Sanskrit Inscriptions (G): The Cālukyas

[Study of Sanskrit Inscriptions Issued During Early and Early Medieval Period (G): The Cālukyas]

Several charters issued by the Cālukyas, give instances of migration, in which the original habitat of the donees has not yet been traced with certainty. In the latter part of the sixth century, with the capital at Bādāmi in the Bijapur district, the powerful family of Cālukyas was consolidating itself in the Deccan. They brought a portion of Gujarat and a massive part of the Deccan under them. Among the rulers of this dynasty, Avanijanāśraya Pulakeśin-II was the most powerful of the early Cālukyas. By his Lohaner Plates in c. 630 CE, he gifted a village named Goviyaṇaka which was near the village of Asikhetaka and was included in Moṣiṇipathaka to Brahmaṇa Dāmadikṣita, who had emigrated from Girinagara and at the time of the grant, was residing in Lohanagara.^[1] Girinagara is already mentioned several times in our discussion that belongs to modern Girnar in Kathiawar. But, the editor of this charter, G.H. Khare, prefers to identify it with one of the four villages, each being called Girnar, in the Igatpuri, Malegaon, Nāsik and Bāglantāluk as of the Nasik district. He identifies Lohānagara with modern Lohaner in the Baglantāluka. As regards the donated village Goviyānaka, it is the same as the modern village of Govana, two miles to the south-west of Askheda or Asikhetaka, in the Baglan-tāluka of the Nasik district of Maharashtra. So, according to the editor, the migration of Dāmadikṣita confined into a short distance within Maharashtra. Alternately, if Girinagara is the same as Girnar in Kathiawar as we mentioned many atime in different charters, then he had to travel a greater distance, coming from Kathiawar in Gujarat to the Nasik district of Maharashtra.

The Cālukyas of Navasarika ruled parts of present-day Gujarat and Maharashtra during the 7th to 8th centuries. They are also known as the Early Cālukyas of Gujarat. Mudgapadra grant of Yuvarājā Śryāśraya Śīlāditya (c. 668-69 CE)^[2] issued by the King Vikramāditya -I;Śryāśraya Śīlāditya-yuvarāja of Cālukyas of Bādāmi dynasty records a donation of a village to two vedic brāhmaṇa. In the description part of the inscription, it records about the family history and about the former King Śrī-Pulakesi -v allabha, whose body had been purified by the ceremonial bath (avabhṛta-snāna) culminating in the sacrifices like Bahusuvarṇaka, Aśvamedha, Pauṇḍarīka, Vājapeya and among others. For the augmentation of the merit and glory of his parents as well as of self, Śryāśraya ŚrīŚīlāadiya -y uvarāja, granted the village Mudgapadra to Revāditya who was emigrated from Girinagara. Brāhmaṇa Revāditya was Varasyaka of Āśvalāyaṇa-sagotra (Ṛgveda), for the continuation of the five great sacrifices viz. bali, caru, vaiśvānara rituals and for gratifying the guests he was gifted the said property. The village Mudgapadra and the geographical division Vichihāra in which it was situated have not been identified. This name of the geographical division of Vichihāra may be wrong for Vichi-āhāra. No trace of this village has been found. There is no way to identify this village. The donee Revaditya was the son of Bambhasvāmin, whose family hailed from Girinagara,^[3] which has been recognized with Girnar near Junagarh in Kathiawad (Gujarat) as mentioned above.

In another inscription of Śīlāditya -y uvarāja titled as Navsārī Plates of Śryāśraya Śīlāditya (c. 671 CE)^[4] records a grant of the village Āsaṭṭi for securing and augmentation of merit and glory to (their) parents and self. While residing at Navasārikā he donated the said village to Mātṟiśvara who belonged from an Adhvaryu family. The village Āsaṭṭi has been identified with the present Astgām, seven miles east-south from Navsārī, the city in Gujarat.

While the mainline of the Cālukyas was ruling in its headquarters at Bādāmi, another branch was ruling as the rulers of the Gujarat region with its provincial capital at Navasari . Fourth in the line of such rulers, Pulakeśirāja issued a set of plates in c. 739740 CE from the capital Navasari. It records the village Padraka, situated in the ahāra and Karmaṇeyaviṣaya wasdonated to Brāhmaṇa Kāñcala, son of Govindali, who had emigrated from Vanavāsi.^[5]

According to the editor of this grant, Mirashi, the village Padraka is represented by modern Pardi, four miles east of Navasāri, in the Surat district. Karmaṇeyaviṣaya in which the villege was situated, is identical with Kāmrej, ten miles to the northeast of Surat in Gujarat. Vanavāsi is in North Kanara, from where the donee had come to Surat.

Another branch of the Cālukyas established itself in the North Gujarat region. In c. 1030 CE Bhīmadeva I of this family, by his Mumdaka grant, donated merely a hāla of land in Murndakagrāma situated in Varddhiviṣaya which is identified with Vadhiar or Vadhi in Northern Gujarat in recent times. The donee of the grant was Vāsudeva, son of Balabhadra, and was an udicya brāhmaṇa. ^[6] Prāgjyotiṣa or modern Guahāṭi area of Assam and nearby region was initially known as udicya territory according to D. C. Sircar.^[7] However, the editor of the grant, G. S. Gai, thinks that the description of the gift indicates that the Brāhmaṇa Vāsudeva had comefrom someplace in Northern India.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

EI, vol. XXVII, p. 40.

[2]:

USVAE, vol. IV, part II, pp. 363-369.

[3]:

EI, vol. XXXIV, p.121.

[4]:

USVAE, vol. IV, part II, pp.270-274.

[5]:

CII, vol. IV, p. 141.

[6]:

EI, vol. XXXVII, p. 36.

[7]:

D.C. Sircar, op. cit., p. 37.