The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13.s1.t2: Viṣṇuvardhana III
The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13.s1.t2
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Viṣṇuvardhana III
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After he had driven out his usurping younger brother, Viṣṇuvardhana III occupied the throne for a long time, enjoying a reign of thirty-seven years (A.D. 719-55). A number of decrees for grants issued during his reign have come to light and several of these are interesting in one way or another. One renewing an early grant by Kubja Viṣṇuvardhana has been noticed already in our account of that king’s reign. In another the queen of Viṣṇuvardhana III, Vijayamahādēvi, appears as the executrix (*ājñapti*), and the king himself is described by the title Tribhuvanāṅkuśa (an elephant goad to the three worlds) in the colophon to the grant.³ A third inscription records a grant by Pṛthivī Poṛi, a daughter of Mangi Yuvarāja and therefore sister of Viṣṇuvardhana III.⁴ This king had the title Viṣamasiddhi. It was in his reign that one of his officers, a Niṣāda Bōya chieftain named Pṛthivī-Vyāghra, came into conflict with the celebrated Pallava general Udayachandra who defeated him in the battle of Nellore, capturing many elephants and much booty and securing a part of Viṣṇurāja’s territory for the Pallava monarch Nandivarman II.⁵ Such is the Pallava version of what took place; Pṛthivī-Vyāghra could obviously not have entered on his conflict with the powerful kingdom in the south without Viṣṇuvardhana’s consent and both rulers suffered for it. But it was more of the nature of a skirmish on the frontier leading indeed to some loss of territory, but with little tangible effect on the strength or stability of the Vengi kingdom.
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³ CP, 9 of 1913-14.
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⁴ CP, 10 of 1919-20; *EI*, xviii, 58.
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⁵ *SII*, ii, 368.
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Viṣṇuvardhana III was succeeded by his son Vijayāditya I, Vijayasiddhi, who ruled for eighteen years (A.D. 755-72). At the close of his father’s reign and the beginning of his own there occurred in the Western Deccan the political revolution by which the Chāḷukyas of Bādāmi lost their dominion and were succeeded by the Rāṣṭrakūṭas under Dantidurga. The enmity of the new line to the Chāḷukyas soon began to manifest itself against the Vengi kingdom also. A Rāṣṭrakūṭa inscription of A.D. 769 states that Yuvarāja Govinda II had led an expedition against the Vengimaṇḍala,⁶ and had received the submission of the ruler of Vengi offered to him in his victorious camp at the confluence of the Musī and the Kṛṣṇā rivers, together with the surrender of treasure, troops, and terrain. This statement, even if taken at its face value, does not show that Vengi suffered any serious deprivation on this occasion. The Rāṣṭrakūṭa forces did not enter the Vengi kingdom and there was no actual clash of arms. On the other hand, the successful march of the Yuvarāja to the frontiers of the Vengi kingdom, where he was obviously met by ambassadors from his rival's court, was a shadow cast by coming events on the fortunes of the Eastern Chālukyas.
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⁶ *EI*, vi, 210-11.