Indian Antiquary Vol 62

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

Page 147

JULY, 1933
ON THE REIGN OF KRSNA II, THE RASTRAKOTA
135
inscription reads : Sri-Amoghavarsham nava-rajyam--géyé, i.e., while the glorious Amoghavarsha is reigning again,' and there are several copies of one, viz., the Digambara Jaina, recension of the Pra Inôttara-ratna malá, a short treatise on the rules of good conduct, of which the concluding verso runs as follows:
Vivékákt-tyakta rajyena rájñeyam Ratnamalika rachit-Amoghavarsena sudhıyam (or su-dhiya) sada.ankritih.
"This garland of gems, an excellent ornament for the earned, was composed by king Amôghavarsha, who gave up his kingdom owing to his discriminative knowledge " 10 (or, as the late Sir R. G. Bhandarkar put it, "in consequence of the growth of the ascetic spirit in him.")11
Thus, there might well be a temporary break about 875-76 A.D. in Amoghavarga I's reign, when Kršņa II might have acted as the king. We have now at our disposal also the Sanjan plates of Amoghavarna I, according to which he had, even before 871 A.D., the dato of the plates, relinquished his kingdom more than once.1?
An analogous instance of a king renouncing the throne out of spiritual fervour and again occupying it is furnished by Sron-tsân-Gâmpô, the Charlemagne of Tibet (seventh century), who, when a son of his reached the thirteenth year of his age, abdicated the throne in his favour and retired into solitude to pass his days in meditation, but resumed royalty when the son died at eighteen. 13 What exactly led Amoghavarşa I to resume royalty after ceding it time and again cannot be divined, but in any case, we are not justified to correct or modify the text of the Saundatti inscription of 1096 A.D.
Amôghavarsa I had embarked upon a disastrous campaign against the (Eastern) Calukyas, and the fire of his prowess is said to have burnt the Calukya race.'14 Contest with these Calukyas of Vengi seems to have been a very significant event of Krsna II's reign. Gunaka-Vijayaditya III of this dynasty 'having made the firebrand Krşņa frightened and distressed, burnt his excellent city,'15 (Mânyakhêta). The Sirur and Nilgunda inscriptions of the time of Amôghavarsa I refer to his being worshipped by the lord of Vengi, 16 and the terrible invasion of Gunaka-Vijayaditya III must have taken place after 866 A.D. the date of the two inscriptions, and probably also after the death of Amõghavarse I. On the other hand, the catastrophe had befallen the Rastrakūtas before 888 A.D., when GunakaVijayaditya had ceased to be a king, and Bhima I, his nephew, had been on the Calukyan throne. This, we should note, brings the date of the real accession of Krsna II within > narrower limit, which extends from 877-78 A.D., the last known date of Amôghavarsa I, to 888 A.D., the first known date of Krsna II.
The Vêmalurpadu plates of Ammaraja II disclose the fact that Kreņa II later on went to wreak his vengeance upon the Eastern Calukyas by falling upon Bhima I and overrunning the land of Vengi, but that the latter succeeded in freeing his territory from the Rastrakata aggression. 18
We need not seriously doubt that "...............the support which Kokkala (I, the Cedi king) lent to Akálavarsa (Krsna II) was given in all likelihood at the time when the latter was defeated, and his capital Mânyakhêta occupied, by the Eastern Calukya king
10 I.A., XIX, 379. 11 Bom. Gazetteer, vol. I, Pt. II, p. 201. 12 E.I., XVIII, pp. 248, 255. 18 JASB., 1881, pp. 221-22. 14 E.I., IV, 287, vv. 13-14. 15 1.A., XII, 221. 16 Vang Arga- Magadha-Málava. Veng=idair archits Tidaya dhavalah. 11 1.A., XX, 102-103 ; Duft's Chronology of India, pp. 81 and 279. 18 E.I., XVIII, 231 ; 1.A., XX, 103.