Note 40 — Chapter XI · THE RÁSHṬRAKÚṬAS (a.d. 743–974.)

The Vatsarája defeated by Dhruva who has hitherto been identified with the Vatsa king of Kosambi is more likely to prove to be a Bachrája of the Gurjjaras of Bhínmál or Śrímál in north Gujarát. Among references to southern settlements in North India between a.d. 600 and 1000 may be noted the tradition (Wilson’s Indian Caste, II. 143) of a Dravidian strain in the Kashmir Bráhmans and in the eleventh century also in Kashmir (Rajátaranginí, VI. 337) the presence of a Śátaváhana dynasty bearing the same name as the early Śátaváhanas of Paithan near Ahmadnagar. Other instances which might seem more directly associated with the southern Ráshṭrakúṭas (a.d. 500–970) are the six Kárṇáṭaka rulers of Nepál beginning with a.d. 889 (Ind. Ant. VII. 91) and the natives of Karṇáṭadeśa in Máhmúd Ghaznavi’s army (a.d. 1000–1025) who (Sachau’s Alberuni, I. 173; II. 157) used the Karṇáṭa alphabet. The presence of Karṇáṭa rulers in Nepál in the ninth and tenth centuries remains a puzzle. But the use of the term Karṇáṭa for Chálukyas of Kalyán in a.d. 1000 (Ep. Ind. I. 230) suggests that the Nepál chiefs were Chálukyas rather than Ráshṭrakúṭas: while Máhmúd Ghaznavi’s Karṇáṭas may naturally be traced to the mercenary remains of Bárappa’s army of Kalyán Chálukyas whose general Bárappa was slain (Rás Málá, I. 51) and his followers dispersed in north Gujarát by Múla Rája Solaṅki at the close of the tenth century. The only recorded connection of the southern Ráshṭrakúṭas with Northern India during the middle ages (a.d. 750–1150) are their intermarriages with the Pálas of Benares (a.d. 850–1000) mentioned above (Page 132 Note 1), and, between a.d. 850 and 950, with the Kalachuris of Tripura near Jabalpur (Cunningham’s Arch. Survey Report for 1891, IX. 80). ↑