South Indian Inscriptions

EARLY CHALUKYAS OF GUJARAT

śvara. From a copper-plate inscription¹ recently published by Mr. A.S. Gadre, it seems that Śīlāditya III occupied the Gurjara country for some time during this very period; for the inscription records his grant of a field in the village Antikā situated in the vishaya of Bharukachchha ( modern Broach) at a Brāhmana who had emigrated from Girinagara and was then residing at Sraddhikā modern sādhi, about 5 miles south by west of Padra in the Baroda District. The grant is dated in G. 357 (676-77 A.C.), i. e., only about 9 years before Jayasimka’s Nasik grant which records his victory over Vajjada. Now, Bharukachchha was not only included in the country of the Gurjaras, but was their capital in this period. When a foreign ruler makes a grant in this district, it clearly indicates that the Gurjaras had lost their hold over that territory. The dates f the Gurjara kings also suggest that they had suffered reverses in this period. Between K. 392 (642 A. C.), the last known date of Dadda II-Praśāntarāga and K. 456 (706 A.C.), the next known date of his great-grandson Jayabhata III, there is a gap of 64 years. Two Gurjara princes Jayabhata II and Dadda III ruled in this period, but only one record of this period has been discovered.² These were troublous times for the Gurjaras; for, their country was invaded twice by the Maitrakas of Valabhī, their powerful neighbours on the west. The first invader was Dharasēna IV. This king, who assumed the imperial titles Paramabhaţţāraka, Mahārājādhirāja, Paramēśvara and Chakravartin, issued two grants from his victorious camp at Bharukachchha in G.330 (649-50 A. C.).³ The villages granted lay, however, in the Kheţaka vishaya outside the Gurjara kingdom. Dharasēna IV seems, therefore, to have only raided the Gurjara territory. He did not annex it to his kingdom. This invasion took place during the reign of Jayabhata II (circa 645-665 A. C.). Twenty-Seven years later Śīlāditya III tried to emulate the achievement of his ancestor. He invaded the Gurjara kingdom and occupied the territory round Broach for some time as is indicated by his aforementioned grant of G. 357 (676-77 A.C.)⁴ Dadda III-Bāhusahāya then sought the aid of the Chālukya Emperor, by whose command Dharāśraya- Jayasimha, who was ruling over the adjoining territory, proceeded to the north and drove the enemy out of the Gurjara kingdom. It is noteworthy that the Navsāri plates of Jayabhata III, son and successor of Dadda III, record his grant of land to a Brāhamana who also, like the donee of Śīlāditya III’s grant, had emigrated from Girinagara and was then residing at the same village Śraddhikā. This clearly shows that the Gurjaras had recovered possession of the Bharukachchha vishaya before K. 456.

It may, however, be objected that Siladitya III is not known by the name Vajrata. This objection has not much force; for from the middle of the seventh century A. C. Siladitya became the conventional name of all kings of Valabhi. Siladitya III was followed by four other kings, all of whom were known by the same name Siladitya. As in the case of the Daddas and the Jayabhatas of the Gurjara dynasty, they must have had other personal names by which they were distinguished from one another. Some of the predecessors of Siladitya III had personal names in addition to those ending in aditya. See, e.g., the names of Dhruvasena II- Baladitya and Kharagraha II- Dharmaditya. Some of these names again ended in ta. The inference seems, therefore justifiable that Vajrata was another name of Siladitya III. His defeat by Dharasraya-Jayasimha may have occurred some time between 677 A. C. and 685 A. C. ____________________

^1. Important Inscriptions from the Baroda State, Vol. I, pp. 18 ff.
² See No. 121, pp. 617 ff., below.
³ Ind,. Ant., Vol. VII, PP. 73 ff.; and XV, pp. 329 ff.
⁴ This is the only grant of land in the Broach District made by Śilāditya III. He did not make four such grants as incorrectly stated by Gadre. Important Inscriptions etc., p. 18.