The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c9.s2.t7.3

v1.c9.s2.t7.3

Like his father and grandfather, Vijayāditya associated his son Vikramāditya II with him in the rule of the kingdom. The recently discovered stone inscription from Uḷchala dated in the thirty-fifth year of Vijayāditya (A.D. 731) refers to Yuvarāja Vikramāditya returning from an expedition to Kāñchī in which he levied tribute from the Pallava Parameśvara-varman II. This was doubtless the first of the three expeditions of Vikramāditya against Kāñchī referred to in an undated inscription of his queen Lokamahādevī at Paṭṭadakal.³ Another undated stone inscription from Paṭṭadakal⁴ registers a joint donation by the father and son to the image of Anantaguṇa in the Lokapāleśvara temple built by a certain Añjanāchārya, the devāchārya of the āsthāna (court). An undated copper-plate grant from Nerūr is also likewise issued by father and son together; the father has the title Bhaṭṭāraka in addition to the other imperial titles common to both. The number of Vijayāditya’s inscriptions is not as great as one might expect from the length of his reign. They show him encamped at different places, once in Elāpura (Ellora) about the tenth year, at Hatampura in the twenty-second year,¹ and once in Raktapura (Lakshmeśvar) in the 34th year of his reign. Among his feudatories are found the Bāṇas,² the Telugu-Choḍas of Reṇāṇḍu,³ a certain Bhūpāditya mentioned in an inscription from Dānavulapāḍu (Cuddapah Dt.)⁴ and an Upendra who figures as Vijñapti in the Nerūr grant of the tenth year.⁵ In addition to the usual imperial titles of the Chālukyas during the period, viz. Satyāśraya śrī Pṛthivīvallabha Mahārājādhirāja Parameśvara Bhaṭṭāraka, Vijayāditya is also given the title Samastabhuvanāśraya, ‘the refuge of the whole world’, in the inscriptions of his successors, a title which is explained as due to his being perfect master of the three powers (śakti-traya), his having curbed the pride of his enemies, his liberality, and his faultlessness.