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Indra-Bhattaraka

Indra-Bhattaraka was a younger son of Kubja Vishnuvardhana, the founder of the Eastern Chalukya kingdom of Vengi. Later grants say he reigned for only seven days after his brother Jayasimha I, in 663 by J. F. Fleet's dating. His own copper-plate grant, found in 1921, calls him Maharaja Indravarman and gives him the title Tyagadhenu. Fleet had thought that a group of enemy kings kept him from the throne. The 1922 epigraphy report argued that the grant proves he did reign. His son became king as Vishnuvardhana II.

Indra-Bhattaraka was a younger son of Kubja Vishnuvardhana, who founded the Eastern Chalukya kingdom of Vengi.12 Later grants say that he followed his elder brother Jayasimha I and reigned for only seven days.1 J. F. Fleet placed these seven days in 663.31 Fleet even doubted that he had reigned at all. His own grant, found in 1921, changed that view.14

His names

The grants of later kings call him Indra-Bhattaraka or Indraraja.1 His own grant names him Maharaja Indravarman, the son of Maharaja Vishnuvardhana and grandson of Maharaja Kirtivarman, of the Chalukya family.5 E. Hultzsch concluded that Indravarman was his real name.2

The grant also gives him a second name, Tyagadhenu.5 Hultzsch translated it as “the (celestial) cow in liberality”, that is, a king as generous as the heavenly cow.5 The 1922 epigraphy report thought he took this title to copy a praise of his father, who was called a Kamadhenu (wish-granting cow).6

The Kondanaguru grant

The grant is a set of five copper plates held on a ring with a round seal.5 The seal shows a crescent moon, the words sri-Tyagadhenu and a lotus with six petals.5 The plates belonged to Pendyala Subrahmanya Sastri of the National College at Machilipatnam (then Masulipatam).4 They reached the epigraphy office in June 1921.5

The grant gives the village of Kondanaguru to a Brahmin named Chendisarman.5 Hultzsch thought it was made at the request of a chief named Kondivarman.2 The officer who carried out the order seems to have been the king’s eldest son, who was also called Indravarman.2 A man named Kanaka-Rama engraved the plates.6

The grant carries no date. The 1922 report thought it was made at the coronation, or soon after it.6 The village of Kondanaguru cannot be traced now. One of its boundaries was Mujunuru, so the report placed it near Musunuru in the Nuzvid taluk of the Krishna district.6

Did he really reign?

Fleet wrote in 1891, thirty years before the grant was found.1 He noticed that only three late grants say that Indra-Bhattaraka reigned.1 He also read a grant of another king, Prithivimula, which speaks of a fierce battle by many kings “in the desire to uproot by force Indra-Bhattaraka”.1 An Adhiraja (overlord) named Indra took part in that battle.1 Fleet thought this Indra might be the Ganga king Indravarman of Kalinganagara, whose land lay just north-east of the Chalukya kingdom.1 So he concluded that the chiefs stopped Indra-Bhattaraka before he could take the throne.1

The 1922 epigraphy report disagreed.4 It said that his own grant “proves beyond doubt that the king did rule, though for the short period of seven days”.4 It added that the Chendalur plates of his grandson also call him Maharaja.46 The report explained the short reign by his “sudden and premature death” in the attack of those chiefs.6

Later writers kept both ideas. Robert Sewell suggested that Indra had governed the Godavari region for his father.7 K. A. Nilakanta Sastri and N. Venkataramanayya (1960) wrote that a group of hostile princes cut his rule short.8 They found it hard to say who their leader Indra was.8

His son

From the inscriptions of later kings, Hultzsch knew of only one son of Indra-Bhattaraka, who became king as Vishnuvardhana II.2 The Kondanaguru grant adds an eldest son, also named Indravarman.2

Where the sources disagree

  • Did he reign? Fleet (1891) thought that he never took the throne.1 The 1922 epigraphy report held that his own grant proves he reigned for seven days.4
  • When. Fleet’s reckoning puts the seven days in 663.1 The Early History of the Deccan (1960) dates them to 673.9
  • Who stopped him. Fleet suggested the Ganga king Indravarman of Kalinganagara.1 Nilakanta Sastri and Venkataramanayya thought that the leader’s identity was hard to establish.8

Footnotes

  1. Fleet, “Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings” (1891), p. 97 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14

  2. Hultzsch, “Kondanaguru Grant of Indravarman” (1926), p. 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. J. F. Fleet, “The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings”, Indian Antiquary XX (1891), p. 12, list of kings (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  4. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1921–22 (1922), Part II, para. 4, p. 96 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  5. E. Hultzsch, “Kondanaguru Grant of Indravarman”, Epigraphia Indica XVIII (1925–26), p. 1 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  6. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1921–22 (1922), Part II, para. 4, p. 97 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  7. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 25 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. K. A. Nilakanta Sastri and N. Venkataramanayya, “The Eastern Chalukyas”, in G. Yazdani (ed.), The Early History of the Deccan, Parts VII–XI (1960), p. 473 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. Nilakanta Sastri and Venkataramanayya, in The Early History of the Deccan (1960), p. 502, Appendix A, “The Eastern Chalukya Genealogy” (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

Dynasties

Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi

c. 615–1077 CE

The Eastern Chalukyas were a branch of the Chalukyas of Badami. They ruled Vengi, the coastal country between the lower Godavari and Krishna, from the early 7th century. Their founder, Kubja Vishnuvardhana, was a younger brother of Pulakesin II. The kings fought the Rashtrakutas for two centuries. After about 1000 they were linked to the Cholas by marriage, and in 1070 their heir became the Chola emperor Kulottunga I. Their copper-plate grants record the length of every reign. The first Telugu literary work, Nannaya's Mahabharata, was written at their court in Rajahmundry.

References

Sources (5)
  1. R. C. Temple (ed.); article by J. F. Fleet, Indian Antiquary, Vol. XX (1891), incl. J. F. Fleet, 'The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings' (opens in a new tab), Education Society's Press, Bombay, 1891, pp. 12, 97. J. F. Fleet, 'The Chronology of the Eastern Chalukya Kings'. [Public domain]
  2. H. Krishna Sastri and Hirananda Sastri (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XVIII (1925–26) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, Calcutta, 1926, pp. 1–2. E. Hultzsch, Kondanaguru grant of Indravarman. [Public domain]
  3. Madras Government (Superintendent for Epigraphy, Southern Circle), Annual Reports on Epigraphy for 1920-21 to 1924-25 (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1925, pp. 96–97 (report for 1921–22). Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1921–22, Part II, para. 4. [Public domain]
  4. 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. 25. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  5. G. Yazdani (ed.); Part VII by K. A. Nilakanta Sastri and N. Venkataramanayya, The Early History of the Deccan, Parts VII-XI, Oxford University Press, London, published under the authority of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1960, pp. 473, 502. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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