The Rashtrakutas and their Times c7.s1.39

c7.s1.39

Can we establish any connection between the Rāṣṭrakūṭas of the Tivarkhed and Multāi records with the predecessors of Dantidurga? It may be at once admitted that direct evidence to connect the two houses is not yet forthcoming: but the available data make it extremely probable that Dantidurga was either a direct or a collateral descendant of Nannarāja of the Tivarkhed and Multai records. The seal of the two plates issued by him is Garuḍa or Eagle, which was also the seal of Dantidurga and his descendants. The names of Nannarāja and his ancestors are either similar to, or identical with, the names of many of the predecessors and successors of Dantidurga. One of the latter's uncles, who was probably a younger brother of Kṛṣṇa I, and was governing the territory round Daulatabad in 793 A.D. (19) was Nannarāja. The formation of the name Svāmikarāja is similar to the biruda Pṛchhakārāja which was borne by Indra (20). Govindarāja, the name of Nannarāja's grand-father, is repeated four times in the main Rāṣṭrakūṭa line ruling at Malkhed, and once in the Gujrāt branch. The great-grand-father of Nannarāja was Durgarāja and his name may have paved the way of the formation of the name Dantidurga. This close similarity in the names of the members of the two houses can hardly be explained, except on the assumption that the two families were connected with each other. Indra, Karka, Govinda, Dhruva, Akālavarṣa Subhatunga, Akālavarṣa Kṛṣṇa and Dantivarman were the names of the different rulers in the Gujrat Rāṣṭrakūṭa branch, whose blood relationship with the house of Malkhed cannot be doubted; and all these names are repetitions of the names of the earlier rulers of the main line. The names of four out of five rulers of the Gujrat branch of the Chālukyas, viz. the two Jayasinhavarmans, Vinayāditya, Maṅgalarasa and Avanijanāśraya Pulakeśin are borrowed from those of the main Chālukya line. If the names of Nannarāja and his ancestors are identical with or similar to those of the predecessors and successors of Dantidurga, the presumption is possible that there was a close family connection between the two houses.