Rashtrakuta Summary:

By Sanderson Beck

Origin:
The Rashtrakuta Dantidurga married a Chalukya princess and became avassal king about 733; he and Gujarat's Pulakeshin helped Chalukyaemperor Vikramaditya II repulse an Arab invasion, and Dantidurga'sarmy joined the emperor in a victorious expedition against Kanchi andthe Pallavas. After Vikramaditya II died in 747, Dantidurga conqueredGurjara, Malwa, and Madhya Pradesh. This Rashtrakuta king thenconfronted and defeated Chalukya emperor Kirtivarman II so that bythe end of 753 he controlled all of Maharashtra. The next Rashtrakutaruler Krishna I completed the demise of the Chalukya empire and wassucceeded about 773 by his eldest son Govinda II. Absorbed inpersonal pleasures, he left the administration to his brother Dhruva,who eventually revolted and usurped the throne, defeating the Ganga,Pallava, and Vengi kings who had opposed him.

Dhruva returned to the south with booty and was succeeded by histhird son Govinda III in 793. Govinda had to defeat his brotherStambha and a rebellion of twelve kings, but the two brothersreconciled and turned on Ganga prince Shivamira, whom they returnedto prison. Supreme over the Deccan, Govinda III left his brotherIndra as viceroy of Gujurat and Malava and marched his army northtoward Kanauj, which Vatsaraja's successor Nagabhata II had occupiedwhile Dharmapala's nominee Chakrayudha was on that throne. Govinda'sarmy defeated Nagabhata's; Chakrayudha surrendered, and Dharmapalasubmitted. Govinda III marched all the way to the Himalayas,uprooting and reinstating local kings.

Rashtrakuta supremacy was challenged by Vijayaditya II, who hadbecome king of Vengi in 799; but Govinda defeated him and installedhis brother Bhima-Salukki on the Vengi throne about 802. ThenGovinda's forces scattered a confederacy of Pallava, Pandya, Kerala,and Ganga rulers and occupied Kanchi, threatening the king of SriLanka, who sent him two statues. After Govinda III died in 814,Chalukya Vijayaditya II overthrew Bhima-Salukki to regain his Vengithrone; then his army invaded Rashtrakuta territory, plundering anddevastating the city of Stambha. Vijayaditya ruled for nearly half acentury and was said to have fought 108 battles in a 12-year war withthe Rashtrakutas and the Gangas. His grandson Vijayaditya III ruledVengi for 44 years (848-892); he also invaded the Rashtrakuta empirein the north, burning Achalapura, and it was reported he took gold byforce from the Ganga king of Kalinga. His successor Chalukya-Bhima Iwas king of Vengi for 30 years and was said to have turned hisattention to helping ascetics and those in distress. Struggles withhis neighbors continued though, and Chalukya-Bhima was even capturedfor a time.

The Great Amoghavarsha:
In 814 Govinda III was succeeded as Rashtrakuta ruler by his sonAmoghavarsha, only about 13 years old; Gujarat viceroy Karkka actedas regent. Three years later a revolt led by Vijayaditya II, who hadregained the Vengi throne, temporarily overthrew Rashtrakuta poweruntil Karakka reinstated Amoghavarsha I by 821. A decade later theRashtrakuta army defeated Vijayaditya II and occupied Vengi for abouta dozen years. Karkka was made viceroy in Gujarat, but his son DhruvaI rebelled and was killed about 845. The Rashtrakutas also fought theGangas for about twenty years until Amoghavarsha's daughter married aGanga prince about 860. In addition to his military activitiesAmoghavarsha sponsored several famous Hindu and Jain writers andwrote a book himself on Jain ethics. Jain kings and soldiers made anexception to the prohibition against killing for the duties ofhanging murderers and slaying enemies in battle.

Expansion after Amoghavarsha:
He died in 878 and was succeeded by his son Krishna II, who marriedthe daughter of Chedi ruler Kokkalla I to gain an ally for his manywars with the Pratiharas, Eastern Chalukyas, Vengi, and the Cholas.

Krishna II died in 914 and was succeeded by his grandson Indra III,who marched his army north and captured northern India's imperialcity Kanauj. However, Chandella king Harsha helped the PratiharaMahipala regain his throne at Kanauj. Indra III died in 922; but hisreligious son Amoghavarsha II had to get help from his Chedirelations to defeat his brother Govinda IV, who had usurped thethrone for fourteen years. Three years later in 939 Krishna IIIsucceeded as Rashtrakuta emperor and organized an invasion of Cholaand twenty years later another expedition to the north.

The end:
The Rashtrakutas reigned over a vast empire when he died in 967; butwith no living issue the struggle for the throne despite the effortsof Ganga king Marasimha III resulted in the triumph of Chalukya kingTaila II in 974. That year Marasimha starved himself to death in theJain manner and was succeeded by Rajamalla IV, whose ministerChamunda Raya staved off usurpation. His Chamunda Raya Puranaincludes an account of the 24 Jain prophets.

Chalukya and Rastrakutas

Chalukya and Rastrakutas were old rivals. They are now calledSolankis and Rathors.
Long after their decline in South, Solankis and Rathors contined torule in north. Maharajas of Bikaner and Jodhpur are Rathore andMaharajas of Rewa and some of the Maharajas of Gujarat are Solanki.
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About AD 620 the Kalacuri king Buddharaja the grandson of Krishnarajawas defeated by Pulakesin II of the Early Chalukya dynasty, whothereafter became the lord of three Maharashtras comprising 99,000villages. One of these Maharashtras was undoubtedly Vidarbha. TheRastrakutas, who were previously feudatories of the Kalacuris,transferred their allegiance to the Chalukyas and, like the latter,began to date their records in the Saka era. Two grants of thisfeudatory Rastrakuta family have been discovered in Vidarbha-onedated Saka 615 was found at Akola and the other dated Saka 631 wasdiscovered at Multai. They give the following genealogy:-

Durgaraja

Govindaraja

Svamikaraja

Nannaraja alias Ayuddhsura
(known dates A.D. 693 and 713)

Rastrakutas overthrow early Chalukyas:
About the middle of the eighth century A.D. the Early Chalukyas wereoverthrown by the Rastrakutas. No inscriptions of the Early Chalukyashave been found in Vidarbha, but their successors the Rastrakutashave left several records. The earliest of them is the copper-plateinscription of Krishna I discovered at Bhandak and dated in the Sakayear 694 (A.D. 772). It records the grant of the village Nagana to atemple of the Sun in Udumbaramanti, modern Rani Amravati in theYavatmal district. Thereafter several grants of his grandson GovindaIII have been found in the Akola and Amravati districts of Vidarbha.The Rastrakutas of Manyakheta and the Kalacuris of Tripuri werematrimonially connected and their relations were generally friendly.But in the reign of Govinda IV, they became strained. The Kakacuriking Yuvarajadeva I espoused the cause of his son-in-low Baddiga-Amoghavarsa III, the uncle of Govinda IV and fought on the bank ofthe Payosni (Puna) 16.093 km. (10 miles) from Achalpura, between theKalacuri and Rastrakuta forces, in which the former becamevictorious. This event is Rajasekhara, which was staged at Triputi injabilation of this victory.

The next Rastrakuta record in Vidarbha is the aforementioned Devalicopper-plate grant of the reign of Baddhiga's son Krishna III, whichmentions the visaya of Nagapura-Nandi-vardhana.

Chalukyas of Kalayani:
The Rastrakuta were succeeded by the Later Chalukyas of Kalayani.Only one inscription of this family has been found in Vidarbha. It isthe so-called Sitabuldi stone inscription of the time of VikramadityaVI. From the account of Vinayakrav. Aurangabadkar this record seemsto have originally belonged to the Vindhyasana hill at Bhandak. It isdated the Saka year 1008 (A.D. 1087) and registers the grant of somenivartanas of land, for the grazing of cattle, made by a dependant ofa feudatory named Dhadibhandaka. Another inscription ofVikramaditya's reign was recently discovered at Dongarganv in theYavatmal district. It sheds interesting light on the history of theParamara dynasty. It shows that Jagaddeva, the youngest son ofUdayaditya, the brother of Bhoja, left Malva and sought service withVikramaditya VI, who welcomed him and placed him in charge of someportion of Western Vidarbha. This inscription is dated in the Sakayear 1034(A.D.1112).

Parmars of Malava:
Though western Vidarbha was thus occupied by the Later Chalukyas, theParamaras of Dhar raided and occupied some portion of easternVidarbha. A large stone inscription now deposited in the NagpurMuseum, which originally seems to have belonged to Bhandak in theChanda district, traces the genealogy of the Paramara PrinceNaravarman from Vairisimha. It is dated in the Vikrama year 1161corresponding to A.D. 1104-05, and records the grant of two villagesto a temple which was probably situated at Bhandak; for some of theplaces mentioned in it can be identified in its vicinity. ThusMokhalipataka is probably Mokhar, 80.47 km. (50 miles) west ofBhandak. Vyapura, the name of the mandala in which it was situated,may be represented by Vurganv 48.280 km. (30 miles) from Mokhar.After the downfall of the Vakatakas, there was no imperial familyruling in Vidarbha. The centre of political power shiftedsuccessively to Mahismati, Badami, Manyakheta and Kalyani.

Authors Bhavabhuti & Trivikramabhatt:
Men of learning who could not get royal patronage in Vidarbha, had toseek it elsewhere. Bhavabhuti, who ranks next to Kalidasa in Sanskritliterature, was a native of Vidarbha. In the prologue of his playMahaviracharita he tells us that his ancestors live in Padmapura inVidarbha. As stated above, this place with the village Padampur inthe Bhandara district. With the downfall of the eighth century whenBhavabhuti flourished there was no great king ruling in Vidarbha.Bhavabhuti had India, and had to get his plays staged at the fair ofKalapriyanatha ( the Sun-God at Kalpi). Later, he obtained royalpatronage at the court of Yasovarman of Kanauj. Rajasekhara, anothergreat son of Vidarbha, was probably born at Vatsagulma, (modernVasim), which he has glorified in his Kavyamimamsa as the pleasure-resort of the god of the god of love. He had his ancestorsAkalajalada, Tarala and Surananda has to leave their home country ofVidarbha and to seek patronage at the court of the Balaramayana, theBalabharata and the Karpuramanjiri, were put on the boards at Kanaujunder the patronage of the Gurjara Pratiharas. Later, when the gloryof the Pratiharas declined as sekhara seems to have returned toTripuri in the train of the victorious conqueror. There his last playViddhasalabhanjika was staged in jubilation at the victory ofYuvarajadeva over a confederacy of Southern kings led by Govinda IVin the battle of the Paysoni. Another great poet of Vidrbha who hadto go abroad in search of royal patronage is Trivikramabhatt, theauthor of the Nalacampu, in which he has given us a graphicdescription of several towns, holy paces and rivers of Vidarbha. Heflourished at the court of the Rastrakuta king Indra III and is knownto have drafted the two sets of Bagumra plates of that king, datedSaka 816.
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