Note 119 — Chapter II · THE CHAULUKYAS OR SOLAṄKIS (a.d. 961–1242)
Reading edition
Bhíma was nicknamed Bholo the Simpleton. The chroniclers of this period mention only the Vághelás and almost pass over Bhíma. The author of the Kírtikaumudí says ‘the kingdom of the young ruler was gradually divided among powerful ministers and provincial chiefs’; and according to the Sukṛitasankírtana ‘Bhíma felt great anxiety on account of the chiefs who had forcibly eaten away portions of the kingdom.’ It appears that during the minority, when the central authority was weak, the kingdom was divided among nobles and feudatories, and that Bhíma proved too weak a ruler to restore the kingly power. Manuscripts and copperplates show that Bhímadeva was ruling at Aṇahilaváḍa in S. 1247, 1251, 1261, 1263, and 1264,119 and copperplates dated S. 1283, 1288, 1295, and 1296 have also been found. Though Bhíma in name enjoyed a long unbroken reign the verses quoted above show that power rested not with the king but with the nobles. It appears from an inscription that in a.d. 1224 (S. 1280) a Chálukya noble named Jayantasiṃha was supreme at Aṇahilaváḍa though he mentions Bhíma and his predecessors with honour and respect.120