South Indian Inscriptions

EARLY KALACHURIS OF MAHISHMATI

gana’s Ābhōna grant of K. 347 (596-97 A.C.). As shown below, Sankaragana’s son Buddharāja was defeated by Mangalēśa in circa 601 A. C. Sankaragana can, therefore, be referred to circa 575-600 A. C., and his father Krishnarāja, to circa 550-575 A. C. Sangamasimha, who made his grant in 541 A. C., was, therefore, probably a feudatory of Krishnarāja’s father whose name¹ unfortunately has not come down to us.

This Kalachuri prince must have found a favourable opportunity for the extension of his power in the political conditions of the second quarter of the sixth century A.C. The Vākātaka dynasty seems to have come to an end with Harishēna’s son. In Central India the meteoric rise of Yaśōdharman was followed by confusion and chaos. In the west the Maitrakas, who had founded a kingdom at Valabhī about half a century before, were not yet powerful enough to pursue an aggressive policy. In the south, though Pulakēśin I is said to have performed an Aśvamēdha, his power was probably confined to the northern Kanarese districts. Krishnarāja’s father seems to have extended his power in the east, west and south. In the west he supplanted the Traikūtakas and divided their extensive kingdom among his feudatories. The Mauryas, as we have already seen, were placed in charge of Aparānta of North Konkan, while Gujarat or at least the central part of it was given in charge of Sangamasimha. We do not know whether Maharashtra including ancient Vidarbha was annexed to the Kalachuri kingdom during his reign or during that of his son Krishnarāja.

Krishnarāja seems to have still further extended the kingdom inherited from his father. His silver coins,² which are imitated from those of the Traikūtakas, were at first intended for circulation in Gujarat, North Konkan and Maharashtra. Like the latter coins, they have on the obverse the bust of the king facing right, and on the reverse inside a circle of dots, runs the legend Paramamāhēśvara-mātā-pitri-pād-ānudhyāta-śri-Krishnarājah. In the middle, in place of the chaitya, the sun and the moon which figure on the Kshatrapa and Traikūtaka coins, the king, who was a devotee of Śiva, inserted the figure of the recumbent bull, Nandi, facing right. These coins, which in their weight ³ and fabric, approximated to the Kshatrapa, Gupta and Traikūtaka coins, were in circulation over a very wide country. They have been discovered in such distant parts as Rajputana⁴ and Malwa⁵ in the north, the districts of Satara⁶ and Nasik⁷ in the south, the islands of Bombay⁸ and Sāshti ⁹ in the west, and the districts Betul¹⁰ and Amaravati¹¹ of Madhya Pradesh in the east. As these coins were in circulation for at least a hundred and fifty years after the time of Krishnarāja,¹² be- _______________

¹ In the place of the patronymic which occurs in the legend on Traikūtaka coins, Krishnarāja substituted mātā-pitri-pād=ānudhyāta ‘he who meditates on the feet of his mother and father’. So his father’s name does not appear even on his coins.
² The legend on these coins was first correctly read by Fleet. See Ind. Ant., Vol. XIV, p. 68.
³ The weight of these coins is about 30 grains.
⁴ C. C. M. I., p.8 Cunningham ascribed these coins to Krishnarāja Rāshtrakūta (375-400 A.C.), but the Rāshtrakūtas were not then in power. See Rapson, Indian Coins, p. 27.
⁵ Seven coins were brought to light during excavations at Besnagar. A. R. A. S. I. (1913-14), p. 214.
⁶ They were found near Karhad. Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, part ii, p. 13.
⁷ They were discovered at Baglan near Nasik, loc. cit. p.13
⁸ Loc. cit., p. 13. A hoard of 200 coins was discovered in Bombay proper. See J. B. B. R. A. S., Vol. XX (Extra Number) (1900), pp. 7 and 9.
⁹ Two coins were discovered at Mulgaon near Marole in Sāshtāī, loc. cit. p.9.
¹⁰ Some coins of this type were discovered in 1937 at Pattan in the Betul District of Madhya Pradesh.
¹¹ A hoard of 1600 coins was found at Dhāmōri in the Amaravati District.
¹² They are mentioned as Krishnarāja-rūpakas in the Anjaneri inscription of Bhōgaśakti, dated K. 461 (No. 31).
_______________