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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
of Samur or Chaul as lying within his territory[1] and Aparājita, son of Vajjaḍa I, is known to
have ruled in 993-97 A.D.[2] The recently published grant[3] of Chhadvai, who was a younger
brother of Vajjaḍa I and a feudatory of Rāshṭrakūṭa Kṛishṇa III (939-67 A.D.), seems to have
been issued about the close of the Rāshṭrakūṭa king’s reign. Chhadvai is not mentioned in the
later records of the family and may have really been a usurper of the throne which rightfully belonged to his brother’s son Aparājita.[4] In spite of the fact that Aparājita ruled after the end
of Rāshṭrakūṭa supremacy, he also clearly speaks of the subservience of his ancestors to the
Rāshṭrakūṭa supremacy, It seems, however, that, during the reigns of Kṛishṇa II and Indra III
and probably for sometime more, the territorial division called Saṁyāna-maṇḍala, comprising
wide areas of the Northern Konkan, was under governors who were directly responsible to the
Rāshṭrakūṭa monarchs and had little to do with the Śilāhāras. This fact appears to explain
the temporary decline of Śilāhāra power in the Northern Konkan after the reign of Kapardin II
as indicated by the paucity of Śilāhāra records of the period in question and also by the Chinchani
inscription of the time of Indra III and Madhumati Sugatipa who governed Saṁyāna-maṇḍala
on behalf of Rāshṭrakūṭa Kṛishṇa II and Indra III. In this period, the Śilāhāra appears to have
been ruling only over parts of the territory held by Kapardin II. The Chinchani plate of the
reign of Kṛishṇa III (939-67 A.D.) does not mention the local rule of any Śilāhāra feudatory probably because it was issued at a time when the hold of the Śilāhāras over Saṁyāna had not yet
been fully re-established.
The Śilāhāra grants mention the descendants of Aparājita in the following order : (1-2)
Vajjaḍa II and Arikēsarin or Kēśaidēva (1017 A.D.),[5] sons of Aparājita, and (3-5) Chhittarāja (1026-34 A.D.),[6] Nāgārjuna and Mummuṇi or Māmvāṇi (1049-60 A.D.),[7] sons of Vajjaḍa II. The earliest of the three grants of the chiefs of Saṁyāna edited here was issued in Śaka 956 (1034 A.D.).
In this record, the chief, who appears to have belonged to the Mōḍha dynasty, although it is not
so stated in the inscription, acknowledges the suzerainty of the Sīlāra or Śilāhāra ruler called
Chhinturāja which is no doubt a variant of the name Chhittarāja.[8] It is stated that Saṁyānapattana was received by the chief from the Śilāhāra ruler. That Śilāhāra Chhittarāja was ruling
at least down to 1034 A.D. is not only known from the present record but also from the Berlin
Museum plates[9] issued by himself. It is, however, interesting to note that the other two records
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[1] See Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, part ii, p. 23 ; Ind. Cult., Vol. II, p. 404. The Yādava ruler Bhillama II married
the daughter of Jhañja while his son Vēsugi married the daughter of Gōgi. R. G. Bhandarkar was inclined to
identify Jhañjha and Gōgi with Jhañja and Gōggi of the Śilāhāra dynasty of the Northern Konkan (Bomb., Gaz,
Vol. I, part ii, pp. 232-33) ; but Fleet did not support the identifications (ibid., pp. 425, 513, 514 note 2).
[2] Above, Vol. III, pp. 271 ff. ; Gadre, Important Inscriptions from the Baroda State, Vol. I, pp. 46 ff., 55 ff. Cf.
Vaidya, Hist. Med. Ind., Vol. II, pp. 349 f.
[3] Above, Vol. XXVI, pp. 282 ff.
[4] The Gaṅga king Satyavākya Koṅguṇivarman Mārasiṁha II (circa 960-75 A.D.), who was a feudatory of
Rāshṭrakūṭa Kṛishṇa III, claims to have defeated Vijjala, the younger brother of Pātāḷamalla, and Kielhorn is
inclined to identify this Vijjala with Śilāhāra Vajjaḍa I (Kielhorn’s Southern List, Supplement, p. 6). If this
identification is accepted, it may not be impossible to think that it was the Rāshṭrakūṭa king who subdued
Vajjaḍa I and placed Chhadvai on the Śilāhāra throne although the reference to Pātāḷamalla cannot to be
explained in the present state of our knowledge. Vijjala (i.e. Vijjaḷa) and Vajjaḍa, however, appear to be
different names.
[5 ]As. Res., Vol. I, p. 357.
[6] Ind. Ant., Vol. V, p. 276 ff.; ZDMG, Band 90, 1936, pp. 265 ff.
[7] Above, Vol. XXV, pp. 53 ff.; JBBRAS, Vol. XII, pp. 329 ff.
[8] As will be seen below, Mahāmātya Nāgaṇaiya and Mahāsāndhivigrahika Nāupyaiya, known from Chhittarāja’s grants, served under Chhinturāja of our record, while we have a charter of Chhittarāja issued in the
same year, viz. Śaka 956 (1034 A.D.).
[9] ZDMG, Band 90, pp. 265 ff.
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