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Vikramahendra (Vishnukundin)

Vikramahendra is the Vishnukundin king named as the grandfather of Madhavavarman Janashraya in the Polamuru plates, the only record that mentions him. D. C. Sircar made him the first known king of the family, about 500–520, and thought the name might stand for Vikramendra. Several earlier scholars identified him with Vikramendravarman II, the last king of the Chikkulla line, which would make him one of the latest. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil suggested that a daughter of his married the Pallava Simhavishnu.

Vikramahendra was a king of the Vishnukundins, the family that ruled the lower Krishna and Godavari country before the Eastern Chalukyas.1 Only one record names him: the Polamuru plates of his grandson Madhavavarman Janashraya.1 Yet his place in the family tree decides much of the debate about the dynasty’s order of kings.23

The Polamuru plates

According to the epigraphical report for 1913–14, the plates trace the family from Vikramahendra to his son Govindavarman.1 Then comes Govindavarman’s “dear son”, the Maharaja Madhavavarman, also called Janashraya.1 The same report called the donor “a new and a later member of the family”.4

D. C. Sircar noted in 1939 that the grant gives Vikramahendra no royal title.5 But it does praise him as a ruler whose commands no one could resist, and to whom neighbouring chiefs bowed because of his power.5 From these words Sircar concluded that he was a king with feudatories under him.5

What the name means

Sircar thought that Vikramahendra might be the engraver’s mistake for Vikrama-Mahendra.2 If it was a slip for Vikramendra, he wrote, the king should be called Vikramendra I, since the family had two other kings of that name.2 H. Krishna Sastri had already asked in 1914 whether the name was a corrupt form of Vikramendra.1

First king or last?

Everything depends on which Madhavavarman the Polamuru plates mean.23

  • The last king. Krishna Sastri wondered whether Vikramahendra was Vikramendravarman II, the donor of the Chikkulla plates. He thought the later style of the letters made this doubtful.1 G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, K. V. Lakshman Rao, M. Somasekhara Sarma and R. S. Panchamukhi all made the identification.678910 On their view Vikramahendra, his son and grandson came at the end of the dynasty. See Vikramendravarman II.
  • The first king. Sircar took the Madhavavarman of the Polamuru plates to be the great sacrificer Madhavavarman I.23 So Vikramahendra, two generations earlier, became the first known king of the family.5 Sircar placed him about 500–520.11
  • A separate line. S. Sankaranarayanan, editing the Tummalagudem plates in 1974, argued that the great-grandfather of Vikramendravarman II was a different Madhavavarman from the one in the Polamuru plates.12 His reason was that the Polamuru king’s grandfather was Vikramahendra, not a Madhavavarman.12

A Pallava marriage?

In 1917 G. Jouveau-Dubreuil suggested that the Pallava king Simhavishnu married a daughter of Vikramahendra.13 He thought Simhavishnu then named his son Mahendravikrama (Mahendravarman I) after the boy’s grandfather.13 R. Gopalan rejected this in 1928, because it rests only on the likeness of the names.1415 His editor pointed out that the two names are formed in different ways.1415 No grant records such a marriage.13

Where the sources disagree

  • His place in the family. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Lakshman Rao, Somasekhara Sarma and Panchamukhi made him Vikramendravarman II.68910 Sircar made him the first known king.5
  • His name. Sircar suggested it might stand for Vikrama-Mahendra or Vikramendra.2
  • His daughter. Jouveau-Dubreuil thought she married Simhavishnu.13 Gopalan saw no evidence for it.14

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 ↩5 ↩6

  2. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (1939), p. 103 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 104, genealogical table (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1913–14 (1914), Part I, p. 6 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  5. Sircar, Successors of the Satavahanas (1939), p. 105 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  6. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 90 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

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

  8. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 404 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  9. M. Somasekhara Sarma, “Indrabhattaraka and the Ganga Era”, Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society V, pt. 3 (1930–31), p. 184 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  10. R. S. Panchamukhi, “Tandivada Grant of Prithivi-Maharaja: 46th Year”, Epigraphia Indica XXIII (1936), p. 95, genealogical table (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

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

  12. Gajjala Vasanta Lakshmi (ed.), Epigraphia Telanganica I: Pre-Kakatiya Telangana (2023), p. 19, reprinting S. Sankaranarayanan, “Two Vishnukundi Charters from Tummalagudem”, Epigraphia Andhrica II (1974), pp. 4–20. Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  13. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, The Pallavas (1917), p. 35 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  14. R. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas of Kanchi (1928), p. 77 and editor’s note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas of Kanchi (1928), p. 78 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

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 (9)
  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. 6, 102. Annual Report on Epigraphy for 1913–14. [Public domain]
  2. D. C. Sircar, The Successors of the Satavahanas in Lower Deccan (opens in a new tab), University of Calcutta, 1939, pp. 103–105, 112. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  3. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil (tr. V. S. Swaminadha Dikshitar), The Pallavas (opens in a new tab), The author, Pondicherry, 1917, pp. 35. [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. 90, 92. [Public domain]
  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. 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. 184. M. Somasekhara Sarma, Indrabhattaraka and the Ganga Era (JAHRS V, pt. 3); paraphrased. [Public domain]
  7. Hirananda Sastri and N. P. Chakravarti (eds.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXIII (1935–36) (opens in a new tab), Manager of Publications, Delhi, 1936, pp. 95. R. S. Panchamukhi, Tandivada grant of Prithivi-Maharaja; paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  8. R. Gopalan, History of the Pallavas of Kanchi (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1928, pp. 77–78. [Public domain]
  9. 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. 19. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]

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