Note 38 — Chapter XI · THE RÁSHṬRAKÚṬAS (a.d. 743–974.)

It seems doubtful whether the Kánarese Raṭṭas the Belgaum Raḍis and the Telugu Reddis could have been Rástikas or locals in the north Dakhan. The widespread Reddis trace their origin (Balfour’s Encyclopædia of India, III. 350) to Rájamandri about thirty miles from the mouth of the Godávari. A tradition of a northern origin remains among some of the Reddis. The Tinnivelly Reddis (Madras J. Lit. and Science, 1887–88, page 136 note 96) call themselves Audh Reddis and assert that Oudh is the native country of their tribe. The late Sir George Campbell (J. R. As. Soc. XXXV. Part II. 129) has recorded the notable fact that the fine handsome Reddis of the north of the Kánara country are like the Játs. With this personal resemblance may be compared the Reddis’ curious form of polyandry (Balfour’s Encyclopædia, III. 330) in accordance with which the wife of the child-husband bears children to the adult males of the family, a practice which received theories (compare Mr. Kirkpatrick in Indian Ant. VII. 86 and Dr. Muir in Ditto VI. 315) would associate with the northern or Skythian conquerors of Upper India during the early centuries of the Christian era. In support of a northern Ráṭa element later than Aśoka’s Rástikas the following points may be noted. That the Kshaharáta or Khaharáta tribe to which the great northern conqueror Nahápana (a.d. 180) belonged should disappear from the Dakhan seems unlikely. Karaháṭaka the Mahábhárata name (As. Res. XV. 47, quoted in Wilson’s Works VI. 178) for Karád on the Kṛishṇa suggests that Nahapána’s conquest included Sátára and that the name of the holy place on the Kṛishṇa was altered to give it a resemblance to the name of the conqueror’s tribe. That, perhaps after their overthrow by Gautamíputra-Śátakarṇi (a.d. 140), the Khaharátas may have established a local centre at Kurandwáḍ at the meeting of the Kṛishṇa and the Pañchgangá may be the explanation why in a.d. 914, centuries after Mányakheṭa or Málkhet had become their capital, the Ráshṭrakúṭa Indra should proceed for investiture to Kuruṇḍaka, which, though this is doubtful, may be Kurandwáḍ. The parallel case of the Khaharátas’ associates the Palhavas, who passed across the southern Dakhan and by intermarriage have in the Pállas assumed the characteristics of a southern tribe, give a probability to the existence of a northern Khaharáta or Ráta element in the southern Ráshṭrakúṭa and Raṭṭas which the facts at present available would not otherwise justify. ↑