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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN
..North Koṅkaṇ (Kolābā District) was under the rule of the Hariśchandrīya king Svāmichandra, who is said to have been treated by Vikramāditya I as his own son. He is described as the lord of the whole Purī-Koṅkaṇa country comprising 14,000 villages.[1] After the death of Jayasiṁha-Dharāśraya, Svāmichandra’s grandson Bhōgaśakti seems to have been placed in charge of the Nāsik and Ahmednagar districts also. The hill of Hariśchandragaḍh in the latter district, which contains some old caves, seems to have received its name from this ruling family which traced its descent from the Sūryavaṁśī king Hariśchandra. The Anjanērī plates of Bhōgaśakti, recording assignments of taxes levied on the people of some localities in the Kolābā District, are dated in the Kalachuri year 461 (A.D. 710).[2] .. Jayasiṁha’s younger son Maṅgalarasa, who succeeded him, was ruling in the Ṭhāṇā District of North Koṅkaṇ. Three land-grants made by him have been discovered so far. The earliest of them, discovered at Manōr in the Ṭhāṇā District and dated in Śaka 613 (A.D. 691) records his gift of some villages and hamlets for the worship of the Sun-god and the repairs of his temple at Mānapura, modern Manōr in the Pālghāṭ tālukā of the Ṭhāṅā District.[3] The second grant also, though found at Balsāḍ[4] in the Surat District, probably belonged to North Koṅkaṇ; for it is dated in the year 653 (A.D. 731-32) of the Śaka era, which was current in Koṅkaṇ, and not in the Kalachuri era, which was in vogue in Gujarāt. The third grant was recently found in Cutch.[5] It is also dated in the same Śaka year 653 (A.D. 731) and must have originally come from North Koṅkaṇ. The plates recording it were issued from Śrīpura, modern Śirgāon in the Pālghāṭ tālukā of the Ṭhāṇā District, about 24 miles west of Manōr. Maṅgalarasa (called Maṅgalarāja in the Balsāḍ plates) had his capital at Maṅgalapurī, which has not yet been definitely identified, but may be identical with Māngāṭheṇa (Sanskrit, Main galasthāna) in the Vāḍā tālukā of the Ṭhāṇā District.
.. Soon after the date of the aforementioned Cutch plates, North Koṅkaṇ was conquered by Dantidurga, the founder of the Rāshṭrakūṭa imperial power. His Manōr plates[6] recording the grant of the village Tambasāhikā (modern Tamsāhī near Manōr) in favour of a temple at Śrīpura (modern Śirgāon near Manōr) are dated in the Śaka year 671 (A.D. 749), only 18 years after the Cutch plates were issued by Maṅgalarasa. North Koṅkaṇ was for some time under the direct administration of the Rāshṭrakūṭas. Aniruddha, who issued the Manōr plates in the reign of Dantidurga, bears no feudatory title like Sāmanta or Maṇḍalika. He was probably a Governor appointed by Dantidurga to administer the newly conquered province of North Koṅkaṇ. .. The next known ruler of North Koṅkaṇ is Kapardin I, the founder of the northern branch of the Śilāhāras. He was a contemporary of the Rāshṭrakūṭa Emperor Gōvinda III (A.D. 793-814); for the Kānherī inscription[7] of his son and successor Pullaśakti is dated Śaka 765 (A.D. 843). Kapardin I seems to have rendered valuable help to Gōvinda III in extending his rule in North Koṅkaṇ and was apparently rewarded with the rulership of that territory. No record of his reign has yet been discovered, but that he was the founder of this branch of the Śilāhāras is shown by the name Kāpardika-dvīpa or Kavaḍī-dvīpa given to North Koṅkaṇ in his honour.[8] ..
The Northern Śilāhāras had their capital at Sthānaka, modern Ṭhāṇā, the headquarters
of the Ṭhāṇā District. It is supposed by some that Purī was their second capital, since Pullaśakti,
[1] C.I.I., Vol. IV, p. 149.
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