The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13.s5.37

v2.c13.s5.37

The next four generations after Arikesari I are dismissed in a single verse in the Vēmulavāḍa inscription, and there is a virtual blank in the history of the line for practically a whole century, even Pampa and the Parbhaṇī plates not adding much to our knowledge of the period. The kings in chronological order were Narasimha I Rājāditya, Yuddhamalla II, Baddega I, and Yuddhamalla III. Pampa says that Baddega was victorious in forty-two battles and earned the title solada-gaṇḍa, the soldier who knew no defeat; both Pampa and the Parbhaṇī plates say that he captured Bhīma, ‘of fierce strength in battle’, as one might capture a ferocious crocodile in its own element, water. The Bhīma mentioned here is doubtless Chāḷukya Bhīma I who ascended the throne of Veṅgi after the death of his uncle Guṇaga Vijayāditya III in 892/3. But we learn from Eastern Chāḷukya records that Baddega suffered defeat at least once at the hands of Guṇaga Vijayāditya who granted him peace on honourable terms.¹ Baddega’s war with Chāḷukya Bhīma I came later. The details of the battles are not forthcoming. The analogy of the crocodile employed both by Pampa and the Parbhaṇī plates has given rise to the suggestion that Bhīma was captured in the fortress in the midst of the Colair lake, the scene of many decisive battles.² But this was only an episode in the long-drawn hostilities between the Rāṣṭrakūṭas and the Eastern Chāḷukyas. Bhīma effected his escape from captivity with the aid of Kusumāyudha of the Mudugoṇḍa branch of Chāḷukyas, and immediately prepared himself to meet another Rāṣṭrakūṭa invasion.³