Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c17.102

v4.c17.102

Rāṣṭrakūṭa family 'in Dakṣiṇāpatha', i.e. in South India. The name is probably to be taken as Nannarāja. We know of two members of the Vidarbha branch of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa family who bore the name Nannarāja: one who issued the Nagardhan plates,¹ and who was evidently a younger brother of Svāmirāja, the progenitor of the said lineage (A.D. 570-90), and the other who issued the Multāi plates,² and who was a son of Svāmirāja (A.D. 690-710) of the same lineage.³ The Nannarāja of our record is probably identical with one or other of these two Nannarājas. Our record next mentions Nannarāja's brother, whose name seems to have been lost in the damaged portion of line 2. In line 3, it names one Vajraṭṭadeva, who, as the inscription has it, was 'famed in (all) the three worlds'. It is quite possible that this is in fact the name of Nannarāja's brother, though this relationship is not known from any other source. One Vajraṭa, on the other hand, figures very prominently among the enemies defeated by the Cālukyas of Bādāmi, who, in their turn, were defeated by Dantidurga, a member of the Mūlaka branch of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa family (A.D. 710-50).⁴ This Vajraṭa is mentioned under the variant Vajjaḍa in the Nasik plates of Dharāśraya-Jayasimha, a son of Cālukya Pulakeśin II. The form occurring in our inscription is Vajraṭṭa, which, but for the unnecessary duplication of ṭ in it, is the same as Vajraṭa. Besides, in all likelihood, one and the same ruler is meant by Vajraṭa, Vajraṭṭa, and Vajjaḍa. Scholars have been at pains to fix the identity of this mysterious figure. Dr. N. Venkataramanayya equated him with Vajrāyudha, a ruler of Kanauj in North India,⁵ while Professor V. V. Mirashi identifies him with Śilāditya III of the Maitraka dynasty, an emperor of the West.⁶ Our inscription, on the other hand, would tend to prove him to be a Rāṣṭrakūṭa monarch. The situation may have to be understood as follows: Vajraṭa of the Vidarbha branch of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa family suffered a defeat at the hands of a Cālukya king of Bādāmi (Dharāśraya-Jayasimha by name, according to his Nasik plates), while, later on, Dantidurga of the Mūlaka branch of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa family likewise inflicted a crushing defeat on a Cālukya monarch. It would look as if the defeat of one branch was avenged by the other.