The Rashtrakutas and their Times c11.s1: Indra III

The Rāṣṭrakūṭas and their Times c11.s1

Language: English

Indra III

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Kṛshṇa II was succeeded by his grandson Indra III. His son Jagattuṅga had predeceased him; both the Karhad (34) and Deoli (35) plates of Kṛshṇa III inform us that Jagattuṅga 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 (36) of Indra III describe him as meditating on the feet of Akālavarsha, showing that Indra III was the successor of Kṛshṇa II, and not of his own father Jagattuṅga. The latest known date of Kṛshṇa II is 912 A.D.; (37) but the aged emperor lived for two years more. He died towards the close of 914 A.D.; for we know from the Nausari plates of Indra III that he had gone to Kurundhaka (38) from his capital Mānyakheṭa on the 7th day of the bright half of Phālguna, S'aka 836 (24-2-915 A.D.) for the purpose of Paṭṭabandhotsava 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.

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³² Mysore Inscriptions, No. 113, p. 29.

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³³ J. B. B. R. A. S., XXII, p. 85.

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³⁴ E. I., IV, p. 278.

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³⁵ E. I., V, p. 190.

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³⁶ J. B. B. R. A. S., XVIII, pp. 253 ff.

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Indra was probably a man of 35 at the time of his accession and he ruled for about five years only. His career, if short, was a brilliant one. Before his formal coronation in February 915, he had sacked Meru and conquered a king named Upendra who had annexed or relieved Govardhana. (39) The historical information conveyed by the second quarter of this verse is still a mystery. Kielhorn thinks that Meru may be Kanauj. (40) Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar suggests that Upendra may have been another name of Mahīpāla, the Gurjara-Pratīhāra emperor; (41) both these suggestions, besides being based upon pure assumption, ignore the significant fact that the feats, referred to in the verse in question, were performed by Indra before his coronation. It is almost inconceivable that Indra would have carried out his expedition against Kanauj during the short interval between his father's death and his own formal coronation. Upendra, conquered by him, seems to be the Paramāra chief Kṛṣṇarāja, who, according to the Udaipur Praśasti, was also known as Upendrarāja. Vākpati alias Muñja, who was a contemporary of Tailapa, ( c. 980 A.D. ) was Upendra's great grandson. The known dates of Siyaka, grandson of Upendra, range from 949 to 973 A.D. Upendra's rule, therefore, must have been between c. 900–925 A.D. Paramāras were in the beginning very probably feudatories of the Gurjara-Pratīhāras; at their instigation Upendra seems to have attacked Govardhan in Nasik district at the beginning of Indra's reign. Indra defeated him, compelling the Paramāras to transfer their allegiance to his own house. The Harsola grant attests to the fact that the Paramāras were professing allegiance to the Rāṣṭrakūṭas subsequent to Indra's conquests.⁴²

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³⁸ R. G. Bhandarkar identifies Kurundhaka with Kaṇḍoda on the Tapti. B. G., I, ii, p.

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²⁰³ It is equally possible that the place may be Kurundwad in Kolhapur state.

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³⁹ कृतगोवर्धनोद्धारं हेलोन्यूलितमेरुणा । उपेन्द्रमिन्द्रराजेन जित्वा येन न विस्मितम् । J. B. B. R. A. S., XVIII, p. 253.

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⁴⁰ E. I., VII, Appendix p. 16 n. 2.

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⁴¹ *Ibid*, pp. 38 ff.

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⁴² Report of the third Oriental Conference, Madras, pp 303–308.

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The defeat of the Paramāra chief Upendrarāja was only a preparatory step to the contemplated invasion of northern India. After the death of Mahendrapāla 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 Mahīpāla wanted to oust him. The Chedi ruler Kokkala had espoused his cause⁴³ and was for a time successful; but Mahīpāla 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 time of the invasion of Indra III was thus very opportune; he had not to break any formidable confederacy as Govinda III had to do, when he attacked Nāgabhaṭa, 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.

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⁴³ Cf. भोजे वल्लभराजे श्रीहर्षे चित्रकूटभूपाले । शंकरगणे च राजनि यस्यासीदभयदः पाणिः॥ E. I., II, pp 306–7.

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Unfortunately we have no detailed information about this campaign. From the Cambay plates we learn that he first attacked Ujjayinī, (44) then crossed the Jamuna and finally captured Kanauj itself. Mahīpāla, the Gurjara-Pratīhāra emperor, became a fugitive and was pursued by Chālukya Nārasimha, one of the generals of Indra. The poet Pampa, a protege of Nārasimha, 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. Mahīpāla fled as if struck by thunderbolt, staying neither to eat nor to rest, nor to pick himself up, while Nārasimha pursuing bathed his horses at the junction of the Ganges and established his fame." (45) Mahīpāla seems to have been pursued upto Allahabad. (46) The testimony of the southern records as to the defeat and flight of Mahīpāla is confirmed by a fragmentary Chandella inscription from Khajuraho, (47) from which we learn

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44. Cf. यन्माद्यद्विपदन्तघातविषमं कालप्रियप्राङ्गणम् । तीर्णा यत्तुरगैरधयमुना सिन्धुप्रतिस्पर्धिनी ॥ येनेदं हि महोद्यारिनगरं निर्मूलसुन्मीलितम् । नाम्नायापि जनैः कुशस्थलमिति ख्यातिं परां नीयते ॥

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Agreeing with my predecessors I have assumed in the text that "कालप्रियप्रांगण" in the above verse refers to Ujjayinī. 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 Kālāpriya. Kalpi is situated on the way to Kanauj. If the crossing of the Yamunā referred to in the second line took place immediately after the halt in the courtyard of Kālāpriya, then it will follow that Indra did not pass through Ujjain.

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45. कर्नाटकभाषाभूषण, introduction, p. XIV.

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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 conflict with Rājyapāla. It is, however, likely that Mahīpāla may have fled, not towards Allahabad, for that would have brought him closer to the Chedis, who were Indra's allies, but towards Gorakhpur. Nārasimha may have pursued him for a while, and then proceeded to Allahabad on his way back to the Deccan.

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that Mahīpāla 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.

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While Indra was himself engaged in the north, his generals in the south were equally active. A record of one of them, Srīvijaya, has been discovered at Danavulapadu in Cudappah district. Although a pious Jain, Srīvijaya was a powerful general and claims to have defeated his master's enemies.⁴⁸ Another record from the same locality informs us that this general was also a poet. We must not, however, confound this poet-general Srīvijaya with Srīvijaya quoted in Kavirājamārga; for the latter flourished at least a century earlier than the general of Indra.

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⁴⁸ A. S. R., 1905-61 pp. 121-2.

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Indra III was thus a very capable and brilliant general. During his short reign he succeeded in shattering the prestige of the Imperial Pratīhāras, and the Rāshṭrakūṭa army again became a terror in the north.

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Before passing to the next king I propose to give a genealogical table showing the intimate family relationship that existed between the Rāshṭrakūṭas and the Chedis. Indra himself, his younger brother Amoghavarsha, and the latter's son Kṛshṇa III, as also the father and grand-father of Indra III had all taken wives from the Chedi family of Tripuri. This matrimonial alliance must have been of considerable help to Indra III and Kṛshṇa III in their northern campaigns.

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49. कोक्कलसम्भूतश्च तस्य तनया या सङ्कुलस्यानुजा ॥ तस्मात् कृष्णनृपात्........ जगत्तुङ्गाभिधानः सुतः ॥ I. A., XII, p. 265.

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50. चेदीश्वरशङ्करगणदुहितरि लक्ष्म्यां ततो जगत्तुङ्गात् । सूतूरभूविन्द्रनृपः.... Ibid. Sangli plates say कोक्कलसुतरणविग्रहजलेधलक्ष्मीः समुत्पन्ना । (I. A., XII, p. 247), showing that S'aṅkaragaṇa of the Karda grant is the same as Raṇavigraha. Jagattuṅga had thus married his maternal uncle's daughter, a custom recognised as legal in the Deccan.

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51. Ibid. Govindambā was a younger sister of Lakṣmī. Jagattuṅga married her when he was staying with the Chedis, while out on an expedition in the north. R. G. Bhandarkar's objections to the theory that Govindambā was another wife of Jagattuṅga have been answered by Fleet. See B. G., I., ii, p. 414, n. 5. It may be noted that Vikramāditya II of the Western Chalukya dynasty had married two uterine sisters, Lokamahādevī and Trailokyamahādevī.

Linked texts (10)

Karṇāṭakabhāṣābhūṣaṇa — Nāgavarma II, Sanskrit
Kuḍopāli plates of Rāṇaka Puñja of the time of Mahābhavagupta year 13 — Sanskrit
Epigraphia Indica
Dānavulapāḍu
Kavirājamārga — Śrīvijaya & Amoghavarṣa I Nṛpatuṅga, Kannada
Kardā plates of Kakka III (Amoghavarsha IV), Śaka 894 — Sanskrit
Sānglī plates of Govinda IV — Sanskrit
Ilichpur grant of Pravarasena II of Vākāṭaka — Sanskrit
Benares copper-plate inscription of Karṇadeva. The [Chedi] year 793 — Sanskrit
Chellūr plates of Kulottunga-Choḍa II (ed. Kielhorn 1903) — Sanskrit