A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c13.39

c13.39

In the Rāṣṭrakūṭa kingdom Govinda III was succeeded (814), by his young son Amoghavarsha, also called Nripatunga. The early years of the boy-king’s reign were full of trouble. There was a widespread rebellion of the officials supported by the Eastern Chālukya Vijayāditya II and the Ganga Rācamalla I. Amoghavarsha, however, found a loyal ally and strong protector in his cousin Karka of Lāṭa; the rebellion was suppressed and Amoghavarsha was secure on his throne before 821. At no time during his long reign of 64 years can peace be said to have prevailed all over his extensive dominions. With the Eastern Chālukyas war broke out again about 850 when Guṇaga Vijayāditya III, the grandson of Vijayāditya II and one of the ablest monarchs of his line, made a strenuous effort to free the Vengi kingdom from the Rāṣṭrakūṭas. Amoghavarsha won a decisive victory in the sanguinary battle of Viṅgāvalli near Stambhapuri (Kambham) in the Kurnool district, whereafter Guṇaga Vijayāditya submitted and remained loyal for the rest of Amoghavarsha’s reign. The Ganga Eraya, known as also Nitimārga and Raṇavikrama (837-70), son of Rācamalla I, revolted soon after and was joined by other feudatories. Amoghavarsha’s general Bankeśa dealt with them successfully; but before he could complete his task Amoghavarsha recalled him to the capital where other disturbances had arisen, in which the crown prince Krishna himself was involved, as well as the ruler of Lāṭa, Dhruva I, son of that Karka who had so ably protected Amoghavarsha earlier. Bankeśa killed Dhruva I in battle and continued the war with his son Akālavarsha and his grandson Dhruva II. Dhruva II was, however, threatened in his rear by the Gurjara ruler Mihira Bhoja, and some of his own kinsmen had turned hostile to him at home. He thus thought it wise to compose his quarrel with Amoghavarsha in 860, and was thereby enabled to thwart the designs of the Gurjara and his hostile kinsmen, so that we find him secure on his throne again in 867.