The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s13.80

c8.s13.80

The first king in the dynasty, and the real founder of it, was Dantidurga, "he whose fortress is (his) elephant," for whom we have a date in January, A.D. 754.³ His name appears, in one passage, in the form of Dantivarman, "he whose armour is his elephant."⁴ He had the biruda of Khadgâvalôka, meaning probably "he whose glances are as keen as the edge of a sword,"⁵ and the epithet of prithivivallabha; in one of the later records he is spoken of as king Vallabha or the vallabha-king;⁶ and he used the titles of Mahârâjâdhirâja, Paramêśvara, and Paramabhattâraka. His own record says that his elephants rent asunder the banks of the rivers Mahî, Mahânadî, and Rêvâ (the Narmadâ),—that he acquired the supreme sovereignty by conquering Vallabha, i.e. the Western Chalukya king Kîrtivarman II.,—and that, with but a small force, he quickly overcame the boundless Karnâtaka army, i.e. the Western Chalukya troops, which had been expert in defeating the lord of Kâñchî, the Chôlas and the Pândyas, and Harsha and Vajrata. And the date of it shews that he and his connections had dispossessed Kîrtivarman II. of all except the southern provinces of the Chalukya dominions, before A.D. 754; a copper-plate grant from the Surat District, however,⁷ indicates that, in the north, the Lâta country was taken, not by Dantidurga, but by some member of a separate independent branch of his family, of which the representative in A.D. 757 was Kakkarâja II. The Ellôrâ inscription, mentioning the conquest of Vallabha, adds that Dantidurga completed the acquisition of sovereignty by subjugating the ruler of (?) Sandhubhûpa, the lord of Kâñchî, the rulers of Kalinga and Kôsala, the lord of Srîsaila country, i.e. the Karnûl territory, the (?) Sêshas,⁸ and the kings of Mâlava, Lâta, and Tanka. He seems to have ultimately made himself unpopular, and to have been deposed in favour of his uncle Krishna I.