Epigraphia Indica Vol 23

SR No.: 032577
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1935
Total Pages: 436
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

Page 255

192
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. XXIII.
ed attack of the lord of Dhärä and the king of the Deccan who must be Yadava Simhana. This enmity between the Yadava and the Māļava kings' is continued in the time of Krishna-Kandhara and Mahadeva who are described in their inscriptions as the destroyers of the Mäļava king.
The attitude of the Yādavas towards the Gurjaras, i.e, the Chaulukyas of Anhilvāda is one of frequent warfare. Viradhavala's son Visaladēva (A. D. 1243-1263) wanted to take revenge on the Māļava and the Yadava kings who had invaded Gujarat during his father's time. He is described in his inscriptions as 'a submarine fire that dried up the ocean of Simhana's army'. The Paithan plates of Ramachandra attribute the defeat of Visala to Mahādēva which would show that the latter had to cross swords with Visala within two or three years of his accession to the throne. We have seen above that the Gürjara king had seized Cambay and portions of Lāta from Sindhurāja, a feudatory of Dēvapāla. It is not impossible that he carried his arms still further to the south as a result of which north Konkan came under his sway. Or, Konkan must have been annexed to Gujarat during the time of the Chauļukya king Kumarapala (A.D. 1143-74)', though its northern portions had been occupied by the Māļava king in the intervening period. An inscription of Arjunavarman (A. D. 1233), the predecessor of Dēva pala, states that the king was encamped at Bhrigukachchha at the time of the grant. This shows that the Paramara kingdom extended up to the Broach District on the weat in the early part of the 13th century A. D. According to Marco Polo (A. D. 1290), the chiefs in the west coast of north Konkan were dependent on the Aphilvāda kings. Rashid-ud-din (A. D. 1300) states that Gujarat included at the close of the 13th century A. D. Cambay, Somnath and Korkan-Thāņā. Thus it is evident from these references that the Paramāra hold on the northern part of Konkan was dislodged and the Gurjara sway established in the latter half of the 13th century A. D. Hēmādri records in his Vrata-khanda?, Mahādēva's fight with Sömēsvara who was the Silähära chief of north Konkan and refers to the latter's drowning in the sea as a result of ship-wreck. Since Sömēsvara's inscriptions' dated in Saka 1171 (A.D. 1249) and Saka 1182 (A. D. 1260) are found in Ranvad and Chadiche near Uran, his fight and death must have taken place some time after 1260 A. D. As the last year of Visala is known to be A. D. 1263, the defeat of Visala and Sõmēsvars might possibly have formed part of a single campaign undertaken by Mahadeva soon after his accession to the throne.
The epithet Telungarāya-sirash-kamala-mulot pāțana borne by the king is significant as it indicates that Mahädēva had crossed arms with the Käkatiya king of his time and inflicted a crushing blow on his power. It is noteworthy that his brother Krishna is called the establisher of the Telunga king' in his Mamdäpur inscription of Saka 1172 and the Arjunvăd inscriptionio of Saka 1182 which was the last year of his reign. According to the chronology of the Käkatiya kings, the Telunga contemporary of Mahādēva was Rudramāmbā, the daughter of Ganapati whose latest known year is Saka 1183. Since Hēmādri says that the Andhras placed a woman on the throne thinking that the Yadava king Mahādēvs would not deign to fight with her, the crushing
1 For particulars see also D. C. Ganguly, History of the Paramara Dynasty, pp. 208-217. • Early History of the Dekkan by Bhandarkar, p. 242. • History of the Konkay in Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. L. Part 2, p. 24. .J. A. 0. 8., Vol. VII. p. 33.
History of the Konkan, p. 25. • Ibid. * Early Hisory of the Dekkan, App. C. • History of the Korkan, p. 21, n. 1. . Above, Vol. XIX. p. 29. 10 Ibid., Vol. XXI. Pp. 9 ff.