CHAPTER 10 THE YADAVAS OF DEVAGIRI. IN THE PRECEDING CHAPTER WE HAVE ALREADY NARRATED HOW THE YADAVA CHIEF BHILLAMA annihilated the power both of the Kalacuris and the later Calukyas and established his supremacy over a considerable part of the Deccan. Before we proceed with his subsequent career, we shall devote a few pages to the earlier history of his house when his ancestors were ruling over a small principality in the Deccan as feudatories, first of the Rastrakutas and then of the Later Calukyas. The early history of the Yadavas is shrouded in considerable darkness. It has to be reconstructed largely from a prasasti of the dynasty composed by Hemadri in c. 1180 A.D. Being written in the last quarter of the 12th century, it’s information about the rulers of the 9th and the 10th centuries is naturally insufficient, and often inaccurate. This information can be, to some extent, checked by the genealogies and account given in the epigraphical records of the dynasty. We shall refer to or quote from the epigraphical records in our footnotes to this chapter. The traditional genealogy of the Yadavas, as given by Hemadri, traces their descent from Visnu, the Creater through the Moon and Yadu who were his later descendants. The historian is naturally not much concerned with legendary personalities, who can be assigned neither a place nor a time. In due course the genealogy mentions one Subahu as a universal ruler with Dvaravati as his capital and we are told that Drdhaprahara, his second son, was the first to migrate to the south. The universal overlordship of Subahu is obviously mythical, but we may concede historicity to Drdhaprahara, his son, who seems to have carved out a small principality in Seunadesa1 in c. 860 A.D. The Yadava records naturally describe Dvaravati or Dvaraka, the capital of the Yadus from whom they claimed descent, as the original home of the family. No Kathiavad records, however, have so’ far disclosed any Yadava family near about Dvaraka. ruling in the 9th century A.D., nor do the actions or policies of the Yadavas show any anxiety to recover their patrimony or to establish any political or cultural connections with it in the heyday of their glory. The story * This Chapter is contributed by late Dr. A. S. Altekar, M.A., LL.B., D.Litt. 1 Seunadesa was a name given to the territory extending from the district of Nasik to Devagiri, Its original extent probably was smaller than this area. As the boundaries of the kingdom of the Yadavas, who called themselves as the rulers of Seunadesa extended, the geographical limits of Seunadesa also became more extensive. 356 MAHARASHTRA STATE GAZETTEER of the Jain tradition of how the mother of the founder of the family was saved by a Jain sage from the conflagration which consumed Dvaraka and how she later delivered a posthumous son,1 has hardly any historical foundation. Some inscriptions from Dharwar district have recently disclosed the existence of some Yadava chiefs ruling there in the 9th century, which was the time of the rise of the Yadava family of Drdhaprahara. As, however, the name of none of the rulers mentioned by Hemadri or found in the Yadava genealogies occurs in them, we cannot possibly trace the original home of Drdhaprahara in Dharwar. The early patrimony of the family was in Nasik and Khandesa; their later capital Devagiri is in Maharastra and Marathi literature flourished in their court in later times. We may, therefore, well presume that the original home of Drdhaprahara lay neither in Dvaraka in Kathiavad, nor in Dharwar in Karnataka, but somewhere in Khandesa or Nasik in Maharastra to which their small patrimony was confined for a long time. Like the contemporary Hoysalas, they mentioned Dvaraka as their original home because they claimed descent from the Yadu race. EARLY YADAVAS. The early Yadavas were feudatories of the Rastrakutas, who were the rulers of the Deccan. It appears that Drdhaprahara and his son Seunacandra gave valuable military assistance to Amoghavarsa I and Krsna II in their wars with the Gurjara-Pratiharas and were awarded a fief in Nasik or Khandesa, Epigraphical evidence shows that Drdhaprahara (c. 860 to 880 A.D.)2 founded the city of Candraditya-pura, modern Candor, 40 miles north-east of Nasik. But the Vrata-khanda mentions Srinagara or Sinnar as his capital. Seunacandra may be regarded as the real founder of the dynasty; for it is he who for the first time receives the feudatory titles in later inscriptions and records of the dynasty. He ruled from c. 880 to 900 A.D. His principality was a small one and did not extend much beyond Nasik district. The next three rulers of the family, Dhadiyappa, Bhillama I and Rajiga or Sriraja are shadowy figures and may be presumed to have ruled during 900 to 950 A.D. Rajiga’s son Vaddiga or Vandugi was married to princess Vohiyawa, a daughter of Dhorappa or Dhruva, a younger brother of the contemporary Rastrakuta emperor Krsna III. Vaddiga zealously participated in the hurricane campaigns of his uncle-in-law3 and we may well presume that the latter may have increased the Jagir of his martial son-in-law. In politics, however, blood relationships do not always count for much, for we find Bhillama II,4 son of Vaddiga, zealously championing the cause of the Calukya emperor Tailapa, who overthrew the Rastrakuta empire. He compelled, says a verse in his own record, ‘the Goddess of Royalty to remain as a chaste wife in the house of Ranaraga Tailapa II’. Bhillama also helped Taila in his protracted war against 1 I.A. XII, pp 119-24. 2 The date of Drdhaprahara is approximately determined from the known contemporarity of one of his descendants to Krsna III (c. 938 A. D.), the famous Rastrakuta emperor. 3 See Bassein grant, I. A. XII 119 of Kalas Budruk records ; I. A. XVII, p. 117, Hemadri also concurs with this view, v. 22. 4 Bhillama’s wife Laksmi was also a Rastrakuta princess. R. G. Bhandarkar’s view that her father Jhanja was the Silahara prince of that name is untenable, for we know that latter flourished between c. 910 and 930 A.D. HISTORY – ANCIENT PERIOD 357 the Paramara ruler Munja. As a reward for his help portions of Ahmadnagar district were added to his fief by Taila. Bhillama II is the earliest Yadava ruler known so far from his own grant. His Sangamner copper plate, issued in 1000 A.D. records a grant in favour of the temple of Vijayabharanesvara erected at Sangamner in Ahmadnagar district. Vijayabharana was a new title adopted by Bhillama and the deity was named after it. Bhillma ruled from c. 980 to 1005 A.D. The next ruler Vesugi is a shadowy figure; his queen Nayilladevi was a Calukya princess from Gujarat1. Bhillama III, who succeeded him,2 (c. 1025 to 1045 A.D.), is known from the Kalas Budruk grant issued by him in 1026 A.D. He was a brother-in-law of Ahavamalla, his feudal lord, his wife Hamma. being the latter’s sister; this must have increased his prestige. He offered help to the Calukyas in their wars with Bhoja. The next two rulers Vadugi and Bhillama IV are mentioned only in Hemadri’s genealogy but omitted in the inscriptions. During their short rule of about 20 years, the Yadava house suffered an eclipse; for Seunacandra II the next king, whose relationship with his predecessors is not mentioned, is described as the rescuer of the fortunes of his family, as Hari was of the earth. He is known from his own grant, the Bassein plates issued in 1069 A.D.3. Seunacandra II was a skilful diplomat; in the struggle for the throne that was going on in the imperial Calukya family, he could correctly judge that Vikramaditya, though the younger brother, would succeed against his eldest brother Somesvara II. He threw in his lot with the former and helped him to win the throne. His crown prince Erammadeva or Paranma-deva co-operated with him in securing the throne for Vikramaditya VI, as suggested by the evidence of the Asvi inscription. Some idea of the growing importance of Seunacandra can be obtained from the circumstance of his Waghli inscription referring to one of his feudatories, Govindaraja of the Maurya lineage. The reign of Seuncandra II may be placed during c. 1065 to 1085 and that of his son Erammadeva during c. 1085 to 1105. The latter was succeeded by his brother Simharaja, who is credited with having helped his feudal lord Vikramaditya to complete his Karpuravrata by procuring a Karpura elephant for him. Yadava history becomes obscure during the 50 years, from c. 1125 to 1175 A. D. Simharaja’s son and successor Mallugi is credited with the capture of the fort of Parnakheta, probably Palkhed in Akola district. Hemadris prasasti mentions Amaragangeya, Garudaraja (relationship not given), Amaramallugi, another son of Mallugi, and Kaliyaballala (relationship not stated) as the next rulers. We are further informed that the sons of Kaliyaballala could not succeed him as his uncle Bhillama superseded them. In addition to these rulers, epigraphic evidence shows4 that a Yadava prince named Seunacandra was ruling in Nasik district in 1142 A.D., but his relationship to any of 1 Between Vaddiga and Bhillama II, a ruler named Dhadiyasa had intervened, but his precise relationship to Bhillama is uncertain. He may have been his elder brother. His name is omitted in epigraphs. 2 Her father Gogi ruled in Lata or Southern Gujarat, I.A.