The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13.s1.t3: Viṣṇuvardhana IV
The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13.s1.t3
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Viṣṇuvardhana IV
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Vijayāditya's son was Viṣṇuvardhana IV who ruled for thirty-six years (A.D. 772-808). Early in his reign he became involved in the dispute between Rāṣṭrakūṭa Govinda II and his younger brother Dhruva, and took the side of Govinda, the ruling sovereign, against his rebellious brother. But Dhruva emerged as the victor; after seizing the throne for himself he set out to punish the supporters of Govinda, among them the ruler of Vengi. In his expedition against the Eastern Chālukya kingdom, Dhruva was well served by Arikesari I, the Chālukya feudatory of Vemulavāḍa. Viṣṇuvardhana was forced to admit defeat and to make his peace with Dhruva by offering him the hand of his daughter Śilamahādēvī, who became that ruler's chief queen.¹ The subordinate relation of Vengi to the Rāṣṭrakūṭas continued after the reign of Dhruva under his son Govinda III whose inscriptions claim that the ruler of Vengi was ever ready to carry out his suzerain's behests with alacrity;² the statement that he helped to build the surrounding wall of his suzerain's camp has sometimes been understood to refer to the fortification of Mānyakheṭa. Viṣṇuvardhana IV had three sons, two being Vijayāditya II and Bhīma Saluki who quarrelled over the succession, and the third, the son of a Haihaya princess, Rudra by name, who took the side of Vijayāditya.
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¹ *EI*, xxii, 107, ll. 36-9.
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² *EI*, vi, 244-5, v. 19.