North Indian Inscriptions

THE SILAHARAS OF SOUTH KONKAN

is sculptured on some vīrgaḷ stones found near the Borivlī Station in Greater Bombay.[1] Some of the stones show the land-battle in which the elephants took part, while others depict the lines of vessels propelled by oars, both in advance upon the enemy and the melѐe itself. Since Mahādēva’s force was strong in elephants, and since the stone from the sculptures upon it appears to belong to the 12th or the 13th century A.D., it is quite possible, as Cousens has suggested, that these stones may be commemorating the heroes who fell in the battle between Sōmēśvara and Mahadeva.

..The battle may have taken place in c. A.D. 1265. Thereafter the Yādavas appointed a Governor named Achyuta Nāyaka to rule North Koṅkaṇ. His Ṭhāṇā inscription[2] is dated A.D. 1272. Thereafter we get several inscriptions of the Yādavas from North Koṅkaṇ.[3]

.. The Northern Śilāhāras ruled over Koṅkaṇ for nearly 450 years. The country under their rule comprised mainly the Ṭhāṇā and Kolābā Districts. After the downfall of the Southern branch they added some part of the Ratnāgiri District to their dominion, while the Goā region was occupied by the Kadambas. The country under their rule was known as PurīKōṅkaṇa or Purī-prabhṛiti-Kōṅkaṇa as Purī was a famous capital of North Koṅkaṇ in ancient times. The country is described in some early records as comprising fourteen thousand villages[4] and in some later ones as containing only fourteen hundred.[5] In some records it is mentioned as Kavaḍī-dvīpa, a lakh and a quarter. The capital of the Northern Śilāhāras was Sthānaka, modern Ṭhāṇā. Many of their grants record gifts of villages or land in the Ṭhāṇā District.

.. These Śilāhāras gave liberal patronage to art and literature. The temples at Ambarnāth, Pelār and Vāḷkeśvar which are still extant testify to the architectural and sculptural skill of the age. In the Udayasundarīkathā Sōḍḍhala mentions several Jaina and other poets such as Chandanāchārya, Vijayasiṁhāchārya, Mahākīrti Indra and some others who, like himself, flourished at the Śilāhāra court.[6] Aparāditya’s commentary on the Yājñavalkya-Smṛiti is a monumental work of that age on Dharmasastra.

THE ŚILĀHĀRAS OF SOUTH KOṄKAṆ

.. SOUTH Koṅkaṇ was conquered by the Chālukyas of Bādāmī in the reign of Maṅgalēśa. The Nerur plates[7] tell us that Maṅgalēśa slew a chief named Svāmirājā of the Chālukya family, who had been victorious in eighteen battles. He was ruling from Rēvatīdvīpa modern Reḍī, 8 miles south of Veṅgurlā in the Ratnāgiri District. Maṅgalēśa then placed, South Koṅkaṇ in charge of Satyāśraya Dhruvarāja Indravarman of the Baṭpurā family. The Gōa plates[8] tell us that he was stationed in Rēvatīdvīpa in A.D. 610 and was governing four
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[1] Cousens, Mediaeval Architecture in the Deccan, p. 21, Pl. IV.
[2] Ep. Ind., Vol. XIII, p. 198 f.
[3] King Jaitugi, whose stone inscription dated Śaka 1188 was found somewhere in North Koṅkaṇ, is taken by some scholars to be the successor of Sōmēśvara (Ep. Ind., Vol. XXVI, pp. 127 f.). He assumed the titles Mahārājādhirāja and Kōṅkaṇachakrvartī and had some ministers and officers who were previously in the service of Sōmēśvara. But, as shown elsewhere (Studies in Indology, Vol. IV, pp. 162 f.) he was probably a ruler of Māhima who seems to have declared independence after the overthrow of Sōmēśvara. He was later conquered by the Yādava king Rāmachandra. See the latter’s Purushōttampurī plates, Ep. Ind., Vol. XXV, p. 211.
[4] C.I.I., Vol. IV , p. 149.
[5] See No. 19, line 64.
[6] See Sōḍḍhala’s Udayasundarīkathā, p. 155. Some of these seem to have gone over to the court of Vatsarāja, the king of Lāṭa.
[7] Ind. Ant., Vol. VII, pp. 161 f.
[8] J.B.B.R.A.S., Vol. X. (Old Series,) pp. 365-66. ;

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