The Rashtrakutas and their Times c17.s1.13

c17.s1.13

The headman has been, since very early times, in charge of the defence of the village.⁹ In the Rāṣṭrakūṭa 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.¹⁰ 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. We find an echo of these village skirmishes in the Nitivākyāmṛta, a contemporary work on politics;¹¹ the Canarese country is still dotted with numerous Virgal records commemorating the death of the village heroes, who fell in these fights. Sorab inscriptions Nos. 102, 216, 326, 351, 454, 455 etc.¹² belonging to the reigns of Kṛṣṇa II, Kṛṣṇa III and Karkka II, refer to the deaths of the village heroes in skirmishes caused by this cattle-lifting propensity,—skirmishes which remind us of the *Uttara-go-grahaṇa* episode of the Mahābhārata. Honali No. 13 immortalises the memory of another hero, who had died while fighting for the cows of his village.¹³ Naregal inscription of the time of Dhruva is also of a similar purport.¹⁴ 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 Kṛṣṇa I, immortalises the memory of Dasamma and Ereyya, who had died while bringing about the destruction of the village of Mattavura.¹⁵ These village skirmishes were equally common in the Pallava and Noḷamba dominions.¹⁶ The Rāṣṭrakūṭa 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 Rāṣṭrakūṭa officers were military leaders, and to them these military 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.