South Indian Inscriptions

EARLY KALACHURIS OF MAHISHMATI

For some reason Mangalēśa could not execute his original plan of making con- quests in the north and planting a pillar of victory on the bank of the Bhāgirathī. He seems to have been fully occupied in his own country in ensuring the succession of his son after himself and in thwarting the legitimate ambition of his nephew Pulakēśin II. These internal dissensions of the Chālukyas gave the necessary respite to Buddharāja, who seems to have soon consolidated his position. Only two grants of this king have come to light so far. Both of them are dated after his defeat by Mangalēśa. The earlier of them, recorded in the Vadnēr plates¹, was made in K. 360 (610 A. C.) at the royal camp fixed at Vidiśā (modern Besnagar near Bhilsa in Central India). The donated village was situated in the Nasik district. The later or Sarsavani grant² was made in K. 361(610 A. C.) at the royal camp fixed at Ānandapura (probably modern Vadnagar in North Gujarat). The village granted was situated in the Broach District. These grants are separated by the short interval of about two months and a half³, during which Buddharāja had to march from Vidisa to Ānandapura. Again, the villages granted are not situated in Eastern Malwa and Northern Gujarat but in the Nasik and Broach Districts. It seems plain, therefore, that the grants were made during the victorious campaigns of Buddharāja, and that Malwa and Northern Gujarat were not permanently annexed to the Kalachuri empire. This surmise receives confirmation from Yuan Chwang’s mention of Śīlāditya as a former king of malwa⁴. This is evidently identical with Śīladitya I-Dharmāditya, whose known dates range from G. 286 to G. 292 (i.e., from 605 A. C. to 611 A. C.). It will be noticed that they are subsequent to the date K. 347 (597 A. C.) of the Ābhōna plates issued by Śankaragana from his camp at Ujjayini. Again within six years of the date of Buddha- rāja’s Sarsavnī plates, we find Silāditya’s brother Kharagraha I making two grants⁵ (dated G. 297) from his camp at Ujjayini. Malwa conquered by Sankaragana does not, therefore, seem to have remained under the sway of the Kalachuris for a long time. Buddharaja probably lost it to the king of Valabhi in the beginning of his reign when he suffered a defeat at the hands of Mangalēśa.

It has been suggested⁶ that Buddharāja was the Mālava king who, according to Bāna’s account, marched on Kanauj when the heard of the death of Prabhākaravardhana, the mighty king of Thaneshvar, and killing his son-in-law, the young Maukhari prince Grahavarman. threw the latter’s wife Rājyaśri into prison ‘like a brigand’s wife with a pair fetters kissing her feet.’ Buddharāja’s army was subsequently routed by Rājyavardhana, who captured thousands of elephants and horses as well as a large treasure. There are several difficult- ties in the way of accepting this theory. The inscriptions of Harsha do not mention Buddharāja as an adversary of Rājyavardhana. On the other hand, they name Dēvagupta as the leader of the confederacy whom, together with all his allies, Rājyavardhana subdued and turned away like a wild horse. That in the time of Prabhākaravardhana, Malwa—probably the eastern part of it—was held by a king whose name ended in gupta seems certain; because Bana mentions as Malava princes the brothers Kumāragupta and Mādhavagupta who were asked to attend on Rajyavardhana and Harsha.⁷Bühler, therefore, conjectured⁸ that the
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¹ No. 14.
² No. 15.
³ See p. 53, below.
⁴ O. Y. C., Vol. II, p. 242.
⁵ P.T.A.I.O.C.(1933), pp. 659 ff; Important Inscriptions from the Baroda State, Vol. I, pp. 7 ff.
⁶ J.B.O.R.S., Vol. XIX, pp. 406 ff.
⁷ Harshacharita (Nirnayasagar ed.), p. 138.
⁸ Ep. Ind., Vol. I, p. 70. Bühler suggested, however, that the word Mālava perhaps referred to the country of Malava in the Panjab. which was much nearer to Thaneshvar than Malwa in Central India. 4