History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c18.s3.6

v1.c18.s3.6

To turn to the defeat of Yaśovarman by the Deccanese we have seen in the history of the Chālukyas of Bādāmi that Vinayāditya, son of Vikramāditya and grandson of the famous Pulakeshin II who defeated Harsha is mentioned in many inscriptions to have defeated a northern king. This point has remained a riddle and has not yet been solved. We find that this Vinayāditya ruled from 680 A. D. to 696 A. D. In his grants found dated up to 616 Śaka or 694 A. D. there is no mention of his having defeated a northern king. Hence it must follow that he defeated a northern king between 694 and 696 A. D. a date which tallies well with our theory that Yaśovarman in his *digvijaya* attacked the south like Harsha after his conquest of the east; but like Harsha himself sustained a signal defeat at the hands of the grandson of Pulakeshin II. This fact is mentioned in more than one Chālukya grant and is also mentioned in later Eastern Chālukya grants. It must indeed have been a memorable victory over Yaśovarman like that of Pulakeśin over Harsha. The grants declare that Vinayāditya obtained certain insignia of empire such as Pālidhvaja, Makara Torana, the sun and the moon and Gaṅgā and Yamunā etc. The earliest mention of this victory and the acquistion of imperial insignia is found in a grant of Ś. 622 of Vijayāditya (Ind. Ant. Vol. XX p. 127). The battle was fought between his father Vinayāditya and a northern king, but the son Vijayāditya was himself present at this battle and was a great leader and by valour acquired the imperial insignia (उत्तरापथविजिगीषोर्गुरोर्मतः गङ्गायमुना-पालिध्वजढक्कामहाशब्दचिह्नाणिक्यमतङ्कजादीन् पितृसात्कुर्वन्). This grant is dated 622 Ś. or 700 A. D. and this defeat must have happened some years before and certainly before 696 A. D. the date of his father's death i. e. in 695 A. D. as said above. The insignia mentioned are very important. They include Gaṅgā and Yamunā the significance of which is not understood by many as we have already remarked. These two may be taken as showing that the sovereignty of Mid-India with its two principal rivers the Ganges and the Jumna was considered to be the sovereignty of the empire of India; and this mention also makes it certain that the king of the north who was defeated was Yaśovarman king of Kanauj and lord of the chief Indian kingdom the region of the Ganges and the Jumna (see also the epithet applied to his father Vinayāditya in this very grant (सकलोत्तरापथनाथमथनपार्जितोजित-पालिध्वजादि-समस्त-पारमेश्वर्यचिह्नस्य). There is thus no doubt left that Yaśovarman aspired to be or was paramount lord of north India and being defeated by Chālukya Vinayāditya I was deprived in 695 A. D. of the insignia of paramountcy.[*] This same grant mentions the captivity of Vijayāditya by a bad stroke of fate and this incident may have happened even in this very war with the king of the north though as has been held already it may have happened in a war with the Pallavas of the south. That it must happened before 700 A.D. or Ś. 622 the date of the Nerur plate inscription in which it is first mentioned cannot be denied. It must probably have happened after 696 A. D. and before 700 A. D. and Vijayāditya owing to this event must have remained unmolested or uncared for in the digvijaya of Lalitāditya who came to the south and to the Vengi kingdom as stated in the chapter on Vengi about 703 A. D.