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No. 23.JRAGOLU PLATES OF SAKTIVARMAN & CHALUKYAN CONQUEST OF KALINGA. 239
tion of the place in the Rāgölu plates would be the earliest and the first in a copper-plate record in point of time which, judging from the characters of the plates, inay be said to be about the 4th century A.D. The late Rao Bahadur Krishna Sastri was of the opinion that it was even earlier--some time even prior to Samudragupta. The subsequent mention of the place is in the Aihole inscription of the early Chāļukya king, Pulikēsin II,' which refers to the Chāļuky& capture of Pishtapura, i.e., the Chalukya conquest of the Kalinga country. These events must have happened before Saka 556 (A.D. 634-35) which is the date of the last mentioned inscription. It is therefore reasonable to infer that the Chāļukya conquest of Kalinga by the capture of Pishţapura, must have happened in or before the year A.D. 634. Pishtapura subsequently became the provincial or independent seot (vāsaka) of Vishnuvardhana who, with the title Mahārāja, issued the Timmäpuram plates from this city. This record with the Chipurupalle plates of this same king issued in his 18th regnal year' would tend to show that the Kalinga country was under the Eastern Chalukyas from this period.
The discovery of the copper-plate inscriptions of the later kings of the Eastern Chāļukya dynasty, viz., Kokkilivarma-Mahārāja (A.D. 709) so far north as the village Muñjēru in the Bimlipatam Taluk of the Vizagapatam District, the mention therein of the Madhyama-Kalinga country in which the village granted by the king was situated, together with the mention of Elamañchili (the modern Yellamañchili in the Sarvasiddhi Taluk of the same District) as the vūsaka (residence) of the kings show that the Chalukya dominion in the Kalinga country continued to last even up to the beginning of the eighth century A.D. In the same tract of country has been found a copper-plate grant of his son Mangi Ilo. A grant of the later Chālukya king Bhima I (A.D. 888-918) also records the gift of a village in the Elamañchili-Kalingadēka and Devarashtra. These records yo to prove that the Chalukya kingdom in the Kalinga country lasted even down to the beginning of the 10th century A.D. The Chalukyan authority here seems to have been opposed for a time after the close of the first quarter of the 10th century A.D., since we are told in an unpublished copper-plate grant of Amma II' that after the short reign of Vikramaditya II (A.D. 925-926) who was killed and succeeded by Yuddhamalla II whose reign lasted for seven years (i.e., A.D. 927-93-), the feudatory Sabara chiefs, the commanders of the Vallabha (i.e. Răshtrakūta) forces and others rebelled and apportioned among themselves the northern Chāļukyan territory for seven years. We may here infer that the revolution and usurpation in the Kalinga country occurred in and lasted throughout the seven years' rule of Yuddhamalla II. The recalcitrant feudatories and their allies who had usurped authority were driven away by Chāļukya-Bhima II who recovered the Kalinga country and ruled over the entire Chalukya kingdom for 12 years. The troubles in the Kalinga country did not end here but again recurred in the time of Amma II (the son of Chāļukyà-Bhima II), who after reigning for 11 years had to proceed to the Kalinga country in wrath against Krishna (probably Räsbţrakūta Krishna III) who was evidently interested in fomenting trouble against the Chalukyas in the Kalinga country. We may conclude that the Chāļukya dominion in the Kalinga country practically came to an end or at least grew very weak about or after A.D. 950. Taking A.D. 633 as the probable year of the Chalukya conquest of Kalinga as stated at first we may say that the Chalukyan dominion in the Kalinga country lasted roughly for three centuries.
* Ibid., Vol. IX, p. 317.
1 Above, Vol. VI, p. 11. • Ind. Ant., Vol. XX, p. 16. • Madras Epigraphical Report for 1909, p. 105.
Ibid. Ibid., 1917, p. 117.
• Ibid., p. 100. • Ibid.
