The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c8.s12.4

v1.c8.s12.4

This theory of the Rāshṭrakūṭa empire existing during the sixth century would indeed have been very convenient to explain the sudden disappearance of the Vākāṭaka power, but unfortunately it does not bear any close examination.² We have about half a dozen charters of the so-called Chhattisgarh branch of this assumed Rāshṭrakūṭa family, but in none of them is it given the epithet of Rāshṭrakūṭa. The southern Mahārāshṭra branch is known to us by a single charter, and there too the giver of the grant is not described as a Rāṣṭrakūṭa. It is only in a single grant of Abhimanyu, who belonged to the Berar branch, that he is mentioned as the crest-jewel of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas. This epithet was never taken by his predecessors who ruled in Chhattisgarh; he seems to have adopted it himself, since it is clear that he was for some time a provincial or district governor (rāṣṭrakūṭa) before he became independent.