The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c10.18

v1.c10.18

Only one specific incident in the career of Indra I is known, and that is his wedding by the *Rākshasa* form of marriage with a Chālukya princess named Bhavanāgā at Kaira in Northern Gujarāt, after defeating her father. Unfortunately we do not know who the father of this Bhavanāgā was. Most probably he may have been the Chālukya feudatory Maṅgalarāja Vinayāditya or his younger brother Pulakeśin. The small Chālukya kingdom did not extend beyond the Tāpti, and between it and Kaira, where this incident took place, lay the Gurjara principality of Nāndipurī. Why then the marriage of Bhavanāgā should have been arranged at Kaira, which lay in the Maitraka kingdom of Valabhi, we do not know. A possible reason may be that the bridegroom elect was a Valabhi prince. Some kind of formal *Svayaṃvara* had been settled to be celebrated at Kaira in a *pandal* specially erected for the purpose. It seems that though not himself the bridegroom elect, Indra attended this *Svayaṃvara* and carried away the bride against the wishes of her father. This must have strained the relations between Maṅgalarāja, the Chālukya king of Gujarāt, and Indra, the audacious bridegroom. Hindu marriages are, however, indissoluble, and Maṅgalarāja may have soon become reconciled with his son-in-law. The occurrence of this marriage may be placed in *c.* A.D. 715.