The Rashtrakutas and their Times c7.s1.72

c7.s1.72

The earliest date, now known, when the Rāṣṭrakūṭas are seen claiming descent from Yadu is 871 A.D., when the Sanjan plates were issued. 63 years earlier, however, the Rāṣṭrakūṭas had not even dreamt of claiming this descent. The Wani-Dindori plates of Govinda III, dated 808 A.D., while referring to the birth of that monarch, observe that when he came on the horizon the Rāṣṭrakūṭa race became invincible like the race of the Yadus when Murāri was born in it. (27) It is fairly certain that the birth of Govinda III in the Rāṣṭrakūṭa family would not have been compared to that of Kṛṣṇa in the Yadu race, if the Rāṣṭrakūṭas had at that time thought of claiming connection with it by descent. It is probably the simile in this verse, (28) which suggested to the later kings and poets the idea of claiming a descent from the Yadus, especially since it seems fairly probable, from the seal emblem of the eagle, that the earlier rulers were, like the Imperial Guptas, Vaiṣṇavas.