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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EARLY KALACHURIS OF MAHISHMATI ing used by several later dynasties, it is not possible to say if the Kalachuri Empire in the time of Krishnarāja comprised all these distant territories. But that Gujarat, Konkan, and Maharashtra including Vidarbha were in any case comprised in it, seems beyond all doubt. Krishnarāja’s suzerainty over Vidarbha is also indicated by the recently discovered Nagardhan plates of the reign of Svāmirāja.1 They were issued by his brother Nannarāja from Nandivardhana, modern Nagardhan near Ramtek in the Nagpur District, which is well known in history as one of the early capitals of the Vākātaka dynasty. The royal family to which Svāmirāja and Nannarāja belonged is not mentioned in the grant, but as similar names occur in some Rāshtrakūta grants in Vidarbha,2 these princes probably belonged to the Rāshtrakūta lineage. In the initial portion of this grant, Svāmirāja is described as ‘meditating on the feet of the lord paramount.’ The plates are dated in the year 322, which must be referred to the Kalachuri era and corresponds to 573-74 A. C. This is the only record of the Kalachuri era found in Vidarbha.3 The use of this era indicates that the unnamed suzerain of Svāmidāsa was some Kalachuri king, probably Krishnarāja who flourished from circa 550 A. C. to 575 A. C.; for the era evidently spread to Vidarbha with the extension of the Kalachuri power.
The Nagardhan plates record two gifts—(i) one of 12 nivartanas of land in the village Chiñchapattikā, made by a Corporation of Mahāmātras (Elephant-drivers) and (ii) the other of the village Ankōllikā made by the ruling king at Prayāga. It is noteworthy that the seal of the plates has the figure of a goad as the emblem of the Corporation, with the legend gana-dattih, meaning ‘a gift of the Corporation.' The descendants of Svāmirāja probably ruled in Vidarbha for a long time. On the downfall of the Kalachuris, they transferred their allegiance to the Early Chālukyas, and like them, dated their records in the Śaka era. Krishnarāja’s son Śankaragana is known from several records. His own Ābhōna plates4 were issued from his camp at Ujjayini, and record the donation of land in a village situated in the northern part of the Hyderabad State. It is not known if Western Malwa was permanently annexed to the Kalachuri Empire; but that Śankaragana first conquered it and held it for some time is indicated by the fact that the epithets, employed to describe him in the Ābhōna plates and repeated in subsequent Kalachuri charters, were borrowed from or suggested by Gupta records, with which the drafter must have been acquainted in Ujjayini. It is noteworthy that no such epithets occur in the description of his father Krishnarāja. The Ābhōna plates show that Śankaragana ruled over a vast empire which extended
from Malwa in the north to Maharashtra in the south. That it comprised Gujarat is
shown by the Sankhedā plate of the general Śāntilla, which mentions Nirihullaka as his
governor in Central Gujarat.5 Śankaragana is probably referred to as Gana Sankara in
the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa as shown by Dr. Jayaswal.6 His Ābhōna plates are dated in K.
347 (597 A. C.). His reign must have ended soon thereafter, as his son Buddharāja was
defeated by Mangalarāja in circa 601 A. C. Sankaragana may, therefore, be assigned
approximately to the period 575-600 A. C.
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