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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
Jayasiṁha I.[1] So thoroughly was the appellation Vallabha identified, for that period, with the
Western Chalukyas of Bâdâmi, that we find Vallabharâja and Vallabha used as substitutes for
their proper names to denote Pulakêśin II. and Vikramâditya I. in one of the Pallava records.[2] And, by the Râshṭrakûṭas themselves, the appellation Vallabha was first used to denote the
Western Chalukya king Kîrtivarman II., as is shewn by the verse in Sâmângaḍ grant of
A.D. 754, which tells us that Dantidurga acquired the sovereignty by conquering Vallabha.[3] The
appellation itself was promptly adopted by the Râshṭrakûṭas ; and it became, in the same way,
thoroughly identified with them. As we have seen above, the next record that enters into details,
the Paiṭhaṇ grant of A.D. 794, styles Dantidurga Vallabharâja, and gives to Gôvinda II. the
appellation Vallabha. The Waṇî grant of A.D. 807 gives the same appellation, Vallabha, to
Kṛishṇa I. The Bagumrâ grant, of doubtful authenticity, which purports to have been issued
in A.D. 888, mentions a Vallabhanṛipa, or “ king Vallabha,” who must be either Amôghavarsha
I. or Kṛishṇa II.[4] The Muḷgund inscription of A.D. 902-903 attaches Vallabha after the name
of Kṛishṇa II. The Kâpaḍwaṇaj grant of A.D. 909 or 910 speaks of (probably) Kṛishṇa II. as
Vallabharâja. The Sâṅglî grant of A.D. 933, the Dêôlî and Karhâḍ grants of A.D. 940 and
959, and the Kardâ grant of A.D. 972, apply the appellation “ his majesty the king Vallabha ”
to Gôvinda IV., Kṛishṇa III., and Kakka II. And, from the Prâkṛit forms Ballaharâya and
Ballarâya,[5] the Arab travelers and geographers of the ninth and tenth centuries A.D. used the
name Balharâ to denote, generally, the Râshṭrakûṭa kings of Mâlkhêḍ.[6] The Kaḍaba grant,
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[1] Ind. Ant. Vol. XIX. p. 16, text line 2.─ In the Eastern Chalukya records, sometimes Vallabha is attached to
the biruda Satyâśraya which in them takes the place of the proper name of Pulakêśin II., and sometimes Vallabhêndra is used instead of it (see, for instance, South-Ind. Inscrs. Vol. I. pp. 41, 48). In that series, Vallabha is
sometimes attached after the name of Jayasiṁha I., son of Kubja-Vishṇuvardhana I. (see, both ways, the same
references); but it is not found with any subsequent names.
[2] Namely, in the Udayêndiram grant of Pallavamalla-Nandivarman (South-Ind. Inscrs. Vol. II. pp. 370, 371).
This record says that the Pallava king Narasiṁhavarman I. frequently conquered Vallabharâja at Pariyaḷa,
Maṇimaṅgala, Śûramâra, and other places, and that his grandson Paramêśvaravarman I. defeated the army of
Vallabha in the battle of Peruvaḷa-Nallûr. The identifies are established by the Kûram Pallava grant, which tells
us (id. Vol. I. p. 152 ff.) that it was Pulakêśin (II.) whom Narasiṁhavarman I. conquered at Pariyaḷa, etc., and gives
(though without mentioning the name of the place) a very vivid description of a great battle in which Paramêśvaravarman I. inflicted a crushing defeat on the army of Vikramâditya (I.).
[3] Ind. Ant. Vol. XI. p. 114.
[4] Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII. p. 69, verse 23.─ The Baroda grant of A.D. 866 or 867 says that the feudatory prince
Dhârâvarsha-Nirupam-Dhruvarâja of Gujarât (the first of that name) put to flight the army of Vallabha (Ind. Ant.
Vol. XII. p. 188, verse 32), and that his son Akâlavarsha-Śubhatuṅga quickly recovered his paternal territory that
had been attacked or invaded by the army of Vallabha (verse 34), and that the second Dhârâvarsha-Nirupama-Dhruvarâja quieted in one direction the army of the Gurjaras that hurried up to encounter him, and in another
direction the hostile Vallabha (verse 37). These allusions, I think (see Dyn. Kan. Distrs. p. 408, notes 2, 4),─as
also the statement in the Baroda grant of A.D. 834 or 835, that Suvarṇavarsha-Karkarâja, of the same branch of
the family, vanquished some tributary Râshṭrakûṭas, who, after they had voluntarily promised obedience, dared to
rebel with a powerful army, and that he speedily placed Amôghavarsha I. on his throne (Ind. Ant. Vol. XIV.
p. 201, verse 10),─refer to some persistent attacks on the dynasty of Mâlkhêḍ, in their northern provinces, by
descendants of the Kakkarâja II., of the first Gujarât branch, for whom we have the date of A.D. 757. If
so, these passages would shew that the members of that line, also, were classed among the Vallabhas ; to which
there is no apparent objection. Or, perhaps, these passages containing Vallabha refer to some descendants of one
or other of the Gujarât branches of the Western Chalukya family.
[5] The latter may be assumed from Vallarâja, which one document gives as a form of the name of the Aṇhilwâḍ
Chalukya king Vallabharâja, son of Châmuṇḍarâja son of Mûlarâja I. (see Dr. Bhandarkar’s Report on Sanskṛit
Manuscripts for the year 1883-84, p. 10).─An inscription of A.D. 866-67 at Soraṭûr, in the Gadag tâluka, gives one
of the birudas of Amôghavarsha I. in the form of Pṛithiviballava. This perhaps gives us ballava, as another
Prâkṛit form of vallabha. But it is possible that the writer may have formed va by mistake for bha, or that he
may have carelessly used ballava, ‘ a man who knows,’ instead of ballaha.
[6] See Sir H. M. Elliot’s History of India, edited by Prof. Dowson, Vol. I. pp.3 to 40. In later times, the
Arabs used the name Balharâ to denote the Chalukya kings of Aṇhilwâḍ (e.g. Al-Idrîsî, towards the end of the
eleventh century A.D. ; ibid. pp. 85, 86, 87) ; and, as we have seen in the preceding note (see also Ind. Ant.
Vol. VI. pp. 198, 200, 213), Vallabharâja occurs as the name of a king in that dynasty with the date of A.D. 1009-10.
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