History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c14.s1.18

v1.c14.s1.18

Who this Gauda king was whom he next conquered the Tarangiṇī does not tell us nor the name of the king of Kalinga nor of the king of Karnāta, nor of the Kaveri region, nor of the seven Konkanas, nor of Saurāshtra or Dvārakā, nor of Avanti or Malwa which countries he successively traversed and conquered. The absence of the mention of the kings of these countries may perhaps be looked upon as suspicious and imaginary (Stein). But we think there is no reason to disbelieve this march of Lalitāditya resembling the march of Samudragupta through the then known countries in India. For the kingdoms mentioned were assuredly the most prominent ones in north and south India at that time viz. Kanauj, Bengal (or Gauda) Kalinga, Karnāta or the country under the Eastern Chālukyas, the Kaveri or Kanchi country of the Pallavas and the seven Konkanas belonging most probably to the Gangas. In Saurāshtra we had the Valabhi kingdom and and in Malwa there was the kingdom of Avanti or Ujjain where the famous temple of Mahākāla was situated. Curiously enough in Karnāta we have the particular mention of a Ratta queen who proferred submission willingly. Who was this queen? The Chālukya Vallabha king at this time i. e. about 700 A. D. in the Deccan or Dakshināpatha was Vijayaditya whose rule is assigned as we shall see later on from 696 to 736 A. D. He was undoubtedly a Ratta or Maratha. He was for some time in captivity at Kānchī and hence his queen might have proferred submission. But we think Lalitāditya did not go to Vātāpi at all. He moved along the coast and hence he conquered the Eastern Chālukyas. The mention of Vindhya here is therefore proper and of course refers to the eastern Ghāts. Here were also the same Rattas. The queen, as we shall show later on in Vengi history, must have been Jayasinha's widow with her son Kokkili after whom there was some family dispute as described in that history.