South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

legends seeing to be that the Śilāha as, like many a ruling family of South India, tried to show their connection with the hallowed land of the North.

No more historical details are known about the members of this Akkalkōṭ^[1] Branch of Śilāharas. Still, its great antiquity and well-preserved genealogical traditions furnish a suitable occasion for reviewing in brief the early history of the Śilāhāra stock and its later expansion into several family groups in the light of the epigraphical discoveries during the past decades.

Frequent allusions to their former rule over the famous town of Tagara (modern Ter, Usmanabad District, Nizam’s Dominions), contained in the titles of the principal Śilāhāra families^[2] indicate the first settlement in that tract of the earliest members of the stock, who might have migrated to the south during the early centuries of the Christian era. The next important stage in the ramification of the Śilāhāra stock appears to have come about during the time of the 8─10th centuries, as the origin and foundation of the three hitherto known Śilāhāra families, viz., the Northern and Southern Konkan^[3] and Kolhapur could be referred to this period from genealogical calculations.

Inthe earlier part of this period some more members seem to have migrated towards the south and east of Tagara and settled ‘ all over the region of Tardavāḍi Thousand’, roughly corresponding to the modern district of Bijapur and the neighbouring parts. This piece of information, furnished by a record from Muttagi,^[4] is amply substantiated by a good number of epigraphs containing references to the several members of the Śilāhāra extraction, discovered in the Bijapur District and the adjacent areas of the Gulbarga District and the Akkalkōṭ State. From the mention of the title Vijayapuravarādhīśvara in place of Tagarapuravarādhīśvara in some records of the Akkalkōṭ branch,^[5] it may be inferred that the early settlers of this tract had chosen the ancient and sacred town of Vijayapura^[6] as their headquarters.

An individual of petty Śilāhāra chiefs, who must have evidently belonged to the group of families domiciled in the Bijapur region, has been brought to light by a number of inscriptions copied by the Madras Epigraphist’s Office in the Sindagi taluk of the Bijapur District.^[7] The epigraphs containing references to the several members of this line range in date approximately from the middle of the 11th to the first quarter of the 13th century A.D. These chiefs call themselves descendants of Seḷara, Siḷara or Siyāḷa^[8] and lords of Tagaranagara.9 Their headquarters was

_____________________________

^[1]A local tradition connects the modern name of Akkalkōṭ with the village Aṅkalagi, which is said to have existed formerly on that site and the suffix kōṭ (kōte) denotes a fort. This is borne out by the form ‘ Aṅkalkōṭe ’of the name, frequently used by the village folk in their common parlance.
^[2] Besides the Śilābāras of Northern Konkan, Kollapur and Akkalkot, two more families of the Bijapur area assume the title denoting their lordship over Tagara.
^[3]It is doubtful if we can connect this family with the Śilāhāra ancestors from Tagarapura, as the epithet denoting their authority over the place is absent among the titles of this branch. On the contrary its relationship with the rulers of Ceylon is set forth in the Kharepatan Plates (above, Vol. III, p. 292.). this may be due, as suggested by Fleet, to the fancied resemblance between the names, Siṁhala and Śilāhāra (Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, pt. II. p. 536). Another suggestion is to equate Siṁhala with Goa (Indian Culture, Vo. II, p. 398). The banner and family deity are also not mentioned in the records of this branch.
^[4]B. K. No. 101-102 of 1928-29.
^[5] For instance, Indarasa III is mentioned as Vijayapuraparamēśvara and Vijayapuravarādhīśvara in two epigraphs from Akkalkōṭ, dated in the Chālukya-Vikrama years 36 and 48. (My private collection.)
^[6] Vijayapura or modern Bijapur is referred to as rājadhānī and Dakshiṇa Vārāṇaśī in the records of the 11-12th century A. D. ; vide B. K. Nos. 124, 126, 127, 131 etc., of 1933-34.
^[7] The following B. K. Nos. of 1936-37 may be noted for studying the history of this family : 6, 21, 30, 34, 37, 38, 67, 68 and 85.
^[8] This name bears some resemblance with Siṁhala and may possibly furnish a clue to the proposed origin of the Śilāhāras of the Southern Konkaṇ from Ceylon.
^[9] This departure from the more familiar form Tagarapura of the place-name may be noted.