The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c19.s3: (3) The Rāṣṭrakūṭas of Rajputana

The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c19.s3

Language: English

v1.c19.s3.t1 (a) The Rāṣṭrakūṭas of Hastikuṇḍi — 27 parts
v1.c19.s3.t2 (b) The Rāṣṭrakūṭas of Dhanop — 6 parts
v1.c19.s3.t3 (c) The Rāṣṭrakūṭas (Raṭhaḍās) of Bithu — 5 parts

(3) The Rāṣṭrakūṭas of Rajputana

v1.c19.s3.1

Inscriptions of Rāṣṭrakūṭa princes have been found in Rajputana with dates ranging from about 973 to 1366 V.S. They may be conveniently grouped under the following heads:—
(a) *The Rāṣṭrakūṭas of Hastikuṇḍi.*
(b) *The Rāṣṭrakūṭas of Dhanop.*
(c) *The Rāṣṭrakūṭas (Rāṭhaḍās) of Bithu.*

(a) The Rāṣṭrakūṭas of Hastikuṇḍi

v1.c19.s3.t1.1

The existence of this family was revealed by the discovery of the so-called *Bijapur stone-inscription of Dhavala.* According to ‘local report’ the stone was originally fixed in the wall of a solitary Jaina temple situated about 2 miles from the village of Bijapur in the Bali (Godwar) district of the state of Jodhpur.¹ The inscription consists of 32 lines, and contains two separate records. The first one extends from lines 1 to 22, the second from lines 23 to 32. The second record ‘opens with the praise of the Jaina religion.’ It then gives the following genealogy of a line of princes:—

v1.c19.s3.t1.2

¹ The inscription according to another report was discovered by Captain Burt “in the interior of a gateway leading to Mandir, distant one *kos* from Beejapoor, on the route from Odeypore to Sirohi near Mt. Ābū;” *JASB*, Vol. X, p. 821.

v1.c19.s3.t1.4

Harivarman

v1.c19.s3.t1.5

Vidagdharāja........*Śrī-Rāṣṭrakūṭa-kula-kānana-kalpa-vṛkṣa.*

v1.c19.s3.t1.6

Mammaṭa

v1.c19.s3.t1.7

The inscription then records that Vidhagndharāja built a *Caitya-gṛha* at Hastikuṇḍi² for his *guru* Balabhadra. The former prince in (V) Saṁvat 973 granted certain donations, ⅔rds of the proceeds of which were to go to the Jina (*Arhat*) and ⅓rd to the guru as *Vidyā-dāna*. These grants were renewed by Mammaṭa in V. S. 996. The closing verse expresses a wish that the endowments may be enjoyed by the progeny of Keśavadāsa Sūri as long as mountains, etc., last. The inscription was engraved by the *Sūtradhāra* Satayogeśvara.

v1.c19.s3.t1.8

² Mod. Hathundi, close to the village of Bijapur, 10 miles to the south of Bāli, the headquarters of a district of the same name in Jodhpur; *IGI*, Vol. VI, p. 247.

v1.c19.s3.t1.9

The *first record* opens with two verses in praise of the Jinas or Tīrthaṅkaras. Then follows the genealogy of the same line of princes as above :—

v1.c19.s3.t1.10

``` Harivarman = Ruci

v1.c19.s3.t1.11

Vidagdha . . . . . induced to build a temple of Jina in the

v1.c19.s3.t1.12

| town of Hastikuṇḍi by his preceptor Vāsudeva.

v1.c19.s3.t1.13

Mammaṭa

v1.c19.s3.t1.14

Dhavala . . . . . gave shelter to the armies of a king (name

v1.c19.s3.t1.15

| lost) and of the lord of the Gurjaras, when
| Muñjarāja had destroyed Āghāṭa,¹ the pride of
| Medapāṭa ² (V. 10);......afforded protection to
| Mahendra against Durlabharāja (V. 11); gave
| support to Dharaṇīvarāha (V. 12); and abdicated
| in favour of his son Bālaprasāda (V. 19).

v1.c19.s3.t1.16

¹ Mod. Ahad, near the Udaipur station. The Guhilot clan Ahadīyā derives its name from this place.

v1.c19.s3.t1.17

² Mod. Mewar.

v1.c19.s3.t1.18

Bālaprasāda ```

v1.c19.s3.t1.19

The next 6 verses (22-27) are devoted to the praise of Hastikuṇḍi, the capital of Bālaprasāda. Next is mentioned the *Sūri* Śāntibhadra, the pupil of Vāsudeva. Then follows the information that the *goṣṭhī* of Hastikuṇḍi renovated the temple of the first Tīrthaṅkara (Ṛṣabhanātha), which was first built by Vidagdharāja. After its renovation Śāntibhadra in (V) *Saṁvat* 1053 (A.D. 997) installed the image of the Tīrthaṅkara. The inscription was composed by Sūryācārya.³

v1.c19.s3.t1.20

³ First noticed by Kielhorn, *JASB*, 1893, Vol. LXII, Part I, pp. 309-14. Then edited by Pandit Ramkaran, *EI*, Vol. X, pp. 17-24.

v1.c19.s3.t1.21

The inscription supplies some interesting information in connection with the achievements of Dhavala. Muñjarāja has been correctly identified with the Paramāra Vākpati-Muñja (*c.* 974-95 A.D.).⁴ The lord of the Gurjaras mentioned here was most probably the Caulukya Mūlarāja I of Gujrat (*c.* 961-96 A.D.),⁵ while the prince whose name is lost was possibly a Guhila of Medapāṭa. Durlabharāja was identified by Kielhorn with the brother of the Cāhamāna Vigraharāja of the Harṣa inscription dated in V.S. 1030.¹ The same scholar rightly identified Mahendra with the Naddūla Cāhamāna of the same name.² Pandit Ramkaran has suggested the possibility of the identification of Dharaṇīvarāha with the Paramāra king of that name, who is said to have been the ruler of Nav-kot in Marwar.³

v1.c19.s3.t1.22

⁴ *JASB*, 1893, Vol. LXII, Part I, p. 311.

v1.c19.s3.t1.23

⁵ *Ibid.*

v1.c19.s3.t1.24

¹ *Ibid.*

v1.c19.s3.t1.25

² *EI*, Vol. IX, p. 71; also pp. 64 and 67.

v1.c19.s3.t1.26

³ *EI*, Vol. X, p. 19 and fn. 1.

v1.c19.s3.t1.27

The proposed identifications, if accepted, would show the comparative importance of this Rāṣṭrakūṭa family. Their importance was probably in some measure due to the fact that their principality was situated in the region where the frontiers of the Caulukya, the Cāhamāna, and the Paramāra kingdoms met. As incessant struggles went on between these powers, the Rāṣṭrakūṭas could always count on the assistance of one when threatened by another of the three.⁴

v1.c19.s3.t1.28

⁴ Annalla-devī, the wife of the Cāhamāna Alhaṇa of Naddūla (A.D. 1152-61), who traced her descent to the *Rāṣṭrauḍa-vaṁśa* may have belonged to this Hathundi branch. See *EI*, Vol. XI, p. 71, fn. 2.

(b) The Rāṣṭrakūṭas of Dhanop

v1.c19.s3.t2.1

The existence of this family was made known by the discovery of the *Dhanop stone-inscription of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa Cacca*. It was found at Dhanop, 16 miles north of Shahpura, capital of the principality of the same name in Rajputana. It contains 13 lines, opening with *Oṁ namaḥ Śivāya* and a verse invoking Śiva. We are next introduced to a king named Cacca. Then we are given the following genealogy of the princes of this family :—

v1.c19.s3.t2.3

Then we are told that many years after the passing away of these princes, a devotee of Siva named Nagna-bhaṭṭāraka, seeing that the god founded by the above-mentioned kings received no worship, went to king Cacca and said : “ O king, this temple belongs to the princes of your family ”¹ and induced him to renovate it, and it was dedicated to Śiva under the name Dhaṅkeśvara. The inscription was engraved by Rāmadeva. It ends with the date (V) *Saṁvat* 1063.²

v1.c19.s3.t2.4

¹ This shows that Cacca was a Rāṣṭrakūṭa. But we do not know how he was related to the previous family.

v1.c19.s3.t2.5

² Edited by D. R. Bhandarkar, *IA*, 1911, pp. 174-75.

v1.c19.s3.t2.6

That the power of these Rāṣṭrakūṭas probably extended into the region now known as the State of Kotah is shown by the *Shergadh stone-inscription* dated in (V) S. 1074. This, together with two other records dated in (V) S. 1075 and 1084, was incised on a stone which was lying outside the temple of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa at Shergadh, in the State of Kotah in Rajputana. It records that in V. S. 1074 the Seṭh Narasiṁha and two others made a grant of one *Karṣa* of ghee as unguent for the feet of Bhaṭṭāraka Nagnaka. There can hardly be any doubt that this last person is identical with the Nagna-bhaṭṭāraka of the Dhanop inscription of Cacca.³

v1.c19.s3.t2.7

³ Edited by the same, *ibid*, pp. 175-76. Edited by the same, *ibid*, pp. 181-83.

(c) The Rāṣṭrakūṭas (Raṭhaḍās) of Bithu

v1.c19.s3.t3.1

This branch is known from the *Bithu stone-inscription* of the Sīhā Raṭhaḍā, engraved on a *devḷī* (memorial stone) in Bithu, a village about 14 miles N. W. of Pali, the principal town in the district of the same name in the State of Jodhpur. It contains 7 lines, recording that in (V) S. 1330 the Raṭhaḍā Sīhā, son of Kaṁvara (Kumāra) Srī-Seta, went to the world of gods. ‘ May the bliss of heaven be for Pārvatī, the Solaṅkinī.’⁴

v1.c19.s3.t3.2

Prof. Bhandarkar rightly identified this Sīhā, son of Seta, with Sīyā jī, the son of Setrām, the reported founder of the royal family of Jodhpur. The Rāṭhors of Jodhpur claim descent from the Rāṣṭrakūṭas of Kanauj (*Kanojīyā-Rāṭhoṛa*).¹ It is therefore very likely that this family was a branch of the line of Lakhaṇapāla, which, we have seen, ruled in Budaun and Kanauj probably as feudatories of the Gāhaḍavālas.² It may well be that after the destruction of this Rāṣṭrakūṭa line in the 13th century a scion of this family, possibly Seta, migrated to Rajputana and became the founder of the modern Rāṭhoṛs. As usual, the bards, mixing facts with fiction, represented him as connected with Kanauj and the famous Gāhaḍavāla prince Jayaccandra.³

Linked texts (1)

Shergaḍh Stone Inscription — Sanskrit