The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c9.s2.t4.3

Language: English

v1.c9.s2.t4.3.1

The campaigns of Pulakēśin's reign are best studied with the aid of the Aihole inscription, and according to that record the first enemies to be dealt with by Pulakēśin were Āppāyika and Govinda who, desiring to gain some territory for themselves in the prevailing confusion, made their appearance to the north of the Bhīmarathī river with a considerable host of elephants; one of them was repulsed in battle while the other became an ally and was received into favour. From the way they are mentioned we can only infer that Āppāyika and Govinda were mere military adventurers with no hereditary claims to royalty. Next came the turn of the Kadamba capital Vanavāsi, which, as described by the poet Ravikīrtti, rivalled the city of the gods in its wealth and was adorned by a girdle of swans sporting on the high waves of the Varadā river; when it was being besieged by the ocean of Pulakēśin's forces which surrounded it, Vanavāsi, though a land fortress, bore the appearance of a castle in the sea. The enthusiasm of Ravikīrtti's description, and the practical disappearance of the early Kadambas from history about this time, warrant the assumption that Pulakēśin's campaign against Vanavāsi was a complete success. The Ālupas and Gangas who are said to have become the constant attendants of Pulakēśin must have felt the weight of his arm about the same time as did Vanavāsi.

v1.c9.s2.t4.3.2

The Ālupas were a minor dynasty of local chieftains who had ruled in the South Kanara District for several centuries, as their stone inscriptions discovered in recent years, particularly in the Udupi *tāluk*, go to show. The Gangas were doubtless the celebrated Western Gangas of Taḷakāḍ. These and the Ālupas are indeed included in the Mahākūṭa pillar inscription among the rulers subdued by Kīrtti-varman I; but there is good reason to doubt the truth of that statement, and to give to Pulakēśin II the credit of having first brought them under the overlordship of the Chāḷukyas. The Ganga ruler at the time was most probably Durvinīta, and there is some evidence, though this is relatively late, to lead us to suppose that Durvinīta gave one of his daughters in marriage to the conqueror, and that this princess became the mother of Vikramāditya I.¹ Pulakēśin then turned against the Konkan where he reduced the Mauryas with ease, and attacked Purī, the Lakshmī of the western ocean, with a fleet comprising hundreds of ships that looked like arrays of rutting elephants. Purī was most probably on the island of Elephanta near Bombay.² Purī was a very prosperous seaport town, and Pulakēśin was naturally eager to make himself master of it. The Lāṭas, the Māḷavas, and the Gurjaras then offered submission one after another; and the frontier of the Chāḷukyan empire was thus extended right up to the river Mahī.

v1.c9.s2.t4.3.3

Lāṭa in this period was a small territory south of the river Kim, and had its capital at Navasārika, the modern Nausāri in Baroda territory.³ This was the country where Buddharāja of the Kalachuri line was ruling at the time of Mangaleśa's inroad and for some years later; after its conquest Pulakēśin seems to have entrusted it to the care of some member of the royal family as it was held in A.D. 643 by a certain Vijayarāja of Chāḷukyan extraction.⁴ The Gurjaras ruled the territory between the Kim and the Mahī rivers, and these, like the Lāṭas to their south and the Māḷavas to the east, must have formed part of the Kalachuri dominions just before they offered their submission to Pulakēśin, if not at the time; but if Buddharāja had been still living and ruling at the time of Pulakēśin's northern conquests, Ravikīrtti, who mentions his defeat at the hands of Mangaleśa, would not have omitted to include his name among the vassals of Pulakēśin. There is no indication that Pulakēśin's power ever actually extended into the Malwa country; and it seems possible that the alliance of this nation as well as the submission of the Lāṭas and Gurjaras was dictated by the rapid spread of Harshavardhana's growing empire over practically the whole of northern India.