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Hastivarman (Salankayana)

Salankayana king of Vengi, the earliest king in the family list of his family's copper-plate grants, which praise him for victories in many battles. Since 1926 most scholars have identified him with the Hastivarman of Vengi whom the Gupta emperor Samudragupta claims to have captured and released in the mid-4th century. Older works took that king for a Pallava viceroy.

Name and family

Hastivarman is the first king named in the family list of the Salankayanas of Vengi.1 No grant of his own survives, and he is known from the grants of his great-grandsons.21

R. Subba Rao translated the Peddavegi plates of Nandivarman II in 1926.3 They describe him as “Maharaja Hastivarma, lord of the victorious Vengipura, [who] won victories in several battles”.3 The Kanukollu plates of Skandavarman, published in 1960, give him the same epithet.14 Their editor, B. V. Krishna Rao, called him Hastivarman I, because the same plates name a grandson of the same name.14

His son and successor was Nandivarman I. Both the Peddavegi plates and the Kanukollu plates of Skandavarman name Nandivarman I as his son.31 Through Nandivarman I he was the great-grandfather of both Nandivarman II and Skandavarman.31

Hastivarman of Vengi and Samudragupta

The Allahabad pillar inscription of the Gupta emperor Samudragupta lists the kings of the south whom he defeated on his southern campaign.5 One of them is “Hastivarman of Vengi”.5 Sircar used the inscription’s own term, Vaingeyaka Hastivarman, “Hastivarman of Vengi”.6 Scholars have disagreed about who this king was.

  • A Pallava viceroy. Sewell’s chronology of 1932 describes Vengi at the time of the campaign as a Pallava centre, governed by a viceroy called Hastivarma.7 Sircar noted that other works of the 1930s also took him for a Pallava king or viceroy.6
  • The Salankayana king. R. Subba Rao, publishing the Peddavegi plates in English in 1926, identified the Hastivarman of the plates with Samudragupta’s opponent. He pointed out that this was the first time the king’s name had been found in any Salankayana grant.89 Other scholars agreed, as set out below.

D. C. Sircar accepted Subba Rao’s identification in 1939 for three reasons:

  • the Salankayanas were the only early dynasty known to have ruled from the city of Vengi
  • on grounds of script, the grants of Hastivarman’s great-grandson Nandivarman II belong to about the middle of the 5th century, so Hastivarman would have lived about a century earlier
  • no other king of Vengi named Hastivarman was known610

K. R. Subramanian also took him to be the Hastivarman of the Allahabad inscription, and dated him about 340.1112 In an article published after his death in 1930, K. V. Lakshmana Rao likewise placed “Hastivarman … the then king of Vengi” at the head of the dynasty about 350.13 He added: “presuming of course that he belonged to the family of the Salankayanas”.13

The Allahabad inscription claims that the southern kings were captured and then released.1415 Subba Rao read this as a boast. The southern kingdoms, he wrote, “were not comprised in his Empire”.1415

Subba Rao concluded that the plates showed “that Vengi under Hastivarman was always victorious against enemies”.1415 Sircar argued that Samudragupta’s policy of capture and release showed that the southern campaign was less successful than the northern one. He thought the victories in many battles claimed for the Salankayana king might include his fight with the Gupta emperor.16

G. Jouveau-Dubreuil wrote in 1920, before the Peddavegi plates were known. He held that a group of kings near the mouths of the Godavari and the Krishna drove Samudragupta back about 340.175 In his view Hastivarman of Vengi was one of them.175 He also rejected the common reading that Samudragupta had fought a king “on the banks of the Kolleru (Colair) lake”.175 Sewell’s chronology, by contrast, has Samudragupta taking the Kolleru lake country.7 See Evidence and disagreements.

Date

No grant gives a date in an era for Hastivarman. Sircar’s rough chart of 1939 placed his reign about 345–370, using his supposed meeting with Samudragupta.1018 Subramanian used the same synchronism (the matching of the two reigns) and put him about 340.1219

Dubreuil, who did not know the Peddavegi plates, thought that the Salankayana kings he knew all reigned after Samudragupta’s invasion.2015 Subba Rao replied that the kingdom had been “at its height” at the time of the invasion.2015

B. V. Krishna Rao dated Hastivarman’s son Nandivarman I much earlier, to the close of the 3rd century.21 D. C. Sircar, editing Krishna Rao’s article in 1960, thought this too early.21

Footnotes

  1. Krishna Rao, “Two Salankayana Charters from Kanukollu” (1960), p. 8 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (1939), p. 68 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  3. Subba Rao, “Pedavegi Copper-plates” (1926), p. 105, translation (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. Krishna Rao, “Two Salankayana Charters from Kanukollu” (1960), p. 10, translation of the plates of Skandavarman (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 61 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  6. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 70 and notes (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 17 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  8. R. Subba Rao, “Pedavegi Copper-plates of Nandivarman II”, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society I, pt. 2 (1926), p. 93 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  9. Subba Rao, “Pedavegi Copper-plates” (1926), p. 94 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  10. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 72 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  11. K. R. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra and the History of Andhra between 225 and 610 A.D. (1932), p. 89 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  12. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra (1932), p. 90 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  13. K. V. Lakshmana Rao, “Two Copper-plate Grants of the Salankayanas of Vengi”, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society V, pt. 1 (1930), p. 27 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  14. Subba Rao, “Pedavegi Copper-plates” (1926), p. 97 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. Subba Rao, “Pedavegi Copper-plates” (1926), p. 98 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  16. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 91 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  17. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 59, note 3 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  18. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 73, chronological chart (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  19. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra (1932), p. 91 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  20. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 89 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  21. B. V. Krishna Rao, “Two Salankayana Charters from Kanukollu”, Epigraphia Indica XXXI (1955–56, publ. 1960), p. 3, with D. C. Sircar’s editorial notes (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

Dynasties

Salankayanas of Vengi

c. 300–470 CE

Dynasty of the country between the Krishna and the Godavari in the 4th and 5th centuries CE, ruling from Vengipura, the modern Pedavegi near Eluru. Seven copper-plate grants name seven kings in two lines descended from Hastivarman. Most scholars identify him with the 'Hastivarman of Vengi' of Samudragupta's Allahabad inscription. Their earlier grants are in Prakrit and their later ones in Sanskrit. Their seals bear a bull, and their family god was Chitrarathasvamin.

References

Sources (7)
  1. Not Available, The Andhra Historical Research Society, Rajahmundry, Vol.1,pt.2 (opens in a new tab), 1926, pp. 92–99, 105. R. Subba Rao, Pedavegi Copper-plates of Nandivarman II, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society I, pt. 2. [Public domain]
  2. N. Lakshminarayan Rao and D. C. Sircar (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXXI (1955–56) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1960, pp. 1–10. B. V. Krishna Rao, Two Salankayana Charters from Kanukollu (No. 1), with notes by D. C. Sircar; paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  3. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (opens in a new tab), University of Calcutta, 1939, pp. 68–73, 91. 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. 89–92. K. R. Subramanian. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  5. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (opens in a new tab), The author, Pondicherry (translated by V. S. Swaminadha Dikshitar), 1920, pp. 59, 61, 89. [Public domain]
  6. 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. 17. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  7. K. V. Lakshmana Rao (article); Andhra Historical Research Society, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society, Vol. V, pt. 1 (July 1930), incl. K. V. Lakshmana Rao, 'Two Copper-plate Grants of the Salankayanas of Vengi' (opens in a new tab), Andhra Historical Research Society, Rajahmundry, 1930, pp. 27. K. V. Lakshmana Rao, Two Copper-plate Grants of the Salankayanas of Vengi, JAHRS V, pt. 1 (1930). [Public domain]

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