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Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c16: Section IX. Probable History of the Period Between the Extinction of the Andhrabhṛityas and the Rise of the Châlukyas

Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c16

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Section IX. Probable History of the Period Between the Extinction of the Andhrabhṛityas and the Rise of the Châlukyas

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For about three centuries after the extinction of the Andhrabhṛityas, we have no specific information about the dynasties that ruled over the country The Mâtsya and the Vâyu, as observed before, place seven princes of a branch of the Andhrabhṛityas after them, and I have given reasons to believe that the Madharîputra of the inscription and the coins referred to before was one of them This branch seems to have been in possession of the whole extent of the country that was ruled over by their predecessors If the fact, noticed before, of some coins of the later Kshatrapa kings being found in a village near Karhâḍ is to be regarded as evidence of their sway over this country and not to be attributed merely to commercial intercourse, the Kshatrapa dynasty also must be considered to have obtained possession of a portion at least of the Dekkan after the Sâtavâhanas The earliest of these princes is Vijaya Sâha¹ (or Sena) whose date is 144² which, if the era is that of the Śaka kings, corresponds to A D 222, while the latest date we have assigned to the Sâtavâhanas is about A D 218 The last of the princes whose coins are found near Karhâḍ is Visva Sâha (Sena), one of whose coins has the date 214 and another 224, corresponding to A D 292 and A D 302 ³ About this time princes of the race of Âbhîras or cowherds must have come into power Ten of them are mentioned in the Purâṇas In the Nâsik caves there is an inscription dated in the ninth year of Vîrasena Âbhîra, the son of Damarî and of Śivadatta Âbhîra ⁴ The characters in the inscription, though they do not differ much from those in the inscriptions of the later Andhrabhṛitya kings, must be regarded as more modern The language is Sanskrit, which I regard as an indication of a later era When the popular dialect became different from the Pâli, or the Pâli became less sacred, the people fell back upon the original Sanskrit for such purposes as those of recording religious gifts, and thus in all the later grants we find the Sanskrit used, while, from the times of Aśoka to the extinction of the Andhrabhṛityas, the language used was mostly the Pâli, or, to speak more accurately, one or more of the Prâkṛits of the period The Âbhîras were in power for sixty-seven years according to the Vâyu Purâṇa Many other dynasties are mentioned in the Purâṇas as having ruled over the country But the information given there is much more confused than in the case of the previous families It appears that the dynasties that ruled over different parts of India at the same time are put together and confused with those that succeeded each other, so that it is not possible without extraneous assistance to determine their chronological relations

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¹ Jour B B R. A S, Vol VII, p 17

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² *Ibid* p 28 (No 10)

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³ *Ibid* No 15

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⁴ Jour B B R A S, Vol VII, No 25, and Trans Inter Con 1874, p 341

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**[46]** We have seen from the cave inscriptions that from remote times tribes of Kshatriyas calling themselves Bhojas and Raṭṭhis or Râshṭrikas were predominant in the country In the northern part of the Dekkan or Mahârâshṭra these called themselves "the Great Raṭṭhis or Mahâraṭṭhıs, the ancient Marâṭhâs," but in other places the name in use must have been Raṭṭhıs or Raṭṭhas, since we know of more modern chiefs in the Southern Marâṭhâ Country who called themselves by that name. Some of the Raṭṭha tribes must have formed themselves into a family or group (kûṭa) and called themselves Raṭṭhakûḍa, and later on Râṭhoḍa, the Sanskrit orıgınal of which is Râshṭrakûṭa Or the Râshṭrakûṭa family was so called because it was the main branch of the race of the Raṭṭhas that had spread over the whole country. These native chiefs that ruled over the country must have been held in subjection by the Andhrabhṛıtyas during the continuance of their power, and also by the later Kshatrapas. But after the dynasties became extinct they must have resumed their independence. The Âbhîras held sway for some tıme and over a part of the country only, for the tradition of Gauḷı or cowherd rulers which very probably refers to them is confined to the Nâsık and Khândes dıstricts The Râshṭrakûṭas probably rose to power about the same tıme as the Âbhîras. Hence in the inscriptıons on the Mıraj plates and the Yevur tablet first brought to lıght by Mr. Wathen and Sır Walter Ellıot,⁵ respectıvely, it is stated that Jaysımha, the founder of the Châlukya dynasty in the Dekkan, established hımself in the country after having vanquished Indra, the son of Krıshna of the Râshṭrakûṭa family. The Châlukya dynasty was, as will hereafter be seen, founded in the begınnıng of the sıxth century of the Christıan era From about the end of the thırd to the begınnıng of the sixth century, therefore, the Dekkan was ruled over by princes of the Râshṭrakûṭa family

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⁵ Jour R. A S, Vols II., III, IV, Ind Ant, Vol VIII, p. 12.

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An inscription on copper-plates found in the *chaitya* of one of the caves at Kânheri is dated in the 245th year of a dynasty, which, if the word has been correctly lithographed, is called Strakûṭaka ⁶ But the published copy of the inscription was made in the time of Dr Bird and the plates themselves are not now available for re-examination This Strakûṭaka, may be a mislection for Râshṭrakûṭa But it is not unlikely Traikûṭaka, as the late Paṇḍit Bhagvânlâl contended He has published a copper-plate charter issued from the camp of the victorious army of Traikûṭakas by a prince of the name of Darhasena⁷ in the year 207 Traikûṭaka was thus probably the name of a race and the prince belonged to it And the Kânheri inscription would show that this dynasty had an era of its own From the form of the characters in the inscription, it appears that it was engraved in the latter part of the fifth century of the Christian era, so that the Traikûṭaka dynasty was founded about the middle of [47] the third century, *i e*, after the extinction of the Sâtavâhanas But further information about the dynasty is not available, and we do not know over what extent of country it ruled But since the epoch of the era appears to be the same as that of the era used by the kings of Chedi, possibly the race of the Haihayas or Kalachuris which ruled over that province rose to power about 249 A D and held sway over a part of the Dekkan including the western coast up to the country of Lâṭ They were afterwards driven away by some other race and had to confine themselves to Chedi The resemblance between the names Tripura the capital of the dynasty and Trikûṭa is perhaps not fortuitous

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⁶ Jour B B R A S, Vol, V, p 16, of the copies of the Kânheri inscription

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⁷ Jour B B R A S, Vol XVI, p 346

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