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History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c9.s1.t9: Iśānavarman

History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c9.s1.t9

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Iśānavarman

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Iśvaravarman was succeeded by his son, Iśānavarman, whose mother was the Bhaṭṭārikā and Devī Upaguptā. Presumably the second element of her name indicates that Upaguptā was also a Gupta princess. Thus, the marriages of two successive Maukhari kings—Adityavarman and Iśvaravarman—with Gupta princesses clearly show that the two houses were at first on very cordial terms. Indeed, the subordinate title Mahārāja given to the first three Maukhari rulers may even lend some colour to the view that they recognised the suzerainty of the Later Guptas, who were yet powerful in the north.

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It appears that Iśvaravarman did not long survive the disturbances that had occurred during his reign, and so his successor was called upon to avert the falling fortunes of his dynasty like a second Skandagupta. This fact seems to be metaphorically alluded to in the following statement of the Haraha inscription: “By whom the earth was forcibly upheld, like a broken boat, after fastening it on all sides by hundredfold virtues (or, strings), when it was sinking below the invisible ocean of the nether regions, being shaken by the storm of Kali.”² Fortunately, the record also makes specific mention of the foes against whom Iśānavarman had to contend before he could feel his position secure, or exercise any power effectively. We are told that Iśānavarman occupied the throne after :—

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² *Ep. Ind.*, XIV, pp. 117, 120, verse 15.

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(a) “conquering the lord of the Andhras, who had thousands of threefold rutting elephants;

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(b) vanquishing in battle the Sūlikas who had an army of countless galloping horses;

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(c) causing the Gauḍas, living on the seashore, in future to remain within their proper realm.”¹

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¹ Ibid., verse 13. Cf. “Jitvā Āndhrapatiṁ sahasragaṇita-tredhākṣaradvāraṇaṁ, Vyāvalgan-niyutāsaṁkhyaturagān bhaṁkhāraṇe Śūlikāṁ (n), Kritvā cāyatimocita-sthalabhuvaḥ Gauḍān samudrāśrayān, Adhyāsiṣṭha natakṣitīśacaraṇaḥ siṁhāsanaṁ yaḥ jiti.”

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Unhappily the data for the history of the period are very scanty, and this makes it difficult for us to identify the kings over whom Iśānavarman is recorded to have achieved victories. It is not clear who is signified here by the tile of “lord of the Andhras.” The old Andhra empire had crumbled to pieces long ago, and the country had been partitioned among three or more dynasties (see Prof. K. R. Subramanian’s *History of Andhra between 225 to 610 A. D.*). The Viṣṇukuṇḍins were the dominant power in the sixth century A. D., and so Iśānavarman’s Andhra opponent must have belonged to this family. It appears probable that he was either Indravarman or Vikramendravarman, but until their chronological position is more definitely established the identification cannot be regarded as beyond doubt. Dr. H. C. Raychaudhuri, however, thinks that the Andhra king probably was Mādhavavarman II of the Viṣṇukuṇḍin family,² who “shortly before the invasion of Pulakeśi II ...crossed the river Godāvarī with the desire to conquer the eastern region.”³ Whoever he might be, it appears certain that he was particularly active about this time, since the Jaunpur inscription also records warlike relations between the Maukharis and the ndhras during the reign of Īśvaravarman, and it is possible that both the father and the son had to fight against the same Andhra king. Nor are we in a better position to identify the Sūlikas and locate them correctly. Possibly they are identical with the Saulikas of the Bṛhatsaṃhitā (xiv, 8) and the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, and are to be located in the south-east, near Kalinga, Vidarbha, and Cedi.¹ But Mr. B. C. Mazumdar makes the suggestion that the Sūlikas lived on the sea-coast near the modern district of Midnapore (Bengal).² According to Dr. H. C. Raychaudhuri, on the other hand, they are to be identified with the Cālukyas. He argues that "Sūlika may be another dialectic variant"³ since in the Mahākūṭa pillar inscription⁴ the name appears as "Calikya," and in the Gujarat records we find the forms Solaki and Solanki.⁵ The Mahākūṭa pillar inscription further informs us that about this time the Cālukyas were extending their power on all sides, and one of their kings Kirtivarman I, claims to have made conquests in Aṅga, Vaṅga, Magadha, Madraka, and Kaliṅga, etc.¹ Probably in their northward progress they came into conflict with Iśānavarman, and suffered a defeat at his hands.

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² *Political Hist. of India*, 3rd ed., p. 405; J. A. S. B., 1920, p. 391 note 5.

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³ Jouveau Dubreuil, *Anc. Hist. of the Deccan*, p. 92.

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¹ *Ind. Ant.*, XXII, p. 189. Fleet, however, connected them with the Mūlikas mentioned in the *Bṛhatsaṃhitā* (XIV, 48, 23) as a people living in the north-west division (*Ind. Ant.*, XXII, p. 186). See also Rapson's *Catalogue of Coins of the Andhra Dynasty*, p. xxxi; and *Ind. Ant.*, 1917, p. 127.

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² *Orissa in the Making*, p. 105.

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³ *Pol. Hist. of India*, 3rd. ed., pp. 405-06; *J. A. S. B.*, 1920, p. 319, n. 6.

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⁴ *Ind. Ant.*, XIX, pp. 16-20; *Bom. Gaz.*, vol. I, pt., II. p.336.

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⁵ *Ibid.*, vol. I, pt. I, p. 156. Father Heras identifies the Sūlikas with the Coḷas (*Jour. And. Hist. Res. Soc.*, I, pp. 130-31). In support of this view attention may be drawn to a Tamil work, *Kalingattupparani*, by Jayagoṇḍān, which according to Mr. Aravamuthan (*The Kaveri, the Maukharis, and the Sangam Age* p. 14f.) narrates the circumstance of the Coḷa king's conflict with Mukari. But I venture to say that the identification of the latter with a Maukhari ruler does not at all appear to be convincing. Presumably it was the name of a place in the South, and as Mr. Aravamuthan himself points out elsewhere (*Ibid.*, p. 72; see also pp. 24-26), a 6

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¹ *Bom. Gaz.*, Vol. I, pt. II, p. 345; *Ind. Ant.* XIX, pp. 17, 19.

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Regarding the Gauḍas as a political power, we get the earliest definite epigraphic reference in the Haraha inscription. It appears from the term *Samudrāśrayān* applied to them that they occupied the seaboard of western Bengal, but we do not know with certainty what local dynasty was ruling there at that time.² They had now distinctly entered upon a career of aggrandisement, since not only does this record represent them as "issuing forth from their proper realm", but the Aphsad inscription also mentions Jivitagupta I's struggles against these "haughty foes" who "stood on seaside shores."³ Considering this, and the fact that between the kingdoms of Gauḍa and Kanauj intervened the Gupta dominion of Magadha, it may not be unreasonable to suggest that both Iśānavarman and his Gupta contemporary may have co-operated to check the advance

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² See the Faridpur copper plates for a set of three kings of Gauḍa. Perhaps they were slightly later in date than the one referred to in the Haraha inscription (*Ind. Ant.*, XXXIX, p. 193f; *J. A. S. B.*, *N. S.* X, p. 425f; *Ibid.*, *N. S.* VII, p. 289f). Dr. R. G. Basak conjectures—(see *The History of North-Eastern India*, p. 113) that the Gauḍa opponent of Iśānavarman was possibly Jayanāga, referred to in the Vappaghoṣāvaṭa grant (*Ep. Ind.*, XVIII, 1925, pp. 60f) and the Buddhist work *Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa*, (see p. 636, ed. Gaṇapati Śāstri).

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³ *C. I. I.*, III, no. 42, pp. 202, 205.

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Tamil inscription of Ceylon mentions a certain Mukari-Nāḍāḷvan, and the *Kaṇakkadhikāram* refers to a chief of Mukari on the banks of the river Poṇṇi (Kāveri).

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of the Gauḍas towards the north. These successes spurred on the ambitions of Iśānavarman, and he began to claim imperial dignity by assuming the title of Mahārājādhirāja. But the Guptas could not long tolerate Iśānavarman’s pretensions to supremacy or any growth in his strength, and so an appeal to arms became inevitable. This open rupture between the two houses is one of the most important events of Iśānavarman’s reign, and is thus recorded in the Aphsad inscription: “By whom playing the part of the mountain Mandara, there was quickly churned that formidable milk-ocean, the cause of the attainment of fortune, which was the army of the glorious Iśānavarman, a very moon among kings.”¹ This passage occurring in a record of a different dynasty is indeed remarkable, as besides testifying to the defeat of Iśānavarman it also implies his great power.² It must have been a severe blow—although only temporary—to the rise of the Maukharis, and probably after this victory Kumāragupta even pushed his territories as far west as Prayāga, for there are indications that his funeral rites took place there.³

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¹ *Ibid.*, pp. 203, 206.

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² Dr. R. K. Mookerji, on the other hand, seems to think that Kumāragupta was the vanquished party in this duel. He says: “Iśānavarman, who achieved three important victories in three different regions and according to inscription No. 1 (his number)—a fourth victory over the Malwa king Kumāragupta ......” (*Harṣa*, pp. 54-55; see also N. Ray, *Cal. Rev.*, Feb., 1928, p. 207, for the same view).—But if one reads between the lines of the verse, this conclusion seems utterly unwarranted. It may be remarked that the view adopted in the text is also endorsed by Fleet.

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³ *C. I. I.*, III, p. 206. note 3.

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Lastly, we may mention that, like his predecessors, he was also a Brahmanist, and during his reign it is claimed that “the three Vedas were born afresh.”

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