Indian Antiquary Vol 62

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 114

102
THE INDIAX ANTIQUARY
(JUNE, 1933
been noticed by Dr. Bühler. Padmagupta thus describes the former event?:- "Who (Sindhurâja) with his sword red with missiles took back his kingdom (svardjya) which was occupied by the lord of Kuntala, who had overrun all directions, just as the sun, whose har. binger is Aruna, assumes possession of the day that was before enveloped in dense darkness spread in all directions." The use of the word antarita (occupied) in connection with svardjya (kingdom) shows that the lord of Kuntala had annexed some portion of the Paramára king. dom, and that Sindhurája won it back. Kuntala is well known as the name of the Southern Maratha Country, which was then ruled over by the Later Calukyas.8 Tailapa, the founder of this dynasty, had defeated, imprisoned and afterwards beheaded Sindhurâja's elder bro. ther and predecessor, Vâkpati Muñja. Tailapа seems to have next annexed the southern portion of the Paramâra kingdom, which we learn from Merutunga's account, extended as far as the Godavari.9 Padmagupta is naturally silent about these reverses sustained by his former patron whom he held in great veneration ; but we need not, on that account, doubt the veracity of his statement that Sindhurâja won the territory back soon after his accession. Tailapa died soon after Muñja, in 997 A.D., and his son Satyasraya, though a worthy successor of his father, found himself soon involved in a protracted struggle with the Cola king, Rajaraja the Great. It was only in 1007-1008 A.D. when Satyasraya inflicted a crushing defeat on the Coļas, that the danger of Coļa invasion disappeared. During these troublous times, when Satyasraya's attention was directed to the south, Sindhuraja must have recovered the territory lost by his predocessor, Vakpati Muñja. The Kalvan plates of Yasovarman 10 show that Paraméra supremacy was acknowledged in the Svetapada country (the northern part of the Násik district) in the time of Sindhuraja's son and successor Bhoja.
Sindhurdja's victory in Aparânta or Konkanall is also very important for understanding the events described in the Navasáhasánkacarita. The Silâhâras of North Konkaņa were for a long time the feudatories of the Rantrakūtas. They do not seem to have readily submitted to the later Calukyas, after the overthrow of the Råetrakůtas, for the plates12 of Aparajitadeva dated Saka 915 and 919, though he calls himself Mahasamanta therein, give the genealogy of the Rastrakûtas, and not of the later Cálukyas, and contain expressions of regret for the overthrow of his former suzerains. After 997 A.D. he may have submitted to Satyasraya, for we learn from the work of the Kanarese poet Ranna that Tailapa's son, Satyasraya, "routed the lord of Konkana and extended his kingdom as far as the sea." When Aparajita fled and entered the sea he desisted from slaying him. Hemmed in by the ocean on one side and the sea of Satyasraya's army on the other, Aparaditya trembled like an insect on a stick both the ends of which are on fire. Satyaéraya burnt Ambunagara in Aparaditya's country and received twenty-one elephants from him.13 Aparaditya seems to have died soon after. He had two sons-Arikesarin, alias Kesideva, and Vajjada. From the Bhandup plates of Chittarkja, we learn that the latter, though younger, succeeded to the throne, super. ceding the claims of Arikesarin.16 It seems that Arikesarin called in the aid of Sindhurâja to gain the throne of which he was the rightful claimant. Sindhuraja's invasion of Aparanta must, evidently, have been directed against Vajjada, to place his elder brother on the throne of northern Konkaņa. No inscriptions of Vajjada have come down to us. His father, Aparaditya, was on the throne in 997 A.D. If the above reconstruction of the history of Konkana १ आक्रान्तदिङ्मण्डलकुन्तलेन्द्रसान्द्रान्धकारान्तरितं रणे यः। स्वराज्यमलारुणमण्डलायो गृहीतवान् दीधितिमानिवाहः॥
Hihafta 1, 74. * E.I., XII, p. 144 f.
Smith-Early History of India, 3rd Edition, p. 395. 10 E.I., vol. XIX. 11 Natasáhasan kacarita X, 19. 1. C. V. Vaidya--History of Mediaval Hindu India, vol. II, App. VI; E.I., III, p. 271. 13 L.A., XL, p. 41. I afera TISTA: stafa E.I., XII, p. 262.