The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s3.386

c8.s3.386

In several of the grants belonging to this dynasty, the son and successor of Nirupama is stated to be Jagattunga. Now, since Govinda III. was one of the greatest princes of this dynasty, it is impossible that he should have been passed over by the writers of these grants. Jagattunga, the son of Nirupama, must, therefore, be Govinda himself and no other. After his death his son Amoghavarsha, whose proper name appears to have been S'arva,² came to the throne. He seems to have marched against the Châlukyas of Vengi and put several of the princes to death.³ In the Navasârî grant Amoghavarsha is spoken of simply as Vallabha and is styled Râjarâja or king of kings and also Vîra-Nârâyana. This last title is justified by the poetic writer of the grant by saying that as the God Nârâyana brought out the earth which was immersed in the ocean, so did Vallabha bring the goddess of sovereignty out of the ocean in the shape of the Châlukyas in which it had sunk. He is also represented to have "burnt" the Châlukyas. These also must be allusions to Amoghavarsha's wars with the Châlukyas of Vengi; and he probably conquered some territory belonging to them. In the Kardâ grant the city of Mânyakheta is spoken of as being in a very flourishing condition in his time. There is little question that it was his capital; but whether it was he who founded it and made it the capital of the dynasty cannot be clearly made out from that grant, as the reading given by Mr. Wathen is corrupt. But the Wardhâ plates are clear on the point. In them the successor of Jagattunga is called Nripatunga; and he is represented to have founded the city of Mânyakheta, which "put the city of the gods" to shame. Mânyakheṭa has been properly identified with Mâlkhed in the Nizam's territory. In the Kânheri caves there are three inscriptions, in which the reigning paramount sovereign is represented to be Amoghavarsha. In one of them Pullaśakti of the Śilâhâra family, and in the other two his son, Kapardin, are mentioned as his dependents ruling over Koukan, which province had been assigned to them by Amoghavarsha. The dates occurring in the last two are Śaka 775 and 799.¹ An inscription in Sirur in the Dhârwâḍ district published by Dr. Fleet is dated Śaka 788, vyaya, which is represented as the fifty-second year of the reign of Amoghavarsha;² so that the year 799 Śaka of the Kânheri inscription must have been the sixty-third of his reign. The cyclic year vyaya corresponds to the Śaka year 788 past and 789 current. This prince appears thus to have begun to reign in Śaka 737 past. In a historical appendix at the end of a Jaina work entitled Uttarapurâṇa, or the latter half of the Mahâpurâṇa, by Guṇabhadra, Amoghavarsha is represented to have been a devoted worshipper of a holy Jaina saint named Jinasena, who was the preceptor of Guṇabhadra, and wrote the Âdipurâṇa or the first part of the same work.³ Jinasena himself at the end of his poem the Pârsvâbhyudaya gives expression to a wish that Amoghavarsha may reign for a long time. An important work on the philosophy of the Digambara Jainas entitled Jayadhavalâ is represented at the end to have been composed when 759 years of the Śaka king had elapsed, in the reign of Amoghavarsha. In the introductory portion of a Jaina mathematical work entitled Sârasaṃgraha by Virâchârya, Amoghavarsha is highly praised for his power and his virtues, and is spoken of as a follower of the Jaina doctrine (Syâdvâda).⁴ He is mentioned there also by his other name Nṛipatunga. The authorship of a small tract consisting of questions and answers on moral subjects, entitled Praśnottara-ratnamâlikâ, which has been claimed for Śaṃkarâchârya and one Saṃkaraguru by the Brâhmaṇs, and for Vimala by the Śvetâmbaras, is attributed