The Rashtrakutas and their Times c7.s1.91

c7.s1.91

It is usually supposed that the Raṭhis and Mahāraṭhis were in power in Mahārāṣṭra only, but there is definite evidence to show that some of them were occupying portions of Karṇāṭak as well. Lead coins bearing the legend ‘Sādakani-Kaḷalāya-Mahāraṭhi’ have been found near Chitaldurga.⁴⁰ These coins belong to the middle of the 3rd century A.D. The Hirahadagalli grant of Dharmamahārājadhirāja Śivaskandavarman⁴¹ is addressed, among others, to Raṭhikas. We further find that some of the Mahāraṭhis were closely connected with Canarese families. The cumulative evidence of two Kaṇheri records shows that Nāgamūlanikā, who was married to a Mahāraṭhi, was the daughter of Hāritiputra Viṣṇu-kada Chūtu-Sātakarṇi, who was a Canarese prince ruling at Banavasi.⁴² Some of the Mahāraṭhis were Nāga-worshippers; the name of the queen of Sātakarṇi I, Nayanikā, or Nāganikā, suggests that her Mahāraṭhi father was a Nāga-worshipper. One of the lion-pillars at Karli was the gift of a Mahāraṭhi, Agimita-naka or Agimitra-nāga, whose name also shows that he was a Nāga-worshipper. The donor of one of the Kaṇheri inscriptions, who was the wife of a Mahāraṭhi, is Nāgamūlanikā or Nāgamūlanikā and her son’s name was Skandanāga.⁴³ One of the inscriptions of her father Viṇhu-kaḍa-chuṭu, discovered at Banavasi, is upon a stone slab bearing the representation of a five-headed cobra. Nāga-worship was extensively practised by the early inhabitants of Mysore,⁴⁴ and since some of the Mahāraṭhis were Nāga-worshippers and connected by marriage with Canarese families, we are justified in concluding that Raṭhis and Mahāraṭhis were in power also in parts of Karṇatak, especially since coins of Sadakana Kaḷalāya Mahāraṭhi are discovered in the heart of Karṇatak near Chitaldurga. In the face of these facts it can no longer be maintained that the Raṭhi and Mahāraṭhi families were confined only to Mahārāṣṭra.