The Rashtrakutas and their Times c7.s1.125

c7.s1.125

The next two members of the family, Indra alias Prchhakarāja and Govinda I, are equally shadowy. They probably ruled from c. 670-690 A.D. and 690-710 A.D. respectively. The Baroda plates of Karkarāja Suvarṇavarsha of the Gujrat branch, dated 812 A.D., inform us that even among gods, with the exception of S'ankara, none was saluted by Govinda I.⁶³ This may show that he was a zealous Saivite. Fleet⁶⁴ and R. G. Bhandarkar⁶⁵ have suggested that this Govinda may be identified with the king Govinda, who along with Āppāyika, invaded the Chālukya dominions from the north of the Bhima, taking advantage of the confusion of the war of succession between Maṅgalīśa and Pulakes'in.⁶⁶ This theory looks plausible when it is remembered that Govinda I was ruling in Berar; and could therefore have invaded the Chālukya dominions only from the north of the Bhima. The proposed identification is, however, impossible; Govinda I must have been at least 25 when he attacked Pulakes'in in c. 610. A.D., and we know that his grandson Kṛṣṇa I was alive and ruling in 772 A.D. i. e. 162 years later than the time of his grand-father. This chronological difficulty is fatal to the theory of Fleet and Bhandarkar, that Govinda, first an opponent and then an ally of Pulakes'in, is the same as the grand-father of Kṛṣṇa I.