The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s3.350

c8.s3.350

The Râshtrakûtas are represented to have belonged to the race of Yadû.¹ According to the Wardhâ plates they were members of the Sâtyaki branch of the race; and were the direct descendants of a prince of the name of Raṭṭa. He had a son of the name of Râshtrakûṭa after whom the family was so called. These are clearly imaginary persons; and as remarked before, the Râshrakûṭa family was in all likelihood the main branch of the race of Kshatriyas named Raṭṭas who gave their name to the country of Mahârâshṭra, and were found in it even in the times of Aśoka the Maurya. The Râshtrakûṭas were the real native rulers of the country and were sometimes eclipsed by enterprising princes of foreign origin, such as the Śâtavâhanas and the Châlukyas who established themselves in the Dekkan and exercised supreme sovereignty, but were never extirpated. The earliest prince of the dynasty mentioned in the grants hitherto discovered is Govinda I. But in an inscription in the rock-cut temple of the Daśâvatâras at Elurâ the names of two earlier ones, Dantivarman and Indrarâja, occur.² The latter was Govinda's father and the former his grandfather. Govinda I. was probably the prince of that name who in Ravikîrti's inscription at Aihole is spoken of as having attacked the Châlukya king Pulakeśi II. and to have afterwards become his ally. Govinda was succeeded by his son Karka, during whose reign the Brâhmans performed many sacrifices and who seems to have patronized the old Vedic religion. After him his son Indrarâja came to the throne. Indrarâja married a girl who belonged to the Châlukya family, though on her mother's side she was connected with the lunar race, probably that of the Râshtrakûṭas themselves. From this union sprang Dantidurga, who became king after his father. With a handful of soldiers Dantidurga defeated the army of Karṇâṭaka, which hitherto had achieved very great glory by vanquishing the forces of the kings of Kâñchî, the Keralas, Cholas, and Pândyas, and of Śrîharsha, the lord paramount of Northern India, and Vajraṭa³; and thus conquered Vallabha or the last Châlukya king Kîrtivarman II. with ease. He thus acquired paramount sovereignty in the south.⁴ He also subdued the kings of Kâñchî, Kalinga, Kosala, Śrî-Śaila,⁵ Mâlava, Lâṭa, and Taṅka. At Ujjayinî he gave large quantities of gold and jewels in charity.¹ A grant of Dantidurga found at Sâmangaḍ in the Kolhâpur district bears the date 675 of the Śaka era, corresponding to A.D. 753.²