CENTRAL GOVERNMENT: KING AND MINISTRY
of Kfsliiian as the dniaka of the grant/^^^ !t may thus
appear that the Vishaya- and R^shframahatiaras had an
accredited officer of theirs, probably their president, who was
perhaps acting for them when they were not is session)
Ganapati, the chief councillor of Bankeya, the Banavasi viceroy
of Amoghavarsha I, was a mahattara;^^'^^ he may have been
^ probably selected from among, or elected hy, the Rashtra-
mahattaras of Banavasi. In Saka 991^’^“*'' one of the niiiiisters
of the Yadavas of Seuiideia was Mahattama Srl-^.lmaditya,
lit is possible to conjecture that some of tlie memhers of these
■ bodies w’ere selected for some of the posts in^ the ministry J ^
{whether corresponding to these nebulous provincial
councils of mahattaras, there existed in the capital a grand
' council of the empire we do not hnov/. Such a body is
nowhere referred to in ■ our documents bill there is nothing
■impossible in its having existed. It could not have probably
met frequently, if it existed at all, and it rmisl have been
'■eclipsed at the capital b the Icing, his ministers, and other
high officers, . Its powers could not, therefore, have been very:
substantial, j
Ministry
^11 the writers on the Flindu political science hold that
ministry is the most important wheel of the administrative
machinery, and evidence can be adduced to show tliat reai“
polity included that institution since very early tinies. The
Rashtrakuta administration is no exception to the general rule.
Ministers under this administration were very important and
influential members of government. Narayana, the foreign
minister of Krshna III, has been described in the Salotgl
inscription as another hand, as it were, ‘ Pratihastah " of
the emperor, as dear to him as his own right hand. The
Pathari Pillar inscription of the feudatory Rashirakuia chief
30. I. A., XIII, p. 66, 31. E. 1., VI, pp. 29 ff. 32. E. 0 , 225,
” 33. q; I E. L, IV, p. 60.
STATUS AND INFLUENCE\-OF' MINISTEHS ■ 161
Parabala: states that he used ,to regard his premier as worthy
of salutations by his own head. A record of king Krshna
of the Yadava ;: dynasty ' compares his minister to his own
tongue and: right hand.^'^^'^ Another record of the same- king
slates how his premiers feet were brightened by the crest-
jewels on the head of the . feudatories. It is, therefore, no
wonder that the ' ministers sometimes possessed feudatory
titles and were .entitled to the Panchumahas' abdm.) Dalla.
the^ chief foreign minister of Dhruva, was a Samanta entitled
to the use of the five great musical instruments/.^®^ -Kalidasa,
the war minister or commander-in-chief of the Chaluhya king
Jagadekamalla, is described as entitled to the Panchamaha-
sabdas in a record of his hailing from Badarni. (Consulta-
tions with the ministry before embarking on a particular course
or policy are rarely referred to incur records, probably because
there was no occasion to do so. But the above evidence regard-
ing the influence of the ministry would show that ministerial
consultations are not mentioned simply because the copper-
plate grants are not treatises on constitutional theory and
practice. ^ It may be, however, pointed out that a record of the
Yadava dynasty, which succeeded the Rashtrakutas in the
northern portions of their dominions, states while recording the
grant of some shops for certain religious objects, that the king
had consulted his ministers before making the grant in
quernon/®^^
must be, however, pointed out that there may have
existed some rulers in our period who may have ridden rough-
shod over the heads of their ministers. Naturally the majority
of our records would pass over such cases. A perusal of the
Rajatarahiim shows that side by side with ministers who
ruled wisely and ably, there existed others who were worth -
34. E. !.,lX, p. 254. 35. I. A.. XIV p. 69. 36, E L. X* p 89.
37. I. A., VI. p, 140.
38. cf. 1 A.. XI r,
162- CENTRAL GOVERNMENT: KING AND MINISTRY
less puppets in the hands or their tyrant masters, 1 he same
may perhaps have been the case under some of the Rashlra-
kuta ruiers like Govinda 11 or Govinda IV, who were noto-
riously licentious. But the power, influence and utility of
a ministry vary with the capacity, nature and temperament
of the king and the ministers even in the limited monarchies
of our present day. The same may have been the case in a
slightly aggravated degree in the past, when the constitutional
checks of the modern types were unknown. But these-
occasional exceptions do not disprove the proposition that
under normal conditions abler ministers exercised a great
influence on the administration in the age of the Rashtrakutas.i
How the weal of the kingdom was regarded as very intimately
connected with the ministry may be seen from the following,
verse in a grant of Govana III of the Nikumbha feudatory
family of Khandesh which, though belonging to a slightly
later time than our period, may be regarded as embodying
the views of the Rashtrakuta age as well: —
I
II
II
*When Changadeva was the good premier, the nation flou-
rished, subjects and allies were content, religion (i, e. virtue)
increased, all aims were attained, the wise were liappv' and
prosperity was visible everywhere.’ *
fOur records being usually copper plate grants do not
dilate upon the merits and qualifications of ministers. The
Salotgi inscription of Krshna III, however, shows that ministers
were expected to be learned and well-versed in the science
of politics/^*^’ Some of them, like Narayana of this records
39. LA., Vin. pMl.
40. CL Wm: I E* U IV, p. 60,
MINISTERS AND MILITARY ABILITY
163
were also poets, as was the case in the age of the great Guptas
Arthasastra, booh I, chapter 3, Santiparvan, chapters 82, 83
and' 85, Kamandaka-Nitisara IV, 25-31, Nitivakyamrta X, 5,
, ;,Sukra II, 52-64, Barhaspatya Arthasastra IJ, 42, etc,, lay down
in 'great details the qualifications of ministers. But a perusal
of these passages does not leave the impression that ministers
were ex:pected to be military leaders or generals. Kamandaka
and Somadeva observe in passing that ministers should be brave
and Somadeva adds that he should know the use of missiles
but even such general statements are not made by any .of the
remaining writers on the topic. In the Deccan during the period
under review we, however, find that ministers were very
frequently military leaders and were accustomed to take a
leading part in the warfare of the times.^ Thus Chamundaraya,
a minister of Nolambantaka Marasimha who was a feudatory
of Krshiia III, had won for his master the battle of Gonur by
defeating the Nolambas; in 1024 A.D. the minister of records
and the director-general of registration in the administration of
the later Chalukyas had the title of ‘ Mahaprachandadanda-^
nayaka \ showing that he was a high military or police-officer,
we travel a century more, we find a reference to ministers
being chased in battle in the Teridal inscription This
record further shows that all the five ministers of Kalachuri
Bijjaladeva were military leaders or Dandanayakas. Recruit-
ment of ministers from military officers was fairly common
in the Deccan of our period. It may be also pointed out that
the great Shivaji had insisted that all his ministers, with the
exception of the Pandit, should be competent military leaders*
It is possible to conjecture that most of our theoretical writers
do not include military ability among the qualifications of the
ministers because they hailed from the north, where the
41. S'aba, a minister of Chanciragupta II, was a poet as well. C. I. L
164 CENTRAL GOVERNMENT: KING AND MINISTRY
recruitment of ministers from tKe military ranks does not seem
to have been very common.
/^e charters issued by the Silahlras, who were the
feuktories of the Rashtrakutas in Konkan. frequently descnbe
the whole administrative machinery, naming all the mmijers
*d their respective portfolios. Thus ^ ,
prince Chittarajadeva. the ministry consisted of five members
L 1024 A.D/«^ 61 years later under king Amntadeva of the s^e
dynasty it was reduced to four/^^' The Yadavas of Chandor.
lo were ruling over a petty state, had a minist^ of seven « ^
mm A D It is to be very much regretted that the
I^htrakuta secretariate did not follow the practice of the
Konkan feudatories and name the various ministers and heir
portfolios in the copper plates grant^
^ little information about the actual strength of the Rashtr^
toa ministry and the various portfolios of f ^
perusal of the provisions upon the subject m the Niti and Smmi
Ltks shows that there were no hard and . •
strength of the ministry. The number varied from 8 m 20.
some predecessors of Kautalya preferred very small mimstoes
erf 2 to 4. In actual practice the Hindu king seems to have
remembered the saying of Kautalya that the strength of *e ;
ministry should vary with the needs of the situation and acted .
accordingly. Considering the extent of the Rashtrakuta empire .
-we may well presume that the ministry at the capital must
have been fairly large, since those of the smaller contemporoy |
feudatory states consisted of as many as 5 to 7 members. ;
few of the ministers are actualiy mentiWfa
THE PRIME-^MiNISTER
165
safDadafsHn or general superintendent over the members of
the ministiy/^’^^ Jlyanta, who Js called sarmsya mushthUM
or the 'Person in charge,, of all; administration in a record from
Halasi belonging to ■ the :,6lh century • Bahhiyaka,
who is styled as a JAano or the prime -mimsier in.
the Vaghli inscription of Seunachandra, - dated 1069
and the premier of the Yadava ruler Kannara, who is desig-
nated or the officer with powers over the
whole administration, were all of them occupying the status
corresponding to that of the Sarmdarsi Pradkana of S^ol^ra*
Bhadravishnu, who was a Puranamatya under Kapardin, a
feudatory of Amoghavarsha I ^ and Krshnambhatla, who
was a mahamatya under Dantivarman of the Gujrat Rashtrag
kuta branch in 867 A. were also holding similar positions
in the respective administrations. Since earlier contemporary'
and subsequent administrations are seen to be having the
post of the premier in the ministry, it may be regarded as
almost certain that the Rashtrakuta administration could have
formed no exception to the general rule. As in modem times
so in our period too, the premiers often used to take some
particular portfolio as wdh Thus the premier of the Silahara
ruler Anantadeya was also the Lord High Treasurer in
1085 A D. and that of the Ysdava king Seunachandra IX
was also in charge of the reyenue administration.
Owing to his exalted position the premier often enjoyed
the status of a Mahasamanta entitled to the Panchamaha-
s'abdas; he was also saluted by the feudatory chiefs of the
Imperial power, It is no wonder then that we sometimes
find feudatory chiefs making grants at the dictation of the
premiers of their overlords. When the king was temporarily
absent from the capital or was unable to attend to duty owing
47. 11, 82. 48. L A., VI, p. 24. 49. E. L, 11, p. 225.
30. L A., Vn. p. 304. 51. 1. A., XIl, p. 136.
52. E., I., VI. p. 287. 53. L A.. IX, p. 35.
54. LA., XU, p. 127. 55. Sec ante. p. 160.
166 CENTRAL GOVERNMENT : KING AND MINISTRY
to illness or some otKer similar reason, the administration
was entrusted to the premier, as would appear from an anec-
dote narrated by Mahmud Such, of course, would
have been the case when the heir-apparent was too young to
assume the responsibility of the administration. I
, l,The designation of the Foreign Minister, who has been
invariably^calied a dnta in the works on politics like the Artha-
sastra, Rajadharmaparvan and Manusmrti ( chapter VII } etc*,
seems to have undergone a change by this time throughout
India. Most of the epigraphica! records use the more pom-
|:^us and expressive title of Mahasanihwigrahaka to denote
me person who held that responsible office in the ministry.
This minister figures several limes in the Rashirakuta record,
and we see him usually entrusted with the drafting of the
copper plate charters creating alienated holdings. One ex-
pects the Revenue Minister to draft such charters, but the
work was usually entrusted to the secretariate of the foreign
minister, probably because the charters had to describe the
genealogy and the exploits of the grantor and his family
and the foreign office had the most reliable and up-to-date
information on the point. It v/ould be interesting to note
that there is an agreement in this respect between the
epigraphical practice and the dicta of the contemporary
Smritis on the point. An anonymous text quoted in the
Mitaksham on Yajnavalkya I 319-20 states:—
The drafter ( of the copper plate charter) should be the per-
son who IS the foreign minister; he should draft the charter as
dictated by the king himself.* The Mitaksham itself adds that
the charier should be caused to be drafted by the foreign
minister and by no one else,^
56, Elliot, H, p. 163.
DSPARTMENTALISATION AT FOREIGN OFFICE 167
(Rashtrakutas had several feudatories and neighbours*
Mahasandhivigrahaka or the chief foreign minister must, there'
fore, have had several ordinary Sandhivigrahakas under him.
This inference, suggested by the formation of these two words,
is confirmed by the Bhandup plates of Chhittarajadeva
from which we learn that among, the members of that king's
ministry Sihapeya was the principal Sandhivigrahaka and
S'rl-Kapardin was Karnataka-Sandhivigrahaka or the foreign
minister for Karnatak If the small feudatory kingdom of the
S'ilaharas required two foreign office officials both of the status
of a minister, the ministry of the big Rashlrakuta empire must
have had at least about half a dozen foreign ministers, bearing
titles like Gurjara-Pratihara-mahasandhivigrahaka, Gauda-
mahasandhivigrahaka, Pallava-mahasandhivigrahaka etc. The
post of the foreign minister was an important one; the well-
being and prosperity of the kingdom depended upon his skill
and ability. It is, therefore, natural that he should have often
enjoyed the dignity and status of a Samanta entitled to the
PanchamahaSabdas under the Rashtrakuta administration/^^
As he had to draft foreign despatches, he was expected to be
skilful in penmanship,
(A third member of the ministry figuring in Rashtrakuta
records is the chief justice who is mentioned in the Sanjan
plates of Amoghavarsha I as the drafter of the grant The
chief justice is mentioned as a member of the ministry in
almost all the works on administration and he was the final
appellate authority for cases coming from the lower courts,
except when the king decided them himself*
Since many of the ministers and governors were military
leaders, it is obvious that the commander -in -chief must have
been a member, and an important one, of the ministry.
168 GENERAL GOVERNMENT: KING AND MINISTRY
. includes the Commander-in-chief in the ministry and the
Deccan administrations are seen to be following the view of
hukra, rather than that of the Deccanese Somadeva. The
retrTh rf“4 ^ Yadava
re.OTd Ihe Gahadwala records use the prosaic title of
^enapah (It is extremely probable that in the Rashtrakuta
mmKtiy there may have been several war-ministers like the
foreign ministers. The empire was a large one and constantly
engaged in warfare with its neighbours ; hence this inference
seems to be mast natural and almost certain. The status of
generals and war-mimsters was veiy high.j Kalidasa the
commander-, n-chief of the forces of Jagadekamalla, was’ also
P atial buildings were permitted to use elephants for riding
ere invested with bnlliant robes, and cunningly worked staffs’
Wh,ch we„ .he ,k,i, office, .„d w.„ auioriaed ,o
They had like
offic!*^^Th”^"*^"’l^’'® musical instruments of thei’rown
ottice, ihese privileges are no doubt mentioned in connec-
tion with generals. But we have seen already that even civil
SlvT '"r war-minister could
hardly have been a civilian; hence he must have enjoved
-imilar. if not higher, honours and privileges. Similar previ-
getX K-^T" Chalukyas. one of whose
generals. Kalidasa, was the supreme chief of great feudatories
“f Examples a.a
oot uabaown of gratoM monamhs commemorating the
ntemoty of Aett successful ganeml, by granting them yUlagel
after U,em.<«> When it is remembemd Ut.i during
iTT on ‘“-“o™- the privileges
6®' A VI roo - E..,, Xin,p.3«
' A., VI.p.lSD. 64. I.A..Vin,pp.27S_80
MINISTER OF RELIGION AND MORALITY
associated with the office of a general or war-minister need
not cause any surprise. I
' {fPuroAifa, who was since, early, times an impprta^^^-
member of the ministry/®^^ seems to have ceased to belong^to-
that body in the period we are studying. In the Silah|ra ,,
records he is differentiated from Mantrins and Amatyas,
and in the Nltwakyamrta^^’^^ and Gahadwala records from the ;
mantrins. ■ We do not possess any evidence about the Rashtra-
huta administration, but it is not improbable that here too
may have been an officer of the royal household rather t an
a member of the ministry. The place of the Purohifa was
taken in our period by an officer whose business it was^ to
excercise general superintendence over religion and morality.
Pandit a, the minister of morality and religion in the S ukranitu
seems to embody the tradition of dne ^hammamaliamaty^
of Asoka, Samanamiahamatas of the Andhras^^^^ and tm
Vinayasthitisthapakas of the Guptas. The tradition was
continued in the north by the Chedis;|)one of whose Records
mentions Dharmapradhana in addition to Mahapnrohita^
The office existed under the early Rash|raku|a ruler
raja in 708 and the officer bore the significant title or
Dharmankus a. It is not unlikely that the descendants
Nannaraja may have continued the office when they rose to
the imperial position in the Deccan. One may be reasonably
certain that at least under kings like Amoghavarsha I an
Amoghavarsha III, who were more interested in matters
Cf. Gautama, 11, 2. 12. 17. Budhayana Dharma-Sutra. I. 10. 7.
Arthas'astra I Chap. 10; Kamandaka IV, 32. S'ukra III. 78.
Bhadup plates, 1. A., V,, p. 277. 67. Xi, 2.
E. L, XI. p. 24. 69. Nasik Inscriptions. E, I., Vill. p. 91.
A seal of this officer was discovered at Vaisali by Bloch ; A. S
R., 1903-4, p. 109.
■ 71. Kumbhi plates of VijiiyasiAha, J. A. S.' B. XXXI, p. 1 16. ^
72. Muliai plates. 1. A., XVIII, ptv2^r/
65.
66 .
68 .
70.
170 CENTRAL GOVERNMENT: KING AND MINISTRY
spiritual than temporal, the office must have been revived,
if it had been allowed to lapse under their predecessors.
a or the Revenue Member figures in a record of
theYadavasof Chandor, belonging to the 1 1th centur>'/”>
it IS obvious that a similar portfolio must have existed under
the Rashlrakutas as well. The functions of this minister
must have been similar to those described by witers like
b ukra (ll 103-5) and Somadeva (XVlIl). In the Malhhed
administration he must have had a veiy big staff and
secretariate under him.^or.asvWill be shown in the next chapter,
H e centra! administration of the Rashlrakutas had hardly left
any revenue powers in the hands of the provincial governors
and ffie district officers. In our grants we no doubt find
toe king making the grants and the foreign minister usually
drafting them ; but the officer who must have been princi-
^ y consulted by the king must obviously have been the
Revenue Member or Amatya. whose office used to keep the
^cessaiy records connected with land tenures and ownership.
he Inspector General of Records must have been working
mder the supervision and control of the Revenue Minister.
e is not mentioned in Rashtrakuta records, bat documents
of contemporaiy dynasties refer to him and mention his desig-
nation sometimes as ‘ Mahakshapatalika ‘ and sometimes
as Ssanadhikarin. ^rom the Miraj plates of Jagadehamalla
we that this officer had a big clerical establishment under
h™-. when his Mahakshapatalika interviews Harsha we find
him accompanied by a number of Karanis or clerks. I There is
CAREFUL RECORD OF RiGHTS
the descendant of the previous donees approaching Indra III
to get his title confirmed by the new administration/^^^ The
history of this ' village makes it graphically clear that 'ihc:,
■secretariate of the governments of our period used, to preserve
careful records bearing upon land-ownership. The ■ originals
of the copper plates were preserved at the district head-quar-
ters; -the Biiadana plates of Aparajita/^^^ issued in 997
expressly declare that the original draft of the copper plates
in question was preserved at Sthanaka or modern Thana,
which was the head-quarter of the division. The copper
plates w^’ere carefully compared with the original draft when
they were inscribed by the smith; the Surat plates of Karka,
which I am editing, state at the end that the chief of the
imperial secretariate had certified that the contents of the
plates, as they were engraved on copper, were identical with
the original draft. From the Daulalpura plates of Bhoja^^^^ we
learn that if the copper-plates granted by the grantor were
lost by the donee, government used to enquire into his claims
by a reference to its secretariate.
[Treasurer, who is stylled as Samaharta by Kautalya and
Sumanfra by S^ukra, was another member of the ministiy,
Samgrhltr who figures in the list of the Ratnins of the
Vedic period was discharging similar functions. We do not
find this minister mentioned in the records of the Rashtrakuta
dynasty, but he figures in S'ilahara records bearing the title
172 CENTRAL GO¥£RxNMENT : KING AND MINISTRY
was
invariably in the Gahadwala copper plates and his omission in
our records must be due 'to ' the' fa'ct that the Rashtraklj|a
secretariate was not followingihe practice of mentioning all
the ministers and their different portfolios in the copper .plate
chaiters.) ■ '
^ Praiinidki is the only minister '^mentioned' by Suhra
whom we miss in our epigraphical records* His function was;
to act for the king and S'ufera gives him a status inferior only
to that of the heir-apparent/’*^^ His absence in our records
may be due to the fact that kings of our period were accus-
tomed to attend to the administration either themselves or
through their heir-apparents, but not through a Praiinidhi,
Palitana plates of S'iladitya, dated 574 mention an
officer called Rajasfhanlya, immediately after Rajaputra and
before Amatya; he may, therefore, be possibly occupying the
position of the Pratinidhi of S^ukra. The Antroli-Chharoli
plates of Rashtrakuta Karkka,^®®^ however, use the term
Rajasthanlya to denote royal officers of a very low grade,
would, therefore, appear that Pratinidhi or Rajasthanlya
not a usual member of the ministry in our period. It
pointed out that among the writers on political science
S'ukra includes him in the ministry.
I Our records supply us with veiy little information aOoot
the manner in which the daily business of administration was
carried on at the capital. The secretariate at Malkhed must
have been a big one ; it must have been divided into several
branches, each supervised over by its chief. S'ukra lays down
that each minister was to be assisted by two secretaries,
but in big empires like those of the Guptas, the Rashtrakutas
and the Guriara-Pratiharas, the actual number of secretaries
must have been obviously greater. The same writer lays down
that ministerial orders were to be approved by the king before
they were issued/^^^ this practice, too, we may well presume
78.11.71. 79. E. L XI, p. 115. 80 . J. B. B. R. A, S., XVI, p. 108.
81. il. 109-10, 82. 0. 363-.9,
method of routine administration ■
was followed in our period, especially since towards the end
Jie sLt plates of Karkka. we find the king expressly
stating that he had perused the document. Some of t e o
records show that royalorders. when drafted by
Ite. were countersigned by the Chief Secretary:^’ m our
documents. ho^»;ever, we come across the royal sign-raanua .
and the names of the composer of the grant and the per^n
who conveyed it to the grantee. Ministers and
taries are conspicuous by their absence. It ^
. probable: that daily routine orders may have been J
ministers with the counter-signature of the king or
apparent)
CHAPTER IX
Provincial, District, Divisional and Town Government
A. shown alroady in Chapter VII. ^the
antpire was dividotl into several provinces or
— ^ i “Thi ^Xr'rthe
rCfrfluSn hno-.
iB extent, it could not have been leas than ebou.^O™ ^
Sonre otlhe gov.moB of these provboes were
we have seen already/^^ others were appointed in le g
of their distinguished military services as
Ky dre appointnmn. of B.nt^a to the J
Banavasi 12.000 under Amoghav^sha 1. P
governors had their own courts at
replicas of the imperial court on a smaller Mnhamanide-
usually of the status the MaA^nta
s' vara and often bore the title of king (Rcja m bansk
in CmutresoU Thus die governor of
called Marakka-rasa and the one under
■
iLT 1 fill one:
was
174 PROVINCIAL, DISTRICT. DIVISIONAL AND TOWN GOVT,
Rajiditya-raja-paramesvara. *^’ Bankeya and his descendants
who were ruling the same province from about 850 A.D., were
hereditary Mahasamanias. It wall be soon showm thaCthe
feudatory status was enjoyed even by lower officers like
mshayapatis. The reason why these district and provincial
governors were allowed to use the feudatory titles seems to
be that some of them were the descendants of the local
kings who were once independent, but were subsequently
conquered by the imperial power, and continued in the
government of their patrimony as its own officers or governors
This practice, recommened by Manu,^®* was followed in
practice on many occasions in Ancient India. )
f in the Rashlrakuta administration the provincial governors
had considerable powers over their subordinates^ Some idea
of this control may be had by a few concrete cases. In
912 A.D., when Mahasamanta Kalavittarasa was the governor
of Banavasi, a subordinate of his, who was the Mamlatdar or
Tahsildar (NalgavuijJa) of Giduvalge 70, became disaffected
and was about to escape to the neighbouring kingdom of
Gangawadi. While attempting to do so, he was arrested in
Kumbise district by the orders of the governor.'^’ When
Chitravahana, the Commissioner of Alurakheda 6,000, became
insubordinate in c. 797 A.D., the governor of Banavasi had to
I lead an attack against him. These instances would make
it clear that\the provincial governors had large military forces
under them, which were used in times of peace for controlling
local officers and feudatories and for preserving internal peace
^_;^and order. In times of war with the neighbouring kingdoms
these forces were requisitioned by the imperial government to-
fight its own battles: this is made clear by the Konnur inscription
of Amoghavarsha I,'®* where we find the Banavasi governor
now fighting with the Gangas, then running up to the capital
2. E. C,. Vin, Sorab Nos. 40 and 22. 3. Vil. 202.
4. E. C., Vin» Sorab No- 88. 5. lUd, Nos. 10 and 22
6. E. UVb r5.29.
175
POWERS:,OF'
to quell aninsurrection there -with his own battalions, and then
again' joining the imperial army in its expedition against the
Pallavas* , The: same record represents Bankeya as coming at
the head of the hereditary (Mat?/n) forces; this would show
that military service was a normal feature of the duties' of th©'
provincial governors and that they used to maintain hereditary '
troops which were probably maintained, as will be shown"' "in ..
' Chapter XII, by the assignment of entire villages to them. ■'
Provincial , governors -were also at the head of the revenue . ■"
administration. This would be clear from the fact that they
are invariably mentioned among the officers requested not to
interfere with the peaceful enjoyment of the rent-free lands
and villages granted by the emperors. Revenue settlement
of the villages and fields in their jurisdiction was carried out by
these officers in conjunction with the local bodies; one such
fresh settlement necessitated in 941 A.D. by the drying up of
an old canal is referred to in an inscription hailing from the
province of Banavas i. ^ ^ !
(^Ths Rashtrapatis of the Rashtrakuta administration were j
occupying approximately the position of the Rajjukas of Asoka, J
but they did not enjoy the same autonomy; the central
government at Malkhed exercised a much greater control
over them. Though often enjoying the status of Maha-
mandaleivaras or Mahasamantadhipatis, they had no power-
of making grants of villages; even Bankeya, the favourite
governor of Banavasi under Amoghavarsha I, had to seek
imperial permission in order to alienate a village in favour of
a Jain temple. In the Nidgundi inscription of Amogha-
varsha I we no doubt find Bankeya giving 6 mattars of
cultivable land to a temple of Mahadeva at the request of his
son; but it is not clear whether the land granted was govern-
ment property or part of the private landed estate of the
governor. Very probably the latter may have been the case;
7 , E.C., vm. SorabNo. 83.
8. Konnur Inscription. E, L. VI, p. 29. 9. E. I., VII, p. 214.
m PROVINCIAL, DISTRICT, DIVISIONAL AND TOWNGOVT
if so. thestatemefit of VijSanesvara at YijSavalkya-smrti, I, 318.
Aat land could be given in charily only by a king and not by a
subordinale officer seems to have been based on contemporary
practice in the Deccan.l) The Haiti -Mattur inscription fronr
Dharwar District^ belonging to the reign of Indra HI does
not really go against this conclusion; for it says chat Lendeya-
rasa, the officer over Purigeii 300 caused to be allotted the
village of Vattavur. The construction of the sentence becomes
explicable only on the assumption that Leriieya did not
himself make the grant, but only procured the imperial
saMtion for the alienation of the village in favour of the temple,
I I The patronage under the control of the Rashtrapatis does
not seem to have been extensive. ^ In the Imperial Gupta
administration, the uparikas or provincial viceroys could appoint
vishayapatis or district officers and nagarapaiis or town
prefects in the territory under their jurisdiction. Under the
Rashlrakuta administration, however, the posts of Visha^apatis
and even bhogapatis or Tahsildars were filled by the emperor
himself. From the Nilgund inscription it is evident that
the governor of Belvola 300 w^as appointed by the emperor
Amoghavarsha I himself. Only petty offices like those of the
supervisors over very small units, consisting of 10 or 12 villages,
seem to have been filled by the Rashtrapatis, since we find
. these appointments very often going to their own relatives.
As observed already, the Rashtrapatis seem to have been
assisted in their administrative work by a council of Rashfra-
POWERS GF DiSTRlGT OFFiCERS
when grown insubordinate* it isi. therefore, clear that all the
officers like the district,, subdivisional' and Taluka • officers^ had
some military forces' under their ■ command. Some ' of the
district officers or Vishayapatis enjoyed the feudatoiy status
like the provincial governors; thus Kundama ‘raja, the governor
of Kuntala vishaya in 1019 A.D., was a mahamani ales vara
entitled to the PahchamahMabdas,;^^^^. W.hether all the .district '
offic ers enjoyed .this status is doubtful# )
/ Vishayapatis exercised considerable . . revenue powers,
since they are ' invariably mentioned in the copper plates, ^
among the officers requested not to disturb the: possession of :
the donees of the lands, or villages g.ranted. They must have ',,
■been obviously responsible to ■ the provincial governors or
to the central government for, the, revenue of their districts.
Remission of taxes by subordinate officers required their
sanction in order to be operative, but it is not clear whether
they had not themselves to refer the matter to their superiors
before passing their own orders on the point. In the Gupta
administration the Vishayapatis had the power to sell the
waste lands situated within, their own jurisdiction on behalf
of the central government; it is not known whether the
Rashtrakutas had permitted them similar powers, The
administration was highly centralised, and it would be no
wonder if we discover a record proving that no such powers
were delegated to them,
Vishayapatis were associated with a council of Vishaya-
mahattaras in their administrative work. This body consisted
of the notables of the district|' and its probable nature and
powers have been already discussed on an earlier occasion/^.^^
Sub-divisional and Talnka Officers
^^Districts or Vishayas were divided into several sub-
divisions known as Bhuktis comprising of about 100 to 500
15. L A,, V, p. 17. 16. Kunihalimalli inscription# E. L# XVI, p, 280.
^ 17, Ante, pp, 159-60,
178 PROVINCIAL. DISTRICT. DIVISIONAL AND TOWN GOVT.
villages/^^^ The officers over these divisions, which roughly
corresponded sometimes to modern sub-divisions of the district,
and sometimes to the Taluhas, w'-ere known as Bho^ikas
or Bhoiapatis. These officers did not usually possess the
f eudatorj^ status but were generally commoners ; :■ Devana^va,
for instance, who was administering Beivola 300 and was
a favourite of Amoghavarsba I, was only a commoner. tWe
sometimes find even these officers possessing feudatory
titles/ but these cases are exceptional and rare. These
officers were appointed directly by the central government as
shown already. /
■/Bhuhtis were subdivided into smaller circles comprising
of about 10 to 30 villages. Officers over these seem to have
been appointed, as shown above, hy the provincial or district
officers.^ Very often even these petty posts went to military
captains ; we find the Ganga ruler Botuga II appointing
Manalera to the post of the supervisor over Atkur 12 as a
reward for his conspicuous bravery in the Chola
I Imperial officers appointed over the subdivisions and
Talokas administered their areas with the help of hereditary
revenue officers. These officers were known as Nadgavamlas
in Karnatak and Des a^^rama-kat as in Maharashtra."! A country
headman or Nadgavunda of Beivola 300 is mentioned in
a record hailing from that division, and the record in ques-
tion makes it clear that this officer was different from the
governor of Beivola 300 appointed by the central government.
TheManagoli inscription of 1161 A.D. enumerates among the
officers assembled on the occasion *the 16 of the 8 districts.’
This expression ‘ 16 of the 8 districts’ can be best understood
on the hypothesis that each of these 8 districts was in charge
of two officers, one hereditary and the other appointed by
the central government.^ Purigeri 300 and Beivola 300 each
18. Ante p. 136. 19. L A., XII, p. 225. 20, E. L. VI. p. 56.
21. E. L, XiV, p. 366.
^ HEREDITARY ' REVENUE OFFICERS' ■, 17^
possessed a headman who was different from Marasimha, who
was the officer appointed by the central government over
those divisions. The Kumonelihalli inscription of Krshna II
mentions Aladitya Gova and Kalpata as the officers holding
the country shrievalty of Anniga appointment of joint
Mamlatdars by the central government over a Taluka of
about IQO villages is hardly an intelligent administrative pro-
cedure ; probably one of the two officers, ' therefore, was the
nominee of the central government and the other the hereditary
Nadgavunda or the country headman of the division. In
874 A. D. 5 when Banheya was the governor over Banavasi 12,000,
his son Kundatte was the officer over the Nilgundige group of
1 2 villages. When Bankeya proceeded to make a grant of five
matiars of land at his son’s request to a local temple, the
record informs us that he summoned his son Kundatte and
Rap It is almost certain that this Rapa was the here-
ditarj?^ headman of Nilgundige 12 in co-operation with whom
Kundatte, the nominee of the central government, was
administering the group of villages under his charge. Only on
this assumption we can explain as to why he was summoned
along with Kundatte. A des'a-gramakata-kshetra or the rent-
free field of the district headman is twice mentioned in a
spurious Ganga record from Lakshmeshvar; this would show that
there existed headmen of districts who were partly remune-
rated by hereditary rent-free lands, as is still the case with
the Deshpandes and Sardeshpandes of Maharashtra. Tuppad
Kurahatti inscription of Krshna mentions a tax which
the cultivators had to pay in addition to the normal govern-
ment demand for the remuneration of the country gavundas,-
a tax which was as high as the king’s tax, probably because
the latter was low owing to the field being ten^ple
property. This record too supplies clear evidence proving the
22. 1. A., XO, pp. 27 ff.
24. E. L. Vn, pp. 202 ff.
23. E. I., XVI, p. 280.
25. E. I., XIV, p, 366.
180 PROVINCIAL, DISTRICT, DIVISIONAL AND?OWN GOVT.
■ ♦
existence of country -headmen sim-iiar to village headmen,
Like the Deslipandes of the -Maraiha period, these posts were
hereditary; an inscription from^ Shiharpur informs us that
when the Nalgavunda of Nagarkhande died while fighting
for Kalavitta-rasa, the governor of Banavasi, his wife
succeeded to the office which she ably managed for 7 years.
Then when she decided to perform the sallekhana vow and
die, she sent for her daughter and nominated her to’ her
' office/ This case w?ouId make it clear that the post of the
country headman was, like that of the village headman, a
non-official and hereditary one. He being a man of the
people must have served the purpose of popularising the
administration to some extent. We do not know w'hether
there existed popular bodies of mahattaras to co-operate with
the divisional and subdivisional officers. But since there
certainly existed, as will be shown in the next chapter, such
bodies in villages there is nothing improbable* in the existence
of corresponding bodies for these administrative units.
It is, however, doubtful wheher they were more formal and
definite than the councils of the vishaya - and rashtramahatiaras^
^^he subdivisional and Taluka officers wrere under the
control of the Vishayapatis and the Rashtrapatis; \we have
already seen howft^e Nalgavuiida of jiduvalge 70 was imme-
diately arrested by the governor of Banavasi when he was
suspected of sedition and disaffection. This incident will
give some idea of the rigorous control exercised over these
officers by their superiors. They had no powers to alienate
any revenues on their own account; the Kyasnur inscription of
Krshna refers to the remission taxation given to a field
of two matiars by the officer over the Edevola division for the
purpose of the local tank; it would appear that these officers
had the power of assigning some revenues for public purposes.
It is, however, not unlikely that even for such remissions the
POWERS OF TALUKA OFFICERS
181
■ ■ ..f;: . ' ' ■ . . '
previous sanction of the higher authorities rnay have been
necessary; otherwise, the meticulous way in which the above
inscription states that at the time of the grant a ar^a
Kannara was the supreme lord, Maharaja Kalavitla was the
governor of Banavasi. and the donee was the gavupda wer
the Edevolal division will have hardly any signuic^ce. 1 he
Sirur inscription of Amoghavarsha states that Devapas^a.
the Governor over Belvola 300. had remitted a taxon ghee
levied at the locality for his own spiritual benefit on tne
occasion of an eclipse. This record does not invalidate the view
above advanced, that these officers had no powers to alienate
the public revenues under their own authority. 1 axes in kind
on food-stuffs, vegetables etc. formed part of the pay of tte local
officers in our period, and this custom persisted in the Ueccan
down to the British rule. It is, therefore, almost certain
, that the tax on ghee remitted by Devanayya in favour of the
temple formed' part of his salary and. therefore, ne could
dispose it off in any way he liked. The question as to how
the officer could assign a part of the salary of his post and
thus reduce the emoluments of his successor is also not ditli-
cult to answer; the numerous resumptions even ot -gran s
show that the grants, even when made in favour ^ mans
and temples, were often revoked; the successor of Devanayya
had, therefore, the power either to continue or revoke the grant
made hy his predecessor according to his own inclinations.
Town Administration
( in the Rashtrakuta period the cities and towns were in
chars’e of prefects who were designated as purapatt^nagamx
patis. These officers are rarely referred to in the Rashtrakuta
copper plate grants, but they are almost invari^ly mentione
in the grants of the Silaharas. who were the Konkan feuda-
28. 1. A.. XII. p. 218.
29. Altekar, Village Communities in Western India, pp. 10-11.
182 PROVINCIAL. DISTRICT. DIVISIONAL AND t6wn GOVT.
tones of the imperial power. Military captains were often
appointed to the posts ; thus Rudrapayya, who was the pre-
feet of Saravatura or modem Soratur in Kamatah, was one of
the body-guards of the emperor Kishna Mahadeva
and Pataladeva, the joint prefects of Badami under Jagadeha-
malla in U4Q, were both of them Dapdanayahas or military
officers. (Sometimes learned men also were appointed to
these posts ; the 12 officers in charge of Teridal in S. M. C.
are described in 1123 A.D. as promoting the everlasting six
systems of philosophy. One expects active interest in art
or philosophy from men of letters rather than from military
generals. Kuppeya, a governor of Soratur under Amogha-
yarshal, was a Mahasamanta; it would, therefore, appear that
some of these town prefects enjoyed the dignit 5 ' and status of
feudatories, as was the case with some of theRashtrapatis and
Vishayapatis.
The city affairs were managed by the prefects with the
help of non-official committees. 5uch committees were fairly
common during the period of Ancient Indian History; they
are referred to by Megasthenes and Kautalya, they existed
at Nasik under the Satarahanas.^^S) Pundravardhana divi-
sion and Kathiawar under the Imperial Guptas. and at
Bahuloda, Prabhasa ^d Anahilapattana under the Gujarat
Ghalu^as. Coming to our own period and province we
hnd that the administration of Gupapura in Konkan was
vested in 997 A.D. in a prefect assisted by a committee of two
bankers Ambus reshfhin and Vappaiyas'reshthin, a merchant
called Ghelappaiyu. a Brahmana named Govaneya and some
30. See Bhadana plates of Aparajitadeva, 997 A.D., E. I., Ill, p. 273
Bhandup plates of ChittarSja, 1018 A.D., I.' A. V o' 278'
31. I. A., Xll, p. 258. 32. i. a., XV, p.’l5.'
33. Nasik Inscription No. 12; E. I., VIIl, p. 82, f»,,
34. Damodarpur plates, E. I.. XV, p. 130; C. l’. I., HI. ^o. I4.
35. Altekar. Towns and Cities in Ancient Gujarat and Kathiawar,
P* 54.
town municipalities
183
clhers.®' The city of Aihole aUo had iB own
tTZay in which these town
there is no express reference to any election of these member .
The stateme I
*.Woh OCCUB ia the &!»!»» record. Ao™
bebly refe. » the three
J 'SL™" a™"S 2 i representative, *e
mentioned in the Mnlsnnd tare
m’i A D This may suggest the inference that cities
ditdded into several ward, (or Ae purpose .(
?S=Sg5^S:
i»;IrphW*Cdthereisnothi„a trf in a
similar arrangentent being in ™gu. » »” . 77 “i “jt
There must obviously have been some knd of ”
Section (dr constituting the Ipwn ^h^
membors were non-o(fteials and were usually not more tnm
L ’ ■ en or so. But the precise method adopted in the
our period cannot be determined at present for
: t
want oi x-viaence. , « ■ ^ 4 .^
Our records do not supply us wiih the “ “
"t”?h.?I/wSe»”p3”u„L‘'Ae contml of A.
records H^^ly supply any information about the methods
36. E. I.. III. P- 260.
38. A.S. R., 1904-5 p. 140.
37. E. I.. VI, p, 260.
42, Gibs, Ihn Baiuta,
184 PROVINCIAL, DlalRICT. DIVISIONAL AND TOWN GOVT
^^ereby the ioeal. dislrict and provincial governxBents ware
supervised and controlled by the Central Government. Thl
control and supervision were, as shown already, fairly rii^orous
and It may have oeen exercised partly through the r;guiar
official hierarchy, partly through periodical tours.— a orinciple
recommended by Manu-> and S'uhra'- and practised t
Asosa and Harsha,— and partly through direct orders from
jmpenal secretariate ^carried by special messengers, who were
Imown as_ VaUahhajmsancharinah ‘carriers of royal orders ‘
Ihe precise nature of the postal arrangements made by th-
state m our period is not definitely known, but it is ob;ious
hat postal runners and mounted couriers must have been used
or the purpose with relays at convenient intervals.) Such
amangements were witnessed by Ibn Batuta in the fiVst half
of the i4lh century^ and it is very likely that Mahomedan
administration may have borrowed the system from its Hindu
predecessors.^
Selection of Officers
It would be necessary to say a few words here about the
s^acuon of orficers to the various posts mentioned above.
1 he selection was governed partly by military, partly by
hereditary, and partly by educational considerations. We have
already seen how many of the ministers, and •proviricT.,1
district and town governors were military officers. wt
probably they must have owed their appointments 'to
distinguished service on the battlefield. In many cases offices
were transmitted froin the father to the son. The vicerovalty
of Banavasi 12 000 had continued for three generations at leas^
acnievements.^ When Kanijapa. who had won the governed
batt.efield died, his younger brother Sobhaija stepped into his
recruitment of officers
183
place. Kautalya, Manu and Sukra recommend this prin-
ciple of preference for heredity and the recommendation was
acted upon in the Gupta period as well, at least in some cases,
as clearly appears from the- Allahabad pillar inscription of
Samudragupta^“’ and Karmadanda inscription of Kumara-
eupta ! From A1 Masudi we learn that high offices in our
period were often hereditary in India,^*;; and the submissive
Brahmanas, who were appointed to lower admimslrative posts
bv Kasim in Sindh after its annexation, were assured by him
that their appointments would be continued hereditarily.
The Rfijatarangim also affords numerous examples _ ot
offices being transmitted hereditarily. This principle
was thus widely prevalent in our period and the Banavasi
governorship was no solitary example. The Surat plates ol
Karha, v/hich I am editing, show that the father of Narayapa.
the chief Foreign Minister of that ruler, was also occupying
the post to which his son was later appointed. There may
have been many more cases of this nature in the a minis
tration.
^Tne minister Narayana of Krshna Hi, who is described
as a prominent poet, a skilful speaker, and a
expert in the science of polity.^®*” did not belong to a famiy'
of hereditary ministers, as was the case with his namesake
just mentioned: he was very probably selected for his educa-
tional qualifications. I-tsing, who had visited India )ust
before our period, has recorded how distinguished scholars
used to be appointed by the Valabhi administration to res-
ponsible posts.'®'' and the same practice must have been
fairly prevalent throughout India for obvious reasonsl
/ Many appointments must have also gone to royal favou-
rites. who possessed no other qualification than that of being
43 El IV p. 20. 44. G. 1. 1.. 111. P- 1- 45. E. I., X. p. 70.
46. Em;;. I. p 20. 47. Ibidem. 48. CfJHh 2473 3322 etc.
49. Being published in E. I., XXL 50. E. I. IV. p. 60, M. p. 181-
186 PROVINCIAL, DISTRICT. DIVISIONAL AND TOWN GOVT.
in the good books of the ruling king. This need not cause anv
burpnse. for such scandalous appointments are by no means
rare even m the present ageJNo concrete cases of unworthv
a -ountes bemg raised to h/gh offices are known {rl Z
records but m contemporary Kashmir, many court-flatterm
vere often appointed to responsible posts by some of its
y have been repeated in the reigns of some of the dissolute
and"? I line like Govinda 11. Govinda IV
and Karka 11 Two of the generals of the last king are con>
par^to the feet of Kali in a Chalukya record.
iK^ fl, of oor period was highly attached to
the throne; many cases are recorded in the Kashmir chronicle
oya and devoted officers burning themselves on the
py™ o( Th, seeLt
I3e™ T?™" " r At" zpiJ
rr. >oforms US that at the time of the
cjonationofa king his deeply attached followers used to
take voluntarily a portion of the rice prepared for the
Semri to bum
ows that Abu Zaids account is no cock and bull story.)
onaleNo. 47 ' informs us that when Taila 11 died. Bop-
^do^^f^ entered fire and went to heaven,
it i« ^ r theoccasion of this vow. but
Two nfh have been the kings coronation.
J wo other rerards, Arkalgad Nos. 5 and 27. refer to two
who burnt themselves
death when their master died. From one of these records.
52. See I^jatarangini VII, 580, Vlil, 183, etc;
CA* P* Kauthem plates.
st PlV^°^‘^^’ 1447 etc.
to- Elhoi. I.P.8. 56. II, p. 339. 57. E.C.. VII.
TREATMENT OF MUSLIM SUBJECTS
we learn that pensions were often provided for the bereave
families of such loyal servants. , . , 1 ,
Ishtak Al Ishtakhri and Ibn Haukal stete that
Rashti-akuta administration was very partial .
and that none but Muslims ruled over their
in that empire. This statement, if not exaggerated, will
" iJSow L .h. peraon.1 law ot .ha
tei-ed to ihem through their own Kazis. ... oil
,i„„,een».o have given them die sanae W
were reoommenaed to the goilde. traders, foresteis e..., 5
the Smritia."" Muslim administrators nowhere hgm
l^S.io.1 records, and if tlrey tad r«.U, e*».«l, fc ^
ehroniclers would no. have been conuen. to ““
but the Muslims ruled over the Muslims in the Kash..iakuta
eltetX would have claimed that there wera Mu.lnn
officers in the administration who were rulmg ^ 'writers
Muslims as well. The statements o t ese a
are also sometime, wild and unrahaUei some rf "
Idrisi bravely inform us that in the kingdom of Baihaia. i. e
LlTrat-of Jt^dr «/"Sfevrd«h:;
all persons except married women.
sisters, and aunts if they are unmarned.
Remuneration of officers was sornetimes by and^
and sometimes by salaries, paid partly m ^er-
kind. The principle of offering rent-free
vants is recommended by a number o J®/ . Q^n^cervice
seen already how the country headmen had their ow w
government had appointed a u* j: Translation hy MahesK
cial affairs. See Sulaiman Saudagar. Hindi iranslation. oy
Prasad Sadhti, pp. 35"*6.
60. Brhaspati, I. 26; Gautama. XI. 23; Man . .
61. Elliot. I, 89. 62. Kautalya.Il..;ManuVI1.118 9.
188
VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION
lands known as Desa-gramakata-ksketra.f^ ft will K
shown m the next chapter that villaee headmen ->1 ■ ?
mniyhy (The ,!:l« rde 'izr £
any sutpnse ; for. a large part of the royal revenues were re
ceived m kind. as\wili be shown in chapter XI, andfthe staple
corn often formed the principal medium okexchange fo
some of the Chola records<«^> the prices of artbie»4ifee pulses
hutfo paddy ^"Thr’ Tr*'
cash afone, A similar practice may have probably preva led
in the Deccan under the Rashtrakutas. J
CHAPTER X
Village Admimstration
ment of the mam aspects and institutions of the village life
w 'T I-™ been di.eessed by
Cemmsna/e. Westmt
■ t University Press. Bombay 1927.) A discus
rei^x
*|i » In this chapter the information about the
AeTadf'^^'''T"V^ discussed:
the reader IS referred-4o the above mentioned book for its
previous history and subsequent evolution.
/ Village Headman
of a ‘'“I the charge
tion f ^ ‘"®titu-
rffoe T I hike the headman
the Taluka and the district, the village headman was also
p, 159, /^4 Q <*=
1 ; Altekar. FiiiayeCommiimVies. pp!‘l4;
VILLAGE HEADMAN HEREDITARY
189
a hereditary officer. He v^as more a representative of the
people than a servant of the central governmenty The truth
of this observation will be realised from the case of a head-
man in Shikarpur Taluka who died of broken heart, or perhaps
committed suicide, in 999 A. D., on seeing the ruin of his
own town/J^ During our period this officer was known
as a' Grtoakut^n Maharashtra and- Gavunda in Karnatak.-'
Sometimes our records mention a Gramapati in addition to a
Gramakuta-/^Mt would seem that Grtoapati in such cases
denotes the holder of a village inam.) Gramabhoktrs figuring
in some of the S'ilahara records seems to belong to the same
category. ^In 974 A.D. the village of Kadkeri in Karnatak had
a village governor in addition to a village headman; the
former is described as a hero in battlefield and a touchstone
of heroes. Some of the villages were, therefore, clearly
assigned to military captains. V There are examples of some
others being assigned to scholars, and the number of those
alienated in favour of learned Brahmanas was considerable.*^
The holders of these villages seem to be referred to by the
expressions ‘Gramapatis or *Gramabhoktris.’ The unalienated
village, however, had usually no officer appointed hy the
central government. It used to get its business done through
the agency of the village headman.
/Normally each village had one village headman; there
are, however, several records of the Rottas of Saundatti and of
the later Chalukyas, which refer to several headmen of one
and the same locality.^ From the five Ratta records, of
Saundatti published by Fleet we learn that Sugandhavati,
Elerave, and Hasudi had twelve headmen each, while
Hirayakummi had six. From a record belonging to the reign of
2, E. a, vni. Sorab No. 234.
3, Salotgi inscription of Krshna III, Surat plates of Karka, etc.
4, E. g. Badana Inscription E. I., Ill, p. 273.
5, !. A., XII, p.27L 6. E. I., IV. p. 64.
190 VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION
Vikramaditya Vlwe find that TeridaL had twelve headmen/^''
■frhislai^^ of headmen, that we see in' these iocalities,.
^ is rather iinusuaL It may be perhaps due to the', fact; that.
' some' o these places were big towns; it is also not, unlikely
that there may have been ■ prevailing, in these localities the,-
■ GUstoBi of allowing the senior representatives of the mam:
branches of the original 'headman’s' family to officiate
simultaneously. | Two headmen,: representing the two-
main branches of the original stock, still function in several
■ villages of the Deccan; this principle may have been’possibiy
given an extended application , in our ‘ period in some parts-
of the Rashtrakuta Empire.
The headrrian has been, since very early times, in charge
of the defence of the- village. In the ■ Rashtrakuta, period:
the villages did not enjoy that amount of absolute peace,
which they have under the present administration* There- ■
were constant wars going on, and every villager had then^
unlike in the present time, the prospect of winning the general’s
parasol. The population was well trained in the use of arms;
even the bangle sellers could drive back armed forces and
fight to the bitter end. The all-round training in the use of
arms, the presence of numerous feudatories anxious to enlarge
their dominions, and the ambition which the well-trained
villagers must have had to show off their valour naturally led
to several skirmishes between neighbouring villages usually
occasioned by the desire to lift cattle. J We find an echo of
these village skirmishes in the Nitwakyamrta, a contemporary
work on politics*/^^^ the Canarese countiy is still dotted witb
numerous Vu^gal records commemorating the death of the
village heroes, who fell in these fights. Sorab inscriptions
Nos. ]02, 216, 326, 351, 454, 455 etc. belonging to the reigns
of Krshna II, Krshna III and Karkkalf, refer to the deaths of
8, 1. A., XIV, p. 14.
9, Altekar, Village Communities, pp. 45, 54-55.
10. E. C., Vin. SoraL No. 530. 11. XIX, 11. 12. E.C., VIIf“
martial spirit among villagers
191
the village heroes in skirmishes caused by this cattle-lifting
propensity,— skirmishes which remind us of the Uttara-go-
grahana episode of the Mahabharata. Honali No. 13 immor-
talises the memory of another hero, who had died while
fighting for the cows of his village. Naregal inscription of
the time of Dhruva is also of a similar p'urport.^^*’ ^These
records, though short, are thrilling ones; they let us know how
these forgotten village heroes used to fight fearlessly for the
safety of the villages where they were born and bred up, and
even lay down their lives cheerfully, if necessary, for that
purpose. Sometimes these feuds led to the destruction of
villages;}a record from Hatti Mattur, belonging to the reign
of Kishpa I, immortalises the memory of Dasamma and
Ereyya, who had died while bringing about the destruction of
the village of Mattavura. These village skirmishes were
equally common in the Pallava and Nolamba dominions.
frhe Rashtrakuta administration, which was fairly vigorous in
revenue matters, does not seem to have taken effective steps
to put an end to these village feuds. While admitting that
many valuable lives must have been unnecessarily lost in
these avoidable conflicts, it cannot be denied that the necessity
of self-defence and the fighting atmosphere around him must
have made the average villager a much abler and stronger
man from the military point of view than he is to-day in the
present absolutely peaceful atmosphere. Many Rashtrakuta
officers were military leaders, and to them these militaiy
skirmishes may not have been quite unwelcome, as they must
have kept the martial spirit alive in villages, from where the
army used to get its recruits.) It will be shown in the last
chapter of this part how the average Deccanese in this period
was eagerly enlisted in the armies of even the northern kings
for his martial qualities.
13. Ibid, VII. 14. E. I., VI. p. 163. I5t Ibid, p. 162.
16. E. g. Ambur inscription of Nrpatungadeva, E. I.. IV, p. 180.
Muttugot* inscription of Narasinsbavarman, E. I., IV , p, 360*
VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION
/„ .11 .L a rule, had its own militia in
( Every village, therefore, as a ruie.
■iha D^icnofourpmocland the impenal t™, m„l have
been larsely derailed from that force. The village head™
was .1 the head of the militia and was h.mse. a goon nghlej!
Somb No. 445, dated c. 975 A.D., refers to a robber . at.aok on
Kollana. a son of GAvonda Kev.se Kda. wh™ he fought
established his fame, and went w heaven- Another recowl
from the same place, No* 359, which refeis to the deatn oi a
headnum in a mutual skirmish among the Nahgayuodas.
shows the same thing A reference may also bo m^e to an
erwlyPallava record where we find the son of a headman
mceiidng. grant for having slain Ae enemy and conuucttd
with great devotion the wife of Yn»«ra,.m.lla a.nd her
guard.''®’
/The invariable mention of the village headman in the
lak and village grants of our period shows that he w^
intimately connected with therevenue adrnimstration.NThrou^^
out the subsequent centuries under the Mahomedan. Maratha.
and the British administrations, he has continued to be
responsible for the village revenues.'^' ’-Ifin the extreme south
in Tamil country where village councils were permanent
bodies, meeting regularly and functioning methodically, we
find, as will be soon shown, that the headman was mainly
shouldering the revenue responsibility, even in the case of
BrahmaJeya villages where the village councils seem to have
been most developed. The communiques of the Chola
government in revenue matters were addressed to the village
headmen when it wished to give publicity to any particular
policy.'"'” (Owing to his position and status the headman
must have taken a prominent part in the meeUngs of the village
council convened for the purpose of the settlement of pnvate
17. E. C., VIII. 18. I. A., VII, p. 104.
19. For detailed evidence about the assertions m this para the reader
is referred to Altehar: Village Cotnrmuities. Chap. I.
20. S. I.I.. Ill, p. 289,
REMUNERATION OF THE HEADMAN 193
disputes in the village; he was also the village magistrate
having powers to try petty criminal cases/®” It wa^teagpiii
who organised public work committees and raised funds for
them by public subscription and by securing government
contribution, who entertained and looked after the officers of
central government when on tour in the village, or went to
interview them at the head-quarters of the division. The
neTOtiations about the amount of the government demand
were also carried on by him. The watch and wards arrange-
ments were also under his control and supervision. Ihe
village records, which were regularly kept in our period, were
also under his custody.
The headman was remunerated for his services in vari-
ous ways. In our communities the dictum of Kautalya that
he should be given rent-free land^®®’ a id the rule of Manu
that the miscellaneous taxes in kind, tliat were payable daily
I to the king by the villagers, should be assigned to him were
both followed. We have already seen that the headmen of
the districts had their own rent-free lands;)®” the same prin-
ciple was extended to the village headman./) Their rent-free
lands have continued to enjoy that character right up to the
present day in Maharashtra and Karnatak.'®5> A record of
the Rattas of Saundatti‘®®’ states that the Gavupda of Kadole
gave 200 mattars of cultivable land, which was his rent-free -
service land, situated in the circle of the rent-free service '
lands of the headmen of the locality. It is. therefore, clear
that most of the villages of our period had a portion of their
cultivable lands assigned to their headmen’s families. The
above record shows that the rent-free service lands of the
village headmen were regarded as alienable in the Southern
I., XI. pp. 224 ffi
22 . II. 1. 23. Vll. 118. 24. Ante p. 179.
25. Altekar, Village'.Comrmnities, pp. 7-8.
26. J. B. B, R. A. S.. X. p. 260. 1
194
VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION
.Maratha.' Country daring -our. period, but it,, is not improbable
sthat.tlie.aiienee may have been ■ req.uire.d tO: perform the duties
.'.of the office. It is further not clear . whether this . .right of ,
alienating the rent,* free lands was universally enjoyed by the
,'headmen of the Deccan' or whether it was ■ a special custom
in the kingdom of the Rattas of Saundatti. It is quite possible :
.that' the., governments of our period may have put restrictions
.upon '.the alienation of ■ service, lands „ as recommended by:,'
.Kaut'aiya, '^^.^^ but it is not also impossible that the ' custom '.
..at.' Saundatti .to permit alienation may have prevailed in
other parts of the Deccan as well: for in the Maratha period,
the rent-free lands and privileges of the headman .were ,
alienable.
^The headman continued to enjoy the taxes in kind,
payable to the king by the villagers, do\/m to the recent
The sale deeds of the headman’s office in the Maratha period
show that they used to receive a share in most of the articles
produced or sold in their villagus, like clothes, shoes, gor,
betel leaves etc.^^^^ These dues of the headman are referred
to as Maaltka arhanas ‘ perqui? Ites of hereditatyi^ officers, in
a Kalachuri record/ A recofd from Soratur belonging to
the time of Krshna III is very instructive in this respect. The
Mahajanas of the place wished to assign to a local temple the
amount of charcoal that they were paying as the royal tax.
We find them requesting the headman and the Pergade (?) of
the place to sanction this diversion of the revenues which they
agreed to do. We have seen already how even the higher
officers had not the power of alienating government revenues
under the Radilrakuta administration. In this record, however,
when they were requested not to disturb the arrangement
contemplated, the headman and the Pergade (?) are seen
27. n,.i.
28. Sen, Administrative System of the Marathas, p. 185.
29. Ibid, p, IBS. 30. L A., IV, p. 276.
FLUENCE' 0'F;THE''HEADMAN
immedisitely washing the feet of the Mahajanas, granting their
request and making a further -donation of 12 maitars of land.
It is* therefore, clear that like the income from the 12 maitars
Ae. proceeds of the, charcoal tax must have - formed ■part:
of the income of the headman and the Periaie (?) ;■ olherwise.:-
ihey could not have alienated them. This -record, therefore,
shows that the rule of - 'Manu that daily taxes in kind consist-
to be assigned to tiie viilage' neadman , waS'" lOiiowed, in me,
Rashtrakuta as in later times.
I From the nature of his duties' it is clear- that - - the - village
headman must normally . have been a Kshatriya' ; ' the same;
is the case to-day^ in the Deccan and Karnatak. - . His' influence-
with the government was as- great' ■. as that with ' the ■.people.
■Kings never forget to include him among the officers request-
ed not interfere with the enjoyment of the roya! grants 'we
-often find him escorting roya! ladies to, their- destination.'^
It seems that he was entitled to receive a certain :fee or tax .on'
transfer of lands ; even royal - transactions were not exempt
from his dues leviable on such occasions. Sukra’s obser-
vation that the headman of a village protects it from thieves,
officers and aggressidn^^'^^was perfectly true in our period; he
was the head of the village -militia and . to ■ him the villagers-
looked for leading the village defence, The headman was,
therefore, as much indispensable to the people as to the
■government,) '
' Village Accountant
iVillage accountants were hereditary officers ail over the
Deccan like the village headman till 1914 when most of them
were induced to resign their rights in several districts. Their
influence till then was as great as, if not greater than, that of
the viilage headman. We find them figuring in the docu-
31. Seo ante. p. 192. 32, J. B. B. R, A. S., X. p. 257.
33. U, 343. 34. Village Communities, p. 5.
196
VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION
ments of the Maratha and Muslim periods also. S'ukra refers-
to Mm as lekhaka, whose duty was to keep accounts of income
and expenditure, to receive and dispose of goods after mak-
ing entries in the registers and to cany on correspondence.j'^®'’
Underithe Chola administration this officer existed in all
villages in Tamil country ; we seeihim writing the orders of
the village assembly, and measuring and recording the
amount of paddy paid by the villagers on account of the land
and otherltaxes.'^^ vHe had in many places a sub -accountan t
under hinj and the pay of both is mentioned in several
records, ^t is, therefore, strange that lekhaka or the village
accountant should not figure in the R^htrakuta records as he
does in some of the epigraphs of the Andhra period. The
village administration must have found the services of the
accountant as indispensable in the Deccan as in Tamil country.
It is, therefore, almost certain that he must have existed in
our period. Most of our land grants mention yuktas, ayuktas,
myuktas or upayaMas sifter the Gramakutas and before the
Grama-mahattaras.*'^^^ The position of these officers in the
official hierarchy makes it clear that they belonged to the
village administration. If so, they could have hardly been any
others than the village accountants and their assistants, who
being in charge of the village records of rights and other files,
dbuld hardly be omitted from the list of officers to be request-
ed not to interfere with the land or village grants..;i»
^ The village accountants of our period must have been
performing duties similar to those mentioned by S'ukra-riiti and
the contemporary Chola documents. The headman was
considerably engrossed in administrative, military and police
duties: he could, therefore, have hardly found time to look to
35. II, 348. 36, S. 1. 1.. II. Ukkal No. 10.
37. S. I. I.. II.. Nos. 22 and 23.
38. Nasik cave inscriptions Nos. 16 and 27. E., I, VIIL
39. Samaagad plates. 754 A.D., I. A.. XI, p. 112; Radhanpur plates
808 A.D., E. I., IV, p, 242; Sangli plates, 933 A.D., LA., XII, p. 251; etc-
ASSISTANT ACCOUNTANTS
the clerical work connected with the village administration,
which must have been relegated to some other officer. Obvi-
oosb?' it is these who are referred to by the terms yuktas or
niyuktas. Some of the big villages may have had two officers
to look to this clerical work; one of them may have been the
accountant and the other the sub-accountant. \ Upaniyukias
and Niyukias figure together in some records and that can be
explained only on this hypothesis, tike the office of the village
headman these offices were also very probably hereditaiy in
our age as they were till recently. ^ iNo yuktas or upaniyukias
figure as donors in our period; we hardly get any evidence
suggesting that these officers wielded anything like the
influence that was wielded by the village headman. It is,
therefore, clear that the offices of the yuktas and upaniyukias
were more or less clerical, and did not carry the same privileges
or prestige as that of the village headman./ )
Village Council
'If the evidence about the existence, nature, and functions
of the imperial, provincial, and district councils is meagre,
that about the village councils is more than ample. These
bodies existed throughout the Rashtrakuta dominions, though
trheir nature and functions differed to some extent in different
localities. There were roughly speaking three types of the
village councils in our period, the Tamil type, the Kamatak
type and the Maharashtra and Gujarat type. The last two
did not differ very much from each other, but the distinction
between the first type on the one hand and the last two on
the other was considerable.
I It was only for about 20 or 25 years in the reign of
Krsh na in that several districts in Tamil country were annexed
to the Rashtrakuta dominions where the Tamil type of the
village council prevailed. I A detailed description of that type
is not, therefore, strictlj^ relevant in a work dealing with
the Rashtrakuta administration. The subject has been#
198
VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION
"besides, discussed by a number of previous writers on tiie
subject/^®^ Attention will, therefore, be drawn here only to
/..salient "features of the village . councils in ■ Tamil country . in,
: order to facilitate' comparison and contrast with these ",, in
:/ .:Maharastra. ' and Karnatak.
(^Village assemblies or councils in Tamil country, consisted,
neither of the whole adult population, as was the case in
Karnatak, nor of a few .select gentlemen, as .was' the case 'in;;,.
. Maharashtra and , Gujrat, but of about 20 to SO individuals./
ele.eted.' hy a kind -of. selection by. ballot/** ■ There were’
'detailed rules about the ■ qualifications of "the voters and the-
candidates; certain property and educational qualifications-
were insisted upon in the candidates along with a blameless
character. Persons once elected were disqualified to stand '
again for election for three years., .a rule apparently . framed to;"
afford opportunities to all qualified persons to serve on the-
village councils. The election took place annually and the
members elected were known as the great men of the year
(Perumakkal), They subdivided themseKes into a number of
sub -committees, as was the case with the corporation of
Pataliputra in the time of Chandragiipta Maurya. Each sub-
committee was in charge of a specific department like the
village tank, the village temple, roads, adjudication, wet lands,
dry lands etc. The account supplied by the Uttaramaliiir
inscriptions is confirmed by several other records. Thus
Sivachulamangalarn inscription of the i6th year of the reign of
Krshna 111 proves the existence of annual election of the*
village councils; the Solapuram inscription from North
Arcot district discloses the existence of a temple sub-committee
in that village in 953 A.D., when it formed pari of the
Rashtrakuta empire; the Gudimallam Bana inscriptions
40. R. C. Majumdar, Corporate Life in ihicient India; R, K...
Mookerji. Local Government in Ancient India,
41. A. S. R., 1904^5, pp. 140 ff.
VILLAGE COUNCILS IN KARNATAK 198
A and B from Chittur district attest to the existence of a village .
corporation in that village, discharging trust duties, regulating
the village crops, controlling the vpage revenues, and arrang-
ing for the works of public utility/**’
The constitution of the village councils in Karnatak
differed considerably from the above type. Our records,
which are fairly numerous, refer nowhere to any election or
selection of the members of the village councils, although they
describe on numerous occasions the powers and functions of
these bodies. But the absence of election or selection in
Karnatak was due not to the village bodies being less but
more democratic than was the case in Tamil countiy.
Mahajanas, as the members of the village council were called
in Karnatak. seemed to have included in that province in the
vast majority of cases the heads of all the families residing in
the village. ^ The Kalas inscription of Govinda IV***’ is very
important in this respect. The record first describes the
attainments and scholarship of the 200 Brahmana householders
of the agrahara or the Brahmana settlement of Kadiyar,
observing that the village could put to shame other Brahmana
villages on account of the learning and stainless character of
ail its 200 householders. Later on in the record these very
ajO Brahmana householders are described as the Mahajanas,
It is, therefore, clear that the Mahajanas included almost all
the heads of the families residing in the village.
A record from Bijapur district, dated 1022 A.D., is till
more illuminating. ‘*5’ The inscription records a grant of 50
maitars of land for the village school given by the 500 Maha-
janas of Perur. The land is further described as belonging
to the 500 houses of Perur. It is. therefore, absolutely clear
that/each Mahajana represented a family in the village and
tliat all the families were represented, in the village council.
43. iftW.XI, pp. 224ff._ 44. E. I.. XIII. pp. 327 ff.
45. Belw grant, I* XVfH, pp. 273 ff.
2D0
VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION
Inscriptions from Hadali^^^^and Behatti^^^Mn Dharwar district
::s}iow that' the same continued to be the casein the ilth and'
the, 12th centuries as well. . The first of these records, ' dated
1083 A-D., refers to an agrahara village, each of the 420
Mahajanas of which is described as virtuous and learned. At its
conclusion the record calls upon the 420 Mahajanas of the
agrahara colony to protect the grant. Since an agrahara
village consisted mostly of Brahmanas, it is quite clear that the
Mahajanas in this case also included most of the householders
of the village. The inscription hailing from Behatti, above
referred to, is dated 1183 A.D., and contains a grant to the
1000 Brahmanas of the agrahara settlement of Kutkanuru; the
Canarese postscript records a further donation to the same
body and adds: — ‘The one thousand and two shall unfailingly
preserve this grant.* A Yadava inscription from the same
locality, about half a century later in date, again refers to a
grant to 1002 Brahmanas of the same place. It is, therefore,
clear that the agrahara village of Kukkanuru consisted of
about a 1000 householders all of whom were included in the
body of the Mahajanas of the locality.
An inscription from Nadwadinge in Bijapur district, dated
902 seems to show that the Mahajanas often included
not only all the householders or the heads of the families of
the village but also all adults* The inscription is unfortu-
nately fragmentary, but it distinctly refers to a donation by the
Mahajanas of the place, headed by their own three,{?) together
with the children and old men. It would appear from this
record that the term Mahajanas included at least in some
localities all the adult population of the village; persons too
weak or young to be members of that body were alone
excluded from it.
46. I. A.. Xm. pp. 33-34.
48. E. L, IV. p. 274.
47. I. A.. IV. p. 274.
49. I A.. XII. p. 221.
WHO WERE THE' MAHAJ ANAS ? 20!
The instances above quoted were all of Brahmana
settlements, and so the Mahajanas in these cases included
Brahmanas alone. But in ordinary villages consisting of a
population of different castes, non-Brahmana householders also
must have been included among them, though Brahmanas
often may have occupied a prominent position in that body.
The Radhanpur plates of Govinda HI, which give a village in
Nagar district in charity, refer to an assembly of 40 Mahajanas
rthat had met on the occasion, among whom the 10 Brahmanas
named in the record were most prominent A record from
Hatti-Mattur in Dharwar district, dated 917 refers to
an assembly of 50 cultivators headed by the oilman Jayasing*
ayyasetti, Jummisetti, Malisetti, Namisetti and Kamvisetti.
Here the assembly, as well as its leaders, are all non- Brah-
manas; for it is not very likely that the cultivators referred to
■may have included Brahmanas,
It is thus clear from the above instances that the village
Mahajanas, whom we meet in the records of our period,
included practically all the heads of the village families, and
perhaps all the adult population as well. A record from Sirur
in Dharwar district, dated 866 refers to 230 Mahajanas
of the place, who figure as the recipients of a donation; an
inscription from Nargund in the same district, dated 929
records a grant when 220 Mahajanas of the locality
had assembled together ; another epigraph from the same
•district, dated 916 mentions 220 Mahajanas of the
village of Pattiya-Maltavur ; two more records from Bijapur
district, one from Kattegeri, dated 1096 and the other
from Managoli, dated 1161 mention an assembly of 500
Mahajanas of these places, Mahajanas in all these places
must be standing for the local assemblies, and since most of
these places were small villages, it is quite clear in view of the
50. E, I., VI. p. 242, 5L I, A.. XU. p. 125,
52, E. J., VII, p. 203. 53. I. A,. XII. p. 224.
54. L A., Xn. p. 225. 55. I. A,. VI. p. 138. 56. E. I.. V. p. 15
VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION
evidence already adduced above that they must have included
almost all the adult householders of the localities, who
had not particularly disqualified themselves from being desig-
nated by that high-sounding appellation. They certainly did
not represent the executive of the village assembly, firstly
because an executive committee of so large a number of
members is inconceivable not only for villages and towns
but also for large units, and secondly because the records
sometimes mention the heads or the executive committees of
the Mahajanas. Thus Nadwadinge record mentions the
Mahajanas and their three heads/^?* and the Hatti-Mattur
inscription of 917 A.D. mentions five merchants as being at
the head of the 50 Mahajana agriculturists. The Mahajanas,
therefore, did not form a small body of elected or selected
members in Karnatak, as was the case with the ‘ great men "
of the village in Tamil country. Thev oracticaliv innlnrlp/t
2m ■
NO SUB-COMMITTEE'S IN KARNATAIC
liavcbeloagecJt if we assume that they were following oil- press-
ing as a subsidiary profession. The Nargund inscription
records an elaborate arrangement for compulsory contributions
for a local' tank on the occasions like marriage, thread-cere-':
mony {JJpanayana) etc,, but it refers to no taxation committee
of the Mahajanas, whose members were entrusted with the
' coilection of' these dues. ■ The tank and its f imds were ■ to^ be':
'■managed, not' by a tank sub-committee, as '.was the. case .in ;
Tamil 'country at this time, but by the inhabitants , of a certain ,
street o,f the village which was apparently most . contiguous to
the tank The Soratur inscription of 951 records the
assignment of certain taxes for a local temple, but it does not
i oention either a taxation or a temple^ committee. All the
50 Mahajanas undertake to protect the grant. The Salotgi
inscription of Krshna gives a detailed description of a
local college, its boardings and professors, and the contribu-
tions the inhabitants had agreed to pay for the maintenance
of the institution, but it nowhere refers to any executive
committee of the Mahajanas to look after the college manage-
ment or the fund collection. An inscription from Devi Hosur
in Dharwar district, dated 962 A.D./^^^ mentions the agreement
oi' the Mahajanas of Posavur to raise a sum of 55 §adyamka$
from the interest of which a certain number of Brahmanas
were to be fed daily, but it nowhere refers to any committee
to look after the endowment, its interest and utilisation.
Two Alur inscriptions from Dharwar district, one dated
1091 and the other 1124 A.D. prove not only an absence of
sub-comrnittees or village council executives, but attest to the
practice, prevailing in the locality, of entrusting village works
of public utility, not to any sub-committee of the Mahajanas,
but to the trusteeship of single individuals of known ability
and character. Both these records mention certain gifts of
58. I, A., X!I, p. 224, 59. I. A.. XII, p. 257.
204
VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION
money and land by 200 Mahajanas of the place and their
wnveyance to Sarvajna Mahadevayyanayaka and Sarvajna
Permadiyarasa for village public works {imrnakarsa).
Mantrawadi inscription of Amoghavarsha I, dated 865 A.D.,
supports the same conclusion. In this record we find the
-40 M^janas of Elapunase (modern Mantrawadi), the Gorava
I oni and the managers of a hamlet making a grant to a local
b lyaltemple. conveying 83 mattars of land to the honourable
Lrokarnapandita saying. ‘He indeed is able to protect the
property and to increase it’ The record is not complete but
the wods just quoted show that the Pandit was a trustee
seiected by the donors.
It is. therefore, clear that W records do not prove the
existence m Karnatak of any village council sub -committees
or even an executive of the Mahajanas. and still we find them
discharging the duties of trustees, bankers and managers of
temples, tanks and schools. We can explain this anomalous
state of affairs only on the assumption that the Mahajanas
used to make someinformal arrangement about the discharge
of these duUes; influential members of the village community
were entrusted with some of these duties according to mutual
convenience and trust; very probably the headman may
have transacted much of such business with informal consul-
tations with the leading lights of the village, and made the
necessary- arrangements for the collections of the public
subscriptions and government taxes, for the deposit of the
trust moneys at interest and for the management of the public
schools and charity houses. This may have obviated the
necessity of annual elections of the executive council and its
sub-committees, as we find to have been the case in Tamil
country in contemporary times. On occasions of importance
all the Mahajanas probably met and expressed their views
in order to guide the village headman and other influential
members of the locality, who were normally discharging the
61 E. U VII, p. 201
MAHATTARAS WERE VILLAGE HOUSE^HOLDERS 205
various functions entrusted to them* Such meetings seem
to have been fairly common, since responsibility is thrown by
our records not on the headman or solitary individuals but on
the whole body of the village Mahajanas.
The gentlemen who constituted the village assemblies in
Maharashtra and southern Gujarat werelknown as
This term is nothing but a paraphrase of the words Pern *
makkal and Mahajana that were current in Tamil and
Karnatak countries respectively. (These Mahattaras or their
executive {adhikarinah) are referred to in most of the records
from Maharashtra and southern Gujarat ranging from the 8th
to the 12th century A.D. The term Mahattara indicated, like
the term Mahajana, the householders or the heads of families
residing in the village; this interpretation, which is suggested
by etymology, is further confirmed by the Sanjan plates of
Salukika Budhavarsha ( c. 670 A.D. ) which mention kula^
mahattaradhikarinah, ‘ officers of the elders of the families
immediately after the Gramakuta or the village headman/®'^^
This expression shows that the Mahattaras were the senior
members of their respective families, and; members elected
by or selected from among them formed the village council-
Most of the Rashtrakuta grants from Maharashtra and
Gujarat mention adhikarikamahattaras or mahattara dhikarinah
after the gramakuta. Both expressions mean the same
thing; the first is a karmadharaya compound (mahattarah
cha ami adhikarinah) meaning officers who are village elders,
and the second a tatpurusha one {mahattaranam adhikarinah}
meaning executive of the village elders. The Gujarat and
Maharashtra records do not give any specific examples of the
number of the mahattaras of any localities as the Karnatak
epigraphs do; but the meaning of the term, especially in the
light of the expression kulamahattara dhikarinah of the San-
jan plates of Budhavarsha, would tend to show that Grama-
mahattaras included the elders of all the respectable families
^64. E. I.,XIV..p. 150. ’ ■
206
VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION
of the village. The Mahattams of Maharashtra and Gujarat,
therefore, uiust have been as numerous as the Mahajanas of
■ Karnatak,
t As observed already the Mahattaras had a regular exo
ciitive of their own in Maharashtra and Gujarat, the members
of which were called Mahattaradhikarinah. The communal
responsibilities in these provinces were .theoretically shared by
the council of the Gramamahattaras and not by the Grama -
mahattaras themselves; for our records do not mention Gram-
mahttaras in such connection but usually their council —
Gramamahattaradhikarinah. In this respect we see a contrast
between the adjoining provinces. In Karnaiak the general
assembly as -a whole is saddled with the responsibility and '
'never its executive body, in Maharashtra and Gujarat the',
.case is- just, the .reverse, it is not improbable thM the general
body of the village elders was accustomed to meet much less
frequently in Maharashtra and Gujarat than was\ the case in
Karnatak and had allowed its functions to be usurped by the
executive council.
Our records give absolutely no information as to hovv the
executive committee of the Mahattaras was formed, what
was its strength, whether it was elected by the Mahattaras,
if so, how and at what intervals, or whether it was nominated
by the central government or its deputies, or whether it con*
sisted of natural leaders among the villagers, selected by a
hind of informal approval. Since neither election by the
general body of the Mahattaras nor nomination by govern-
ment or its officers is ever referred to, the last mentioned alter-
native seems to be the most probable one. Mahattara-vasa-^
pakas are mentioned in two grants of the Gujarat branch/®**^^
This term has not yet been interpreted but it may possibly
denote those families, which claimed descent from the tradi-
tional founders of the village, and may, therefore, have
65. Dantivarman^ grant, E. L, Vi, p. 292, Sarat plates of Karkka>
being published in E. I., XXL
WIDER POWERS OF TAMIL- COUNCILS
207
'■occupied an important position in the village community,
'entitling them perhaps to a seat on the village council
In Maharashtra and Gujarat, as in Karnatah, we do not
.come across any departmental sub-committees of , the ■ village : .;'
..council to discharge' ..its various functions, as was the..... ease.iri;
.. Tamil country. It is probable that the village executive
have obviously divided itself in practice into small sub-coin -
" Oiittees, but these are nowhere referred to in our recordsf ' ■
' ..I The pow’’ers and functions of the village assembly" and ..
their executives were substantially the same in Gujarat, Maha-
rashtra and Karnatak, but they differed considerably from
“*■111036 of the corresponding bodies in Tamil country. In the
latter province the village executive was responsible to the
central government for its revenues; but how and when these
were to be collected, whether and to what extent remission
in taxation was to be given were matters in which the village*
■had full powers. Nay, the government had even delegated; ■
to the village assemblies its power of selling the land of the
defaulters of land-revenue. The village committees there
w^ere also the owners of the village lands and could sell or
assign them for village purposes. Under the Rashtrakuta
administration all these powers were reserved to itself,^, by
the central government and were exercised through its repre-
sentatives, as showm in the last chapter. Our records supply
not a single case of the Mahajanas or Maliattaradhiharins
remitting any taxes or making any lands tax-free. The
Kalas inscription no doubt refers to the Agrakara of Kadiyur
assigning the tax on pedlars for a local temple, but the case is
beside the point; for the village was an alienated one and so
the rights of the central government had devolved upon the
Mahajanas who w^ere the alienees.'^^ In a record from Katta-
from Bijapur district, dated 1092 A.D.. we no doubt
find the honourable 500 making over an impost due to them
66. Mujumdar* Corporate Life in Ancient India ^ p. 193.
67, - E, L, XIIL.p. 327. _ 68. 1. A., VI, p. 138.
VILLAGE ADMINISTRATION
e honourable 500 obviousb
of the place, for m ^ '
jnatea. as is the mvanabh
Besides, if “honourable
,as of the place having sa
and its disposal, they ne
■ for assigning one of the
tank. We can understand
curable 500 as the meinbe
aed an impost due to the
■here is only one case, _tl
assigning away a tax in kin
that they could do sc
of the place had
( 69 >
that matter.
,ted above, the powers ai
ilar to those m
for the pi
representea mv
over the village taxa
drawn up any docur
for the purpose of «
only if we take the
outside guild who a
tank of the village,
Mahajanas of Sorat
temple, but the record shows
theLadman and the Governoi
acceded to their request in
/Withthe excephonno
£ 1- village councils were simi!
of the S . , -ftp* and arranging
They were looking after a ^^^^unity. W e :
and other *7 ^^arity houses. tnanagii
no secl or cKor organisation «
property ^ maintenance and repairs of
and arranging for receiving deposits on 1
1 <73> Tkev were also receiving f
tank- ^ , be utilised for specific puf
private individuals to D Qn such occasions
inscription
220*, AdarguncKi u
und and Didgur inscriptions.
POWERS OF KARNATAK VILLAGE COUNCILS 209
ail of the Mahajanas, even when their number was 200 or 300,
were washed by the donors, even if the latter were provincial
or district governors, and the ownership of the property was
formerly conveyed in trust to them. This procedure would
incidentally show the high reverence in which they were held.
The Mahajanas used to guarantee perpetual proper untilisa-
tion of the funds entrusted to them for the purposes con-
templated. It is obvious that the Mahajanas must have had
their own banks, for they used to undertake the payment of
the agreed interest annually on the deposits received by
them. It is, however, equally probable that in many cases
they not have had public village banks under their con-
trol and management, but may have invested the sums
through some village money-lenders of known credit and
character. They used to raise subscriptions for public works
and collect voluntary contributions ;|steps were also taken by
them to commemorate the memory of distinguished donors
by engraving their donations on stone tablets. The village
[ councils were enabled to undertake and finance these
! public works by the policy of the central government of
j reserving a part of the revenues collected in the village for
1 its local purposes. The village revenues were divided into
I two parts, Mela-varam or government share and Chudi-varam
■ or the inhabitants’ share. The latter was at the entire
i disposal of the village council, and it could not be alienated
; even by the king except with the consent of the people,
I have already shown elsewhere thatfthe people’s share of the
revenues of a village was usually in the vicinity of 15 % of the
total revenues collected in the locality even under the British
administration as late as 1830 This regular income
/ was supplemented by public subscriptions, and voluntary
^ imposts and charity induced by the Ishtapurta theory which
i extolled to the skies the benefactors of the community, who
I 75. E. I.. Xni. p. 35.
76. Altekar, Village Communities, pp. 68, 71. ^
i’ Tijfsr 12
VILLAGE ADMINISTRATIOM
obliged it by building public wells and tanks and maintaining
schools and hospitals, j
J The village, councils of our period had considerable, juris-v
diction over the village disputes/^'^'^ Suiaiman, a contempo-::
rary writer, informs us that there existed popular courts,
in India in addition to king’s courts. Their criminal juris:-".
diction was no doubt confined to petty cases of assaults, etc.,
but their civil jurisdiction was unlimited. They could try and
decide cases worth any big amount. King’s courts did not
entertain any cases at first instance ; it was only when the
parties felt dissatisfied with the decisions of the village councils
that they could appeal to the king or his courts.) Somadeva,
a contemporary writer of the Deccan, expressly declares that
such was the case in his times. If the parties to a dispute
happened to be members of a guild the case was rei^rred to
the village council, only if the guild executive could not
settle the matter amicably. The judgments of the early
Mahomedan and Maratha period are found to be signed by
several village elders including not only Patels and Kulkarnis
hut also goldsmiths, carpenters, oilmen and even untoucha-
bles like Mahars and Mangs. It is, therefore, clear that
the power to decide the village cases was theoretically invest-
ed in the whole body of the village elders or the Mahajanas.
In practice, however, the actual examination of the parties,
their witnesses etc., seems to have been delegated to a small
sub-committee, the members of which used to receive a
certain honorarium from the fees that were charged to the
disputants. /The trials were usually held in the village temple,
77. For detailed evidence in substantiation of the statements occur-
ring in this para the reader is referred to chapter III of my History of
the Village Communities in W estern India. The statement made in
that chapter about the non-existence of guilds during our period is
untenable.
78. Sulaiman Saudagar, p. 81.
79. ^ w I xxyii. 22 .
PANCHAYATS NOT DUE TO ANARCHY 21 i
the Loiy precincts of which could effectively stifle during our
period any promptings to dishonesty in the mind of parties
and witnesses. The judicial powers of the Panchayats were
not due to prevailing anarchy ; it was the considered policy of
the state not to entertain any suits except by way of appeal
from the decisions of the village Panchayats. The decrees,'
of the village court were enforced by the central govern-
ment, Just as the' decrees of the present day British courts are'
carried out by the British executive. In the 15th centmy in
Maharashtra, parties dissatisfied with the decisions of the,
village court had, the right of appeal to Taluka Panchayats;
it is not improbable that the councils of Vishaya and Rashtra-
mahattaras as well may have enjoyed in our period appellate
jurisdiction over the decisions of the village councils. The
judicial powers of Bhogapatis, Vishayapatis, and Rashtrapatis
are nowhere referred to in our records ; very probably they
enjoyed no such powers. In the king’s court too the judge
was assisted by Sabhyas or jurors whose duty, according to
Somadeva, a contemporary writer of our period, was to find
out facts and decide the cases impartially/ The procedure
at the court of the capital considerably resembled the modern
trial by jury.
|The assemblies used to meet usually in the Mandap of
the local temple or under the shade of an expansive tree;
many of the villages like Kadiyur, however, had halls of their
own.^^^^ An inscription from Shikarpur^®^^ records a number
of donations for the construction of the village halls# The
Mantravadi inscription of 865 A. D. refers to a meeting of the
assembly, and says that Nagadeva was its president. 5ince,
there were no formal elections of the executive in our assem-
blies, it is not unlikely that different presidents may have
been elected on different occasions. )
80. mtivdkyarnrja, XXVll 3. 81. E, I., XIH, p. 327,
82. Skikarpur, No. 45, E. C,, VI.
CHAPTER XI
Revemie and Expenditure
An enquiry will be made in this chapter into the various
sources of revenue of the Rashtrakuta empire and the way in
which they were utilised. Our principal sources of informa-
tion in this connection are the statements made in the copper-
plate grants about the immunities of the village alienated in
favour of Brahmanas and temples. This information can be
compared with the rules of the contemporary Smriti writers
and statements in the records of other contemporary dynasties.
Accounts of the Muslim traders are also, to some extent,
' useful., V
The principal sources of revenue may be classed under
five heads. These were: —
(1) Regular taxes,
(2) Occasional taxes or exactions,
(3) Fines,
(4) Income from government properties, and
(5) Tributes from feudatories.,
Of the above items, the last one will be considered in
detail in the next chapter where the position of the feuda-
tories will be considered; the remaining will be discussed
■here. ■■
(1) Regular Taxes
. An analysis of the epigraphical evidence shows that the
following taxes were regularly levied in all the villages of the
empire; —
(i) Udrania.
(ii) Uparikara. It will be shown that Bhaga-bhoga-
karat mentioned in some of our records, is the same as the
items Nos. i and ii mentioned here*
SOURCES OF REVENUE
21f
(iii) Bhutotpatapratyaya or sulka or siddhaya*
(iv) VishtL
' M . ,
(2) Occasional exactions
These were principally of three hinds: —
(i) Chatahhatapraves adancJa*
(ii) Rajasevakanam vasatidaniaprayanadandan.
■ (iii) Emergency demands of the State.
(3) Fines
This item requires no explanation.
(4) Income from Government properties
Under this head were included : —
(i) Sheri or crown land, waste lands and trees.
(ii) Mines and salt.
(iii) Treasure trove and property of persons dying with*
out any heirs.
(5) Tributes from the feudatories
This item will be discussed in the next chapter where
the position of the feudatories will be considered in detail
(1) Regular Taxes
{ i and ii ) U drafiga and U parikara
These taxes are mentioned very frequently not only in
the grants of the Rashtrahutas but also of the earlier dynas-
ties like those of 'the Parivrajahas, Maitrahas and the later
Guptas of Magadha; It must be, however, confessed that
modern scholarship has not yet succeeded in ascertaining
satisfactorily their exact meaning; nor do Sanskrit dictionaries
help us much. This latter fact is rather surprising and per-
plexing; for these expressions are very common in the nume-
rous records of our period and yet are unknown to most of
the Kosha writers. It is only in S' as vat a Kosha that we come
across a sense that can be reasonably considered in connec-
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
tion with the present enquiry; the work gives Uddhan
Udgraha as a synonym of the
Koslia where the word is mentioned at all is
s esha-kosha, according
celestial city of Harischand;
meaning, which has bee;
or':;
The' .only;,; other,
^ Trihanda
to which Udrania is the name of the
Jra moving in the air/®’ This
copied from this Kosha by some of
the modern banskrit and English dictionaries, can be hardly
considered in connection with the present enquiry. Since the
word IS very common in the epigraphical literature and almost
unknown to the Koshas, can it be possible that the word is
a banskntised form of some non-Indo-European word? The
term t/c/ran^o cannot he also connected with the word dran^a
which means a frontier town in the Rajatarangim; it is not
possible to argue that the expression sodrangah might mean
along with the octroi duties . for then the form would have
been sadrangah and not sodrangah. As it is. though we i^et
several vanations of the fiscal terms occurring in epigraphical
records, the forni of the term sodrangah is constant; not even
once do we get sadrangah as an alternative form.
What etymology or dictionaries cannot explain can be
attempted to be elucidated by the method of analysis. An
analysis of the Rashtrakuta records shows that the terms.
sodrangah and soparikarah do never figure along with the
expression sabhagahhoiakarah in rme-
2. II., 79.
I What then could have been these universally levied-
I'taxes ? The Smriti literature invariably uses the term ■
ior its synonym denoting the land ■ In (the-
j Sanskrit literature the -king is very often described as subsist,* -
(ing on dashthansa u e. the 6tli ^ part of the produce of the:;
:iland. It is, therefore, almost certain that the bhagak<^r& of the
inscriptions must be standing for the land tax,
: . ^iBhoiakara represents the petty taxes in kind that were;
to be paid to the king every day. From the very nature ' oh
the case, these taxes in the form of betel leaves, fruits,
vegetables etc., could have been exacted by the king only
when he was on tour; they were, therefore, usually assigned
in practice to local officers as part of their incomes, /as shown
already in the last chapter. /Every day these taxes in kind
were seen being enjoyed by the local officers and, therefore.,
the term bhogakara used for them was quite appropriate;) In
this connection attention may be drawn to Manu VII!, 307,
where the expression pratihhagam has got a v. 1. of priiibho*
gam which has been explained by the commentator Sarvajha
Narayana as ‘ Phala-kusuma-sahhatrnadyupa^anam prati*
dinagrahyam ’ ‘daily presents in the form of fruits, flowers,
vegetables, grass etc.* /The interpretation proposed for
bhagakara is, therefore, supported by the usage that was
known to some of our commentators. Sometimes, however.
Government used to impose additional taxes for the salaries
of some of its officers. i We have already seen how the
village of Tuppad Kurahatti had to pay an additional tax in
money for the remuneration of the district officers in the
reign of Krshna Contemporary Ganga-Pallava and
Chola records also mention fees for the district and village
officers that had to be paid by the villagers. This
additional tax on land may also have been included in the
term bhogakara*
5. CL Gautama, X. 24-7; Manu. VIII, 130; Kaujalya. V. 2; etc.
6. Ante, p. 179. 7, S* I. U II, pp* 530-1; HI. p.39L
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
We have already seen that the terms udraMa
mnhar„ v.jy „ id«,acally the same as Ae «
pressions bhagakara and hho^akara Th,. n J-
which the villagers of Tuppad ^Xttilad Tpay t Te’
rem^eration of thecountiy gaoanda, was a tax on lid which
^d to be pajd over and above {=ap«n ) the normaUanltex
Upankara, therefore, was quite an appropriate term to denr^t '
rt.smceitwasan additional impost. Bhoiakara. iwX
tecomes identical with uparikara. either term denoting Xes'
noi^al or additional m Idnd or cash ™ imposeXS
the part payment of the salaries of the mofussil state officers
Fleet was inclined to hold that uparikara may have been the
X:: ° W no proprietoiy rightX tt
to show tl, ffU ^®ieis, however, no independent evidence
to show that the government used to impose any extra or
special taxation on such tenants. There was besides no
reason why state records should distinguish the tax paid by
the permanent tenets from that obtained fmm temporary
cultivators. The theoiy, therefore, that adranga was a fax on
brZfSXd'^ yet remains to
oe proved and is not likely to be correct.
Since udranga ^d uparikara have been shown to be
md bhogakara and since
Woga^nra IS further shown to be identical with apanW it
follows that udranga has to be equated with bhagakara, which
has been shown to stand for the normal land tax of the
government. It has to be confessed that no etymological
denvationofthetermcanbe suggested, which wiU exSain
this interpretation: but the word itself is practically unknown
dictionaries in its fiscal sense, and may have been derived
- hisnotoasy to determine lie exact inddenee of the
on W in our perW. The Smrid and N,.i writer, lay
^ V p, 98,
THEORIES ABOUT LAND-TAXATION
21.7
down that the state demand should vary between 8% to
The Arthasastra would advocate a levy of 25% Sukra,
a medieval writer, permits land taxation between 25% to 50%
in the case of irrigated lands, but adds that the taxation on
ordinary dry lands should be such that the net produce should
be twice the cost of production, the latter term including the
government dues as Chandesvara, another medieval
writer, states that the expression * shadbhaga ’ with reference
to land tax is merely figurative, and means that the king should
take such amount as is necessaiy for the needs of government
and may not be felt as oppressive by the subjects. Since
the theory writers differ so greatly and allow so wide an option
to the state we may take it that the land tax in the Rashtra*
huta dominions must have varied with the quality of the land
and the needs of the state.)
Let us now try to determine the actual amount of the
land tax that was levied hy the governments of our period.
The paucity of records throwing any light on the subject, the
vagueness of their statements when available, and the diffi-
culty of interpreting the technical terms used in them are the
main reasons that have so far deterred an enquiry in this
direction; but it is high lime that an effort at least should be
made. Let us consider a few concrete cases that are available
in this connection.
(I) Bevinahalli inscription from Chitaldurg di strict
of Mysore State, belonging to the time of Khottiga, informs us
that the revenue of two villages Madlur and Malagavadi was
50 gadyanas, petty taxes in kind being excluded. A gadyana
was equal to two kalanjus and the latter was a gold coin weigh-
ing about a quarter of a tola^^^^ or about 45 to 50 grains. The
revenue of these two villages was thus about 25 tolas of gold
9. E. g.. Manu, VIII, 130. 10. Book V, Chap. 2.
IL IV, ii, no iL 12. Chap. XII, p. 62. (JayaswaFs edition).
13. E, C., XI, Chitaldurg No. 74.
14. Elliot, Corns of South India, p, 47,
REVENUE- AND EXPENDITURE
or 375 tolas of silver, since the ratio between the prices of the.
two metals in' our period was about. I-:i5. Making allowance
for the alloy,, 25 tolas may be roughly equated to Rs». 500.
(2) The second of the three Kongu inscriptions,, edited;,
by Kitteh gives us some idea of the taxation under the
Gangas, who were for some time the feudatories and for some
time -the neighbours of the Rashtrakutas. The record informs;
us that Beli-ur, which consisted of 12 hamlets, used to pay
80 golden coins and 800 measures of paddy. Since the inscrip-
tion hails from Coorg, the gold coins were probably
Kalanjus and the measure of paddy a halam. The latter
measure differed in different localities from about 36 to 72
mauDds/^*^^ The Government tax on Beli-ur and its 12 ham-
lets amounted to 20 tolas of gold or 300 tolas of silver and
about 4000 maunds of paddy z. e. 1600 maunds of rice.
It will be shown in chapter XVI that ten kalams of paddy
measuring about 400 seers used to cost about a kalanju
or a quarter of atol a of gold. If the halam of this place was of
the same measure, the total government demand would have
amounted to 40 tolas of gold or 600 tolas of silver. In modern
figures this may amount to about Rs. 800.
(3) In the Cambay plates of Govinda IV, dated 930,
we have got the following passage: —
‘ Brahmanebhyashshatsatani agraharanam suvarnalaksha-
traya-sametani. devakulebhyo gramanamashtasatani suva-
rnalakshachatushtayam drammalakshadvatrinsatam cha
dadata.
15. Sukraniti gives the ratio of the prices of the two metals as 1: 16
(iV. ii, 98). Tavernier, writing in 1660, says that one golden rupee was
equal to 14 silver ones during his times [p. 13], We may, therefore, well
assume that the ratio of the relative prices of the two precious metals
was somewhere in the vicinity of 1:15 during our period, though no
epigraphical record from the Deccan of our period is at present available
to support that statement. 16. 1. A., VI, p. 103.
17. See chapter XVI, 18. E. L, Vli, p. 36.
THE REVENUE OF THE AVERAGE VILLAGE
213
In connection with the temples, 32 lakhs of
paid in addition to the assignment of 800 villages, ^nd
fore, the text uses the particle cfta. ®
the donations to the Brahmanas this p^iele does no
and. therefore, the expression saiJarna/afes/iafrayasameiani m _
be taken as referring, not to an addUional gif^f that araoum.
but as an adjective of shatsatani. bdicating
ment revenue from the 600 villages granted was three lakhs of
^avarnas. It. therefore, follows that the expression
ashtas'atani suvarnalakshachatushtayam is imended to intoe
Sat the revenue of the 800 villages granted to the temples
was 4 lakhs of stti>arnas; savarmlakshachatushtayam is
mistake for suvarnalakshachatushtayasametam bo^
cases the average revenue of one village “f
savarnas. Snvarna is not to be taken here as the §0^ com of
that name, referred to by Manu as weighing BOrakhkas or
about 146 grains, and introduced into currency by Skandagupta
tZ 11. half of hi, .eign. la Soath ln& .W
coin of our period was kalanju. weighing about a
rSla. It is this SW or golden coin that is obviously
referred to in the Cambay pla^^^s. The revenue of an average
viLge in the time of Govi^ .^V waa thus 500
halanjus-, it thus amounted wae '
silver- we may equate it to about Ks. 2,500.
(4) In the Bana principality, which was someUmes on
the border of the Rashtrakuta empire and sometimes include
in it the revenue of the village Viprapltha, vvhich is the same
as modern Guddimalam in Kalahasti Zemindari m Arcot and
Nelore districts, was 10 kalanjtts of gold and 500 kadis o'
''^‘^tnle above 4 cases we have no doubt the actual amount
of the revenues collected in the villages concerned, but they
do not enable us to determine the incidence of taxation, since
the acreage under cultivation is not given in a single case.
■220
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
. Nor does the Tuppad Kurahatti inscription of KrshnaTII^'^^^:
■ help us in this connection. This record states : Tondayya, the
country gamunda of Belvola 300, and six gamundas granted in
concert to the temple constructed by Aychayya 50 matiars
( of land ) by king s measure and one mattar for a garden*
;On this;for the share- of the king the fixed revenue shall be
2 gadyanas and for the revenue of the country gamundas the
fixed revenue of two gold gadyanas. The total taxation for
this field of 50 mattars and the garden of 1 mattar would be
only 4 golden gadyanas u e, 2 tolas of gold or 30 tolas of
silver. Unfortunately the precise dimensions of a mattar are
not known, and there is ample evidence to show that the
measure varied with localities. The grants made by tbe
Silahara prince Gonakarasa on one and the same occasion but
in three different localities were by mattar of three different
dimensions, prevailing in the places concerned/ The Mangoli
inscription of Bijjala. dated 1161 A.D./®^^ assigns 6^1 mattars
to the four Brahmanas whose households constituted the
Brahmana house-hold of the deity. It would thus seem that a
Brahmana family required twc mattars of dry land for its
subsistance. A mattar therefore, may have been equal to
about 4 or 5 acres of land at K ^pgoli, and its dimensions in
other localities could not ha^ been very much different.
The tax of eight kalanjas of gold that was levied from
about 50 mattars of dry land in the time of Krshna III at the
village of Tuppad Kurahatti would thus be from a piece of
about 200 acres. The taxation per 100 acres is thus found to
be only one tola of gold. This may have been, however due
to the fact that the permanent assessment for that piece of
land was not the normal government demand, but only a kind
of quit-rent, since the land was given to a temple as a
devadaya grant. There is evidence to show that the temple
20. E. I., XIV, p, 366,
21, Salotgi Pillar inscription, C. E. I,, IV, p, 66.
lower taxation for 'TEMPLE LANDS 221
lands were taxed on a lower scale. It will be soon shown
that the average demand of government under the Cholas
was !00 kalams of paddy per veli : but an mscriplioii from
Konerirajapuram informs us that 12 veils of temple land in
the locality were charged a tax of only 600 Mams of Pa<Wy.
before it was altogether exempted from taxation. The
average taxation on temple land in this case is thus found
to be only half of that on ordinary lands. Even then the
taxation amount per acre at Tuppad Kurahatti would be too
low. for it would be only 2 tolas of gold per 100 acres.,
it is possible that the quit-rent in this case was only nominal,
or that the land was very poor in quality.
A record from Honawad in Dharwar district, dated 1054
refers to an allotment of ordinary dry land to a temple
by king Somes' vara ‘ at the payment of half a pana as the
payment for a matiau ’ The rate referred to here rnust be
obviously of taxation and not of the price of the in
question. The record, however, does not mention whether
the pane mentioned was intended to be a gold, or silver, or
copper coin. If we assume it tc oe a gold pana, weighing
80 raktikas or about a 3/4 tola, the rate of government taxa-
tion per mattar, which seems to have been equal to about 4
or 5 acres as shown above, was about 3/8 tola of gold or about
6 tolas of silver. But. it is possible that the pana may have
been intended to be a silver or even a copper one; for
Somes' vara may have decided to charge only a nominal quit-
rent on the land he had given to a temple for his spiritual
' ifc
The effort to determine the incidence of actual taxation
on the agricultural land in the Deccan of our period cannot
succeed in the present state of our knowledge. But inscrip-
tions Nos. 4 and engraved in the Rajarajes'vara temple
at Tanjore in 1014 A.D., give us a good idea of the land taxation
23. I. A., XIX, p. 272.
24. S. I. !., II.
REVENUE AMD 'EXPENDlfURE
towards the beginning of the 11 th and the end; : of . the lOth
■century A. D. The incidence of the land ' taxation ; under
■ Krshna lll- in the portions of Tamil country annexed by him
to the Rashtrakuta empire, towards the middle of the 10th
century, could not probably have been much different; hence
the utilisation of these inscriptions cannot be regarded as
unjustifiable for the purpose of the present work.
These two valuable records give us the precise, area of
35 different villages, stating in each case what area was
actually taxed and what area was exempted from taxation.
In the case of 5 villages the taxation was levied in cash and
the rate works out to be 10 gold kalanjus per veli f- e,
2 ^ tolas of gold or about 37 tolas of silver for about 6f acres.
In the remaining 30 \allages the tax was collected entirely in
paddy, and the average is seen to be about 100 kalams per veli.
Dr, S. K. Krishnaswarni Aiyangar informs me that a veli in
Tanjore district yields at present an average crop of 200 to 250
kalams of paddy (by the Tanjore measure) and that two crops
on the average are grown in the course of the year, except in
the narrow belt on both the sides of the Kaveri, where as
many as three are possible. If we assume that the rainfall
in our period was the same as it is now and that the present
yield is not far different from that in the 10th centuiy A.D.,
the government demand would be about 100 kalams from the
gross produce of about 500 kalams; for in the villages given by
Rajaraja only 2 crops are possible, and the modern kalam of
Tanjore district is nearly the same as the kalam of our period.
Land taxation at 20 per cent of the gross produce is fairly high,
but it may be pointed out that about 15 per cent of this revenue
was returned to the village for its own needs, and that
there were no further demands as Water cess or Local Fund
cess or Road cess. The records give the entire amount of
the revenues paid by the villagers. All the revenues that
were collected in our period remained in the country and no
25. Altekar, Village Communities, p. 7^.
LAND TAXATION UNDER THE RASHTRAKUTAS 22B
part was exported to any country outside India in the form of
pensions or recruitment charges*
The land taxation under the Rashtrakutas was probably
equally high; The empire was' almost continuously engaged
in incessant' warfare, and its opponents were also ■ powerful
rulers like the Gurjara-Pratiharas, the Palas and the Cholas.
The' military expenditure, therefore, must have been very
heavy and the taxation, therefore, could not have been light.
Ai' Idrisi, apparently relying on earlier writers, expressly
declares that the subjects of the Rashtrakuta kingdom were
paying heavy taxes, and that, as a result, the ' king was
immensely rich/ The land taxation, therefore, under the
Rashtrakutas may have been as high as 20 per cent of the
gross produce. Since the Rajarajesvara temple inscriptions
Nos, 4 and 5 give the total demand realisable by the state
from the farmers, we rnay reasonably presume that this
20 per cent taxation included all the 'miscellaneous dues like
the uparikara or hhogakara. ) It may be pointed out that
Sher Shah and Akbar used to claim 33 % of the gross produce
from the peasant. and that in Vijayanagar, the incidence
of taxation seems to have been still higher/’®^
i The lands which were charged this high percentage are
situated in the fertile district of Tanjore, and it may be
presumed that less fertile lands were charged a lower
percentage.! ‘ Contemporary Chola inscriptions refer to 3 or 4
different classes of land, classified according to their quality,
and it is quite probable that the taxation may have varied
with each class. The same procedure was probably followed
in the Deccan as well. It may be pointed out that the
S'ukramti^^'^^ lays down that the government revenue demand
'.should vary with the nature of the irrigation of the soil.
26* Elliot, I, pp. 85-6,
27. Moreland: Agrarian System of Moslem India, pp. 76 ff.
28. Moreland: India at the Death of Akhar, p. 98^
29. IV. ii, 115-6.
224
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
‘ To conclude, it seems fairly clear that the states in our
period were not following the advice of Gautama' or Manu,'
who lay down a land tax varying between 8 to 16 per cent,
but of, Kaufalya and S'ukra who permit a much higher taxation. '
li: may further appear as probable that the percentages
referred to in the Dharmasastra and Niti works refer to gross
produce and not to net produce)
< In the case of some special tenures, the taxation was either
very low or non-existent Manya^ Aradhamanya, Namasya
and Baiagachchu are the principal tenures to be noted in this
connection. In the case of Many a tenures, the land was
entirely free from all taxes; neither MeLvaram (Governmen’s
dues ) nor Cudi-varam^^^^ ( inhabitants’ dues ) had to be
paid. We sometimes find the holders of this tenure paying
voluntary cesses for works of public utility; an ilth
tcentury record refers to a voluntary cess of 1 Pana on all
the rent-free lands at Tavargere for the maintenance of a
Pujari in a local temple/’^^^ In the case of the Ardha-manya
tenures, the inhabitants* dues {Cndi-varam) had to be paid.
The lands, assigned to public servants as their salaries, either
in full or in parts, may have belonged to one of these cate-
gories. Namasya tenures consisted of lands alienated in
favour of the temples and Brahmanas; they were sometimes
fully and sometimes partially free from the taxes usually
levied on landed property* Lands, granted to military officers
for distinguished bravery were known as Balagachchu or
swords-washing grants these too may have paid only a
light tax, if at all they had to pay any, as the inhabitants* share.
Let us now consider the question whether the land tax
was permanently fixed or periodically revised. Tuppad,
Kurahatti inscription of Krshna states that the fixed
revenue for the king’s share on the land in question shall be
two Gadyanas. The expression ‘ fixed revenue * may quite
30. E. I., Xni, p. 35. 31. I. A.. V, p. 345.
225
PERIODICAL REVISIONS OF
possibly point to a permanent settlement
demand; it seems not unlikely that when
Brahmanas or temples, their assessmei
permanently fixed, if they had not been e
RATES
34. E. C., VIH. Sorab, No. 83. 35. II. 1.
36. CL ' Undef the original Indian [i, e, Hindu ) system, in which
the produce was divided at the harvest, the peasant and the state
shared the risk of the enterprise/ Moreland, India at the Death of
Akhatf p. 100. Some of the recordfu^ttflllpned in the text above, show
settlement of the government
fends' were' given to
;>les, their assessment may have been
if they had not been altogether exempted
from taxation. Whether other lands were similarly permanently
settled is a question on which our records throw no light. We
have, however, seen that the writers ' of Smritis and Nlti
works allow a wide option, and permit the demand to vary
between S and 50 per cent. It is, therefore, not unlikely that
the government may have periodically revised its taxation
demand in view of the changed circumstances or its own needs^
This inference is supported by an inscription from Banavasi,
dated 941 which seems to refer to a fresh settlement
necessiated by the drying up of an old irrigation canali
^ Kautalya recommends a remission of land tax in case
of the failure of crops due to famines, pestilences, and wars.
We get no evidence about the practice in this respect from
the epigraphical records of our period, probably because
there was no reason to enunciate such a principle in docu-
ments creating rent-free tenures. The case of a revision
survey rendered necessary by the drying up of a village canal*
referred to in the last para, would suggest that the principle of
remission, recommended by Kautalya, may have been acted
upon by some states. It may be further pointed out that
when the land tax was collected in kind, as was usually the
case in our period, and was fixed as a certain share of the actual
crop that was produced in the field for the year in question*
detailed rules about remissions were not necessary; if on any
account whatsoever the yield was less, the share of the
government also would automatically diminish/’^^^ Ukkal
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
LAND-TAX IN KIND
these villages in gold rather than in corn, tn some cases
the payment of the tax may have been entirely in cash m tlie
Deccan, as V 5 ps sometimes the case m some of the Choia
villages; the Begumra plates of Krshpa 11^^ refer to one
such village, which seems to have been paying its entire taxes
in drammas. It is, however, veiy likely that in the vast
majority of cases the land tax in tne
.. was "paid in kind, as was the case in 1
..do minions. ,
‘-The collection of the land tax
of which w'as to vary with tne actual
must have necessitated a large s
the farmers from removing sun
crop with a view to c
mand. The commentator on
to the case of a scrui
' "plucked a handful of corn
share was paid, and the
the purchase of field products like
direct from the fields, since such a
to the interests of the government,
of its legitimate share of the produce,
attention of the king to the necessity <
tents of his treasury L
insects; the treasury department
of care lest the corn should be d
sold away, and r
.the granary may
The land tax was collected in
staff to prevent
a portion of the
evade the full share of the government do-
w.ji the Kurundhania jataka^'^^^ refers
ipulous Setthi, who regretted his having
from his own field before the king a, .
istra prescribes fines for
grass, corn and vegetables
procedure was prejudicial
as it was thereby deprived
j. S^ukra^^*^^ draws the
/ of preventing the coo-
being destroyed by the depradations of
had thus to take a good deal
5stroyed; old corn used io be
ed, so that the contents of
always have the best market value.
several instalments. From
the Begumra plates of Krsbija of the Gujrat branch dated
888 A.D.,^^^*we learn that it was collected in three instalments,
one in Bhadrapada or September, one in Kartiha or Novem^r
and one in Magha or March. ;It is inlerestbg to note
41. 1. A., xm. p. 68. 42. No. 276 43. 11. ^ n,
44. IV. ii, 28. 45. I. A.. XIII, p. 68.
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
this record partially confirms the statement of Bhattas'^amin,.
the commentator of the Arthas'astra, that the kara or the land
tax was paid in the months of Bhadrapada, Chaitra/ and . the '
■ and that' of Kulluha^^^^ that the tax was gathered'
every 'year . in Bhadrapada ■ and Pausha. It would, therefore j; '
seem that government permitted^ the farmers to pay thetax iii;:
at least three instalments. Such an arrangement was also
inevitable since the tax was usually collected in kind and not
in cash.
. - (I, Hi) Bhiitopattapratyaya
This tax has been almost universally mentioned in all
the grants of our period, and the same is the case with the
documents of the earlier and later centuries. This expression
has so far defied the efforts of scholars to discover its meaning.^
It was proposed to explain the term as a tax for protecting
those who have come into existence, or as a tax for spiriting
away ghosls;^'^®^ Dr, Ghosal proposes to translate it literally
as ‘a revenue derived from the elements and the wind/^'^^^
but admits that the precise meaning of the expression is
uncertain.
Our records give several readings of this term. Sam-
bhrtopaitapratyaya,^^^^ hhutapatapratyaya^^^^ and bhniavata-
pratyaya^^^^ are the main ones. Of these bhutapata occur?
only twice and may be a mistake for bhutavata or hhutopatta,
46. ArtWSstra. li. 15. 47. On Manu, VII!. 307.
48, It is no doubt true that a lOtK century record from Banavadi
mentions an offering of boiled rice which the villagers had to pay for the
ghosts of the village, (E. I., XI, p, 6) but as no other record mentions
such a tax it is almost certain that it was not a universal one. It is also
unlikely that Brahrnana donees would have ever consented to receive for
themselves such a tax.
49. Ghosal. Eindti Eemnue System, p, 217.
. in Konnur inscription of Amoghavat'sha 1, E, L, VI, p. 29.
g, in Baroda plates of Karkka, I. A., XII, p. 161.
39. h\ g> Kavi plates, L A., V, p, 145,
WHAT IS BHUTOPATTAP'RATYAYA TAX ?
The remaining three readings signify more or less tl^ same
ihing. The term Bhntopaftapratyaya means a tax (/iya) on
ipraii) what has been taken in i, e, imported [upMta), and
what has been produced (bhnta) in the village. ) The reading
Sambkrtopattapraiyaya, if not a mistake for SabhntopM a •
pratyaya, would indicate a tax upon articles (manufactured
and) stored {sambhrta) and goods imported. BhntavUtapra-
tyaya is more enigmatical, but the expression vata may refer
to articles imported HI conj., to wish to gain, to invite, to
■invoke) into the villages. It is, therefore,; clear that these'
expressions refer to the general excise and octroi duties that
were collected at the villages. This interpretation is further
supported by the fad that the expression Bhutopattapratyaya
does not figure along with the term sas ulka in any of our re-
cords; Karda plates of Karkka II, dated 973 Kauthem
plates of Vikramaditya, dated 1008 and Miraj plates of
Jagadekamalla dated 1024 describe the respective
grants of the villages as sasulka, but they omit the expression
sabhutopaitapratyaya; the remaining records use the latter
term but omit the former. It is thus clear that the s'alka tax
is nearly the same as the bhutopattapratyaya one.
The Sirur inscription of Amoghavarsha I and the
'Soratur inscription of Krshna III mention a tax on clari-
fied butter and charcoal respectively; the government’s right to
claim, apparently from the herdsmen and cattle-breeders, the
best bull and she-buffaio is mentioned in some of the records
of the Vakatakas and the Yadavas of the Deccan, and of
the Cholas of Tamil country/ a copperplate of the S'ila-
haras of Konkan, who were administering the coastal territories
53. 1. A„ Xn. p. 264. 54. I. A., XVI. p. 24.
55. !. A., Vni, p. 18. 56. E. I.. VII, p. 203.
57. I. A.. XII, p. 257.
58. g, Chammak plates, C. I. I., Ill, p. 238; Behatti inscription of
Xrskna, J.B. B, R. A, S. IV, p. 48; Tandontottam plates, S. L I,, lit
530“ L
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
of the Rashtrakutas, mentions a customs duty of one golden
Gadyana from every ship arriving from a foreign country
and of one silver dharana from every one coming from coastal
ports Some of the inscriptions of the Cholas^^^'^ mention a
tax on potters, shepherds, weavers, oilmen, shopkeepers^
stall -keepers, brewers and gardeners. Siddaya tax, i. e. a
tax on articles manufactured, was levied at Badami in the
12th century. All these taxes will fall under the category
of Bhufopattapratyaya, Some of the taxes mentioned above
do not figure in the records of the Rashtrakutas, but most of
them, and others also of a similar nature, may have very
probably been levied by them also. The general expression
Sahhutopattapratyaya being used in the plates there was no
further necessity to specify them individuals^ It may be
pointed out that most of these taxes have been advocated in
standard books on polity and Dharmasastra.
( Octroi and excise duties were collected sometimes in-
kind and sometimes in cash. The taxes on butter and
charcoal at Sirur^^^^ and Soratur^®^^ were collected in kind,
but the octroi duties at Badami and the customs dues at
Kharepatan were collected in cash. The taxes collected in
kind were very often assigned to local officers as showc
already; this was inevitable, for the central government coul^
hardly have managed to have at the capital a store of shoes ^
flowers, betel -leaves etc. that were paid as taxes in the distant
villages of its empire. Even if a store had been opened
there, most of these articles would have been rendered
useless before they reached the depot. Epigraphical records
do not supply any information about the percentage of the
taxes we are discussing, but a number of writers like Manu,
(vn, 131-2) Vishnu, (ill, 33) Gautama (ll, i, 30) and Kautalya.
(ll, 2l) lay down that the excise duty toibe levied should be-
16% in case of articles like fish, meat, honey, medicines, fruits,,
59. E, I.. Ill, p. 286 60, S. I; L. III., p. 391,
61. LA.. VI, p. 141. 62. ManuVIL 131 fL; HI. 29fL.
FORCED LABOUR IN LIEU OF TAXAtlON
232
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
fence of which is proved by an inscription from Hebbal,
dated 975/*^^^ which records a grant of 12 sites of houses
for a temple with complete exemption from taxes. ' The exis-
tence of a ferry tax, which is recommended by most of
the Smriti writers, is proved by the Torhhede plates of
'Govinda III, dated 813 which expressly mention this
impost. It is difficult to say whether the tax on marriage^
which is mentioned in some Chola records/^^^ and the duty
leviable at the festival of attaining puberty, which is referred
to in an inscription of Vinayaditya/®*^^ dated 680 A.D., were
universal taxes or imposed only by some whimsical rulers.
The last mentioned inscription also mentions a tax on men
dying without a son, and a 13th century Yadava document
attests to the existence of a tax levied on persons, who were
not blessed with a son.
The tax on persons having no son or dying without a son
seems at first sight a strange one.l Some might imagine that
it was levied by the Hindu state in its desire to see that its
subjects discharged the religious duty of procreating a son.
The tax, however, was due to no such desire, nor could it
have appeared to our age as an unjust imposition. Its imposi-
tion as a matter of fact marked a great concession \to the
subjects. To understand its genesis, we shall have to 'east-ja
glance at the histoiy of the widow’s right to inherit her
husband’s property. This right was recognised late in the
history dF the Hindu society, as was also the case elsewhere.
S^alBpatha Br^mana,^®®^ Maitrayamya Samhita,^^®^ Apas-
tamba,^^^^ Baudhayana^^®^ and Vasishtha^'^^^ Dharmasutras do
not recognise this right, which Yajnavalkya seems to have been
64. £. I., IV. p, 355, 65. E. L, HI. p. 53.
66. J?, g, Tandlontottam plates, S- 1. I., Ill, p. 531.
47. I, A„ XIX, p. 145. 48. Pool. Kolhapoor, p. 333.
49. IV, 4. 2, 13, 70. IV, 6. 4. 71. 11, 14. 2^4,
2'33
GENESIS OF A STRANGE TAX
the first writer to advocate vigorously. He was later followedi
hy Narada, Katyayana and S'ankha. When the widow
was not recognised as an heir, at the death of her husband liv-
"ing separately from other collaterals, the property would have
either escheated to the crown as heirless or devolved upon dis*
tant collaterals, who it may have been thought, ought to pay
to the state a portion of the wealth they had got as wind-fall.
Some of the states seem to have continued the tax even when
the widow was recognised as her husband’s heir as a partial
compensation for the loss they had to sustain by the new
theory that the property could devolve upon the widow as
well This tax in the Deccan will have to be pronounced as
humane, when compared to the practice of some of the earlier
and contemporary states of confiscating all the property of a
person dying without a son on the plea that it was heirless,
even when the widow was surviving. We shall discuss this
theory in detail under the item * Income from government
properties.’
Some of the taxes mentioned under the present head do
not figure in the Rashtrakuta records, but it would be rash to
say that they did not exist in our period, since they are men-
tioned in the inscriptions of the earlier, contemporary and
later dynasties.
(2) Occasional Exactions
( 2, 1 ) Chatahhatapraves adanda : — ‘ Exactions at the
time of the arrival of regular and irregular military and police
forces.’ Most of the village grants are stated to be free from
this exaction. Chatas and Bhatas were the members of the
police and military forces of the state, and when they were
quartered in a village while on the march, the villagers ha4
to meet a number of demands of their unwelcome guests#
S'ukra lays down that soldiers should encamp outside a
.74# in the Mitikskar^ 0131 YS^jjOUvail&ya II, 13f5-'6,
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
village and should not enter it except on official business/^^'^'
It' m^ould' thus appeai'’^' that ’good, governments,' of ■ our .period' ,
mere trying to minimise the exactions of the ■ soldiery by pre-
venting it from entering into villages, except with the
permission of the higher authorities. S'ukra's rule would,,
however, minimise only individual high-handedness. That
the military authorities would call upon the villagers to meet*
their various needs is made clear by a record from Davangiri
belonging to the 10th century A. This inscription states
that when Mahasamantadhipati S'antivarman of Banavasi
12,000 came in to due course to Palarur, he sent a summoner to
the Mahajanas to say: — * A supply of grass is wanted for our
troops of horses and elephants’. Thereupon, the cutters said,
* Right well we cut/ The king was pleased and set free the-
offering of boiled rice for the ghosts. It is obvious that the
inhabitants must have been required to subsidise the troops
and officers with many commodities besides grass. The tax'
Semhhaktam mentioned in the Arthas'astra^^'^^ corresponds to
this exaction.
( 2 , ii) Rajasevakanam msatidanAdprayamdanAauX Vmes^
or dues leviable at the time of the halt dr^ departure of the
royal officers’. These are mentioned in a Yadaya grant
but may have been common in our period as well. TandorV
tottam plates of Vijayanandivikramavarman^’'^' mentions a"
fee for the man, who used to bring the royal orders to the
village. This fee would also come under the presenb
category.
( Customary presents to the king and higher officers on
occasions of festivity like the birth of a son, or marriage may
also be mentioned here,] The utsanga tax mentioned in the
Arthasastra^®®^ has been interpreted in this sense by the
commentator Bhatfasvamin. Such presents were made in
EMERGENCY TAXATION
the Indian States till recently and may have been common in
our period as well, when some persons were so enthusiasti-
cally loyal as to offer their heads to deities in order that the
king may have a male issue/®*^
( 2, iii ) Emergency demands of the State
'The modern system of public debt was practically un-
known in ancient times and the states were, therefore, com-
pelled to levy extra taxation in case of emergency, in order
to tide over the difficulty. This procedure is countenanced
by the Mahabharata^^^\ Arthasastra^®^^ and S'ukramti^^^’ and
may have very probably existed in our period too, since
Somadeva, a contemporary Deccanese writer, permits the
state to tax even the temples, Brahmanas and the wealth
collected for sacrifice on such occasions/®^^ Emergency taxa-
tion does not figure in the copper plates because the donees
were not invested with the powers of levying it.
Exemption from Taxation
• Exemption from taxation has been claimed as a privilege
of the learned Brahmanas in most of the Smritis. It was
conceded in practice only to a very limited extent.'") This -
question will be discussed in detail in chapter XiV where
the position of Brahmanas will be considered in detail.
, (3) Fines
\The income from fines formed in our age, as in modern .
period, one of the items of the state income. Fines could
hardly have formed any appreciable fraction of the total in-
come of the state, and a considerable portion of them must
have been consumed by the expense of the judiciary. When
villages were alienated, the right to receive the fines imposed ,
upon the delinquents was also usually transferred to the
donees. The usual expression in this connection is sadand^-
81. E. C., vn, Sorab No. 479 82. XII, 87, 26-40.
83. V, 2. 84, IV, 2* 10. Nitimkyam^ta, XXI, 14.
■B6
REVENUE 'AND EXPENDITURE
das SparaJhah; sometimes the more expressive terms like
dan^aya or pratishiddhaya are These alternative
forms will show that Dn Ghosal’s view that the expres-
'sion confers upon the donee the right to be exempted, at least
in part, from the ordinary penalties for the commission of
some of the traditional offences is hardly sound* The
incorrectness of this view will be at once manifest when it is
remembered that the expression figures not only in grants
given to Brahman as, but also in those given to temples. Most
of the village disputes were tried in the villages themselves;
it was customaiy to impose a fine even in civil cases on the
unsuccessful litigants. A part of these fines was spent in
meeting the expenses connected with the trial of the case
before the Village Panchayal; the balance, which normally
went into the state treasury, was diverted to the donees in the
case of the alienated villages.
(4) Income from Government Properties
i ) Crown lands; Waste lands and Trees.
( Stray plots of cultivable lands in several villages, waste
lands, lands awaiting cultivation, forests and some specific
trees formed government property. The Rashtrakuta admi-
nistration did not claim proprietary right in all the land under
cultivation within its jurisdiction. The numerous copperplate
grants, giving villages to temples and Brahmanas, assign to
the donees the government’s right to the taxes derived frorq
the land and other sources; there is not a single case where
the proprietary right in the entire land under cultivation in
any village has been transferred to a donee. | The plate uses
a long series of expressions specifying the rights accruing to
the donees, but not a single expression is used in any of our
:grants, suggesting that the donees acquired the proprietary
rights in the cultivable lands in the village. Even the right
86. M. g., I. A.. XIX, p. 165.
87. Ghosal. Ein^ Mevenm, System, p. 220.
PRIVATE OWNERSHIP IN LAND . 23?
of ejection is nowhere mentioned. It is, therefore, clear that
in our period the state did not lay any claim to the owners
ship of the entire soil situated in the realm. Nay, there are
actual cases of previous purchase when land, and not tlie re-
venue rights, were assigned to the donees, Tirukhoyalur ■
inscription^^^^ of the 2ist year of the reign of Krehna III
(c. 961 A.D. ) states how a Vaidumba king purchased about
3 veils of land from the local assembly in order to assign it to
a temple in the village. Some of the Chola records, granting
land and not the right to the revenue, expressly ‘refer to the
previous purchase of the rights of the former owners and here-
ditary proprietors. It is further worth noting that when
the proprietary right in the soil is given to the donee, the grant
is usually of a few acres and not of an entire village. In this
connection the Konnur inscription of Amoghavarsha I is
ver}? important. The record states that, at the request of his
favourite general, Bankeya, Amoghavarsha I gave to a Jain
temple
(1) the village of Taleyur,
(2) a flower garden, 500 x 150 cubits in dimension,
situated in the same village, and
(3) 12 Nivartanas of land, situated in each of the 30
villages included in the sub-division in which the village of
was situated.
.TiVarf®-?^t‘"here was no necessity of specifying the precise
dhata.^^y tioi the flower garden, situated in the village Tale»
y>wn, n<|rant of the village meant the grant of the entire
land wxrhia its boundaries. The separate mention of this
garden and of its precise dimensions shows that the proprie-
tary rights in the soil were transferred to the temple only
with reference to this small plot of land. Item No, 3 above
further shows that when it was the case of transferring
88. S, L I., Ill, pp. 104«6, S9. Ibid, 11. Nos, 22 and 23.
238
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
proprietary rights in soil, the state could usually give only
small pieces scattered over different villages, and not entire
villages themselves. , '
A number of other records support the same conciusioD„
The Atkur inscription, belonging to the middle of the 10th
century, records a grant of land to a temple by Butuga II,
the brother-in-law of Krshna III; the piece given is one
jnelding an incomepf two Kandugas (3 Khaiidis) only. In an
inscription from Mulgund, we find a king named Kanna
granting
(1) a piece of 12 Nivartanas situated 'in the S'lvata of
that village,
(2) that portion of land which was situated between
two tamarind trees to the south of that village, and
(3) six mattars in Pareyaloku to the west of the bound-
ary of Sugandhvatl or modern Saundatti.
The fact that this king should find it necessary to give
only detached pieces of cultivable land situated in the different
corners of the village shows that the state was not, and did
not claim, to be the proprietor of the entire land of the realm.
This conclusion is quite in harmony with the views on the
subject prevailing in the Hindu period proper. Jaimini dis-
tinctly says that the king is not the owner of the soil and his
commentator S'abara agrees with him. The same is the
view of Katyayana/^^^ Nilakantha^^^^ refers to the of
Jaimini and asserts; that a king cannot grant in chari fro’R :ie
proprietary right in the soil in the realm, because it do^'^^^St
belong to him but to various individual proprietors. Thc^idW
of Madhava and Mitramis^ra^^^^ is the same. It is only
Jagannatha, who advocates the view that the king is the
91. J. B, B. R. A. S., X, p. 199.
' 92, Quoted in VTramiticodaya, RSjaniti, p. 271,
93 . Vijavaharamaijukha, SvatvanirVpaigam, p, 56.
94, Nyaiyamala:, p, 358. , 95, See No. 91 above.
STATE OWNERSHIP OF WASTE LANDS
239
Dwner of the soil and the subjects are mere lessees, and that
the former’s right of ownership arises out the fact of his
being the first occupant of the country/ But Jagannatha
is a very late writer and his testimony is contradicted by the
.almost unanimous views of both earlier and later writers.
It xTiay be observed that Manu^^^’ also does not support
the state -ownership of land as is sometimes contended by
some authors. The topic discussed in the verse in question is
about the ownership of the treasure-trove and not of land.
Some of the Greek waiters suggest that the theory of the
state-owmership of the land existed in the days of Chandra-
gupta Maurya. but hardly any value can be attached to
their statements since they are contradicted by others.
^Though the state was not the owner of the entire culti-
vable land in the kingdom, it used to own some pieces in most
of the villages situated in the realm. These may have been
lands which had lapsed to it as heirless property, or which
had been confiscated by it for offences committed by their
former owners or which were actually purchased by it for
state purposes. In some cases these state lands may also have ^
been waste lands brought under cultivation by government
The examples given above show how the state owned stray
pieces of lands in many villages and more can be quoted^
The Silahara ruler Govunarasa is known to have granted 206
matt ars oi land to the Salotgi College/^®^ the Ratta prince
SnMivarman had given 150 matters in the field of his own,
The meaning of this word S'lVata is not definitely
known, but it seems to stand for the crown lands. Honawad
inscription of Somesvaf^^^^^^ shows that when actual pieces
of land were granted away they were not always free from
the land tax. Either its full amount or a certain quit rent
was charged.
96. Quoted in Sen's Hindu Jurisprudence, p, 27. ,*>%
97, Vni, 39, 98. MapCrindle. Mega?:!* p,
99, E. L, IV, p. 56. 100. L A. XIX, p. 2^'
240 REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
Forests were government properties in our period. A
Pailava record falling within our period mentions a grant
of four pieces of forest land in the vicinity of Kanchi, showing
thereby that the state used to claim ownership in the forest
lands situated within its jurisdiction.. Most of our records
granting villages use the expression saorhshamSlakulctl). It
is very likely that the expression refers to the transfer of the
state’s right in the forest lands that may be situated within
the boundaries of the village. It must be, however, admitted
that another interpretation of this term is possible. Some of
the Indian states of the Deccan still claim the right of owner-
ship in certain trees like sandal, hifio etc. even when they
may be growing on private soil. The same was the case
with many of the states in the Punjab.^’®” The records of the
Gahadwar dynasty show that its rulers claimed proprietarj-
rights in mango and Madhuka trees growing in the kingdom.^^®*’
It is, therefore, not unlikely that the expression savrk-
shamSbkalah may be referring to the state’s ownership of
some such trees as well. There is. however, no evidence
^ belonging to our period to prove that the Rashtrakutas used to
claim this right. The expression can be interpreted as refer-
ring to the state’s ownership of the trees growing in the
forests or by the roadsides, or on the village waste lands.j
^ Ownership of the waste lands w^as naturally vested in the
state. Specific evidence to prove this theory is afforded by the
twolGanga records in the Bangalore museum which record
the grant of uncultivable waste lands situated in Guladpadi
and Bempur 12 to two soldiers for their distinguished
bravery in war. ) That the Gupta adi^inistration also claimed
this right is proved by the Damodarpur plates, where
we find government officers disposing off waste lands by sale.
101. 1. A., VII. p. 169.
102. States Gazetteer, VII, A. p. 16.
MINES AND SALT
The first part of the expression sahashihatrnahupaiaia*
gopetah, which occurs in many of our records transfers to
the donees the right to utilise grass, fuel etc-, growing on the
waste lands included in the boundaries of the village con-
cerned. It must be, however, noted that the Smriti writers
lay down that a certain portion of the village waste lands
should be set apart as pasturage and most of the Deccan
\ illages still possess them- In our period, too, the same must
have been the case. The ownership of the pasture lands was
"Vested in the village Mahaj anas./
(4, ii) Mines and Salt
ancient as in modern times the state was the owner of
the mines in the realm. The expression sahabhyantarasidJhi,
which occurs in most of our grants, transfers to the donees the
state* s right to the mineral wealth in the interior of the earlh-^
Vachaspatya^brhaJaJhidhana and S' abdarthachintamani both^
give nishpatti or production as a synonym of siddhi; accord-
ing to Dharani tlie word also means sampatti or wealth*
Macdonell and Apte state in their dictionaries that the word
has also the sense of payment or recovery. Abhyanfarasiddhi
would, therefore, mean ‘ realisation of whatever is in the interior
(of the soil)* or * wealth in the interior (of the earth)* or recoveiy
of whatever is in the interior (of the earth)’ It is, therefore,,
clear that the meaning, which is here ascribed to this term
for the first time, is the correct one and the expression proves,
that the state was the ovmer of the mines and minerals.
Mineral wealth included salt mines as well, the owner-
ship in which was expressly claimed by the Gahadwals and
the Choias. The Rashtrakuta records nowhere expressly
!06. e. g. E. I., I. p. 53.
107, €, g. Manu, VI!!, 237. Vishnu V, 147.
108 e. g. Saheth Maheth plates of Govindachandra, E. L, XI. p. 24,
Tandouotottam plates of Vinayanandivikramavarman, 1. L. IL
pp. 531*2.
242
REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
*• claim this right for the state. That may be perhaps due to
Jls not having claimed any royalty in the salt manufacture; it
isj however, also possible that the expression" sahabhyantara-
,mddhV having included that right as well, it was not deemed
.necessary to specify it separately. It is, , however, rather
/Strange that even the records of the Sllaharas, whose domi-
nions included the coastal districts where salt must have been
manufactured on a large scale, should not be specifically
claiming this right. That might perhaps show that the
Rashtrakutas and their feudatories did not claim the salt mono-
poly like the Cholas and the Gahadwals.
V ■ (4, iii) Treasure-trove and the property of heirless
persons
i This is the last item to be considered under this head.
Our copper plate grants usually transfer to the donees the
right to the treasure-troves that may be discovered in the
^villages or lands granted. The expression used in this con-
nection is nidhinikshepasametaV^^'^'^ ‘along with the right to
treasures and buried wealth ‘ ; there is no ambiguity whatso-
ever about its meaning. Most of the Smriti writers also
state that the king was entitled to a fairly large share of the
treasure-troves, except when the discoverer was a Brahmana,\
^ Gautama, Vasi.stha,^^^^^ Vishnu^^^^^ and Manu^^^"^^
lay down that the heirless property of the non- Brahmanas was
to escheat to the state. The interpretation of the term
‘ heirless * seems to have differed with different times. It is
true that the widow was not recognised as an heir for a long
time as shown already; but the Dharmasastras, which deny
her that right, concede it to other.' collaterals, like the brothers,
109. Cf. I. A., 11. p. 301; XIX. p. 345 etc.
110. Manu, Vni, 35-39; YSjrmavalkya, II, 34—5; Vishnu IV. I;
11 U xxvni, 41-2.
113, xvih 13-4.
112. XViU 73
114. IX. 189,
STATENS CLAIM TO' HEIRLESS." PROPERTY
cousins or uncles, A person who dies 'without a male ' issue
out leaves behind him some collaterals cannot, therefore, be
regarded as dying without an heir. It would, however,
appear that some states in the ancient period regarded such
persons as dying without heirs in order to claim their property
for themselves. | Some of the Jataka stories disclose such a
slate of affairs, and the 6th act of the S'akuntala provides
us with a most convincing case. There we find that the king
stops the intended confiscation of the property of a dead
merchant in order to see whether one of the widows, who was
enceinte at the time of the tragedy, would give birth to a son.
A similar case is mentioned in the Mohapardjaya of Yasfaah*
pa!a who flourished in Gujarat in the 12th century. Kumara-
pala is there grieved to learn that his subjects should be
under the justifiable impression that their king always desired
that rich persons should die without leaving behind any
The king consequently renounces this right after
his conversion, and the Kumdrapalapratihodha claims that
the magnanimity of permitting the weeping widow to keep
her property was not shown in the past even by kings like
fiaghu and Nahusha. The case in the Deccan, however,
was different. The tax on persons dying without a son,
which has been already referred to, proves that only a fraction
of their property passed to the state as a kind of succession
duty. Managoli Inscription, dated 1178 A.D., further makes
it absolutely clear that the property of persons dying without
a male issue did not escheat to the crown, as was the case in
contemporary Gujarat. The inscription states : —
115. VoL !V,.pp. 485-6.
116.
117.
REVEMO-E AND EXPENDITURE
If any one should die at Manigavalli without sons, his
wife, female children, divided parents, and bro-
t ler^ and their children and any kinsmen
and relatives of the same Gotra. who ■ may ^ : survive,
, should take possession of all his property, L 1
bipeds, quadrupeds, coins, grains, house, and field t
if none such should survive, the authorities of the
village should take over the property as Dhaiina-
a eyt? property/
It would be clear from this valuable record that the property
of soniess persons did not escheat to the crown but devolved
on the kinsmen m an order which is very similar to that laid
down by ^ ainavalhya.<’^9> Somadeva, a contemporary writer
from Karnatak, also states that the king may take a share
of the property of the widow only when in difficulty.”^®’ This
would show that normally the property was allowed to
devolve upon the widow and other near heirs. It is interesting
to note that the epigraphical evidence from the Deccan con-
firms the tradition that the widow was recognised in that pro-
vince as her husband’s heir since early times. This tradition
IS mentioned as early as in the Niruhta;”-” Yajnavalhya also
who recognises the widow as an heir and permits the king
to mhent the property of the dead under no circumstances
whatsoever, was most probably a southerner like his
TOs naturally give no inf orrr glticn in.
lus items of state expenditui^j during
Indian History, but it is strange that
orks also should be silent upon the
give in great details the various sources
ormation which only a few of them
119 . 11 , 135 - 6 .
12L Nirukta, fll, 5,
i:^£PARTMENlS 24 $
SUDii'ET ALLOTS
5 r,.|>f;y about f-la' head‘d of fe ex|»®nditur v&y scrappy and
* vAsysteiiiatic* Koutalya^^^^ €»iiLir:iarat5'^.!“ ^ 'tern$,_ of
pcudr.ure but tlie list neilHer systemauc exhaustive*]
f\‘o,ya’ iiarsm and hitcuen are only .ue- if '^he civil
!ist mentioned by him, ':be ctems of civil aa. ’'.tta lie i unci
-mdiciary are altogether rsffnittecb only a few reads of the
military expenditure ard enumerated and the nu-cy is iurgoUcn-
altogether. The onte^ work which lays down dcfinlt- princ'p^c's ■
c4 public expenditure ihe ;>‘ukr8mtid*“‘^^ The nuihor of this
iiiie?''osUrig work very prv>babK lived in the vicuiicy of oob
period ansi his dicta seem to have been based upon the actual ' ^
the three great military powers of the age,
ilhe ibfrakuias, the Gurjara-Pratlheras and the Imlas*
'4iew#/P^^W, therefore, l>e particularly valuable fc, our ' pmseni ‘
4'iqu>' Sdhra divides the income in six parts a J ;iys <umn •’
one should be kept .v reserve, as many -as inree should be
i?5i| gned to the army, and half of a part should be reserved
3ach of the iow following items, viz, { l) Charity, ( 2 ) Priiyr , !■'
jll 'Se, ( 3 ) Civil administration and ( 4 ) * People*.
.tt'ilsif that if ever the Rashtrakuta and Gurjara-Prallliara' bii|k
W discovered, they would disclose a ‘ similar aii0€adoil''|i||
J'P'' funds. Time ampiraf'‘Were maintaining huge military forcbk '
^|.pd It is quite possible that their military expenditure uiay
amounted to half of the Central revenues. It iiiust be,
lowbver, added ^that S^ukra includes also' the polk'-e forces .y';
^%.inder the expression hala. VThe percentage :or the
i^^^*’f%ninisiration seems to be '.rather small but it musi’ iidt'tS!|',
{t|!^|otten that many of the state officers were paid by If n|l ?
:;lli ^Wands, S'ukra permits only abotii 8% for the kmg*S'pr^^||
> I and it is perhaps possible that in actual ■
^ t our period may ha^.’e taken 'a little 4nore,
|'‘’®^«^>^^rved for charity, m. about 8 seem^,\4>o high*
‘I oulloolc of the
' i’V itk oum'yW ttot me sums -spent raider
‘■id n.%' ^5 I.fc3!3-6.
246 THE MILITARY AND POIJCE, A^D THE FEUDATORIES'
this head helped indirectly the cause of education as wslL
The last item * people * seems to include the provision made
in the Central budget for the .general needs and improvements,
of the country; grants for big ‘public works, expenses for the
upkeep of the imperial roads, special grants to local bodies
for works beyond their limited mcians etc., were probably
included under this item. Education, \^nitation, local roads^
and public works were to a great extent managed by the local
bodies, which were supplied with the necessanjij' funds by the
earmarking of a certain percentage of the revenue^ collected in
the villages for the 'local needs/ The imperi\s 5 il budget,,
therefore, had no separate provision for these varioiis;^.. items,;,
The central government had only to make extra special ~Trantf
to local bodies for projects beyond their limited mean. and
the item ‘ people ’ probably denotes that provision in tV\’
Imperial budget.
CHAPTER XII
The Military and Police, and the ‘ |
Feudatories < i j
I !,
Section A: The Military and the Police
^There was hardly a monarch of our dynasty who had not "-4
;to undertake extensive military operations either to queld ^
• internal rebellions or to carry out ambitious foreign |
%ions. The military ^machine of the Empire must, thereh Dire
have been a very strong and efficient one.) It used to f
terror literally from the Himalayas to the Cape Kamorin L
and Kathiawar to Bengal when handled by efficient emr^ '
and generals, and it was through its instrumentality !
Rashtrakutas compelled * every prince, ’ to quote the ’
of Sulaiman, ‘though master in his own state, to pay ho^^^^ 1
RASHTRAKUTA MILITARY REPUTATION
iD' ^lhemselves*/'^^ The ascendancy of the military was- so-
great that it was reflected even in civil administration; we
have seen already how many of the provincial governors,,
district officers, and city prefects were generals or captains.
The incessant wars with foreign powers and the protected
feudatories had infused the military spirit in the whole popu-
lation; there were local militias even in villages and skir-
mishes among them were not infrequent.
The reputation for bravery which the Marathas and Kar-
nalas possessed in the days of Yuan Chwang was maintained
if not enhanced in our period. Bengal rulers used to recruit
soldiers from Karnatak and Lata,^^^ a procedure which will
clearly show that the Rashtrakuta dominions were inhabited
by races, famous all over the country for their martial quali-
ties. In his Viddhasalahhanjika Rajas'ekhara, a contempo-
rary writer, pays a handsome compliment to the bravery of
the Karnatas when he observes that they were naturally
: The army headquarters were at the Imperial capital,
Malkhed* The Saiolgi inscription of Krshna describes
Maikhed as *sthiribhutakatake L e, a place where the military
forces were located. There must have been provincial head-
quarters as well, y A1 Masudi has observed about the Gurjara-
Pratiharas that they used to maintain large army garrisons
in the south and north, east and west in order to deal prompt-
ly with the prospective attacks on all the fronts. iThe
army arrangements of the Rashtrakutas were also similar.
The army of the south was under the Banavasi viceroy and
that of the north under the rulers of the Gujarat branch.
The first had to carry operations against the Gangas, Nolam-
L Elliot, Eistonj. p. 7. 2. Ante pp. 190-192
3. Bhagalpur plates, LA., XV, p. 305.
4. cf. m Act iv.
5. E, I., IV, p. 66. 6* Elliot, of India 1.
248 THE MILITARY AND POLICE, AND THE FEUDATORIES
bas, Pallavas and the Cholas, and the latter had to guard the
■frontiers against the Gurjara Pratihtes. and their allies ' and
feudatories* ' Though not specifically mentioned in epigraphi-''
•cal records, there must have been an army of the east as
well to deal with the Vengi and Vanga rulers. Any corps
could be summoned in any direction in times of difficulty.
Thus the southern army under the Banavasi viceroy was
summoned by Amoghavarsba 1 to quell the rebellions in the
central and northern portions of the empire. All these
armies must have been mobilised for the memorable cam-
paigns in the south and north of Dhruva, Govinda III,
Jndra III, and Krshna III.;
The Indian armies in the time of the Rashlrakutas had
•ceased to be for chariot as a fighting force was
not used in our time. ■ We nowhere find any mention of
battalions of chariots either in epigraphical records or in the
accounts of the contemporary Muslim writers, 'The epigra-
phical documents, while describing the military victories result-
ing in the surrender of war materials, refer to elephants,
infantary and cavalry; chariots are mentioned only in
connection with the insignia of honour of distinguished gene-
rals and military officers/ P
vFrom contemporary Muslim writers we learn that the
Rashtrakuta, Pala, and Gurjara Pratihara armies were
famous for their infantry, elephant battalions and cavalry
respectively. ,t|Al Masudi says about the Balhara L e. the
Rashtrakutas king
* His horses and elephants are innumerable but his troops
are mostly infantry because the seat of his government is
mostly among mountains.^
The latter part of this statement is incorrect,
but it may have been probably intended to mean
that the infantry was mostly recruited from the mountainous
7. E. I.. VL p. 29.
8. See the Kalas inscription of Govinda IV. E. L, XIII. p. 334. ’*
ORGANISATION OF THE GAVALRY
249
^tribes inhabiting the Vindhya and -Sahya range's, as was later the
'Case in, the Maratha' Empire; . ;The- cavalry battalions : in ' the:
' ■ : ■ army could ■ not liave ■ been insignificant, for the Rash trak'u|a&:
had very often to face the Gurjara Pratihara armies, which
were particularly strong in that arm. Govinda 11 was a great
horseman and the lightning all- India movements of Dhruva,
Govinda III and Indra III presuppose a strong cavalry. The
Deccan had no good breed of horse, and the Rashtrakutas
were probably importing their army horses from Araoia, as
was later the practice of a number of states. It may be in-
teresting to note that most of the places mentioned in the NUi-
'•oakyamHa as famous for their breed of horse are trans-
Indian and that the first variety mentioned in that work is
tthat of the Tajiha n e. the Arabian horse. At the time of
Marco Polo the kingdom of Thana used to import its army
horses from Arabia; the traffic in horses was so great in the
13th and 14th centuries that no ship came to India without
horses in addition to other cargo.^*^^^ The Vijayanagara rulers
also had to rely on Arabia for their army horses. The same,
therefore, was almost certainly the case in our period as well.
This dependence on Arabia for the supply of the needs of the
cavalry may have been one of the main reasons that induced
the Rashtrakutas to maintain friendly relations with the
Muslim traders residing in their dominions.
The recruitment to the army was extended to all the
•classes ; even the Brahmanas are to be seen in the fighting
force. Bettegiri inscription of Krshna immortalises the
memory of a Brahmana named Ganaramma who laid down
his life while defending his village in a valliant manne^' The
Kalas inscription of Govinda describes the glorious
9. Cf. I Kadba plates, E. I., IV, p. 340,
10. XXII. 10. The reading Tarjika is obviously a mistake for Tajika,
IL Marco Polo, 11, p. 391. 12. E. I , XIII, p. 334.
13. E. L, Xin, p. 189.
230 THE MILITARY AND POLICE. AND THE FEUDATORIES
career and acliievements of two Brahmana generals RevMasa .
DiksEitaand Vlsottara Dikshita who are expressly described’,
as Somayajins and ornaments of the Brahmana' race. Kudar-
kota inscription records the erection of a building ' lor vedic .
studies by a Brahmana in memory of his' son Takshadatta^
who had died in war. Both the father and the son are
described in the record as familiar with the three Vedas/^^^
The Smriti rules do not seem to have been much respected
with reference to the selection of professions in our as also in
the earlier periods. It will be shown in chap. XIV how even
the Jains used to enlist themselves in the army and distin*
guish themselves on the battlefield.
A part of the army consisted of the hereditary forces .
and the forces of the feudatories. The Muslim writers seem
to be referring to the hereditary forces when they mention
the troops of the Indian kings, who came out to fight for their
king though they received no pay from The principle
of heredity, which was allowed to operate to some extent
in the appointments to civil offices seems to have governed
to a great extent the recruitment of the army as well. (Mania
hala or the hereditary force is very often referred to in our
epigraphical records as the most efficient and trustworthy arm/
Amoghavarsha I particularly extols the capture of the fort
of Kedal by Bankeya, because it was garrisoned by hereditary
{mania) ioTces. Both Sufcra^^^’ and Kamandaka^^^^ hold,
the mania hala in the highest esteem. It would seem that
fighting was followed as a hereditary profession in several
families or localities from where the hereditary forces were
recruited. Bankeya, the viceroy of Banavasi, has been des-
cribed as the leader of a hereditary force. It would thus
appear that the military captains who were often hereditary,
used to recruit their forces from the families of hereditary
14. E. L, Lp. 180. : 15. Elliot, L p. 7.
16. IV. 7,8-10, 17,. XVI1L4.£L
HEREDITARY FIGHTING FORCES
25t
fighters. The Artha&stra^^®^ refers to villages enioyiog ex-
emption from land tax ( ayudhiyaparihara ) on condition of
siippljnng a certain number of soldiers to the army. Thes'e'
villages were obviously tenanted by families from among::;
whom the mania bala was recruited. There may have been
similar villages 'in our period also, . which were assigned' : TO:':
the : members of the bala» . We can noW' w'eli, .under?*:
: stand the apparently incredible statement of the contemporary
■ Muslim writ.ers that the troops- in -India are not paid by Indian,
'.kings b.ii.t' maintain themselves .without receiving anything...
from«iherri. .
^ The Muslim writers, who make this statement, also add
that the members of the fighting forces of the Rashoakutas
w-ere paid regularly by their employers. It would, therefore,
seem that even the mania hala was paid a part of its salary
in cash by the Malkhed government. We have seen already
how the Rashtrakutas used to exercise rigorous administrative
control over their viceroys and feudatories, who had to send
all their collections to the imperial exchequer* This must
have enabled them, unlike many of their contemporaries, to pay
their troops directly in cash or kind at the army headquarters!.
Direct payment must have naturally increased the efficiency
of the fighting force. J The Rashtrakuta administration is thus
seen sharing the views of Kamandaka, a contemporary
writer, who points out that a force, which is given its wages
without delay, will fight with greater enthusiasm than a force
which is not promptly paid.^^®^
In contemporary Kashmir the soldiers, when out on duty, ‘
were paid an additional allowance as was the practice of
the East India Company for some time at the beginning of
its career. We do not know whether the practice in Kashmir
prevailed in the Deccan of our period as well. It is, however.
252 THE MILITARY AND POLICE. AND THE FEUDATORIES
not unlikely that the soldiers may have been paid, when out
■ s allowance by the Rashtrahutas
since such an allowance was calculated to infuse
greater enthusiasm in the army.
.L pensions to the dependents of
he soldiers hilled in war; a concrete case of such a provision
U> contained m one of the Bana records/'^’ > Another record
le same dynasty chronicles the death of an officer, who
was successful in driving away the enemy, but who fell
while pursuing him. as he was too much in advance of his
umn. His army put off their arms with which they had
station, and made a gift to yield an annual
mentfcir^ Tib ^ soldiers of this regi-
J^ent felt that the death of their gallant officer was due to
It in his
Z ; unlikely that even in such cases
the central government may have paid its own pension in
addition to the provision made by the members of the regi-
of untrained or
tints -ore appointed to
tram different units A cavahy instructor is refeLd to in
an mscripbon from Ron in Dharwar district. This record,
which probably belongs to the time of Araighavarsha I, re-
cords a gift of land by the illustrious Turagavendega
( Marveh in trammg horses ). when he was going out to
battle. The training of the recruits, however, was not as
arduous a task during our period as it is now. We have seen
c Iready how niost of our villages had their own militias, re-
cruited from their own inhabitants. These militias must
ave been the principal recruitment fields for the regular
thus possessed a certain amount of
military efficiency at the time of their enrolment. The Rashtra-
-ku^s could very well have afforded to set a' high test for
j,A.. XU,., p.;'39.;-- :; ; E. I., Xlt '''-IS?, ’
THE STATUS AND PRIVILEGES OF GENERALS 253
admissjon to the army , e. g. requiring the recruit to show his-
skill in archery or riding as was done by some of the Muslim
states in the I4th centuiy.
Most of the RashtrakOia emperors were themselves
disUnguished soldiers and must have been, at least in theory,
their own commanders -in -chief. Under them were a number
of generals, who may have been in charge of the different
corps, j The status of the general was as high as that of a
Mahasamanta entitled to the five great musical instruments.
They were allowed to use elephants and chariots, invested
wnth the robes of their office and assigned distinctive para-
sols. Here again we find epigraphical evidence corroborat-
ing the statement in the NUivakyamrf a. a contemporaiy work
on politics, that the generals were to be respected not only by
the feudatories but' also by the emperor, who was to invest
them wnh insignia of honour and dignity similar to his own.'”’
Baladhikria, danianayaka, and mahaprachandadandanayaka
are the main military designations that we corrie across in our
documents. The precise relative status of these is difficult to
determine. Several other designations also must have existed.
The fierce lord of the elephant force is mentioned in the
Kalas inscription and cavalry and infantry also must
have had their own separate officers of the different grades.
These latter are not referred to in our records but are men-
tioned iri the copper plates of the Gahadwal dynasty and in
.254 THE MILITARY AND POLICE. AND THE FEUDATORIES
from Manyakheta who had accompanied the camp of
Krshiia III during the southern campaigns of that emperor.
(The Rajafaraniim refers to ambulance' corps arrange*--'
■menils made for the soldiers in the Kashmir armies/ It
is very likely that similar arrangements must have been made
by the Rashtrakutas, though so far no evidence is forthcom-
ing to prove their actual existence. ^ The same observation
will probably be true about the Sappers and Miners corps.
Whe army must have ■ been accompanied by numerous'-.'^
camp followers. Quite a large battalion of cooks, 'washei-
men, sweepers, watermen, cartmen, etc., must have been
necessary to meet its various needs. It seems that in
Northern India slaves were employed for these menial duties; |
A1 Utbi informs us that the victory, which the Hindus had
almost secured against Mahmud of Ghazni in the battle of
Ohind was lost by them owing to the revolt of the slaves in
the household, who attacked them in the rear while the
battle was at the critical stage. do not know whether
this unsound practice was followed />y the Rashtrakutas in
their military administration. (The reputation for great
efficiency, which the army possessed, and the numerous
victories that stand to its credit would suggest that it was all
composed of free men ; slaves could hardly have found a
place in it even for menial duties. ^
Wives and other female relatives of the emperors used to
accompany them even in distant expeditions* Amoghavarsha I
was bom, while his father’s camp was pitched at the feet
of the Vindyas, during his campaign in the Central India.P®^
An inscription from Tiruvurrur records a gift from the mother
of Krshna III made to a local It is interesting to
^,note that Kamandaka has no objection against this unsound
28. Vin, 741. 29. Elliot, History, If pp. 33-4.
, 30 E. L XVIIL p. 244.
3i. Inscriptions from Madras Presidency, CKingleput, No. 1048
STRENGTH OF THE RASHTRAICGTA ARM\'
255
practice and it is, therefore, not unlikely that it raay have
been fairly common in our period, '^Our records do not
■ enlighten us as to whether officers and soldiers were allowed
to be accompanied by their families when the armies were
■ out on campaigns. In the case of ordinary soldiers this must
have been an impossibility, and it would seem that only high '‘j
officers and generals have been shown this indulgence.
■Among the causes' that contribute' to the weakness of ^ the
"fighting force, Kamandaka mentions the presence of w^oraen
'.in the It would thus appear that strict and .efficient ■"
military administrations of our period were not permitting any
officers to be accompanied by their families when out on
■campaigns. The only exception made seems to have been
in favour of the emperors and perhaps the generals.
No evidence is available to determine the exact strength
of the Rashtrakuta army.^ Muslim writers simply attest to its
high prestige, but they are silent about its numerical strength*
A1 Masudi informs us that each of the four armies that
were maintained in the four directions by the Gurjara-
Pratiharas was seven to nine lakhs in strength. The
reports of the strength of the armies of the various states
in India that had reached the Muslim traders and travel-*
lers were often exaggerated; Sulaiman says^'^^^ that the
•elephant force of the Palas was 50,000 strong, but Ibn
Khurdadba, a contemporary of his. observes that it was
only 5000 strong. A1 Masudi no doubt states that the
Bengal elephant force was reputed to be 50,000 strong, but
adds that the reports in these matters were exaggerated.
He refers to the report that there were 15,000 washermen in
the camp of the Bengal ruler, in proof of his contention that
no strict reliance could be placed on what one heard about
these matters. The statement of A1 Masudi that each of the
32, XIV, 69. 33, XVIil, 45.
34. Eiliofe, I. p. 23, 35. Ibid. p. 5, '
36, Ibid, p. 14.
256 THE MILITARY AND POLICE. AND THE FEUDATORIES
four armies of the Gurjara«Pratlharas was about eight lakhs in-
strength may be similarly exaggerated. It is, however, quite-
■likely that' Al M as udi may have, based', his statement about':
the strength' of each of the Guriara-Pratlhara , , armies on The-
report of the 'strength of only one of therm, which: may have-
been strengthened, in -' numhers hy the temporary mobfe
lisation of large forces from other fronts or armies. The
total fighting force of the Gurjara-Pratiharas may have been
a million or a million and a quarter. The Rashtrakutas had’
more than once crossed swords with them successfully and
their forces too could not have been muck less in numbers*
Their civil administration was largely manned by military
officers, and, therefore, it is not in the least unlikely, that they
might have so arranged the matters as to raise easily^' an effi-
cient fighting force of about a million, whien critical battles
had to be fought at several fronts. The V'ijayanagar Empire
of later period, with approximately equal resources, had an
army of about a million/^^^
Forts
Writers on the Nitis'astra devmte a large space to the-
description of the various types of forts ( durga) and declare
that the strength of the army ^ becomes innmenseiy increased
if it can take their shelter. cThe Deccao, over which the
Rashtrakutas were ruling, affords ideal opportunities for the
construction of mountain forts. It is, therefore, strange
that neither Muslim chroniclers nor epigraphical documents-
should give any information about or description of the forts
of the period . ) iThis silence will have to be interpreted as
accidental. The Konur inscription of Ainoghavarsha
refers in glowing termsj to the great feat of Bankeya in cap-
turing the fort of Kedajfa from the enem^^; it is, therefore,
clear that the value of the f<)rts was well understood by the
37. Moreland, India at the Beaiji of Akbar.'pf. 16—17.
. 38, E. I. VI. p. 29. ■ \
A NEGLECTED NAVY ' 257
, Raslitrakutas. We may' presume that they must have ': built ■
several forts on the hills, which were plentiful in theirs domi-:
nions. The fort of Morkhind in Nasik district is ' one of ' the
forts ■ in Maharashtra, the antiquity of which goes back to our
period; when the Wani^Dindori^*'^^ and' Radhanptir^^^^ plateS'
were issued by Govinda III, he was encamped in that forti
Many other forts in the Deccan, which were repaired by
■ Shivaii in his war of independence, may have been as old as
our period, it is almost certain that, the Rashtrakutas must
have built several forts in their Empire, though unfortunately
we know nothing about them at present^ ■ ■
Navy
f Neither Muslim accounts nor epigraphical records give
us any information about the navy of the Empire. Even the
grants of the S'ilaharas, the Konkan feudatories of the Rashtra-
kutas, give no clue to the condition or the strength of the navy.^’
There was no necessity of the naval force to carry on the
warfare with the Gangas, Pailavas, Chalukyas, Palas, and the
Gudara Pratiharas, who were the principal foes of the Em-
pire. The Arabs, with whom the Rashtrakutas used to
come into contact, were a maritime power, but they were al-
ways on terms of friendship with them, and this may have
rendered the maintenance of a strong navy unnecessaiy.
From Abu Zaid, a contemporary writer, we learn that some
of the kings on the western coast, e. g. the king of Cape Kamo-
rin, used to have their navies; it is, therefore, not unlikely that
our Empire too may have had a naval force. But it is not in
the least likely that its strength could have been anything
.like the strength of the army.
Weapons of War
It is to be regretted that the weapons of war should
have been nowhere mentioned in our records in the
39. L A., XI, p. 157. 40. E. L. VI., p. 242,
IVs*
manner
258 THE MILITARY AND POLICE. AND THE FEUDATORIES
of the Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta/^” His- j,
torians of Mahmud of Ghazni mention swords, spears, bows,
arrows and maces as the weapons used by the opposing (
Hindu forces;^^” S^These were also the principal weapons of |
fighting in contemporary Kashmir. It is, therefore, clear that |
these must have been the weapons mainly used by the Deccan |
armies of our period?' Stone-throwmg-machines are mentioned
in the Mah^harata ; they were used by Alexander the Great *
and the Muslim invaders of Sindh. But neither epigraphical
records, nor Mahomedan writers refer to the use of such
machines by the Hindu forces of the time. They were, how- ^
ever, used by the Kashmir armies, and were known as
‘ yantrotpala ’ i.e. machines (to throw) stones.*'**' It is, there-
fore, not unlikely that the use of these machines may have
been known in the south as well. The rules of fighting as
laid down by Manu prohibit the use of poisoned arrows; it ;
will be soon shown that not all these rules were observed in ;
bur period and we know that in contemporary Kashmir, ^
arrows used to be besmeared with a certain ointment in order
to set ablaze the camp of the enemy.***' It is, therefore, not
likely that the arrows used were always pure and unbesmeared,
it was customary in Kashmir to supply the soldiers with heavy 1
armours**®’ to protect them while fighting; we may well
presume that similar protection was available to the soldiers
in the Deccan of our period.
Rules of Fighting
[The rules of righteous fighting laid down by some of the
earlier writers had become dead letter durbg our period. The
Var had ceased to be a concern merely of the fighters. Whole
villages were often destroyed**®’ and the loot of property could
not be avoided. ’ Express reference to the depredations of war
I 41. C. 1. 1., Ill, p. 1. Elliot, History, II, p. 30.
>*43. Rajataranglni, VIII. 2530. 44. J6tcZ, VII, 983.
45. Ibid, VIII. 3294. 46. E. I., VI, p. 162.
DEPARTURE FROM IDEAL RULES
259
is made in a Yadava Grant of the 11th contury/'^^^ One of
the articles of treaty concluded between Nayapala and Karna,
at the instance of the^ Budhist monk Atisa, was to restore or
-compensate for the property seized by either side with
the 'exception of the articles of food/'^^^ When Chacha
captured the fort of Sikka, he killed 5000 soldiers and
made the inhabitants slaves and prisoners of This
procedure was in direct contradiction of the rule in:-
Maniismriti, VII, 92. Kiranapura and Chakrakottya were burri-
when they were captured by^ the hostile forces and'
Manyakheta was plundered when it capitulated to the
Parmara ruler S rl Flarsha.^^^^ Numerous examples of a
•similar nature areVecorded by Kalhana/^^^ Ut isT therefore,
clear that the rules of humane and equitcible warfare laid
down by earlier writers were more often violated than observed
during our period throughout the length and breadth oF Indiab
It is interesting to note that the practice of the age is in con-'
formity with the theories to be seen in contemporary works,
Kamandaka boldly declares that one need not refrain from
the destruction of the enemy even by unfair and immoral
means/^^^ and even the Jain ascetic writer Somadeva, is
compelled to countenance crooked {kntayuddha) and treacherous
(tushmm yuddhaY^^^ warfare.
Police Department
ifrhe policing arrangements of villages were under the
supervision of the headmen. The village watchman was in
the immediate charge of the work, and it was his business to
detect all the crimes, especially the thefts, that may be
committed in the village. If a theft or robbery was committed,
he had either to find out the culprit or to trace his foatsteps ta
J. P. T. S., L. p. 9.
E, !„ IX. p, 51.
47, I. A., XII, p. 123, 48.
49. Elliot. I, p. 142. 50.
51. E I.;X!n. p. 180.
52. RajataranginL IV, 294, VI, 351, VIL 1493 etc.
■53. XVIIL 54. -54, XXX. 90--91
260 THE MILITARY AND POLICE. AND THE FEUDATORIES i g
a neighbouring village; otherwise he was compelled to com~^ g
pensate for the loss. His liability was, of course, hmited by 1
bis means and it was based on a shrewd suspicion that he
himself might be the thief or in league with him. If the
watchman refused to pay. his grain-share at the time of the g
harvest was cut off, his service-land was transferred to his |
nearest relative, or he was fined, imprisoned and given
corporal punishment, the stolen goods could not be ^
either recovered or full compensation for them could not be
exacted from the watchman, the whole community or the
government had to compensate the victim. ,
This communal and government liability has been
recognised by several writers. Vishnu says that if the king is- :
unable to recover stolen goods, he must pay their value out of
his treasury. The rules in the Artha^^stra are more
detailed. Kautalya says, ‘ When any part of merchandise
has been lost or stolen, the headman of the village shall make
up the loss. Whatever merchandise is lost or stolen in the
intervening places between two villages, shall be made good
by the superintendent of the pasture. If there is no pasture-
land, then the officer called Choraraijuka would be
responsible. Failing him, the boundary and neighbouring
villages shall make up the loss, and if the property cannot
be ultimately traced, the king shall ultimately make good
the loss out of his own treasury. That this communal
and government liability, which has been admitted even by
Kautalya, was actually enforced in practice is shown by a 12th
century inscription from Rajaputana, which embodies an
agreement on the part of the townsmen of Dhalopa, that they
wmuld be responsible for any thefts that might occur in their
town.' The king of the place had made the arrangements
about the watch and ward of the place^^*’ '!The principle of
the communal responsibility was thus recognised by early
53. AlteW, Tillage Communities, p. 59,
56. Ill, 67, 57. IV. 13. 58. E, L, XI. p. 40.
POLICE ARRANGEMENT IN MGFFUSIL
261
'Writers like Vishnu and Kautalya, and' was actually enforced
in Rajputana of the 1 2th. and' in the Deccan of the 17thfand the
iSth centuries. It is, therefore, very likely that it was enforced,
in oi|r period as well; . '
- Manu lays down that there should be established police
stations in the kingdom, one being intended for 2, or 4, or 5
villages. ' . Similar arrangements probably existed in our
period. The police officers were known- in our period as
Choroddharanikas or Dandapasikas. ■ The former are actaaliy
'mentioned in the Antroli-Charoli copper plates of Karkkarajao'f
'Cjuiarat,^®^^ and the latter in several Valabhi recordsV^^”^ That
only one Rashtrakuta record just mentioned should make refe-
rence to the police officers is probably to be explained on the
assumption that it was not deemed necessary to mention these
officers in the copper- plate grants creating alienated villages,
as these officers had no powers to interfere with the fiscal
iinatters. There cannot be any doubt that theChoroddharanikas
were fairh^ common in our period. Chola records of our
period mention watchmen, whose duty it was to keep a watch
over the paths; it is not unlikely that similar officers may
have, been employed in the Rashtrakuta dominions as well
|;£Jrimes, that could not be locally detected, must have been
investigated by these Choroddharanika and Dandapasika
officers. It is very likely that these officers worked under the
directions of the Rashtrapatis and Vishayapatis, who being
also at the head of the local troops, could have afforded
military assistance to the police department, in case it was
necessary for the apprehension of desperate robbers or dacoits,}
Section B: The Feudatories
Feudatory states are not a new feature in the Indian
polity introduced b 3 ;- Lord Wellesley. Since very early times
59. Vn, 114. 60, J. B. B. R. A.S., XVI. p. 106.
61. E, g. ValabKi plates of Dhruvasena. dated 526 A. D. V, p. 204
62, S. I. I., n. Nos, 23 and 24.
262 THE MILITARY AND POLICE. .AND THE,. FEUDATORIES
empires in India, have generally consisted partly of directly
^administered areas, ■ and partly -of territories under feudatory
states, which were allowed a large amount of autoriomy .Tn ; '
return for their allegiance and tribute to the imperial power..; ;
Writers like Manu have laid down that even when an enemy .:
king is conquered or killed in war, the conqueror should not
annex his state, but should appoint a near relative of the former
ruler as his own nominee to the vacant throne, imposing his
own conditions upon him; The Mauryan, Gupta, Vardhana
and the Gurjara-Pratlhara Empires show that this principle
was very largely followed in practice in Ancient India. Even
foreign observers have noted this peculiar feature of the Indian
polity. Writing in about 850 A. D., Sulaiman says.: — ‘ When
a king subdues a neighbouring state in India, he places over
it a man belonging to the family of the fallen prince, who
carries on the government in the name of the conqueror. The
inhabitants would not suffer it to be otherwise. *(^T he Rashtra-
kutas also usually followed this principle, and as a result, the
empire included a large number of feudatory states. Examples
of attempts at annexation are not unkrK>wn; thus Dhruva I
had imprisoned the Ganga king and appointed his eldest son
Stambha as the imperial viceory over the newly annexed
province. Govinda III is described in the Baroda plates
of Karkka^^*^^ as the uprooter of the royal families; ' Karhad
plates of Krshna III were issued when that king was encamp-
ed at Melpadi in South Arcot district, engaged in creating:
livings for his dependents out of the newly conquered southern
territories, and in taking possession of all the property of the-
defeated feudatories. fit must be, therefore, admitted
that some of the more ambitious rulers of our dynasty sought
to set at naught the principle of non-annexation ; but it has
to be added that their efforts were one and all unsuccessfuL..
Gangawadi could not be directly administered as an annexed
DIFFERENT GRADES OF FEUDATORIES
263
province for more than 30 years, and the ■ portions of , Tamil:;
country that were annexed by Krshna III were recovered hy
the Cholas immediately after his death.
■ ;The number of the feudatories representing the conquered'
royal houses was further enlarged by the creation of new
ones as a reward for military service. ■ Most of these used, . to
be originally appointed only as governors with the feudatory
privilege of the Pallchamahasabdas, but the principle of
hereditary -transmission of office used to convert them soon
into full-fledged feudatories:^
Some of the protected states like Hyderabad, Baroda and
Kolhapur, have their own feudatories at present ; a similar
practice prevailed in our period as well. In 813 A.D., Govindalll
was the emperor ; his nephew Karhka was the feudatory
ruler over southern Gujarat, and Shl-Budhavarsha ofSalukika
family was governing Siharika 12 as a sub -feudatory, to
which position he was raised by the younger brother of
Karkka,^^^ The Rattas of Saundatti, who were the feuda-
tories, first of the Rashtrakutas and then of the later Chalu-
hyas, had their own sub-feudatories. Naturally, therefore
the status and powers of the feudatories could not have been
the same in all cases, a circumstance which reminds us of
the present-day Indian polity, where also different ruling
princes enjoy different powers and status. The important
feudatory chiefs were entitled to "the use of the five musical
instruments, the names of which, according to a Jain writer,
named Revakopyachara, were SVinga (horn), S'ankha (conch),
Bheri ( drum ), Jayaghanta (the bell of victory) and Tam-
mala. They were also allowed the use of a feudal
throne, fly whisk, palanquin, and elephants. Many of the sub-
feudatories on the other hand may not have enjoyed any
ruling powers at all, and may have been designated
femantas or Rajas only by courtesy. In many Canarese
66. E. L. Ilf, p. 53. 67. I, A., XIV, p. 24.
68. h A., XII, p. 96.
264 THE MILITARY AND POLICE, AND THE FEUDATORIES
■inscriptions even.. sub -divisional officers, are . seen . Laving' the. ■■'
■title of rcM or king. It is probably on account of this cir- ^
'Cumstance that ■ we read - in the, - S'abara-bhashya on the .:
Mimansasutra II, 3, Sthat the title tajan was used by the
■Andhras even, with reference to a Kshatriya who wm not -:,
■engaged in ruling over a town or country, and that Kumariia, ■
:.a writer belonging to our period, amplifies the statement.- by
-observing that the term’ Andhra has been used with reference --
to- the southerners in general.. .
Feudatory states had to entertain an ambassador from
the imperial court. He exe.rcised general powers of super-,.:
vision, and control and occupied a position corresponding -to ,,
that of the Political Agent or Resident of the present
He was received, as merchant . Suiaiman informs us, withv
■■ profound respect that was. naturally expected to be -shown- :,
-to-the representative of the paramount power. He had under -
him a number of spies for fishing out information; the thousands
of courtesans with which Amoghavarsha I is known to have
■covered the courts of hostile kings^®"^^ must have been
intend for a similar purpose, and been working under the.:.'
direction of the imperial ambassador. | The various kinds of
spies, mentioned in the Arthasastra, were probably not un-
known to the Deccan of our period.
( The control, which the paramount power exercised, dif-
fered partly with the status of the feudatory and partly with
the strength of the paramount power. General obedience to
the orders of the imperial power was expected and exacted.
Attendance at the imperial court was required not only on
-ceremonial occasions, but also at periodical intervals; other-
wise we cannot understand how our literary writers and
epigraphical documents should be always describing the
imperial courts as full of feudatories. A regular tribute had
to be paid; we find Govinda III touring about in the southern
parts of his empire for the purpose of collecting the tributes
DIFFERENT DEGREES OF PARAMOUNT CONTROL 265
due from his feudatories. Special presents were expected
on the occasions of' festivity in the imperial household like the
birth of a son or marriaged^^-^ As in medieval Europe,, they ha.d
to supply' a certain number of troops to their feudal lorel and"
to participate in his imperial campaigns. Narasimha Chalukya,
.a feudatory of Indra III, had taken a prominent part in tha
latter*S" campaign against the Guiiara-Pratlhara empe,ror,
Mahipala.^^^^ The Gujarat Rastrakuta viceroyait5' 'WaS'
•created as a hind of bulwork against the Gurjara*,P,:ratl“
haras. The Chakikyas of Vengi had to supply forces' tO'
■the Rasiitrakiitas in their wars against the Ganges/''^' Froni '
a Bangalore museum Ganga record we learn that Nagat-
tara, a feudatoiy of the Gangas, had to participate with his
own forces, at the bidding of his sovereign, in a feud betv^een
Ayyapadeva and Viramahendra wherein he lost his life.
This practice prevailed in northern India also; Chatsu
inscription of Baladitya^^^^ and the Kahla plates of Kalachuri
Sodhadeva^^^^ show that the ancestors of these feudatories
had to participate in the wars of their feudal lord, Mihira
Bhoja, with the Palas of Bengal. Much of the confusion that
arises, while marshalling the facts of ancient Indian
history, is due to the habit of the subordinate feudatories of
claiming as their own the successes which were really won
by their feudal lords.
: The measure of internal autonomy that was enjo\’sd by
■ the feudatories was not uniform as observed already. The
bigger among them like the Gujarat Rashtrakutas anc the
Konkan Sklaharas enjoyed large amount of internal autonomy.
They could create their own sub -feudatories/'^’ Subject to
The payment of a certain amount of tribute they haic full
70, i. A., XL, P. 126. 71. JSfitivdkydmrita XXX, 32«
72. Karnatakahhashdhhushana, introduction, p. XIV.
73, !. A,. XII. p. 160. 74. Ante pp. 91-94.
75, E. I., VI. p. 49. 76. E. I., XII, p. 101.
77. E. L, VII, p. 85. 78, E. L, III, p. 53.
266 THE MILITARY AND POLICE. AND THE .FEUDATORIES
powers over their revenues, They could assign taxes;,^^®^.'^;
alienate villages/®®^ and even sell without the sane*:';
tion of the imperial power. The position of these feudatories' .
was 'probaly .as high as that of 'KumOTapala of Assam and
Dhruvasena of Valabhi.in the court of Harsha, / How slender":
was the control which the proud feudatories were disposed
to. tolerate in .our period can. be Judged. from the following ex-.,
tract from a letter of Akkham, the Lohana chief of Brahmana»v.
bad, to- Chacha, who had. called upon him. to recognise .his-
sovereignty—*! have never shown, you opposition or quarrelled., ,
.wdth you. Your letter of friendship was received and. I was':'
■much exalted by it Our- friendship shall remain and no
.animosity shall arise. I will comply with your ; orders. You,
are at liberty -to reside at any - place within the .territory of'-
.Brahmanabad. If you have resolved to go in any other
direction, there is nobdy to - prevent you or' molest you.
I possess such power . and influence ' that v , can' / ' render
Smaller feudatories enjoyed far less autonomy. Not only;
.could they create no sub -feudatories, but they had not - evem;
■the "power of alienating any villages^ When Budhavarsha, a; '
Chaluhya feudatory of Govinda III, desired to give a : village:-:
to a Jain sage who had made him free from the evil influence
of Saturn, he had^ to supplicate for . the : permission of his
Feudal lord/®'^^ Sahkaragana, a feudatory of Dhruva, is ^^een .
taking his sanction at the time of alienating a village. The
necessity of imperial permission for such alienations is proved
by the records of other contemporary dynasties both in the
south and north. Virachola and Prithvipati II, feudatories
of the Choi as, had to take imperial sanction before they could
79. I.. A., Xlll p. 136.
80. S«e the copper-plate grants of the Gujarat RSshtrakutas.
81. Tilgundi plates, 1083 A, D., E. I., HI. p. 310.
82. Elliot, I., p. 146. 83. 1. A., XII, p. 15.
84. E. 1., IX, p. 195.
H A RD LOT ' '.OF ■ THIRD-RATE : FEUDATORIES
267 '
; alienate villages in; charity. ' The early Kadambas also
exercised a similar control over their feudatories/^®^ In the
" Giiriara-Prailhara empire even the feudatories in distant places-
like Kathiawar had to take imperial permission for -such tran-
sactions ; the Political ■ Agents* of the imperial power had'
to sanction such ' alienations on „ behalf of their suzerains by --
authenticating the documents .by- their signatiires/^^^ The-
same practice- ' prevailed in Nepal, as is clear from- a yth.
centmy inscription of Sivadeva/^®^ '
irhird-rate feudatories felt the heels of the imperial shoes-,
still more severely;>^ In the Kapadwanj" plates of Krshna l/^^^
we find the emperor, /giving away in'; charity a village'
situated within the jurisdiction of his feudatory Mahasamanta-
prachandadandanayaha : Chandragupta, ■ In the Kadarof
inscription of Somesvara, we find a feudatory chief agreeing
to pay annually five golden Gadyanakas for a certain charity, .
because he was commanded to do so- by Somesvarabhatta,
the premier of the Imperial power/^^^ |It would be thus seen;
that the smaller feudatories had to remain'' in the dread, not
only of their emperor,bui also- of his ministers and ambassadors'^.
The feudatories w^ere subjected to a number of indignitiest
if they dared to rebel and were defeated in war. ^ Sometimes- -:
they were compelled to do the menial work, as was the lot of
the Vengi ruler who had to sweep the stables of his conqueror -
Govinda They had to surrender their treasures-,,
dancing girls, horses and elephants, to the imperial power as a
punishment for their disloyalty. , , Even' , their wives were
sometimes put into prison and the marriage -of Chacha with the
widow of his feudatory Akkham would ^ show that the less -
cultured princes used to subject them to further indignities and
85. E. L, IV. p. 82; S. I. L. II, p. 369. 86. 1. A. VI, p. 32.
87. E. L, IX. p. 9. 88. L A., XHI. p. 98,
89, E. L, I. p. 53. 90. I. A., I. p. 141.
9L E. L. XVIIL p. 248.
268 THE MILITARY AND POLICE. AND THE FEUDATORIES^
. ^humiliations. Attempts at' annexation, though, rare, were not,
.. unknown.' .
' If the central government became weak, the feudatories
^ used to be practically independent. A'*They could then exact.'
""their own terms for supporting the fortunes of their titular
•• 'Cmperor; the commentary on the Ramapalacharit shows how
RamapMa of Bengal had to pay a heavy price in order to get
the '.support of ' his feudatories for winning the throne.
Their position became still more strong if there was a war of
:' succession; they could then take sides and,' try to put their
nominee on the imperial throne, thus playing the role of the
king-makers. On such occasions they could pay off their old
scores by dethroning their old tyrant and imposing their own
terms on the new successor. Dhruva, Amoghavarsha I and
Amoghavarsha III had owed their thrones to a considerable
degree to the support of their feudatories. The weakness of
the position of Amoghavarsha 1 was to a large extent due to
the fact that he owed his throne to his feudatories, like the
cousin ruler of the Gujarat branch, who would not brook the
former degree of the imperial control.
92. Banerji, The Falas ofBennal, p. 85.
CHAPTER XIII
^ ^ Religious Condition
xLe Hindu revival, begun in the north under the • SWga ■■
: patronage, reached its culmination in India as a whole during '
our p*^riod. There were a few exceptions; Sindh continued to ■■
be largely under the Buddhist influence down to the beginning
of our age as the Chachanama testifies; in Bengal Buddhism
coiittinued to flourish down to its conquest by the Muslims
towards the end of the 12th century. In the Deccan itself
the revival of Hinduism did not in the least affect the pros-
pects of Jainism; it continued to be the religion of a strong
minority throughout our period. That sect was destined to
make rapid progress in Gujarat in the 12th century under the
influence of Hemachandra and his pupil and patron king Ku-
marapala* In spite of this local ascendency of Buddhism and
Jainism in some of the provinces of India, it must be, however,
admitted that the period under review marked a distinct and
decisive advance of the reformed Hinduism. The discomfi-
ture of Buddhism can be regularly traced from a much earlier
period. It is true that in spite of state patronage of Hinduism
Buddhism ’continued to prosper in the Gupta age, as the i
accounts of Fa Hsien and the sculptures of the Gupta school
of Buddhist art at Sarnath, which represents the indigenous
Buddhist art at its best, clearly show. But the tide had turned;
and its effects were to be clearly seen in the seventh century.
In spite of Harsha, Yuan Chwang found that the Punjab,
and the Northern United Provinces, which were definitely
Buddhist at the time of Fa Hsien, had slipped back into
heterodoxy. Sacred places of Buddhists like Kosambi,
STavasti, . Kapilavastu, Kusinagara, and VaiMi were either*
270
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
did not visit the Deccan because me pi
there were subscribing to bad ^
1. Watters. I, pp. 366. 377. 11, pp. 125-^. 63. i ; ;
2. Watters, II, p. 115. ^ ,
3. Talsakusu 1-tsing. A Recor d of Buddhist Religion, g. 1 5
’(I'ild mins or populated by heretics; even in
.-Buddhism was not supreme.
The new ground gained in the interval was otj;Qi.jgg
■^JCanauj, where the number of the Viharas increased
lO^^t this was due to the temporary impetus given
' -patronage of Harsha and did not represent the ten(h.^ 1^^^,
the ageV^Buddhism had realised in the days of Yuan C
trie , ^
and 1-tsing that its days in India were numberea :
'ne.
Chinese pilgrims record a number of superstitious
V.ininesc pus- - , v,.
current among the Buddhists themselves, about the dt
disappearance of their religion from India. At Budi.^f
itself the brethern believed that their faith w'ould disa.-^
when certain images of Avalokitesvara in that locality wou. 4 ,
be completely buried under sand, and some of them were
ilready more than chest-deep under that material in the
seventh century A.D/'’ A garment alleged to have been
worn by the Buddha himself was shown to Yuan Chwang at
Purushapura or modem Peshawar; it was in a sadly tattered
condition and the monks believed that the religion would
perish the moment the garment was no more. l-tsing,who
came in the thirdi quarter of the 7th century, saw very cleady
what way the things were moving; he emphasises the
necessity of a synthesis of the. various sects if the rapid
decline of the religion was to be arrested. In the Deccan
and Karnataka, Buddhism was never very strong; in the 1st
and 2nd centuries B.C. and A.D., epigraphic
evidence from the Wfistern India shows, it had several
centres along the W^tern Coast ; but they had begun to
decline much earlier than our period. , The pious Fa Hsien
BUDDHISM IN .DECCAN
271
laot ' follow ' the Sramanas and the law of the Buddha/' . He
had heard only a hearsay . report ; but it could not' have" been
altogether erroneous. The Vakatakas who were ruling ' ■
Northern Maharashtra were orthodox Hindus ; the founder '
of , the house ^d performed a ntimbCTbFVsdic sacrifices dike
■Ainishtoma, Aptoryama and As mmedha and his descendants .
were either Shaivites or Vaishnavites, but never Buddhists.-'^'* ' ^
Earlier rulers of the Chalukya house, which subsequently/rose'',' ' -
-to power, were again orthodox Hindus, who prided thernseives > '
on Laving performed a number of Vedic sacrifices like Agni-
chayana, Vajapeya, Asmmedha, Bahusurmrm ^
Buddhism, therefore, naturally^^^ began to decline. ' ' Yuan , ■
Chwang records that in Konkan there were 100 monasteries,
but heretics were very numerous; the case could not have
been much different in Maharashtra which, though a much a
bigger province, had also the same number of monasteries/^^
The number of Buddhist monks in both the provinces was
only 6000. The strength of Buddhism lay in its cloiistered
population, for there was nothing to mark off distinctive^^
lay Buddhist population from the ordinary Hindus* Any
one could become an apasaka by reciting the triple formula;
the church did not care either to prescribe a special form of
recognition, or to regulate religious ideas and habits and
metaphysical beliefs of the laymen, or even to prohibit them
from becoming at the same time lay followers of some other
church/^^ The total Buddhist population in the Deccan at
the middle of the 7th century could not have been much
more than 10,000, and that number may have further dvr-ndled
; down by the beginning of our period.
4. Legge. Fa Hsient A Becord of Buddist Kingdoms, Chap. XXXV,
I 5. Fleet, a L I., Ill, pp. 236-7.
■ :■ '6, Mahahiita inscriptian of Mangalis^’a, 1. A., /XIX, p, 17.
r 7, Watters, II. p. 239.
B, OMenberg : The Buddha, pp> 162-3, 382-4.
I t
272
religious condition
y
t I. a nolewoiths fact that *0 revival of Hinduism id.
/ I ilTrtuncsof jinisminthcDecjn. Tins may
/ not anect tne 10 Firstlv the religion was
be ascribed ^ under the early Kadambas.
/' rS'ar STtlie '»eslcm Gangas. Many of the R*.-
Skings’veie di.ms.lvea Jain, and so
^ioysLd g.a»als. ^XTimiral. TS
“Id “dt°m''lto'°SamantaV>l.adra, Akeda^eva,
vSinIda
Gur.achandra. and Painpa. eeneral charac*
(Wide ."■‘.-""tSITltiecudans
“‘dlelinthe S' mharadiiniasa . “
and tnere, in uie q' „'a,kUa is alleged to have ordered a
lengend^ character including women and children;
r4 iws r twi
wliham plates of Nandivarman which record
T^'^'lntof avillageto Brahmanas after the destruction of
Hs^rodoirseijm W »! *>“
? X X“ But iese cases were mther exceptional and
Pandya rulers, u p ^ century
a— *•' •“
diffrart dities tvere the manifestations of the same i™e
"an<l.».t.heir ^ O^rivalS
Tg‘tSldy fodlSI dyuIo-. who des^bes' him^tf
iX Performer of the Asvamedha sacrifice, is known to,
9. See Chapter XVI. section B.
u. i- A"
mean immoral persons as well.
i ' '
HARMONIOUS RELATIONS AMONG 'DIFFERENT SECTS 27%
have given a munificent: 'gift for the maintenance of a Jaina
cslablishinent/^“^ Even when he was an avowed Buddhist,
Harsha used to worship in public Hindu deities like the Sun
'and'S^iva.'^^''*^ . . Karha Suvarnavarsha of the Gujarat^ branch^
himself a staunch Saiva, had given a field to a Jain Vihara.,al:„
jNaosari..^^^'^^ ' Amoghavarsha I was undoubtedly a follower
•of '■.Jainism,, and yet he was such an- ardent believer in,, the
Hindu goddess Malialakshml, that he actually cut off one of
:his fingers and offered it to her, being led to believe that an,
epidemic, from which his kingdom was ■ suffering, . would
vanish Eiway by that sacrifice. Dantivarman of the Gujarat
branch, himself a Hindu, gave a village to a Buddhist
Vihara.^’‘^'^ Brahmanas of Ballal family at Mulgund offered
a field to a Jain Monastery in 902 The*, records of
the Rattas of Saundatti are very interesting in this respect,
Mahasamanta Prthvirama, a contemporary of Krshna 11, is
known to have erected a Jain temple in c. 875 A.D. His
grandson was also a Jain, but the latter s grandson was a
follower of Flinduism and is known to have given a grant of
12 nimrtanas of land to his preceptor, who was well-versed in
the three Vedas. His son Srlsena is known to have built a
Jain temple. The Belur inscription of Jayasimha, dated 1022
A.I)., is extremely interesting. The donor Akkadevi is des-
cribed in this document as practising the religious obser-
vances prescribed by the rituals of Jina, Buddha, Ananta i,
Vishnu and Rudra. The temple that she had erected was
for Tripurusha f. c. Vishnu, Brahma and S'ankara. This in-
teresting lady had, not only made a synthesis of Hindu cults
but also of all the main religious movements of the time, viz.
Buddhism, Jainism, Vaishnavism and Saivlsm. Another
12, 1. A.. VII, 34. 13. Smith. Early History, p. 364.
,,,',14,.' 821 A.D.* E. L, XXL
15, Sanjaii Copper-plates, E. LXVIIL p. 248.
16, E. I., VI, p. 292. 17. J. B. B. R. A. S., X= 193.
18. ■ L A.. XVni, 274.
^fffcT \€ ' , :
274
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
document .belonging to. the same centuiy.^^^V opens with a"
laudation of Jina, followed immediatelj;^ by that of Vishnu. •
The inscription informs us that at the desire of the king, the
Lord Naga¥arma, caused to be built a ..lemple.of .Jina, Vishnu,
vlsvara and -the Saints. ^ What a clear example of wide ■ tolera-
tion ! A still more interesting case is to be found recorded in
:,lhe Dambal .stone inscription .from Dharwar district' ber'
longing to the llth century/^^^ The donors were the follower^
of a S'aiva sect called Balanju; the grant drafted by them
opens with a salutation to Jain mumndras^ followed by another
to the Buddhist Goddess Tara and the purpose of the charity
was to provide funds for a temple of Tara and Buddha. The
: above examples will make it abundantly, clear that, the 'view'^''
of Prajapati-smriti/®^^ that a person should not visit a Jaina
temple or cremating ground after partaking of a Sraddha feast
would have found no acceptance in the Deccan of our period.
Such examples were not confined to the Deccan alone.
Govindachandra, Gahadwal king of Kanauj, himself a Saivite,
was married to a Buddhist princess KumaradevI, and is known
to have given six villages for the maintenance of the monks in
the Jetavana of Sravasti.^^®^ Madanapala of Bengal, himself a
Buddhist, gave the gift of a village to a Brahmana for reciting
.the Mahabharata to his queen Chitramatika.^^^^ It seemed as
if the people had re^^p^^Mhere.was no cultural difference
between the three religions, and that a man may follow any
one of them or make a combination, suitable to his own indivi-
dual temperament, of the acceptable elements of any or all of
them. The case seems to Lave been somewhat similar to
that of a modem man of culture, who fails to realise any in»
.consistency in being a member, at one and the same time, of
different societies formed for the promotion of literature, fine
arts and morality. There was a certain amount of feeling
19. Belgave inscription of Soines'vaira 1, p. 1048. A. D.. !. A., IV,
p. 181. 20. I. A., X. 188. 21. V. 95.
22. E. I., Xl.fp. 22. 2S, J. A„ S. B., Vol. 69. p. 66.
SAIVISM & VAiSHNAVISM
•exhibited in philosophical writings of the period, but evei.,
there behind the superficial clash, there was an inner move-
ment of synthesis. It is now almost universally recognised
that the sclieme of Advaita philosophy, as outlined by S ankara
was largely influenced by the S unyavada of Nagarjuna; many
■of the verseS' in. the Mulamadhyamakarika of the latter, anti*;:...
.-oipate the„po3iti.on later assumed by ankara/ '.
■ : ' , : ■ '.It need hardly be added that there- was harmony prevail-
.i.ng among the followers of the different sects of Hinduism.,"
since it existed even among the followers of the orthodox., and
l:lie heterodox religions. The opening .verse ' in the ■ Raslitra-
kuta copperplates, .pays homage to both S'iva and .Vishiiu. .
Their seal is sometimes the eagle, the vehicle of Vishnu,
and sometimes Shva in the posture of a seated Yo^^in. The
Gahadwal kings were themselves Saivites, but the\- used to
worship both vS'iva and Vishnu at the time of making land
grants/ There is a verse in the Surat plates of Karka'
stating that Indra, the father of the donor, did not bow
‘OW ✓
<26> y
liis head even, before any god, S'anhara excepted/^*^^ *
This smacks a little of the sectarian narrowness and
some people may have occasionally exhibited it in our period.
But it is not improbable that even in this verse the poet may
have exaggerated the reality in order to develop a contrast.
The general spirit of the age cannot be regarded as embodied
in this verse. In the iOth century there existed at Salotgi in
Bijapur district a temple constructed for the joint worship of
Bralimadeva, Shva. and Vishnu. At Kargiidri there;
24. Cf. mmn mm ft i
mm ii
mm %Rt g it
“25. E. g., E. !.. X!, p. 24.
26. CL ^ |
w E. I., XXI.
27. E; I. IV. p. 66.
274 RELIGIOUS GONDII ION
existed another shrine erected for the joint worship of S ankara,.
Vishnu, and Bhasfeara/^®^ These temples are more illustra-
tive of the spirit of the age than the verse in the Surat plates
referred to above,
, The spirit of toleration was not confined to the religions
. of the land, but was extended to Mahomedanism as vvell*.
There were, several Mahomedans in the western ports, come,
for the purpose of ' commerce; they were allowed to practise
their religion openly. Jumma rnasjids were permitted to
be built for their use. This permission to build mosques
may be contrasted with the reply given by Mahmad Tugh-
lagh to the request of the Chinese emperor tO' permit the
rebuilding of some Buddhist temples sacked by the Muslims,.
The Sultan received the valuable gifts brought by the Chi-
nese embassy, but wrote saying that the request could not be
granted under the Islamic law as permission to build a temple
in the territories of the Muslims could be given only to those
who paid the Jizia tax. * If thou wilt pay the Jizia, we shall
empower thee ‘to build a temple.’ Muslim officers were
appointed to administer their personal to the Mus-
lim inhabitants. This toleration is indeed surprising* when
one remembers the brutal treatment of the Hindus by the
Muslim conquerors of Sindh, who gave no quarter to the
Hindus in the warfare, demolished their temples, imposed
the Jizia tax upon them, and enslaved thousands of Hindu
women and sold them in the streets of Baghdad/^^^^ This
policy of doing a good turn for an evil one may be indeed
admired from the point of view of universal toleration: and
brotherhood, but it shows clearly that the Hinduism of^our
period was too blind or shortsighted to see the danger that was
awaiting it from the religion it was tolerating so liberally.
28. I. A. X p. 251. 30, Eiliat, 1. p. 27 and p- 38..
S\i Gihhs, Ibn Batuta, p, 214, 32. Elliot, p 27.
33. Ibid, pp. 170, 173, 176 and 182.
NO RETALIATION AGAINST MUSLIMS
277
The Musiims on the western coast were using Indian dress
and but a little enquiry would have shown
that they .were completely Persianised in Sindh, where they
were under the complete sway of Persian costume, language
and, customs* The .. political alliance of the Rashtrakutas with
the Arabs was not solely responsible for this toleration, for it
.continued under ' the' Chaluky as of- ' Gujarat also* Muhraud
Ufi narrates a story of Rai Jaysing of . Aiiahilapattana, who
personialb^ investigated into the complaints of the Muslims of
;■ Cambay regarding the damage' done to their properU^ a.nd
mosques in a riot, punished the Parsi and Hindu- ringleaders,
and gave a lakh of halotras ior the reerection of the
mosques/ So neither the horrors of the conquest of Sindh
nor the vandalism and rapine of the 20 and odd invasions of
Mahmud of Ghazni could change the tolerant attitude of the
Hindus tow’ards the followers of Islam. Religious retaliation
was out of question; Ibn Batuta describes how at the
door of the Cathedral mosque in Delhi, enormous idols of
brass were kept prostrate on the ground in order to make
every visitor tread on them/'"^'’^ Hinduism of our period was
in a position to inflict similar indignities, both in the south and
the north, on the Muslim inhabitants of the Hindu states, but
did not resort to such conduct. - '
The Hindu revival, which reached its culmination in our
period, had three aspects, theological, philosophical and
popular ; let us consider them one by one.
The theological movement found its greatest exponent
in Kumarila who, according to tradition, was an elderk" con*
temporary of S'ankara, but may have really flourished a few
decades earlier. Kumarila boldly stood for the pure Vedic
religion, opposed the heterodox theory of Sanyasa, and advo-
cated the life-long performance of Vedic sacrifices involving
slaughter of sentient beings. It is not to be, however, supposed
34. Ibid, f, 19. , 35. Ibid, 11, pp. 163-4.
278
RELIGIOUS GONDITIGN
that the theological movement began with Kumarilar'it rather
ended with him. It began with Palanjali ; Pushyamitra
S’unga, who was his contemporary, had performed the
Asvamedha sacrifice ,twice/^' Literary activity continued
under the Vrttikara, Sabarasvamin, and Prabhakara and we
find some of the Hindu rulers of the intervening period very
mthusiastic about Vedic sacrifices. Nayanika. the widow
of the third fetavahana king, is known to have celebrated a
number of Vedic sacrifices like Asvamedha, Gavamayana.
Gargatiratra. Aptoryama, etc.; Pravarasena, the founder of the
Valitaka dynasty of northern Maharashtra, is recorded to
have performed^°"^ Agnishtoma, Aptoiyama and Asvamedha
sacrifices. Two of the Gupta emperors are so far known to
have celebrated the last mentioned sacrifice and one of the
early Chalukya kings is recorded to have participated in
several Vedic sacrifices.
The arguments of the theological school, in spite of the ,f
brilliant advocacy of Kumarila who flourished just before our i
period, failed to carry conviction to the popular mind. 1 he
theories of A hinsa and Sanyasa had become so popular that
a person advocating the life-long performance of Vedic
sacrifices, involving slaughter, had no chance of captivating
the popular mind. We hardly come across any Hindu kings,
of our period who cared to boast that they bad pedormed
Vedic sacrifices. We have numerous grants of the Rashlra-
kuta kings given to Brahmanas to enable them to discharge
their religious duties, but these duties are generally of the
Smarta rather than of SVauta character. The Sanjan plates.
* of AmoghavarshaP'^’ and the Cambay plates of Govinda
are the only two exceptions, where it is expressly stated
that the grants were made to enable the Brahmanas to perform
36. Gihhs, Ibn Batuta, p. 195. 37, J. B. O, R. S., X, p. 202.
38. C. I., I., in. p. 236. 39. I. A.. XIX, p. 17.
40. 1. A., XVIII. p. 235. 41. E. !., Vil, p. 41.
279
decline of vedic sacrifices
Vedic sacrifices like Rajasuya, Vajapeya, and Agnishtoma.
In all other cases the grants were made for discharging pure y
Smarta duties connected with ball, chara, vaismdem etc.
These facts, disclosed by the analysis of the epigraphical
evidence, are the most convincing proof that in spite of
Kumarila's efforts, the S'rauta religion almost died down in
our age. Some of the Smriti writers of our period assert
boldly that brahmanya cannot result merely by following the
S'rauta religion to the exclusion of the Smarta one ; “ nay
it is farther declared that a man who studies and follows the
Veda and its ritual and derides those of the Dharmasastra.
ensures himself 21 births in the realm of the quadrup^s. “
It is thus clear that both the theory and practice of the age
had abandoned the Vedic sacrifices. Alberuni was informed
that the Vedic sacrifices were rarely performed and practi-
cally abandoned because they presupposed a long hfe whic
was no longer vouchsafed in the present age. This seems
to have been another excuse invented for the non -performance
of the Vedic sacrifices which had otherwise grown unpopular.
The philosophical revival had commenced about the
second century B. C. when the nucleus of the present Brahma-
sutras seems to have been formed. For about four centuries
the Brahmasutra school continued to expound the Hindu p^-
losophical wew and refute the heresies of the jams and the
Buddhists and others till the Brahmasutras assumed their
present form at about the middle of the 3rd ceritury A. D. A
number of writers continued the work, but it found its most
powerful exponent in the great S'ankaracharya who
flourished in our period. This great philosopher, though bom
in Kerala, was an all-India figure, and it would be interesting
to enquire what was the influence of his teachings and
activities in the Deccan of our period.
42. E. g. Atri, V. 354.
44. SacKats, Alberuni’a Indian 1 1 p. Ui#..
280
RELIGIOUS CONOmON
By advocating the superiority of Sanyasa to Karinamarga
and by maintaining that the Vedic sacrifices, had merely a
'■purificatory effect, S'ankaracharya, undoubtedly; helped the
tendency of the age to abandon the Vedic rituals; his ,contro»
versy with Kumarila or may not have been historicaL
It iS' true that S'ankara's arguments .went equally against the
Smirta ■ Karmamarga, ' but we must .not forget that people us-
ually apply iheories- to the convenient and not to the logical ex»
tent. It must be also remembered that Sankara himself was
a fervent devotee of Pauranic deiliee and some of his most
eloquent and appealing writings consist of prayers addressed
to them. In this respect S^ankara was a powerful asset to
the popular religion.
It is to be regretted that there should be so far aiscovered
no trace of S'ankara and his work in epigrapliical documents.
This is rather strange, for tradition claims that he toured about
preaching, discussing, controverting and founding monastic
establishments throughout the length and breadth of India.
There is ample evidence to show that the philosophico-iiteraiy
activity enunciated by S^ankara continued ever increasing for
several centuries. But the effect on popular life of the teach-
ings and institutions of S'ankara during our period is difficult
to estimate in the present state of our knowledge.
The first question to be answered is whether Sanyasa be-
came more popular than before as a result of S'ankara*s teach -
ngs. The answer seems to be in the negative. The negative
evidence of the epigraphical records of our period is to some
extent significant. The Rashtrakutas and their feudatories
and contemporaries have given a number of grants, but none
has been so far discovered made in favour of a Hindu Sanyasin
or his Matha. Buddhist and Jain Sanyasins very often figure in
our epigraphical records but Hindu Sanyasins never. Sulaiman,
who had several times visited the ports or western India
during our period, no doubt refers to Hindu Sam^-asins when
he says : — * In India there are persons who in accordance
INFLUENCE OF SANKARACHARYA MATHAS
with their profession wander in woods and mountains and
rarely communicate with the rest of the mankind. * But the
■presence of these Sanyasins cannot be. attriWted .to the ■ in-,
f luence of Sankara, for the theory of four ■ AsVamas, ■ .w,hicli,
had .been started several centuries before the time of Sankara^
was responsible for their .presence. It seems that we have,, to,
admit that S anhara’s advocacy of' Sanyasa did not. produce.,
in the society an upheaval,' comparable to that produced
. by the Upanishadic,. Jain', and -Buddhist movements,. . The
reason .seems to be the association of Saiwasa with the hetero-
doxy in the popular mind, produced- b 5 ^ the Jain and Buddhist
■mo.nasteries, that were flourishing for several centuries. . -
S'ankaracharya had founded four Mathas in the four
corners of India and very soon . subsidiary ones sprang into
•existence. Tili recently these institutions -were powers . in,
the land; a decree ( ajnapatra ) from them was respected by
•society as implicitly as the command of the king. What was
the influence of these institutions over the Deccan of our
period ?
It seems that these institutions did not wield any in-
fluence in our period* In the first instance we have got not
a single reference to any Pitha or its activity in any records of
our period. In the second place there are indications that
down to the 12th century A. D., the term Jagadgaru. which
subsequently came to designate exclusively the occupants of
the Pithas funded by S'ankara, was used to denote ordinary
Brahmanas of outstanding preeminence, learning and character*
The Mctnagoli inscription of 1161 A. mentions that towards
the end of the IGth century, in the Brahmadey a village of
Manigavalli there flourished a celebrity, Isvara Ghalisasa
by name, who was the Jagadguru of the world and whose
•feet were worshipped by Taiia II, the overthrower of the
Rashtrakutas. There is nothing to indicate in the record that
. RELIGIOUS: GONDITIOM: :
fsvam Goaiisasa Kadi any connection with the Pitha of Srin-
geri or its branch at Sankesvara. ' Besides*, were' he:. a , :Ja,gad.-,'";
guru of the order founded by'S^ankara, his.iiame. would: have^
appeared in a Sanyasin garb. ^ He was a married; man and::::,
the headship of the a^rahara of Managoli seems to. have been ,.:
hereditary in his family. ■ His gotra was the same as that: of":
the Chaliil?3^as viz, Harita, and Taila .believed that .it was,, the;:
favour of this celebrity that had secured, him the throne:.' It is.', .■
therefore not unlikely that the title of ,]agadguru may have; '
been conferred upon him by ' his grateful and ill'ustrious:. '
disciple. The record- makes it clear that Isvara Ghalisasa
was not the head of any Matha located at Managoli, and yet:
he was styled Jagadguru. If in our period the Pithas founded,'
by S ankara had wielded the same influence as they did till
recently, if there had been a branch of the Srin geri Pitha at
Sankesvara which is fairly near to Managoli, Is vara Ghalisasa,
the head of the Managoli Agrahara, who had no connection
with any Matha, could not have dared to use the title Jagad-
guru. This record, therefore, makes it clear that the Pithas
founded uy S'ankara were not exercising any appreciable
influence in the Deccan till the end of our period. It must
be further remembered that the claim to give the final
verdict in socio- religious matters, claimed and conceded to
the occupants of the Pithas founded by S^ankara, must have
appeared as preposterous in our period. In the Hindu
period these matters were decided by special officers of
Government who were variousij’' known as Vinayasthiti-
sthapaka'^, Dharmankusas, Dharmapradhanas or Panditas.
The last mentioned officer was to be a member of the
ministry according to the S'ukramti, a work which very
probably belongs to our period with the exception of some
interpolations, and it was he who was to review the realm of
social and religious practices, to find out which of them,
though prescribed in the S^astras, were against the spirit of
the age, which were absolutely obsolete, being countenanced
DIS A PPE A R A NCE". OF- PARISH ADS
2S1 “
neither by the S'astra nor by custom, and to issue such orders-
regarding the points at dispute as may secure both this world
and the next. The Smritis of our and of earlier period
assign this fimction to a. parisfiad or conference, composed of
distinguished learned men of known character and piety,.
There is no real contradiction between S'ukra and these
Smriti writei-’s for ■ the royal officers, when and where they
existed, may have presided over • -and been guided by the
decisions of these experts. . .The case was similar tO' that of : ,
the iudiciai Panchayats ; the judgments signed by: Kama.
Sliastri Prabhune of the Peshva 'period used to embody' the-
decisions of the Panchayats to whom the cases were referred,.
though the signatures of the Panchas did not appear on the
judgments. It is therefore not likely that the ministers of the
Hindu states and the Parishads of our period would have
looked with favour upon the proposal to surrender their rights in
social and religious matters to the order founded by S'ankara-
chaiya. It is very probable that the occupants of the Plthas
acquired their present powers and jurisdiction subsequent to
the fail of Hindu states. With the establishment of
Muslim rule the state ceased to look after the social and
religious usages and the Parishads may, therefore, have gladly
welcomed the idea of utilising the prestige, which was by that
time acquired by the representatives of the order founded by
S^ankara, for the enforcement of their decisions. ^ As years
roiled on, prestige of the Pithas increased in the Deccan
and the Parishads were forgotten altogether. r *
Let us now proceed to consider the popular Hinduism
L e. the religion of the masses of our period. This religion
be described as the Smarta Pauranic religion. The
46. cf. q?fr: % ^r^'tror: i
^ %Sf5fTr fi i
iHh 98-100
47. Gautama II, 10.47-48; Manu a XII. HO ff; Yajanvaikya 1. 9s.
S'’atStapa 129; SVnklia, IV, 29, 63,
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
Tefonii movement, which culminated in this developmerit, had
begun much earlier than our period; it had commenced with
.die later. Smriti- writers and the Temocleilers of the .older
.Puraiias and had' so completely captured, the imagination of
,;|h.e masses in our period that the advocates of the theological
revival found themselves helpless ^before it. Unfortunately
■the precise chronology of these works is not yet definitely
fixed, but it is generally agreed that the majority of them,
were composed sometime between 500 and lOCO A.D. Let
us see what epigraph! cal evidence has got to say about ' the
success or influence of this movement
The Smritis had preached ths gospel of the pancha-
..mahayajnas, which were intended as substitutes for the Vedic
sacrifices involving slaughter. Vast majority of the Braiimana
donees of our period are described as performers of these
.sacrifices. During our period Smarta agnihotra w-as fairly
mammon at least among professional priests; Atrisamhita,
which belongs to our period, says that a Brahmana, who does
not keep is a person whose food should not be
accepted. The prevalence of agnihotra during our period
is proved also by the testimony of Alberuni, who observes that
•the Brahmanas who kept one fire were called Ishiins and
those who kept three were called agnihotrins.^^^^ Some of
the Nigama writers include agnihotra among things prohibited
in the Kali age, but that view was not the view of our age.
If we compare the daily routine laid down by early Smriti
\yriters for a Brahmana householder with that laid down by
later Nibandha writers, we shall find a great change. The
earlier writers like Manu and Yajnavalkya prescribe one bath
49, SacLau, I, p, 102.
28 J
NEW SMARTA RITUALS
The Nibancilia writers definitely lay down three baths for
a Brahmana, the Smriti writers of our period hesitate between,
on e and two.; ' Sankha , is satisfied ■ with one bath , only, ; ■ . but
Dakslia, Katyayana, and Vaiyaghrapada advocate two/®‘^Hhe-
second, one being at the mid-day. That the rule of the Smritis
was actuaiiy followedj.p. ^pi’actice towards the end of the IStli- .
centur5?/^!,\,is proved by Marco . Polo who . testifies to the
fact .that the Hindus of ' Malabar, both . males and femaies, used
to take two baths a The theory of three daily baths
had 'begun to appear towards the end of our period, and .had
not yet liecome popular. Alberuni notes- the theoretical . rule-
that a Brahmana should take three baths a day, but adds that
in practice, the evening prayers were recited without a previous^
bath. He observes Evidently the rule about the third
bath is not as stringent as that relating to the first and second
.washings,’
The number of prayers, sandhycis, was -also tending to-
increase at about our period. As the etymology of the term
sand hy a shows 9 the sandhya times could obviously not have
been more than two in the beginning. A third sandhya^[how-
ever, began to be advocated by some of the Smriti writers of
our age. Atri lays down that a twiceborn should recite
sandhya thrice; Vyasa concurs and supplies three different
names to the three different sandhyas as Gayatri, Sarasvatl,.
and Savitri respectively/^^^ The Nibandha writers accept
this theory and prescribe three sandhyas universail5%
ft will be thus seen that the Smriti writers pf our period
were showing a tendency to make the simple Smarta religion
as rigid and con^Iex as the STauta one; detailed rules, hardly
leaving much scope for individual liberty, began to be framed
for saucha^ dantadhavana, bath, achamana etc. SVauta
50. Quoted in Smrtichandrika , Ahnikakanda pp. 290-291. 483.
51. 11, p. 342
52. lLpp. 33, 134,
53. Quoted in Achuramayukha, p. 39. 54, IMd#
286
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
•sacrifices had died down in out period but the rigidity of ritU'
aiistic details which characterised them became a prominent
feature of the Smarta religion from about the 12th century
' ■onwardso Our period was the transition, period. '
Another characteristic feature of the Hinduism ot our
was the po pularity of The theory., and'
advocacy of VratasTvaTa" 'peculiar leature of the Puraiias,
most ^ of' which . were- either composed or remodeiied near ^.
-about our period. Out of the 113 Vratas mentioned in the
Vratarka of S'ankarabhatta as many as - , 1 10 are ' based -on '
' -the authority of the Puranas. 128 .Vratas mentioned in the -
Vtatahaumudi and 205 described in Vrataraja are all of
them based on Pauranic authority. Vratas offered opportii- -
nities for individuals of both the sexes of personally going --
-- •'through a course of religious life characterised by- self-..
denial and austerities. There was also the bail of the
fulfilment of desires intended for the ignorant. They there-
fore powerfully appealed to the popular mind, and are still
characteristic feature of Hinduism in rural areas. In the
Deccan of our period, they were probably becoming popular
We do not find any reference to their popularity in epigraphical.
records of our period. But this fact is pi^obably accidental,
for we have ample evidence to show that the Pauranic
religion, as a whole, was capturing the popular imagination.
The Nargund inscription, dated 939 records some
voluntary contributions from the various classes of inhabitants
for the purpose of a local tank. The contribution of the
Brahmanas is stated to be one golden Pana on the occasion of
each Prayaschitta performed in the village. The Kalas
inscription of Govinda IV also records an assignment
by the local Brahmanas of the fees they used to
receive at penitential rites ( prayas chittas ) for the mainte-
nance of a local college. These records will therefore show
55. L, A.,:2iILp.224.
287
/ TEMPLES OF THE AGE
I
•tliat at least 1 some of the various Prayas^chittas that have
"heen prescribed in the Smritis were performed fby some
sections of \ Hindu society. Some of the later Smritis,
'that were written not far from our period, e, g, Laghu-Satatapa ■.
Brihadyama,.. at;id Apaslamba, are almost entirely devoted tO v
'the discussion ' of ■ penitential rites. These can, be ■„ .better ■
.■described as Prayaschitta manuals -necessitated by the general^,
tendency of the age to perform them.
■ . : The Puranas offered new sa g a r i p .and anthropomorphie ^
■nuclei for religious devotion, and the deities that were glori-
fied ■ in them soon, 'became popular gods .o-f .the masses.,-
Growth of sectional rivalry?- was anticipated hy the doctrinei;
that all the deities are the manifestations of one and the samel
Supreme Power. Our epigraphical records bear eloquent
testimony to the pomlar^ty of thp Pauranic deities in our
period. That S'aiv^i and Vaisbiiavism were the main sects
of our time is indicated by the usual opening verse in the
Rashtrakuta grants, which contains a salutation to both Sbva
and Vishnu. The grant of Abhimanyu Rashtrakuta mentions
a Dakshiiia-Sbva temple, whose custodian Jalabhara seems
to have been a Pasupata. At Salotgi in Bijapur district there
was a temple 'pf Ka^»ayam and another constructed for the
ioint worship of Brahma, Vishnu, and The custom
of founding a Sbva temple in commemoration of a dead
ancestor, and of naming the deity after the person to be
commemorated, had already become prevalent in our period.
Hebbal inscription, dated 975 refers to a temple of
Bhujjabbesvara built to commemorate Bhubbarasi, the grand
mother of the Ganga ruler Marasinha IL Ragholi plates of
Jayavardhana^"’'*^ and the Kavi plates of Govinda of the
Gujarat branch attest to the prevalence of the Sun worship.
The Pathari pillar inscription discloses a temple of S'auri.
57, E. I., IV. p. 60. 58. E. f., IV, p. 350.
59. E. L. IX, p. 42. 60, I. A., V, p. 145.
61. E. L, IX, p. 250.
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
A tenvpie of S'arada existed in Managoli/^^^ / The worship
of the presiding deities of the locality is inientionecl in
record from Saundatti, dated 875 A.D., which refers to the
temple of 'the. deitv presiding . over . Suganfdhavatl
.Whether Vithoba of Pandharpur, perhaps the/ .most popular
"diety of the Deccan to-day, existed in our peifiod is difficult .to
determine with ' certainty. An inscription^,’' from Belgaiim
district, dated 1250 A.D., refers to a grant mcide in the presence
of 'Vishnu at Paundarika-kshetra, which i.s described in the'
document as situated on the banks of • the Bhlrna. The
name of the Tirtha and its situation on .'the Bhima make, it'
obvious that our inscription clearly' prck ^f^ the existence . .of
'the Viltiiala temple at Pandharpur in.4250 A=.D. It was even
then .a famous centre of pilgrimage; the premier Mailsetti"
utilised his presence at Paundarika-kslietra for making the
donation. The fame of the tetople was already well esta-
blished by the middle of the 13th century A.D.; it is, however,
difficult to say how far earlier than 1200 A.D. the worship of
Vitthala had commenced at Pandharpur. Since it was a
famous centre at about 1200 A.D., we ma 3 - reasonably pre-
sume that the worship of the God at the place was at least a
couple of centuries old at that time. ^
in addition to the above gods the masses were worshipping
a number of aboriginal deities. The worship of Mhasoba
was current. A1 Idrisi obviously refers to it when he says: —
‘Others worship holy stones on which butter and oil is poured/
Tree and serpent worship is mentioned by the same writer;
the serpent worshippers, we are told, used to keep them in
stables and feed them as well as thej’' could. He further
says; — * Some acknowledge the intercessory powers of graven
stones' This may possibly refer to the belief in inscribed
talismans or it may refer to cases like that of the famous
63. J. B. B. R. A. S., X* 199.
65. ElUoi, I, p. 76.
U'EALTH OF TEM'PLES
Garuds^dlivaja erected 'at Vidiia by tbe Greek ambassador
Heliodorus, which was being worshipped as Khambaba at the’
time Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar discovered it.
The followers of all these - different gods formed, or
rather appeared to a foreign observer as forming, different
sects. ^ ' A! Idrisi therefore states that there were ■ 42 : dif f ereinfc':
sects in India' at his time. But since the followers of -the^^
different deities 'shared the belief that they were worshipping
the different manifestations ' of one- and the same Supreme'''
God, they can hardly be described as forming different sects*
The problem of the origin and prevalence of the image
worship is still to be properly worked out, Dharmasutra
writers rarely refer to the duty of worshipping images of gods
either at home or in public temples; nor is it mentioned by
Manu. The cult of public temples seems to be later than,
the time of Asoka, It may have been deemed a suitable sub-
stitute for the great S'rauta sacrifices which were attended by a
great number of people. Possibly the example of Buddhism
with its splendid temples and monasteries may have given rise
in the Hindu mind to a desire to have similar centres of public
worship and congregation. Whatever the real causes may
have been, temples soon became recognised centres of public
worship and were characteristic of the Hinduism of our
period. It must be, however, noted that the sums of money
that were being spent over the temples, images, their orna-
ments and daily worship were tending to become excessively
high in our period. A1 Utbi says : — ‘ The kings of Hind, the
chiefs of that country, and rich devotees used to amass their
treasures and precious jewels and send them time after time
to be presented to idols, that they might receive a reward for-
their good deeds and draw near to their God.*^^’ Not muck
evidence is forthcoming from the Deccan proper about the
wealth unneccssaiily hoarded in temples in the form of orna-
ments etc., but we know that in northern India temples were
66. EIHot, n, p. 34.
290 RELIGIOUS CONDITION
the places that yielded highest amount of plunder to Mahmud
of Ghazni. Epigraphicai evidence is available to show
that large sums of money were spent in Tamil country to
furnish cosily gold and jewel ornaments to the deity in the
R&jarajesvara temple by Chola kings and their subjects.®*
Some of the temples in the Deccan too must have been centres
of wealth; Krshija I is known to have given a number of gold
and jewef ornaments to the S iva image in the Eiloia temple,
which he had excavated from solid rock at great cost.'®®*
Specific cases of alienations of lands and villages for different
temples are fairly numerous and the Cambay plates of Govinda
IV,'®®' dated 930 A.D., inform us that this monarch gave away
400 villages and 32 lakhs of drammas for the different temples
in his dominions. Watchmen were essential under these
circumstances for the bigger temples and we often come
■across provision made for their maintenance.' "
Part of the charity that flowed into the temples was
usefully utilised. It will be shown in Chapter XV! how many
■of the temples of our period used to maintain schools and
■colleges. They were very often disharging the duty of poor-
relief by maintaining feeding houses. Abu Zaid refers to
these when he mentions inns for travellers attached to tem-
ples. Epigraphicai evidence proves the existence of many
such feeding houses maintained in temples; one existed at
Kolagalluin Bellary district in 964 A.D.'”' and others ex-
isted at Managoli.'’®* Nilgund,'’*' Hesarge,''^®* Bagewadi.”®’
Belgamve.'^^* Dambal,'^* Gadag.'^®* and Behatti'*®* in Kar-
■ 67. S. 1 . !■. Ilf Nos. 1~3. 68. 1. A., XII, p. 159.
69. E. I.. VII, p. 26. 70. E. I.. V. p. 22; S. I. I., 1I‘ pp. 301-3 etc.
71. Elliot, I. p. 11.
72 Inscriptions from the Madras Presidency, Bellary district, No.82.
73 ] E.I..V.P.22. 74, E. 1.. HI. p. 208.
DETAILS OF TEMPLE WORSHIP
291
•.natak and Kharepatan^^-"'^ in Konkan. Some of the records
meiilioning the above feeding houses do not fall strictly within
o-ur period* but they are mentioned here to give an of the
general practice of the age.
We get some idea of the details of the daily ■ temple' life ■
from the epigraphical records of our period. 'Daily worship/
was done three times a and many of the Choia re-
cords specify the quaniit}? of rice and other articles, to be used
at the time of the naive dy a at each of these worships. The
'richer establisiiments used to have a set of musicians, who
used to play music at the temples ' at the time of worship*'
The provision for their maintenance figures in the Hebbal In-.,
scription of 975 and in several Choia records- The
worship offered was sumptuous; scented water for the bath,
costly clothes, and rich naiveaya were provided for. These
and some similar items were included under the term anga''^'
hhoga of the deit 3 ^ for which provision is made in some of our
records. Flowers and garlands were of course indispensable;
a number of our records mention grants made for flower gar-
lands which were very often attached to the temples. Some
of our records mention provision made for the rangabhoga of
gods. The precise meaning of the term is difficult to deter-
mine, as it is not known even to Sanskrit Koshas. But since
the term ranga can mean a play-house, it is permissible to
conjecture that the expression rangabhoga may refer to
periodical celebrations of Pauranic dramas, which may have
been exhibited at the time of the annual fair at the temple.
An inscription at the RajarajesVara temple, belonging to the
beginning of the llth century, records a provision made for
the actors, who used to take part in a drama called Rajaraja.
Chariot processions were held on the occasions of fairs; an
inscription from Pattadkal in Bijapur district, dated 778^-^^ A.D.,
81. E. L, in, p. 300. 82 . Ibid, Vil, p, 194.
292
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
mentioos the grant of a horse-chariot and an e!ephanL“
chariot bY..a dancing gir! to a local God. Two records, falling
outside^^’*- proper period, mz. Managoli inscription* dated'
il6i' and the Siddhapur inscription, dated 1158 A. '
refer to damanaropam and pavitraropam ceremonies that
.were performed, in the. months of Chaitra ■■. and .STavana "
respectively. It is not unlikely that these ceremonies were
performed in our period as well, since one of them vizc
damanaropam is mentioned by Alberuni as a popular festival
in.'..Chaitra, when Vasudeva was' swung to and fro io' a:. '
swiogd®^^ ■ In his SmTiikaustubha, AnantadGyQ prcscnhes tkQ',^
celebration of damanaropam in Chaitra and pavitraropam in .
.S^ravana. ■ We thus get a proof of ■ the actual prevalence
of some of the ceremonies described by later writers in O'ur':
period. The view advanced earlier in this chapter, that sonie^
of the new ceremonies and rituals that find literarj^ recogni-
tion in the Nibandhas of later period were already getting
popular in our period, is thus not altogether without a
foundation.
Theoretically Hinduism no doubt regards idols as mere
visible symbols of'. the Divine, but the great paraphernalia of'
idols, their worship^ temples, and establishments began to
engender during our period an imperceptible feeling that the
visible idol was everything, and the greatest importance began,
to be attached to its sanctity and safety. This was rather
regrettable, for very often the feeling worked against national
interests. Hindus could have ousted the Muslims from
Multan had they not been compelled to retire by the threats
of the Muslim garrison to break the famous idol of the sun
in that city, if it was beseiged. If the philosophy of idol-
worship were properly understood at the time, this threat
could not have deterred the Hindus ; another idol could have
ANTIQUITY OF THE GURAV
293
been instalied in the proper religious manner to replace the
destroyed one. Idol destruction by Mahmud of Gha 2 ni would
no't have unnerved the Hindu opposition, if the philosophy of
.the idol worship m^ere properly understood in our period.:
Temple worship was usually entrusted to Brahmanas;:'''
,our.. records , very often refer to settlements of Brahmana.
householders near the temples to look after the temple
wo^rship. But the non- Brahmana Gorava worshipper, who is
^iiow so common in the Deccan, also makes his appearance in-
our period. The worship in the- Ram esvaram temple on. the
Tiingabhadra was being performe.d by a Gurava ■ in^ 804 A.D.,
when Govinda III had visited the place; Shivadhari, who is
expressly described as a Gurava in the record/*'®^ was the re-
cipient of a grant from the emperor. In the S'iva temple at
Mantra wadi in Dharwar district there -were Gurava worship--:
pers in 875 A.D., who were required- to keep unbroken the vow- '
of chastity. At present the Guravas are not required tO:' :
lead celibate life anywhere in the Deccan; therefore, this
information supplied b^^ our epigraph is very interesting and
important The Guravas are also mentioned in a Soratur
inscription of the time of Krshna IH, but their precise
connection with the temple worship is not very clear from the
irecord. The Ganga ruler Botuga II had a pet dog; he was
let loose at a mighty boar and the two hilled each other in
the fight The affectionate master raised a tablet to com-
memorate his pet and appointed a Gurava for its worship.
.It ^voiild be noticed that the cases of Gurava worshippers,
mentioned above, all pertain to Shva temples, except the last
one where he was appointed to perform the worship of a dog
tablet It would be, therefore, permissible to conjecture that
the Guravas were originally non -Aryan, and very probably
Dravidian priests, who continued to officiate at the temples
y
90. I A.. XI, p. 127.
91. E. I., VIl, p. 202.
of deities whicti were originally noo-Aiyan* Later on they
may have been allowed to be associated with Aryan temples,
and gods as well.
The Grhya-sutra ■ ritual requires animal sacrifices in ^
connection with some popular deities like , Vinayaka, Kshetra-
pMa, That these sacrifices prevailed in our period in ' ■
northern India is proved by the statement of Alberuni, ■ that ■
'' ' the ' worshippers of some gods . deities Durga, Mahadevas. '
Kshetrapala, and Vinayaka used to kill sheep and buffalos
with axes and offer them as naivedya to the deities concern-
ed. Similar practices must have prevailed in the Deccan
since early times, but it is not unlikely that the great influence-
wliich Jainism exercised in our period may have led to these
sacrifices getting unpopular to a great extent It may be also^
pointed out that the Muslim travellers like A1 Masudi and
Al Idrisi, who were mainly acquainted with the conditions
of the Deccan and who describe in detail its religious-
practices, do not refer to this custom which is mentioned by
Alberuni, who was acquainted with the conditions prevailing
in the north. Animal sacrifices are even to-day rare in the
Deccan when compared to their great popularity in a pro-
vince like Bengal. This comparative weaning of the masses
in the Deccan from them may be attributed lo the great
influence of Jainism during our period.
A very regrettable feature of the temple atmosphere
was its vitiation by the association of dancing girls. This has
been noticed by the foreign travellers of our period as well as
of later times and is also proved by epigraphical records.
In big temples their number was often to be counted in
hundreds. An inscription at the Rajarajesvara temple, be-
longing to the beginning of the 11 th century, records an order of
Rajaraja, transferring as many as 400 dancing girls from the
93. IL H; Apastaynbot, XX, !2-20; BharadvajUt, If, 19; etc.
^ 94. ’ i, 120» ■' 95., ; AW Elliot, I, p, 1! ; Marco Polo, II, p, 345^
■.RELIGIOUS CONDITIGX
TEMPLE DANCiHG GIRLS
295
various quarters of his kingdom to the Tanjore temple, and
assigning to each of them one veli of land, There is^
evidence to show that the custom did exist in the Deccan.
well at the Lokamahadevi temple in Pattadkal ( Bijapar
.district ) there were dancing girls - by the middle - of the -^Bth .
century; one of them was so rich as to give to the ■ temple- :
god one horse and one elephant chariot. ■ In the Bhujjabesvara :
" temple at Hebbal in Dharwar district there were five dancers-/
in the middle of the 10th century,- each one being assigned '.
4 maitars of land for- her maintenance. That these dancing
girls were not leading pure lives, but had degenerated into- :
women of easy virtue, would be clear from the statement of
Marco that a person, who desired to take to the life of
a Sanyasin, was tested by his capacity to stand the blandish-
ments of the temple girls who were specially sent to lure him,
Marco Polo’s testimony no doubt refers to the Malabar of
the 13th century, but we shall not be far wrong in assuming
that the state of affairs in the Deccan of our period was not
far different. In course of time the custom seems to have
spread to Buddhist establishments in Greater India. A
passage on Kambodia in Chan Ju-kwa states : — * The people
are devout Buddhists. There are serving in temples some
300 foreign women. They dance and offer food to Buddha*
They are called a -nan or slave dancing girls.’
The origin of this regrettable custom is to be traced to
the desire to provide for good music at the time of divine
worship and popular festivals. The precise time of its origin
IS still obscure. It is not mentioned by the Greek historians*
The Arlhasastra, book II, chapter 27, which gives a detailed
account of prostitutes, is unaware of their connection with
temples. The temple dancing girl does not figure in the
Jatakas and is not mentioned by the Chinese travellers. We
may, therefore, presume that the custom was not very
96. S, 1. II pp. 278 ff. 97. 11, p. 366,
98. p. 53, quoted in Marco Polo, III, p, 115. , , .
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
common till about tHe, 6t}i century A,D. But at aiiout this
lime tke custom 'Seems- to have arisen* for it is referred to in
Matsya-puram and Padma-puram, Srshti^khanda. The 70th
chapter of the former and the 23rd chapter of the latter contain
a discourse on the duties of harlots ; 16,000 widowed wives of
Krshna, when ravished by the Abhiras and thus reduced to
the sad plight of, prostitutes ( veiyas), enquire from Dalbliya
about their duties. ' The latter informs them that they should
stay in palaces and temples/'’^^ It is, therefore, clear that
the custom had already come into existence when the
Puranas were being remodelled sometimes during or after the
'Gupta age. It is not to be, however, supposed that the custom
'did not evoke any opposition from the higher sections of the
society. Alberuni’s statement, that the Brahmanas would
have abolished this custom if kings had not stood in their
way^^®®^ is confirmed by a contemporary inscription fromRaja-
putana. Sadadi inscription of Jojaladeva, belonging to the 1 1th
■century, records a decree of that king regarding the fairs
at local temples. It goes on to observe : — ‘ On the occasion
of the fair of a particular temple the dancing girls of all other
temples in the city must attend, properly attired, and partici-
pate in the music. Our descendants should see to it that
this arrangement continues in the future. If at the time of
fairs an ascetic or padaharaka (?) or a learned ( Brahmana )
seeks to interfere with this procedure, he should be forthwith
stopped. The concluding sentence of this quotation makes
it quite clear that the learned men and ascetics of the age had,
.as Alberuni has stated, realised that the association of dancing
girls with temples was abnoxious and were making efforts to
.abolish it. The richer classes of the society, however, cham-
pioned the new custom and iheir support made it permanent.
It would appear that girls were often purchased for being
dedicated to the temples.
99, Chap- 49, V. 102. 100. 11. p. 157. 101. E, I., XI, p. 28.
POPULARITY OF PILGRIMAGES
297
A, large space in the Puraoas is devoted to the purpose
'bf describing the importance of the various Tirthas>or sacred
places in the different parts of India. The cult of pilgrimage
■had become ' fairly popular in ■ our period. Muslim writers ^
■’have noted how thousands of pilgrims used to , visit the; Spn .
temple at Multan and the Siva temple at Prabhasa, so-rae of
: whom' used^' to crawl on their bellies - during the last, sta-ge of,.;
their journey, ■ For the daily ablutions of the ido,k at , the,
„ last mentioned place, arrangements were made tes ■ provide ,
"fresh Ganges water every The popularity’ of Prayaga,
Varanasi and Gaya must have been still greater; long sections ■
are devoted by several Puranas^^^^'^' for the glorification of these
places. Laghu-S'ankha Smriti that many sons are to
be desired because then alone there would be the possibility
of at least one among them going to Gaya and performing the
STaddha there. A number of other Smriti writers^ of our
period describe the merit accruing from consigning the:
bones of the dead to the holy Ganges. There is epigraphs -
cal evidence to show that the cult of pilgrimage was as
popular in the Deccan of our period as it was elsewhere.
Dantidurga repaired to Ujjayini when he wanted to perform «
the Hiranya-garbha-maha-dfJna and a number of our
records state at their end, that any person interfering with
the charity described therein, would incur the sin of slaugh-
tering a thousand cows at Varanasi and Ramesvara/*^^
These holy places were obviously regarded the holiest even
in the distant Deccan of our period. In those days when
travelling was so difficult, costly, and dangerous, ail could
not visit these distant Tirthas ; the doctrine of acquiring
merit vicariously through some one else, by requesting
102. Elliot I p. 67. 103. Ihid, p. 98.
104. E, g., Skanda Purina. 105. V, 10. ^ \
106. E. g., Yama, 1. 89—91; Lagku*S^anklia, Y. 7 etc,
107. E. L, XVfll. p. 248. 108. E. g., L A.. XII. pp. 220 225 etc *
RELIGIOUSXON&ITiON,
him tc dip so many limes more io the sacred pools on one’s.,
own acrounts was,' therefore, 'bound to arise, and ,we find i|,
mentioned in some of the Smritls'of' our period/^®^^
The curse of the sin of the slaughter of a thousand corn’s,,
^vhich has been mentioned in ' several inscriptions of our ■
period referred to' in the last paragraph,' would attest to the-
immense veneration in which the cow was held in our age.
Several Smritis of our period contain detailed rules about the
reverence and consideration that , was to be , showm : to the-
The term of detestation used with reference to the
Muslims in our period was the cow-eaters/ In the 14th
century capital punishment was inflicted in Hindu states
upon a person who had committed the crime of killing a cow
Ton Batata cites the concrete case of a Shaikh, who was
given the lighter punishment of the mutilation of both the
hands and feet for the slaughter of a cow because he was
held in high veneration by the Hindus as well/ii3> geef
eating was inconceivablej but in some localities like the
Malahar, the pariah class was accustomed to eat it, if the cow
had died a natural death. This practice was current in the
rith ceniury at the time of Marco Polo, and it still prevails in
many localities ; but whether it existed in our period we do
not know. In the 17th century it was regarded a sin to allow
a cow to die in one’s house. The Smritis of our period
do not share this belief and vve may well doubt whether this
notion existed in our period.
In the extreme south the Bhakti movement had grown a
strong under the Vaishnava and S'aiva saints during our period; I
its traces are, however, nowhere to be found in the Deccan :
109- Airisamhitat w. 50-51; Paithinasi and VrddKavasislit ha quoted
in the Acharadhyaya of the SfiiTtichandriha ^ p. 348,
110*. Apastamba Smriti, Chap. X; Atrisamhita, vv, 220-3.
111,.. Elliot I, p, 193. , 112.„ Ibo Batuta, p. 256.
113. Travels of Tavernier^ p, 440.
BHAKTI MOVEMENT IN 'THE DECCAN
293 ':
of our period. Pandharpur was a centre of Vishnu worship
in the !3th century as noted already, but whether it had thea
' become a centre of Bhakti movement we do not know* It is
not unlikely that Jnanadeva may have had several' prede'--
cessors, now lost into oblivion, who may have popularised:
the gospel of Bhakti among the masses by vernacular poetry^;
earlier than his time. But ' whether any advocates of that-
movement existed in the Deccan of our period is very doubtfiii: '
' The theories of heaven ^^i^hell, retribution and rebirth
■ make their appearance almost everywhere in the epigraphicai'
records of our period, and no chapter and verse need be
quoted to prove their general prevalence. Many of the kings
of our period claim credit for having restored the Dharma as
it existed in the Krta age; this statement would show that
the theory of the progressively degenerating cycles of the
yugas or ages was well established in our period.
A verse occurring in the Manu Smriti and several other
works states that tapas or austerities was the order of the day
in the Krta age, quest of knowledge or truth in the Treta,
sacrifices in the Dvapara and charity in the An exa-
mination of the data belonging to our period shows that this
%’erse represents the realities of the situation at least as far as
our age is concerned. Austerities were not unknown to our j
period; Sulaiman refers to many ascetics that used to mor-
tify the flesh in a variety of ways in the 9th century Deccan. ^ ^
The quest after the truth or knowledge was also fairly seri-
ous as the new philosophical activity which commenced with
S'ankara shows. The STauta sacrifices had practically dis-
appeared and their place was taken by the Smarta ones. The
average man of our age, however, believed in the efficacy of
charity for the securing of religious merit. A verse in the
Kalas-Budruk plates, dated 1026 A. says that
neither learning nor wealth produce so much merit as
115. Elliot, I p. 6. , 116. I A., XVI I, p/127.
114. 186.
-;i t
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
chanty. ihe girt or a piece oi land was regarded as
■:tiie most meritorious, the reason, ■ as: it is .given in an
eentury record/^ being that all wealth was. really, produced':
from land. The close connection between the Smriti writers'
and, the composers of the epigraphical .records of our a'ge is"''
■shown by the fact that most of the benedictory and impreca-
tory stanzas in our grants are borrowed from the . contempo-'^
rary Smritis and Puranas, or vice versa. The verse quoted in
the previous foot-note has been attributed to
by Hemadri.^^^®^ Brhaspali Smriti verses 26, 28, 30, 32, 33,
39 8: 17 correspond to the wrell known verses beginning with
■nt mmm ■ ^ i ""and
1 respectively which occur in many of the
grants of our period, Hemadri attributes most of the above
verses to various Puranas/^^*’^ It is, therefore, clear that
persons who drafted our epigraphical charters were close
students of Puranas and Smritis.
The influence of these works on our age is also proved
by an analysis of the objects given in charity, and of the
occasions vAien they were given. Hiranyagcnhhadana, which
was given by Dantidurga at Ujjain, has been prescribed by
the Matsyapurana;^^^^^ the gift of an ubhayatomukM cow i, e, a
cow in the process of delivery, which was given by a courtesan
at Pattadkal in c. 770 has been recommended by
the Atri samkitaA^^^^ which asserts that the merit of such a
gift is equal to the gift of the whole earth; Skandapuram adds
that all considerations about the appropriateness of time are
to be brushed aside when it is the question of making such a
117 . \
118. Dauakhauda. p- 509, 119. pp. 494-510.
120, Chapter, 274 - 121. h A., Xl. p. 125. 122. V. 333.
I INSCRIPTIONS CORROBORATE PURANAS 301
Dantidiirga/^“"> Indra and Govinda
are knopvn to have given the tulapnrushadana ( f, e. the gift of
that ^:jh quantity of gold which is equivalent to one*s own.
weight,) which has been prescribed in the Matsyapamm^^-'-:
■and the of .Hemadri.
Most of the occasions on which our grants were made-
are those ’^hich have been regarded as particularly sacred
by the Smriti and Purana literature of our age. Many of our
grants have been given on. the days, of the monthly samkraniis,'
: the sanctit^r of , which has been recognised by ' .L<2,^AK-Sa^a/a|&a.'
Uttarayana and Dakshinayana days on which some
of our grants were given were of course regarded as parti-
cularly sacred ; some of the Ratla records^^^‘^ show that even
the Jains regarded these days as specially holy for such,
purposes. The belief in the sanctity of the days of the equi-
nox, which is attested to by the Viddhavasishtha
is seen reflected in the Antroli-Chharoli record, which
mentions a gift made on the day of the autumnal equinox.
The sanctity of Kapilashashthl is attested to by the Mangoli
inscription wdiich records numerous donations made on
that rare parmn. The College at Salotgi got extensive gifts
on a sarvapitr-amavasya day^^®^^ and the Nadwadinge grant
of Krshna was made on the auspicious occasion of
a siddhiyoga. The tulapurasha gift of Dantidurga was given
on the day of the rathmaptarm^ which is declared to be a
123. Quoted by Hemadri, Danakhanda^ p. 82.
124. SamaDgad plates, I. A,, XI, p. III.
125. Begumra plates, E. 1., IX, p. 24. 126. E. U, VII, p. 30.
127. Cbap. 274. 128. p. 212. 129. V, 147.
130. gr., Dantivarman's grant. E. I., VI, p. 287 ; Mulgund grant;;
Ibid, p. 260. 131. J. B. B. R. A. 5.. X. pp, 237 ff.
132. Quoted by Hemadri, Ddnuklianda, p. 72.
133. J. B. B. R. A. S.. XVI, pp. 112 H.
134. E. L. V, p. 23. 135, E. IV, p. 335.
136. I. A., Xn. p. 112.
302
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
! ?
* partic-dlai'iy holy day in the Bhavishyapurana and thde Kasi
I Khania oi the Skatnlapttrana^^^'''\ The Torhhede j.aiJ'ant of
I Govinda was given on the occasion of a vijaya<^°^taml
I and the charity given on this d|iy is described in the BhadM^a-
' as hundredfold efficacious. This Purana des-
^ cribes vijaya saptaml as a name given to the 7th day of the
ji bright half of a fortnight, if it falls on a Sunday and is pre-
sided over by a lunar mansion consisting of five stars. It is a
i pity that our inscription should not have specified the week
i day and its lunar mansion, so that we could have verified the
i statement of the Bhavishy a Parana about the vijaya saptaml
\ The Baroda plates of Dhruva record a grant made on
I the day of the Mahahartikiparvan, which is described by the
* Brahmapurana as that full moon day of Kartika which is
Ipresided over by the lunar mansion RohinI; this is described
bs a particularly holy day by that Purana. Kapadwanj
plates of Krshna II record a grant given on a maha-vaishakhi
I day. Atri-Smrti describes Vaishakha full moon day ^ as
particularly holy and suitable for making donations;”"’ I
am, however, unable to find which particular full Vaishakha
moon day was regarded as Maha-Vaishakhi day. The
' Karhad plates of Krshna lll”^®’ were issued on the
13lh day of the dark half of the month of Phalguna, which
has been described as a Varuniii day; an apapurana
i states that this day is called Varuni, if it is presided over by
1 the lunar mansion S'atataraks, mahavarani if the week day is
i: Saturday, and mahSmaJiavaranl if there is also an auspicious
i yoga on that day. It may be pointed out that the week day
137. Quoted in the Nirmsasindhu, p. 162. 138. E. L, III, p. 54.
139. Quoted by Hemadri, Danakhanda, p. 63.
140. 1. A.. XIV, p. 200.
141. Quoted by HemSdri, Danakhan^, p. 65.
142. VI. 7. 143. E. I;, IV. p. 260. ^ g
144. Quoted in the Tithitatm as quoted by the S'abdakalpadruma,
CHARfTY FOR PUBLIC WORKS
on which the Varuni day of 939 A.D. feli was not Saturday
but Wednesday and our record describes the panan as a
simple Varupi day, and refrains from describing it as a
maha or mahamahaoUrani day. The close connection that we
thus find between the epigraphical records and the Smriti.
Parana and Nibandha literature would fully justify our proce*
dure in some places in this chapter to fill the gaps in the
epigraphical records by the information supplied by these
works.
The theory of charity being the most effective means of
securing religious merit was no doubt in ascendency in our
age, but it may be added that Brahmanas alone did not
benefit by it. Part of the money spent on temples wasj
utilised for poor relief as already shown. Part of it went to
maintain schools and colleges as will be shown in Chap. XVI.-'
It will be also shown there that the brahmadeya grants alsd
served the same purpose to a great extent. Part of the
charity of the age was definitely and avowedly diverted for
the purpose of public works. The Smritis of our period
lay down that men acquire the merit of ishtapnrta by provid-
ing funds for public works like tanks, wells, gardens, temples,
hospitals, poor houses, schools etc., and there are numerous
records belonging to our period which show that the teachings
of these Smritis did not fall on deaf ears. A tank at Nargund
in Dharwar district was constructed and maintained by the
donation of a private individual, and by the voluntaiy con-
tributions which the inhabitants had agreed to pay for its
maintenance on occasions like marriage, npanayana''^^^^ etc.
The College at Salotgi was also maintained by a princely
gift of a local potentate and voluntary contributions of its
citizens. When the hall of this College needed
overhauling, it was rebuilt also by a private individual.
14S. E. g., Yama. 1, 69-70. 146. I. A., Xll, p, 224
147, E. I.. IV, p, 61.
304
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
The Shikarpur inscription No. 284, belonging to the time of
Kvshna II. records the construction of a tank and
temple by a private individual, who also granted a piece of
land to maintain them. Soraadeva, a contemporarj-’ Jain
writer from Karnatak, boldly departs from the traditional
view, which is veiy rarely the case with him. and declares
that the endowments of feeding and drinking houses, and the
erection of temples and rest houses was the most important
duty of the Vaishyas or the moneyed classes. The theory
and practice of our age, therefore, show that the doctrine
that charity was the best means of securing religious merit
was not entirely and exclusively for the benefit of the
Brabmanas; the community as a whole also benefited by it.
It was during our period that Hinduism came into con-
Vact with Mahomedanism both in the south and in the north,
'In Sindh hundreds of women were forcibly ravished and
Ithousands of men were converted during our period- Many
Mahomedan travellers had come and settled down in the
ports of western India where, as we have seen already, mos*
ques had begun to raise their heads. What was the attitude
of Hinduism towards the problem of reconversion of those
who were forcibly converted ? Devala Smriti, which was
composed in Sindh after its conquest by the Muslims, is
essentially a Smriti composed for prescribing the rules for
reconversion; it permits reconversion of forcibly converted men
within a period of 20 years. Anotiier Smriti writer of our
age, Brhadyama'i®'” lays down the general principle that a
suitable prayas chiita should be prescribed for such persons-
With reference to women forcibly ravished by the Mlech-
chhas, a number of Smritis of our period^^^’ lay down
that such unfortunate ladies should be readmitted into theie
families after a suitable penitential ceremony, even if the
ravishment had resulted in conception.
l4Si E. C. VIL H9. MUvakyamrta, VII. S3:
MASS RECONVERSIONS TO HINDUISM
How far these theories were accepted by the society of
our period is the question which the historian has to answer^
There is evidence to show that the Hinduism of our period wasl
not so conservative or short-sighted as the present da^*
Hinduism, and was prepared to follow in practice the gospel
of reconversion which was recommended to it by its thinking
sages. A specific case of reconversion has been mentioned by
AI' : U Nawas Shah was one of the Indian ruIerS' who
■had been established by Mahmud of Ghazni as a governor of
some of the districts conquered- by him, in reward, for his ■
embracing the Islam* Al ’Utbi proceeds to narrate : — ‘The
Satan had got the better of Nawas Shah, for he was again
apostatizing towards the pit of plural worship, had thrown off
the slough of Islam and held conversations with the chiefs of
idolatry, respecting the casting off the firm rope of religion
from hi?.tieck So the Saltan went swifter than the wind.**
and turned Nawas Shah out of his government, took posses-
sion of his treasures This account given by a Muslim
himself clearly proves that Nawas Shah repented of his con-
duct and was making arrangements for his reconversion w^hich
enraged Mahmud. Al *Utbi does not state whether Nawas
Shah was actually converted back into Hinduism, but since
he was so summarily dealt with by Mahmud, it is almost
certain that the reconversion was not merely planned but
actually carried out
Muslim writers themselves supply further evidence to
show that reconversions on a mass scale used to take place in
the 8th and 9th centuries, Al Biladuri, while describing the
general condition of the Muslim power and religion in India
towards the end of the 8th century, says that the Muslims,
were by that, time compelled to retire from several parts of
India and that the people of India , had returned to idolatry'
150. Vv. 5^6. 151. E. (7., 200-202 ; Devala, 36 ff.
152. Elliot. lU pp. 32-33.
RELIGIOUS CONDITION'
153. Ibid, I, p. 126.
154, Sulaiman says ttat the Gurjara*Pratiharas were the greatest
enemies of the Muslim religion, ( Hindi tran. p. 52 ) It is possible
that the emperors of this dynasty may have actively helped the
movement of reconversion hy extending state help to it. '
HINDU-MUSLIM SOCIAL RELATIONS
iregain It would thus appear that the growing notions
W excessive purity' were responsible for the disappearance
of reconversion; it was very probably first given up by 'the
Brahnianas, and the rest of the castes may have soon followed
As to social relations between the Muslims and the
Hindus, Alberuni informs us th at no d rinking or eating with
a Mlechchha^ was permitted in J ai^ time. the 14th
' century Malabarj ' -Muslims were not allowed to, enter Hindu
.Louses. ^ There is no evidence ■■ as to the social relations
between the two communities in the ports on western India
during our period; as already pointed out, the Muslims in the
Deccan during our period were using Indian dress and
language. It is. therefore, perhaps likely that there may
not have been too much exclusiveness during our period at
least in the Deccan. During the 14th century, even in the
distant Malabar and Bengal the Hindus had begun to worship
Muslim Pirs and Shaikhs; one cannot be, therefore, sure
that the mosques in the ports on western India had no
Hindu worshippers.
Buddhism
As stated already. Buddhism was losing ground rapidly
in the Deccan of our period. The spread and popularity
of Jainism may have been partly at its cost; tradition
‘says that Akalanka, a Jain teacher of Sravan Belgol, defeated
the Buddhists in c. 780 in a discussion held in the presence of
king Hemasitala of Kanchi and that the prince was converted
to Jainism and the Buddhists were exiled to Candy.
The scene of victory is stated to be Kanchi but Akalanka
belonged to the Jain establishment of Sravan Belgol, which
was situated in the heart of Karnatak; the scholastic and
^5, Sachaxi, 11, pp. 162-3. 156. Sachau, I, pp, 19-20.
t57. Ibn Batuta, p. 231. 158. Elliot. I. 39.
.159. Ibn Batuta. p. 268. 160. I. A.. VII, r. 25.
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
SOS
missionary activities of the Jains of that centre may have
proved detrimental to Buddhist interests in Karnatak and
Maharashtra. as. well. ■ . .
Three Buddhist establishm..ents are. so- far known- to have-'
flourished in our period, one at Kanheri near Bombay, the
second at Kampilya in Sholapur district » and, the third -at^'
Dambal in Dharwar district. Three inscriptions belonging
to the reign of Amoghavarsha attest to the existence of
^Buddhist Sangha at Kanheri. Several records of the
Andhra period^ preserved in these caves prove that
Kanheri was a centre of Buddhism in that period. The
inscriptions referred to above show that in our age also the
place was a famous centre of Buddhism, for we find an
inhabitant from distant Bengal constructing meditation halls
and making permanent endowments for the benefit cf the
monks of this Sangha. The endowment made provision,
inter alia, for the purchase of books; it would, therefore, appear
that the Sangha had a library, and perhaps a school, attached
to it. It resembled in this respect the famous monastic
university at Valabhi, where also there was a library, which
often received grants for the purchase of books/^^^^ The-
Shlahara administration, within whose immediate jurisdiction
the Sangha was situated, did not look upon it with an hostile
eye; for we find a premier of that state making an endow-
ment, the interest of which was to be utilised for the purpose
of supplying clothes to the monks.
Dantivarman’s grant^^^^^ records the donation of a vil-
lage to a Buddhist monastery at Kampailya. It is tempting
to identify this Kampilya with the capital of southern Panchala,
but it looks a little improbable that a monastery in southern
Panchala should have been assigned a village in southern
161. Xin, pp, 136 ff.
BU0DHISM IN' KARNATAK
'Giijrat. This monastery was probably situated in Kam'piL
a village in Tuljapur Taluka of Sholapur district/
An inscription of the time of Vikramaditya VJ, d#dd
1095-6 proves the existence of two Buddhist monas-
teries at Dambal in Dharwar district. It is very likely that
the antiquity of these establishments would go back at least
to our, if not an earlier, period. There was a temple of
the: Buddha and Tara at the place in- the 11th centu.rj?' and the
description and importance of Tara, as- attested to by our
record, would suggest that the . establishment' was a Maha-
yana one. In the Mahayana system Tara was invoked for
help in distress on land and sea and our inscription also
shows that similar was the conception about that deity in the
Deccan of our peried. Cf. : —
The above are the only known centres of Buddhism in
the Deccan of our period. It is, therefore, clear that the reli-
gion had lost all hold on popular mind and was in the last
stage of its decline.
Jainisth
Our period was probably the most flourishing period in
the history of Jainism in the Deccan. Soon after it
Jainism received a set-back owing to rapid spread of the
new Lingayat sect. In our period, however, the sect
I65« l am indebtecl to the late Prof. R. D* Banerji for drawing my
att«inlioii ttt this villagfe in SholapUr districl.
310
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
had no serious militant rival and was - bashing in the
sunshine of popular and royal favour.;. The. literary activity."'
■ of the Jains was also remarkable in this age, and they seem
to have taken an active part in the education of the masses.'
That, before the beginning of the alphabet proper the children
should be required to pay homage to Gai>es"a by reciting the.
formula S'rJ Ganes'aya namah is natural in Hindu society,
but that in the Deccan even to-day it should be followed
by the Jain formula Om namassiddhehhyah shows, as
Mr. C. V. Vaidya has pointed out, that the Jain teachers cf
our age had so completely controlled the mass education that
the Hindus continued to teach their children this originally
Jain formula even after the decline of Jainism. The formula
can of course be interpreted in a non-Jain sense as well, but
it cannot be denied that originally it had a Jain significance.
The way to the prosperity of Jainism in our period
was already paved in the earlier age. Many of the Kadamba
kings of the 5th and the 6th centuries were patrons of
Jainism/ There are several spurious records at Laksh-
mesvar^^^^’ really belonging to the 10th or 11th century »»
purporting to record grants in favour of Jain establish-
ments made by early Chalukya kings Vinayaditya, Vijaya-
ditya, and Vikramaditya II. These kings must have been
known to the tradition, at least as occasional patrons of
Jainism; otherwise it is hardly possible to explain why these^
and no other kings, should have been selected as donors
when the records were forged. Most of the Ganga kings of
Talwad were either Jains or patrons of Jainism. Grants to
Jain establishments made by Rachamalla have been found in
Coorg,^^^^^ and when this king captured Valhmalai hill, he
commemorated its conquest by erecting a Jain temple upon
At Lakshmesvar there existed in our period buildings
EXTENSIVE ROYAL PATRONAGE TO JAINISM
known as Raya-RSchamalla' Vdsati, Gania-Permadi-chaitya"
laya, aad'Gmga-kandarpa-chaityamandiras^^^ The names
of these ' edifices^ bear testimony to the patronage-of Jainism
by the various members of the Ganga ruling, family, after
whom ■ the buildings were named. Marasimha^ II ' was a
staunch Jain; he was' a disciple of Ajilasena and, his firm
faith' in his religion sustained him through the terrible ordeal
of the 'Sallekhana vow whereby he terminated his life after
■his abdication in c. 974 A.D. Marasimha s minister Chamunda-
is the author of the Chamandapurana; it was he who
set up the colossal image of Gemmates Vara at Sravana
Beigoia, and his reputation as a patron and devotee of
Jainism was so great, that he was regarded as one of the three
special promoters of Jainism, the other two being Gangamja
and Huila who were the ministers of the Hoysala kings
Vishouvardhana and Marasimha I. In Nolambawadi the
religion was prospering, we have a record from that province
mentioning the gift of a village by a merchant who had
purchased it"from the ruling king in order to bestow it upon the
Jain monastery at Dharmapuri in Salem district. Among
the Rashtrakuta emperors Amoghavarsha I was more a Jain
than a Hindu. In his Parsvabhyudaya Jinasena calls
himself as the chief preceptor ( paramagurn ) of that
king who used to regard himself as purified by the
mere remembrance of that holy saint Sarasangrahar
a Jain mathematical work, also mentions that Amoghavarsha
was a follower of the syadvada. Amoghavarsha’s offering
one of his fingers to the Goddess Mahal akshmi, in order to
exitricate his kingdom from an epedemic,^^’^^^ only shows that
he worshipped some Hindu deities along with Mahavira. He
seems to have taken an active interest in Jainism; some of the
171. i. A., Vil, pp. 103-6. 172. E. L, X, p. 57.
173. 1. A., Xn, pp. 216-8.
174. Wintemitz, Geschichte^ HI, p. 575.
175. E. I., XVHi, p. 248.
312
RELiGlOUS CONDITION
Jain monasteries in Banavasi attribute, as my colleague the
late Prof. R, D. Batierji- informed me, the authorship of some
of their religious ritual to AmoghavarsLa. We have seen
how Amoghavarsha I' had abdicated his throne more than
once; that was probably ■ due to. his being a, sincere Jain,
anxious to observe the vow of akinehanata (possession-
icssness) at least for some time. This emperor had _appointed
Gunabhadra, the author of the last five chapters of Adipuram,
as the preceptor of his son Krshna the latter is
known to have given a donation to a Jain temple at
Mulgund. So, if not a full-fledged Jain, he was at least a
patron of Jainism. The same observation may hold good of
the next ruler Indra IH, for the Danavulapadu inscription
records that the prosperous Nityavarsha i, e. Indra HI caused
to be made a stone pedestal for the glorious bathing cere-
mony of Arl|Ut S'anti* in order that his own desires may be
fulfilled. The last of the Rashtrakutas, Indra !V, was a staunch
Jain; when his efforts to regain his kingdom from Taila !I
failed, he committed suicide by the sallekhana
Many of the feudatories and officers of the Rashtrakutas
were also Jains. Most of the Ratta rulers of Saundatti were
followers of Jainism, as pointed out already. Bankeya*
the Banavasi governor of Amoghavarsha I, was a Jain; he
got the imperial sanction for the alienation of a village to a
Jain establishment at his Capita!.^ Bankeya’s son Lokaditya
is described by his preceptor Gunachandra as the propagator
of the religion founded by Jina; and S'rivijaya, a general of
Indra III, was a Jain and a patron of Jain literature.
These are the kings* feudatories and officers of our
period who are so far known to have been followers or patrons
of Jainism. There may have been many more; for, as will be
176. J. B. B. R. A. S.. XXII* p. 85. 177. Ibid, X, p. 192.
178. A. S. R., 1905-6, pp. 121-2. 179. L A., XXHI. p. 124.
180. A7ite, PP..272-3. 181. E. I., VI, p. 29,
30 PER CENT POPULATION JAIN
shown in Chapter XVI, our period produced a galaxy of Jain
authors and preachers whose literally and missionary activities
must have produced a considerable effect, helped as they
were by royal patronage, ■ It is very probable that at least
one third of the total population of the Deccan of our -period,
■was folloW'ing the gospel of Mahavira. Rashid-ud-din states
-on the authority of -Alberuni^'^^’^^ that the people of Konkan and ;,
Thana were Samanis or Buddhists at the beginning -of -the,,,
1 1-th oentury* -,A1, ,Idrisi calls -the king of, Naharvala i.
Anaiiilapatana as a Buddhist, . whereas we -know deriniteiy
that the king he' had in view was a Jain, not a Buddhist
It is thus clear that the Muslims very often mistook Jainism
for Buddhism and the above referred to statement of
Rashidu-d-din may be taken to prove the prevalence of Jainism
rather than Buddhism in parts of the Deccan during the 10th
and the llth centuries. Subsequent to our period Jainism lost
much -of its -ground by the rise of the Lingayat sect which
grew partly at its cost. ■ ■
We can get a glimpse into the life of the Jain Mathas of
our period from our records. From the records of the early
Kadambas^^®*^^ we learn that the Jains used to stay in one
place during the rainy season, at the end of which they used
was paid by Megasthepes and Yuan Lhwang, Ai Idrisi
The Indians are naturally inclined to justice and never
depart from it in their actions. * Their good faith, honesty; '
and fidelity to their engagements are welknown and they are
187. J. B. B. R. A. S., X. p. 237. 188. Elliot, I. p. 88,
REL!GIO.U,S- CONDITION
The Jain temples of our period had become replicas ■ .■of*',
the Hindu temples. The' worship of Mahavira was just as.
sumptuous and luxurious ''as that' of' Vishnu / or .'Siva.
Spigraphicai records are seen making provision; for his
an§abho§a and rangahhoga ymt as they do in the case , of the
.Hindu deities. What a commentary on the doctrine of abso-
lute akinchanata preached and practised by him !
Food and medicine were provided for in, the Jain, Mathas.
and provision was also made for the teaching of the Jain
scriptures.
The Konnur inscription of Amoghavarsha I and the
Surat plates of Karkka (E. L, XXI) record grants made
for Jain establishments. Both epigraphs, however, say that
the grants were made, inter alia, for the purpose of halicharu’
iana^ vaisvadeva, and agnihotrai These are essentially
Hindu rituals and one is surprised to find grants made to
Jain temples and monasteries for the purpose of performing,
them. It may be that during our period Hinduism and Jainism
resembled each other more closely than is the case now,
or the above expressions may have been introduced in these
records by the oversight of the imperial secretariat. In the
Konnur record, the expression is actually misplaced and,,
therefore, the latter alternative seems to me more probable.
The influence of religion is estimated by the result it
produces upon character. What then was the general charac-
ter of the people in our period ? It is gratifying to find that
the Arab merchants of the age, in spite of their religious dif-
ferences, pay as high a compliment to the Indian character as
paid by Megasthepes and Yuan Chwang, Al Idrisi .
EMASCULATING EFFECTS OF AHIMSA
313
so famous for these qualities that people flock to their coun“
try from every side; hence the country is flourishing, and their:
condition prosperous/ The Marathas of Deogiri and 'Nan
.durbar are described by Ibn Batuta^^®'^^ as upright, religious
and trustworthy. The travellers whose testimonies have;
been quoted above, belong to a slightly later period than ours.,,
but , there is nothing improbable in their description holding,
'..good, of our age, as well.
' ^ It is very often asserted that the gospels of Ahimsa and
Sanyasa,' that were, popularised* ■ by Jainism and Buddhism,
have ultimately resulted in the enslavement, of India for. the
last 1,000 years. Some events, that have happened in our
period, seem to support this view. When Bajhra, the nephew
of Dahir, was preparing to defend the fort of Swistan against
Mahmud Kasim, all the Samanis (i. c., Buddhists) assembled
and said to him: — * Our religion is one of peace and quiet and
fighting and slaying is prohibited as well as all hinds of
shedding of blood. You are secure in a lofty place, while
we are open to the invasions of the enemy and liable to be
slain and plundered as your subjects. We know that Mahmud
Kasim holds a firman from Hajjaj to grant protection to ail
those who demand it. We trust, therefore, that you deem it
fit and reasonable that we make terms with him, for the
Arabs are faithful and keep their engagements.’ It w'ould
be, however, a mistake to suppose that the Buddhists of
Sindh were emasculated by their religion. They no doubt
said that their religion forbade them from slaughter and
shedding of the blood, but that was merely for cloaking
their cowardice. The rapid successes of Mahmud Kasim
and the brutality with which he butchered all those who
opposed him had unnerved the population of Sindh. The
Buddhists of Swistan were using the tenets of their religion
only as a convenient excuse in order to avoid the prospect of
189. p. 228. 190. Elliot, i. p. 158.9.
116
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
bcLng Injtchered or enslaved by the conqueror,
noted that the Hindus of Brahtnanabad were
and submissive, and the Brahmanac
mean game of winnbg over the population
conqueror, thereby bringing disj
their ancestors, who had incited
Alexander the Gfeat and paid the
glorious offence of patriotism.
It must be remembered that Jainism preaches the doc
trine ot Ahimsa in a tiiore extreme form than Buddh;
yet the history of the Deccan of our i., *
no emasculating effect upon its followers
early Kadamba king, though a
of •war’ (ranapriya)^'^^^^
did not prevent him from offering a dreadful feast to the god
of death on the battle-field of Vingavalli. Bankeya, the
Banavasi viceroy of the same emperor, was a devout Iain and
yet a most active, successful and skilful general. Indra III
was at least a patron, and veiy probably a follower of
Jainisrn; and so were his generals S'rivijaya and Narasimha.
and yet th^ had fought several battles and overrun the
whole of Central India and the Madhyade^a, in order to
accomplish their ambitious plans of conquest. Narasimha II,
who was such a staunch Jain as to die by the sallekhaJ
vow. was yet the hem of a hundred battles. Most of his
predecessors on the Ganga throne were Jains and were yet
influence that go
to form the character of a people. Christian gospels recom-
R meekness as strongly as the Jain and
Buddhist scriptures, and yet Christimi nations have been most
191. Ibid. I, p, 184. 292. I A Vir
m. XII, p. 250. ' 2
It sboiild^ .fc'
Equally meek
IS among tbem played the
1 to the side of the
grace to the uiemoiy of
the population against'
extreme penally for the '
lisray/and"'
period shows that it had
-.—s. Knshnavarma, an^
- had the title nf the lover
The Jainism of Amoghavarsha i
THE SEVEN CASTES
woryiy-minded and agressive. What ¥ary often happens is.
that people seek to cover their own weakness and cowardice*,,
which have been due to causes that have very little to do with
religion, under the spe.cious name of religion and philosophy
by distorting their teachings. In the face of the achievement^
of the Jain princes and generals of our period, we can hardly
subscribe to the theory that Jainism and Buddhism were
chiefly responsible for the military emasculation of the popu-^
lation' that led. to the fall of Hindu India.
CHAPTER XIV
Social CcBclitiaii
Most of the writers, who have attempted to describe the*
social conditions and institutions in ancient India, have relied
upon the evidence afforded by the Dharmas'astra literature.
This evidence is undoubtedly very valuable; but since the
dates of many of the Smriti writers are but very vaguely
known, it is necessary to check and correlate it with epigra-
phical facts and the accounts supplied by foreign travellers.
Besides the Smritis have, to some extent, been written from
a certain viewpoint which may not have been always shared
by the majority of society. | In the following pages, the
method above indicated, with which the reader of these pages-
must be already familiar, will be followed.
The most striking feature of the Hindu Society has been
the caste system since very early times. To trace the history
of this institution from its beginning is irrelevant for our
present enquiry; we shall, therefore, try to ascertain its nature
during our period. The usual theoretical number of the
castes is four, but it is rather strange that Greek writers like
Megasthenes and Strabo and Muslim writers like Ibn
Khurdadba and AI Idrisi should concur in maintaining that
their number was seven. The seven castes of the Muslim
31S
SOCIAL CONDITION
travellers are, liowever,^ not identical with the seven castes of
the Greek ambassador : the latter does not enumerate any of^
: the : untouchables among^ his castes,- while the former . include-
at least two among the ' depressed classes. Aiberuni, Iiow>-
■ever, differs from the earlier Muslim travellers and maintains
that there were sixteen castes, the four well-known ones,
■five semi-untouchables and seven untouchables. ■ The actual
number of the castes and sub-castes of our period was,-
however, more than sixteen; the Smritis of our period mention
several subcastes, . and according to Kalhana, who flourished
in Kashmir in the 12th century, the number was 64,^^ ^
The seven castes mentioned by Ibn Khurdadba, who died
in 912 A.D., are (l) Sabkufria (spelt as Sabakferya or Samhufrla
according to some Mss), ( 2 ) Brahma, (3) Kalari 3 ?'a, ( 4 ) Sudariya,
{ 5 ) Baisura, (6) Sandalia, and (7)Lahud.^^^ The seven castes
of A1 Idrisi are practically identical with the seven ones men-
tioned above, if slight variation in spelling is ignored/'"^' There
is, however, one variation; the name of the 7th caste according
to Ai Idrisi is Zakya and not Lahud as Ibn Khurdadba
asserts. Both of them agree, however, in observing that the
members of this caste were following the professions of the
dancers, tumblers, and players. The order of enumeration
of these castes is not according to their relative status or
importance; for both mention the Vaishyas after the Sudras
and the Lahud or Zakya caste, which comes last, seems
certainly not lower in status than the Chandala one, which
precedes it.
It is quite clear from the details given by these xvriters
that Brahma, Sudaria, Baisura, and Sandalia are the same
as Brahmanas, Sudras, Vaishyas, and Chandalas. Katariyas,
who could drink three cups of wine and whose daughters
could be married by the Brahmanas, are obviously the same
.as the Kshatriyas, Sabkufnyas or Sabakafreyas seem to stand I
1. Vn!, 2407. 2. Elliot. 1. pp., 16-7. 3. Bfd:, p. 76.
SIXTEEN CASTES OF ALBERUNI
319
■for Sanskrit Satkshatriyas/^^ since we are told that they were
superior to all the remaining castes and that the kings were
chosen from among them. The distinction between the
Katariyas and Sabkufrias or Satkshatriyas , seems, ■ similar tov
the distinction between, the Kshatriyas and the Rajaoyas. of
the earlier period ; the former constituted the general military
order while the latter were the members of the aristocracy
descended from the royal stock. This distinction between
theTCshatriyas and Satkshatriyas.. reminds us of the, distinction ^
between the Sudras and Sachchhudras, though, the fomier is:
not known to the .Dharmasastra literature. .
The information of A Iberuni. about the caste system .iS'
more detailed and interesting,, and though he was not like Ibn.'^
■ Khurdadba or Al Idrisi directly connected with the : Deccan '
we cannot pass over his account as the conditions in the
south were not much different, from those prevailing , in the
.north.. After mentioning the four principal castes A^iberuni
■says: —
* After the Sudras follow the people called Antyajas,
who render various kinds of services and are not reckoned
among the castes but only as members of a certain craft or
profession. There are eight classes of them who freely inter-
marry with each other, except the fuller { washerman ), shoe-
maker, and weaver; for no others will condescend to have
anything to do with them. These eight guilds are : — ■
(1) The fuller or washerman,
(2) The shoemaker,
(3) The juggler,
(4) The basket and shield maker,
(5) The sailor,
4, Arabic letters ta and ha can be easily confounded in Mss, because
the former differs from the latter only by the addition of two dots. The
expressions Satkufriya and Satakafreya are fairly similar to the original
Skt. form Satkskatriya,
5* See p. 333.
320
SOCIAL CONDITION
(6) The-fish^rnaan,: '
(7) The hunter. of wild, animals and birds, .and ; ;
(s) The weaver.' .
The four castes'. do.' not live with them in one and ..the'
same place. These guilds, live near the ■ villages and' 'towns.,:
of the four castes but just outside them. ' The- people ■ cailed:
Had!, Domba, Chandala and ■ Badhatau ' are .not reckoned:
among' any class or guild. They are occupied with dirty ,
work, like the cleansing of the villages and other services.
They are considered as one sole class distinguished only by
their occupations.*
The above description of the Muslim writers raises seve»
ra! interesting points, with reference to the position of the
untouchables. Ibn Khurdadba and Al Idrisi mention only
two untouchable castes, Sandalia and Lahud or Zakya, which
correspond with the Chandala and the juggler classes of
Alberuni. Were the remaining classes mentioned by Alber-
uni as untouchables really so, and if so, why does he divide
them into two groups ?
After mentioning the eight varieties of the Antyajas,
Alberuni expressly adds that all these classes lived near the
towns or villages of the four castes, but outside them. It is there-
fore clear that they were regarded as untouchables. It may
be pointed out that some of the later Smritis like Angiras,''^^
Brihadyama,^^^ Atri,^^^ and Apastamba^^^b which discuss the
problem and the treatment of the untouchables, pronounce
most of these classes as untouchables. Washerman, shoe-
maker, juggler, fisherman, Chandala, and basket-maker of
Alberuni correspond to rajaka, charmakara, naia or s' ailashi -
ka, kaivarta, chandala and venajivin of these Smriti writers.
Since early times these were regarded as untouchables and
till quite recently; washermen, shoemakers, fishermen, and
6. I, pp. 101 ff, 7. Vv, 17, 20. 8. Chapters I and 0,
9. Vv. 174, ff. 10. Chapters, IV and V.
WERE WEAVERS 'UNTOUCHABLES?
321
Chandalas because their professions were dirty, and jugglers
and basketmakers, probably because these professions were
the monopoly of the non-Aryan aborigines in the beginning..
One of the inscriptions on the Rajarajesvara temple at Tanjore
- provides, as we have seen, for the ■ enactment of a' certain:,
drama at the time of the annual fair and states the salaries
paid to the actors. A perusal of Sanskrit literature also shows,
that the actors who enacted the dramas of Bhasa, Kalidasa,
and Bhavabuti were- not regarded as' untouchables.. The'
Natas, who are pronounced as : untouchables- by ■ the Smriti ■
writers, were not obviously the members of this ' class; ■ they
were tumblers, jesters, and rope-dancers who are described
as untouchables by the Muslim writers of our period.
We have next to consider the case of the weaver, the sailor,
and the hunter of wild animals and birds, who are included
by Alberuni among the untouchables of the first group.
From Manu^^^^ we learn that members of the Margava and
Ayogava sub -castes, who were supposed to have sprung from
pmff/omu unions, were assigned the professions of the sailor
and the hunter ; that would explain why they were regarded
as untouchables. The weaver, however, whom Alberuni
regards as untouchable, is nowhere regarded as such in the
Smriti literature, and if we follow Alberuni, we shall have to
suppose that the famous weaving industry of ancient India
was a monopoly in the hands of the untouchables. There is
no evidence, however, to show that such was the case.
According to Brhadyama Smriti it would appear that the
Hindus of our period regarded it as sinful to touch a person
who was dealing in red cloth and, according to Apastamba.
Smriti, it was extremely undesirable to touch or wear blue.*
cloth or colour. It would seem that notions like these were
responsible for the theory that persons, who produce or deal
in red or blue cloth, were impure. If Alberunfs information.
•13. "-"Glsapter'.'-VL;
IL X. 34, 48.
12. 111,52.
322
SOCIAL CONDITION
about the weavers being regarded as untouchabies is correct,
we shall have to suppose, as the Smriti literature leads us
to.- believe, that it, refers only to a section of . that .class-"
engaged in producing red or - blue cloth which was losing
-in the estimation of- the orthdoxy. It may be pointed out.
that at present the tailors are divided in Maharashtra into two- '
.castes;, the members of one caste are called Shimpis (ordinary- ■
tailors) and those of the other Nili Shimpis (i, e. tailors
dealing with blue cloth). The latter are held by the former
in low estimation, and no interdining or intermarriages are
possible between the members of these two sub-castes. It is
clear that the Nili Shimpis are regarded as degraded because
they had not tabooed blue cloth tailoring in middle ages.
It is possible that weavers also in our period may have formed
two similar classes. It is, however, difficult to say whether the
section dealing with the manufacture of red and blue cloth
was actually regarded as untouchable, as Alberuni would
have us believe, or whether it was merely held in lower
estimation. The probability seems to be that the latter was
the case.
Hadi, Domba, and Badhatau now remain to be con-
sidered. What section of the untouchables is called Hadi by
Alberuni is not clear ; he tells us that of all the classes
below the castes, the Hadis are the best spoken of, because
they keep themselves free from everything unclean, though
their work was the cleansing of the villages etc. That the
Dombas were regarded as untouchable is proved also by the
Rajatarangini ; King Chakravarman went outside the court
hall when he had to see a troop of Domba dancers. It is
true that he subsequently began to share his bed with some
of the Domba dancing girls, but he was all along conscious
of having committed a grievous sin thereby. The term
Badhatau of Alberuni is an apahhransa of mdhaka or the,
14. V. 354.
GRADES IN UNTOUCHABILITY
323
cKecationer, who is untouchable even according to the Dhar-
:■ raasastra literature,^
The distinction which Alberuni draws between the eight
untouchables of the first group* and the four ones of the second
one* is' unknown ' to the Smriti literature, ' Alberuni himself ■
' says that the shoemaker, washerman, and weaver were re-'
■garded as lower than themselves by the rest of the untouch-”
■ ables^^'^ group, who; while intermarrying among
■ ' themselves, would have nothing to do with the ■members of
■ diese classes. It' would be, therefore, clear that all the
, Antyajas were not on the same level in our age; the^ juggler,
basketmaker, sailor, fisherman, and hunter seem to have
constituted in our period a class of semi-untouchables. The
reason why Alberuni separates the Chandala, Domba, Hadi
and Badhatau from the Antyajas of the first group seems to
be that these latter had no guild organisations of their own,
like the Antyajas of the first group. This inference is
supported by the fact that he refers to the Antyajas of the
first group as castes or guilds and adds that the Antyajas of
the second group were not reckoned among any such castes
dr guilds.
Our epigraphical records and foreign travellers do not
enable us to realise the intensity of the notion of untouchability
of our period, Kalhana’s chronicle, however, throws a flood
of light on the actual condition during our period, and since
the Kashmirian historian is supported by the Smriti literature,
we may well assume that similar notions prevailed in the
contemporary Deccan as well. The feeling of untouchability
was so deep-rooted that we find a Chandala sweeper refrain-
ing from touching a foundling on the road, lest it should be
polluted, and requesting a Sudra lady to pick and rear it up,
The untouchables could not enter the audience hall ; the
kings used to see them in the outer courtyard when necessary
15. RHjatarangi^l, V, 77,
324
SOCIAL CONDITION
as clid Cliandravarman when he had to hear a shoemaker's.
. complaint/^^^ ' Even conversation with, the tmtouGhahles was
.. ' regarded as.' polluting by some sections of the,, society; when'^
Chandrapida began to talk with the shoemaker* the courtiers.,
became agitated, which led the latter to enquire whether he:
was inferior even to a dog.
. ' Let' us now discuss the position of ' the ' . higher castes.';;
Ibn Khurdadba and A1 Idrisi, who were acquainted with the
conditions prevailing on the western coast, observe that the
members of the remaining six castes, Brahmanas included,
paid homage to the members of the Sabfukriya caste from
among whom kings were selected. This would support
the contention of the Jains and the Buddhists that the
Kshatriyas were superior to the Brahmanas and not vice
versa. It must be, however, noted that the Sabkufrla caste
is distinguished by these Muslim writers from the Katariya
or the Kshatriya caste and that their testimony would, there-
fore, show that not all the Kshatriyas but only the Sat-
Kshatriyas, z. e. the actual princes and their descendants,
were held superior to the Brahmanas and reverenced by
them. And this is quite natural; for, the actual rulers and their
descendants, who in many cases in our period were not even
Kshatriyas, must have been obviously treated with respect by
the Brahmanas. The average Kshatriya, however^ did not
enjoy a status superior to that of an average Brahmana, for
from the Chachamma we learn that the principal,
inhabitants of Brahmanabad supported the contention of the
Brahmanas that they were superior to the rest of the popula-
tion. Kassim accordingly maintained their dignity and
passed orders confirming their preeminence.
The Brahmana community of our period followed a
number of professions, besides those that were theoretically
permitted to it. A section of course followed the scriptural
16, iV. 62, 17. Ibid, lY, 67.
18. Elliotf I, p. 16 and p. 76. 19. Ibid, p. 183,
POSITION OF THE BRAHMAN
325
duties; A1 Idrisi describes Bmhmanas as dressed in tbe
skins of tigers and other animals and addressing crowds
around them about God and His nature/^^^ Our epigraphical
records also make it clear that some of them were maintain-
ing the , sacred fires and performing the various Smarta
sacrifices prescribed for them. According to Alberuni/^^^
-these:' ■ Brahmanas , were called istins. Many others , were:
■discharging, as will be -shown in. chapter XVI,' their scriptural
duty of teaching and conducting . schools and colleges,
where they used to impart education without stipulating for
any fees. Jurists, astrologers, mathematicians, poets , and:
philosophers were, as Abu Zaid informs us, mostly members
of this class. Administrative civil posts seem to have been
largely filled from among the Brahmanas; the Chachanama
informs us that Kassim appointed Brahmins to hereditary
administrative posts following the practice of his predecessors;
it is also shown already how many of the ministers and
officers of the Rashtrakutas were Brahmins by caste. From
1-tsing^^^^ also we learn that towards the end of the 7th
century A.D. the scholars of the Valabhi university used to
proceed to the royal courts after their education was over
in order to show their abilities and talents with a view to be
appointed to practical government. These scholars, we are
told by I-tsing, used to receive grants of land or government
service. We may presume that the scholars trained at the
famous centres of education in the Deccan like Kalas, Man*
goli, Salotgi etc., may have received similar treatment from
the Rashtrakuta emperors and their feudatories. Government
service was largely manned from among the Brahmanas even
during the Maur^’-an period, as the testimony of ..Megasthenes
shows/^^^ Smriti writers no doubt say that Brahmanas
should not take up service, but they had probably non-govern-
20, Ibid^ p. 76. 21. Sachau, I, p. 102.
22. Elliot. I. p. 6. 23. p. 176,
-24. Maccrindle, Megasthenes^ pp. 47-"48,
326
SOCIAL CONDITION
iiient service in view when they made this statement; for;
they themselves lay down that Brahmanas alone should be
appointed as a rule to the ministry and the judicial
The observation of S'ankaracharya/^^^ a contemporary
. writer, that the castes were no longer following their prescribed' "
duties and functions is supported by historic evidence. It has
been already shown how some of the Brahmanas of our period
were enlisting in the army both as privates and captains.
From Alberuni^^®^ we learn that some of the Brahmanas in
the 11 th century were trying their fortunes in the trades of
clothes and betel nuts, while others preferred to trade indi-
rectlj^ by employing a Vaishya to do the actual business for
them. These last mentioned Brahmanas were following the
advice of Gautama-Dharma-Sutra which lays down that
Brahmanas may live upon agriculture, trade etc., if they
apppoint agents to carry on the business/^^^ According to
Manu* a doctor was never to be invited for a dinner in cele '
bration of a havya or kavya ritual; but from Arabian travellers
we learn that the physicians were honoured equally with
learned men, and we find a Brahmana physician among the
donees of an agrahara village given by a Pallava king in the
8th century. This would show that the medical profession
was not treated with contempt by the society, as the Smriti
writers would make us believe. Its disparagement by Manu
and others is probably due to their theory that medicine was
the profession of a mixed caste called Ambasht.ha, a view
which does not seem to have been founded on the actual
state of affairs in the society. Puritanical notions of purity
may also have been partly responsible for the ban placed on
the doctor at the Sraddha dinner.
25. Manu, VII, 37. 58; Vlil, 20,
26 . i
?, 27. Ante, pp, 249-50.
28. n, 132. 29. X. 5 and 6. 30. L, A. VIIl, p. 277*^
BRAHMAMAS.IN TRADE
327
Trade, agriculture, banking, fighting etc., were permitted
to Brahmanas only in times of difficulties by earlier writers
on the Dharmasastra, As time began to roll on, these be*
came quite^ normal avocations for the first caste. ■ ' We there- ^
fore find the Smritis of our period boldly withdrawing : :the‘^
ban on-ihese professions and permitting them to the 'BTahma-
/nas.' - 'Banking ( praised as an^ ideal- pro-
• fession for-the' Brahmanas by Brihaspati^®^^ and the- -same,
writer along with Harita, Parasara and the author of Knrma-'
jDara/2£i boldly differs from Manu in declaring that agricui-
ture could be followed as a normal profession by the
Brahmanas/^^^ Apastamha also declares that
agriculture, cattle breeding etc., were necessary and normal
avocations for the Brahmanas and not their Apaddharmas,
Exemption from taxation and the capital punishment are
two of the main privileges claimed for the Brahmanas by the
Smritis and the Puranas. It must be, however, noted that
it is only for the SVotriya or the learned Brahmana that these
privileges “were originally claimed; the S^anti Parvan expressly
states that the Brahmanas, who followed trade and industry,
were to be fully taxed. It is quite clear from the numerous
Rashtrakuta charters that the donees of the Brakmadeya
grants, who were as a rule learned Brahmanas, used to receive
all the taxes payable by the inhabitants to the king; they
themselves had to pay nothing to the latter. But whether
ordinary Brahmanas of our period enjoyed similar exemption
from taxation is extremely doubtful. The Tuppad Kurahatti
inscription of Kyshnalll,^^*^^ the Honawad inscription of Some-
svara^^®^ and numerous Chola records make it quite clear
that even lands granted to temples by kings were not entirely
exempted by them from the Government taxation; a quit rent,
31. As quoted in the Smrti ChaTidrika AohSrakSnda, p. 473.
32. i6fd!. 454. 33. Chap. 76 v. 22.
34. E. 1,. XIV, p. 366. 35. 1. A.. XIX. p. 272.
328
SOCIAL CONDITION
sometimes as high as 50 per cent of the normal demand, was
charged. If Devade^a grants were thus not exempted from
taxation, it is extremely unlikely that ordinaiy Brahmanas
following a number of secular* professions, could have enjoyed
in our period complete exemption from taxation. Somadeva,
a contemporary writer, lays down that when the king had
to make a capital levy in order to tide over a difficulty,
he could take a portion of the property of Brahmanas and
temples, taking the only precaution that money absolutely
necessary for the performance of the sacrifices and worship
was left with them. This again would suggest that not
all the Brahmanas could have enjoyed complete exemption
from taxation in our period* There is no epigraphical evidence
to support such a general claim. An inscription from Gujarat,
dated 1230 A. no doubt says that king Somasimha had
exempted Brahmanas from taxation. But this statement is
.made in the course of that king’s eulogy, and may not be
more reliable than the assertion, immediately following, that
he had defeated a host of enemies. It is further mot clear
whether all the Brahmanas or only a section of them was
exempted from taxation.
There existed in our period, as in earlier ones, a number
of learned and pious Brahmanas who were given grants of
land or money in recognition of their erudition and public
service in educating students without any stipulation for
fees. These seem to have been exempted from taxation as
far as the lands that were assigned to them were concerned.
This reality in the body politic is reflected in the Dharmasas-
tra literature when it lays down that a S'rotriya or learned
Brahmana was not to be taxed.
Exemption from the capital punishment is another privi-
lege claimed for the Brahmanas by a number of Smritis, and
36. NUivakgamHa^ XXJ, 14.
37. CL i e. i., viil p* 2il
BRAHMANAS AND CAPITAL 'PUNISHMENT
329
the claim is corroborated by Alberuni^^*^^ and Bouchet^^^^
from whom we learn that Brahmanas were not given the
extreme penalty of the law in northern India in 'the IJth and
the southern 'Indiain the i7th century. ' In ancient limes,:, the
sin of Brahmahatya (the killing of a Brahmana) was regarded
to be the mosi heinous one^ and it seems that the Hindu state
tried to avoid it^ even if it was to result indirectly by way of
judicial punishment, especially as it co^d achieve its objects
'in another ' and, more effective way. Apastamha Dharma*.
lays down that a- Brahmana was to' be blinded and
banished for the offences that involved capital punishment for
the other castes. That the advice of this Dharma-Sutra
writer was followed in our period is proved by the statement
of Alberuni that though the Brahmana was above the death
sentence he could be banished and his property confiscated,
and that if he was guilty of stealing a precious and costly
article he was blinded and his right hand and left foot were
cut off.^^^^ It may be pointed out that the sentence for the
theft of a precious article referred to by Alberuni is not to be
found in the Smriti literature. It would, therefore, appear
that the Hindu state of our period normally refrained from
inflicting the capital punishment on the Brahmana, probably
because the alternative punishment permitted by the Dhar-
masastra or custom was sufficiently deterrent. The life of a
Brahmana blinded and banished or blinded and maimed in
the right hand and the left foot was hardly better than a
living death. We may, therefore, conclude that it must have
been on rare occasions ^that the capital punishment was
inflicted on the Brahmana during our period. That it was some-
times inflicted is clear from the Artha&stra of Kautaly a where
it is laid down^"^^^ that a Brahmana guilty of treason should
be punished with drowning, and from the Rajataranginl^
38. Sachaw, L p, 162.
40. IL 27, 16. 41. I, p. 162.
39. J. R. A. S.. 1881 p.227.
42. Book IV, Chap. ii.
SOCIAL CONDITION
where we sometimes come across the cases of . , Brahmanas.
■ being executed by haughty tyrants/^^^ But as against these-
rare ■ cases of executions, we have ' several cases of even^
:tyrannical rulers' like Didda^^^ and Bhikshlichara^*^^^ :bemg':
■"■compelled to accede to the requests of Brahmanas, because'
they had threatened to commit suicide by -fasting. Here
again ' the 'fear of the sin of Brahmahatya seems to have been.:,:
working on the minds of the rulers, who yielded to the
demands of the Brahmanas, who in many of the cases above
referred to, it may be pointed out, were deputed by the
oppressed subjects to get their grievances redressed through
the threat of suicide by fasting. The privilege of immunity
from taxation was conceded, as we have seen, only to the
learned and pious Brahmanas; one cannot be, however,
certain that the immunity from the capital punishment was
similarly restricted. It is, however, clear that Brahmanas
who had joined the army could not have claimed the privilege
of avadhyafva, and it is not unlikely that others, who violated
the scriptural rules by following a number of prohibited:
professions, may have been treated as ordinary persons.
Let us now proceed to consider the position of the Kshatri-
yas. Those among them who were actual rulers or their
relatives enjoyed the highest status in the land, as has been
shown already. It is probably these, and not all the ordinary
Kshatriyas, who enjoyed immunity from the capital punish-
ment as reported by Alberuni. ^^^^ This privilege is not ex-
tended to the Kshatriyas by the Dharmasastra literature, but
since it is mentioned by Alberuni, who was a fairly close
student of Sanskrit literature, we may presume that it was
actually claimed by and conceded to the elite among the
Kshatriyas. It may be further noted that according to the
43. VIII, 1013, 2060. 44. VI. 307. 45. VIIJ, 908.
46. See also Vli, 400. 773, VIO, 2076. 222^ for further cases of
praifopaves' anas* , 47. Sachau, II, p. 162,.
POSITION OP THE KSHATRIYAS
33 !;'
testimony of Alberuni, a Kshatriya guilty of theft, was.
■ m in the right hand and left foot and not blind*
,'ed in addition like the Brahmana. It would thus' follow that,
In actual practice the privileges of the Kshatriya were .by -
■ no means less than those of the Brahmana, though they do;^
not all of them figure in -the Smriti literature.
It may be noted that during our period, as in earlier limes,
not all the fighters. were Kshatriyas and notall the Kshatriyas
'■were fighters* ' The army consisted of a number of non-
Ksliatriy as as 'pointed oiit in chapter XI!. ■ A number of-
Kshatriyas alsO' must have taken to professions theoretically
oot their own. In the 1 7th century such was the case, for •
Travernier expressly states that the Rajputs were the fighters,
whereas the remaining Khatris, Kshatriyas, had degene-
rated from their ancestral military profession and taken to
trade/^®^ This tendency may have very probably made its
appearance during our period.
Among the Indian kings who were Yuan Chwang’s con-
temporaries and whose castes are mentioned by him, five were
Kshatriyas, three Brahmanas. two Vaishyas, and two Sudras*
It is therefore clear that kingship had ceased to be an exclusive
monopoly of the Kshatriyas even earlier than our period. We
can, therefore, well understand how the imaginary opponent:
of Kumarila, who flourished just before our period, should
have assumed the position that kingship and Kshatriyahood
were not coextensive terms, since the members of all the
four castes were to be seen ruling in contemporary times.
Now let us consider the religious position of the Kshatri-
yas, The queens and kings of earlier periods like Nayanika,
Samudragupta, Prthvlshena, who were presumably Kshatri-
yas, are known to have performed several Vedic sacrifices.
In our period these sacrifices had become unpopular, as shown
already in the last chapter ; so we do not find any kings
48. Travels in India, pp, 387-8, 49. Tavtrav^rtika, oa II, 3. 3,.
•332
SOCIAL CONDITION
50. Sachau, II, p. 136 . 51 ,
w3, Sachau. I, p. |01,, 54 .
celebrating them. The Kshatriyas. however, were still per-
mitted to study the Vedas, for Alberuni tells us that they
could read and earn them in his times. He. however
immediately adds:-' He (z. e. the Kshatriya) offers to the
hre and acts according to the rules of the Puranas.’ All the
Hindus of our period were following the Puranic rather than
Vedic rules and ntuals, as shown in the last chapter. It is
however, not unlikely that Alberuni’s statement refers to the
shatnyas performing their rituals and sacraments with the
help of the Puranic rather than the Vedic Mantras. If so. it
would follow that the Kshatriyas were rapidly going down to
the position of the Vaishyas and Sudras, as far as the re
hgious privileges were concerned. The absence of the
mention of their gotras by the kings of our period in their
copper-plate grants would also show that they were getting
more and more dissociated from the orthodox Vedic at-
mosphere.
The Vaishyas were losing their position among the Trai-
vanjikas much earlier Aan our period. S'rikrishna enumer-
cites them along with Sudras as persons who were backward
OT suffering from religious disabilities. Baudhayana
Dharma-Sutra Pomts out that the Vaishyas were practi-
cally of the same status as the Sudras. as both were manning
mdiscnminately and following similar professions like service
Md tilling. In our period there was no very great difference
beiwp the positions of these two castes, for Alberuni ex-
pressly says so. He further informs us that^'''’’ if a Vaishva
or Sudra was proved to have recited the Veda, his tongue
was cut off. There are many clear indications in Alberuni’s
works to show that he was well acquainted with the contents
of the Dharmas-astra literature; if. therefore, he makes such a
statement which goes directly against the rules of the Smritis
RELIGIOUS POSITION'. OF. THE SUDRAS
on the point, the reason may be well presumed to be that the-
position of the Vaishyas was actually reduced in practice to-
that of the Sudras, in spite of the rules of the Smritis. It is,,
therefore, certain that at the end of our period the Vaishyas.
were levelled down to the position of the Sudras throughout
the whole of India, To discuss the causes of this phenomenon
.'is. beyond the scope of the present work.
• The Smriti writers permit the. 'Vaishyas. to. follow the-
military profession ' when in distress. A number of the Deccan
guilds, of our period were maintaining their own militias, as.'-
will be shown in chapter XV; even the Jains were among the-.
martial races of the Deccan during our period, as has been
«ihown in the last chapter. 17th century travellers like.
Tavernier note that the Vaishyas would rather die than kill
the smallest animal and had, therefore, no fighting value,
The case, however, was entirely different in the Deccan of
our period.
The unanimous opinion of the Vedic and Smriti writers
that the Sudras were not to be permitted to read the Vedas
is supported by Aiberuni from whom it appears that the rule
was actually enforced in practice. A number of later
Smritis like Baijavapa/^'^^Jatukarjjya/®®^ Aus'anas, andLaghu-
vishnu^'’^^ distinguish a pious Sudra {Sachchhudra ) from an
ordinary one {Asachchkudra), and extend to the former the
privilege of Sraddha^ Sanskaras and Pakayajnas* Somadeva,
a Jain writer of the Deccan of our period, confirms the
testimony of these Smritis when he observes that internal
and external purity qualifies even a Sudra for spiritual duties
connected with gods, Brahmanas, and ascetic life/'^^^ There
is no epigraphical evidence to show that these privileges were
actually enjoyed by the Sudras of our period, but it is not
55. Travels in India^ p. 386. 56. 11, p. 136.
57. Quoted in the Viramitrodaya^ Paridhasha, p. 135.
58. V.50. 59. V. 105. 60. mtivdkydmrta, Vll, U,
SOCIAL CONDITION
>. 62. Quoted in the Smrtichandrika A^hlrakanda p, 455
.ernier. p. 328.^ 64 . p. 79 . ' ' ’
On Manu. VII, 40'
I.. ^,p. 208. ' 67. I. A.. XI, p. 157.
liljciy that the Brahmanical writers would have enunciated
religious privileges not countenanced by the society. We
rnay therefore, take it as certain that the respectable among
the budras used to perform the S'raddhas, Sansharas, and
other bmarta ntes throughout India, of course through the
medium of the Brahmanas and with Pauranic Mantras.
Much earlier than our period had the service of the
twiceborn ceased to be the only profession of the Sudras. A
mmber of Smriti writers like Brhadyama, Us'anas and
Devab-»feWe wde. crafts w™ the
ordinary and not the exceptional avocations of this caste.
infantry was largely recruited from this
casm and the same was the case in our period. The
military career naturally brought the throne within the reach
of the Sudra, and we have already seen how two of the
kings ruling at the time of Yuan Chang were Sudras
The theory that the Sudra could not own any property
was a dead letter long before our period; Medhatithi. who
llounshed in our period, declares that even a Chapc^la had
proprietory rights and that his stolen property, when recovered,
ought to be restored to him by the king.
Our epigraphical records prove that during our period
Brahmanas of one province were freely going to permanently
Mttle in another. The donees of the Alas plates of Yuvamja
Govinda'®®Und the Wani-Dindori plates of Govinda III«^>
were immigrants from Vengi in Kalinga country, and since
thy were assigned villages in Maharashtra, it is clear that they
had permanently domiciled in that province. The donees of
the Begumra plates of Indra IlT®> and the Sangli plates of
61.
63.
65.
PROVINCIAL CASTES 'UNKNOWN
335
'Govinda were immigrants respectively from Pataliputra
-and Pundravardhana (in northern Bengal). It is, therefore,
clear' that' provincial ' barriers of castes had not arisen, in: our:
'period. Indra lll- and his religious advisers did^ not share the:
'view of the that a Magadha Brahmana was
not tO' be honoured even if ' he was. as learned as Brihaspatir
for, in that case the donee of the Begumra plates would not
'have '' been a Brahmana from Pataliputra. Nagamaiyai: the
donee ' of the Cambay' plates- of Govinda waS' an
'':immigrant from Kavi in Gujrat settled in Malkhed. It is
obvious that the present-day prejudice in the Deccan, that a
Brahmana from Gujrat is inferior to one from the Deccan,
does not go back to our period; for Gujrat Brahmanas were
settling down in Karnatak and were being honoured with
brahmadeya grants. In no records of our period are the
donees described as Gauda, Kanoji, Nagara or Dravida
Brahmanas. In later records, however, such provincial
denominations become the order of the day. Thus in Bahai
(Khandesh district) inscription of the Yadava king Singhana,
dated 1222 the composer of the grant describes
himself as a Nagara -Jnatlya- Brahmana. Though the provin-
cial castes had not arisen in our period, the way to their
formation was being paved. Smritis like the Atrisamhifa
were helping the fissiparous tendency by dubbing as worth-
less the Brahmanas of certain provinces; their teachings had
no effect on the Deccan of our period, but they were being
gradually followed in the north in the 11th century. For,
Alberuni notes that in his time it was regarded as sinful for a
Brahmana to cross the Sindhu or the Ghambal and enter the
territories beyond them.^*^^^ The time was, therefore, at hand
when provincial barriers were to introduce further ramifica-
tions in the caste system.
70. I. 388. 7L E, I., Vn.p. 26.
73. SacLau, II, pp. 134*5,
69. I. A., XII, p, 248.
72. E. L, III, p. 123.
336
SOCIAL CONDITION
Let us now proceed to consider the attitude of our age
towards the question of the intercasie marriages. These-
marriages, if anuloma, have been permitted as legal by most
of the Smriti writers, both old and new; the NUivakyamrta^
which was composed in the Deccan of our period, concurs
with the Smritis. That they were once common in the
Hindu society is proved by the rules oi ^ and
partition,^'^^^ where detailed provisions are given as to the
liabilities, duties, right* and privileges of the children born
of intercaste analoma marriages These intercaste unions
could not have been numerous, for society usually prefers
marriage alliances with the equals. They, however, did
exist and served the useful function of rendering the caste
system flexible to a great degree. Historical examples can
be cited to show that these intercaste marriages were actually
taking place. The father of the famous Sanskrit poet Bana.
had married a Sudra lady in addition to a Brahmana one;
for in the 2nd Ulhasa of the Harshacharit Bana mentions a
paras' ava brother {u e, a brother born of a Brahmana father
and Sudra mother) of his, Chandrasena by name. Since
Chandrasena was the first to report to Bana the arrival of the
messenger from Harsha, it may be presumed that the Sudra
and the Brahmam mothers and their children v/ere living
together under the same roof* Baladitya, the last king of the
Gonanda dynasty in Kashmir is known to have given his
daughter in marriage to a Kayastha. The Jodhapur
inscription of Pratihara Bauka concurs with the Ghatiyala
inscription of Kakkula in stating that the founder of the
house, Harischandra, had two wives, one of the Brahmana
, 74. XXXI. 28.
75. Baudhayana, as quoted by Haradatta at Gautama, 0, 5, 4,
76. Gautama II, 3, 33; Vishnu, X etc.
77. About 3 pages from the beginning of the UlhSisa,
78. Bajatarahgirii, IV, 489.
INSTANCES OF INTERCASTE MARRIAGES
337 ’
and tke other of the Kshatriya Ghatothacha cave.'
inscription of Hastibhoia, a minister of the Vakataka king'
Devasena* informs us that Hastibhoja*s ancestor Brahmana
Soma had married a Kshatriya iady ‘ in accordance with the
precepts of the revelation and tradition. While most of
the ancestors of Lokanatha, the grantor of the Tipperah;
copper plates/^ (c. 650 A.0.) are described as good Brah-
manas, his mother s father is called Parasava L e. sprung,
from a Brahmana father and a Sudra mother. It is therefore.'
clear that the father of this gentleman had at least two wives ^
one a Brahmaiji and the other Soidra Coming down to our
own period, we find that Rajasekhara had married a Kshatriya
lady, and she seems to have been his only wife. Ibn Khur-
dadba writing about the state of affairs in western India
during our periods states that the amloma intercaste marriages
used to take, place. These marriages were, however,
getting: more and more unpopular towards the end of our
period. Alberuni, after laying down, the theoretical rule that
amloma. intercaste marriages were permissible, adds that in
his time the Brahmanas did not avail themselves of this
liberty and were invariably marrying wanaea of their own
caste only.^^®^ Sangramaraja,. an 11th century king of Kashmir
had married his. sister to a Brahmana; the notions of decency
of the 12th century historian Kalhana were outr^ed by this
onion. The historian deplores that the king should have
courted infamy by this intercaste marriage and exclaims,.
‘ What a great disparity between the princess fit to be the
consort only of a powerful king and the Brahmana bridegroom
of small mind with his hand always wet with the libation
water poured at the time of the receipt of gifts.’ It is.
79. J. R. A., S.. 1894, p. 1 and 1895. p. 576,
80. A. S. W. L, iV. p.;i40. 81. E. L, XV. p. 301.
82p Elliot. !,,ppi 1'6. 83.. Ssmiiati, l;i, pp* 155-^6-.
33B
SOCIAL CONDITION
therefore fair to conclude that the intercaste anuloma
■ marriages ceased to. take place soon after our periodt It is
■- true that a Dutch clergyman of the 17th century, Abraham,
■ Roger by name, observes that ' Brahmanas used to marry girls
of 'all the four castes, though their marriages with Sudra girls
'.were disapproved/*^^ Another 17th century European observer,,
■Bernier, ■ however contradicts this statement , asserting , that
the intermarriages between the four castes ’were forbidden/'’^ ^
Abraham Roger had lived in the southern presidency, and he
had probably the Nambudri Brahmanas in vie^v when he
refers to the unions of the Brahmanas with the girls of the
lower castes. We may therefore conclude that Kalhana
was the spokesman of the 12th century view and that soon
thereafter the intercaste marriage became obsolete,
A number of earlier writers like Gautama/*
Apastamba/**^ and Baudhayana ( Dharma-Sutrakara
permit freely intercaste dinners; the custom had begun to fall
into disrepute in our period, for a number of later Smritis
either restrict or condemn it Angiras^^®^ prohibits the dinner
with a Sudra and permits one with a Kshatriya only ‘on days
of religious festivity and with a Vaishya w’hen in distress/^
Yama and Vyasa^^^Meclare that a Brahmana should beg
Cooked food only in the houses of the members of his own
caste. That these writers faithfully reflect the feeling of our
period, to which in all probability they belonged, is proved by
the statement of Alberuni that a Brahmana was permanently
expelled from his caste, if he was found guilty of having eaten
the food of a Sudra for a certain number of days. Alberuni
does not attest to the cessation of interdining among the three
85. J. R. A. S., 1881, p. 221, .86. Travels in India, p. 325.
87. Chap. XVn. 88. IL 3, 4. 89. H, 3. 14. 90. Vv, 55, 57.
91. Quoted hy Haradatta at Gautama, III, 5, 8.
92. Quoted by Smritichandrika Sanskarakdnda p. 109.
93. Sachau, !I. p, 13.
INTERCASTE DINING.' DISAPPEARING
339'
Mgher castes, but the Smritis of our period, as' ^hown above,
had begun to frown upon the practice. The cessation of. the
iniercaste marriages, and the difference in diet that soon mani-
: fested' itself, were further making interdining impracticable^"::
Brahmanas .of an earlier age were non -vegetarians, but from
, Al Masudi and A1 Idrisi we learn that' in Western India they
had become thorough vegetarians during our period. Kshatriyas
on the other hand, were then as now non -vegetarians, and' were
■besides, not total abstainers from wine like the Brahmaoas; .
■ they were ■ permitted in theory three cups of wine/^^^ This
disparity in diet and drink must have made interdining bet-
ween the Brahmanas and the Kshatriyas an impracticable and,
therefore, an unpopular practice. This difficulty need not
have stood in the way of the intercaste dinners between the
Vaishyas and the Brahmanas of the Deccan during our
periods, for the influence of Jainism had weaned away a large
mass of the traders and agriculturists from non -vegetaria-
nism/^^’ But the Vaishyas had by this time degenerated to
the position of the Sudras as shown already, and this fact
was making interdining between them and the Brahmanas
impracticable.
Let . us now consider the family system of our period*
Joint families were the order of the day, but cases of separation
in our period were not as rare as is sometimes supposed*
Some of our records, which mention the specific shares of the
cosharers of agrahara villages, prove that in many cases
fathers and sons were living separately. In the Torkhede
inscription of Govinda separate shares are assigned to
two brothers showing that they were no longer members of a
joint family. In the Cliikka-Bagevadi inscription, dated 1149
A.D. Lalla and his brother Jajjuka were assigned different
94. Eiiiot, I. pp. 16-7,
95. Al Kaziwini has noted that most of the Hindus at Saimur were
' "-vegetarians ;■' Elliot, . I,: p. 97,
96* E. L. in. p. 54. 97. I. A., VH, p. 303.
340.
SOCIAL COMDiTION
shares as aiso Naiva and his brother Gona. In the Bendegiri
grant of Ki'shna, dated 1249 there are eight cases of
brothers and two of sons being given separate shares from their
brothers and fathers respectively. The Paiihan plates of
Ramachandra, dated 1271 mention the case of a father
living separately from his six sons, and four cases of brothers
who were no longer following the joint family system. Epigra-
phical evidence thus shows that though the Smritis had
disapproved partition in the life-time of the father, such parti-
tions were not rare in practice. Some of the above records do
not strictly belong to our period, but they can be utilised to
indicate the general state of affairs in our period as welh
since nothing is known to have happened in the next two
centuries to revolutionise the notions of the society in this
respect.
A record from Managoli in Bijapur district* dated 1178 A.D.„
observes:-^* If any one in the village should die at Mamga-
valli without sons, his wife, female children, divided
parents, brothers and their children, and any kinsmen and
relatives of the same Gotra who might survive, should take
possession of all his property, i e. bipeds, quadrupeds, coins,
grains, house and field. If none such should survive, the
authorities of the village should take the property as Dharma-
deya grant.' The record reveals the actual order of
succession in the Deccan of the 12th century, and it is very
probable that the same may have been the case in our period.
It is noteworthy that this order of succession agrees sub-
98. XIV. p. 69. 99. XIV, p. 315.
100, The expression ' female children * is probably intended to
include the daughters son. It may be pointed out that the text of
Yajnavalkya also uses the word duhitaraschaiva only. VljnSnes'vara
maintains that the particle cha is intended to denote the daughter’s son
as well. Historically, the contention is justifiable, since l4ie daughter’s
son was recognised as heir fairly early.
101. E. L, V, p. 28,
MITAKSHARA SUCCESSIOH SUPPORTED BY EPIGRAPHY 341
stantially with that given by Yajnavalkya and his commentator
Vijnanesvata/^^^^ The inscription does not mention like
Yajnavalkya the handhus> disciples, and fellow students
•among the heirs; but it may be pointed out that the inscription
was not intended to be a text- book in a law college, and its
drafters may have, omitted disciples, fellow students etc.,
because the eases of property going to persons who- were not ■
■even sa^dms were very rare in practice. The- epigraphical^
evidence, therefore, shows that the theory of succession advo-
cated by the Mitakshara school was- substantially based on
the actual practice as it was prevalent in the Deccan. . - In
contemporary Gujarat the law of succession was different;
property of persons dying without sons used to escheat to the
crown till the conversion of Kumarapala to Jainism. The credit
■of permitting the widow to inherit her husband's property has
been claimed for that king.^^^^^ That a widow in the Deccan
■could inherit her husband’s property is made further clear
from the case of a country Gavunda, who was succeeded in
his office by his widow. That daughters were heirs on the
failure of sons is further proved by a Saundatti record
which informs us that when Madiraja II of Kolara family was
killed in battle, Gauri, his only daughter, was married to a
Banihatti chief, who consequently became heir to the fiefdom
of the Kolara family as well.
Now let us consider the position of women. We have
seen already how widows and daughters were recognised as
heirs. The Stndhana rights, we may presume, were also
recognised. They have been conceded in the Hindu society
since very early times and even the Smriti writers, who refuse
to recognise the widow as an heir, permit women to have
102. Yajnavalkya, 11, 135-6.
103. Mohaparajaya, Act III, See ante, p. 243.
104. E. a. VII, No. 219.
SOCIAL CONDITION
tmdisputed proprietary rights over certain ' varieties of
Stridhana property/^^^? A 12th century record from. .
' pur' seems to refer to the case of., '-a ' daughter selling ■ - landed
property. The record is unfortunately fragmentary and
so we do not know whether the land that was sold by this
lady was sold with the consent of the reversioners* or whether
it was., a piece of property that had devolved upon her:
as a daughter or as a widow. In any case the record shows
that the women in the Deccan could sell landed property
under certain circumstances.
Alberuni says that the Hindus of his time used to arrange,
the marriages of their sons, because they used to take
place at a very early In another place he informs
us that no Brahmana was allowed to marry a girl above 12
years of age. That Alberuni ’s observation was true of
the Deccan of our period as well, is proved by the Nitivakya-
mrta from which we learn that boys were usually 16, and
girls not above 12, at their marriage/ It may be pointed
out that as early as the time of the Dharmasutras, L e. c. 300
B.C. -c. 100 A.D., pre-puberty marriages were regarded as pre-
ferable to post-puberty ones; almost all the Smritis that were
composed at about our period pronounce most frightful curses
upon the guardians who fail to marry their female wards
before they attain puberty. We may, therefore, safely
conclude that during our period pre-puberty marriages of girls
were the order of the day at least among the Brahmanas.
There seem to have been some occasional cases of post-puber-
ty marriages among the ruling families; the marriage of Sam-
yogita, with the famous Prthviraja, for example, took place
106. S. g, Vasishtha, XVII, 43, Baudbayana !L 2, 49; Apastamba IL
6, 14, 9 recognise this right though they do not admit widow as an heir.
107. E. L. HI, p. 216. 108. 11, p. 154.
109. Jdjdp. 131. • - no. XI, 28; XXX, 1.
111. E. g. Brhadyama IIL 22; Samvarta I, 67 ; Yama L 22; S'ankha.
XV* 8; Laghus^StStapa 65.
NO PURDA SYSTEM
343
when she was quite grown up.; ; But such cases were excep-
tions and not the rale«'
Several law writers from Baudhayana downwards
observe that , the custom of marrying the . maternal ■ uncle ’a ■
daughter prevailed among the inhabitants of the 'Deccan..;
Inscriptions of our period refer to a number of cases of such'
marriages. ' Jagattunga, the predeceased -son of Kyshna^ n,.had:
married a daughter of his maternal uncle S'ankaragaiia/^^®^
The same was the case with Indra IV. Such marriages are
recognised as" valid by the Dharmas'astra ' literature for the
Deccanese and are still not unknown. They may have been
fairly in vogue in our period.
There is no Purda system even today in the Deccan#
except in the case of a few royal families who are known
to have imitated it from the north. We may, therefore, well
presume that the custom was unknown in our period, Abu
Zaid says : — ‘ Most princes in India allow their women to be
seen when they hold their Court. No veil conceals them from
the eyes of the visitors.* The statement in the Kadba
plates that the moon -faced damsels in the court of Krshija I,
who were skilful in exhibiting internal sentiments by means
of the movements of their hands, used to give delight to. the.
ladies of the . capital, would support the testimony of Abu
Zaid that no Purda was observed in the Deccan of our period..
Merchant Sulaiman says : — Sometimes when the corpse
of a king is burnt, his wives cast themselves upon the pile and
burn themselves ; but it is for them to choose whether they
will do so or not^^^^b It will, therefore, appear that the Sati
custom was not so common in the Deccan of our period even
in the royal families as it was in Kashmir, where we fiiid
even unchaste queens like Jayamati compelled to ascend the
344
SOCIAL CONDITION
funeral pyre by the force, of the public opinion/”''^ Nay,
,,-ICaIhana records the cases, of concubines, servants® and sisters-
in-laiv burning themselves along with dead hings/^^^^ The
inference that the Satl custom was not so common in the Deccan
•as it was in the north is further supported by the fact that though
there are several inscribed vJrgah of our period, scattered all
over Karnatak commemorating tiie deaths of village heroes
who had died for their communities, mention of Satis, in these
records is hardly to be seen. The only known case of , Sati
belonging to our period is that of Gundamabbe, one of the
wives of Nagadeva, a minister of Satya&'aya, who bad no
issue and who is known to have burnt herself with her
husband when the latter was killed in war.^^^*^^ Alberuni's
statement that wives of kings had to burn themselves whether
they wished it or seems to have been based on the
events in contemporary Kashmir and does not hold good of
the Deccan, The statements of Sulaiman and Alberuni
would further show that the custom was still mainly confined
to the royal families and that it had not yet spread to the
masses, as was the case in the later centuries.
The custom of tonsuring widows is not referred to by
any Muslim traveller of our period, Alberuni describes in
detail the hard lot of the widow but nowhere mentions her
tonsure. The Smritis of our period describe in minute details
the various rules to regulate the life of the widow, but they
nowhere lay down that she was to shave her entire head
periodically. Vedavyasasmriti^^^^^ alone lays down that a
widow should part with her hair at the death of her husband,
115. RajataranginI, VU!, p. 366.
116. Ibid, V!I. pp.724. 858; V, 2G6j VII, 481, 1488, 1490, I486.
’ 117. 'Rice; Intwidiuc^ott p, XVII,
118. II. p, 155.
11?, See Msiirco Pok'II, p. 341, tbu Batuta p, 191, Bemier p, 30,
, Tavernier p. 414. 120. 11.53.
TONSURE SYSTEM
345
but this is a solitary exception. Epigraphical evidence also
shows that tonsure was not in vogue in our period ; Pehoa
prasmti of Mahendrapala, while describing the exploits of
a feudatory named Purijaraja, states that he was the cause of
the early hairs of the wives of his enemies becoming straight.
Another expression, that is frequently used in our
^■epigraphs; to describe heroes, is " ripnmlasitimmant oddhur am- ■
^hetuhd ‘the cause of the cessation of the parting of the hairs
of the damsels of the enemies. ’ This expression will show
that queens, when widowed,- used -to refrain from decorating
their hair; -the hair, however, was allowed to grow and was
ample in quantity as the expression quoted in the last foot-
note will show. The tonsure system, we may therefore
conclude, was not in vogue in our period. It was, however,
well established some lime before the 17th century, for Taver-
nier informs us that Hindu widows of his time used to shave
off their hair a few days after the deaths of their husbands/^^^^
There is a difference of opinion among the Smriti writers
of our period as to whether virgin widows should be married
or not Paras'ara Narada,^^^"^^ and Laghu-S^MMapa^^^®^
permit remarriages in the case of such widows, bu
Angiras,^^^^^ and Laghu-As'valayana^’^^^ prohibit the marri-
age with a bride, even when she was merely accepted by,
but not married to, another previously. It is, therefore, diffi-
cult to say whether virgin widows in the higher classes were
remarried or not in our period. The present writer has shown
elsewhere that the Gupta Emperor Chandragupta 11 had
married his brother* s widow Dhruvadevi, but that is a much
■earlier case. Inscriptions, accounts of foreign travellers
and the literature of the period nowhere refer to widow
1.2L : I E. I., I. p. 246.
123. IV, 26. i24. XII, 97.
122. p.406,
125. V, 44.
346
SOCIAL CONDITION
re-marriages/^®®^ Later Nibandha writers are unanimous in
declaring that such marriages are illegal ■ in the present age.' We
may,' therefore-, conclude that widow remarriages were .getting
unpopular' in our period. It must of - course . be remembered,
that the question of widow marriages never troubled the lower :
classes, among whom they were and are fairly common.
Ibn Khurdadba, who writes about the Deccan of our period,:
states : — ‘The kings and people of Hind regard fornication as
lawful and wine as unlawful. This opinion prevails through-
out Hind, but the king of Kumar ( z. e, the territoiy round the
Cape Kamorin ) holds both the fornication and the use of
wine as unlawful* This is an astounding statement, since
fornication has been unanimously regarded by all the Smrili
writers, both old and new, as one of the most heinous crimes.
A still more astounding assertion has been made by another
Muslim merchant, AMdrisi, who states that in the country of
Balhara ( z. e. Gujarat of the 12th century A.D. ) concubi-
nage is permitted with all women except the married ones, and
that a man may have intercourse with his daughter, sister or
aunt, provided they are unmarried. Both these statement
have to be classed under the category of the travellers*
tales.
It has been shown already in the last chapter how
women, who had the misfortune of being dishonoured, were
admitted back into their families and castes, during our
period. The theory that such a procedure is not permitted
in the present Kali age had not yet attained popularity.
Our epigraphs supply us with some interesting informa-
tion about a few legal points. Land transfers and similar
transactions were done in writing, , and the title deeds were
129. It may be poxated out that Alberuni observes that death by sati
and life -long widowhood full of misery were the only two alternatives
before the Hindu widow. II, p. 155.
130. Elkot, i, p 13; 13I.‘ Ibid. p. 89.
132. Ante.
SOME LEGAL: POINTS *347
regularly attested. Two of the three Kanheri inscriptions/^^^^'
■ which record grants in favour^of the local • Buddhist .Sangha:,:
are attested to- by two witnesses each. In the^ 3rd inscription
there are no witnesses, probably because the donor was -the
premier of the kingdom. The spurious Ganga' grant of , Vfra',
Nolamba is attested to by four witnesses/ Sometimes
■the principal officers and the whole population of a district are-
mentioned as witnesses of a transaction, as in the Kadba
-plates of Govinda If the debtor was a man' of good'
-status and well known character, - loans - were sometimes ad-
vanced on personal security; a Ratta inscription informs us that
Rudrabhatfa, the founder of the Banahatti house, had raised
a loan of lOQ golden coins on the security of a letter of his
name. He had agreed to call himself Rudrata and not
Rudrabhatta, as long as the debt was not paid/^®^^
Government documents of transfers of lands or villages
were not always attested, but their originals were carefully
preserved in the state archives for future reference. The
Bhadan plates of Aparajita, dated 997 A.D., expressly states,
that their originals were kept in the state archives at
Thana/^'"^^^ At the time of the renewal of old grants, these
originals must have been consulted in order to see whether
the claims advanced were justifiable or not. Nevertheless,
governments used to insist upon the possession and produc-
tion of the copper plates on the part of the grantee or his
successors in title. We come across cases of lands being
fully assessed on the plea that their owners could not support
the claim for exemption by the production of the tamrapatta^
creating the privileges claimed. On the other hand, w^e
133. L A.. XIH.pp. 133fL 134. L A., Vlli, p. 96.
135. E. L, IV, p. 340. 136. J. B. B. R. A. S., X. p. 257.
137. E. Ill, p, 275.
138. Chikka-Bagewadi plates, L A., VIL, p. 303. Nidkanpur plates,.
E. I., XfX, p^lS.
348
SOCIAL CONDiTION
BOiiietimes find owners recovering the possession of their lands,
by the production of the Copper plates.
Daring our period adverse possession was regarded as
creating a substantive title, if it extended continuously for
three generations. A verse to this effect occurs at the end of
the Kadba plates of Govinda and the theory^ of
adverse possession advocated therein agrees entirely with the
dictum of Narada that even an illegally acquired estate cannot
be recovered by its rightful owner, if the adverse possession
had extended over three generations. This epigraphicai con-
firmation of the view of the Narada Smrti will show that the
portions dealing with the civil law in the Dharmasastra liter-
ature were usually based on actual practice, as Nilakantha
maintains.
The Hindu dress of our period doss not seem to have
required much tailoring. Towards the end of the 7th century
A.D., the Hindu male dress usually consisted of two unstitched
cloths, one worn round like the present dhoti, and the other
used as an upper garment. Narada confirms the above
statement of I-tsing, for he informs us that a witness might be
presumed to be a perjurer if he continuously goes on shaking
the;upper garment, wherewith his arm is covered, This
again would suggest that an upper garment was used instead
of a stitched shirt. Two travellers of the 13th and the 14th
centuries, Marco Polo and I bn Batuta, show that down to the
14th century the dress in the Deccan continued to be of the
same kind. Marco Polo states that in the whole of Malabar
no tailor could be found who could cut or stitch a coat,
and from Ibrt Batata we learn that even the Zamorian of
Calicut was wearing only a loose unstitched upper gar-
ment which was fluttering in the air, Woden were,
139. L A., XII, p. 18.
140. Vyavah&ra'niayukha, Introductory chapter,
141. I-tsing. p.68. 142. 1,194. 143. II, p. 338,
DRESS UMBRELLAS 'AND SURNAMES
however, using stitched petticoats, as would appear from the-.:
references in the contemporary literary works.
The paintings in the Ajanta caves show^^^'^^ that men
were wearing large turbans in the Deccan in the 5th and 6tb '
centuries. In this respect the southern practice differed from
that in Kashmir,, where down to the llth century no one-'
could' wear a turban except the king. It seems that the-
practice of growing beard was. more common in our period^'
than is the case From l-tsing, we get an interest-
ing description of the .umbrellas .in vogue towards the^ end;
of the 7th century The- umbrella wa-s woven with-:
bamboo skin and was made as thin as possible. It was-
about two or three feet in diameter. Sometimes it was woven
with reeds instead of bamboo products; paper was inserted in
the weaving and the whole was. varnished with lacquer. This
umbrella probably belongtd to Bengal where I-tsing had
spent most of his time: but we may- presume that the DeccaU'
umbrella was not much different from the one described by
the Chinese traveller, since umbrellas of the type were quitec
common in Konkan till quite recently.
We come across no surnames of Brahmana donees in the
inscriptions of our period. Only their personal names and the
names of their fathers and ^otras are given. The custom of
surnames, however, soon came in vogue after our period : for
in the Chikka Bagewadi^^^^^ and Bendegiri^^^^^ inscriptions
of the Yadava king Krshna, we find surnames making their
appearance* It is interesting to note that many of the sur-
names given in these records survive, in, the Deccan to the
present day, e» g* Pathaka,, Dvivedi. Upadhyaya, Dikshita,
Pandita, Pattavardhana, and Ghalisasa. Vedarthada, Prasan*v
344, Codrington, Ancient India* p. 26,
145. RajataFangini, Vi I, 926.
146. Sulaiman Saudagar, Hindi edition, p, 81, 147. p. 74.
148. I. A.. VU, p. 305. 149. L A., XIV, p. 69.
'350'-
SOCIAL CONDITION
nasarasvati, and Praudhasarasvati are some of the surnames
that have not survived in the struggle for existence. ' ■ The
reason seems to have been that they, were, too, cumbrous for
daily use. ' It will be easily perceived that most of ■ the sur*
names above mentioned are really titles, descriptive of the
/literary achievements of the various individuals.. Later on
they crystallised into hereditary surnames.
. ■. Some of our inscriptions supply us interesting information
about the sports and amusements of the age. Dancing was
a favourite amusement. The Kadba plates support the
inference in this respect to be derived from the contemporary
dramas, when they observe that the ladies of the capital
used to be charmed by the skilful dance of the dancers in the
court of Krshna The presence of the dancing girls
at the temples is also indicative of the same fondness.
Inscription No. 67 at the Rajarajesvara temple at Tanjore
records the provision made for the actors who took part in
the drama at the time of the annual fair a number of
the Deccan records also mention the provision made for
the raniabho^a of deities/^^^^ The expression rafigabhoga
probably refers to the provision for Pauranic dramas, that
used to be performed at the time lof the annual fairs in
the Deccan till quite recently. Such plays were organised
also on occasions like Dasara, Holi, Ramanavami and Gokula-
ashtami. Kautalya refers to popular dramas organised by
the villagers/ and we may well presume that they were
fairly common in our period.
Animal fights were also not unknown in our age. One
of the Ganga records refers to a fight between a boar and
a favourite hound of Butuga II wherein both the animals were
killed/ The death of this hound was certainly a great
150. I. A., Xll. p. 13. 151. S. I.. I. 11, p. 11.
152. E. g., ManagoH inscriptionj E. J., V, p. 23,
153.,, II. . . 154. E, ■!.* VI, p, 56.
INFLUENCE OF' ASTROLOGY
351
historic event; had it not died, inscribed commemorative tablet
at Atkur would never have come into existence ; and we may
have been still groping in the dark .about the. circumstanees;
'leading to the' death of the Chola crown-prince Rajaditya.
Hunting was one of the favourite pastimes of the. .Rash-;
trakuta' Tulers.. One of the inscriptions of .Govind'
informs US' how he speared the boars preserved for his sport,"
when'- be returned . to Ramesvaram on the .; Tungabhadra..-
This inscription would show that there were game preserves
in ' the various centres of the empire for .the^ use of the
emperors and courtiers. .....
The sciences of astronomy and astrology were remark-
ably developed in our period, and epigraphy supplies ample
evidence to illustrate the hold which the latter had over the
popular mind* From the Kadba plates of Govind III
we learn that even the Jains had taken to astrology, for, the
record states how a grant was made in favour of a Jain Matha
because its head had removed the evil influence of Saturn
from which a feudatory Chalukya prince was suffering,
Saturn was indeed tremendously dreaded in our period; the
Silahara prince Aparajitadeva^^®^^ and Mahamandalesvara
Govunarasa^’^^^ are seen taking with pride the title of ‘Sani-
varavijaya, *one who is successful (even) on Saturdays*. The
time when Dahir started to fight with Kasim was carefully
selected by his astrologers; and in order to counteract the
advantage which the Muslim opponent enjoyed by the pre-
sence of Venus behind his back, Dahir had fixed on Lis back
a golden image of that planet. Unfortunately this golden
Venus did not perform her duties faithfully, and poor Dahir
was defeated and slain. What Marco Polo has said about
the people of Gujarat and Malabar, vh* * They pay greater
155. L A., XI. p. 126,
157, E. !.. in, p. 269.
159. Elliot, I, p. 169,
156. E. L. IV. p. 340,
158, E. L, IV, p. 66,
352
SOCIAL CONDITION
lieecl to signs and omens than any other people that exist/
seems to have been substantially true of the Deccan of ouf
period* . . ■
Besides astrology, there were a number of other super-
stitious beliefs current in the society. It was believed that
if certain vows and conditions were observed, gods could be
compelled to do the needful; we sometimes come across-
devotees threatening the poor god with non-co-operation.
From one of the Ratta records from Saundatti we learn that
Kesiraja of Banahatti had sworn to the Unborn If disease
and trouble should ever manifest themselves among those
whom I protect, I will come to you no Catching a
serpent alive was regarded as a signal proof of chastity ;
Sugaladevi, the wife of Mandalasvara Varma, had caught a
serpent alive in her hand and a temple was built in her-
honour as the chastest lady of the land,^^'"^^ Spells and
enchantments ag^st serpent bites were current, but evidence
is available to show that their futility was often realised/
Many women were induced to administer herbs and medi-
cines to their husbands., which were supposed to be efficacious
in keeping them under their control, but which very often
ruined their health and hastened their death/ Sometimes
some loyal subiects used to take the vow that they would
offer their own heads, if their king were to be blessed with a
son. Sorab No, 479 informs us that in c. 991 A.D, Katega
took a vow to offer his head to the goddess Gundabbe of
Hayve, if his king Ifentivarman got a son ; a son was soon
born and then Katega allowed the royal soldiers to cut off
his head, and of course went to heaven/^^^^ There were
others who used to vow to offer their own heads in case a son
was born to them, cases are on record to show that such
161. J. B,B. R. A. S., X, p. 281.
164, J. B. B. R. A. S,. X, p. 279.
160. n.p.365.
162. I. A., XIL p. 99.
165. E.a,vnL
CHAPTER XV
Economic Conditio B
An enquiry into the economic conditions of our period
is beset with several difficulties. Sources of information,
both indigenous and foreign, are scanty and their interpreta-
tion is rendered difficult by the uncertainty as to the precise
meaning to be attached to the technical terms used therein.
It is proposed to utilise in this chapter some of the records
hailing from Tamil country. A part of that province was under
the Rashtrakuta occupation for nearly a quarter of a century in
the reign of Krshna HI, many of whose records hail from that,
province, which can be interpreted only with the help afford-,
ed by other Chola records. It would be therefore both'
necessary and useful to supplement our information fr,Qm.
other contemporary Chola records.
166. E. C., IV, introduction, p. 9.
167. Elliot, 1, p. 10.
SOME OTHER SUPERSTITIONS
VOWS were actually Ibn Khurdadba informs us
that persons who had grown very old and weak very often
used to commit suicide in holy places, either by drowning or
by burning themselves on auspicious days.^^*^*^^ This custom
riiay have prevailed" to some extent, since the famousGhan-::
.■della -king Dhanga is known to have courted 'death- byv
allowing himself to be drowned at Prayaga, when he had
.'grown, very old/
It is not to be supposed that the above practices v/ere
universal; they were confined to certain sections of the socictj^.
They are simply mentioned here in order to give an idea of
the superstitions of the age as they can be ascertained from
epigraphy.
354
ECONOMIC CONDITION
Let us first enquire into the wealth of the country. This
is primarily derived from its natural products and industries,
and secondarily from its commerce and conquests. The
natural products of the Deccan under the Rashfrakutas
could not have been much different from those of the
present day as far as the produce of the soil is concerned,
since no considerable climatic changes are known to have
taken place during the last 1000 years. Cotton was produced
in large quantity in southern Gujarat, Khandesh, and Berar;
cotton yarn and cloth are mentioned among the articles of
export from Bharoch by the Periplus in the 1st century A.D.,
by‘^’ Marco Polo in the 13th century”’ and by Tavernier
in the 16th century.”’ It is obvious that in our period too
the regions referred to must have been producing cotton, as
they do even today, Gujarat cotton in Marco Polo’s time
was a rough variety suitable for stuffing only, the same pro-
bably was the case in our period loo. Indigo is known to
have been extensively exported from Gujarat and Thana in
the 17th”’ and 13th”’ centuries A.D. and the crop was pro-
bably raised in our penod too. Incense and perfumes were
exported in large quantity from Saimur and Thana in the
12th and 13th centuries”’ and the same may have been the
case in our period too. The chief crops in Maharashtra must
have been jawari, hajri and oilseeds and Karnatak must have
produced cotton in addition. Konkan was rich in coconuts,
betelnuts and rice; the western ghats and parts of Mysore
yielded large quantities of sandal, teak, and ebony wood.
It may be pointed out that the timber of these trees was
exported from western Indian ports since pre -historic times,
I. Schoff. periplus. p. 39 2. 11. p. 393. 3, p. 52 .
■4. Moreland, From Akbar to Aurangzeh, p, 160.
5. Marco Polo, II, pp, 393 and 398,
6. Elliot. I. p. 87; Marco Polo. II. p. 393.
MINERAL RESOURCES
355
The fertility of the Deccan soil compares unfavourably
with that of the alluvial plains of Bengal or the United Pro-
vinces, but the comparatively meagre 'wealth,' that was availa-
ble from this source, was supplemented by the metallurgical
products' in a much greater degree than is the case at' present.::
Gopperis' mentioned as an article of export from . Bharoch in
the Periplus^'^^ and since northern India depended' almost,
entirely on the produce of the local copper mines down to the
' beginning of the 1 7th century we need not suppose
that the copper exports in the first century A.D., were merely
of the nature of re-exports. But it was not only in northern
India that this metal was worked out; traces of more or less
extensive workings of copper mines have been discovered in
the districts of Gudappah, Bellary, Ghanda, Buldhana,
Narsingpur, Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Dharwar/^^ Some
of these mines are known to have been worked up right up to
the time of Hyder Ali. It is, therefore, very likely that the
wealth of the Deccan of our period must have been to some
extent increased by the yields of these copper mines. We
should not forget in this connection that copper was a much
costlier metal than it is now. In the 17th century it was five
times costlier than now, and at about our period silver
was only 3 times dearer than copper and 14 times cheaper
than gold. The relative ratio of prices of gold and copper,
as given by Brihaspati, is 1 : 48. The present ratio of the
prices of these metals is about 1 : 1500.
Far more valuable than the mines of copper were the
mines of precious stones, that were actively worked with
7. Schoff, Periplus, p. 36.
8. Moreland, From Akbar to Aurangzeb, p» 183.
9. Ball. A Manual of the Geology of India, Part III, Chap, y? La
Touche, A Bibliography of Indian Geology and Physical Geography^
pp. 113-137. iS ^
10. Moreland, India at the Death of Akbar, p. "
11. Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar Oarmich^l Letcur&s,> A, p. 189,
356
ECONOMIC CONDITION
great profit during our period. Cudappah^ . Bellary* . Karnul,,.'
and the Krishna valley near Golconda, continued to yield
rich harvests in diamonds till a much later time^ as we know
from Marco Poio/^^^ Ibn Batuta^^^^ and Tavernier At.
the time of Ibn Batuta Deogiri, which was then till quite
recently the capital of the Deccan, was .a famous centre of
the jewelry trade; during our period Malkhed, the Rashtra-
kuta capital, which was much nearer the diamond fields, must
similarly have been the main market for the precious stones
unearthed in the mines mentioned above. Tavernier, writing
in the 17th century, says that the port of Goa had formerly a
large expert trade in jewelry; but whether this former period
mentioned by him can go bach to our age is doubtful.
Contemporary documents do not give any adequate idea
of the industries of the period; but we can get a fair notion
from the accounts of foreign merchants of the earlier and later
periods. Cloth industry was the principal one. From the
Periplus we learn that cloth was largely exported from
Bharochand Damarikef, e. Dravid country. The principal
centres in the Deccan were Minnagar, Gujarat, Ujjain, Paithan
and Tagara/^'^V - Most of these continued to be centres of
cloth industry down to the 1 7th century A,D. Marco Polo
states that Gujarat, Thana and Warangal used to manu-
facture and export considerable quantities of cloth in the
13th century, and Tavernier notes that prodigious quan-
tities of clear and white calicos were manufactured in
Burhanpur and Berar, and were transported thence to
Persia, Turkey. Poland, Arabia and Cairo/^^^ It is there-
fore but fair to conclude that during our period, which is
almost midway between these two, the industry may have
been equally thriving. Paithan and Warangal were, and
still are, particularly famous for their muslins. About the
12. ll.p.36a& ,p.217. 14. p.319. 15. p. 22?. 16. p. 34.,
17, Pp. 34.4%-; ; ,,IL pp. 393, 395, and 361, , 19. , p. 40.
DECCAN INDUSTRIES
357
^cloth manufacture at these places, Marco Polo says, — These
are the most delicate buckrams and of the highest price; in
sooth they look like 'the tissue of - spider’s web. - ' There can be ■
■no king or queen in ■ the world but might be glad to wear,:
■" Paitham, the name given to the high class silken,
>saries of ladies in the Deccan, is significant in this connection.
From Marco Polo we learn that southern Gujarat and
■ northern Maharashtra were great centres of tanning industry
in the 13th century. Leather was exported in large quantities
from Thana in Gujarat the quantity of hide dressed was
so great that several shiploads could be exported to Arabia
and the Persian Gulf/^^^ This tanning industry of the
Deccan and Gujarat is not mentioned in the Periplus, but
since it was in full vigour in the 13th century, and had cap-
tured a number of foreign markets, it is reasonable to infer
that it must have begun its career during our period.
I bn Batuta compliments the Marathas of the region
round Daulatabad and Nandurbar on their skill in arts; but
what particular arts he was referring to is difficult to ascertain,
as he does not mention them. Marco Polo refers to the mat
industry flourishing in southern Gujarat and northern Maha-
rashtra in the 13th century when beautiful mats in red and
blue leather, exquisitely inlaid with figures of birds and beasts
and skilfully embroidered with gold and silver, used to be
exported in large quantities from these provinces/^^^ it is
not improbable that this industry too, which was prospering
in the 13th century, may go back to our period.
Mysore was very rich in elephants and we may therefore
well presume that it may have been a centre of ivory industry.
Contemporary records do not give any detailed account
of the commerce of the period, but the accounts given by the
Periplus, Alberuni, Al Idrisi, Marco Polo and Ibn Batuta
ean give us some idea in this respect. Bharoch, which was
20 . II, p. 391. 21. lUp. 395. 22. H, p. 393. 23, il, pp. 393-4.
358
ECONOMIC CONDITION
an ail-India port since very early times, continued to be so in
our period. From Al-Idrisi, who is slightly later than our
period, we learn that it was a port for vessels coming from
China as well as for those coming from Sindh and the Per-
sian Gulf. Its inhabitants were rich and principally en-
gaged in trade; they used to engage freely upon speculations
and distinct expeditions. Merchandise from every country
was found there, and was sent on from there to other countries.
The Gujarat Rashtrakutas must have derived considerable
revenues from the import duties at this port. The prosperity
of Bharoch may have been, to some extent, affected in our
period by the rise of the port of Cambay and its inclusion
in the Gurjara Pratihara empire. This must have diverted to
the new pmt a portion of the northern trade which formerly
Wowed to Bharoch, as Cambay was nearer to the Gurjara-
rratlhara capital Kanauj.
/^alyan which was a natural port of export for the
n^them Deccan was the next port of importance. In the
6th century at the time of Cosmos Indicopleustes. it was one
ol the hve important ports trading in cloth, brass, and blach-
wood logs ; the same was very probably the case in our
period too. Naosari. Sopara, Thana, Saimur, Dabhol, Jayagad
Devagad and Malvan were other ports of minor importance!
engaged chiefly in coastal trade. The revenues from all
these ports must have been fairly extensive. From the
Kharepatan plates of Anantadeva it wood seem that the
import duties on the coastal trade were less than those on
the roreign trade/®^^
The above description of the natural resources and
industries of our period can enable us to complete the list
of the articles of export. Cotton yam and cloth, both rough
and fine, muslins, hides, mats, indigo, incense, perfumes, betel
nuts, coconuts, sandal and teak wood, sesame oil, and ivoiy
Elliot. I, p. 87. 25. E. I., HI, p. 286.
PRINCIPAL EXPORTS' AND IMPORTS
359
must have been the principal articles available for export ;
most of these have also been actually enumerated among
the articles of export by the Periplus, A1 Idrisi, Marco P olo,
and Ibn Batuta, Bharoch used to export a number of pro-
ducts from northern India as well in the -time of the Periplus,
and the same probably continued to be the case, at least to
some extent, in our period too, Diamonds were available
for export, but it is not known whether the Rashtrakutas had
put any embargo on the trade in that commodity. From some
of the later writers like Tavernier, we learn that some of
the kings of later days would not permit the export of the
bigger diamonds; it is not impossible that the same restriction
may have been imposed by the governments of our period.
Among the articles of imports at the port of Bharoch,
the Periplus mentions inferior pearls from the Persian Gulf,,
dates, gold, slaves, Italian wine, but in small quantity,
copper, tin, lead, topaz, storax, sweet clover, flint glass,
antimony, gold and silver coins, and singing boys and girls
for kings/ With some exceptions these must have con-
tinued to be imported even in our period, as they were not
procurable in India and were required by her people. From
Marco Polo we learn that Thana used to rimport gold, silver,,
and copper in the I3th century. Import trade in horses
was extensive, Marco Polo says that every vessel visiting the
Deccan and Gujarat ports invariably carried horses in addition
to other cargo. This trade must have been even brisker in
our period; for, the needs of the mounting department of the
Rashtrakutas and their feudatories must have been very
■.great."';:, ' '
The principal means of transport in our period was the
bullock cart. A1 Idrisi says that there was no other means
of travelling in Gujarat, except chariots drawn by oxen under
B60
ECONOMIC CONDITION
llie control of a The same was probablj^ the case
in our period. Horses were fairly dear and were therefore
not available for transport purposes# The bullock carts were,
however, fairly comfortable; Tavernier, writing in the I7th
century, says that they were more commodious than anything
that has been invented for ease in France and This
compliment is of course paid to the conveyance of the 1 7th
century, but when we remember how" conservative the Hindu
artisan is, it would appear very probable that the bullock
carts of our period too were equalh^ good.
We have no contemporary records which throw light
upon the condition of the roads. The author of the Periplus
•complains that goods from Paithan, Tagara and other
places in the Deccan had to be brought to Bharoch in
waggons through great tracts without roads, and the picture
drawn by Tavernier about the state of affairs in the 17th
century is no more flattering/®^^ About the Deccan he says
that wheeled carriages do not travel there, the roads being
too much interrupted by high mountains, tanks, and rivers.
These reasons assigned by Tavernier would show that the
roads were bad mainly in the ghats and hilly areas. The
military necessities of the empire must have compelled the
Rashtrakutas to keep the roads in a fairly good condition. It is
not very likely that in our period, even the roads over the
ghats and hills were as bad as they were in the times of the
Greek and French traveller.
Besides the bullock cart, the oxen and pack horses of
an inferior breed must have been used for transport, especial-
ly in the hilly tract, or when it was desired to have a speedy
transport. In the Muslim period several subcastes used to
follow the caravan* s profession, transporting merchandise
from one place to another. Individuals used to own as many
as 100 bullocks; they used to move along with their wives,
29. Elliot, I. p. 87 30, p, 30. 31. P.43. 32. I. Chap. IL
LAND LEASE CONDITIONS
361
children, and priests, and had no houses of their A
similar mode of transport was probably in vogue in the
Deccan of our period where roads were too hilly to admit
of cart" transport „ , ,
Problems connected with land revenue and the incidence
of taxation have been discussed already in chapter XL some
other agrarian topics will be considered here. The prevail-
ing tenure of the Deccan of our period was Rayatwari, but
a zemindar class, the members of which were assigned royal
re^^enues, did exist to a limited extent The mention of
gramapati along with gramakuta in some of our records shows
that the former was a village holder. Some of the officials
were assigned revenues of villages and towns, as shown al-
ready, and these probably are referred to as gramapatis.
There is no evidence, however, to show that whole districts or
Talukas were being assigned to revenue farmers.
A record belonging to the middle of the 10th century
hailing from Tirukkalavur states that the village assembly
had taken on trust for cultivation a piece of land, the proceeds
of which were to be utilised, apparently, for some charity.
The members of the assembly had agreed to have the land
cultivated (on the terms) two to one. The expression in the
Italics obviously refers to the lease condition determining the
shares of the owner and the tiller, but unfortunately there is
nothing in the record to indicate whether it was the owner or
the cultivator who was entitled to two shares. Nor do we
know whether the produce was to be divided in the gross or
after the government dues had been paid. In the Deccan at
present sometimes the owner receives three shares and the
tiller two, sometimes the owner two and the tiller one and
sometimes the division is equal. It is, therefore, difficult to
state whether the assembly in the above case received two
shares or only one. The former alternative seems probable.
33. L, pp. 3l»33 34. Ante, p. 189. 35. S. I. 1., HI. No, 10.
362
ECONOMIC CONDITION
the land was.
freely transferrable or not. There is sufficient evidence to-
thrieik ^ ^ transfer of land was not an affair in which only
stundaS ^ere concerned. A record from
consent of fifty agncultunsts. It seems veiy probable that
^ese agncultunsts were the Mahajanas of the locality; if so
It IS clear that the sales of the land required the consent of
village community. An inscription from Belgaum district
oTk d f gave 800 kammas
land to a temple at Nesarge. the six headmen of the place
received a gdt of money ‘like that which was customa^ to
g- at the time of buying.-- It would therefore seemThll
even when the rulers of the land were alienating landed
property, they had to pay a certain duty to the village head-
man. i his custornary gift to the village headmen seems to
ve been due to the necessity of getting the consent of the
il age community, whose spokesmen they were. This record'
belongs to the I3th century and since it does not refer to the.
consent of the Mahajanas for the transaction, like the 10th
century record from the same locality referred to above, it
TT uT"" community was .
gradually becoming a more or less formal affair. Here again
we hnd epigraphical evidence supporting theSmriti literature,
injiis lengthy introduction to the Dayabhaga section.
V^nanes vara quotes an anonymous text, declaring that
transfer of land can become effective only with the consent
^ the village community, castemen. neighbours and kinsmen.
Me. however, maintains that the consent of the village com-
■ munity was merely intended for the publication of the tran-
sac ion, It does not mean that the transaction becomes ultra-
ires it no such consent was obtained previously. The con-
36.
J- B. B. R. A. S... X.. p. 208, 37. Ibid. p. 257.
CONDITIONS OF LAND ALIENATION
363
sent of the neighbours also was merely to avoid any quarrel
about the boundaries/^^^ It would therefore appear, both
from the epigraphical and Smriti evidence, that the consent
of the village community was becoming a more or less formal
affair at the end of our period.
There is evidence to show that if a village or land was
owned by several cosharers, no new owner could be introduced
except with the consent of the whole body. The Sivapur
inscription of Mahas'ivagupta, belonging to c. 800 A.D.,
assigns I share of 5 villages to 15 Brahmanas. The grant
was hereditary, but on the condition that the grantees and
their descendants continued to be men of learning and high
moral character. The record expressly adds that if a sharer
died heirless, or was ignorant, or immoral, his share was to be
assigned to some other relative by the remaining coshares,
and not by the king.
The village artisans like the carpenter, the smith, the
potter, etc., were maintained by the community by the assign-
ment of a certain grain-share from each farmer, in return for
which the artisans were to supply his needs during the year;
This system has been very ancient in the Deccan and continues
to the present day.
Let us now proceed to consider the means of exchange..
A number of Chola records, to which attention will be drawn
later, show that during our period barter was extensively
practised in Tamil country. It has been shown in Chapter XI
how the Rashtrakutas and their feudatories used to receive
38. ^ ^ i
i! * mm ^
39. E. I., XL p. 192.
40. For a detailed history of this system in the Deccan, see Altekar^^
A History of the Village Communities in Western India, pp, 92-97.
364
ECONOMIC CONDITION
their revenues sometimes wholly and sometimes partly in
.kind#: The government transaction under these circumstances
must have been at least partly by barter. We shall not
■therefore be far wrong in assuming that in our province, vas"^
in Taihil country, the barter system was fairly in vogue.
" ^ number of coins of gold and. silver are mentioned in
our records, but it is strange that so far not a single coin,
belonging indisputably to the Rashtrakiita dynasty should
have been discovered. Silver coins of Krshnaraja bearing the
legend Paramamahesvara-mahadityapaJa ( or maiapitrpada )»
Mudhyata^S riKrshrardjah^ which have been discovered in
large quantities in the district of Nasik and in Marathi C. P.
were first attributed with some hesitation to the Rashtrakuta
king Krshna J, but that view does not seem to be correct.
As Rapson has pointed out, these coins imitate too closely the
latest Gupta coins of the locality to permit the assumption
that they belong to Krshna They are besides undated;
Rashtrakuta silver coins bore the dates of issue, Our notions
of the Rashtrakuta coinage have therefore to be based, not
on first hand evidence but on a number of a priori considera-
tions.
Dramma, Suoarna, Gadyanaha, Kalanju Bx\diK.asii are the
principal coins mentioned in our period. Dramma is the San-
skritised form of the Greek term drachme. The silver coini
of the Indo-Baktrian kings, weighing about 65 grains, wer4
known by that name and we may presume that the weiglfit
of the drammas mentioned in our records was more or lejs
the same. One of the Kanheri inscriptions belonging to tpe
time of Amoghavarsha I mentions golden drammas and dis-
tinguishes them from ordinary drammas mentioned a little
earlier/^^^ It would thus appear that the name dramma was
41. Rapson, Indian Coins ^ p. 27.
^oins. see I. A., XIV, p. 68.
42. Sulaiman Saudagar, p. 50.
For further discussion on these
THE VALUE OF. SUVARN.A COINS
163:
given to both silver and golden coins in the northern pro-
vinces of the Rashtrakuta empire. Our four anna silver piece-,
weighs about 4S grains ; silver dramma was thus about one-
third bigger than this coin,
Cambay plates of Govinda IV mention a gift of 1400^^^^
villages yielding an annual revenue of seven lakhs of Suvarms.
The value and weight of this Suvarna coin is difficult to
determine. According to several well known authorities
like Kautaiya, Manuvetc., the term Suvarna denotes a golden
coin weighing 80 raktikas or about 146 grains. Suvarna
coins of this description of early dates have not been dis-
covered, but it is well-known that the Imperial Guptas tried
to restore this national unit towards the middle of the 5th
century A.D. The Suvarna coins mentioned in the Cambay
plates, however, did not very probably weigh so much as
146 grains. Most of the golden coins of southern dynasties
of our period vary in weight from 45 to 55 grains; no golden
coins weighing about 146 grains have so far been discovered
belonging to the Deccan of our period* It is not improbable
that the term Suvarna has been used in the Cambay plates to
denote, not the technical Suvarna coin weighing about 146,
grains, but the current golden coin weighing like the dramma
about 65 grains.
The epigraphical records from Karnatah and Tamil pro-
vinces usually mention Kalanju, Gadyaijaka and Kasu as the
current coins of the land. These were all golden coins.
Kalanju is really the name of a prickly climbing species of
Csesalpina, the w^eight of whose seed varies between 45 to
50 grains. The average weight of the early punch-marked
golden coins of the south also varies between 45 and 50 grains.
The normal weight of a Kalanju coin of our period may
therefore be presumed to be more or less the same. It was
44. E. L, VIL p. 26.
1
‘45. Elliot, Coins of Southern India^ pp
46, S.LL, m. No. 191. 47. S,
48. Carmichael Lecturer, 1921, p. 191
•366
ECONOMIC CONDITION
therefore about a quarter of a tola in weight/^*’’^ It must be,
however, remembered that there were some local variations
inks weight; thus an inscription refers to a gift of 25 Kalanjus
:for a perpetual lamp weighed by the balance used in the case
■’of charitable edicts. A record of the time of ParMtaka' I':'
.mentions, Kalanjus weighed by a. stone called after Vedelvi-"'
dugu, which was the surname of the Pallava king Tellarareinda
Nandipottaraiyar/'^'^^ Since the actual weight of the Kalanju
seed varied by a few grains, it would seem that the standard
was specifically determined by the state from time to time.
The variation could not have been of more than a few grains.
The coin Gadyanaka was equal to two Kalanjus and thus
weighed about 90 grains. It was a gold coin equal to the
modern eight anna piece. 7 Kalanjus were equal to 20
Kasus: a Kasu thus weighed about 15 grains of gold.
Other coins occasionally mentioned are Manjadi and
Akkam. Manjadi was one-twentieth of a Kalanju and thus
weighed only about 2^ grains. Akkam was one-twelfth of a
Kasu and was thus about half the size of the Manjadi.
The coinage, above referred to, was almost all in gold,
dremma being the only exception. Silver coins from the
southern India, belonging to the first millennium of the
Christian Era, are very rare. We shall therefore experience
some difficulty in converting the prices in gold of our age in-
to corresponding prices in rupees of the present day, as we do
not know the precise ratio of prices of these two metals dur-
ing our period. Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar has pointed how
the Nasik cave inscription No, 12 shows that the ratio between
the prices of these two metals was 1 ; 14. The record ex-
pressly equates 35 Karshapanas to 1 Suvarna, and since the
ratio of copper to gold was never so high as 1 : 35, we have to
COMPARATIVE- TABLE OF COIN VALUES
'Conclude that the Karshapaiias of the record were silver and
not copper coins each one weighing 32 ratis, z. e, two-fifths of a
.golden Smarm: the ratio between the prices of the two metals
thus becomes 35 x 32 : 1 x 80 1 . e, 14 : 1, S^nkraniii^ which was
probably composed not much later than our period, gives the
ratio as 1 : Tavernier, writing in the middle of the 17th
" century, says that the golden rupee was equal to 14 silver
ones/*’^^ It would thus seem that the relative prices of these
two metals were fairly constant from the 1st to the 17th
century, and we may, therefore, "presume that in our period
they were somewhere in the vicinity of 1 : 15. The ratio before
the recent rise in the price of gold was about 1 : 39.
The following table of the values of the various coins
may be useful to the reader for ready reference.
Name.
Metal.
silver.
gold.
Approximate Approximate
weight present value.
65 grains or tola about 6 as.
,, about Rs. 7*
„ 48 grains or ^ tola, about Rs. 5.
„ 96 grains or ^ tola, about Rs. 10.
« 2^ grains.
„ ii grains,
and industry, that were
while ago, presuppose not only currency, but also banking
facilities. These latter were provided in our period by guild
organisations. These organisations have been, since early
times, a conspic^us feature of the Hindu trade and industry.
As early as the Andhra period, the whole of the Deccan was
spread with a network of guilds, which used to regulate
trade and industry, train apprentices, and do the banking
business, not only for their members but also for the public.
il) Dramma.
(2) Dramma.
(3) Kalanju.
(4) Gadyapaka.
(5) Kasu.
(6) Manjadi.
{7) Akkam.
Commerce
about Re« I 10 as.
about 4 as.
about 2 as.
described a little
49, IV, 2, 98.
ECONOMIC CONDITION
The guilds continued to flourish in our period too. In c. 775 A.D.
there was a guild of weavers at Laxmesvar* the headman of
which had agreed to make a certain contribution for a certain
religious object An inscription from Mulgiind, dated
c. 880 A.D., records a gift by four heads of a guild belonging to-
360 towns/^^^ The precise import of this description of the
guild is not easy to determine, but it looks vei:y^ probable that
the description is intended to indicate that its membership
was spread over 360 towns and villages. The record
immediately proceeds to record a gift, made by some local
Brahmanas, with the consent of 2000 merchants. The context
of these two passages in this inscription would suggest that
these 2000 merchants were connected with the guild, or were
perhaps its members. It is, therefore, not unlikely that the
members of the guild were spread over 360 different localities,.
The absence of more numerous references to guilds in
records, strictly falling within our period, must be regarded aa
merely accidental, for we get several references to them in the
epigraphs of the succeeding centuries. An inscription from
Belgamve, dated 1083 A.D„ ^’’‘'’’refers to a guild which apparently
ruled over or had its offices in 18 cities; another from Managoli*
dated 1161 A.D./''^^ refers to several grants made by the
guilds of, oilmen, weavers, artisans, basket -makers, mat-
makers and fruit -sellers. Recently two inscriptions have been
published, one from Kolhapur, dated S'aka 1058, and the other
from Miraj, dated S^aka 1066 which give interesting
information about a guild of the Vira-Balanjus, the member-
ship of which had extended over four districts. A record from
Saundaiti, dated 1205 refers to an assemblage of ali
the people of the district, headed by all the guilds of the place.
The names of the guilds are not given in this record, but they
52. E. 1., VI, p. 166. 53. J. B. B. R. A. S., X, p. 192.
54, Ibid. 55. I, A., V, p. 344. 56. E. I., V, p;22.
57, /E. I.. XIX, p. 33. . 58. J. B. B. R. A. S., X, p, 238. ■
WORKING OF THE GUILDS
369-
were in all probability similar to those at ManagolL It is,
therefore, quite likely that the guild organisation in our period
was ' not quite so negligible as- the references occurring in. the;
inscriptions, ■strietly belonging to our age,, may perhaps; lead ^
us to conclude. - ^
:Some.of ouf' records give us a glimpse into the " worhing-
: ^ of these guilds. ■ The weavers’, guild at Laxmesvaf' had ' only
one head, the Mulgund guild, with a probable membership of
20D0, had four heads, while the one at Belgamve, which is
described as ruling over 18 cities, had an executive of 9., The
Vi'ra Balanju guild mentioned in the Miraj inscription had an
executive of 15, belonging to the different localities of the
districts, over which its membership had spread. It would
thus seem that every guild. had an executive, the strength of
which varied with its membership and activities. It is
interesting to note that these executive committees of the
guilds, which we discover in inscriptions, should be also found
in literar^^ works like the YajnavalkyasmrtU^'^'^^ and Nltivakya-
mHa, Meetings of the general body were convened
when general policy had to be discussed or grants from guild
properties or requiring recurring contributions f rom individual
members were contemplated.
A number of records above mentioned, e. g, those from
Managoli, Miraj, etc., record contributions from members of
guilds towards religious objects on a certain scale; it would
thus appear that the guild acted as a corporate unit and that
the resolutions, probably passed by a majority, were binding
on ail the members. The guild at Belgamve had its sbo
edicts; this fact show that they could frame bye-laws
binding upon its members. Here again we find epigraphy
corroborating the Smriti literature, for and Yajnaval-
down that the rules and regulations of the guilds
59. 11. p. 189. 60. XXiX. p, 9. 61» I. A., X, p, 185.
62. Vin,4L 63. 11, 187-8,
ECONOMIC CONDITION
were to be respected by the king, it they were not against
pnbiie interest
■ While describing the gnild' members who had come to
witness the wrestling ■ between ' Kansa and ; Krshigia, Hari~,
refers to their banners bearing upon them the repre-
sentations of the implements' of ■ their different industries.
That. the ■ association ■■'of particular banners, with particular
devices mentioned in the Harimnsa is not fictitious is proved
by the Belgamve and ..Kolhapur inscriptions referred to above,
which refer to the banner of the Vfra-Baianius, and describe
it as bearing the device of a hill. These banners were
probabl^^ carried at the head of the caravans or militias of the
guilds, as was later the custom of the European companies
in India.
An inscription from Dambal states that a guild of the
locality had its own umbrellas and The umbrellas
and chanris, which this guild was using in 1095 A.D.* were
obtained by a royal charter from Jagadekamalia ( c. 1018“
1040 A.D. ) It would thus appear that some of the bigger
guilds used to receive royal charters determining their powers
and privileges. The above record further describes the
Dambal guild as the lord of Aihole, the best of towns. This
may perhaps show that some of the big guilds were often
entrusted by the state with the government of towns and
cities. The reason for such a step may have been the loans
advanced to the state by the guild banks; as a security for
these loans towns like Aihole may have been handed over
to the creditor guild by the debtor state. Maintenance of
troops was a natural corollary of the overlordship of towns
and cities; members of guilds must have either formed or
officered their own militias, otherwise it would be difficult to
justify their description in the Dambal and Kolhapur records
as ‘ persons whose breasts were embraced by the goddess of
6^. Chap. 86, 5# 65. Tavernier, p. 36. 66. I. A., X, p. 188.
GUILD MILITIAS
371
perfect impetuosity and bravery*. It may be pointed out that
the Maiidsor inscription, belonging to the middle of the 5th
■century A.D., also describes some of its members as experts, in,
archeiy, and bold in forcibly uprooting the enemy in battle.
' Another reason why guilds had to maintain their own. militias,
was to safeguard their goods, while being transported from
. '.one -place to another. From Tavernier we learn that in the
.Muslim period each cart in the caravan had to be protected by ..
^ four soldiers, each of whom had to be paid ,.Rs. 4 a month
■Similar precautions may have been necessary in our period as
well, and the maintenance of a militia would have reduced the
expense of keeping the mercenary force, besides adding to
the dignity and prestige of the corporation. In this connec-
tion we should not forget that even village communities in our
period used to maintain their own militias.
The guild banks were among the most stable banks of
our period, inspiring the highest amount of public confidence.
The village communities also had their own banks as shown
already, and these must have been equally stable institu-
tions. Private individuals also must be then, as now, carry-
ing on banking business.
Let us now proceed to ascertain the rate of interest.
There is sufficient epigraphical evidence to help us in this
matter. A Kanheri inscription of the time of Amoghavarsha !
mentions a certain investment in a local bank, which
had agreed to pay an interest in perpetuity upon it. This
record states that the rate of interest was to be determined
by experts from time to time. This provision was a reasonble
one; the guild had to pay the interest in perpetuity, and no
definite rate could be guaranteed for all time to come. The
rate must vary with the conditions of the money market It
is, however, worth noting that a similar saving clause does
372
ECONOMIC CONDITION
not occur in the numerous ■ other inscriptions of our period^
which state the agreed rate of interest on deposits given in
perpetuity, it is, however, not unlikely that in practice the.
banks of the guilds and the village communities, which had
bound themselves to supply interest at a certain rate, may
have been allowed some latitude, if the condition of the
money market was severely adverse to them.
Another Kanheri inscription of the same period
supplies some data to determine the rate of interest of the
locality. We find that the premier of the local S'ilahara
dynasty had to invest 160 Drammas in order to provide
annually 20 Drammas for the Buddha worship, 3 Drammas for
the building’s repairs, 5 Drammas for the robes of the monks
and 1 Dramma for the purchase of the books; 160 Drammas
could thus fetch, by way of interest, 29 Drammas annually*
The rate of interest, which prevailed at Kanheri towards the
end of the 9th century is thus found to be about 17 percent per
annum.
We get copious data to determine the current rate of
interest during the latter half of the iOth century A.D, An
inscription from Tiruvurrur in Chingleput district, dated in
the 22nd year of Krshna iU, mentions an investment on
which the village assembly of Kuattur had agreed to pay in
perpetuity an interest of 15%, This rate of interest seems to
have been not far removed from the normal rate on perpetual
deposits; a number of inscriptions from Tanjore belonging to
the first half of the llth century disclose 12|-% as the current
rate on such deposits. Sometimes the interest on capital
in cash u e., Kalanjus, is stuted in kind f. e., in Kalams of paddy.
But here again, if we convert the Kalams into their cash
equivalent, the rate of interest is found to be varying between
72. Ibid, p. 136.
73. Inscripiions from Madras Presidency, Chingleputi No. 1048.
74. S. 1. 1.. H, pp. 95. 97. 98. 99. 101-3.
INTEREST ON FIXED DEPOSITS
373
10 to 15%. Thus an inscription of the lime of Krshna HI
records a gift of 20 Kalanjus by a queen of Vaidumba
■ Maharaja, a feudatory of that emperor. The interest on these'
20 Kalanjus is stated to be 20 Kalams of paddy. Another
inscription from south Arcot district, belonging to the reign of
-the same emperor, shows that the rate of interest in that
locality - also ■ was 1 ■ Kalam per Kalanju. -^'*^^^ This . Kalam " is,
however, ■ by the Perilmai' measure which was 25% bigger
than the normal Kalam, as will be soon shown. The rate of
interest will thus work out to be li Kalam per Kalanju, if we
take the Kalam to consist of 12 Marakkals of 8 and not of 10
Naris. The price of paddy at this period varied between
8 to 12 Kalams per Kalanju, as will be soon shown; an
interest of 1 Kalam per Kalanju would thus be somewhere
between 8 to 12^%, and an interest of li Kalam would be
between 10 to 15%.
In some localities, however, much higher rates prevailed,
A Bana inscription, dated 915 A.D.,^^^^ states that the interest
on 20 Kalanjus was to be 5 Kalanjus, The rate of interest in
this case is, therefore, 25%. A still higher rate of interest is
seen to prevail in a record, belonging to the time of
Parantaka I, L e,, the first half of the 10th century. A local
temple at Annamalai, which had to pay to the assembly a tax
of 18 ilakhasu on the lands belonging to it, is seen arranging
for the annual payment of 6 ilakkasu by depositing a capital
of 15 ilakkasu with the members of the village assembly.
The rate of interest here works out to be as high as 40%.
This rate is much above the normal one; it may be due to the
village assembly being in urgent need of funds for meeting
some pressing need of the hour; it is also possible that the
assembly may have decided to show a special favour to the
75, Inscriptions from Madras Presidency^ N. Arcott., No. 636,
. 76. E. L, VIj, pp. 188 ff. 77. E. L, XI, p, 224.
374
ECONOMIC CONDITION
deity of the village by giving an indirect concession in the land
.ax .by allowing an abnormal rate of interest on the .capital
deposited by the temple authorities for that purpose*
Interest at high rate like 30 or 40% is only exceptional; in
the' vast .majority of. the records of oiir period*, the .rate of.:
interest, when the capital was in cash, is found to be varying
between 12 to 15%» It is interesting to note that the rate,
.permitted by Manu,^^^^ Yajnavalhya,,^®®^ and, Kautalya^'-^:
on the capital in cash is also 15%.
If the capital advanced was in kind we find that the rate
of interest was much higher. Ukkal inscription No. 5,.
belonging to the time of Kampanavarman/^*^ records an
agreement of the villagers to pay an interest of 100 kadis on
a capital of 400 kadis of rice, while another from the same
locality mentions an interest of 500 kadis on a capital of 1000^
The rate of interest in these cases works out to be 25% and 50%
respectively. Here again epigraphy is seen confirming the
testimony of the Sraritis. Kautalya permits an interest
of 50% in the case of the capital in grain, and
Yajnavalkya/"'^''^ and Vasishtha,^®^^^ who do not permit the
capital in cash to be exceeded by the interest, declare that
in the case of the capital in corn the interest may amount to
two times the capital, showing thereby that the normal rate
of interest permitted on the corn was about twice as high as
that allowed on the capital in cash.
It must be remembered that the normal rate of interest
of 12 to 15% on the cash capital was the one which the
banks of the guilds and the village communities, w^hose secu-
rity was unquestionable, were allowing on permanent deposits
which were never to be withdrawn. Ordinary debtors could
have obtained loans from these banks obviously at a much
RATES OF INTEREST FOR THE POOR
375
higher rate of interest. It is, therefore, very probable that
these' banks: may have charged an interest of about' 20% 'to-,
the debtors, who could offer good security for the loan, and
that private , money lenders may have charged about:: 25%v: '
■This inference, is' supported, by the statement of Manu that '
a person charging interest at 24% is not guilty of sin. If
■'the security were of doubtful value,, the rate of interest must
have been still higher, say, 30 to- 35%. The- statements' in^
Manu and Yajhavalkya^^^V that Brahmanas, Kshatriyas,
Vaishyas, and , Sudras ' should be . charged interest - at 24%,: '
36%, 48%, and 60%, respectively would seem to show that the
poorer classes like the tillers of the soil, who could not pro-
bably have given quite a good security, were charged interest
varying between 30% to 50%,' This conclusion is fully supported
by the above epigraphical evidence, which shows that the
depositers could get from the banks of the best security an
interest of about 15%, One can now well understand why
the Smrilis hold the usurer in low estimation and declare him
to be a person unfit for being invited for a S'raddha. The
rates of interest figuring in the examples given in the Lilamti
by Bhaskaracharya yary from 36 of to 50%.^^^^
Inscriptions of Krshna III and his Chola contemporaries
supply interesting data to determine the prices and the stan-
dard of living towards the close of the 10th century. The
prices given are usually the barter prices in paddy, but they
can be converted into their cash equivalents. A knowledge
of the various measures mentioned therein is necessary to work
out these prices and the following table, the first two columns-
of which are borrowed from a table prepared by Hultzsch,
will supply the necessary information*
ECONOMIC CONDITION
Equivalents Probable
in ibs. or tolas equivalents in
5 -Sevudu. 1. Arakku. '
.2 Arakku. 1 Urakku.
2, Urakku. 1 ■ -Uri. ■ ^
. 2 ^ ■ U|'L ■■ ' ■ ' 1 ' Nari or Ps
8 Nari 1 Kuruni or
MarakkaL
2 Kuruni I Padakku.
2 Padakku 1 Tuni,
3 Tuni, 1 Kalam
3| tolas
7i tolas.
15 tolas,'
I lb.
6 ibs.
our time
These measures in
our time were either
of the same capa-
cit^^ or perhaps 16%
bigger in each case
in the district of
Tanjore.
The above table gives the contents of the MarakkaL as
determined by the Adavallan or Rajakesari measure, which
was current in the district of Tanjore in c. 1000 A.D. The
value of a Marakkal differed in the past as it differs now
in different districts. In the South Arcot district in the time
of Krshna III, the Marakkal prevailing was the one deter-
mined by the Peril mai measure which was 25% larger than
the ordinary Marakkal, since it was equivalent to 10 and not
SNaris.^^^ It may be pointed out that even today, the
Marakkal of the South Arcot district is larger than that of
Tanjore, but the excess today is 50% and not 25%. The
Madevi measure of Marakkal, that is mentioned in another
record of Krshna hailing from the same district seems to
be identical with the Perilmai measure. At Annamalai the
Marakkal was determined by the Annamaa measure, at
Takkolam it was fixed by the Kavaramoli measure. Since
these places are near the district of Arcot, it is permissible to
infer that these Jast two measures like the Perilmai one were
larger than the Adavallan one. It may be pointed out that
even today there is a great diversity of measures prevailing
THE CONTENTS OF A KALAM
377
in Tamil country ; the Kaiam of Trichy, South Arcot, and
Tanjore is equal to 48, 36, and 24 Madras measures respectively.
While trying to find out the prices, we shall have to take
.great precautions in determining the precise contents of the
Marakkal in use.
The Kaiam that is prevalent today in the district of
Tanjore is equal to 24 Madras measures, the contents of each
of which when filled with rice are about 3 ibs. in weight.
The present day Kaiam of Tanjore is thus equal to about
72 ibs,; the results in the column 3 of the above table can be
easily deduced from this datum by making the necessary
calculations.
It is, however, by no means certain that the Kaiam by
the Adavallan measure, which was in use in Tanjore in our
period, was exactly equal to the modern Kaiam there in
vogue. It may have been bigger or smaller or equal. In
South Arcot district, we have seen above that the Kaiam
today is 50% and not 25% bigger than the Tanjore Kaiam; so
these measures have been by no means unchanged in the last
1000 years. Our records, however, supply us evidence to
conclude that the modern Kaiam at Tanjore is approximately
equal to the one in vogue towards the end of the 10th century.
A number of inscriptions state that one uri of ghee was
required to burn one lamp, day and night. The uri in the
above table is equal to 15 tolas, and it will be found that if a
ghee lamp of one flame of moderate dimensions fed by
^two wicks is kept burning day and night, it will require 15 to 17
tolas of ghee. 15 tolas are just sufficient for the purpose, but
it is possible that the endowments may have provided for
some margin, or that the wicks may have been bigger than
those used now-a-days, requiring a somewhat greater supply
of ghee. If we assume that the latter was the case, then the
uri referred to in our records would be 17 to 18 tolas, or say
17|- tolas, i- ^ bigger than the present one. Under that
ECONOMIC CONDITION
95. S. L L, II, Nos*4&5.
96* Inscriptions from Madras Presidency f North Arcot, No* 636;
E. L. VII, pp. 188 ff*
assumption the Kalam would be also about 16% bigger- than
the present Tanjore,. Kalam, f. about 84 lbs.; otherwise it
would be approximately equal to the naodern one, i. e,, 72 lbs,
.Having .determined, the. modern equivalents of the various
measures that we shall have to deal with while determining
the prices, we can. nov/ undertake that task with fair con-
fidence. It must be remembered at the outset that even in
modern times the prices are not fixed but fluctuate with
scarcity, -wars, famines.' and bumper crops. We must be,
therefore, prepared to find a certain fluctuation in prices, as
they may be disclosed by our inscriptions.
Let us first find out the price of paddy which was the
staple corn in the south. Two inscriptions on the central
shrine of the Rajarajesvara temple at Tanjore, one on the
southern and the other on the northern wall, enumerate a
number of villages, that were assigned by king Rajaraja before
the 29th year of his regin, f. e., before 1014 A.D. In the case
of each village the precise acreage under cultivation and the
land tax due therefrom have been stated with meticulous
accuracy. The taxation of about 29 villages is given in paddy
and is found to be 100 Kal warns of paddy by the AdavallaB
measure per velL In the case of 5 villages, how^ever, the
amount of tax is given in cash, and is seen to be 10 Kaianjus
per velu Since the villages belonged to the same division,
it is fair to conclude that 10 Kaianjus of gold were equal to
100 Kalams of paddy by the Adavallan measure. The price of
paddy would thus be 10 Kalams per Kalanju towards the end#
of the 10th century A.D.
Two inscriptions from North Arcot district, belonging to
the reign of Krshna inform us that the interest on a
Kalanju of gold was a Kalam of paddy. In this district, the
THE PRICE OF RICE
379
Marakkai was measured by the 'Madevi’s measure, which
was 25% bigger thaa the Adavallan measure. The interest of
20 ' Kalams would' thus be equal to 25 Kalarns by the Tanjore
measure. The rate of interest allowed on permanent deposits
by the banks in this part of ' the country at this time was
about The interest on 20 Kalanjus would thus be 3
Kalanjus which -would be the price of 25 Kalarns by the
Adavallan measure. A Kalanju could thus procure Si Kalarns
of paddy in c, "960 A.D. in the Tamil districts annexed tO; the
Rashtrakuta empire. , ' ' This price is about 20% dearer than .
the price prevailing under Rajaraja, which, as we have seen
above, was 10 Kalarns per Kalanju. It is very likely that the
prolonged and bloody wars that were waged in this province
between the Cholas and the Rashtrakutas by this time, may
have made articles dearer; we may, therefore, assume that the
normal prices towards the middle of the iOth century A.D. in
the districts annexed to the Ite.shtrakute empire were 10
Kalarns a Kalanju. A gold Kalanju w^as about a quarter of
a tola in weight and thus was equal to about Rs. 5 of today.
Since the ratio of paddy to rice is 5: 2, 10 Kalarns of paddy
would be equal to 4 Kalarns of rice. Four Kalarns by the
Adavallan measure would be equal to either 144 or 168 seers
according to the table given on p. 376* Rs. 5 could thus procure
about 150 seers of rice. Rice was thus sold at about 30 seers
a rupee. Before the recent fall in prices ordinary rice was
sold at about four to five seers a rupee; so the prices have
99. U the interest is assumed to be and not 15% the price an
this case also will work out to he 10 Kalarns a Kalanju.
380
ECONOMIC CONDITION
were necessary to keep a iamp burning throughout the year-
The table on p. 376 would show that 180 naris are equal to
135 lbs.; 4 Kajanjus, i. e., Rs, 20 could thus bring 67^ seers of
ghee. Ghee was thus sold at 3 to 3^ seers a rupee at the
beginning of the 10 century. The ratio of the prices of ghee
and rice would thus be about 9:1.
(2) Another record belonging to the end of the lOlh
century A.D.''“> states that the interest on 12 Kalanjus could
purchase 90 naris of ghee required to burn one perpetual iamp
throughout the year. If we assume that the rate of interest
was^the normal one, i. e. 12^%, the price of ghee, as given
by tnis record, is found to be seers a rupee. This price is
cheaper than the one ascertained in the previous paragraph,
but it may be pointed out that the inscriptions are separated
by about 75 years and that the rate of interest assumed is
hypothetical. The relative prices of rice and ghee, as
deducible from this record, would be 7| : I.
(3) An inscription of the time of Parakesarivarman
Uttamachola (c. 975 A.D.) informs us that one Padakku of
paddy could fetch one uri of sweet ghee;'^'’^ another of the
time of Rajaraja (c. £000 A.D.) states that four naris of paddy
was the price of one Arakku of sweet ghee; '“^^a third one,
about 50 years later, observes that one Urakku of ghee’ was
equal in value to one Kuruni of paddy. If we work up these
figures from the table supplied on p. 376 we shall find that in
each of these three cases the ratio of the prices of sweet ghee
and paddy is the same, viz., 1 : 32. Rice is about two-fifths
of paddy, and therefore, ^ the ratio of the prices of rice and
sweet ghee would be about 1 : 12. Since rice was sold at
about 30 seers a rupee, the price of sweet ghee would be about
24 ' seers a mpee.
PRICES OF GHEE. CURDS & OIL
38J
This price is much dearer than that deduced from records
Nos. I and 2 above, where we found it to be 3i" to 4|’ seers-
per rupee. But the difference is due to the fact that the ghee
required in these two cases was for burning a lamp, and must
have, therefore, been of quite an ordinary quality. The ghee in
all the oases in paragraph 3, above is described as , sweet ■ , and ■
was, therefore, naturally dearer. We may, therefore, conclude
that good ghee was sold at about 2l- seers a rupee and
ordinary one,, at about 3| to 4 seers-, a rupee. , The present
day variations between the prices of good and bad -ghee are
eqoalb' great It will also be seen that the relative prices of
good ghee and rice today are also the same ; rice is sold,,
(to quote 1930 rates) at about seers a rupee and good ghee
at about Rs. a seer. The price ratio in thus about 1 : U.
Let us now consider oil prices. Two records belonging
to the third quarter of the 10 century A.D. supply the necessary
data. In one of these we are informed that one nari of oil
costs one Tuiii i. e., 32 ndris of paddy, u e., 12^ ndris of rice.
Oil is thus seen to be as costly as sweet ghee. The
same conclusion is driven home to us by another record/
which records an investment of 30 Kalanjus for purchasing
90 ndris of oil. The rate of interest is not stated, but the
investment is sufficiently high to indicate that oil was dearer
than ghee of indifferent quality. At present oil is relatively
very much cheaper than ghee. The dearness in our period
may suggest that oilseeds were not then so common as they
are now. The price of oil in our period would be about 2^
■seers 'E 'rupee.-
The prices of curds are supplied by two records of the
time of Rajaraia/^'^^^ We are told in these records that one
ndri of curds used to cost 3 ndris of paddy, u e., | ndris of
rice. Curds was thus about 20% dearer than rice and,,
therefore, must have been sold at about 24 seers a rupee.
104. S. I. L. n. p. S. 1. 1., HI. p, 262.
ECONOMIC
:ONDITION
The price of pulse at the end of the 1 0th ceiitury can ' be
worked out from two inscriptions of Rajaraia/^^'"^ The ratio of
prices between the pulse and rice, as given in both these
records is the same, 6:3; 5 naris of pulse used to cost
6 naris of rice* In northern India the pulses are usually
cheaper than rice, but the thing seems to have been the
reverse in the south during our period. From the above
price ratio we can conclude that about 25 seers of pulse
could be purchased for a rupee in our period.
The prices of a number of miscellaneous articles, used
for the soup and vegetables, can be ascertained from inscrip-
tion No. 26 in the Rajarajesvara temple. The prices of these
articles in the Rashtrakuta dominions could not have been
much different.
Salt. The record states that urakku of paddy could
procure the same quantity of salt. The ratio of paddy to rice
being 5 : 2, and the latter being procurable at 30 seers a rupee,
salt must have been sold at about 75 seers per rupee. The
relative ratio of the prices of these two commodities is the
same today. In Akbar’s time, however, a pound of salt was,
when measured in terms of food grains, 2i times dearer.
Pepper. Kve Naris and i Urakku of paddy was required
to purchase one Arakku and if S'evidu of pepper. 2i0 S'evidus
of paddy were thus required for purchasing six S^evidus of
pepper. Pepper was thus 31 times costlier than paddy, or
about 12 times costlier than rice. The present ratio of the
prices of these articles is the same.
Mustard. 2 Naris, 1 Arakku, and 1 S'evidu L e,,
96^'evidus of paddy or 38 S'evidus of rice were required for
1 Arakku and 1 S'evidu L e., 6 S'evidus of mustard. The
latter commodity was thus 6 j times costlier than rice. To use
the present terminology its rate was five seers a rupee.
PRICES OF MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES
383
jlRAKA or CUMIN. One Nari of paddy fetched 11
S^evidu of Cumin. The ratio of prices between these two
articles works as out 40 : If i a., 43 : 1, Cumin was thus about
17 times costlier than rice. It must, therefore, have been sold
at about two seers a rupee. At present . it is onij^ 12 times
costlier than rice.
Cardamom seeds. A Kasu L e., i5 grains of gold
or about Re. 1 and 10 as., could fetch one Kuruni and four
Naris I. e., 9 lbs., of cardamom seeds. The rale was thus about
5'i ibs. a rupee. The present rate in northen India e. g., at
Benares is 12 as. a lb. The commodity was thus onh’- about
four times cheaper than today; it was thus reiativek^ dearer*
Camphor. This article was' in our period very much
costlier than it is today. From one record
we
iearn that
one golden Kasu i. e., about Re. 1 and.tO as. were required to
purchase' 2| Kalanjus i. e., | tola of camphor. In another
record the price is stated to be 3 Kalanjus i. e., f tola a
Kasu. A tola of camphor was thus costing in our period
about 2l rupees, Lilavati w, 76 , 100 ' gives if and 2 Nishkas
as the price of one Pala of camphor. A Nishka.of Bhaskara'
weighed about 1 tola, and Pala 3 tolas. • A tola of camphor
thus required tola of gold i. e., 'roughly Re. 1-12 as. At
present the same quantity of that commodity costs about
I anna, so the price is about 36 times cheaper. Camphor had
to be imported from abroad, and its price show^s that the
danger and cost of the sea transport were very great. There
was the danger of piracy, and the import merchants had to
borrow money for their trade at 120 % per annum/^-^^^
P'rOITS. Plantains were sold at 1200 per Kasu,
f. e,,.for 26 as. A pice could thus fetch 10. They were’ thus
about 6 times cheaper than now. LllatPati u. 89 gives one silver
Dramma (=60 gr.) as the price of 300 mangoes; this shows
that mangoes were sold at the rate of 60 an anna,
109. S. i: L, II, p. 75. ' no. "' Ibid, p.' 132. "
Va^jnavalkya, 11. 37. ... 112 . S. I. L. U, p. 151.
111 .
ir-
384
ECONOMIC CONDITION
Sugar. The price of this article is mentioned in several
records; one states that three Paiams and 1 Kaisu of
sugar cost 2 Naris, 1 Uri, 1 Arakku, and 4 S'evidus of paddy;
another observes that one Palam of sugar could be had
for 2 Naris of paddy, while a third one informs us that
half a Palam of sugar required Nari of paddy. These
prices are very divergent, and it is not possible to work them
out, because Palam is an. indefinite and variable measure.
Amara says that it is equivalent to 4 Karshas or 3 tolas; in
medical works it was and is taken to be 8 tolas; some other
Koshas equate it to 5 Karshas or 4 tolas. Since we do not
know the value of the Palam in vogue at Tanjore during our
period, it would be hazardous to offer any conjecture about
the price. If we take the Palam to be 5 tolas and the
average price of sugar to be about l| Nari of paddy, L c., about '
12 tolas of rice, we find that sugar was about 2l times costlier,
than rice. So it was', much dearer than it is now. The
conclusion is of course hypothetical.
Cattle. A record^^^^ of Rljaraja throws some light on.'
the prices of ewes and cows. A ewe cost about ^ of a Kasu ’
i e., about 6 to 7 as. and a cow f of a Kasu, i. e., about Re. I
and 2 as. The cost of the cow was about three times the cost
of an ewe, a conclusion which is further supported by the fact
that a perpetual lamp required 32 cows or 96 ewes or 16 she-
buffaios. The price of a she- buffalo would thus be about
Rs. 2i*
Land prices. One record from Melpadi, where
Krshqa 11! was encamped when he had issued the
Karhad plates in 959 A.D., states that the assembly of the
village received 15 Kalanjus and assigned 1000 Kulis i. Cs |
Veli or about 3^ acres of land, rendered tax free, for burning
PRICES OF- LAND
3B5
a perpetual lamp. An acre of tax-free land would Aus be
costing about Rs. 25,
(2) Another record^^^®^ from the same place states that
^0 Veli of tax-free land was purchased for three Kalanjus
and assigned to the temple for burning a perpetual lamp-.
Here a Veli of tax-free land is seen costing 120 Kalanjus; so the
, price is about Rs, 100 an acre.
(3) Similar data from other records show that the
prices of land were 34, 19, 17 and 11 Kalanjus per veh\
in different localities. These are wide variations in prices;
but even today the prices of land vary considerably according
to the quality. The land, referred to in paragraph two above,
seems to have been of good quality, while the pieces, the
prices of which are given here, seem to be very inferior. To
sum up, wet fertile land appears to have been sold at 125
Kalanjus a Veli when they were tax-free; ordinary lands
were about four times cheaper.
We can state the prices of land in the terms of their
annual produce. The Melpadi inscription shows that land
purchased for 15 Kalanjus was sufficient for feeding one per-
.petuai ghee lamp, which used to consume 180 Naris, f. e., about
67 seers of ghee, 180 Naris of ghee used to cost about four
Kalanjus/^®-^^ The price of this piece was thus about four
times the annual net produce. We have seen already how
the banks of our period were allowing an interest of about 15%
to their depositors, how Manu states that the person who
charges an interest of 24% is not guilty of sin, ‘ and how
ordinary persons in our period had to pay an interest of about
30 to 40 per cent on their debts. If the rate of interest was
thus so high, it is but natural that the land should cost only
about four times its net produce, and yield an interest of
about 25% on the capital invested.
il8. mu No, 24. 119. mu Nos. 48. 54, 64, 68.
, l'20, S. i i., 10. No, 19, 121, dnie, p, 380, ^
ECONOMIC CONDITION
Below is given a list of the prices as
in a tabulated forra These prices pre^
districts of the Rashtrakuta empire: and the
proper could not have been much different.
Articles Ancient Prices M'
Rice 1 Kalanju 10 Kalams 1 R'
Ghee good 1 33 Naris 1
bad 1 50 Naris 1
Oil ml- Naris of rice 1 Nari oil 1
Pulses 6 Naris „ 5 Naris pluses 1
Salt 2 Naris „ 5 Naris salt 1
Curds 6 Naris „ 5 Naris curds 1
Pepper 12 Naris „ 1 Nari pepper 1
Mustard 6^ Naris „ 1 Nari mustard I
Cumin 17 Naris „ 1 Nari cumin 1
WAS THERE 700‘=’/o RISE IN PRICES ?
387
current in the Gupta period. The theory of this tremendous
rise in prices is indeed arresting, and let us see whether the
prices under the Cholas and the Rashtrakutas were really
so much higher than those under the Imperial Guptas,
The first argument to support this tremendous rise in
prices is based upon a comparison of the meal-charges per
head in the two periods. It is argued that the Sanchi inscription
of Chandragupta shows that a capital of 23 Dinaras
was sufficient to feed 10 monks in the 5th century A.D., whereas
the Ukkal inscription No. shows that an investment of
20D Kalanjus was necessary to feed 12 Brahmanas in c* 1000 A.D.
The capital charge per head was thus 2x1 Dinaras in the
Gupta period, whereas it was 16| Kalanjus at c. lOOD A.D.
‘If we divide 16| by 2 t^/ argues the author, *we get
the purchasing power of a Dinara as equal to that of 7|
Kalanjus, or in other words, we find the prices of food stuffs
rose seven and a quarter times from the 5th to the llth
century
There are a number of fallacies in the above argument
The division of i6| by to find out the rise of prices bet-
ween the two periods is un mathematical; for, the one figure is
that of Kalanjus, while the other -is that of Dinaras. A
Dinara of the time of Chandragupta 11, during whose time
the Sanchi inscription was engraved, was a golden coin,
about 125 grains in weight, whereas a Kalanju of our
period was only about 50 grains in weight Dr. Pran Nath
has himself stated in his book that the weight of a Kalanju
was only about 57*6 grains. 16| Kalanjus were thus
equal to about 6f Dinaras. To ascertain the comparative
rise in prices, we shall have to divide 6| by If all the
other assumptions were correct, the rise in prices would be
about 300% only*
123. C. I. I., HI. No. 5.
124. S. I. L. HI, No. I.
ECONOMIC CONDITION
388
The assumption, however, that the capital outlay in the
two periods in question was Dinaras and !6f Kalaiiius.
respectively is based on shaky grounds* The capital outlay
in the Gupta period was much higher than 2iij Dinaras, The
Sanclii inscription of Chandragupta II, upon which Dr* Pran
Nath relies for fixing this figure, is unfortunately fragmentary,:
but the extant portion makes it quite clear, that something in
addition to the capital of 25 Dinaras was given for the ■ feecling:
of 10 Brahmanas and the burning of two lamps. The relevant
portion reads as follows : —
qr^ ^
Fleet translates this passage as follows: —
‘ Having prostrated himself in the assembly of five
persons AmrakErrdava gives ( the village or allotment of )
I s Vara vasaka.*. purchased with the endowment of Manja,
SVrabhanga, and AmarMa of the royal household and ( also
gives ) 25 Dinaras. With the half of that donation,' 'as'/iong:
..as'. the Sun and the Moon endure, let .five Bhikslius be fed and
aviamp: burnt in the Jewel house. ’
The particle cha, occurring in the first sentence quoted'
above, makes it clear that the donation consisted of some- ;
thing in addition to 25 Dinaras. That additional donation, is;,
also explicitly described as ( a field or allotment called )
IsVaravasaka, which was purchased with the capital supplied '
by the royal officers mentioned in the record. That the
capital outlay for feeding 10 Bhikshus w’^as not 23 Dinaras is^
further proved beyond ail doubt by another inscription from
V. Sanchi itself, where is expressly stated that a capital
COST OF A MEAL IN THE 5TH CENTURY
outlay or as many as 12 Uinaras was necessary to leed one
monk in the middle of the 5th century. Cf.
^ it??? i i#rf ^fiffTOTiT ^
f TOT i
» * -O'
Fleet translates the passage as follows; —
* 12 Dinaras are given, ( as ) a permanent endow-
ment to the community of the faithful, collected from the four
quarters of the world... With the interest that accrues of these
Dinaras, day % d35% one Bhikshu, %vho has been introduced
into the community, should be fed. ’
This Sanchi inscription is no doubt later by about 40
years than the Sanchi inscription of Chandragupta H, but it
cannot be argued that the prices had soared higher in the
interval At the time of the earlier inscription, Sanchi was
■ the centre of a big military campaign, at the time of the later
one there was peace in the locality, though there were wars
going on elsew'here in the empire. So there is nothing to
support the view, that the capital outlay disclosed by the
later record at Sanchi^ represents an abnormal figure. The
capital outlay for feeding a monk guest in the 5th century
%vas thus 12 Dinaras and not 2-/b Dinaras as argued in the
book under discussion.
The dinner provided for by the Ukhal inscription No.
which required a capital outlay of I6| Kalanjus, was a
sumptuous ' one; the record states that each of the !2
Brahmanas was to be supplied with 1 Arakku of ghee, 5
dishes of curry» 5 Urakkus of curds, 2 areca nuts and betel
leaves, till they were satisfied. The meal supplied to the
guest Bhikshu at Sanchi was also, very probably, equally
rich. In the 7th century A.D. Bhikshus, when the 3 '‘ w^ere
.guests, were fed in a right royal fashion. I-tsiog says^^'®®^
that if the food supplied was just enough to satisfy the hunger,
128, ' l4«Dg» p. 50. 129. 40, p. 47,
390
economic condition
the host was riaiculea. Usually the leavings at the table o.
one man couU satisfy three persons, but m the case of a mea
suppliea by a rich host, they couia not be eaten even by 10
men. These observations will explain why the cost of feed-
ing one Bhikshu %vas as high as the interest of l2 Dinaras or 3C
Kalanius. Like I-tsing, the donor at Sanchi might have
been warned that if the food supplied was just enough for the
appetite, he would be ridiculed. The capital prowsion of U
Dinaras or 30 Kalanjus. that has been made in the Gup a
inscription No. 62. may thus have been, to some extent,
excess of the actual needs of the situation. We may pern^ps
^esTme that for the real cost of a rich dinner where there
Ls no waste, a capital outlay of about Dinaras oi 20
Kalanius was sufficient. The capital outlay for a similar
meal in the south in our period was 16 or 17 Kalanjus as shown
already. The capital outlay for an ordinary meal in the lOth
century was only about 8 Kalanjus as will be shown foter.
It will be thus seen that the prices of our age, far from being
725 % higher than those of the Gupta period, weie actua y
somewhat lower. Precise comparison is unfortunately not
possible, as we have not any information about the cost m
an ordinary meal and the actual rate of interest in the Gupta
period.
The arguments from the Dharmasatra, adduced to sup-
port the theory that the price of the cow in the 11th century
viz., 56 Panas. was about 500 per cent, higher than that iri the
5th century, viz., 12 Papas, are equally weak. In the first p ace.
the assumption underlying the whole line of argument _ here,
viz., Manusmrti. Mulyadhyayanapansishta « '
D-anamayukha of Nilakantha. Vasishtha Dharma-Sutra,
Yajnavalkyasmrti. and the Arthafestra of Kautalya are
contemporary works written in the 3th century A.D cannot
beacceptedbyanystudentof the Dharma^stra literature,
To maintain that the price of a cow in the time of Manu,
mmi
RANSOM AND PRICES OF' ARTICLES
Yajnavalkya* aiid Kautalya was 12 Panas, because the ran-
som for a lost cow was two Paijas according to these authori-
ties, IS hardly correct, for there is nothing to prove that the
ransom was to be exactly ~|th the price of the lost article. The
line in the ?i'Ianusm|ti cited to support this contention,
mm i
is immediate^? followed by
mfia ii
Two Panas can, therefore, just as well represent the l^th
as the -rVth or the rVth price of the cow. The price of a
cow, even if we accept this line of argument as valid, can be
12. or 20 or 24 Panas. The fact, however, is that the ransom
prescribed for the recovery of a lost article had no mathema-
tical ratio with its price. If we accept the theory that it was
everj^where one sixth the price of the article, we shall have
to assume that the price of a slave was only 30 copper Panas,
.■since Kautaiya prescribes a ransom of. 5 Papas- for the* '
recovery of a biped. A slave would thus be only 21 times
costlier than a cow* Another corollary of this proposition:
would be the necessity to assume that the price of a cow was-
the same as the price of a she-buffalo, since the. ransom for
both is the same, ois., two Papas. We have shown above that
a she-buffalo was three times costlier than a cow and Dr. Pr£|n
Nath*s view is also the It may be further pointed
out that immediately after stating the ransom for horses, cows,
etc., the Arthasastra adds that in the case of jewels and metals,
the ransom was to be only The ransom figures in the
case of animals were higher because the custodian had to
spend for their maintenance during the time they were with
him* The ransom thus seems to have varied, not with the
price of the arlicie, but with the cost of its custody. Nibandha
ISO, VIII.Sl 13L P. m 132. Book HI. chap. 16.
ECONOMIC' CONDITION
■writers expressly say so. Nxlakaolha, while beginning the
section on Pmmsktadhigamat expressly observes
* Now is discussed the cost of maintenance for protecting
■one day animals belonging to others.’ Vijnanesvara also
says that the sums of four Panas and the like that have
to be paid to the king were for the cost of protection.
The argument that the price of an ox was 12 Panas iii
the 5th century, since the penalty for an unnatural offence is
a white ox according to Vasishtha-Dharma*Sutra and 12
Paiias according to Kautalya, is also untenable. It pre-
supposes that the two authors held similar views about
punishments. A glance, however, at the treatment of this
topic by these two authors shows that their views were widely
different Kautalya imposes only a fine upon a Kshatriya
for having intercourse with a Brahmana Lady,^^^^Wa$ish|ha,
on the other hand, condemns the Kshatriya culprit to death
by burning. Dr. Pran Nath’s view that the Arthasastra
and the Vasisfatha-Dharma-Sutra prove, between themselves,
that the price of a cow in the 5th century A.D. was about
12 or 13 Panas is thus untenable.
All the arguments advanced from the Dharmasastra
literature to prove that the price of the cow in the 5th century
A4>, was about 12 or 13 Panas thus fall to the ground. It
cannot be, therefore, argued that the ilth century price, uis.
56 Panas was about 500% higher than the 5th century one.
There must have been variations of prices in the Hindu
period, but they do not seem to have been so great.
We have shown above that the price level of 1930 A.D.
was about 700% higher than that in the 10th century; rice was
sold at about 30 to 32 seers a rupee in our period and it was
sold at about 4 to 5 seers a rupee three years ago.
133. Vifavaharamagukka^ p* 123. 134. On Y^jnavalkya, II, 174.
WERE PRICES CONTROLLED ?
393'
It seems thait the prices continued to be more or less on
the , same ievel, during the next seven centuries. At the begin-
ning of the 17th century A.D.» rice was sold at Surat at about '
32 seers a rupee/ We know the prices of a number of other I,
articles in the 17th century e. wheat, gram, etc., but unfortu- ' ■ "" i
nateiy the corresponding prices in our period are unknown. I
The only price that can be. compared is that of rice and this ^
is fortunately an article that can be well utilised in this
connection. By the middle of. the last century rice was sold !'
in the Deccan at about 21 seers a rupee; my grand uncle, who
recently died at the age of 90, had purchased this commodity i
at this rate in the sixties of the last century. It would, 'jl
therefore, appear that the rise in prices from the 10th to the
middle of the 1 9th century was only about 50%. , j;
Whether the Deccan administrations of our period used
to control the prices or not is not known. Kautaiya favours ||
such a procedure, for according to him it was one of the |||
duties of the Superintendent of Market, Papyadhyalcsha, to f|
regulate prices; any excess price that- was realised by the .|||
vendor was confiscated to the state Somadeva, 'U
Deccanese writer of our period, favours the same proposal
It cannot be, however, confidently argued that Somadeva's
rule was based upon contemporary practice in the Deccan,
for in many places be merely summarises the Arthasastra of
Kaufalya. Whether prices were regulated by the state or
not, must therefore be left an open question.
Let us now ascertain the cost of living in our period.
We have seen already that a capital outlay of 16 or 17
Kafanius was sufficient to supply a rich meal throughout the
year. Unfortunately the rate of interest is not slated, so no
very accurate conclusions are possible from this inscription.
An inscription of the time of Uttamachola gives the exact
137. Morclaswl, From Akbar to Aurangzebp p* 171.
138. IV, 2; II, 16. 139. mtimk0mrta, VIII, 16.
394:
ECONOMIC CONDITION
expenses of a rich meal ; of the .perioci. * For^ feeding 25
Brahrnanas in the," feeding house ...is required* fori year^
937|“ Kalam of paddy for. vegetables, firewood* ghee, curds,
different spices,, betel leaves- and nuts, including the pay of
the cooks, at the rate of 1 ,Kurui>i and 2 Nari of paddy per day
for each person,; Another record, about 25 years later*,
makes provision for: the purchase of 25 Kalams of paddy in
order to supply one meal to 240 S'iva-yogins. Both these
records lead to the same conclusion, viz,, 371 Kalams of
paddy were required to supply a good meal to one individual
throughout the year, 37|- Kalams of paddy are equal to 15-
Kalams or about 540 seers of rice; seer are thus seen
provided for each individual per diem. The cost in cash
per individual per annum would be 3| Kajanjus { since paddy
was sold at about 10 Kalams per Kalanju ), i. e. about Rs. 19,
since one golden Kalanju weighed about a quarter of a tola.
The cost of a poor meal seems to have been half of this
amount. An inscription of the time of Parantaka I (f. e. of
the first half of the 10th century A.D.) records an investment of
only four Kaianjus for feeding one Jain devotee at the local Jain
temple. The rate of interest is unfortunately not stated, but
it is worth noting that the capital invested is about one fourth
of that invested for supplying a rich meal to a Brahmana at
Ukkal. The Jain devotee is allowed only one meal in the daj^
and that too is to be very simple. For two ordinary meals a
day, we may, therefore, assume that a capital outlay of about
6 or 7 Kaianjus would have been necessary. We may, there-
fore, conclude that the cost of a simple meal was less than
half of that of the rich meal* The latter required 37|- Kalams
of paddy per annum per individual ; the annual expenses of
an ordinary meal could under no circumstances have exceeded
20 Kalams of paddy i, e. 288 seers of rice. Allowance of rice
140. S. I. L, III, No, ISl.
142, S. L L,Tn, No. 97.
14L S. L L, n. No. 28.
WAGES m THE TENTH CENTURY
395
per day per individual will be found to be t of a seer under
this arrangement and that is quite sufficient to meet all the
expenses connected with two ordinary meals consisting of the
usual soups and vegetables.
Lei us now ascertain the wages of our period and see
how far they were above the subsistence allowance.
Some of the records from Karnatak supply us informa-
tion about the wages of the various classes, but there arises
considerable difficult}^ in interpreting them. The inscriptions
inform us that so many Matlars of land were assigned to
certain persons as their annual wages of work The net
produce of the land given is not stated, and we do not also
know the precise dimensions of a Mattar. The grant of a
Sdlahara prince records an assignment of 2000 Mattars, mea-
sured by the Tambola rod of the village, of two Mattars mea-
sured by the Magun rod, and of the three Mattars measured
by the small rod of the paddy fields. Since one and . the.,
same record mentions three different measures of the Mattar,
it is clear that the unit differed considerably with the different
localities. An inscription from Tilgund^^^^^ states that the
yield of a Mattar was two Khandugas n e.. Khandis which are
equal to 40 maunds by measure ( and not by weight ). The
net produce per acre varies from 6 to 12 maunds in the
Deccan according to the quality of the soil, and since the net
yield per Mattar is given as 40 maunds, we may assume that
this measure was equal to about five acres. An inscription
from Managoli states that five . Mattars were ' assigned ■ to
the teacher of the Kaumara grammar and two Mattars to each
of the 4 Brahmana families constituting the settlement of the
god. The salary of the village- Sanskrit teacher of our period
was thus 2|- the amount necessary for an ordinary Brahmana
family to live in ease. We do not know the net produce of
144v' I, A., X!X/p. 274 a. 29.
143, E, i., IV, p. 66.
145. E. L. V, p. 22,
the lands given in endowment, and so me salary uc
stated either in terms of com or of cash. If we assume that
a Mattar is equal to 5 acres, and each acre yielded 8 maunds
'of Jwari. the income of the Sanskrit teacher would oe 200
maunds of Jwari and of the temple Brahmana 80 maunds of
Twari ( by measure ). An ordinary family of 5 m the Deccan
would require about 40 maunds of Jwari for its entire meal
expenses, including ghee, oil, fuel &c. The temple Brahmana
family was getting a fairly decent income, and the Sanskrit
teacher was getting 5 times the amount necessary tor t *e
maintenance of his family.
TheHebbal inscription, dated 975 records an
assignment of five Mattars to each of the temple dancing girls.
This apparently seems to show that the Sanskrit Pandit was
getting the same salary as the dancing girl, but we must
remember that the respective lands were situated in ditterent
localities and their quality and produce may have been
The salary of the principal of a big Sanskrit College was
50 Nivartanas. A Nivartana was a little less than 5 acres,
and therefore, this salary would be equal to the net produce
of 250 acres of land. We do not know the quality of this
piece of land, but if we suppose that it was neither too bad
nor loo good, the conclusion would be that the principals of
famous colleges were getting about 20 times the income oi
the ordinary Brahmana, and 10 limes the income of the village
Sanskrit teacher. This conclusion is. however, a tentative
one as it is not based on sure premises, since neither the
dimensions of a Mattar nor its precise produce is definitely
known, i
Definite information about wages is, however, available
from contemporary records hailing from Tamil country. An
inscription of Rajaraja ' at Tanjore^'®’ gives the scales of the
1,1#; p 1. IV r,.351. 147. E. IV. p. 60. 148 . S, I. 1.. H. p- 320,
WERE THE WAGES .'LIBERAL ?
398 education AND LITERATURE
his 75 Kalams. the sub-accountant alone seems to be in a
comparatively unsatisfactory position ; his family members
were probably unearning ones, and hence his 7o ^^alams
could just have maintained 3 adults and 2 children. But e
was probably at the beginning of his career and may have
expected to be promoted to the position of the accountant in
due course. While considering the family budgets ot our
period, we must further remember that each family was
largely self-reliant as far as its clothing requirements were
concerned. • People, therefore, were comparatively better
off than they are at present ; for the grain equivalents of the
present-day wages do not come up to the sarne figures. 1 e
same conclusion is supported if we consider the salaries after
converting them into cash. The drawer of water was getting
in our period 60 Kalams in rural areas: 60 Kalams are equal
to 6 Kalanjus or 30 rupees. The prices m the present times
are 7 times higher than they were in the 10th century, and,
therefore, in order to be equally well off. the unskilled labourer
in the village ought to get Rs. 210. He. however, hardly gets
.more than Rs. 150-180 at present.
CHAPTER XVI
Education and Literature
Section A: Education
The theory that the compulsory education of the
masses is a duty of the state is a very modem one, and we
must banish it from our minds while examining the educa-
tional arrangements in the medieval or ancient times, whether
in the west or in the east. The knowledge of the 3 R s was
nPt regarded as a necessary part of the equiprnent of every
-Citizen; members of the industrial classes paid more atten-
tion to ihe initiatbn of their hoys in the mysteries of their
PRIMARY EDUCATION
399
professions than in those of the 3 R*s, The village communi*
ties of the Deccan had arranged for the services of a per*
manent residential staff to meet their normal public needs
by the grain -share system; the carpenter, the smith etc,*
whose services were required by every villager were assigned
a grain share which was paid to them annually at the time of
the harvest by all the villagers. The teacher does not figure
among the grain sharing servants of the community, a fact
wdiich shows that the community at large did not regard the
primary teacher as essentially necessary for the ordinary
inllager. It is very probable that only the children of the
Brahmanas and the trading classes cared to be literate, and
the arrangements for educating them could not be obviously
made at the cost of the whole community, by assigning the
village teacher a grain share from every villager*
Our epigraphical materials do not throw any light on
: the arrangements made in the oi"dinary village for the. primary
education. ■ Nor do the Smritis or the foreign travellers help"
us in the matter. It would seem that the village priest, or
accountant, or some members of their families were under-
taking the task of giving primary education to such village
boys as cared to have it. The guardians were very probably
paying the fees annually at the time of the harvest, accord-
ing to their means, rather than according to a fixed scale*
The teacher could supplement his income by the customary
gifts in kind or cash that he used to receive on festivals like
Dasara, or at the times of the thread or marriage ceremonies
in the houses of his pupils. In many cases the teacher pro-
bably possessed some elementary knowledge of medicine and
was also employed for writing letters, bonds and leases*
Some such system prevailed in the Deccan at the advent of
the British rule as I have learnt from many an octogenarian,
and it is vary likely that the state of affairs may have been
similar in our period*
400 education and literature
We have ample evidence to enlighten us as to the
arrangements for higher education that were made during
our period. Higher education in our age meant Sanskrit
education, and Veda, Vyakaraija ( pammar ). Jyotisha
( astronomy and astrology ), Sahitya ( literature ), Mimansa,
Dharmas’astra, Puratjas and Nyaya (logic) were the main
branches thereof. The donee of the Dhulia plates of Dhruva,
dated 779 A.D., is described as well versed in Vedas,
Vedangas. histoiy. Puranas, grammar, Mimaiisa. logic,
Nirukta. and liturgy. Of these grammar is still the most
extensively studied branch; Alberuni informs us that it was
held in the highest estimation in his days, and curiously
enough, the only place where epigraphs of our period specify
the subject of a teacher is one -where he happens to be the
expounder of Kaumara grammar. Grammar was the key
subject to the knowledge of the rest of the sciences and,
therefore, we may well presume that it was held in high
estimation and extensively studied in the Deccan as m the
north.
The Dharmas'astra literature no doubt lays down that
the whole of the Veda was to be studied for 12 years by the
first three castes, but it is fairly clear that the ^ society
(rf our period did not pay much attention to this injunction.
The Vaishyas of our period had already lost their privilege ot-
the Vedic studies as has been already shown in the last
chapter/" and the Kshatriyas too. though permitted *-0 study
the Vedas, were largely following the Pauranic ritual. ' The
normal Kshatriya youth, who intended to follow the hereditary
profession of his caste, must have devoted the largest part of
; Tiis time to the military training. Even in the epic period he
"had only a smattering of the Vedic knowledge, and we may,
th^fore, well conclude that in our period the cases of the
; V li r & L VlII p- 182. ■ .2, E. I. V. p. 22.
3» page 382. ■ ■ 4. ' Ante, p. 332.
POPULAR BRANCHES OF STUDY
mi
Kshatriyas taking seriously to Vedic education may have been
very rare. Among the Brahmanas themselves, only the pro-
fessional priests must have concentrated on the study of the*
sacred Itore; the average Brahmana who intended to take up
to government service, trade or agriculture would hardly have
troubled himself much about remembering the exact accent
of the V’^eclic Mantras. Vedic sacrifices too had gone out of
vogue and epi graphical evidence shows that the Puranas
and the later Smritis were exercising a remarkable hold on
the societ}^ as shown already in Chapter XIIL Proficiency in
the Dharmasastra must have been regarded as a passport to
government service in the iudicial branch, and we may, there-
fore, presume that the study of this subject was more popular
in our period than the study of the Vedas. It may be pointed
out that the term Vedic study in our period did not mean
only the cramming of the Vedic Mantras ; in some centres
the meaning was also studied as the title Vedarthada occur-
ring in one of our records would show.^^^ Astrology was
wielding great influence on the popular mind as shown in the
last chapter ; royal courts used to maintain astrologers
and a number of works on astronomy and astrology were
composed in our period. We may, therefore, well presume
that this subject was fairly popular in the Sanskrit schools
and colleges of our time as is still the case to some extent.
One record slightlj^ falling outside our period records an
endowment to found a College where the work of the famous
Bhaskara alone were to be studied.
Arrangement for the higher education was made in three
places, (i) Mathas associated with temples endowed by the
state or private charity, (ii) agrahara villages granted to
Brahmana settlements, and (iii) special educational institu-
tions conducted by private individuals or village communities
with the help of the public and the state. At Hebbal in
5. !, An XIV, p, 69. 6. Kavi plates, L A.. V., p. 145, 7. E. L, I, p, 30*
#2
EDUGATIOH AMD LITERATURE
Dharwar district there existed a Matha in the BhujiabesVara
temple; an inscription, dated 975 A.D., records the grant of 50
maiiars ( probably equal to 200 acres ) of land for the Maffia,
where students were fed and taught. Two 12th century
inscriptions, one from Managoli dated 116! and the
other from Belgamve dated 1185 show that there
existed Sanskrit schools in these villages associated with the
local temples; at the latter place the temple authorities of
the DakshinesVara temple, where the school was located,
were enabled by private charity to provide for the boarding
of the scholars free of charge. An inscription at Jatiga
RamesVara hill in Chitaldurg district, dated 1064 A.D.,
records a grant of 50 mattars of land to the RamesVaram
temple for defraying the expenses of the temple worship, and
for imparting education/^^^ ‘ Part of the donation of
Bhadravishjju, given to the Buddhist Vihara at Kanheri, in
the reign of Amoghavarsha I, was for purchasing books. The
Buddhist monastery at Kanheri like the one at Valabhi^^^^
was obviously maintaining a library which was very probably
required for the school connected with it. We learn from
the Chinese travellers that the Buddhist monasteries used
to attend to the training not only of the monks but also of
the children of the laity. Indirect help to the cause of
education was given by some of the temples, which used to
give free food to the students in the feeding houses attached
to them, Some of the records mentioned above fall just
outside our period, but they may be well utilised to illustrate
further the state of affairs in our age.
The Kalas inscription from Dharwar district shows
that Kalas, which was an agrakara in our period,
was
8. E. L, IV, p, 358.
10. Mysore Inscriptions, No. 45.
12, L A,. VII, p. 67,
II* Klmrepetaa grant, E, L* III, p. 360,
9 E* L, V. p. 22.
11. E. L. IV, p. ,214-
13. l-fcsing, p. 155.
15. E. L. XIII, p, 31
KALAS AND SALOTGl COLLEGES
40S
maintaining a Sanskrit College. All its 200 Brahmana house-
holders are described in v. 30 of the record as well versed in
grammar, works on polity, the science of literary composition,
the legendary lore and the great logic of Ekakshara sage and
writing of Interpretations L e. commentaries. V. 25 observes
that Kalas can pride itself, inter alia, on its brilliant dispensa-
tion of lore. The main purpose of the grant is to record an
endowment, part of which was reserved for the salaries of
professors. It is, therefore, quite clear that this agrahara village
was maintaining a college where grammar, Puranas, Nyaya,
literature and works on polity were taught. The students
must have flocked to the place from distant places. The
inscription, which gives information about this college is dated
in the reign of Govinda fV, but it is likely that this institution
may have been flourishing throughout the 10th century.
The small village of Salotgi in Bijapur district was
another airaham village, that is known to have been main-
taining a big college in the reign of Krshpa liL The college
must have been flourishing for a fairly long time, for it has
transformed the original name of the village Pavittage into
Salofgi which is a combination of the words S^ala and Pavi|-
tage. From one of the inscriptions from this iocality^^^^
we learn that the college was located in a big hail attached
to the temple of Trayi-purusha, which was built by Nara-
yana, a minister of Krshna III, in 945 A.D. The record
expressly states that the, college attracted students from far
and near, and 27 boarding houses were necessary to accom-
modate them. An endowment of 12 Nivartanas ( probably
■equal to 60 acres) was necessary to defray merely the
lighting charges of the institution. The pay of the principal
of the college was the income of 50 Nivartanas of land L e.
about 250 acres. The institute had received a magnificent
endowment from a local magnate, and the inhabitants of
16. E. L, iV. p. 60.
EDUCATION AND LITERATURE
the village had agreed to pay 5, and !:( coins on the
occasion of marriages, thread ceremonies, and tonsures res-
pectively, besides agreeing to feed as many students and
teachers as possible, at the dinners that may be given on these
and similar occasions. A later inscription from the same
place inforais^^’^^ -us: that .-when the college hai! built in-
945 A.D. crumbled down, it was built again by a local feuda-
tory in tbe next century. ■ ■ "
There existed scores of villages in our period
given to Brahmana donees, who in many cases are expressly
described as engaged in the six scriptural duties consisting
of learning, teaching It is, therefore, fairly likely
that many of these villages must have been maintaining
educational institutions, more or less similar to those at
Kaias and Salotgi.
Ordinary villages also had sometimes their own schools
and colleges. One institution for Sanskrit education existed
at Bel or in Bijapur district in 1022 another at Soratur
in Dharwar district in c* 950 a third one at Bijapur
during c. 975-1075 A.D.,^^^^ a. fourth one at ^ Yewoor, in. 1077'
A.B. and so on. These are the institutions the memory of
which has been accidentally preserved in records, that have
withstood the ravages of time : there may have probably
existed many more. We may, therefore, fairly conclude that
the facilities for higher education during our period can
compare fairly well with those afforded in the present age.
These institutions were financed partly by state aid and
partly by private charity. The agrahara village institutions
can well be regarded as being indirectly financed by the
^ 17. E. L. IV, p. 64.
■ ' 18* E* g., CytiarEjadeva's grant, 1024 A.D.# L A., V, p, 278.
' 19.’ L A., XVIll, p. 273. ■ 20. L A.* XII, p. 253.
2L I A., X,:p. 229, ; . 22. LA., VIII, p. 21.
HOW EDUCATIOH WAS FINANCED
405
state, since it was the state that used to alienate the village
revenues to Brahmanas, who, being freed from the anxiety
of their maintenance, could devote their energies to the cause
of education. The ishiapurta theory was inducing a number
of private individuals to endow educational institutions. We
have seen already how a minister of Krshna III had built the
college hall at Salotgi ; when it crumbled down it was re-
erected by a local chief. A record from Soratur/^^^ dated
951 A.D., records the gift of 12 mattm^s of land made by the
officer of the division for the Matha and education. The
Mahajans of Belur had granted in 1022 A.D., 12 maitars for the
purpose of feeding and clothing the local students. At
Salotgi, as shown already, a local magnate had endowed the
college and the inhabitants had levied a voluntary cess as
their contribution. At Habale in Dharwar district a private
individual had given five maitars of land for education in
1084 A.D.
The guild at Dambal, which owned IS cities, is describ-
ed in a record from the place as maintaining a college/*^^
it is, therefore, not unlikely that some of the big guilds of our
period may have been either maintaining or supporting
educational institutions. The state also used to sanction
grants specially and directly for education, in addition to its
indirect help given by the creation of the agrakaras. The
Bahur plates of Nripatungavarman record a grant of three
villages for the maintenance of a college, made by the king
at the request of his minister/®^^
Section B : Literature
A detailed discussion about the dates of the various
authors of our period, or an enquiry into the problem connected
with the authorship of some of the works composed in it, is
23. L A., X!!, p. 253. , 24 . Ibid, X. p. 129.
21 1. A., Vie. p. 181 26. E. I., IV, p. ISO.
EDUCATION AND LITERATURE
obviously not within the scope of the present work The reader
will have to consult the standard works on literary history
for that purpose. The general condition of the literature of
our period, its main features, the principal writers of the age
and their contributions, and how far they were influenced
by the spirit of the age would be the main points that will
engage the attention of a ■ general historian, and these only
will be discussed in the present section.
The main energy of the schools and colleges described
in the last section was devoted to the study and cultivation of
Sankrit; the Canarese literature had begun to flourish in
Karnatak, but it is doubtful whether it had reached the stage
when it could be recognised as a subject of study in second-
ary schools and colleges. As to Maharashtra, the Marathi
language itself does not make its appearance in epigraphical
records ‘till the end of our period there could hardly
have existed much literature in it. Even the late Mr. V. K.
Rajwada has admitted that there was hardly any cultured
literature in it till the end of the 10th century
A glance at the inscriptions of our period is sufficient
to indicate the firm hold of the kavya or classical style of
writing upon the Deccan of our period. All the merits and
defects of that style are reflected in our epigraphs. The com-
posers of our grants were no doubt poets of mediocre ability,
but they had carefully studied standard works of the
classical Sanskrit literature. Kielhorn has shown how the
poets, who have composed the s'asanas of the RashtrakOlas
were greatly indebted for their expressions to works like the
Vasavadatta of Subandhu and Kadamhan and Harshacharii
of
27, Rajvade’s contention that the language e3sci8te<l in the 5th
century A,D*t ia untenable; the inscriptions he refers to are either-
f'drgedi or do not contain any Marathi passages.
28. Rajvade. Jnyan&s'vari^ Introduction, p. 62.
LITERARY MERIT OF INSCRIPTIONS mt
Tile aulhor of the Kadba ■ plates of Govioda
imitates in the prose portion of the record the style of Bajja*
The general impression left on our mind after a perusal of the
epigraphical poetiy is that if it is not of the first,
order, the reason is rather the lack of Praiibha or poetic
genius than that of abhyasa or practice according to approv-
ed model it is further interesting to note that most of our-
epigraphical poetry is in the VaiJarbhi style, the Gau^t hardly
makes its appearance. The significant fact would show that
the names like Vaidarbhh Gaudi and PanchEll, that were.-
given to various poetic styles owed their origin to actual
literary fashions of the provinces concerned.
Modern research has succeeded in determining the dates,
of several writers in Sanskrit literature, but it has not been
equally successful in discovering their home provinces.
Kumarila, Sankara, Sarvajnatman and Vachaspati in the realm
of philosoph3^ Lalla and his pupil Aryabhatta il in the sphere
of astronomy, and Kamandaka, and probably Sukra^^^^ in
the domain of the political science flourished in our period.
But some of these certainly did not, belong to our province,,
and the home of others is not known; so a discussion about
them is hardly relevant in the present work. The same is
the case with most of the later Smritis and Puranas. It has.
been already’' shown in several places in chapter XHI how the
theories and practices recommended in these works had a
remarkable hold on the Deccan of our period. It is clear
that the Smritis and Puranas of our age were in close
sympathy with it, and that the two were mutually influencing,
each other.
m E. IV. p. 340,
31. TLe reference to guns and gua-powder in tKis may only
allow that aome portioos in it are ioterpolationia* Tb® book as a whole
seems to be «ot much later than our age.
408
EDUCATION AND LITERATURE
It was during our period that the literature on poetics
flourished luxuriantly in the beautiful valley of Kashmir.
The rugged Deccan had, however, hardly any contribution to
make to that department. The Sarasvaiikanihcihharana of
Bhoja and the Knnamsasana of Hemachandra belong to a
later period and are besides mere compilations. The Kavi-
rSjamSria of Amoghavarsha shows that works of poetics
were studied in the Deccan durbg our period, for the work
as mainly based on the KavySdafs a of Daijdin; but no
Deccanese writer came forward with any distinctive contribu-
tion of his own to that science.
Hindu Sanskrit writers, having any compositions of
permanent value to their credit, are indeed few in our period.
The colophon of the Benares edition of the KarpUramanjarl
of Rajasekhara describes the author as the crest jewel of
Maharashtra, but this province can hardly claim that poet
since he spent most of his life at Kanauj or Tripuri.
Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar has shown that Trivikrama, the author
of the NalachampS, is identical with the Trivikrama, who has
composed the Begumra plate of Indra III, dated S15
The NalachampS. is the earliest of the extant champSs, and
therefore, the Deccan may perhaps claim to be the first in
that field. The Kavirahasya of Halayudha was composed
in the reign of Krshpa III. The poem is really a dhatapaiha
explaining the conjugational peculiarities of roots having the
same form, but the verses also contain a eulogy of the
RashtrakCta emperor Kyshiia The work, therefore,
belongs to the class of BhatiikSaya and Rammrjamya.
The U dayasundafikaths of Sodhala, a Ifeyastha from Valabhi,
was composed towards the close of our period under the
patronage of Mummuniraja, a king of Konkan.'®^’ These
. 32. E. I.. IX, p. 28.
■ • 33^ GeBchickte^ III* p. B. G» L* ii, p* wo*
. , 34. iCmfcli. Bistory ofSamlcrii MiBrature, p, 06.
JAIN PHILOSOPHICAL LITERATURE
are the only Hindu Sanskrit works that can be undisputedly
. ascribed to the Deccan of our period. The output is indeed
poor both in quantity and quality.
Many Rashtrakuta emperors like Amoghavarsha I,
’Krshna and Indra III were either themselves Jains or patrons
of that religion; the same was the case with many of their
feudatories and officers as shown in chapter It is,
therefore, no wonder that the contribution of Jainism to litera-
ture sl'iould have been considerable. Haribhadra flourished
by the middle of the 8th century A.D., but his works cannot be
considered here as his province is not known. Samantabhadra,
the author of the Api^Tnimansa^ which contains a most in-
teresting exposition of the Syadmda, flourished before our
period, but several commentaries were written on his work
in the Deccan from the middle of the 8th century A.D. onwards.
Akalankadeva's commentary Ashfasati was written early in
the Rashtrakuta period. S'ravana-Belgola inscription No. 67
'.refers to Akalankadeva as describing his. own ' greatness ,tO'
Sahasatunga who, it is conjectured, may have been Danti-
durga. There is a tradition to the effect that Akalankadeva
himself was a son of Ktshna but more evidence would
be required to accept it as historical. Vidyananda, the
author of AshfasaMsri, which is a more exhaustive, com-
mentary on the Aptamlmansa, flourished a little later. He
is mentioned in SVavana Belgola inscriptions.
The Jain contribution to logic in our period is not incon-
siderable. Manikyanandin, who flourished in the latter half
of the Sth century is the author of a work on logic called
Parlkshamukhasntra,^^^'^ which was commented upon by
Prabhachandra in the first half of the 9th century. Besides
writing this commentary which is named as Frame yakSmala-
35. Ante^ pp, 310"*4, 56. Peterson’s Report, No. 2, p« 79.
37. E. C., II, No. 254.
38. Vi4yal>li«sli0a, A of Indian Logie, p. 179.
mSrtanSa this writer has also written f
daya. Another Jain writer on logic of this Pf
vadin. who ivas probably the founder of a Jam Digam^a
monastery at Naosari which is no longer
Surat plates of Karkha Suvarpavarsha which I am editing,.
(E I., XXi). record a grant to his desciple s desaple given m
821 A.D. This author wrote a commentary called Dharmottara-
tippanaka on the Nyayahindum of Dharmottaracharya.
That a book on logic written by a Buddhist should have ueen
commented upon by a Jain is quite in consonance with the
spirit of harmony that prevailed in our period.
Quite a galaxy of Jain writers flourished the court o
the Jain emperor Amoghavarsha I. who was we^^^ "n^asen?
several centuries as a great patron of literature. ^ Jm
his spiritual preceptor, is the author of Harivans a. w ic was
finished in 783 A.D. He has placed the workers in the le
of Ancient Indian history under great obligation by mention-
ing the contemporary kings that flourished in t at year m
the colophon of this work. He did not live to finish ks
Adipurana, which had to be completed by ks descip e
Gunachandra, who %vas the spiritual preceptor of Lokaditya,
the'governor of Banavasi 12000.'*'’ The Ad ipurara is a Jam
work dealing with the lives of Jain Tlrthankaras and saints.
In his Pars’ mbhudaya Jinasena has f '
ful feat of utilising each line of the love-poem Meghaduta jor
narrating the life of the Jain saint Pariva. The concluding
line of each verse in Jinasena s poem has been borrowed
from the successive stanzas of the Meghadnta. The Amo-
ghaartti of S'akalayana.'**’ a work on grammar, and the
Ganitasarasangraha of Virachatya.'«’a workon mathematics,
alert rnmoosed in tKe reign of Amoghnvars a
DEVELOPMENT OF CANARESE LITERATURE 41!
KavirajamSrga^ the first work in the Canarese on poetics, haS'
been attriboted to this emperor, but 'whether he was himself
its author or merely its inspirer, is still a matter of controver-
The authorship of the Pras notiaramala is also in
dispute, as it has been variously attributed to S'ankaracharya,.
Vimaia, and Amoghavarsha I. The colophon of the Tibetan
translation of this bookiet shows, as Dr* F* W, Thomas ' has
pointed out, that Amoghavarsha was believed to be its author
at the time it was rendered into the Tibetan/^^^ It is, there-
fore, very likely that he was its real author. ' ■
Gangadhara, the capital of a feudatory Chalukya house
in southern Karnatak, was a centre of considerable literai'y
activity by the middle of the 10th century. It was there that
Somadeva flourished and wrote his works Yasastilaka and
Nitwakyamria^'^^^* The first of these works, though sec-
tarian in purpose is of no inconsiderable literary merit ; it
belongs to the variety of the Champu and its author shows
considerable skill in the treatment of his theme. The second
work is on the science of politics; it has, however, hardly
much independent value as it is largely based on the Afiha*
s&sira of Kaufalya, The work is, however, almost entirely
free from any sectarian tinge and is written from a much
higher moral point than the Arihas' astra of Kaulalya.
Karnatak was a great stronghold of Jainism in our
period and the Jain authors had not forgotten that the founder
of their religion had preached in the vernacular. We, there-
fore, find a number of Canarese authors in the lOth century,,
most of whom were Jains. The earliest and foremost among,
these is Pampa, who was born in 902 A.D. Though a native
of Andhrades'a he became the Uiikam of the Canarese-
literature. His Adipuram, which was finished in 941 A.D., is
a Jain work, but his Vikramarjunavijaya is a more or less
44, 1. A., 1904, pp, 199. 45. J, B. B. R. A. S., XXII, pp. 80 fl,
46. Ym'miUaMchampu* p. 419,
EDUCATiOK- AND LITERATURE
historical work, where he glorifies his patron Arikesarin !! as
It* is from this work that we get valuable
information about the northern campaigns of Indra III in
which his feudatoiy, Arikesarin II, had participated* Asanga
and Jinachandra are other Canarese writers of this period,
who are referred to by Ponna. but whose works are not yet
lorthcoming* Ponna himself flourished in the third quarter
of the 10th century and is said to have been given the title of
’* Uhhayakavichakramrtin * * Supreme among the poets of
both {n e, Sanskrit and Canarese) the languages* by Krshna OL
©n account of his proficiency as a poet both in Sanskrit
and Canarese. S' antipurana is his principal work/'*'^^
Chamundaraya, a Jain general and minister of the Jain ruler
Marasimha il, was the author of the ChamnnAapurana which
was composed in the 3rd quarter of the 10th century/
Raniia, another Canarese writer of the 10th century, was born
in 949 A,D. His Ajitatirihankarapuram was finished in 993
A.D* That Jain religious works of our period should
have been mostly composed in the form of Puranas shows
the immense influence and popularity of these works in the
Deccan of our period.
It is interesting to note that there is hardly any output of
Prakrit or Marathi literature during our period. Dhanapa!a*s
Prakrit dictionary, Pmyalachchhl^ was composed in our period
‘but the author lived in Dhara^ and not in the Deccan, and his
work being a dictionary, can hardly come within the category
of literature. The Marathi language existed in our period,
•for the earliest composition in it seems to go back to tbe 3rd
,/q[uarter of the 10th cenmry There is, however, no
, ,, 47. KarnatcpkahhashahhliBham^ Introduction, pp. Xlil-XIV,
? ' MU. p. XV. 49, E. L. V, P. 175. 50. E. I.. VI p., 72.
SI, 3ee BLiivc; Mahur^htm^SaMt§a, Chap. 1. It may he, liowe¥er,
out felmfc the *Bri^chaMu^damiie harmi^ale* on the
; 'Cteipaiwwa'katw may not he contemporary with ChSmtindaraya.
AN ABLE MONARCHY
,4iS
Marathi literature belonging to' our Marathi was not
the mother tongue of the Rashtrakutas and Jainism, which
had given an impetus to Canarese literature, was not very-
strong in Maharashtra. It is, therefore, no surprise that there
should have been no output of the Marathi literature during
our period.
CHAPTER XVII
Conclusion
Our task of giving a comprehensive picture of the Deccan
under the Rashtrakutas has now come to an end/and only a'
few words are necessary by way of epilogue.
The Rashtrakutas were, on the whole, an able set of
rulers. Their empire was certainly more extensive than that
of any of their Hindu successors in the Deccan. It is
possible that the Andhras and the early Chaiuhyas, who-
preceded them, were perhaps ruling, for some time, over
more extensive areas; but neither of them could claim an
equally brilliant career* The Chalukyas could boast of
having only repelled successfully the attempted invasion of
Harsha. The Andhras could no doubt launch an expedition
into the Madhyadesa and overthrow the Kanvas, but the
latter, at the time of the Andhra victory,, were mere petty
rulers. In no other period of Ancient Indian History did the
Deccan enjoy the same liigh political prestige, which it did
under the Rashtrakutas. The observation of Sulaiman, iha^
the Rashtrakutas were the most feared and powerful rulers of
. India, is no flattery, but a mere statement of facts, A glance
at the Indian History shows that it is usually the northern ^
52. The Marathi translation of the Panchatuntra seems to he slightM'
more archaic than the D'mnes*vari^'hm it cannot go hack to our perio-
See ioshi* MantM Bhu^h^cM QhutuTiMf
414
GOHCLUSION
Indian powers which try to expand at the cost of their
southern neighbours. During the-Rashtrakuta regime, neither
the Palas nor the Gurjara-Pratlharas could entertain such
ambitions. Nay, we find that the latter were several limes
‘signally defeated in their own provinces by the Ras|rakii{as,
Three times the armies of the Rashtrakutas crossed the
Vindhyas and defeated their northern opponents, who were,
unlike the Ka^vas, strong and ambitious rulers, attempting to
establish their own hegemony in the 'north. The Rlishtrakutas
could capture the Gurjara-Prailhara capital; the latter could
not even cross the Rashtrakuta border in retaliation.
The Pallavas were a perpetual source of anxiety to the early
Chalukyas; no southern neighbour of the Rashtrakutas, though
given repealed provocation, ever dared to invade the empire
from the south.
The Rashtrakuta empire lasted for about 225 years. It
is interesting to note that very few Hindu dynasties have
ruled in their full glory for so long a period. The Mcuryas,
the Imperial Guptas, the early _^Chaluky as all collapsed in
.less than two centuries. The Andhras no doubt ■ ruled for
about four centuries and a half, but it is not certain that the
Pauranic list of the Andhra kings belongs really to one dynasty.
The Gudura-Pratihlra dynasty can certainly claim a longer
career, but it had attained no imperial position before the time
of Vatsaraja ( c. 775 A.D. ), and its empire was shorn of much
of its glory after the severe blow given by Indra III in c, 916 A.D*
Most of the Rashtrakuta rulers were able ones ; in a list of
-about 14 kings, only three are found to be vicious or inefficient.
Dantidurga, Kxshna i, Dhruva, Govinda III, Indra III and
Krshna III form a galaxy of able and ambitious rulers, the
like of which can hardly be claimed by any other dynasty.
’ , ' The most glaring defect of the R^htrakuta polity was
dW' inability to secure a peaceful succession to the throne at
the^eatb of its previous occupant There was a war of
NO PARTIALITY' FOR MUSLIMS
“successbii almost at every alternate accession. The dynastic
history of no other Hindu dynasty is probably disfigured by
so many wars of succession. It is, therefore, the more
remarkable that the empire should have had so long and
glorious a career.
A superficial reader of the Muslim chroniclers is likely
•to get the impresion that the Rashtrakutas were following
an anti-national policy hy siding with the Muslims and fight-
ing against the Gurjara-Pratiharas. It has been, however,
shown alread5!^^^^ that the statements of these writers, that
the Rashtrakutas were partial to the Muslims, and that none
but the Muslims ruled over the Muslims in their dominions,
only show that the Muslim Kazis were allowed to look
after the religious and judicial affairs of the foreign colony.
The friendly policy followed towards the Muslim traders
■was, in a great measure, necessitated by the dependence
on Arabia for the supply of horses to the army. Merchant
Sulaiman, who was acquainted with the state of affairs
■only in the Deccan, observes that none among the natives
•of India or China had embraced the Muslim faith or could
speak the Arabic language/*^ It is, therefore, clear that the
Muslim traders, settled in the Rashtrakuta ports, had
initiated no activities injurious to the interest of the Rashtra-
fcutas or their subjects. There is no evidence whatsoever
to show that the Rashtrakutas had made any political
alliance with the Muslim rulers of Sindh in their w^ars with
the Gurjara-Pratiharas.
It is, however, a pity that the Rashtrakutas should have
neglected altogether the branch of naval defence. The
reasons for this have been already discussed.^^^ This weak--
ness of the administration was, however, not peculiar to the
r I. p. 187. 2. Sulaiman Saudagar, Hin4i traaalatioo, p. 84.
3. See p. 2-47.
4m
CQUCLmion
tesh Irakli tas. for iT»st of ike Deccan empires Imd negiected
tkc naval arm^ It musi, however* t>e rememl»red that no
naval invasion of the Deccan had occurred in historic times;-
il is* therefore, ip a way natural that it may have been
thought that it' was unnecessary to waste any money over the
navy. Safety of the oversea trade, however, aught to have
opened the eyes of the Hindu governments to the necessity
cl the navy.
The careful student of the Hindu histoiy cannot help'
, f%retting that the political thinkers in India should ever have
.adumbrated the principle that a conqueror should not sup*
plant, but merely reduce, the conquered king, and that it
should have been so widely respected. The resources of the
empires, like those of the RashtrakOtas, were unnecessarily
frittered away in suppressing the rebellions of feudatories,
who should never have been allowed to exist. The present
writer, believes that if the policy of ruthless annexation had
been followed consistently since the days of Chandragupta
Maurya, there would have been evolved in India stronger
and stabler states, and it would not have been possible for
foreigners like the Scythians, Hunas, and Muslims to get so
easy a footing in India*
The Rashtrakuta administration was certainly efficient.
The 20th century would naturally disapprove of a system of
administration under which a large number of civil officers
were recruited from the army. But it may be pointed out that
the bifurcation between the civil and military, and executive
and iudicial functions is more recent than our period, and the
recent history of Italy, Poland, Spain, Portugal and Germany
shows that it is by no means certain that some states in future
/may not revert back to the old system where the military com-
manders, being persons of proved vigour and efficiency were
^|ru$ted with important administrative posts. Probably the
j exigencies of a forward policy were responsible for the
MORAL AND MATERIAL PROSPERITY
417
appointment of 'so many military commanders 'to civil posls»
The evils of the system were probably to a great extent
mitigated by the 'fact that the military officers were after all
sons of the soil and were assisted by hereditary district*
Taliika, and village officers. Democratic institutions like
elected parliaments, responsible cabinets etc., were absent*
but it may be pointed out that they existed nowhere else in
contemporary times. The Rashtrakufa subjects, however*
ciijoj^ed a substantial amount of self-government by the
circumstance that large powers were delegated to local
bodies where they had an effective voice. How far the
administration secured the material, moral and cultural pro-
gress of the people is the next question to be considered.-
Sufficient evidence has been adduced in chapter XV to show
that the Deccan was 'economically strong and prosperous
under the Rash|raku|as, Otherwise their aggressive wars
would havC' been impossible. Commerce was brisk,' and
several industries flourished. The mines were also yielding
rich^ income. The high compliments paid to the ' Deccanese
chai^acter by the' Chinese and the Muslims would show that
the moral welfare was also looked after. It is, however*
difficult to determine how much of the credit in this respect
has to be given 'to the state a'od how much to religion. In
religious matters the state maintained a catholic and tolerant,
attitude. Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism lived side by-
side in peace and harmony. It may be pointed out that dur-
ing our period, there was no such harmony in Tamil country*
where the Jains were ruthlessly persecuted by the Saivaits.
The effort of the state to promote the cultural wellbeing,
of the subjects can, to some extent, be judged from the
chapter dealing with Education and Literature, Both these’
received the royal patronage in a liberal measure; if the
literature did not flourish more luxuriantly than it actually*
did, the fault seems to be not of the slate. It must-be^
mm
418
CONCLUSION
however, T'he Mauryan,
.„d credtobk “"‘f Fi„. a its seeiTi
daim oan U .™da for •(.= *V MolkW CouA
to have been gl j, „„ doubt an archileetural
wonder; but it is me oiuy v evidence to
hanaea aown to the P«'
^ow that any other monume temple, again,
^.^»EyCw '.he work of ar.U» .mpor.ei
ham Kanchi. ■ spheres, our age was an age
of transition. It was ^ Hinauism. intercaste ainners
Budahisrn. ^shads having ^
and mamages. and ^ig disappeared from the Hindu
settle socio-rehgious ma ’ ^ provincial sub-castes,
^^oty. Froto. t .be .eeuectetion
the association of dancing g - intricate
of the Sati custom m the
Smarta ritual are innovatio probable that
or to the I ^““^^ost of these changes were changes
our age believed that m j. tbe Hindu society
f<„.d«b«ler.buti= MbsJ^^^^
has shown that they thinkers of the age should
One cannot help thinking realised the
have taken a changes that were being either
full consequences ot the new
forced upon or recommended by the
ERRATA
Page
/[MneV,
■ Read- .■
' 19
Hoshangaba'd '■;■.■,
Houshangabad
7
8
Nannaraja . ■
Nannaraja ■ ,
:i'ci
11
,,liidra 1! '
Indra 1
34
'2^'"
last
35
10
,. tlie' lastv ,
last
49
'
the last
last
''51 ■/'
■■-S'.':
52
20
Sivamara
. Muttarasa
62'.
last
'ffclW' ■ ■ ' -
u
'"the last ,
last
,„in.
is
:SS
'22' ■
Karnatakasabda- ■■■ ■
Karna taka s aabda -
; nafesaBaiB/
§2
top
20
92
10
staying
,, ^statying ;v:
'95
12
K ;
. Kiranyur
m
:;;25:0
150
los:,:;,; '
' ,, ■^r ', .„■
n ■ ' Sr* ■,■'■'■■■■ ■
lOS
■,■,14''
Amoghavarsha HI
Amoghavarsha 1!
123
6
was
wa
127
16-17
Bhimaparakrama
Bhfmapapakrama
129
22
Govioda IV
Govioda ii
151
9
Ratfarliya —
RatlLrajya —
m
4
in
is
m
29
XVI '
XV
419
ERRATA
Rashlratela
to interfere
still
tola
Rashtrakutas
in contradiction to
Rashlragkula
interfere
till
atol
Rashtrakntas
in contradiction of
259
9
burnt
burn
illli:
264'
12
and control.
, and control
265
Karaa tabhasha -
Karijatabbasaba-
bhushana
bhushana'
267
21
indignities
indignitiest
;■! .
278
29
Amogbavarsha I
Anioghavarslial
281
26
founded
funded
1 ’
..,...,294...
9
buffaloes
buffalos
308
20
Kampilya
Kampailya
337
8
Parasava ■ ■
Parasava
[If-.'
1 ^
345
21
but
bu
364
10
Paramamahesvara
Paramamahesvara.
374
,2
■ tax .
ax
375
2
from
to
ADDENDA
Pp. 52-3* The conjecture hazarded here that Srivaiiabha
mentioned by Harisena in the .colophon of the Harimnsa
as ruling the Deccan in the year 783 A.D. would be Dhruva
rather than Govinda II, is now confirmed by an unpublished
grant of Dhruva lying in the treasury of the State of Bhor,
which is dated. in S' aka 702 f. e, 780 A. D., and is issued by
Dhruva Dharavarsa. The plates will be shortly published.
P. 85* The statement in the book that Dantivarman had
succeeded his elder brother Dhruva II was based on the fact
that there was a long interval of 21 vicars between the last
known date of Dhruva I! and the first known date of his
-successor Krsiia. Recently, however, a new grant of
Dhruva II has come to light, which I am editing for the
Epigmphia Indica, and which reduces this interval to a period
•of less than four years. The passage giving the date is in
■words* but is defective; it reads
The word for the number of centuries is omitted
by inadvertence* but there can be no doubt that the expression
■was intended to be This record thus supplies
S84 A.D. as the latest date for Dhruva IL It* therefore, now
looks extremely improbable that Dantivarman could have
reigned between Dhruva il and Krsiia Ahalavarsa IL In
TOy paper on this plate I have adduced reasons to show that
fCr§na Akalavar^a II was very probably a son of his,
predecessor Dhruva 1! and not of his brother Dantivarman*
421
422
ADDENDA
Pp. 124-5. The sack of Maikhecl. In Saradeiraina
Varstka. o. 6. Prof- Hiralal Jain has suggested that the sack
ofMalkhcd by theParamara ruler Siyaka may have taken
place in %2 A.l). and not 972 A.D. He relies on the colophon
of the Mahmrana of Puspadanta. which according to its
colophon was completed dn the tlth of June 9fi5 A.D., and
which refers to the sack of Malkhed in a verse of its 87th.
chapter. Until the Parana is published, it will be difficult
to assess the value of these passages. It, however seems
extremely improbable that the Rashlrakula capita cou
have been captured during the reign of the mighty emperor
ni. He was holding even I amil districts down
to the last year of his reign: this would have been impossible
if the Rashfrakuta prestige had been shattered by the capture
and plunder of the imperial capital in 962 A.D. We must
further note that the Malva Praiasti distinctly states that the
opponent of Siyaka was Khottiga:-
gmf 5TO2 m This statement in the Paramiira dhcial
I'lrm would OfMalkhcd took place
during the reign of KhoUiga, rather than that of Krsria.
We must, therefore, accept 972 A.D., as the date of the event as
supplied by Dhanapala in the colophon of his PSiyalachchlu.
P. 309. The identification of Kampilya suggested here
is wrong. The new copper plate of Dhruva li. dated 884 A.D. .
makes it clear that this Kampilya is to be identified with the
village Kapha in BardoU Taluka, Surat district.
BIBLIOGRAPHY*
Origimai Sources
inscriplions of the Rasht^’^kuias, their predecessors* con-
temporaries* and successors, as published in' Epigraphia
Iiidica/Epigrapiiia Carnatica, Inscriptions from Madras Presi-
dency, Indian Antiquary, Journals of the Bombay Branch of
the Royal Asiatic Society* Asiatic Society of Bengal, Royal
Asiatic Society* etc. References to these inscriptions can be
lound in the foot-notes in the text.
Almost all the books in Sanskrit, bearing upon the Dharma*
s’astra, Nitis'astra and Arthasastra. The reader will
find specific names in the foot-notes.
Fleet, Corpus InscriptLonumIndicarum,Voi. Hi. Calcutta, 1888.
HiralaL List of Inscriptions from the Central Province and
Berar. Nagpur, 1916- ■
Rapson, British Museum Catalogue of Coins of the Andhras^
, Kshatrapas, etc. London, 1908.
Pathak, Kavirajamarga of Nfpatufiga.
Somadeva, Yas'^astilaka. Kavyamala series.
Rice, KarriElakabhlshabhusana of Nagavarma. Banglore,
1884 . ' ■ .
AbhklliFinarajendra. Rutlaui, 1913.
Stein* Rfiiatarangini. Bombay, 1892.
Yas'ahpala, Mohaparajaya. Baroda, 1918.
Accounts by foreigners
Watters, On Yuan Chwang, Vois. I and II, London. I9M,
Takakusu, Itsing s Travels. Oxford, 1896.
^All these Bmks are mailable at the Orienfal
Book Agency, Poona-
• 423 .' '
424
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hliiot, History of India. Vols. I and II. London, 1870.
Sachau, Albemni’s India. London, 1888.
Gibb, Ibn Batuta. London, 192V.
Cordier. Yule’s Travels of Marco Polo. London, 1926.
Schoff. The Periplus of the Erythraeon Sea. London. 1912.
Mcrindle, Ancirait India, as described by Megasthenes and
Arrian. Calcutta, 1926.
Maulvi Maheshprasad Sadhu, Sulaiman Saudagar, Hindi
translation, published by the Nagari PrachariijI Sabha.
Benares. 1922.
Tavernier, Travels in India. Calcutta, 1905.
Bernier, Travels in the Mogul Empire (2nd Edition), Oxford.
1914.
Modern Works'
Fleet. The Dynasties of the Canarese Districts of the
Bombay Presidency. Bombay, 1899.
R. G. Bhandarkar. Early History of the Deccan. Bombay
Gazetteer. Vol I, part 1. Bombay. 1896.
Bhagwanlal Indraji, Early History of Gujrat, Bombay
Gazetteer, 'Vol. 1. part II. Bombay, 1896.
C. V. Vaidya, History of Hindu Mediaeval India. 3 Vols
Poona, 1921-26.
Rapson, Indian Coins.
j. Dubreuil, Pallavas. Pondichery. 1917.
' Pran Nath, A Study into the Economic Conditions of
Ancient India. London, 1929.
Bhandarkar Commemoration Volume. Poona, 1917.
Altekan A History of the Village Communities in Western
India; 1927, Bombay.
Alkfar. A History of the Important Ancient Towns and
Ghes in Gujrat; Bombay. 1925,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
425
\
‘Majiimclar. Corporate Life in Ancient India. Calcutta, 1918.
Jayaswal, Hindu Polity. Calcutta* 1924#
D. R. Bhaodarkar# The Carmichael Lectures, Calcutta, 1921.
' Ghosal, Hindu Revenue System. Calcutta, i929»
.Sen, Hindu Jurisprudence. ( Tagore Law Lectures ).
' R, D, Banerji, The Palas of Bengal Calcutta, 1915,
Oldenberg, The Buddha, English Translation. London, 1882.
Winternitz, Geschichte der Indischen Litteratur. Lepzig, 1920.
Keith, History of Sanskrit Literature. Oxford, 1928.
Nahar and Ghosh, Epitome of Jainism. Calcutta, 1917.
Codrington, Ancient India. London, 1926.
Peterson. Report on the Search of Sanskrit Manuscripts.
Bombay. 1877.
Vidyabhusan, A History of Indian Logic. Calcutta, 1921.
Moreland, India at the Death of Ahabar. London, 1920.
,, From Akabar to Aurangzeb. London, 1923.
, , . Agrarian System in Muslim India. Cambridge, 1929#
Bali, A Manual of Geology in India. Calcutta, 1881.
'La Touche, A Bibliography of Indian Geology- and- Physical
Geography. Calcutta, 1917.
A
AhlddkamrTijeucira , 1 42-3
EisItfrakSia aadi Kis
hms€, 4-6
Aborigiaal gciis, 28S
AiMMrfMma hattara, 206
AdipurMa^ 8S, 99, 410
Adipurdria ©f Faiapa, 411
Ada^rallSii measure, 376
Adverse possessiou, 348 . ,
284
'M^grahara villages as centres of
educatioa, 402-4
Aharu m AharanK 137
Aj it a itrtk a n har aput Tnm, 412
Akalankadeva,^ 409
Akalavarslsa Sulsltatuiiga, Early
RisEtrckSia ruler ?, i—2
Akiiavarsiia Sukliatunga, of Gu-
jarat brancli, HI
Akkam, 366
Alienation of inuM lands, 194
,, „ property, taxes pay.
aWe at, 195; see also under
Fropertf
Amatiia, 169-70
Ambulance corps, 254
Amogbavarslia I; born in 808,
6S; bis career. 71-79; bis
deposition, 73; bis reinstation,
, 74; ftirtier rebellions against,
. ' 76; defeated by Vijayaditya. II,
• ,, ; 74; defeats GufagaVijayaditya
75; war witb tbe Palas, 77-8;
' ; ' iiu .^rellgion, 8S-9; hm abdica-
%ifA'
• ' 426..
Amogbavarsba 11, 105-6
Amogbavarsba ' HI, pressed
accept tbe crown, i08; bis*
career, 111-5
Amoghavrtti , 410
Amusements, 350-1
Anarchy and village councils, 21 1
Animal. sacrifices,, 294 ,,
Annexation policy, 262. 416
Anniga. a Nolamba king,- 112, n, 5
Appayika. a contemporary of
Pulakesin II, 28, ■■ „■
Aptamimaissa. 409 •
Arakhu 376
ArdhamTinga tenure. 224
Arikesafin I, 51 n. 10; 129
,, II. 107-8; 129-30
Army of tbe Eisbtrakntas; its
strength, 255-6; its divisions,
247-8; relative strength of the
three arms, 248-9; hereditary
forces in. 250'ri; recruitment
for, 249; training oft 252; alio*
wances and death pensions, 251**
2; presence cf women in, 254-5
Ashiasahai^rh 409
Ashfasatu 409
Astrologers and astrology, 156;
351
A/immedhii,tii Prtbvlvyigbra, 37
Attivarman, 4
Austerities, 299-300
j 4 i;alo/sfl-«ndi»gepitb«lSi 83, n. 33’
Ay anna, 127
AfAiktakai 196
Ayyapadeva Naiwiiga. 112 n. 5
INDEX
m
B
BMapa, of Vengi, I2i'"2
See uii^er Va^dega
,* a Chiiiifeya chief t 129
B5lHiika%iallai»lsa, 66 n. 50
B a ia f7« i-tk ck 224
Baiikeya, 85
■ Banking hy village ceiroeik, 20S-9
BapiHiva, 130
Beiigerivislsaya. 51 n* 10; 129
2 ! 4-5
i>h(7iii rnovemeat, 299
Bliaamka, Talk’s father-in-law,
1!?7
B !i widTi gz r (k « , 171
Bltaroch» 358
Bhaia. 233-4
Bhattakalanka, on Amoghavarsha
I. m
BhavanagS, 29
Bliilla»m il* 126 n. 49; 130
BliiiBa, Taila's ancestcr, 127
BhIiTfa I cf Vengi* wins back his
kingilom, 76, 91; his son killed
in battle, 96
Bhlma II cf Vengi, 107
BhlniaparSkrama, 127
Bhogapaii, 137; 177-8
Bhoja I, PrafihUra emperor, 77;
8 , 2 ,. 85 ;, 97 ,
Bfcoja II » FratihSra emperor, 101
Bhukth 137
Bh uia rZda prutnaija , 228-9
Bfellteyadeva, 1 32
EigurB 231
Bcnthadevl, 104; 127
Brahmahara, same as BhSmaha.
127
Bralmiaiias, eaemption from the
capital punishment cf, 329-30;
from teation of* 327-8; inferior
to the Xshatrlyas?, 324; pro-
fessions folio wed hy, 325-6
Biidharija, 159
Budhavarsha, 46
Btiddhism, and military emascu-
lation, 315; declining, 269-71;
its establishments in the
Deccan. 308-9
Bltnga II, 79; 87; 94; marries a
daughter cf Amogliavarshalll,
109; supplants Richamalla, 112;
helps Xifshna in at his, ^acces-
sion, 115, and In the Chela .war
by killing RSjaditya, 118; pro-
vinces ceded to him by Krshna,
U9
c
Camp followers, 254
Canarese, . mother tongue . of : the:
Rashtrakutas, 21; spoken upto
the Godavari, 24
Castes, their number, 317^19;
interdining among, 338-9 imter-
marriages among, 336-7; pro-
vincial, 335
Ceylon king submits to Govinda
m, 69;to Krshna III, 118-9 '
ChakirSja. 46
Chakrakota, 92; 95
Chakrayudha, king cf ICanauf, 30;
championed by Dharmapila, 56'
instaiied at KanauJ, 64; but ex-
pelled by Nagabhata, 65; sub-
mits to Govinda III, 66
Chalukyas, Early, their dominions
30;, by whom overthrown, 36-9,
44; their connection with later
Chalukyas, 127-8
Chalukyas,, Eastern,, see under'
¥engi
Ctefakya imiBitwim uni^t
RSslilrafella®* 46
fjIsSiukyas, comneettoB
witli tiieEarlyCliilakya®, l27-%
ChS.mn^i^t^'y^* 412
ChmBiiiifhragapur^na 413
Ckao^t'agwpl^®** ICoWa. 66 n. 51
■ri»AMcter. Indian, estimate of
Dancing girlst 295-^6
Dantidiirga, liis eaieer.
Sarva Ms epitkelt 34 n.
clares iiidepett<i«n<ce» 2
an oppressor, 4!-'2
Dantivarmaii, of tke main
„ of the Goiarat bran-
DasSvatSra inscriptiofi*
to DantMurgas time,
Deccan, wealth of, 3:3 j-'o
D emocracy t ISO-I
Deiagramakuidf 178
Devadasis, see under Dancing
girls
Dbanapala, 412
]}haTiiTB€i>vi(xhamdtya, 169
Bharmankus*G, 169
Dbarmaplla, marries a RSsb|ra-
kSi|a princess, 55; cbampioo®
Cliaferiymiba but defeated by
Vatsaraja, 56; second mareb
against Vatsaraja, 57; defeated
Dhruva,57, defeats ¥«tsarija
and instaEs CbakrSyudba 64;
submits to Govinda HI, 66
Dharm^pradhanu, 169
Dbarma^aloka, 88 »• 33
Dbarmoltaricbarya, 410
DharmoUaratippafiaka 410
Dbruva, of tbe main brancb,
52-9; Ms plot against^ Govinda
II, 50-2; imprisons SivamSrk,
54; attacks ICancbit 55; defeats
VatsarSija and Dbarmapala, 56-
7; bis abdication ? 60-1
Dbruva I, of Gufarat, 81
II, of Gujarat, 81, 84^5 see
also Addenda
District councils, 158-9; 2Jl
OMia, 234
Cbedis, their marriage relations
with the Eishtrakutas. 104
Chief justice, 167
Chitrakuta, comi^ered by
ICfshpa IH. 112; reconquered
by Yalowrman, 113, 120
ChitrakiSla king defeated by
Govinda III, 66
*vCMtrair5hana,, , .1 74
Cholas defeatedl by Govinda Ob
' 69; by ICrshna III. U6-20
Choroddharatiika, 261
Chudivaramf 227
‘Cioth industryt 356-7
Coinage. 364-67
“^Commander-in-chief, 167-8
' -^Conoibinage* 346
.Constitutional checks, 157-80
■ Copper* Es relation to
other metals, 366-7
; , ,CtiSfearers, 363
i'V,Cbst of Eving. 389-90
^ royal, 155-6
INDEX
429-
Doctor » 157; 326
Dramnm, 364
Branga, 214
Dress, 348-9
Duta^ 166-7
Diifciliaitialla, 129
E
Edycatioo, genera! coiiilitio a,
398-9; how financed, 404-5;
Educational Qualifications, for
gO¥ernsneiit service, IBS
Election, of kings, 150-1; of the
village councils, 198-9; of the
town councils,.. 183
Elichpttr, capital of Ynilhlsnra,
9; pre.Malkhed capita! ? 4 8
Ereyappa, 1 12 n. 5
Excise duties, 229-30
Export articles, 358-59
F
Family, joint, 339-40
Favourites, royal. 185-6
Ferry lax, 232
Feudatories, 262-8; their differ*
ent grades, 263; degrees of
control over, 264-7; effects of
the feudatory policy, 4! 6
Fighting, rules of, 25S-9
Fine Arts, 418
Fines, 235-6
Foreign minister, 166-7
Forests, ownership of, 240
Fornication, 346
Forts, 256-7
.....g. .........
Gmdi0irfikat 366
<Sangavidf, invaded by i;
44 ; annexed by Dhrnva; 54s .
Iiaiided hack to Sivamira,
■ 62; again annexed, 63; armleS'-
of, defeated, 69; becomes in-
dependent, 78; given to BiSfiiga
after the overthrow of Racha-
maHa I, 112; under Molamlbais-
taka' Marasimha. 119; under
Fanchaladeva; 132; tinder
Rachamalia If, 132
Gaiiitasarammgraha^ 88; 410
Gattdt style, 407.. .
Generals, status, priv.ileges ..and...
'paraphernalia of, 168; 253
Gogiyama, 121
Goggi, 128
Govardhana, 49
Government expenditure, 244-6
Government properties, income-
from, 236-44
Government revenues, sources
of, 212-3
Governors, their selection, 173-
and powers, 174-6; military
forces under, 174; centr'X
government control over, 175 :
Govinda I, 27-8
Govinda II, defeats the ChSlnkyas; .
44; career as king, 48-52; con,
' troversy about the accession of!
48 n. 1; becomes licentious, 50;
overthrown by Dhruva, 51-2
Govinda III, career, 59-71; war
after accession. 62-3; war vrith
the FaHavas and ChSlukyas.
63-4; expedition in northern
India, 64-68; second war with-
the Pallavas, 69-70,
Govinda IV, his sensuousness,
106-7; defeated by Bhlma* 107;
rebellion against and overthrow
of, 107-110
Govinda, Pulakesin*s contempo-
rary,. 28
INDEX
Heirlefts pro|»ertf. 242
Hereditary officers, l/8-SO,
IS4-5
Himalaya, reached hy Govinda
iil?,66n. 52
fflruf^aagarhhmMm, 35, 40, 297
Ho«se ta3C» 231-2
.Covindaraia of Naravaiia plate*.
14-5
ar'ima, various interpretations
aiseassed. 142-7; average s«e
of, 148
t}fafM>Mahatt(iT <2 # 1 58-9
GiiiWs, 367-71
Gujarat. conc{uered by '
durga, 38; by Govinda UI, /U
65;-Konkan not invaded by
Amoghavarsba I. 84 n. 34
Gujarat Rashtrakatas; 79-87; ea-
tent of their kingdom. 86; bne
founded by Indra. 79; Ws son
Karkka helps Amogbavarsha I,
72-4. 79; bis younger brother
Govinda not a usurper, 80;
Dhfuva I dies fighting against
Amogbavarsha I. bis son Aka-
Invar^a regains the throne, 81.
85; Ws son Dhruva H makes
peace with Amogbavarsha I,
81; his son Dantivarman , 85; his
soceesBor Krshna Akalavarsha.
85. and Addenda; expelled by
Krshna II. 98; end of the line.
Indra I, Prohhakaraja,
Indra II. marries Bhavanaga. 29;
his career, 31-2 . ,
Indra IH. career, 99-103; de-
feats the Pararoaras, lOO-l;
defeats MahlpSla and conquers
Kanauj. 101-3
Indra IV. l3i-2
Indra, brother of Govinda HI. 62,
65-6, 71 n. 66, 79
Indra, sob of iCrshBa, d- > , .
IndrayBdiia. 56 , . «
Industries of the Deccaa* 3 j 6-/
Inheritance* order of* 243-4;
340-1;
Interest rates, 371-6, 386
Ivory industry, 357
*4kffthhadra, 99
^<}n^chandra. 410
83 n*
Quram* 293
Jagadgu-rit* 282
Jagattuttgat Krslifi*
90, 97, 99
Jagattunga* a younger brother-o
JfiiWsm. patronised by Amogte-
varsha I. 88 and Krsh?a II.
Wider Ifiiva.
.INDEX
431
99; why prospered during our
period* 272, 310*13; Matha lile
in, 313; responsiWe for mili-
tary deeline ? 99, 315-6
JSkavvS, 127
jSnapad*. 157-8
Jayasimlia, 154
Jayavardliana, 31, 37
JbanJIia, 126 n* 49
Jinacbaiidra. 412
Jinasena, Amogliavarsha^s Gara,
88. 4i0
Jiidlicial powers of the village
councils, 2! 0-1
K
Kaiam, 376-7
Kaianjar, 113, 120
Kalanjii,, 365-6
JKalas college, 403
:..,KaIavit|arasa, 174 .. .
Kalhana on elective kingship, 151
ICalivallahha, 53
Kalpi, 102 n, 44
Kalyan, 358
Kamalavardhana* 150
Kampana 168
Kanchl, see wider Pallavas
Karka I of the main branch, 28
Karka II of the main branch t
125-7; 130*31
Karkarija II of the Gujrat branch,
his relations with the imperial
family, ii-4; governor under
Dantidwrga, 40, onsted by
_ Krshiria, 43
ICarka Swvariraavarsha, a brother
of Gavinda III, 59
ICarka Swvarjniavarsha, a son' of
Indra. Amoghavarsiia*®-. guar-*.
dian, 72*3; same as Pafila*
malla, 72 n. 3
Karharaja, father of. Pambala, 82
Karkara* '110
KurnapkaialxMfmiasc*. nam» 88
Kasn, 366
Rattiyira* 46
Kavirahasya, 408
Kuvirajciynarga, 88, 40ii„.4l i
Kavyanus asmmm, 40B
Ka'vyu style, 406
Khadgavaloka, 83
Kerala kingdom# 69; 1 18*3
Kelirlia on Amoghavarsha f, 88
Ketaladevl, 154
Khottiga, 124*5; sea also Addenda-
King, hereditary or elective, 150- '
1 and n, 2; age at accession of,
154; how far constiintionai, 157
Kiranapura, 75, 95 n, 18
Kirfcivarman II, 39; ESti-appa his.v;-
epithet ? 43
Kokkala. 90*1. 101
Konnnr inscription , its reliability,''
76
Kosala king, defeated by Danti
dnrga, 37
Krshna I career, 41*8; did- not'
oust Dantidurga, 42; over-
throws Klrtivarman, 44;' in*"
vades Gangavadi, 44; defeats
Vishnuvardhana 45; con<iu©rs
Konkana, 45
Krshna II, career.. 9i,-;99; wars
with Vijayaditya, 91-4; with
Bhoja I, 97; puts an end to- the
Gujarat branch, 98
Krshna III, his career. 1 1 i-23f his''
part in winning the Ihroite.fer'
his father, 109; wins GangaWadi?
for BStuga, 1 12; defeats theGl^e*'
.1
432
INDEX
50fif|w«irs iCSlani^
jta, 113? annex®® M^detfi maastire. 326
t^la, 116^2? cnnqners MaMjanmt 199-202
ami marclies on Eame- Mahakshapaialaka, 120
118-9; 0'si'®J*a'W'es Cey M(iMi(pT€ichuf}icdi2t^l€i}i‘iiiJuku^
j cedes some iistsfiets l^g
iga, 119; los«s Ciiitra- ]{iahapmdhum , 165
i Kalattiar. 120 defeats MaMpiiroMta, 169
120-1; pwts Maharatkif25
e m tlie Vengl tlimiie» MahtisandhidgraMka, 166-7
latli'date iiscmssed* I22t Makattarm^ council of, 295-6
Mahat^arMhikBrir:fik» 206
ja, a iCalaclinn 3, MaMUarasarv'^dMk&rin, 159-60
MaliivIracliSrya, S8
as. snperior to Bmlinia- |y|^i,;psia, 101-2
124; exempted from the MailaievI, 154
pttmshnient ? 330-1; j^alfehed, when it became capital,
as position of, 331-2 46-8; not pkindered by Vijaya-
%&imh 154 ditya HI 95 n. 18; sacked by
laka, 100 n* 38 Slyaka. 124-5; see Addenda
376 MallavSdin, 410
Malva. 67, 68
L Man4^la» 136
« ^ rbedi kinfe 104. Msn^S, 75. 91-2
ana-. a 'A«»tieai ^ .
ManjTuh* 366
Mapikyanandin* 409
Blanne. the Danga capital, 44
M&ntrifh 169
Manga tenure. 224
Marakkal, 376
Marasimba, aCbSkkya feudatory ;
Marasimba, Nolambantaka, bis
- .snecession. 119; helps iCrsbpa.
■ ■III in the Maka expoditton.
::.-l20-t; scenes of Ms iriclories.
125; helps KboHiga, 125; es-
' ^■/ '■pnnses the cans® of indra IV,
1 31; dies by SalUkMm^ ww,
kaksbntldevft, 154
taksbmkallabba. 84
tmA leases# 351-2
ijfcml ownersMp. 236-9
lunnd prices, 384-5
Land lwatlon^< in theory and prac-
' tice. 217-23; for temple lands,
223; for specia! tenures, 224;
, ' rwiskin of rates and remissions
,i>f 225jcoleol^M instalments
; - 1 and in kind, 226^ . ■
/L^d tmmres, 251
INDEX
433
Marriage® ag® at. 342; tax at, 232;
wills maternal imcle's liaagliter,
343
Mat 5««lHstryt 357
Matlia MS centre of education* 401
-2
Maltur, 22 }
Meiitla da 111, 250-1
Maaiika arharia, 194
Maywrfclssttili, 47
M'nia^Uarum^ 224
Mem* an unidentified place, I OO
Metals, tlieir relative prices, 366-
7
Military, ascendancy of the, 247
Mines, 24!-2; 355-6
Ministry; 160-73; held in high
reverence, 160-2; feudal status
of the jnemhers of. 16 1 ; nation-
al welfare dependent on* 162;
«|ua!ilications for .the memhers
of, 162-3; military «|ualifications
for the member* of* 164; differ-
ent' member® in, ,164-173; its
inetlioii of daily work, 1 72-3
Jifimi#/iarfl*'166. 177. 341
MoraEty, minister of, 169
Mularaja* 121
Muslims, invasion of Gujarat by,
32; aliaace with Migablia|a of*
treatment under the Eishtra-
kifa administration of, 187;
276-7; 387 ; social relations with,
mi
liwtiarasa, 44* 54
N
I7S
llS'giibl«|a# 11^ 65-6
HSlpdfrttt* a general of 'lailsi' II,
^ m •
N’agarapati, 139, 181
Wagatavoharakas^ 139
Hagavaloka, indentity of, S2-3
and n. 33
Hagavarman, 8S
Ncdachampu^ 408
Mmuasya tenure, 224
Hambudri Brahmanas, 338 ■
Nandivarman, 37-8
Hanna Gunavaloka*. 27-8
Hannaraja of Multai plates, 6-111^
Hirasimha, a Chilukya feudatory,
102
Narasimhabhadradeva, 129
Narit a measure, 376
Masik, 47
Havy. 257, 415-6
Himpama, 125
NUivakyamrtat 411
Hiyuktas, 196
Holambavidi, 63;- under Ganga
suzerainty, 94; Krsinja'"* war
against, 90# 92; attacked by
VijaySditya HI, 94; Dantiga
and Vappuga of* killed -by
Krshna III, 112; AyyapadeVa
and Ereyappa of, 1 12 n. 5
Humerical figures attached ‘ to-
territorial divisions, their
various interpretations, I39-49;’
revenue theory, 139-40; |M»pulifc*»
tion theory, 141; estates theory,
142-48; village numbers theory*'
141-4; divisions theory, 149* ’ '
Nyagabindaitka ,410
Ngagakumudachandtodayu^ 410
o
Officers* loyalty of, 186; salarieJ^
of»„ 187-8; selection of, 184-45
expenses of their slay.#, 234 ■ . .
Octroi duties# 229-.30 .
INDEX
Fradhiifi&^ 164-I66
p$*aM€i^a ka mu laMlTt ut^^a ; 409» 1 0
Fras* mttarmMiikat S9* 41 1
pftdifddMt 172
PrUytu'chUtas » 286-7
Premier* 164-6
Prices; el rice* 378-9» of oil ati4
cur«ls» 381; of puhes, salt#
pepper* cumiR. 332; of
cardamoms, mmphm. miA
fmits, 383; of ewes, cows and
liaflaEoes* 384* of laod* i84-5»
BO 700 % rise htlmtm the 5th
andlltli centary, 387-392; in
tise l7tE century; 393; cwatro!
of* 393
Primary education* 399
princes as governors, 153
Princesses as governew, 153-4
Piilivipati II* 78
P^EvirSma# 93 n* 13
P|fcliv*vaial»l«» 84
FrtkvJvySgiira* 31, 37
Frovmeial councils, 158-60; 211
FuWic works* 290 > 30%*4
Pniasakti SilEfeara* 78
165
Purd^ system, 343
PuroMi&t 169
Palavas. defeated by iJmnueum^
38; fey Dferuva, 55; fey Govinda ■ ■
III, 63; tfeeir capital occupied*
69; # . *
Pampa, on liis patron KSrasimfea,
102* 107-S; Ills date, 411-2
PSncfeSladeva, 132
Fatidii&f 169 ' ^
PSiidya king* def ealed fey Govmda
III, 69; fey Krslipa IH* 118-9 ^
Pnrafeala* 55; fatfeer-in-iaw of
Bfearmapila. 55
Parafeala, of Pafcfeari pillar* 82-3
ParamSras* !00-i* 120-1; plunder
, Halkfeed, 124, see Addenda
Paramelvaravarman, 38
ParSntaka* ! 16
PSfipita* 49
PixrtkBk^mukkasMmt 409
Pari&hud* 283
P^Mbhgudbifa* 4B
157.,,
paufimic religioii, 283-6; 300‘'%2
Pmriimai measure* 376
PilgfliiiiNg«»» ^97
PImpert plates* genuineness of*
51 11.2
pilHas of Sankaricfearya, 281-5
Pnds, 156
P<dfce* 259-61
Political agent, ^^4
Poona* 412 ^
' comMnaM^ of* 165
‘ 'fliilSidiiiiidBa,
PrabhSffakac^Ht* 83
Prachanda, imrfcrter M
RacliainaEa, 112
RSliappa, 43
RmjSditya* 107-8
Rajalakfeara, 408
172
MujjnkGS, 172
Ramesvaram* Hi
Rap ayaiafelia* 85 n
Ro^Sdwt* 55
INDEX ■■■
43S
Rattsom lor lust articles, 390-2
J^TiS^ira^ an aiministratwe tiiiit»
136* 173
Easintraklitas; early famiMes. 1-11;
Ya4ii iescent tkcoiy, 16; Ealkor
aescent tlieory, 17; Telega origm
theory, 17; Marathi aesccrtt
theory, 18-25; imperial,
Canarese family aomicika in
Berar, 21-5; not a matriarchal '
stock, 154; meaning of the term,
26-7; extent of their empire,
135; wars of succession among, ■
414-5; a dynasty of able rulers.
410; merits of their aiiministra-
tion, 416-7; achievements eva-
Inatei, 417-8; time a«^ causes
of their downlallf 126
Eu^hiramahattaras, 158-160; l76
vESshtr^arman,. 4^ ■
MaikiSf «iif I ereiit : meanings of „ the
term, 26-7; their position in
early times, 19-20; spread over
Mahnrashtra mi Karnatak,
20-21; a»4 Mahirathis, 25
Esthers, 17
Eat|a, ancestor of the ESshtra-
kSfas?, 17; earlier form of the
term ESshtiaklla ? 25-6
Eeconversion, 304-7
Recordis. Inspector general of.
170; of right, 170-1; 347-51
Reiiiis and ESsh|rakntas* 17-8
Regency admiiwstration, 153—4
Remission of taxes* 180-1
Remuneration of officers, 187: of
the vilage headman, 193
Real free lands, for the village
headmawt 193; for Talnka
' offieew. 179
RepuhHcs, 150
Resident, 264
Eevakanlmma^i.
Revenue, see Government revenue;
of the average vilage, 219
Revenue memher, 170
Roads, 360
s
Sachiva, 168
Bahahhi/antaraskldh i, 241
Sakatayana, 410
Sallekharia vow, 132, 180
Salotgl college, 403
Salt, 241
Samanamahimata, 169
Samangad plates. ...genmneiiess.of, „
. . 33-4 and n.;'ll;:4'''.'.4:' -
, Samantahhadra,:'409;;^;''::';;;y|';'':^
SumbhrtopditaparatyZitfa , 228-f
BamgrkUr^ 171
Sa’^aphuila* 45i478' ^ ^
SandhirngrTihika, 167
' SankarSchirya, 279-81: Bihm
of.\2Sl-3;’^'
.'Sankila, 82-3; same as Sankara-
^gana. 94r-5';
^antipurana* 412
' Santivarman,^'l33':'\.^'-:-';';; ■:
Sanyasa, *280-1:
Sara&vatikariihZxbhQTaj^. 408
Sarva, an epithet of Danti durga
34 n* 12; of Amoghavarsha I, 68
Sarva. a king of the Vindhyan
regions, 67-8 and n. 55
ScLrvadhikaTMh 165
SasanadhikariUt 1 ^
Batk 343-4
Secondary education, 400—1* 404
Sevk4^jf 376
SilihSras. 45; l33
^4%
INDEX
Silttk»t 39
Silver, iti ratio willi <»llier itiatali*
366-7
~Siii4k84».43 ^ ' ,
^ivamira* 54,. 61-2
S£yak», IHM. 122-5
Sfmria wligioUf 285, 300-4
Soaiiala, 408
Somadlava. 411
Sj^orts* 3®- 1
^tlEwaliat see uji4er Slyaka
^rijioriislia of Gangavi4l, 44» 54
Harivanla is
0Erava* 53 and Addenda; epi-
tEet of WtE Govinda 11 and
^ J>hrmm$ 52-3
Srivijaya* 103
Stamfelia, 54t 61-3t 153
SMikana^ 341
’S^li**a«!Coiiiitaiit* 196. 397
S«ili*cominitt«es» of village Councils
^ 198. 202-4
^drakayya. 121
Sumanira^ 171
Superstitions. 352-3. see also
mnder Astrology
Surnames. 349-50
Buvafffi* a ooin. 365
SSryavarroan. 150
T
talk I, 127
’’taila II. 125-6. 127-8. 130
takicolam. kattle of* 117-8
Taniore, 118
Tanning, 357
,T»rS. 309
; taateSf In emergenoy, 235; exempt
tion from, 327—28; in laWnr*
231; on land, see under Land
taxation; on maowfactiired
artiele®, 2®-9s on miscelaneous
nrtklea, 194; 231-3; al puberty
oeremony* 232; on soaless
persons, 232
Temples, gods in# 287-8; wealtb
of, ,,289-90;.,.,. nlility„.,,.of.., ..„.290,s„.
worship in 291; castes of the
Fnjaris xn, 293: dancing girls in,
295-6
Tenures, varieties of, 224
Thefts, compensation for. 260
Toleration, among Indian sects,
272-5; towards Muslims. 276
Topdaimandalam, 116—7
Tonsure, 344-5 ■
Town administration,, ,ISi— 4; com,* „
mittees,', 1,82— 3.,
Transport. 359-60
Treasurer, 171-2
Treasure troves, 242-3
Trivikrama* 408'
Tunga, 16-7
Tmu 376
Turbans, 349
y
U hhanakanichn kram Hi .412
Udayana. 31# 37
lIda^a$uniarikutM , 408 ■■ ■■ ■
mraftga. 203-6
lljjaylni, 39, 40. 102, and n, 44,
121
Umbrelas, 349
Dntouchables. groups included
among. 320-2; grades among,
323; depth of feeling abodt*
323-4
tfpamiiukt&^ 196-7
176
INDEX
4S7
ITpa ri kam , 2 1 3-6
(IpGijukta^ 196-7
Up€ii*lra» 78® lOO**!
Urakkn^ 376
fjri^ 376
■plf ala dynasty* 1 50
tJii^,anga, 234
V
VaMlilega* (also spoiled as Bad-
4ega )» title of KrsItBa Hi. 115
¥aaaega, Ya^ava kittg» 133
Wkiiarbhi style® 407
Vaisbya. 332-3
VairSyiiiiiia® 30
Vallabba* an opponent of tbe
Gajamt brancb, 81-4
TaUubkajnasan<:‘J't^Ti7iGki 1 84
'Yappttga, 112 andl n. 5
Yedic religion* clia not revive,
Vengi CiiSlnlcyas* ' defeated by
Govinda Yuvaraja, 44; by
' Govinda III, 64; join NSga-
• bbala against DbarmapSla, 65
defeat tbe Rasbtrakntas, 74
tbomugb defeat by Amogha-
varsba I of, 75-6; reassert under
Bbima, 76
¥iikUmi^*a lab ha rrj Ik a ® 1 09
VidySnanda, 409
VijayabbatiarikS, 152
Vifayiditya* a younger brother of
Sivamara, 152
'YijaySditya I of Vengi, 64. 74
Vifayaililya II of Vengit 75
VipySiitya HI of of Yengi, 91-6
Vikramaditya III; Bana prinee.
116
Ill, Chalukya prince, 1 27 ^
VihraTr^^^S^iavijaya^ 107
Vikramavaloka, 83 and n* 33
Village accountant, 195-7
Village councils, jealous of their
distinctive existence, 138; their
constitutions and f anolioEis in
Tamil country, 198-9; in Kar-
natak, 199 - 205 ; in Maharashtra
and Gujarat, : '20.5-6;,^ their
powers in the Deccan sniaSer,
207-9; their judicial • fractions*
2 10; their meeting place,- _2t I
Village defence, see under Village
headman.
Village groups, for administrative
purposes, 138
Village Beadmen,;:; 188-95;;:
tary,,, 185 ; -.their V.-nuinber ; :p«r,,
'^village,,
■ ■';fence,l9l-2;lhnd8^^^^^
general ; ad'miniistrp'ibn^^^
; their -remuneration,
caste,' ^ '195 -; ;;;k^
Village militia, 192
Village size, 148
Village Sanskrit schools, 404
VhmyasthiUathapakay 16 ^
VingavalH, 75
Viracharya, 410
Vishayat 136-7
Vishayaputi* 176-7
nshih 231
Vishnuvardhana IV, 44
Vitthala temple, 288
fratas® 286
YasOTarmatt, Clita»<lels feinf, !0
of Kanattf*
Ytidlilmalla !« king of Sapadalalc^
ska, 129
YiiakimaHa II, 129
Yukta, 196-7
Yuvaraja, position of, 151-3
Ynvarija, I# Ckedi king* !C9
Widowt rigliit of iakeritencc of*
232-3* 340-1; riglit to alionate
property* 342; marriages of 345
Wtlaotsea* 347
Wotteiii in camp, 254-5; as offi
cars, 2SD; tkeir position if vio«
ialeil, 346
ZeiYiifidari villages,' 189
All rights reserved the Piiblisher
PirMifeci S, R, Sardesai, B.A, LL.B», at the Navin Samartk
Vidyalaya's * SamartK Ekarat Press,' 947 Saclasliivt Poona 2
FukU$hedbgt'-*Bf. H. G. Sardesai, L, & f.. Oricnia! Book
IP : / Agencjyr’^^‘Shakrawar, Poona 2 (India)
EXTRACTS FROM SOME OPINIONS
I
Dr. F. W. Thomas, Professor- of Sanskrit, Oxford,
writes : —
The work derives its unity from the nature of the subject#
the history and culture of a fairly well defined part of India
■during the period of a particular dynastj^ It is based upon a'
first-hand study of the epigraphical records and the relevant
literature, including such information as is furnished by exter-
nal sources. The materials have been carefully and
thoroughly examined, with the result that the political and
dynastic history has been expounded much more fully than
before. The references seem to me exact, and the argu-
mentation, where there is occasion for such, to be apposite.
When previous views are controverted, the- reasons are appro-
priately stated .Whether the mother ( or original ) tongue
of the Rashtrakutas was Kanarese may perhaps be doubted.
In Part II (Administration) and Part III (Religious, Social
and Economic conditions etc.) it is more difficult to distinguish
the features proper to the RashtrakOja period and area from
those of greater areas in space and time; and to a certain
cxiimt Professor Altekar is constrained to seek informatioB
outside the predetermined limits, 'He' endeavours, however,
and it seems successfully, to elicit the specialities. It is not
his fault if for the most part the methods of Indian adminis-
tr^ion have rather been uniform and constant The notes on
p. 136 concerning the employment of the term rashfrapaii and
the discussion ( pp. 213-6 ) of the meanings of the terms
admagci and uparikara, adduce new points in matters of
known obscurity,. .....
Tlie hook may be described as a solid and welt docu-
mented piece of work, and it constitutes an addition to previ-
ous knowledge of the subject.
