History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c35.s2.1

v3.c35.s2.1

The first kingdom deserving notice is the Yādava kingdom of Devagiri (Daulatabad). Its founder is said by Hemādri to be Driḍhaprahāra who founded a small kingdom at Chandrapuri or Chandor in the Nasik District in about 843 A. D. (Gaurishankar's Tod and Bombay Gazetteer Vol. I part I). One of his descendants named Bhillama II was a powerful feudatory of Tailapa Chālukya of Kalyan. He fought bravely in the battle of Tailapa with Munja of Malwa in which Munja was taken prisoner. An inscription of his dated 1000 A. D has been found. His son named Vesugi ruled after him and Vesugi was followed by Bhillama III who was married to a daughter of Jayasiṁha III Chālukya and fought in several battles of his as his feudatory. After three intervening kings we come to Seuṇachandra who according to Hemādri’s Praśasti assisted the famous king Parmādi Vikramāditya Chālukya in obtaining the throne of Kalyan. An inscription of his (dated 1069 A. D.) has been found. After seven successors one Bhillama IV son of Apara Gāṅgeya assumed independence when Someśvara Chālukya after the rise of the Kalachūri intervening kings at Kalyan practically became powerless and Bhillama founded an independent kingdom in the north part of the Deccan and founding Devagiri made it his capital in 1187. A. D. Bhillama’s dominion eventually extended from the Nerbudda to the Krishna and he had fights with many neighbouring kings especially with the Hoyasala Yādavas of the south whom we will presently describe. He died about 1191 probably in a battle with the Hoyasalas. His son was Jaitugi or Jaitrapāla and he had a great fight with the Kākatīya Āndhra king Rudra who was killed in battle and whose son Gaṇapati was taken prisoner. But he liberated the latter and placed him on the throne of the Āndhras. Jaitugi was a learned man himself and a patron of learned men. The famous Deccan astronomer Bhāskarāchārya lived a little before his time as his son Lakṣmīdhara was the chief court-pandit of Jaitugi. He died about 1210 A. D. and he was succeeded by Siṅghaṇa another powerful king of this line. We stop our account of the Yādavas of Devagiri with Siṅghaṇa and leave their later history for later treatment, and also because that history is well-known. Eventually the kingdom was subverted by Mahomedans under Allauddin.