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Govindavarman (Vishnukundin)

Govindavarman was a Vishnukundin king, the father of a Madhavavarman. The Polamuru and first Ipur plates name him as the father of Madhavavarman Janashraya and give him the title Vikramashraya. The Tummalagudem plates from the Nalgonda district, noticed in 1968–69 and edited in 1974, show a Govindavarman as a Buddhist king whose chief queen built a monastery at Indrapura. Scholars disagree about whether these records mean one king or two, and his date varies by more than a century.

Govindavarman was a king of the Vishnukundins, the family that ruled the Krishna and Godavari country, and parts of Telangana, before the Eastern Chalukyas.12 His name appears in three groups of copper-plate grants.132 Scholars disagree about whether they all mean the same king.45

In the grants of his son

The Polamuru plates trace the family from Vikramahendra to his son Govindavarman.1 Govindavarman’s “dear son” was the Maharaja Madhavavarman, also called Janashraya.1 D. C. Sircar noted that this grant calls Govindavarman Vikramashraya.4

The first set of Ipur plates is also a grant of Govindavarman’s son Madhavavarman.3 It calls Govindavarman a Maharaja of the Vishnukundin family, who meditated on the feet of the holy lord of Sriparvata.67 It praises him for many gifts of cows, gold and land.6 Sircar held that the Ipur and Polamuru plates were issued by one king, so their Govindavarman was one man too.4

A Buddhist king at Indrapura

Two sets of copper plates were found at Tummalagudem, in the Ramannapeta taluk of the Nalgonda district.2 S. Sankaranarayanan edited them in 1974.2 The first set is dated in the 37th year of the Maharaja Govindavarman. It calls him the son of the Maharaja Madhavavarman and the grandson of the Maharaja Indravarman.28

A long string of praises calls him a builder of many temples and monasteries, and a devoted Buddhist.8 On the full-moon day of Vaisakha, he gave two villages, Ermadala and Penkaparu, to a monastery built by his chief queen, Paramamahadevi.8 He made the gift for the merit of his parents and of all living beings.8 Sankaranarayanan noted that Buddhists celebrate both the Buddha’s birth and his passing on that full-moon day.8

The second set belongs to the 11th year of Vikramendravarman II, Saka 488 (566–67).28 It begins its family tree with the Maharaja Govindavarman, who had faith in the Buddha’s teaching and built great monasteries.910 It praises the queen of a Govindaraja, who came from the family of Prithvi-Maharaja, the leading family of feudatories.9 Sankaranarayanan showed that this Govindaraja was the same Govindavarman.9 She built a great monastery at Indrapura, where Vikramendravarman II made his own gift.9

Sankaranarayanan identified Indrapura, also called Sakrapura, with the Indrapala Gutta near Tummalagudem.11 He thought the city might have been founded by Govindavarman’s grandfather Indravarman, and named after him.11 He identified the gift village Ermadala with Yerra Baliguda.11

Sankaranarayanan also raised a doubt about the first set. Its letters and language seemed to him close in time to the second set.12 He suggested that Buddhist monks of the monastery remade it in Vikramendravarman II’s time, from an older charter that had fallen out of use.12 He noted that the Vishnukundins had been known until then only as Saivas and followers of the Vedic religion. These plates showed that they also supported Buddhism.12

A short Brahmi inscription of about the 5th century, on a boulder at Chaitanyapuri in Hyderabad, names a Govinda Vihara (monastery).13 The published notice does not connect it with Govindavarman.13

Where the sources disagree

  • One Govindavarman or two. Sircar’s family tree has a single Govindavarman, son of Vikramahendra and father of the great Madhavavarman I.14 Sankaranarayanan argued that the Tummalagudem Govindavarman, grandson of Indravarman, was a different king from the Polamuru Govindavarman, grandson of Vikramahendra.5 K. R. Subramanian also counted two kings of the name. He made the Polamuru Govindavarman a son of Vikramendravarman II, and would not identify him with the Govindavarman of the Ipur plates.1516
  • His date. Sircar placed Govindavarman about 520–535.17 K. V. Lakshman Rao, in a scheme printed by Sewell in 1932, placed a Govinda after Vikramendra II, near the end of the line.18 The government notice of the Tummalagudem plates put the letters of the first set at about the 4th or 5th century.2 Sankaranarayanan placed the reign of Indrabhattarakavarman, Govindavarman’s great-grandson, at 526–556.5

Footnotes

  1. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1913–14 (1914), Part II, para. 35, p. 102 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. Gajjala Vasanta Lakshmi (ed.), Epigraphia Telanganica I: Pre-Kakatiya Telangana (2023), p. 16, from Indian Archaeology 1968–69: A Review, p. 45, and reprinting S. Sankaranarayanan, “Two Vishnukundi Charters from Tummalagudem”, Epigraphia Andhrica II (1974), pp. 4–20. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  3. E. Hultzsch, “Ipur Plates of Govindavarman’s Son Madhavavarman”, Epigraphia Indica XVII (1924), p. 334 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  4. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (1939), p. 101 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 19, Sankaranarayanan (1974). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. Hultzsch, “Ipur Plates of Govindavarman’s Son Madhavavarman” (1924), p. 337, translation (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  7. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 105 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  8. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 17, Sankaranarayanan (1974). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  9. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 18, Sankaranarayanan (1974). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 23, translation of Set II, lines 3–6. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  11. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 21, Sankaranarayanan (1974). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 20, Sankaranarayanan (1974). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  13. Epigraphia Telanganica I (2023), p. 386, Indeterminate inscriptions No. 3, from Indian Archaeology 1986–87: A Review, p. 105. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  14. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 104, genealogical table (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  15. K. R. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra and the History of Andhra between 225 and 610 A.D. (1932), p. 114 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  16. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra (1932), p. 117 and note 3 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  17. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 112, chronological table (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

  18. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 404 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩

Dynasties

Vishnukundins

c. 500–630 CE

The Vishnukundins ruled the Krishna–Godavari country after the Salankayanas and before the Eastern Chalukyas. They are known from a few Sanskrit copper-plate grants and one stone inscription. Their kings worshipped the lord of Sriparvata, said their greatest ruler, Madhavavarman, had performed eleven horse sacrifices, and married into the Vakataka royal family. Their capital in the later grants was Lendulura (Denduluru near Vengi). Scholars have dated them anywhere from the 4th to the 8th century. Most later studies place the main line in the 6th century and end it with the Chalukya conquest of the early 7th, though D. C. Sircar dated its end to about 670.

References

Sources (6)
  1. Madras Government (Assistant Archaeological Superintendent for Epigraphy), Annual Reports on Epigraphy, Southern Circle, for 1910-11 to 1914-15 (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1915, pp. 102. Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1913–14. [Public domain]
  2. H. Krishna Sastri (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XVII (1923–24) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1924, pp. 334, 337. E. Hultzsch, Ipur plates of Govindavarman's son Madhavavarman (No. 20). [Public domain]
  3. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (opens in a new tab), University of Calcutta, 1939, pp. 101, 104–105, 112. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  4. K. R. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra and the History of Andhra between 225 and 610 A.D. (opens in a new tab), Madras (with a foreword by G. Jouveau-Dubreuil), 1932, pp. 114, 117. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  5. Robert Sewell (ed. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar), The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (Collected till 1923) and Outlines of Political History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1932, pp. 404. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  6. Gajjala Vasanta Lakshmi (ed.); Gautam Pingle (gen. ed.), Epigraphia Telanganica, Vol. 1: Pre-Kakatiya Telangana, Dr MCR Human Resource Development Institute, Government of Telangana, 2023, pp. 16–21, 23, 386. Tummalagudem plates (reprint of Sankaranarayanan 1974); cite-only, paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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