Chapter IX · THE CHÁLUKYAS (a.d. 634–740.)
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Śryáśraya Śíláditya (Heir Apparent), a.d. 669–691.The first four grants mention Jayasiṃhavarmman as the younger brother of Vikramáditya Satyáśraya the son of Pulakeśi Satyáśraya the conqueror of Harshavarddhana the lord of the North. Jayasiṃhavarmman’s eldest son was Śryáśraya Śíláditya who made his Navsárí grant in a.d. 669–70 (T. 421); the village granted being said to be in the Navasáriká Vishaya. Śryáśraya’s other plate dated a.d. 691–2 (T. 443) grants a field in the village of Osumbhalá in the Kármaneya Áhára that is the district of Kámlej on the Tápti fifteen miles north-east of Surat. In both grants Śíláditya is called Yuvarája, which shows that his father ruled with him from a.d. 669 to a.d. 691. Both copperplates show that these kings treated as their overlords the main dynasty of the southern Chálukyas as respectful mention is made in the first plate of Vikramáditya Satyáśraya and in the second of his son Vinayáditya Satyáśraya. Apparently Śryáśraya died before his father as the two late grants of Balsár and Kheḍá give him no place in the list of rulers.
Not long after a.d. 740 the Chálukyas seem to have been supplanted in South Gujarát by the Ráshṭrakúṭas.
Chálukya Tree.CHÁLUKYA FAMILY TREE.
Pulakeśivallabha Satyáśraya, Conqueror of Harshavarddhana, Lord of the North. a.d. 610–640.
(Main Chálukyas). (Gujarát Branch).
Vikramáditya Satyáśraya, a.d. 669–680. Jayasiṃhavarmman Dháráśraya, a.d. 669–691.
Vinayáditya.
(Navsárí.) (Navsárí.) (Kaira.) (Násik.) (Navsárí.)
Śíláditya Śryáśraya Yuvarája, T. 421 (a.d. 669–70) and T. 443 (a.d. 691–2). Mangalarája or Mangalarasaráya, Śaka 653 (a.d. 731–2). Buddhavarmman. Vijayarája G. 394 (a.d. 713). Nágavarddhana. Pulakeśi Janáśraya, T. 490 (a.d. 738–9).
Chapter IX. The Chálukyas, a.d. 634–740. Vijayarája’s grant of the year 394 (a.d. 642–3) is the earliest trace of Chálukya rule in Gujarát. Dr. Bhagvánlál, who believed in its genuineness, supposes it to be dated in the Gupta era (G. 394 = a.d. 714) and infers from it the existence of Chálukya rule far to the north of Broach. But the most cursory comparison of it with the Kheḍá grants of Dadda II. (see Ind. Ant. XIII. 81ff) which are dated (admittedly in the [so-called] Traikúṭaka era) 380 and 385 respectively, shows that a large number of Dadda’s grantees reappear in the Chálukya grant. The date of the Chálukya plate must therefore be interpreted as a Traikúṭaka or Chedi date.
a.d. 610–640.This being so, it is clearly impossible to suppose that Vijayarája’s grandfather Jayasiṃha is that younger son of Pulakeśi II. (a.d. 610–640) who founded the Gujarát branch family. It has been usually supposed that the Jayasiṃha of our grant was a younger brother of Pulakeśi II.: but this also is chronologically impossible: for Jayasiṃha can hardly have been more than ten years of age in a.d. 597–98, when his elder brother was set aside as too young to rule. His son Buddhavarmman could hardly have been born before a.d. 610, so that Buddhavarmman’s son Vijayarája must have made his grant at the age of twelve at latest. The true solution of the question seems to be that given by Dr. Bhandárkar in his Early History of the Deccan (page 42 note 7), namely that the grant is a forgery. To the reasons advanced by him may be added the fact pointed out by Mr. Fleet (Ind. Ant. VII. 251) that the grant is a palimpsest, the engraver having originally commenced it “Svasti Vijayavikshepán Na.” It can hardly be doubted that Na is the first syllable of Nándípurí the palace of the Gurjjara kings. Many of the grantees were Bráhmans of Jambusar and subjects of Dadda II. of Broach, whose grants to them are extant. It seems obvious that Vijayarája’s grant was forged in the interest of these persons by some one who had Gurjjara grants before him as models, but knew very little of the forms used in the chancery of the Chálukyas.
Setting aside this grant, the first genuine trace of Chálukya rule in Gujarát is to be found in the grant of the Sendraka chief Nikumbhallaśakti, which bears date Saṃ. 406 (a.d. 654–5) and relates to the gift to a Bráhman of the village of Balisa (Wanesa) in the Treyaṇṇa (Ten) district. Dr. Bühler has shown (Ind. Ant. XVIII. page 265ff) that the Sendrakas were a Kánarese family, and that Nikumbhallaśakti must have come to Gujarát as a Chálukya feudatory, though he names no overlord. He was doubtless subordinate to the Chálukya governor of Násik.
The next grant that requires notice is that of Nágavarddhana, who describes himself distinctly as the son of Pulakeśi’s brother Jayasiṃha, though Dr. Bhagvánlál believed this Jayasiṃha to be Pulakeśi’s son. Mr. Fleet points out other difficulties connected with this grant, but on the whole decides in favour of its genuineness (see Ind. Ant. IX. 123). The description of Pulakeśi II. in this grant refers to his victory over Harshavarddhana, but also describes him as having conquered the three kingdoms of Chera, Chola, and Páṇḍya by means of his horse of the Chitrakaṇṭha breed, and as meditating on the feet of Śri Nágavarddhana. Now all of these epithets, except the reference to Harshavarddhana, belong properly, not to Pulakeśi II. but to his son Vikramáditya I. The conquest of the confederacy of Cholas, Cheras (or Keraḷas), and Páṇḍyas is ascribed to Vikramáditya in the inscriptions of his son Vinayáditya (Fleet in Ind. Ant. X. 134): the Chitrakaṇṭha horse is named in Vikramáditya’s own grants (Ind. Ant. VI. 75 &c.) while his meditation upon the feet of Nágavarddhana recurs in the T. 421 grant of Śryáśraya Śíláditya (B. B. R. A. S. XVI. 1ff). This confusion of epithets between Pulakeśi II. and Vikramáditya makes it difficult to doubt that Nágavarddhana’s grant was composed either during or after Vikramáditya’s reign, and under the influence of that king’s grants. It may be argued that even in that case the grant may be genuine, its inconsistencies being due merely to carelessness. This supposition the following considerations seem too negative. Pulakeśi II. was alive at the time of Hiuen Tsiang’s visit (a.d. 640), but is not likely to have reigned very much longer. And, as Vikramáditya’s reign is supposed to have begun about a.d. 669–70, a gap remains of nearly thirty years. That part of this period was occupied by the war with the three kings Chapter IX. The Chálukyas, a.d. 634–740. of the south we know from Vikramáditya’s own grants: but the grant of Śryáśraya Śíláditya referred to above seems to show that Vikramáditya was the successor, not of his father, but of Nágavarddhana upon whose feet he is described as meditating. It follows that Nágavarddhana succeeded Pulakeśi and preceded Vikramáditya on the imperial throne of the Chálukyas whereas his grant could not have been composed until the reign of Vikramáditya.
Although the grant is not genuine, we have no reason to doubt that it gives a correct genealogy, and that Nágavarddhana was the son of Pulakeśi’s brother Jayasiṃha and therefore the first cousin of Vikramáditya. The grant is in the regular Chálukya style, and the writer, living near the Northern Chálukya capital, Násik, had better models than the composer of Vijayarája’s grant. Both grants may have been composed about the time when the Chálukya power succumbed to the attacks of the Ráshṭrakúṭas (a.d. 743).—(A. M. T. J.)