Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c17.11

c17.11

Pulakesi, the son of Kîrtivarman, succeeded His full title was Satyâsraya Śrî Prithvî-Vallabha Mahârâja From a copper-plate¹⁰ [51] grant executed in the third year of his reign and in 535 Śaka, he appears to have come to the throne in 533 Śaka or A D 611 After Mangalîsa's death, the enemies whom his valour had kept in subjection rose on all sides A prince of the name of Appâyika and another named Govinda who very probably belonged to the Râshṭrakûṭa race, since that name occurs frequently in the genealogy of that family, attacked the new Châlukya king The former, who had horses from the northern seas in his army, fled away in fear when opposed by the powerful forces of Pulakesi, and the latter surrendered to him and becoming his ally was received into favour and rewarded¹¹ He then turned his arms against the Kadambas, attacked Banavâsî, their capital, and reduced it The prince of the Ganga family which ruled over the Chera¹² country situated about the modern province of Maisur, and the head of the Alupa¹³ race which probably held the province of Malabâr, became his allies He then sent his forces against the Mauryas of the Konkan, who were vanquished without any difficulty With a fleet of hundreds of ships he attacked Purî,¹⁴ which was the mistress of the western sea, and reduced it The kings of Lâṭa, Mâlava, and Gûrjara were conquered and became his dependents About this time, there was a powerful monarch in Northern India whose name was Harshavardhana He was king of Kanoj, but in the course of time made himself the paramount sovereign of the north He then endeavoured to extend his power to the south of the Narmadâ, but was opposed by Pulakesi, who killed many of his elephants and defeated his army Thenceforward, Pulakesi received or assumed the title of Paramesvara or lord paramount This achievement was by the later kings of the dynasty considered the most important, and that alone is mentioned in their copper-plate grants in the description of Pulakesi II Pulakeśi appears to have kept a strong force on the banks of the Narmadâ to guard the frontiers Thus, by his policy as well as valour, he became the supreme lord of the three countries called Mahârâshṭrakas containing ninety-nine thousand villages The kings of Kosala and Kalinga¹⁵ trembled at his approach and surrendered to him After some time he marched with a large army against the king of Kâñchîpura or Conjeveram and laid siege to the town He then crossed the Kâverî and invaded the country of the Cholas, the Pâṇḍyas, and the Keralas But these appear to have become his allies After having in this manner established his supremacy throughout the south, he entered his capital and reigned in peace The date of the inscription from which the greater [52] portion of this narrative is taken is 556 Śaka, corresponding to A D 634 so that Pulakeśi's career of conquest had closed before A D 634