The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s12.140

c8.s12.140

sion,¹ due to a general renunciation of allegiance by all the peoples whom Kīrtivarman I. and Maṅgalēśa had subjugated, when, according to the Aihole inscription, "the whole world was enveloped by the darkness of enemies." Two invaders, specified by the names of Appāyika and Gōvinda, made their appearance on the scene;² they, however, were successfully met by Pulikēśin II., who repulsed and expelled the former, and made an ally of the latter. Then he had to again besiege and reduce Banawāsi, the Kāḍamba capital, which, as we have seen, had already been subjugated by his father. The Gaṅgas and the Āḷupas were then brought into a state of submission and servitude. The Mauryas of the Koṅkaṇ were attacked and overwhelmed; and the city of Purī,³ on the western coast, was invaded by ships and captured. The Lāṭas, the Mālavas, and the Gurjaras were subdued. An attack by Harsha, i.e. the great king Harshavardhana of Kanauj in the Farukhābād District, North-West Provinces, was successfully resisted; and the text implies that Harshavardhana, who, Hiwen Tsiang tells us,⁴ himself led the expedition, did not succeed in penetrating to the south of the Rēvā, i.e. the Narmadā, where Pulikēśin's armies were encamped. Thus, the sovereignty of the three countries known by the name of the Mahārāshtrakas, and including, it is said, ninety-nine thousand villages,⁵ was secured. And at this point, apparently, Pulikēśin II. was publicly crowned to the succession. Then the Kōsalas and Kaliṅgas were humbled. The fortress of Pishtapura, which is the modern Pittāpuram, the chief town of an estate of the same name on the east coast, about twelve miles north by east of Coconāda in the Gōdāvarī District, Madras Presidency, was reduced.⁶ The Pallavas were attacked; and their leader,—Mahēndravarman I.,⁷—was compelled to take refuge behind the ramparts of Kāñchī;⁸ and that this was no empty boast, is shewn by the Pallava records themselves, which, in claiming that Mahēndravarman I. annihilated his "chief enemies," i.e. the Chalukyas, at Pullalūra, which is a village very near Kāñchī, disclose the fact that the Chalukya army penetrated at any rate almost up to the Pallava capital. The Kāvērī was crossed, to invade the Chōḷa country; and there the Chōḷas, the Kēraḷas, and the Pāṇḍyas were made allies, while the Pallava army was again dispersed. And so, at length, Pulikêśin II. brought the whole kingdom under his sceptre again, and established himself at the city of Bâdâmi.¹ Such is the account as given in the Aihole inscription of A. D. 634-35. It may doubtless be accepted as correct in its general outlines. That all the earlier events recorded in it took place before August, A. D. 612, is established by the Haidarâbâd grant, which shews that Pulikêśin II. was then in possession of Bâdâmi, and, though it does not mention Harshavardhana by name, implies, by the title which was acquired by the victory over him, that that victory had then already been achieved; and they are probably to be placed in A. D. 608-609.⁴