c h a p t s r - i POUTICAI. HISTORY, SOCIAL - K^iLIOIOUSi C O N D m O H K a n d CULTURAL OBOGRAHtT 1 T H E K A L C U i ; X S ^ T H I P U H I After the aeeth of Hflroh«, northern Indl^ becs"ie the polltiCHl chesn-bomrd «»nd peyeml chicfR played th«lr role. The "ore prOTjlnent s'nojni': the»e were the Cendellpis In Bunflellrhnnd, GurJaiHs-Prntlharas in K M i B U j s m d the Kalncurlf in yQit^le.’nr.g d a l a is^>OPf> eapltnl wh? Tripurl* For a period of nearly three Cf5nturl«8,i.e., between oirca 5th - 8th century A.U., the Kalacurl* of Trlpuri conld out-shlne their c o n t e ' ^ poreries end they hare left e rieh lejfecy in the history of early mediaeral Indie. The Kalncuria were supposed to hnve migrated fron .5ahl«natl (nodem M?»ndh«ta of Niiiar diotrict, But Snnknlia hmP Bugeeeted that >*andhpite cnnnot be identifiod with nncient l^is’nstT.® He hafi identified f^heshmr with '’ahiffnatl. After they settled et Tripwri, the fiR?nily w-?p divided into three brnnchss.^ Out of those three branches of the Knlneuris, the Tripuri house wnp rore powerful end ruled over an extenPlTR e!T5)ir« froai circa 6th century A.D. to circa 13th century AJ3. This region suhse^iuently came to bo knowa as Oodirtn^Jala or Dnhnln-mandala. 1. Ray, H.C., The Dynsstic History of Horthem India. Vol.II, Calcutta. l?)T56,p.73fi. g. SaTknlia,H.U., Subbarao, B., and Deo, S.B., The axcavations nt Mnhoahwar and HgTTBdatoli. 195S-^; Poona, 19SB, baroda, p . 1 5 . 3. Mira?»hl, V.V., Corpus InerlptionU!ii Indicwrun. IV, pt.l, pp.cxcil-xciii* To reeoriBtruet th« history of this houBe vie hav» wiple 'iiaterials, 1*0., the intcriptlons, copperplates, coins and the conte^qpomry litera­ ture. Krsnaraja me probably, the first rulir of this house as found fro m the inserlptions of his son ^nkaraf^ena. We do not know about his polit ~ leal career but hi a son %okaracana mast have played sone important role as indicated by his IniHjrlptlonB and sovoral hi^ii soxmding titles like Parameb^ttemka, Mahara.lndhira.la and Para^esvara. During his time the Kalacurl porer extended upto Nasik.^ The son and probably saooeaf^or of %nkaragaM m s Buddhamja, was defeated by the CalUkya klnc ’'ianealewjfih circa 6th century A.D.^ and hence they miriit have aoknowledged the suzerainty of the Oalukyas. !Hie period int erven in,* from Bud dhara.la to Kokalla I Is a dark 3 period In the history of the Kalacuris* Scholars like Mlrashl are of the opinion that vSnaraJa was the rulor under whose fast Sahkaragana meditated* Vwnaraja at>pears to have ruled in circa 8th csntuxy A*D* O T c r a Tast kinf^dom comprinlng Gomati in the north to the Narmada In the south, the part of Bundelkhand, Ba^-helkand, Sagar, Jabalpur (the difltricts of IIJP.) and the central part of Uttar Pradesh. Since the tl^e of Va’nax^ta the B’alacuris becar® popular by the name of Caidyaa. The cedi-country via a situated aloni; the south bank of Tamuna fron the Chanbal on the north-west to Karvi (^ich flows 1. E.I.. Vol.IX, ’Th e Abhona Plates of Sahkarofw^a* p.S96. The inscription records the grant of land in the Nasik dintrict. g. Ray, H^C., op.cit.t p.739. 3. Mlrashl, V.V., op.cit.. p.lsviii* north-oast to Chitrakuta)^ <m the «outh-ea‘-t. V*karaje aay have tawnsfo- , Jred his capital from Mahi^'nati to Trlpurl# The modern vlllaee Tet»ar, £iltueted on the Jabftlpur-Bhemdiat t o r U I s identified vdth !Tripurl. Tripuri is a city of hifrJi antiquity. It I0 tiontloned In various later vedic teicts, Jaina and Buddhist texts as well as in Ifarlous 2 puranaa* It was one of the sixteen ’laha.lanapadas. In later Vedic literature it is mentioned as three important cities of Asuras, while in the imranlc literature >ie are told that the city 1919e destroyed by conve- ■ rtinf;; them to Buddhism and Jainian. The Mahabharata sientiona it aa Traipura and attrihutes its destruction by Viaiiu in the forni of a cow- bull. ® The situation of Tripuri is placed in south-eastern division in the Brhat-sanhita. whereas Ke'iaoendra calls it codi-na^mr as the capital 4 of cedi country. Ke do not kno«; the history of Tripurl prior to the advent of the Kalacuris but the discovery of a few coins and pottery have provided valuable ^;^idanee in this i*espect. Tripuri see'nB to have passod on to the rules of the Ksatrapa and the SatavaJianas Who riight have included the fnojor imrt of D '’can Maliamabtra, Gujarat, and Central India. Thus, probably, in the first century B.C. theiy extended their rule over ftentral India and added Tripuri and othor places of Importance like 1. Par^^siter, F.E., J.A.3 .B.Y0I. IXI7,p.849 ff. 2. Slkshlt, M.O., Tripurl. 1952 (Excavationa Report) pp.7“0. 3. Sankalia H.D., J.MJP.I>P.. Vol.V.1967,*In Search of Three Citioe*, p.59. 4. Dikshlt, M.G., Op.Pit, p.9. 4 1 Send eto. But Mlmshl thinke tiiat cedi cormtry might have been uader - 8 rule of the Pnrlvrajaka-rn.lao. Thus It is not k n o m ti«t frofs vjhora VRnaraja conciuered Trlpurl. P w m the time of Varnai€.1adieva to 3 3ankaraf*aBa I is oupposod to be the daxfe period* Snnkiaraimne I la the n m t I'lportant ruler of the Kalaouria whom we can place palaooi'raphlcally In oiroa 8th contury A*D« The names of the micoGSSors of Sankarafrai^B are not known until m oomB to Lak8ananara:Ja I of the Karltalni Insoriptloa dated K.CtS.593 (841-42 A.D.). LaktenanerRja w a s ronfie^-ed to a mibordinate p o sition by the Rashtrrskfiptes. Later on, the Raehtrf»ku^*',fl entered into matrl'^ionlal allionce fron tirie to tlrae vjlth the Kpilacurls o f Trlpurl. Yhle alllSance with the Kaluourio made a bulkwwic on the north of Kaxmtda against any poBsibla invasion from the atrJara-Pratiharaa to their territory. Kokalla I eucceeded hie father Laksananaraja in circa 875 A.D. T^e tuportaat evonta of hl9 reign are ao!io untrl'walal allinnces ■jrlth 4 th e Candellas and the Rashtrakfitae. Kokalla 1 was suoooeded by his non Sahk^ragai^a II v^ho was other- 5 vdee known as JligdhatunKa, PrasiddhadJiavnla. He conquered the lines of 1. Sankalia, op«ielt.. p.57. 2 . Mlraehi, op.cit.. pp.LXX-LXXI. 5. I b i d . Mlraehi sut^tiaata that Mny u r a r a j a the author of Sanskrit play the Udnttararhava was one of the rulers. 4. ?5irashl, op.cit». no. 45,48. 5. These two names seo^ to be Viruda rather than personal naies. eountriea alon^: tho sfsa-nhore anfl took away Pali (the country of P a li) 1 from the lord of Ko^ala. Balnhnrsat the son end micceesor of ^SankaPagana I» hftd probably a short r®if:nt l.e*, frm elroa 91C-15 A.D. No further records of his reltTB is found. Bnleharfa xras sucoeeded by his youn{,;or brother Yuvarajadeva I in clren 915 A.D. who was a groat patron of art and literature. He Is orodited with harlne built many tmples and Mathas Ilka the Golaki- natha, and toxtfj like the Yigdhn^alabhaa.1 ika were composed by his court poot Rajasyekhnm. He seena to have led his successful army againetthe countpias of Daneal, Kuntala, Gujarat, Kaohnir , Orlf^aa, Mai,'adh,P55oala, Avanti, JalKidliara, Kerala and married the ladies from these places, n as ?aeationed in the above mmtioned text.® He 9 i»as also victorious against the 5!alam. He ;narried the Galukya princess Nohaja . As he was the lord of Orissa is proved by his Viruda trikalinaadhipati. But his con^iuest ovor Kashmir is doubtful. He was a devout worshiper of Siva, and patronised "lany §aiva Scaryas to praach their doctrines. He donated throe lakhs of villages for the naintsnence of Oolaki-??intha. His wife NohaladevI was also a devotee of Siva and is said to have mad© donations to the matha and Salva JCcaryas of thf^ifiipntr^cult. She built nany ten?)les i.e., a teraple o f Nohala^ara end donated seven villaeea fbr its maintenance. Tho temple at Ourci (now ruined) was built by the ktn^ and probably, a monpfstery at Chandroh© was also built by kin^; for meditations and tralnlnii of Saiva Xoaryaa. 1. For details see, ?*lrashi, op.clt.. p.UCXVII. 2* Ibid. and Viddha.^labhan.11 ^ od. by Arte, p*ll3. V, 6 Yurara.lfldovo had two mlnistors, viz*, Bh^QRiiBhra and Gollaka* The later belont/n to the E^astha stock and waa a Vaif^ava who caused to o a w s the o o l o s m l l!«igs o f Uatsya, VaTaha, Balairaraa I n o a m a r tions of Vimrx alonj^th a aayana'TOrtl at B^dhogarh.^ Lak^ananare ja II Bucceedad his father YuvaraJadova. He was un­ doubtedly a gre«t warrior as proved his various rnilitary exploits at^ainst the distant countries like Bengal, Lata, Kaahmlrr^ and Gurjaira^. He also took part la the northern expedition of the Raehtralcuta king K|*sna III.