Sanskrit Inscriptions (D): The Kaṭāccuris / Early Kalācuris

[Study of Sanskrit Inscriptions Issued During Early and Early Medieval Period (D): The Kaṭāccuris / Early Kalācuris]

Kaṭāccuri dynasty ruled in west-central India between the 6th and 7th centuries. The Kalācuri territory included parts of present-day Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and partly Maharashtra. The origin of the dynasty is uncertain. In the 6th century, the Kaṭāccuri gained control of the territories formerly ruled by the Guptas and the Vākāṭakas, but only three Kaṭāccuri kings are known from inscriptional evidences viz. Śaṃkaragaṇa, Kṛṣṇarāja, and Buddharāja. The Kaṭāccuris lost their power to the Cālukyas of Bādāmi during the 7th century. Only one inscription bears the evidence of migration at the reign period (600-625 CE) of Buddharāja, who was probably the last known ruler of this dynasty.

The donee Brāhmaṇa Svāmin of the Abhona Plates of Śaṃkaragaṇa of the early Kalacuri dynasty c. 596-597 CE,^[1] who received one hundred padavarttas in thé village of Vallisika, in Bhogavardhana viṣaya, has been described as a resident of Kallivana with no mention whether he migrated from another place or not. The editor of Abhona Plates, V.V. Mirashi, has identified Kallivana with Kalvana (Kalwana), the chief town of Kalvanatāluka in the Nasik district, in Maharashtra. Besides, Vallisikā, the donated villageis modern Valsa, seven miles south of Bhogavardhana, and Bhogavardhana is Bhokardhan in the Hyderabad district in Andhra Pradesh he added.

So, Brāhmaṇa Svāmin had migrated from Kalvana,which is in Nasik district of Maharashtra, all the way to Bhogavardhana in the Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh. However, these two Kalvana and Bhogavardhana are the names of the same place, says D.C. Sircar. He compared Bhogavardhana viṣaya to ancient Govardhana, which is in present-day Nasik district in Maharashtra. The Kalācuri dynasty is known to have comprised northern Maharashtra. It must have been impossible for the donee to supervise a village so far from his abode. This can be said depending on these two factors, that the identification of D.C. Sircar seems to be more reliable. Accepting Sircar’s view, it appearsthat the donee's original home and the granted village were situated were side by side, not far from one another. But still,this is a dubious instance of migration, and nothing definite can be said until the identity of Bhogavardhana viṣaya is established beyond doubt.

The inscription titled as “Sarsavṇī Plates of Buddharāja” (c. 610 CE)^[2] issued by The King Buddharāja records a land grant to a vedic brāhmaṇa. The donee was well known Bappa–svāmin, son of the Bhaṭṭu, a brāhmaṇa adherent of the school, Vājasaneya -Kaṇva and belonging to Parāśara–sagotra, hailing from Debhaka. Debhaka is doubtfully identified with the modern Debkā eight miles west of Padrā. The charter was issued by the king from the victorious camp at Ānandapura, as discussed earlier.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

CII, vol. IV, p. 38.

[2]:

USVAE, vol. IV, part I, pp.191-194.