Jaina Rock Cut Caves In Western India Part 01

Author(s): Viraj Shah
Publisher: Agam Kala Prakashan

Page 34

Jaina Rock-cut Caves in Western India CE, they carved out a small principality in Vidarbha with Achalapur or modern Elichpur as the capital. They rose to prominence under Dantidurga and ruled over a large empire extending over southern Gujarat, whole of Maharashtra, Karnataka and part of Andhra Pradesh for about 225 years, till 973 CE. When Karnataka country was annexed to their empire in around 760 CE, the capital was shifted 10 Malkhed (Alteka 1963.250).
The Rashtrakutas were followed by Chalukyas, who claimed descent from the main line of the Chalukyas of Badami. The early rulers of the family were ruling as the feudatories of the Rashtrakutas in the Bijapur area. In 973-74 CE, Taila II, overthrew the last Rashtrakuta king Karka II and established independent dynasty with Kalyani as the capital seat. The dynasty ruled most of Maharashtra and Karnataka for about three centuries till about 1260-61 CE with a gap of about twenty-five years between 1162 to 1184 CE, when the Kalachuris under Bijjala gained power.
The Kalachuris of the Kalyani appear to have been the offshoot of the Kalachuris, who ruled over Chedi, the area around Jabalpur (Bhandarkar 1928: 160). Soon after Bijjala took power, a religious revolution took place at Kalyani under the Lingayat leader Basava and Bijjala and his family were wiped out.
After the empire of Chalukyas of Kalyani disintegrated, the Yadavas rose to power in the northern parts of the Chalukyan empire, i. e. in Maharashtra, while the Hoysalas became powerful in the southern half of the empire, i. e. Karnataka region. The Yadavas claimed their descent from the Puranic hero Yadu and the connection with Dvaraka, but there does not seem to be much historical truth in it.
Though the Yadavas came to prominence during the late 12th century CE, the history of the family goes back to the end of the 9th century, when they ruled as the feudatories of the Rashtrakutas initially and then of the Chalukyas. During this period they ruled in the Nasik region of Maharashtra or what was known as Seunadesh. Not much information is available about the early rulers of the dynasty. But it is generally believed that Drdhaprahara was the first ruler, with the capital at Chandradityapura or Chandor in Nasik district in 860 CE. The important ruler of this early period was Seunachandra I, successor of Drdhaprahara, who ruled from around 880 to 900 CE. He shifted his capital to Sinnar, also in Nasik district. During the rule of the next few kings. till about 1175 CE, the family slowly rose to power. Bhillama V, claimed the imperial status in around 1187 CE and established his capital at Devagiri or present Daulatabad. He carved out a principality in north Konkan and central Maharashtra. From this date till the time of Ramachandra (1271-1311 CE) the Yadavas were most powerful rulers in the region with a vast empire. However, the crushing blow was delivered, when Ala-ud-Din Khalii attacked the Yadava capital Devagiri and inflicted severe defeat on Ramachandra. The Yadava power came to an end in 1318 CE.
With the defeat of Ramachandra Yadava at the hands of Ala-ud-Din Khalji began a new era in the history of the Deccan. For three hundred and odd years, till the rise of the Marathas under Shivaji, the entire Deccan region to the north of Tungabhadra, remained under the rule of Muslim Sultans.
The Tughluqs, who succeeded Khaljis in 1321 CE, continued to control the region. In fact, the Muslim campaigns in the Deccan so far, had been carried out more for the purpose of getting hold of the mass of wealth than for building the empire. It was Muhammad bin Tughluq, who not only conquered practically the whole of peninsular