CHAPTER 7 RASTRAKUTA EMPIRE AND ITS FEUDATORIES* WE HAVE ALREADY SEEN HOW KIRTIVARMAN II OF THE CALUKYA DYNASTY was defeated by king Dantidurga of the Rastrakuta lineage. We shall now describe the career of the new house which was destined to far outshine the glory of its predecessor. Later records of the dynasty1 claim that Dantidurga belonged to the Satyaki branch of the Yadu race. In this line there was a prince named Ratta, who had a son named Rastrakuta, who was the progenitor of the new dynasty and gave it its well-known name. Earlier records however are unaware of this Yadava origin of the new house ; it was obviously introduced in the official genealogies in later days when it became the custom for every dynasty to claim descent from some Pauranic or legendary hero. Sober history tells us that Rastrakuta was the name of an office and not of an individual. Rastra was the name of a territorial unit, corresponding roughly to the modern district and its administrative officer was called rastrakuta, a rastrapati, or rastrika or rathika or rathi in different periods and provinces. In the Deccan the term rastrakuta had come into general use to denote the officer of the district, as gramakuta had become general for the village headman. The status and powers of the Rastrakutas corresponded to those of the Desmukhs and Desais of the Maratha period; but very often they were given, or they used to acquire the status of a feudatory. We get references to a few feudatory Rastrakuta chiefs in the Deccan and Karnatak during the ascendancy of the Calukyas of Badami. A Rastrakuta chieftain named Abhimanyu was ruling in Hosangabad district in the first half of the 6th century2; a hundred years later, we find another Rastrakuta feudatory house ruling in southern Maratha country3. A third Rastrakuta family is disclosed * This Chapter is contributed by late Dr. A. S. Altekar, M.A., LL.B., D.Litt. Some notes based on subsequent research have been supplied by Dr. V. V. Mirashi. 1 Wardha plates, J.B.B.R.A.S., XVIII, p. 239; Sangli plates, Ibid, IV, p. 11 etc. 2 E.I., VIII, p. 163. 3 [Both these houses were identical. The family was ruling at Manapura (Man in the Satara District). See Studies in Indology, II, 178 f. for the history of these Rastrakutas of Manapura.] (V.V.M.) 234 MAHARASHTRA STATE GAZETTEER by the Multai, Tivarkhed and Nagardhan plates and it was ruling in Berar, probably at Ellicpur1. There may have been some more Rastrakuta records claim that Lattalura was the original city of the family; this Lattalura is obviously the town of Latur in the former state of Hyderabad. No evidence is so far forthcoming to show that Dantidurga was holding a fief at this place ; his cancer and exploits suggest that his patrimony was somewhere in northern Maharastra or Berar. The present writer had suggested that Dantidurga probably belonged to the Rastrakuta family disclosed by the Tivarkhed and Multai plates2; the question however cannot be regarded as finally settled as the genuineness and dates of the records of this house are not certain3. It is however very probable that the family of Dantidurga originally hailed from Lattalura, but had migrated to northern Maharastra or Berar in search of pastures new. Its Canarese origin suggested by the mention of Lattalura or Latur as its home is further corroborated by several significant facts. Canarese literature flourished in the Rastrakuta court; emperor Amoghavarsa I is the reputed author of the earliest Canarese work on poetics ; the sign manuals of several charters of the Rastrakuta branch of Gujarat are in south- Indian proto-Canarese characters, as contrasted with the proto-Nagari characters of the charters themselves, Our records take the genealogy of Dantidurga five generations back, but naturally the earlier figures are all shadowy. The earliest definitely known ancestor of Dantidurga is Dantivarman, who was his grandfather’s grandfather. His probable time may be c. 650 to 665 A.D. He and his son Indra Prcchakaraja (c. 665 — 680) and grandson Govinda I (680—700 A.D.) are however mere names to us; we know of no specific political exploits of any one of them. Since Govinda I ruled from c. 680—700 A.D., we cannot obviously identify him with Govinda, the opponent of Pulakesin II, who had invaded the Calukya empire in c. 610 A.D. Govinda I was a staunch Saivite. Govinda’s son Karka I is also a shadowy figure. He ruled from c. 700 to 720. He had at least three sons, Indra I, Krsna I, and Karka4 who may be presumed to have been born between 695 and 705 A. D. Of these Indra was probably the eldest and succeeded his father in c. 720 A.D. 1 I.A., XVIII, p. 230', E.I., XI, p. 276. 2 See Rastrakutas, pp. 7-11. The recently discovered Nagardhan plates, of this house supply the date 322 for Nannaraja Yudhasura. If we take this date as referring to the Gupta era, my theory gets additional support; if we refer it to the Kalacuri era then it has to be abandoned ; for there would result a gap of seventy-five years between Dantivarman and Yudhasura. The plates are not yet published and so no definite conclusion can yet be arrived at, See I.H.Q., XXV, p. 81 and p. 138 for Mirashi’s view that the date is given in the Kalacuri era. (The plates have since been published see Sp. Ind.„ XXVIII, 1 f., C.I.I. IV, pp. 611f,-V.V.M.) 3 (The Tivarakhed plates are proved to be spurious. See Milashi, Studies in Indology, II, 25 f. Nannaraja of the Nagardhan plates was different from his name sake who issued the Multai plates. Nagardhan plates have since been Otherwise the Calukya forces defeated by Dantidurga would not have been published in E.I., XXVIII, If. The Rastrakutas were not of Canarese origin, described as Karnataka in Rastrakuta grants. See E.I.,, VI, 209, V.V.M.) 4 This Karka is probably identical with Karka I, the great-grandfather of Karka II, who was holding a small principality in southern Gujarat in 757 A.D For a contrary view, see Rastrakutas, pp. 11-12. HISTORY – ANCIENT PERIOD 235 We begin to get information about definite political events from the time of Indra. His bride Bhavanaga was a Calukya princess and he is stated to have carried her away by force by raksasa1 vivaha from the marriage pandal at Kaira (in northern Gujarat). This event may be placed in c. 710 or 715 A.D. The name of Bhavanaga’s father is not known, but very probably he may have been king Mangalarasa of the Gujarat Calukya house or a cousin of his2. This successful coupe of Indra, of course, presupposes; that his father Karka I had become fairly powerful; otherwise he could not have challenged the Gujarat Calukyas in this manner. As Hindu marriage is indissoluble, and as the raksasa form of marriage was recommended to and not uncommon among the Ksatriyas, we may presume that the relations between Indra and his wife’s Calukya parents may have soon become normal. Dantidurga, the son of this union, may be presumed to have been born in c. 716 A.D. Indra may be presumed to have ruled down to c. 735 A.D. In order to understand the careers of Indra and Dantidurga, it is necessary to take a bird’s eye view of the contemporary political situation, with special reference to Berar and northern Maharastra in which block of territory the Rastrakuta principality lay. The Calukya empire lay to the south of the growing principality of Indra, and he was its feudatory. To the north in Gujarat lay the small kingdom of the Gujarat Calukyas with its capital at Nandipuri or Nandod near Broach. Both these kingdoms were suffering grievously from repeated Arab invasions. By about 737 A.D. the Arabs had penetrated up to Navsari, but in the following year they were driven back by king Pulakesin of the Gujarat Calukya branch, obviously with the help of his suzerain Vikramaditya II. It is quite likely that Indra and his son may have co-operated with the Calukyas in repulsing these raids. The precise date of accession of Dantidurga is not yet known ; but the Ellora plate, published in 1940, now makes it clear that his career had begun before 742 AD.3 Like Sivaji and Babar, Dantidurga began his career early and it is not unlikely that he took a leading part in the defeat of the Arabs in 738, though no mention of his share in this feat is made in the Navsari plates, which being issued by Pulakesin, give the entire credit of the victory to that prince. Some weight is lent to this conjecture by the new titles Prthivivallabha and Khadgavaloka, which Dantidurga is assuming in the Ellora plates. 1 (The name of the princess was Bhavagana not Bhavanaga. See E.l, XIV, 124. She was probably a Kalacuri princess. See the name Sankaragana of a Kalacuri king, V.V.M.) 2 (See, however, Studies in Indology, Vol. II, p. 22. V.V.M.) 3 Prof. Mirashi has advanced the view that the year of the issue of the Ellora plates is 463 of the Kalacuri era and not 603 of the Saka era as suggested in E.l., XXV, p. 25; see I.H.Q. XXV, 81- 85. This would place the accession of Dantidurga some years before 712 A.D.