The Rashtrakutas and their Times c26.3

c26.3

Pp. 124-5. The sack of Malkhed. In Śaradaśrama-Vārṣika, p. 6, Prof. Hiralal Jain has suggested that the sack of Malkhed by the Paramāra ruler Sīyaka may have taken place in 962 A.D. and not 972 A.D. He relies on the colophon of the Mahāpurāṇa of Puṣpadanta, which according to its colophon was completed on the 11th of June 965 A.D., and which refers to the sack of Malkhed in a verse of its 87th chapter. Until the Purāṇa is published, it will be difficult to assess the value of these passages. It, however, seems extremely improbable that the Rāṣṭrakūṭa capital could have been captured during the reign of the mighty emperor Kṛṣṇa III. He was holding even Tamil districts down to the last year of his reign; this would have been impossible if the Rāṣṭrakūṭa prestige had been shattered by the capture and plunder of the imperial capital in 962 A.D. We must further note that the Malva Praśasti distinctly states that the opponent of Sīyaka was Khoṭṭiga:— श्रीहर्षदेव इति खोट्टिराज्यलक्ष्मीं जग्राह यो युधि । This statement in the Paramāra official document would show that the sack of Malkhed took place during the reign of Khoṭṭiga, rather than that of Kṛṣṇa. We must, therefore, accept 972 A.D., as the date of the event as supplied by Dhanapāla in the colophon of his Pāiyalachchhī.