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The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s5: Section II. Antiquities and Traditions

The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s5

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English

Contents

Section II. Antiquities and Traditions

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In this section will be collected the little that is known of the history of the district previous to the Musalmáns coming to it at the beginning of the fourteenth century. And as the greater part of that little is to be found in cave temples and in inscriptions on copperplates and stones, the section will be in great part occupied by a description of these antiquarian remains. To this will be added some traditions bearing on the history of the district.

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The large number of cave temples in the Konkan, especially in Sálsette, give the district a very high interest from an antiquarian point of view. But until a connected history of all the cave temples of Western India is written it is impossible to come to any satisfactory conclusion about those of the Konkan. Here nothing more can be done than to mention all that have been hitherto found, with all that is known as to their age and purpose, and the general purport of the inscriptions which still exist in them.

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In the small island of Sálsette in the neighbourhood of Bombay, which is about eighteen miles long with an average breadth of ten miles, there are five groups of caves; at Kanheri, Kondivte, Jogeshvari, Mandapeshvar, and Mágáthan.¹ In the island of Ghárápuri are the well-known caves of Elephanta. In the neighbouring island of Karanja are also some small caves. In the Thána district north of Sálsette there are small caves at Jambrug, Kondáne, and Chandansár. In the Kolába district are the caves of Pál near Mahád and the large series of Kuda. In the Ratnágiri district there are caves at Chiplun, Khed, Dábhol, Sangameshvar, Gavháne-Velgaum, and Váde-Pádel. By far the greater part of these are small and apparently of no significance, having neither sculpture nor inscriptions, and may properly be called hermit's cells, generally two or three together. The caves of Elephanta have been so often and so thoroughly described² that they need no further mention here, for they are in no respect so remarkable as those of Kanheri which until Elura and Ajanta became so easily accessible were among the chief objects of interest on this side of India. Of them Bishop Heber wrote: "They are in every way remarkable from their number, their beautiful situation, their elaborate carving, and their marked connection with Buddh and his religion." Even to those who have visited Elura and Ajanta there are points of interest at Kanheri which the others want. "The excavations in Sálsette, especially those at Kanheri, are probably the most perfect specimens in India of a genuine Buddhist temple, college, and monastery. The great temple is not equal in beauty to that of Kárle in Poona but it exceeds that called Vishvakarma at Elura, and every other on this side of India."¹ "It is not only the numerous caves that give an idea of what the population of this barren rock must have been, but the tanks the terraces and the flights of steps which lead from one place to another."² The caves of Kanheri indeed are not a mere series of temples and halls without any trace of the existence of the worshippers who should have filled them, but the excavations include arrangements such as were required for a resident community. There are here in close proximity several vihárs or monasteries for associations of devotees, a great number of solitary cells or grihás for hermits, with shálás or halls for lectures and meetings, and chaityas or temples with relic-shrines not out of proportion in number or size to the dwelling-places. Outside the caves are reservoirs for water, a separate one for each cell, and couches or benches for the monks to recline on, carved out of the rock like everything else, while flights of steps and paths worn in the rock lead like streets from one series of caves to another; for the excavations are not only at different elevations in the face of the same hill, but also in several different hills and ravines. Here

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¹ Dr. Wilson, 2, 3; Journal, II. 130.

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² Bom. Gaz. XIV, 59-97.

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¹ W. Erskine in Bom. Lit. Trans. III. 394.

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² Lord Valentia, II. 198.

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"All things in their place remain
As all were ordered ages since,"

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and the effect is that of a town carved out of the solid rock, which, although "life and thought here no longer dwell," would, if the monks and worshippers returned, be in a day or two as complete as when first inhabited.

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The excavations are 102 in number, besides a good many now fallen in or choked with rubbish. They are all distinctly Buddhist, and contain fifty-four inscriptions, which vary in date from the first to the ninth century.³ Only two of the inscriptions, however, contain dates, Shak 775 (A.D. 858) and Shak 779 (A.D. 877). They belong to the Silhára kings of the Konkan who were tributaries of the Ráshtrakutas of Málkhet.⁴ These inscriptions have been all more or less completely deciphered. Except the Pahlavi inscriptions in cave 66, two, in caves 10 and 78, in Sanskrit, and one in cave 70 in peculiar Prákrit, the language of all is the Prákrit ordinarily used in cave writings. The letters, except in an ornamental long inscription in cave 84, are the ordinary cave characters. As regards their age, ten appear from the form of the letters to belong to the time of the Andhrabhritya or Shátakarni king Vasisthtiputra (A.D. 133-162), twenty to the Gotamiputra II. period (A.D. 177-196), ten to the fifth and sixth centuries, one to the eighth, three to the ninth or tenth, and one to the eleventh. Three inscriptions in caves 10 and 78, bear dates and names of kings and three in caves 3, 36, and 81 give the names of kings but no dates. The dates of the rest have been calculated from the form of the letters. Though almost all are mutilated, enough is in most cases left to show the name of the giver, the place where he lived, and the character of the gift.

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Of the fifty-four inscriptions, twenty-eight give the names of donors, which especially in their terminations differ from the names now in use. In twenty-one the profession of the giver is mentioned; the majority were merchants or goldsmiths, some were recluses, and one was a minister or leading officer of the state. Except seven women, four of whom were nuns, all the givers were men. The places mentioned in the neighbourhood of the caves are the cities of Kalyán Sopára and Chemula, and the villages of Mangalsthán or Mágúthan, Sákapadra probably Sáki near Tulsi, and Saphád. Of more distant places there are Násik, Pratisthán or Paithan near Ahmadnagar, Dhanakot or Dharnikot near the mouth of the Krishna, Gaud or Bengal, and Dáttámitri in Sindh. The gifts were caves, cisterns, pathways, images, and endowments in cash or land. Of the six inscriptions which give the names of kings, one in cave 36 gives the name of Madhariputra and one in cave 3 gives Yajnashri Sátakarni or Gotamiputra II. two Andhrabhritya rulers of about the first or second century after Christ. Of the two, Madhariputra is believed to be the older and Yajnashri Shátakarni to be one of his successors. Madhariputra's coins have been found near Kolhápur, and Professor Bhándárkar believes him to be the son and successor of Pudumáyi Vasisthiputra who is believed to have flourished about A.D. 130 and to be the Sri Pulimai whom Ptolemy (A.D. 150) places at Paithan near Ahmadnagar.

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Yajnashri Shátakarni or Gotamiputra II. appears in the Násik inscriptions and his coins have been found at Kolhápur, at Dharnikot near the mouth of the Krishna the old capital of the Andhrabhrityas, and on the 9th April 1882 in a stupa or relic mound in Sopára near Bassein. Two of the other inscriptions in which mention is made of the names of kings are caves 10 and 78. These are among the latest inscriptions at Kanheri both belonging to the ninth century, and the names given are of Siláhára kings of the Konkan. They are interesting as giving the names of two kings in each of these dynasties as well as two dates twenty-four years apart in the contemporary rule of one sovereign in each family. Kapardi II. the Siláhára king, the son of Pulashakti, whose capital was probably Chemula, was reigning for the twenty-four years between 853 and 878, and apparently Amoghvarsh ruled at Málkhet during the same period. This Amoghvarsh is mentioned as the son and successor of Jagattung; Amoghvarsh I. was the son of Govind III. one of whose titles was Jagattung; and he must have ruled from 810 to 830. Amoghvarsh II. was the son of Indra himself who may have borne the title of Amoghvarsh and he succeeded Jagattung about 850.

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³ Details of the Kanheri caves are given in Bom. Gaz. XIV. 121-190.

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⁴ See below page 11.

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The nearest caves to Kanheri, those of Mandapeshvar and Mágúthan, are Bráhmanical. This may be attributed either to the Bráhmans, after the overthrow of Buddhism in Western India, having taken a pride in attempting to rival the works

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Section II. Antiquities.

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of their predecessors,¹ or to the fact that in the early years of our era Bráhmans and Buddhists lived at peace with one another, and were equally favoured and protected by the reigning sovereigns.² In accordance with this view Colonel Sykes records of the Chálukya kings that, though mostly votaries of Shiv, they extended the most perfect toleration to other creeds.³ The caves at Mandapeshvar are rendered more curious by their having been occupied by the Portuguese, who called the place Mont Pezier, and erected a church and college on the hill in which the caves are, and set up an altar in the caves, so that they became, as it were, a crypt to the church above.

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¹ Dr. Wilson in Bom. R. A. S. Journal, III. 6.

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² Dr. Stevenson in Bom. R. A. S. Journal, V. 41.

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³ R. A. S. Journal, IV, 18.

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The caves of Kuda are purely Buddhist, and form a large series of twenty-six. Almost all of them are plain and, except in size, much alike. Five of them, one unfinished, are *chaityas* or temple caves containing the sacred relic-shrine or *dághoba*; the other twenty-one are dwelling caves or *lenás* as they are called in the inscriptions. These *lenás* generally consist of a veranda with a door and window opening into a cell or cells in which are rock-cut benches for the monks to sleep on. The doors are almost all grooved for wooden frames. The walls of almost all the caves were plastered with earth and rice chaff and on several of them are remains of painting. There are in all twenty-four inscriptions, six of them in one cave, the sixth, which is the only cave with sculpture. Five of these six inscriptions belong to the fifth or sixth century after Christ; all the rest are in letters of about the first century before Christ and record the names of the giver and the nature of the gift, whether a cave, a cistern, or both. Several of the figures are women and one of them is a Bráhman's wife. It is worthy of note that the name Shiv forms part of the name of several of the givers. The caves in the neighbourhood of Mahád are mere cells. One group of twenty-nine of about the first or second century after Christ are at Pále about two miles north-west of Mahád, and two groups of the same age at Kol, about a mile to the south. The Pále group has one inscription of about A.D. 130 and the second Kole group has three short inscriptions of about the same time. There is a third group of a few cells and cisterns in a hill to the north-east of Mahád, and one cell in a hill to the south near the road leading to Nágothna. In the hills above the old port of Cheul are ten caves of about A.D. 150, all plain and much ruined. It is probable that, besides those mentioned above, many other small caves exist in hills and other places not generally accessible, and one such may be mentioned in the hill-fort of Asheri.

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The conclusion undoubtedly is that Sálsette and a part of the Konkan south of Bombay were strongholds of Buddhism. It is not so certain that this would involve any considerable degree of civilization. On the contrary it is known that the Buddhist leaders inclined to establish their great monasteries in places remote from cities, and chiefly remarkable, as Kánheri undoubtedly is, for beauty of situation. Here indeed we may believe that to many “the calm life of the hermit seemed a haven of peace where a life of self-denial and earnest meditation might lead to some solution of the strange enigmas of life.”¹

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¹ Rhys David’s Buddhism.

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It should be mentioned that when the Portuguese took possession of Sálsette they found the Kánheri caves inhabited by Jogis, about whom as well as about the caves themselves the early historians made many wonderful statements. Thus the cells exceeded 3000 in number, each with a cistern supplied by one conduit; the chief Jogi was 150 years old; and from the caves at Kanheri an underground passage some said to Cambay, some to Agra, in which a number of Portuguese explorers travelled for seven days without seeing any sign of an outlet, and so were obliged at last to turn back.² The elephant at Elephanta was the work of a king in whose time a shower of golden rain fell for three hours.³ Even to an English traveller of the sixteenth century it seemed scarcely incredible that the water there ran uphill in order to supply the wants of the monks.

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² DeCoutto, VII. 238.

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³ DeCoutto, VII. 261.

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Of considerably later date than that given to the Kanheri and other cave inscriptions are the inscribed stones and copperplates which have been found in the Konkan in considerable numbers, and which from the ninth century downwards afford some evidence as to the civilization and divisions of the country.

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A copperplate found by Dr. Bird in 1839, in a relic mound at Kanheri in front of the great chapel cave No. 3 is dated in the 245th year of the Trikutakas, a dynasty of kings who, about the fourth or fifth century, appear to have held Central and South Gujarát and the North Konkan.⁴ From the form of the letters, which seem to belong to the fifth century, Dr. Burgess considers the era to be the Gupta commencing in A.D. 219, and thus makes the date of the plate A.D. 464.⁵ Two hoards of silver coins bearing the legend, “The illustrious Krishna-rája the great lord meditating on the feet of his mother and father” were found in 1881-82, one in the island of Bombay the other at Mulgaon in Sálsette. This seems to show that the early Ráshtrakuta king Krishna (A.D. 375-400), whose coins have already been found in Báglán in Násik and Karhád in Sátára, also held possession of the North Konkan.⁶

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⁴ A copperplate of the Trikutaka king Darhasena was in 1884 found in Párdi in the Surat district.

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⁵ Trikuta or The Three Hills is mentioned by Kálidás (A.D. 500) as a city on a lofty site built by Raghu when he conquered the Konkan. The name is the same as Trigiri the Sanskrit form of Tagar, and Pandit Bhagvánlál identifies the city with Junnár in west Poona, a place of great importance on a high site, and between the three hills of Shivneri, Ganeshlena, and Mánmodi.

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⁶ Compare Cunningham’s Archæological Survey Report, IX. 30; Fleet’s Kánarese Dynasties, 31 note 2.

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About the middle of the sixth century kings of the Maurya and Nala dynasties appear to have been ruling in the Konkan. Kirtivarma (A.D. 550-567), the first Chálukya king who turned his arms against the Konkan, is described as the night of death to the Nalas and Mauryas.¹ And an inscription of Kirtivarma’s grandson Pulikeshi II. (A.D. 610-640) under whom the Konkan was conquered, describes his general Chanda-danda, as a great wave which drove before it the watery stores of the pools, that is the Mauryas. The Chálukya general with hundreds of ships attacked the Maurya capital Puri, the goddess of the fortunes of the western ocean.² A stone inscription from Váda in the north of the Thána district shows that a Mauryan king of the name of Suketuvarma was then ruling in the Konkan.³

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¹ Ind. Ant. VIII. 244.

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² Dr. Burgess' Archæological Survey Report, III. 26. Puri has not been identified. Bom. Gaz. XIV. 401-402.

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³ Dr. Bhagvánlál Indráji. Compare Bom. Gaz. XIII. Part II. 420 note 8; XIV. 372-373.

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During the reign of the great Naushervan (531-578), when the Persians were the rulers of the commerce of the eastern seas, the relations between Western India and Persia were extremely close.⁴ On the Arab overthrow of Yezdejard III. (638) the last of the Sassanians, several bands of Persians sought refuge on the Thána coast and were kindly received by Jádav Rána, apparently a Yádav chief of Sanján.⁵ In the years immediately after their conquest of Persia the Arabs made several raids on the coasts of Western India; one of these in 637 from Bahrein and Oman in the Persian gulf plundered the Konkan coast near Thána.⁶

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⁴ Yule (Cathay, I. 56) notices that about this time the lower Euphrates was called Hind or India, but this seems to have been an ancient practice. Rawlinson in J. R. G. S. XXVII. 186. As to the extent of the Persian trade at this time, see Renaud's Mémoire Sur l'Inde, 124. In the fifth and sixth centuries, besides the Persian trade, there was an active Arab trade up the Persian gulf and the Euphrates to Hira on the right or west bank of the river, not far from the ruins of Babylon. There was also much traffic with Obollah near the mouth of the joint river not far from Basra. Reinaud's Abu-l-fida, ccclxxxii. Obollah is also at this time (A.D. 400-600) noticed as the terminus of the Indian and Chinese vessels which were too large to pass up the river to Hira. (Ditto and Yule's Cathay, lxxvii. 55.) So close was its connection with India that the Talmud writers always speak of it as Hindike or Indian Obillah (Rawlinson in J. R. G. S. XXVII. 186). According to Masudi (915) Obollah was the only port under the Sassanian kings (Prairies d'Or, III. 164). McCrindle (Periplus, 103; compare Vincent, II. 377) identifies it with the Apologos of the Periplus (A.D. 247) which he holds took the place of Ptolemy's (A.D. 150) Teredon or Diridotus. Reinaud (Ind. Ant. VIII. 330) holds that Obollah is a corruption of the Greek Apologos, a custom house. But Vincent's view (II. 355) that Apologos is a Greek form of the original Obollah or Obollegh seems more likely. In Vincent's opinion (Ditto, II. 356) Obollah was founded by the Parthians. At the time of the Arab conquest of Persia (637) Abillah is mentioned as the port of entry at the mouth of the Euphrates (J. R. A. S. XII. 208). In spite of the rivalry of the new Arab port of Basra, Obollah continued a considerable centre of trade. It is mentioned by Tabari in the ninth century (Reinaud's Abu-l-fida, ccclxxxii.): Masudi (913) notices it as a leading town (Prairies d'Or, I. 230-231); Idrisi (1135) as a very rich and flourishing city (Jaubert's Ed. I. 369); and it appears in the fourteenth century in Abu-l-fida (Reinaud's Abu-l-fida, 72). It was important enough to give the Persian gulf the name of the Gulf of Obollah (D'Herbelot's Bibliotheque Orientale, III. 61). According to D'Herbelot when he wrote (about 1670) Obollah was still a strong well peopled town (Ditto). The importance of the town and the likeness of the names suggest that Obollah is the Abulamah from which came the Persian or Parthian Harpharan of Abulamah who records the gift of a cave in Kárli inscription 20. This identification supports the close connection by sea between the Parthians and the west coast of India in the centuries before and after the Christian era.

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⁵ See above page 8.

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⁶ Elliot and Dowson's History, I. 415, 416. As the companion fleet which was sent to Dibal or Diul in Sindh made a trade settlement at that town, this attack on Thána

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No further notice¹ of the North Konkan has been traced till the rise of the Siláháras, twenty of whom, so far as present information goes, ruled in the North Konkan from about A.D. 810 to A.D. 1260, a period of 450 years.

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¹ Hiuen Tsiang's (642) Konkanapura, about 330 miles from the Drávid country, was thought by General Cunningham (Anc. Geog. 552) to be Kalyán, or some other place in the Konkan. Dr. Burnell (Ind. Ant. VII. 39) has identified it with Konkanhalli in Mysore.

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So far as at present known, the family tree of the Thána Siláháras was:

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(1) Kapardi.
(2) Pulashakti.
(3) Kapardi (II.) named Laghu or the Younger, (Shak 775-799, A.D. 853-877).
(4) Vappuvanna.
(5) Jhanjha (A.D. 916).
(6) Goggi.
(7) Vajjadadev.
(8) Aparájit (Shak 919, A.D. 997). (married Bhillama the fourth Chóndor Yádav king).
(9) Vajjadadev (II.).
(10) Arikeshari (Shák 930, A.D. 1017).
(11) Chhittaráj (Shak 948, A.D. 1026).
(12) Nágárjun.
(13) Mummuni (Shak 982, A.D. 1060).
(14) Anantdev (Shak 1003 and 1016, A.D. 1081 and 1094).
(15) Aparáditya (Shak 1060, A.D. 1138).
(16) Haripáldev (Shak 1071, 1072, and 1075, A.D. 1149, 1150, and 1153).
(17) Mallikárjun (Shak 1078 and 1082, A.D. 1156 and 1160).
(18) Aparáditya (II.) (Shak 1106 and 1109, A.D. 1184 and 1187).
(19) Keshidev (Shak 1125 and 1161, A.D. 1203 and 1238).
(20) Someshvar (Shak 1171 and 1182, A.D. 1249 and 1260).

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Who the Siláháras were has not been ascertained. The name is variously spelt Siláhára, Shailáhára, Shrilára, Silára, and Silára; even the same inscription has more than one form, and one inscription has the three forms Silára, Shilára, and Shrilára.² Lassen suggests that the Siláháras are of Afghán origin, as Silár Káfirs are still found in Afghánistán.³ But the southern ending Ayya of the names of almost all their ministers and the un-Sanskrit names of some of the chiefs favour the view that they were of southern or Dravidian origin.⁴

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² Ind. Ant. IX. 33, 34, 35 ; Jour. B. B. A. S. XIII. 2, 3, 5.

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³ Lassen's Ind. Alt. IV. 113.

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⁴ It seems probable that Siláhára and Shailáhára are Sanskritised forms of the common Maráthi surname Selar. The story of the origin of the name is that Jimutváhan the mythical founder was the son of a spirit or Vidyádhara, who under a curse became a man. At this time Vishnu's eagle, Garuda, conquered the serpent king Vásuki and forced Vásuki to give him one of his serpent subjects for his daily food. After a time it came to the lot of the serpent Shankhachuda to be sacrificed. He was taken to a stone, shila, and left for the eagle to devour, Jimutváhan resolved to save the victim, and placed himself on the rock instead of the serpent. When Garuda came, Jimutváhan said he was the victim and Garuda devoured him except his head. Meantime Jimutváhan's wife came, and finding her husband slain, reproach-

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Section II. Antiquities.

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was probably more than a plundering raid. The Kaliph Umar (634-643), who had not been consulted, was displeased with the expedition and forbad any further attempt.

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The Siláháras seem to have remained under the Ráshtrakutas till about the close of the tenth century A.D. 997, when Aparájit assumed independent power.¹ The Thána Siláháras seem to have held the greater part of the present districts of Thána and Kolába. Their capital seems to have been Puri,² and their places of note were Hamjaman probably Sanján in Dáhánu, Thána (Shristhának), Sopára (Shurpárak), Chaul (Chemuli), Lonád (Lavanatata), and Uran.³ As the Yádavs call themselves lords of the excellent city of Dvárávatipura or Dwárka and the Kadambas call themselves lords of the excellent city of Banavásipura or Banavási, so the Siláháras call themselves lords of the excellent city of Tagarapura or Tagar. This title would furnish a clue to the origin of the Siláháras if, unfortunately, the site of Tagar was not uncertain.⁴

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¹ See below page 18. The early Siláháras, though they call themselves Rájás and Konkan Chakravartis, seem to have been only Mahámandleshvaras or Mahásámantádhipatis, that is great nobles. In two Kanheri cave inscriptions (Arch. Sur. X. 61, 62) the third Siláhára king Kapardi II. (A.D. 853 to 877) is mentioned as a subordinate of the Ráshtrakutas. Of the later Siláháras Anantapál, A.D. 1094, and Aparáditya, A.D. 1138, claim to be independent. Ind. Ant. IX. 45.

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² The Siláhára Puri, if, as seems likely, it is the same as the Maurya Puri (Ind. Ant. VIII. 244), was a coast town. Of the possible coast towns Thána and Chaul may be rejected, as they appear under the names of Shristhának and Chemuli in inscriptions in which Puri also occurs (As. Res. I. 361, 364; Ind. Ant. IX, 38). Kalyán and Sopára may be given up as unsuitable for an attack by sea, and to Sopára there is the further objection that it appears in the same copperplate in which Puri occurs. (Ind. Ant. IX. 38.) There remain Mangalpuri or Mágáthan in Sálsette, Ghárápuri or Elephanta, and Rájápuri or Janjira. As neither Mangalpuri nor Rájápuri has remains of an old capital, perhaps the most likely identification of Puri is the Moreh landing or Bandar on the north-east corner of Ghárápuri or Elephanta, where many ancient remains have been found. Compare Bom. Gaz. XIV. Places and Appendix A.

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³ Other places of less note mentioned in the inscriptions are Bhádán, Padgha, and Bábgaon villages, and the Kumbhári river in Bhiwndi, Kanher in Bassein, and Chánje (Chadiche) village near Uran.

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⁴ Tagar has been identified by Wilford (As. Res. I. 369) with Devgiri or Daulatabad and by Dr. Burgess with Roza about four miles from Daulatabad (Bidar and Aurangabad, 55); Lassen and Yule place it doubtfully at Kulburga (Ditto); Pandit Bhagvánlál, as already stated, at Junnar; Grant Duff (Maráthás, 11) near Bhir on the Godávari; and Mr. J. F. Fleet, I. C. S. (Kánarese Dynasties, 99-103) at Kolhápur. Prof. Bhandárkar observes: 'The identification of Tagar with Devgiri is based on the supposition that the former name is a corruption of the latter. But that it is not so is proved by its occurrence as Tagar in the Siláhára grants (A.D. 997-1094), and in a Chálukya grant of A.D. 612, the language of all of which is Sanskrit. The modern Junnar cannot have been Tagar, since the Greeks place Tagar ten days' journey to the east of Paithan. On the supposition that Junnar was Tagar, one would expect the Chálukya plate issued to a Bráhman of Tagar to have been found at or near Junnar. But it was found at Haidarabad in the Dakhan. The author of the Periplus calls Tagar "the greatest city" in Dakhinabades or Dakshinápath. The Siláhára princes or chiefs, who formed three distinct branches of a dynasty that ruled over two parts of the Konkan and the country about Kolhápur, trace their origin to Jimutváhan the Vidyádhar or demigod and style themselves "The lords of the excellent city of Tagar."' From this it would appear that the Siláháras were an ancient family, and that their original seat was Tagar whence they spread to the confines of the country. Tagar therefore was probably the centre of one of the earliest Aryan settlements in the Dandakáranya or 'forest of Dandaka,' as the Dakhan or Maháráshtra was called. These early settlements followed the course of the Godávari. Hence it is that in the formula repeated at the beginning of any religious

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ed Garuda, who restored him to life and at her request ceased to devour the serpents. For this act of self-sacrifice Jimutváhan gained the name of the Rock-devoured Shiláhlára. J. R. A. S. (Old Series), IV. 113. Tawney's Kathá Sarit Ságara, I. 174-186. A stanza from this story forms the beginning of all Siláhára copperplate inscriptions.

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Besides the Siláhára references, the only known Sanskrit notice of Tagar is in a Chálukya copperplate found near Haidarabad in the Dakhan and dated A.D. 612.¹ As has been already noticed, the references to Tagar in Ptolemy and in the Periplus point to a city considerably to the east of Paithan, and the phrase in the Periplus,² ‘That many articles brought into Tagar from the parts along the coast were sent by wagons to Broach,’ seems to show that Tagar was in communication with the Bay of Bengal, and was supported by the eastern trade, which in later times enriched Málkhet, Kalyán, Bidar, Golkonda, and Haidarabad.

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¹ Ind. Ant. VI. 75.

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² McCrindle, 126.

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From numerous references and grants the Thána Siláháras seem to have been worshippers of Shiv.³

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³ The most marked passages are in a copperplate of A.D. 1094, where the fifth king Jhanjha is mentioned as having built twelve temples to Shambhu, and the tenth king Arikeshari as having, by direction of his father, visited Someshvar or Somnáth, offering up before him the whole earth (Ind. Ant. IX. 37). The Kolhápur Siláháras appear to have been tolerant kings, as one copperplate records grants to Mahádev, Buddha, and Arhat (Jour. B. B. R. A. S. XIII. 17). Compare Fleet’s Kánaresc Dynasties, 103.

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Of Kapardi, the first of the Thána Siláháras, nothing is known except that he claims descent from Jimutváhan. Pulashakti his son and successor, in an undated inscription in Kanheri Cave 78, is mentioned as the governor of Mangalpuri in the Konkan, and as the humble servant of (the Ráshtrakuta king) Amoghvarsh. The third king, Pulashakti’s son, Kapardi II. was called the Younger Laghu. Two inscriptions in Kanheri Caves 10 and 78, dated A.D. 853 and 877, seem to show that he was subordinate to the Ráshtrakutas. The son of Kapardi II. was the fourth king Vappuvanna, and his son was Jhanjha the fifth king. Jhanjha is mentioned by the Arab historian Masudi as ruling over Saimur (Cheul) in A.D. 916.⁴ He must have been a staunch Shaivite, as, according to a Siláhára copperplate of A.D. 1094, he built twelve temples of Shambhu.⁵ According to an unpublished copperplate in the possession of Pandit Bhagvánlál, Jhanjha had a daughter named Lasthiyavva, who was married to Bhillama the fourth of the Chándor Yádavs.⁶

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⁴ Prairies d’Or, II. 85.

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⁵ Ind. Ant. IX. 35.

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⁶ The text is, “Bháryá yasya eha Jhanjhárdjatanayá shri Lasthiyavváhvyá.” A short account of the Chándor Yádavs is given in the Násik Statistical Account, Bom. Gaz. XVI. 185.

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The next king was Jhanjha’s brother Goggi, and after him came Goggi’s son Vajjadadev. Of the eighth king, Vajjadadev’s son

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ceremony in Maháráshtra, the place where the ceremony is performed is alluded to by giving its bearing from the Godávari. People in Khándesh use the words ‘Godávárya uttara tire’ that is ‘on the northern bank of the Godávari,’ while those to the south of the river, as far as the borders of the country, use the expression ‘Godávárya dakshine tire’ that is ‘on the southern bank of the Godávari.’ If then Tagar was one of the earliest of the Aryan settlements, it must be situated on or near the banks of the Godávari, as the ancient town of Paithan is; and its bearing from Paithan given by the Greek geographers agrees with this supposition, as the course of the Godávari from that point is nearly easterly. Tagar must therefore be looked for to the east of Paithan. If the name has undergone corruption, it must, by the Prákrit law of dropping the initial mutes, be first changed to Taaraura, and thence to Tarur or Terur. Can it be the modern Dárur or Dhárur in the Nizám’s dominions, twenty-five miles east of Grant Duff’s Bhir and seventy miles south-east of Paithan?

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Aparájit or Birundakarám, a copperplate dated 927 (*Shak* 919) has lately been found at Bher, about ten miles north of Bhiwndi.¹ It appears from this plate that during Aparájit’s reign, his Ráshtrakuta overlord Karkarája or Kakkala was overthrown and slain by the Chálukyan Tailapa, and that Aparájit became independent some time between 972 and 997.²

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¹ The copperplate records the grant at Shristhának or Thána, of Bhádáne village about eight miles east of Bhiwndi for the worship of Lonáditya residing in (whose temple is in) Livanatata (Lonád), on the fourth of the dark half of Áshádh (June-July) *Shak* 919 (A.D. 997), as a *Dakshináyan* gift, that is a gift made on the occasion of the sun beginning to pass to the south. Aparájita’s ministers were Sangalaiya and Sinhapaiya. The inscription was written by Sangalaiya’s son Annapai. The grant was settled in Thána, *Tachcha Shristhánake dhruvam*.

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² Pandit Bhagvánlál Indraji.

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In a copperplate of A.D. 1094, recording a grant by the fourteenth king Anantdev, Aparájit is mentioned as having welcomed Goinma, confirmed to Aiyapdev the sovereignty which had been shaken, and afforded security to Bhillamámmamanambudha?³ The next king was Aparájit’s son Vajjadadev. The next king Arikeshari, Vajjadadev’s brother, in a copperplate grant dated A.D. 1097, is styled the lord of fourteen hundred Konkan villages. Mention is also made of the cities of Shristhának, Puri, and Hamyaman probably Sanján.⁴ The eleventh king was Vajjadadev’s son Chhittarájdev. In a copperplate dated *Shak* 948 (A.D. 1025) he is styled the ruler of the fourteen hundred Konkan villages, the chief of which were Puri and Hamyaman.⁵ The twelfth king was Nágárjun, the younger brother of Chhittarájdev. After him came Nágárjun’s younger brother Mummuni or Mámváni, who is mentioned in an inscription dated A.D. 1060 (*Shak* 932).⁶ The fourteenth king was Mummuni or Mámváni’s son Anantpál or Anantdev, whose name occurs in two grants dated A.D. 1081 and 1096.⁷ In the 1096 grant Anantpál is mentioned as ruling over the whole Konkan fourteen hundred villages, the chief of which was Puri and next to it Hanjamana probably Sanján, and as having cast into the ocean of the edge of his sword those wicked heaps of sin, who at a time of misfortune, caused by the rise to power of hostile relatives, devastated the whole Konkan, harassing gods and Bráhmans.¹

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³ Ind. Ant. IX. 36. Of Gomma and Aiyapdev nothing is known; of the third name only Bhillam the son-in-law of Jhanjha can be made out.

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⁴ Asiatic Researches, I. 357-367. This grant was found in 1787 while digging foundations in Thána fort. Arikeshari’s ministers were Vásapaiya and Várdhapaiya. The grant consists of several villages given to a family priest, the illustrious Tikka-paiya son of the illustrious astrologer Chhhinpaiya, an inhabitant of Shristhának (Thána) on the occasion of a full eclipse of the moon in Kártik (October-November) *Shak* 939 (A.D. 1017) Pingala *Samvatsara*. The grant was written by the illustrious Nágalaiya, the great bard, and engraved on plates of copper by Vedapaiya’s son Mándhárpaiya.

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⁵ Ind. Ant. V. 276-281. His ministers were the chief functionary *Sarvádhikári* the illustrious Náganaiya, the minister for peace and war for Karnáta (Kánara) the illustrious Kapardi. The grant, which is dated Sunday the fifteenth of the bright half of Kártik (October-November) *Shak* 948 (A.D. 1026) Kshaya *Samvatsara* is of a field in the village of Nour (the modern Naura two miles north of Bhándup) in the *táluka* of Shatshashthi (Sálsette) included in Shristhának (Thána). The donee is a Bráhman Amadevaiya the son of Vipranodamaiya, who belonged to the Chhandogashákha of the Sámved.

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⁶ Jour. B. B. R. A. S. XII. 329-332. In this inscription, which is in the Amarnáth temple near Kalyán, he is called Mámvánirájadev and his ministers are named Vinta(paiya), Náganaiya, Vakadaiya, Jogalaiya, Pádhisena, and Bháilaiya. The inscription records the construction of a temple of Chhittarájdev, that is a temple, the merit of building which counts to Chhittarájdev.

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⁷ The A.D. 1081 grant was found in Vehár in Sálsette and the 1096 grant in Khárepátan in Devgad in the Ratnágiri district. The Vehár stone was found in 1881 and

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¹ This account refers to some civil strife of which nothing is known (Ind. Ant. IX. 41). Anantdev's ministers were the illustrious Nauvitaka Vásada, Rishibhatta, the illustrious Pádhisen Mahádevaiya prabhu, and Somanaiya prabhu. The grant is dated the first day of the bright half of Mágh (January-February) in the year *Shak* 1016 (A.D. 1094), *Bháv Samvatsara*. It consists of an exemption from tolls for all carts belonging to the great minister the illustrious Bhábhana shreshthi, the son of the great minister Durgashreshthi of Valipavana, probably Pálpattna or the city of Pál near Mahád in Kolába, and his brother the illustrious Dhanaumshreshthi. Their carts may come into any of the ports, Shristhának, Nágpur perhaps Nágothna, Shurparak, Chemuli, and others included within the Konkan Fourteen Hundred. They are also freed from the toll on the ingress or egress of those who carry on the business of novika (?)

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The names of six Siláhára kings later than Anantdev have been made out from land-grant stones. As these stones do not give a pedigree, the order and relationship of the kings cannot be determined.

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The first of these kings is Aparáditya, who is mentioned in a stone dated A.D. 1138 (*Shak* 1060).² The next king is Haripáldev, who is mentioned in three stones dated A.D. 1149, 1150, and 1153 (*Shak* 1071, 1072, and 1075).³

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² This stone, which was found in 1881 at Chánje near Uran in the Karanja petty division, records the grant of a field in Nágum, probably the modern Nágaon about four miles west of Uran, for the merit of his mother Liládevi; and another grant of a garden in Chadija (Chánje) village. This is the Aparáditya ‘king of the Konkan,’ who is mentioned in Mankha’s *Shrikanthacharita* (a book found by Dr. Bühler in Káshmir and ascribed by him to A.D. 1135-1145) as sending Tejakanth from Shurpárak (Sopára) to the literary congress held at Káshmir, of which details are given in that book. Jour. B. B. R. A. S. XII. Extra Number, 51. cxv.

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³ The 1149 stone is built into the plinth of the back veranda of the house of one Jairám Bháskar Sonár at Sopára. It records a gift. The name of the king is doubtful. It may be also read Kurpáldev. The 1150 stone was found near Agáshi in 1881. It is dated 1st *Márgshirsh* (December-January), in the Pramoda *Samvatsara*, *Shak* 1072 (A.D. 1150). Haripál's ministers were Vesupadval, Lakshman prabhu, Padmashivráut, and Vásugi náyak. The grant is of the permanent income of Shrinevadi in charge of a Pattakil (Pátil) named Rája, to the family priest Brahmadevbhatt son of Divákarbhatt and grandson of Govardhanbhatt by prince Ahavamalla enjoying the village of Vattárak (Vatár) in Shurpárak (Sopára). The witnesses to the grant are Risi Mhátara, head of Vattárak village, Náguji Mhátara, Anantnáyak, and Chángdev Mhátara. [Pandit Bhagvánlál.] Another inscription of Haripáldev has been found on a stone in Karanjon in Bassein. The inscription is of thirteen lines which are very hard to read. In the third and fourth lines can be read very doubtfully ‘the illustrious Haripáldev, the chief of the Mahámandaleshvaras, adorned with all the royal titles.’ The 1153 stone was found near Borivli station in 1882. The inscription is in nine lines, and bears date *Shak* 1075, *Shrimukh Samvatsara* and the name of king Haripál.

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The next king is Mallikárjun, of whom two grants are recorded, one from Chiplún in Ratnágiri dated 1156 (*Shak* 1078), the other from Bassein dated 1160 (*Shak* 1082). This Mallikárjun seems to be the Konkan king, who was defeated near Balsár by Ámbada the general

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records a grant by Anantdev in Shak 1003 (A.D. 1081), the chief minister being Rudrapai. The inscription mentions Ajapálaiya, son of Mátaiya of the Vyádika family, and the grant of some *drammas* to *khárásán mandli*[?] (Pandit Bhagvánlál). The Khárepátan copperplates were found several years ago and give the names of all the thirteen Siláhára kings before Anantdev. Ind. Ant. IX. 33-46.

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of the Gujarát king Kumárpál Solanki (A.D. 1143-1174).¹ Next comes Aparáditya II. of whom there are four land-grant stones, three of them dated, one in 1184 (*Shak* 1106) and two in 1187 (*Shak* 1109), and one undated.²

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¹ The Kumárpál Charitra (A.D. 1170) which gives details of this defeat of Mallikárjun, see below page 24, describes Mallikárjun's father as Mahánand, and his capital as Shatánandpur 'surrounded by the ocean' (*Shatánapure jaludhiveshtite Mahánando rája*). Mahánand is an addition to the Siláhára table, but the form appears doubtful and does not correspond with the name of any of the preceding or succeeding kings. 'Surrounded by the ocean' might apply to a town either in Sálsette or on Sopára island. But the epithet applies much better to a town on Elephanta island, and the similarity in name suggests that Shatánandpur may be Santapur, an old name for Elephanta. See Bom. Gaz. XIV. Thána Places of Interest, 81-82. Mallikárjun's Chiplún stone was found in 1880 by Mr. Falle, of the Marine Survey, under a wall in Chiplún (Jour. B. B. R. A. S. XIV. 35). It is now in the museum of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. The writing gives the name of Mallikárjun and bears date *Shak* 1078 (A.D. 1156). His ministers were Nágnaiya and Lakshmanaiya's son Anantugi (Pandit Bhagvánlál). The Bassein stone styles the king 'Shri-Siláhára Mallikárjun' and the date given is *Shak* 1082 (A.D. 1160), Vishva *Samvatsara*, his ministers being Prabhákar náyak and Anantpai prabhu. The grant is of a field (?) or garden (?) called Shilárvátak in Padhálasak in Katakhadi by two royal priests, for the restoration of a temple. Pandit Bhagvánlál.

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² The 1184 (*Shak* 1106) stone was found in February 1882 about a mile south-west of Lonád in Bhiwndi. Of the two *Shak* 1109 (A.D. 1187) stones, one found near Government House, Parel, records a grant by Aparáditya, the ruler of the Konkan, of 24 dramma coins after exempting other taxes, the fixed revenue of one cart in the village of Máhuli (probably the modern Máhul near Kurla) connected with Shatshashthi, which is in the possession of Anantapai prabhu, for performing the worship by five rites of (the god) Vaidyanáth, lord of Darbhávati. The last line of the inscription shows that it was written by a Káyasth named Válig Pandit (Jour. B. B. R. A. S. XII. 335). The second *Shak* 1109 (A.D. 1187) stone is in the museum of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. It is dated *Shak* 1109 (A.D. 1187) Vishvávasu *Samvatsara*, on Sunday the sixth of the bright half of Chaitra (April-May). The grantor is the great minister Lakshmanánayaka son of Bháskarnáyaka, and something is said in the grant about the god Somnáth of Suráshtra (Ind. Ant. IX. 49). The fourth stone, which bears no date, was found near Kalambhom in Bassein in 1882. It gives the name of Aparáditya, and from the late form of the letters probably belongs to this king. A fifth stone has recently been found near Bassein. The date is doubtful; it looks like *Shak* 1107 (A.D. 1185), Pandit Bhagvánlál.

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The next king is Keshidev, son of Aparárka (Aparáditya II.?), two of whose land-grant stones have been found, one dated 1203 (*Shak* 1125) the other 1238 (*Shak* 1161).³

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³ The *Shak* 1125 (A.D. 1203) stone was found in 1881 near Mándvi in Bassein. It records the grant of something for offerings, *naivedya*, to the god Lakshmináráyan in the reign of the illustrious Keshidev. [Pandit Bhagvánlál.] The *Shak* 1161 (A.D. 1238) stone was found near Lonád village in Bhiwndi in February 1882. It bears date the thirteenth of the dark half of Mágh (February-March) and records the grant by Keshidev, the son of Aparárka of the village of Brahmapuri, to one Kavi Soman, devoted to the worship of Shompeshvar Mahádev. The inscription describes Brahmapuri as 'pleasing by reason of its Shaiv temples.' A field or hamlet called Májaspalli in Bápgrám, the modern Bábgaon near Lonád, is granted by the same inscription to four worshippers in front of the image of Shompeshvar. Aparárka, Keshidev's father, is probably the Aparáditya (arka and áditya both meaning sun) the author of the commentary called Aparárka on Yajnavalkya's law book the Mitákshara. At the end of the commentary is written: Thus ends the Penance Chapter in the commentary on the Hindu law of Yájnavalkya made by the illustrious Aparáditya of the family of Jimutvahán, the Siláhára king of the dynasty of the illustrious Vidyádhara. Jour. B. B. R. A. S. XII. 335 and Extra Number, 52. Aparárka is cited by an author of the beginning of the thirteenth century. Jour. B. B. R. A. S. IX, 161.

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The next is Someshvar, two of whose land-grant stones have been found, one dated 1249 (Shak 1171) the other 1260 (Shak 1182).¹

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¹ The Shak 1171 (A.D. 1249) stone was found in Ránvad near Uran. In this stone the Siláhára king Someshvar grants land in Padivase village in Uran to purify him from sins. The Shak 1182 (A.D. 1260) stone was found in Chánje also near Uran. It records the grant by the Konkan monarch Someshvar of 162 Páruttha (Parthian ?) dramma coins, being the fixed income of a garden in Konthalesthán in Chadiche (Chánje) village in Uran, to Uttareshvar Mahádev of Shri-Sthának (Thána). The boundary on the west is the royal or high road rájpath. Someshvar's ministers were Jhámpadprabhu, Maináku, Bebalaprabhu, Peramde Pandit, and Pádhigovenaku. Pandit Bhagvánlál.

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Though, with few exceptions, the names of the Thána Siláháras are Sanskrit the names of almost all their ministers and of many of the grantees point to a Kánarese or a Telugu source. They appear to be southerners, and ayyas or high-caste Dravidian Hindus seem to have had considerable influence at their court.² Káyasthas, probably the ancestors of the present Káyasth Prabhus, are also mentioned.

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² Ind. Ant. IX. 46. This southern element is one reason for looking for Tagar in the Telugu-speaking districts. Ayya, the Kánarese for master, is the term in ordinary use in the Bombay Karnátak for Jangam or Lingáyat priests. The Sárasvat Bráhmans of North Kánara are at present passing through the stage, which the upper classes of the North Konkan seem to have passed through about 500 years ago, of discarding the southern ayya for the northern ráo.

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Though their grants are written in Sanskrit, sometimes pure sometimes faulty, from the last three lines of one of their stone inscriptions, the language of the country appears to have been a corrupt Prákrit, the mother of the modern Maráthi.³ The same remark applies to the names of towns. For, though inscriptions give such Sanskritised forms as Shri-Sthának, Shurpárak, and Hanjaman or Hamyaman, the writings of contemporary Arab travellers show that the present names Thána, Sopára, and Sanján were then in use.⁴

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³ Jour. B. B. R. A. S. XII, 334.

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⁴ Elliot and Dowson, I. 24, 27, 30, 34, 38, 60, 61, 66, 67, 77, 85; Masudi's Prairies d'Or, I. 254, 330, 381 and III. 47.

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On the condition of the Siláhára kingdom the inscriptions throw little light. The administration appears to have been carried on by the king assisted by a great councillor or great minister, a great minister for peace and war, two treasury lords, and sometimes a (chief) secretary. The subordinate machinery seems to have consisted of heads of districts ráshtras, heads of sub-divisions vishayas, heads of towns, and heads of villages.⁵ They had a king's high road rájpath, passing to the west of the village of Gomvani a little north of Bhándup, following nearly the same line as the present road from Bombay to Thána; and there was another king's high road near Uran. At their ports, among which Sopára, Thána, Chaul, and perhaps Nágothna are mentioned, a customs duty was levied. The dramma was the current coin.⁶ The Siláháras seem to have been

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⁵ Asiatic Researches, I. 361; Ind. Ant. V. 280 and IX. 38. The name pattákil (modern pátil) used in stone inscriptions seems to show that the villages were in charge of headmen.

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⁶ Drammas, which are still found in the Konkan, are believed by Pandit Bhagvánlál to be the coins of a corrupt Sassanian type which are better known as Gadhia paisa or ass-money. Jour. B. B. R. A. S. XII. 325-328. The Páruttha Drammas mentioned in note 1 above seem to be Parthian drammas. Perhaps they

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Antiquities.

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fond of building. The Muhammadans in the beginning of the thirteenth century and the Portuguese in the sixteenth century destroyed temples and stone-faced reservoirs by the score. The statements of travellers and the remains at Ambarnáth, Pelar, Átgaon, Párol, Wálukeshvar in Bombay, and Lonád prove that the masonry was of well-dressed close-fitting blocks of stone, and that the sculptures were carved with much skill and richness. Many of them seem to have been disfigured by indecency.¹ Some of the Siláháras seem to have encouraged learning. One of them Aparáditya II. (1187) was an author, and another Aparáditya I. (1138) is mentioned as sending a Konkan representative to a great meeting of learned men in Kashmir.

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¹ Details of these remains are given in the fourteenth volume of the Bombay Gazetteer. The only place not mentioned in that volume of the Gazetteer is Wálukeshvar in Bombay. The remains at Wálukeshvar consist of about sixty richly carved stones, pillar capitals, statues, and other temple fragments, one of them about 6'x3', apparently of the tenth century, which lie near the present Wálukeshvar temple on Malabár Point. The memorial stones or páliyás, which are interesting and generally spirited, seem almost all to belong to Siláhára times. The handsomest specimens are near Borivli in Sálsette. Details of the sculptures on memorial stones are given in Bombay Gazetteer, XIV. under Eksar and Sháhápur.

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While its local rulers were the Siláháras, the overlords of the Konkan, to whom the Siláháras paid obeisance during the latter part of the eighth and the ninth centuries, were the Ráshtrakutas of Málkhet, sixty miles south-east of Sholápur.² Their power for a time included a great part of the present Gujarát where their headquarters were at Broach.³ The Arab merchant Sulaimán (A.D. 850) found the Konkan (Komkam) under the Balhára, the chief of Indian princes. The Balhára and his people were most friendly to Arabs. He was at war with the Gujar (Juzr) king, who, except in the matter of cavalry, was greatly his inferior.⁴ Sixty years later Masudi (916) makes the whole province of Lár, from Chaul (Saimur) to Cambay, subject to the Balhára, whose capital was Mankir (Málkhet) the ‘great centre’ in the Kánarese-speaking country about 640 miles from the coast.⁵ He was overlord of the Konkan (Kemken) and of the whole province of Lár in which were Chaul (Saimur), Thána, and Supára, where the Láriya language was spoken. The Balhára was the most friendly to Musalmáns of all Indian kings. He was exposed to the attacks of the Gujar (Juzr) king who was rich in camels and horses. The name Balhára was the name of the founder of the dynasty, and all the princes took it on succeeding to the

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² Like the Siláháras the Ráshtrakutas seem to have been a Dravidian tribe, Ráshtra is believed (Dr. Burnell in Fleet's Kánarese Dynasties, 31-32) to be a Sanskrit form of Ratta or Reddi the tribe to which the mass of the people in many parts of the Dakhan and Bombay Karnátak belong.

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