The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13.s5.28

v2.c13.s5.28

If, as seems probable, Vinayāditya Yuddhamalla was one of the three sons of Dharāśraya Jayasiṃhavarman of Lāṭa, these facts admit of a plausible explanation. The times were difficult and unsettled, and offered scope for talented adventurers to win distinction and accumulate fame and treasure. One of Yuddhamalla's brothers, Pulakeśin, earned the gratitude of his suzerain Chālukya Vikramāditya II by effectively foiling the attempt of the Arabs to enter the Deccan in force; Vikramāditya bestowed on him the title of *avanijanāśraya*, 'refuge for the people of the world', in recognition of his valour. Yuddhamalla found his opportunity in co-operation with Dantidurga, an energetic and ambitious youth of Rāshṭrakūṭa extraction, who planned and carried out the overthrow of Kīrttivarman II, the last Chālukya ruler of Bādāmi. Dantidurga is known to have fought battles at the Mahi, Mahānadī, and Narmadā rivers, and in the Madhyadeśa territory, before he delivered the decisive assault on the Chālukyan power. Yuddhamalla's rule in the Sapādalakṣa country and his capture of the fort of Chitor may be taken to be facets of Dantidurga's campaigns in which Yuddhamalla was the chief actor. Sapādalakṣa is most certainly Śākambharī, the modern Sāmbhar, in Eastern Rajputana, and the mention in the story of Chitor, which is on the direct line between Lāṭa and Sapādalakṣa, confirms this identification.¹ We know very little of the details of the wars of Dantidurga; but some of the mutilated verses in the Daśāvatāra cave inscription have furnished the basis for a plausible suggestion that Dantidurga took the side of a certain Deva or Devarāja against the Gurjara Pratīhāra Nāgabhaṭa I. Dantidurga's presence in Ujjain has been noticed already; he seems to have attacked Nāgabhaṭa's capital Medantapura (Merta) as he also did Śākambharī (Sāmbhar), then held by his feudatories of the Chāhumāna line; Dantidurga thus became for a time master of the entire Gurjara territory including Sapādalakṣa as well as the coastal tracts of Gujarāt.¹ It is obvious that we are concerned here not with any stable political formations, but only with the transient results of more or less successful military raids. We may thus assume that Yuddhamalla assisted Dantidurga in the capture of Chitor and the Sapādalakṣa country, and ruled there as his governor for a short while, and that the memory of this adventure—it was nothing more for either him or his collaborator—was carefully treasured by the family which afterwards treated Yuddhamalla as its *vaṃśakartā* (founder).