Note 2 — Chapter XI · THE RÁSHṬRAKÚṬAS (a.d. 743–974.)

Chapter XI. The Ráshṭrakúṭas, a.d. 743–974. Kakka II. a.d. 747. Kakka II. a.d. 747.The plate notices that Kakka the grantor was the son of Govinda by his wife the daughter of the illustrious Nágavarmman. Kakka is further described by the feudatory title ‘Samadhigatapanchmaháśabdaḥ’ Holder of the five great names. At the same time he is also called Paramabhaṭṭáraka-Mahárája Great Lord Great King, attributes which seem to imply a claim to independent power. The grant is dated the bright seventh of Áśvayuja, Śaka 669 (a.d. 747). The date is almost contemporary with the year of Dantidurga in the Sámangad plate (a.d. 753). As Dantidurga was a very powerful monarch we may identify the first Kakka of this plate with Kakka I. the grandfather of Dantidurga and thus trace from Dhruva Kakka’s son a branch of feudatory Ráshṭrakúṭas ruling in Málwa or Gujarát, whose leaders were Dhruva, his son Govinda, and Govinda’s son Kakka II. Further Dantidurga’s grant shows that he conquered Central Gujarát between the Mahí and the Narbadá2 while his Elura Daśávatára inscription (a.d. 750) shows that he held Láṭa and Málava.3 Dantidurga’s conquest of Central Gujarát seems to have been signalised by grants of land made by his mother in every village of the Mátri division which is apparently the Mátar táluka of the Kaira district.4 It is possible that Dantidurga gave conquered Gujarát to his paternal cousin’s son and contemporary Kakka, the grantor of the Ántroli plate (a.d. 747), as the representative of a family ruling somewhere under the overlordship of the main Dakhan Ráshṭrakúṭas. Karka’s Baroda grant5 (a.d. 812) supports this theory. Dantidurga died childless and was succeeded by his uncle Kṛishṇa. Of this Kṛishṇa the Baroda grant says that he assumed the government for the good of the family after having rooted out a member of the family who had taken to mischief-making. It seems probable that Kakka II. the grantor of the Ántroli plate is the mischief-maker and that his mischief was, on the death of Dantidurga, the attempt to secure the succession to himself. Kṛishṇa frustrated Kakka’s attempt and rooted him out so effectively that no trace of Kakka’s family again appears.