North Indian Inscriptions

THE SILAHARAS OF NORTH KONKAN

Shahariar and Subakta. This Arab feudatory family, though owning allegience to the same Rāshṭrakūṭa Emperor, often came into conflict with the Śilāhāras. Madhumati is said to have conquered all the ports on the western sea-cost and established his outposts in them. His grandson Sugatipa had Hindu ministers and administrators. He made some charitable works. He established ferries for the crossing of rivers and also a charitable feeding house (sattra) at Saṁyāna for the use of travellers. He also made some grants of villages and land in favour of a temple of Bhagavatī at Saṁyāna after obtaining the consent of his suzerain, the Rāshṭrakūṭa Emperor Indra III. These Arab feudatories seem to have continued to rule over the Saṁyāna maṇḍala till the downfall of the Rāshṭrakūtas in A.D. 974. Thereafter, the Śilāhāra king Aparājita overthrew them and annexed their territory to his kingdom.

..Vappuvanna was followed by Jhañjha. That he was ruling in this period is also known from the statement of Al-Masudi that Sāmur (i.e. Chaul in the Kolābā District) was governed by Jhañjha in c. A.D. 916. He was a very devout Śaiva. He is Said to have built twelve temples of Śiva evidently at the sites of the twelve Jyōtir-liṅgas, and named them after himself. None of them is now extant.

..The Yadava king Bhillama, ruling over Sēuṇadēśa in c. A.D. 980-1005, is said to have married Lakshmī, the daughter of king Jhañjha. R.G. Bhandarkar identified him with the Śilāhāra king Jhañjha,[1] but the latter flourished too early for this matrimonial alliance. It is, however, not unlikely that this Jhañjha was of the Śilāhāra lineage, perhaps a grandson of the earlier Jhañjha. Being a collateral, he may not have come to the throne and has, therefore, not been mentioned in the Śilāhāra genealogy.[2]

..Jhañjha was succeed by his younger brother Goggi, and the latter by his son Vajjaḍa, who had probably a short reign. He was followed by his brother Chḥadvaidēva. His name has, however, been omitted in all later Śilāhāra records, not because he was a collateral ; for the names of ruling collaterals are also mentioned in the records of the dynasty. Perhaps, he was a usurper. That he came to the throne is shown by his Prince of Wales Museum plates.[3] These plates are not dated, but as they bring the genealogy of the Rāshṭrakūṭas, the suzerains of the Śilāhāras, down to Kṛishṇa III, they must be refered to the second half of the tenth century A.D. They do not give any historical information about Chhadvaidēva, but record his grant of three fields in the village Sālaṇaka to a Brāhmaṇa who had emigrated from Jahnupura.[4] Sālaṇaka may be the modern village Sālinde near Pōināḍ in the Kolābā District. As the grants of Aparājita, the successor of Chhadvaidēva, are dated in A.D. 993 and 997, the latter may have reigned for a short time in c. A.D. 965-975.

.. Chhadvaidēva was followed by his nephew Aparājita, the son of Vajjaḍa I. He has left us three copper-plate grants. Two of them[5] found at Jañjirā, both being dated in the same Śaka year 915 (A.D. 993), were issued by him after the overthrow of the Rāshṭrakūṭas by the Later Chālukya king Tailapa II. But Aparājita, true to the erstwhile suzerains of his house, gives the genealogy of the Rāshṭrakūṭas from Gōvinda I to Kakkala and regretfully records that the light of the last Rāshṭrakūṭa king was extinguished by the hurricane in the form of Tailapa. He did not himself submit to the Chālukyas, but began to assume high-sounding titles like Paśchimasamudr-ādhipati (the Lord of the Western Ocean ) and Māṇḍalika-trinētra (the three eyed god Śiva among the feudatories). He made several conquests. First, he seems to have proceeded against the Arab feudatory family ruling at Saṁyāna, and overthrowing it, annexed its territory
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[1]Collected Works, Vol. III, p. 140. Lakshmī was descended from the Rāshṭrakūṭa family on her mother’s side. So this Jhañjha seems to have married a Rāshṭrakūṭa princess. See Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXVII, p. 81.
[2] Collaterals who reigned are mentioned in Śilāhāra genealogies.
[3] No. 4.’
[4] Loc. cit.
[5] Nos. 5 and 6.

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