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Indravarman (Vishnukundin)

Vishnukundin king, called Indrabhattarakavarman in his son's Chikkulla plates, who issued the Ramatirtham plates near Vizianagaram in his 27th year. His grants praise his victories with war elephants. Most scholars identify him with the Indrabhattaraka against whom a group of kings fought, according to the Godavari plates of Prithivimula. His date depends on the disputed Vishnukundin chronology: about 469–496, 535, 570–600 and 625–655 have all been proposed.

The king of two grants

Indravarman is known from his own grant, the Ramatirtham plates, and from the Chikkulla plates of his son.1 In the Ramatirtham plates he calls himself simply “the glorious king named Indravarman”.2 The Chikkulla plates call him the Maharaja Indrabhattarakavarman.3

E. Hultzsch edited the Ramatirtham plates in 1914.1 From the short family line they give, he showed that the two names belong to one king.1 H. Krishna Sastri had first noticed the plates in the epigraphical report for 1908–09, which already made the same identification.4 D. C. Sircar agreed that the identity could hardly be doubted.5

Family

Indravarman was the son of Vikramendravarman I and the grandson of the Maharaja Madhavavarman, “an ornament of the ever rising family of the Vishnukundin kings”.12 The Ramatirtham plates say that his father “became an ornament of both families”.6 Hultzsch read this, with the Chikkulla plates, as a reference to a marriage of the Vishnukundins with the Vakatakas.6 Indravarman’s eldest son was Vikramendravarman II, the donor of the Chikkulla plates.7

The Ramatirtham grant

Indravarman made this grant in the 27th year of his reign, on the seventh day of the bright fortnight of Jyaishtha.12 He gave the village of Peruvadaka or Peruvataka, in the Plaki district (rashtra), to Nagnasarman, a Taittiriya Brahmin of the Mandira gotra.12 It was a tax-free agrahara (village granted to Brahmins).12 The order was issued from his residence or camp at Puranisangama, and the king himself is named as its executor.12

Hultzsch noted that the same Plaki district appears in grants of the Eastern Chalukya king Vishnuvardhana I.1 Sircar placed it in the Vizianagaram region.8

Wars

Both grants praise Indravarman’s war elephants. In Hultzsch’s translation of the Ramatirtham plates he is “victorious by encountering in hundred-thousands of battles numerous four-tusked (elephants)”.2 He is also a fervent worshipper of Maheshvara (Shiva).2 The Chikkulla plates add that “by the act of contracting his eyebrows” he “scattered all claimants”.3

F. Kielhorn pointed out that “four-tusked” is properly a title of Airavata, the elephant of the east.96 He suggested that the boast referred to victories in the east.96

Kielhorn also identified Indravarman with the Indrabhattaraka named in the Godavari plates of Raja Prithivimula.9 Those plates say that several chiefs joined together to uproot Indrabhattaraka.9 His elephant Kumuda was struck down by a certain Indradhiraja riding the elephant Supratika.9

J. F. Fleet had taken this Indrabhattaraka to be the Eastern Chalukya prince of that name, a younger brother of Jayasimha I.9 Sircar rejected Fleet’s view and accepted Kielhorn’s.10 His reason was that the Eastern Chalukya Indrabhattaraka either did not reign at all or reigned only seven days.10 V. V. Mirashi also called Kielhorn’s identification generally accepted.11

Who won is disputed. The Godavari plates claim the victory for Indradhiraja.12 G. Jouveau-Dubreuil argued in 1920 that the Vishnukundin was the real victor.1312 His reason was that the Ramatirtham grant gives a village in the Plaki district, near Chipurupalle in Visakhapatnam (then Vizagapatam) district.1312 He thought Indrabhattaraka then took over the districts of Godavari and Visakhapatnam and pushed the kings of Kalinga north.1312 He also suggested that the Vakataka king Harishena may have joined the alliance against him.1314

Sircar thought the opposite order of events more likely.1516 In his view Indravarman raided Chalukya land as far as the Plaki district, in revenge for the raids of Pulakeshin II and Jayasimha I.1516 He was then driven back to his capital by an alliance in which Jayasimha I joined the Ganga king Indravarman.1516 K. R. Subramanian, like Dubreuil, thought the Vishnukundin won.1718 But he dated the war earlier, to the time of the Vakataka Harishena.1718

The identity of Indradhiraja is also uncertain. Fleet and Sircar took him for the Ganga king Indravarman.1019 Mirashi noted that some scholars identified him with the Ganga Indravarman I of the Jirjingi plates, who also boasts of battles with four-tusked elephants.11 He himself preferred Indravarman II, who ruled in Ganga years 87 to 91, about 585–598.11 But he warned that the elephant boast is a set phrase found in other grants as well.11

R. S. Panchamukhi thought Indradhiraja might be the donor of the Jirjingi plates.20 Subramanian thought the Vishnukundin’s enemy must have been an earlier Indra of Kalinga, who came before the Ganga Indravarman.21

Rivals in the family

Panchamukhi, writing in 1936, thought the “claimants” whom Indravarman scattered could only be a side branch of the family.20 These were Devavarman and his son Madhavavarman II.20 He suggested that this branch held only a small principality inside the Vishnukundin kingdom.22

Mirashi saw the two branches differently.23 He thought the empire of Madhavavarman I was divided after his death.23 The western part went to Madhavavarman II, and the eastern part, with Kosala, Kalinga and Andhra, to Indravarman.23

Date

No Vishnukundin grant is dated in an era, and the dates proposed for Indravarman differ by more than a century:6

SourceDate proposed
Dubreuil (1920)2413War with Indra of Kalinga probably at the beginning of the 6th century; a long reign
K. V. Lakshman Rao, in Sewell (1932)25About 469–496
Panchamukhi (1936)26About 535
Sircar (1939)27About 625–655
Mirashi (1942)11About 570–600

Dubreuil wrote that the Ramatirtham plates are dated in the 37th year of the reign.13 Hultzsch’s edition and translation give the 27th year.62

The reign chart on the Vishnukundins page follows Sircar.

Footnotes

  1. E. Hultzsch, “Ramatirtham Plates of Indravarman”, Epigraphia Indica XII (1914), p. 133 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  2. Hultzsch, “Ramatirtham Plates” (1914), p. 136, translation (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  3. Kielhorn, “Chikkulla Plates” (1897), p. 197, translation (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  4. H. Krishna Sastri, Annual Report on Epigraphy, Southern Circle, for 1908–09 (1909), Part II, para. 62, p. 109 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  5. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (1939), p. 97 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  6. Hultzsch, “Ramatirtham Plates” (1914), p. 134 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  7. F. Kielhorn, “Chikkulla Plates of Vikramendravarman II”, Epigraphia Indica IV (1897), p. 194 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 138 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  9. Kielhorn, “Chikkulla Plates” (1897), p. 195 and notes (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  10. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 113 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  11. V. V. Mirashi, “Epoch of the Ganga Era”, Epigraphia Indica XXVI (1942), p. 334 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  12. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 94 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  13. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 91 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  14. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 92 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  15. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 121 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  16. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 122 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  17. K. R. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra and the History of Andhra between 225 and 610 A.D. (1932), p. 116 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  18. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra (1932), p. 117 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  19. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 114 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  20. R. S. Panchamukhi, “Tandivada Grant of Prithivi-Maharaja: 46th Year”, Epigraphia Indica XXIII (1936), p. 92 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  21. Subramanian, Buddhist Remains in Andhra (1932), p. 124, note 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  22. Panchamukhi, “Tandivada Grant” (1936), p. 93 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  23. V. V. Mirashi and Y. R. Gupte, “Khanapur Plates of Madhavavarman”, Epigraphia Indica XXVII (1956), p. 316 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  24. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 76 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

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

  26. Panchamukhi, “Tandivada Grant” (1936), p. 95, genealogical table (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  27. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 112, chronological table (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Dynasties

Vishnukundins

c. 500–630 CE

Dynasty of the Krishna–Godavari country that ruled after the Salankayanas and before the Eastern Chalukyas. It is known from a handful of Sanskrit copper-plate grants and one stone inscription. Its kings worshipped the lord of Sriparvata, claimed eleven horse sacrifices for their greatest ruler, Madhavavarman, 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 reconstructions put the main line in the 6th century and end it with the Chalukya conquest of the early 7th, though D. C. Sircar continued it to about 670.

References

Sources (10)
  1. Sten Konow (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XII (1913–14) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1914, pp. 133–136. E. Hultzsch, Ramatirtham plates of Indravarman (No. 17). [Public domain]
  2. F. Kielhorn (articles); E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IV (1896–97) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1897, pp. 195, 197–198. F. Kielhorn, Chikkulla plates of Vikramendravarman II (No. 25). [Public domain]
  3. Madras Government (Assistant Archaeological Superintendent for Epigraphy), Annual Reports on Epigraphy, Southern Circle, for 1906-07 to 1909-10 (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1910, pp. 109. Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1908–09, Part II, para. 62 (H. Krishna Sastri). [Public domain]
  4. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (opens in a new tab), The author, Pondicherry (translated by V. S. Swaminadha Dikshitar), 1920, pp. 76, 91–92, 94. [Public domain]
  5. Hirananda Sastri and N. P. Chakravarti (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXIII (1935–36) (opens in a new tab), Manager of Publications, Delhi, 1936, pp. 92–95. R. S. Panchamukhi, Tandivada grant of Prithivi-Maharaja; paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  6. N. P. Chakravarti (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXVI (1941–42) (opens in a new tab), Manager of Publications, Delhi, 1942, pp. 333–334. V. V. Mirashi, Epoch of the Ganga era (No. 48); paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  7. B. Ch. Chhabra and N. Lakshminarayan Rao (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXVII (1947–48) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1956, pp. 316. V. V. Mirashi and Y. R. Gupte, Khanapur plates of Madhavavarman; paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  8. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (opens in a new tab), University of Calcutta, 1939, pp. 112–114, 120–122, 137–138. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  9. 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. 116–117, 122–123. K. R. Subramanian. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  10. 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]

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