The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c15.s2.t3.90

v2.c15.s2.t3.90

Inter-State Relations. Gaṇapati is credited in some of his inscriptions with victory over the kings of several other countries. The Chēbrōlu inscription of Jāyapa, for instance, states that the Madra king, the Pāñchāla, the Vidēha king, the Hammīra, the Hūṇa, and the king of Kāśī were suppliants at his door.⁵ Similarly it is stated in the Pākhāl inscription that his heralds at each assembly announce before him the names of the Lord of Kāśī, the Kaliṅga, the Śaka monarch, the Ruler of Kēraḷa, ‘the (King) of Tummāṇa, the Hūṇa King, the Prince of the Kurus, the Lord of Arimarda, the Ruler of the Māgadhas, the Nēpāla, the Chōḷa Monarchs’ and present them to him.⁶ Gaṇapati’s relations with the rulers of the Kaliṅga and Chōḷa countries have already been noticed. Of the other kingdoms, Madra, Pāñchāla, Vidēha, Kāśī, Magadha, Kuru, and Nēpāla were situated in the north; and all of them, excepting probably the last, disappeared long before the time of Gaṇapati; for the whole of Northern India was at the time under the rule of the Muslim Sulṭāns of Delhi. The Śaka rule which had been confined to Western India in ancient times was destroyed by the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II Vikramāditya in the latter half of the fourth century A.D., and the Hūṇas were overwhelmed by Yaśōvarman and Narasimha Gupta Bālāditya early in the next. Neither the Śakas nor the Hūṇas are known to have ruled subsequently in any part of India. The inclusion of the kings of these countries among the princes who came to pay homage to Gaṇapati must, therefore, be attributed to a literary convention popular with the *praśasti* writers of the period and it may be dismissed without serious consideration. Tummāṇa was situated in the Madhya Pradesh adjoining Teliṅgāṇa, and Kēraḷa in the extreme south on the west coast. Arimarda has been identified with Pegu on the Burmese coast; it is not unlikely that Gaṇapati may have had intercourse, friendly or otherwise, with rulers of these countries. Of the Hammīras, who also figure in the Sēuṇa inscriptions as the opponents of Siṅghaṇa, nothing is known, although they had been identified by some, but on very inadequate grounds, with the Muslims.¹