Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c17.31

c17.31

During the reign of Vikramâditya I a branch of the Châlukya dynasty was founded in southern Gujarât or the country called Lâṭa in ancient times Vikramâditya seems to have assigned that province to a younger brother named Jayasiṁhavarman Dharâsraya, [55] who thus was another son of Pulakeśi II ²⁵ Śryâśraya Śîlâditya son of Jayasiṁha made a grant of land while residing at Navasârî in the year 421,²⁶ and another in 443 while encamped at Kusumeśvara with his victorious army ²⁷ In both of these Śryâśraya is called Yuvarâja or princeregent and not a king Another son of Jayasiṁha named Vinayâditya Yuddhamalla Jayâśraya Mangalarâja issued a similar charter in the Śaka year 653 ²⁸ Pulakeśi, who represents himself as the younger brother of Jayâsraya Mangalarasarâja and as meditating on his feet, granted a village in the year 490 ²⁹ Both are styled kings From all this it appears that Jayasımhavarman though made sovereign of southern Gujarât dıd not rule over the province hımself but made his son Śrı âsraya hıs regent He held that position for more than twenty-two years, and does not appear to have become king in his own right, as he is not mentioned in Pulakesı's grant Pulakesı, however, seems from his date to be his younger brother Śryâśraya died before his father, Jayâsraya succeeded the latter as king and he was succeeded by Pulakesı The dates 421, 443, and 490, the era of which is not given, would if referred to the Gupta era be equivalent to 739, 761, and 808 of the Christian era respectively, while Jayâsraya's 653 Śaka is 731 A D But Vinayâdıtya the sovereign of the main branch who is mentioned in the grant of 443 died about 697 A D,³⁰ and Jayasımha whose Yuvarâja was Śry âśraya will have to be supposed to have lived to 761 A D *i e*, 81 years after the death of his brother Vikramâdıtya, while the interval between Pulakesı and his immediate predecessor Jayâśraya will become 77 years, as Śaka 653 of the latter corresponds to 731 A D The Gupta era will, therefore, not do, and we must with the late Paṇḍıt Bhagvânlâl refer the dates to the Traıkûtaka era of the use of which we have at least two instances Thus Śryâsraya's dates will be 670 and 692 A D, of Jayâsraya 731 A D and of Pulakesı 739 A D, and there will be no incongruity But the original dates themselves 421 and 490 show the distance of time between Śryâsraya and Pulakesı to be 69 years, and if we take the later date of the former it will be reduced to 47 years Even this is too much and the only way to account for it is by supposing that the two youngest sons of Jayasiṁha Dharâsraya were born of a young wife married when he was advanced in years In Pulakeśi's grant it is stated that he vanquished an army of Tâjikas which had destroyed the Saindhava,³¹ Kachchhella,³² Saurâshṭra, Châvoṭaka,³³ Maurya,³⁴ Gurjara³⁵ and other kings, and on its way to Dakshiṇâpatha to conquer the southern kings had come to Navasârî to reduce that country first Thereupon Valla [56] bhanarendra, who must have been Vijayâditya or Vikramâditya II the reigning sovereign of the main branch, conferred upon him the titles of "Pillar of Dakshiṇâpatha" (Dakshiṇâpathasâdhâra), "Ornament of the family of Chaluka" (Chalukakulâlaṁkâra), "Beloved of the earth" (Pṛithivîvallabha), the "Repeller of the unrepellable" (Anivartakanivartayitri) and "Support of men in the world" (Avanijanâśraya) As "*Tâjika*" is a name applied to Arabs, from which the name "*Tâjika*" of a branch of astrology borrowed in the first instance from the Arabs is derived, the allusion in this grant is to an Arab invasion And we have a mention of such invasions between the years 711 A D and 750 A D by Mahammad Kasim and his successors ³⁶ Navasârî was the capital of the Châlukyas of Lâṭa or southern Gujarât A copper-plate grant of the Gujarât Châlukyas found at Kherâ and translated by Prof Dowson contains the names of three princes, *viz*, Jayasimharâja, Buddhavarmarâja, and Vijayarâja ³⁷ Scholars and antiquarians have understood the first of these to be the same as Jayasimha the founder of the Châlukya dynasty of the Dekkan But I think the prince meant is Jayasimhavarman, the brother of Vikramâditya I and founder of the Gujarât branch of the dynasty, for nothing has hitherto been discovered connecting the early Châlukya princes with Gujarât The grant, however, appears to me to be a forgery ³⁸ The Buddhavarman mentioned in it, if he existed at all, must have been another son of Jayasimhavarman, besides the two spoken of above, and he and his son Vijayarâja must have ruled over another part of Gujarât If the grant is to be regarded as genuine, the date 394 will have to be referred to the Gupta era