North Indian Inscriptions

THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN

VI). The Śilāhāra prince Aparāditya I was reduced to great straits. His Vaḍavalī inscription[1] describes his calamity very graphically in the following words :− “A demon named Chhittukka invaded the kingdom and the feudatories sided with him. Dharma was lost, the elders were oppressed, the subjects became exhausted and the country’s prosperity was at an end. Still, undaunted, Aparāditya single-handed rushed to the battlefield on horseback, relying on his power of arm and his sword. Then the enemy knew not whether to fight or to flee. He took shelter with the Mlēchchhas.”

..The demon Chhittukka mentioned in this passage is probably none other than the Kadamba king Jayakēśin II. As Altekar has pointed out,[2] Jayakēśin had two sons Śivachitta and Vishṇuchitta, and he may well have borne a name like Chhittukka. Aparāditya thus completely routed the enemy and regained his ancestral kingdom. The date of this event can be settled precisely. As stated before, the Narēndra inscriptions in A.D. 1125 and 1126 describe Jayaēkśin as the ruler of Kavaḍīdvīpa. Aparāditya I seems to have defeated him and recovered the whole country in the following year A.D. 1127, when he issued his Vaḍavalī plates.[3] In regaining his kingdom, Aparāditya seems to have received valuable aid from prince Vijayāditya, the son of Gaṇḍarāditya of the Kolhāpur branch. In an inscription[4] of Bhōja II, the last king of that branch, Vijayāditya is said to have re-installed on the throne the deposed king of Sthānaka. This evidently refers to Aparāditya I, who was a contemporary of his father Gaṇḍarāditya.

..Aparāditya I appointed ambassadors at the courts of important contemporary kings. This is shown by the mention of his ambassador Tējakaṇṭha in the Śrīkaṇṭhacharita of Maṅkha. Tējakaṇṭha, who was present in the assembly where the work was presented, is described as the ambassador of king Aparāditya of Koṅkaṇ at the court of king jayasiṁha of Kāshmīr (A.D. 1128-1150).[5] Before proceeding to Kāshmīr, he had defeated an opponent in a Śāstrārtha at Śūrpāraka, where he was halting on his way. As Altekar has shown, this Aparāditya must be identified with the first king of that name.[6]

.. Aparāditya I was a versatile man. He took keen interest in music and was also proficient in Dharmaśāstra. His Commentary Aparārka-ṭīkā on the Yājñavalkya-smṛiti is still regarded as the standard work on Dharmaśāstra in Kāshmīr. It seem to have been introduced there by the aforementioned ambassador Tējakaṇṭha.

.. As stated before, Aparāditya I had turned out the Kadambas not only from North Koṅkaṇ but also from some part of South Koṅkaṇ. He placed his son Yuvarāja Vikramāditya in charge of the latter country with his capital at Praṇāla, modern Panhāḷe in the Dāpolī tālukā of the Ratnāgiri District. This is shown by the recently discovered Panhāḷe plates, dated Śaka 1061 (A.D. 1139)[7], issued by the latter. They record a grant made by Aparāditya to the god Marud-īśvara at Muruḍ in the Kolābā District. It seems that Aparāditya made the grant and asked his son to execute it as the village Khairaḍī donated by him lay in South
________________

[1] No. 20.
[2] Ind. Cult., Vol. II, pp. 412 f.
[3] No. 20.
[4] No. 60, line 17.
[5] See वचोभिर्नुनुदे द्न्त्द्युतिश्रीखण्ड्पाण्डुभि: । आदीनां वाददर्पोष्मा येन शुर्पारकाध्वसु ॥ यं श्रीमदपरदित्य इति दुतप्र्सिद्द्ध्ये । प्रजिधाय ध्नश्लाघ : काश्मीरान्कुङ्कणेश्वर : ॥ तेन ष्रितेजकण्ठेन सोत्कण्ठ्मनूबध्नेता । इति साधिकवैशद्यनिर्वद्यमगियत ॥ Canto XXV, No. 109-11. Maṅkha wrote this kāvya between A.D. 1128 and 1144. See Stein’s tr. of the Rājataraṅginī, Vol. I, p. 12.
[6] R.G. Bhandarkar identified him with Aparāditya II. Collected Works, Vol. III, p. 210.
[7] No. 23.

Home Page