The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s7: Section XVI. The Silaharas of Kolhapur

The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s7

Language: English

Section XVI. The Silaharas of Kolhapur

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THREE distinct families of chiefs or minor princes with the name of Śilāra or Śilāhāra ruled over different parts of the country. They all traced their origin to Jīmūtavāhana the son of Jīmūtaketu, who was the king of a certain class of demigods called Vidyādharas, and who saved the life of a serpent named Śaṅkhachūḍa by offering himself as a victim to Garuḍa in his place.¹ One of the titles borne by the princes of all the three families was *Tagarapuravaradhīśvara* or "lords of Tagara, the best of cities," which fact has a historical significance. We have seen that Kāmvadeva, the donor of the Rājāpur grant who was a Chālukya, called himself *Kalyāṇapuravaradhīśvara*, and one of the titles of the later Kadambas after they had been reduced to vassalage and of the rulers of Goa was *Banavāsīpuravaradhīśvara*. As these titles signify that the bearers of them belonged to the families that once held supreme power at Kalyāṇa and Banavāsī, so does *Tagarapuravaradhīśvara* show that the Śilāhāras who bore the title belonged to a family that once possessed supreme sovereignty and reigned at Tagara. In one Śilāhāra grant it is expressly stated that "the race known by the name of Śilāhāra was that of the kings who were masters of Tagara."² As mentioned in a former section, Tagara was a famous town in the early centuries of the Christian era and retained its importance till a very late period, but unfortunately the town has not yet been identified; nor have we found any trace of the Śilāhāra kingdom with Tagara as its capital. Perhaps it existed between the close of the Andhra-bhṛtya period and the foundation of the Chālukya power.

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¹ This story has been dramatized in the Sanskrit play Nāgānanda attributed to S'rt-Harsha.

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² Grant translated by Dr. Taylor and published in the Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay, Vol. III. शिलाहारवंशोयं तगरेश्वरसुतम्।

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The three Śilāhāra dynasties of Mahāmaṇḍaleśvaras or dependent princes which we have been considering were founded in the times of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas. One of them ruled over Northern Konkan, which was composed of fourteen hundred villages, the chief of them being Purī, which probably was at one time the capital of the province. As represented in an inscription at Kānheri noticed before, Konkan was assigned to Pullaśakti by Amoghavarṣa a few years before Śaka 775. Another Śilāhāra family established itself in Southern Konkan. The founder or first chief named S'aṇaphulla enjoying the favour of Kṛṣṇarāja acquired the territory between the sea-coast and the Sahya range.³ There were three Rāṣṭrakūṭa princes of the name of Kṛṣṇarāja but the one meant here must be the first prince of that name who reigned in the last quarter of the seventh century of the S'aka era

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³ Khārepāṭan plates, Jour. B. B. R. A. S., Vol. I., p. 217. The name of the first chief is read "Jhallaphulla" by Bāl Gaṅgādhara S'āstri; but the first letter looks like स though there is some difference. That difference, however, brings it nearer to श. The letter which was read by him as झ is clearly ण. For देशसंभावनो I find देशसंसाधनो on the plates.

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Section XVI.

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or between 753 and 775 A.D.¹ The genealogy of this dynasty is given in the Khârepâṭan grant, the last prince mentioned in which was on the throne in S'aka 930 while the Châlukya king Satyâśraya was reigning. The capital must have been situated somewhere near Khârepâṭan.

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¹ From Śanaphulla the first chief to Raṭṭa the last there are ten generations. Somehow each succeeding chief in this line happens to be the son of the preceding. Though in a line of princes some of whom bear to others the relation of brother or uncle, the average duration of each reign is from 19 to 21 years; the average duration of a generation is always much longer, and varies from 26 to 28 years. One can verify this by taking any line of princes or chiefs in the world. Raṭṭa was on the throne in S'aka 930, and supposing him to have begun to reign about that time, nine generations or about 27 × 9 years have passed away from the date of the foundation of the family to S'aka 930. Subtracting 27 × 9 = 243 from 930, we have Śaka 687 as the approximate date of S'anaphulla. If we take the average to be 26, we shall have 696 as the date. In either case we are brought to the reign of Krishna I. The dates of Krishna II. range from S'aka 797 to 833 and of Krishna III. from S'aka 862 to 881, and therefore neither of these will do. Even if we take the other average of a reign in the present case and subtract 19 × 9 = 171 from 930, we get S'aka 759, which will not take us to the reign of Krishna II. whose earliest date is S'aka 797. The Khârepâṭan family therefore was the oldest of the three, and was founded in the reign of Krishna I. Bâl Śâstri read the name of the last chief in the grant as Rahu; but the second syllable of the name is certainly not the form of which in the grant itself is different. It looks exactly like the in the word परमभट्टारक and आघट्टनानि which occur elsewhere in the grant.

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The third Śilâhâra family the history of which falls within the scope of this paper ruled over the districts of Kolhâpur, Miraj, and Karhâḍ, and in later times Southern Konkan was added to its territory. This dynasty was the latest of the three and was founded about the time of the downfall of the Râshṭrakûṭa empire, as will be hereafter shown. The first prince of the family was Jatiga, who was succeeded by his son Nâyimma or Nâyivarman. Nâyimma was followed by his son Chandrarâja, and Chandrarâja by his son Jatiga, who is called "the lion of the hill-fortress of Panhâḷâ."² Jatiga's son and successor was Goṅka, otherwise called Goṅkala or Gokalla. He is represented to have been the ruler of the districts of Karhâṭa-Kuṇḍi³ and Mairiṅja and to have harassed Konkan. He had three brothers named Gûvala, Kîrtirâja, and Chandrâditya, of whom the first at least appears to have succeeded him. Then followed Mârasimha the son of Goṅka, whose grant first published by Wathen is dated S'aka 980. He is represented to have constructed temples; and to have been reigning at his capital, the fort of Khiḷigili, which probably was another name of Panhâḷâ in the Kolhâpur districts. Mârasimha was succeeded by his son Gûvala and he by his brother Bhoja I. Bhoja's two brothers Ballâḷa and Gaṇḍarâditya governed the principality after him in succession.

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² See the grant of Gaṇḍarâditya published by Paṇḍit Bhagvânlâl Indraji in Jour. B. B. R. A. S., Vol XIII., p. 2, of Mârasimha in Jour. R. A. S., Vol. IV., p. 280, and Arch. Surv. W. I., No. 10, p. 102, and of Bhoja II. in Trans. Lit. Soc. Bom., Vol. III.

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³ Mârasimha's grant. Kuṇḍi or Kuhuṇḍi was some part of the Belgaum district, as stated before. Mairiṅja is Miraj.

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An inscription at Kolhâpur mentions another brother named Gaṅgadeva and the order in which the brothers are spoken of is Gûvala Gaṅga, Ballāḷa, Bhoja, and Gaṇḍarāditya.¹ But the grants of Gaṇḍarāditya and Bhoja II. agree in representing Bhoja as the elder and Ballāḷa as the younger brother, and in omitting Gaṅga.

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¹ Inscription No. 4, Major Graham's Report.

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Of all these brothers the youngest Gaṇḍarāditya seems to have been the most famous. He is the donor, as indicated above, in the grant published by Paṇḍit Bhagvānlāl Indraji,² and in others recorded on stone at Kolhāpur and in the districts. His dates are Śaka 1032, 1040, 1058.³ He ruled over the country of Miriñja along with the seven Khollas and over Konkan, which thus seems to have been subjugated by the Kolhāpur Śilāhāras before 1032. Probably it was added to their dominious in the time of Goṅka or soon after. From the grant of Bhoja II. it appears that the part of Konkan ruled over by the Dekkan Śilāhāras was the same as that which was in the possession of the family mentioned in the Khārepāṭaṇ grant,⁴ wherefore it follows that the Śilāhāras of southern Konkan were uprooted by their kinsmen of the Kolhāpur districts. Gaṇḍarāditya fed a hundred thousand Brāhmans at Prayāga. This must be the place of that name which is situated near Kolhāpur ; and not the modern Allahābād. He built a Jaina temple at Ājareṁ, a village in the Kolhāpur districts,⁵ and constructed a large tank, called after him Gaṇḍasamudra or "the sea of Gaṇḍa," at Irukuḍi in the Miraj district, and on its margin placed idols of Īśvara or Śiva, Buddha, and Arhat (Jina), for the maintenance of each of which he assigned a piece of land. Several other charities of his, in which the Jainas also had their share, are mentioned, and his bountiful nature as well as good and just government are extolled.⁶ He first resided at a place called Tiravāḍa and afterwards at Valavāṭa, which has been identified with the present Valavḍeṁ.⁷

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² In loc. cit.

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³ Bhagvānlāl's plates, and Inscriptions Nos. 1, 2, and 3, Major Graham's Report. The Śaka in Bhagvānlāl's grant and No. 1 of Major Graham's inscriptions is the same, i. e. 1032, though in the translation of the latter it is erroneously given as 1037, but the cyclic years are different. As to this see Appendix B.

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⁴ For the villago granted is Kaseḷī, which is near Jaitāpur and Khārepāṭaṇ.

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⁵ Ind. Ant., Vol. X., p. 76, note.

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⁶ His grant in loc. cit.

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⁷ Bhagvānlāl's plates and Major Graham's Ins. No. 2.

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Gaṇḍarāditya was succeeded by his son Vijayārka, who was on the throne in Śaka 1065 and 1073.⁸ He restored the chiefs of the territory about Thāṇā to their principality which they had lost, and replaced the princes of Goa on the throne and fortified their position which had become shaky.⁹ He assisted Vijjaṇa¹⁰ in his revolt against his masters, the Chālukyas of Kalyāṇa, and enabled him to acquire supreme sovereignty. This event, as we have seen, took place about 1079 Śaka.

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⁸ Ins. Nos. 4 and 5, Major Graham's Report.

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⁹ Grant of Bhoja II. in loc. cit.

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¹⁰ In the transcript of the inscription in Vol. IV. Trans. Lit. Soc. Bom. we have Vikshana for Vijjaua. There is no question this must be a mistake of the reader of the inscription or of the engraver. For the Kalachuri usurper at Kalyāṇa is called both Vijjala or Vijjana in his inscriptions, and there was none who about the date of Vijayārka obtained the position of a Chakravartin or paramount sovereign, as stated in the inscription.

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Bhoja II.

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After Vijayârka, his son Bhoja II. became Mahâmaṇḍaleśvara and reigned in the fort of Panhâḷâ. His dates are Śaka 1101, 1109, 1112, 1113, 1114, and 1127.¹ He granted the village of Kaśeḷi in Konkan near Khârepâṭaṇ on the application of his son Gaṇḍarâditya for feeding Brâhmaṇs regularly²; and gave lands for Hindu and Jaina temples in other places also. Two of the grantees in one case at Kolhâpur are called Kara-hâṭakas, which shows that the caste of Karhâḍe Brâhmaṇs had come to be recognized in those days; and two others bore the family name of Ghaisâsa, which is now found among Chitpâvan Brâhmaṇs.³ In the reign of Bhoja II. a Jaina Paṇḍit of the name of Somadeva composed in Śaka 1127 a commentary entitled Śabdârṇavachandrikâ⁴ on Pûjyapâda’s Sanskrit Grammar. The Kolhâpur chiefs enjoyed a sort of semi-independence. Vijjaṇa, the new sovereign at Kalyâṇa, however, endeavoured probably to establish his authority over Bhoja. But that chief was not content to be his feudatory, and to reduce him to subjection Vijjaṇa marched against Kolhâpur a little before his assassination in Śaka 1089.⁵ On the establishment of the power of the Devagiri Yâdavas, Bhoja seems similarly to have assumed independence; but Siṅghaṇa subdued him completely, and annexed the principality to the Yâdava empire.⁶

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¹ Major Graham’s Ins. Nos. 6, 7, 8, the grant, and Ind. Ant., Vol. X., p. 76, note.

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² These are, however, some mistakes here in the transcript of the grant and the sense is not clear, though it appears pretty certain that it was the village that was granted and not a field in it or anything else, from the fact that the boundaries of the village are given.

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³ Ins. No. 8, Major Graham’s Report.

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⁴ Ind. Ant., Vol. X., p. 76, note. The manuscript here mentioned is in the Dekkan College library and I have seen in it the colophon given in the note.

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⁵ Vijalarâya Charitra in Wilson’s Mackenzie MSS., p. 320.

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⁶ Sec. XV.

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Approximate date of the foundation of the Kolhâpur branch.

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The number of generations from Jatiga, the founder of the dynasty, to Gaṇḍarâditya is seven. The latest date of the latter is Śaka 1058 and the earliest of his successor Vijayârka is 1065; so that if we suppose Gaṇḍarâditya to have died in 1060 and allow about 27 years to each generation, we shall arrive at Śaka 871 as the approximate date of the foundation of the family. At that time the reigning Râshṭrakûṭa sovereign was Kṛishṇa III., the uncle of Kakkala the last prince.

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Religion of the Kolhâpur Śilâhâras.

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One of the many titles used by the Śilâhâras was Śrîman-Mahâ-lakshmî-labdha-vara-prasâda, i. e. “one who has obtained the favour of a boon from the glorious Mahâlakshmî.” Mahâlakshmî was thus their tutelary deity, and they were clearly the followers of the Purâṇic and Vedic religion; but they patronized both Brâhmaṇs and Jainas alike; and their impartiality is strikingly displayed by the fact noticed above of Gaṇḍarâditya’s having placed an idol of Buddha, whose religion had well nigh become extinct, along with those of the gods worshipped by the other two sects, on the margin of the tank dug by him.

Linked texts (2)

Nāgānanda — Harṣavardhana, Sanskrit
Kanheri Inscription (No. 15) — Sanskrit