Amoghavarsha I , (800–878) C.E. was a
RashtrakutaThe Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal Indian dynasty ruling large parts of southern, central and northern India between the sixth and the tenth centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans...
king, the greatest ruler of the
Rashtrakuta dynastyThe Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal Indian dynasty ruling large parts of southern, central and northern India between the sixth and the tenth centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans...
, and one of the great kings of
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. Historians have compared him to the legendary Emperor
AshokaAshoka , popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests...
for his religious temperament and love of peace. Many Kannada and Sanskrit scholars prospered during his rule, including,
MahaviracharyaMahavira was a 9th century Indian mathematician from Gulbarga who asserted that the square root of a negative number did not exist. He gave the sum of a series whose terms are squares of an arithmetical progression and empirical rules for area and perimeter of an ellipse. He was patronised by the...
who wrote
Ganita-sara-samgraha,
JinasenaJinasena is the name of several famous Jain Acharyas of the Digambar tradition.* The author of Harivamsha Purana in the 8th century. He belonged to the Punnata branch of Jain monks....
,
VirasenaVirasena was an 8th century mathematician in India who gave the derivation of the volume of a frustum by a sort of infinite procedure. He also dealt with logarithms to base 2 and knew its laws, and was also the first to deal with logarithms to base 3 and base 4 .-See also:*Indian...
, Shakatayan and Sri Vijaya (the Kannada language theorist).
Amoghavarsha I , (800–878) C.E. was a
RashtrakutaThe Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal Indian dynasty ruling large parts of southern, central and northern India between the sixth and the tenth centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans...
king, the greatest ruler of the
Rashtrakuta dynastyThe Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal Indian dynasty ruling large parts of southern, central and northern India between the sixth and the tenth centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans...
, and one of the great kings of
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. Historians have compared him to the legendary Emperor
AshokaAshoka , popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all of the Indian subcontinent from 269 BC to 232 BC. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests...
for his religious temperament and love of peace. Many Kannada and Sanskrit scholars prospered during his rule, including,
MahaviracharyaMahavira was a 9th century Indian mathematician from Gulbarga who asserted that the square root of a negative number did not exist. He gave the sum of a series whose terms are squares of an arithmetical progression and empirical rules for area and perimeter of an ellipse. He was patronised by the...
who wrote
Ganita-sara-samgraha,
JinasenaJinasena is the name of several famous Jain Acharyas of the Digambar tradition.* The author of Harivamsha Purana in the 8th century. He belonged to the Punnata branch of Jain monks....
,
VirasenaVirasena was an 8th century mathematician in India who gave the derivation of the volume of a frustum by a sort of infinite procedure. He also dealt with logarithms to base 2 and knew its laws, and was also the first to deal with logarithms to base 3 and base 4 .-See also:*Indian...
, Shakatayan and Sri Vijaya (the Kannada language theorist). Amoghavarsha I was an accomplished poet and scholar. He wrote the
KavirajamargaKavirajamarga is the earliest available writing on rhetoric, poetics and grammar in the Kannada language. It was written by the famous Rashtrakuta King "Nripatunga" Amoghavarsha I and is based partly on an earlier Sanskrit writing, Kavyadarsa...
, the earliest
extantExtant literature refers to texts that have survived from the past to the present time. Extant literature can be divided into extant original manuscripts, copies of original manuscripts, quotations and paraphrases of passages of non-extant texts contained in other works, translations of non-extant...
literary work in Kannada, and
Prashnottara Ratnamalika, a religious work in
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
. During his rule he held such titles as
Nripatunga,
Atishadhavala,
Veeranarayana,
Rattamarthanda and
Srivallabha. He moved the
RashtrakutaThe Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal Indian dynasty ruling large parts of southern, central and northern India between the sixth and the tenth centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans...
regal capital from Mayurkhandi in the
Bidar districtBidar is a district of Karnataka state in southern India. The historic city of Bidar is the administrative centre of the district. The district is located in the northeastern corner of the state, near the borders with Andhra Pradesh to the east and Maharashtra to the north and west...
to
ManyakhetaManyakheta on the banks of Kagina River in Gulbarga district, Karnataka state was the capital of Rashtrakutas from . It is 40 km from Gulbarga city. The capital was moved from Mayurkhandi in Bidar district to Manyakheta during the rule of Amoghavarsha I...
in the
Gulbarga districtGulbarga District Gulbarga District Gulbarga District (Kannada ಕಲಬುರ್ಗಿ(ಗುಲ್ಬರ್ಗ), (Urdu گلبرگہ ), is situated between 76°.04' and 77°.42 east longitude, and 16°.12' and 17°.46' north latitude, covering an area of 16,224 square kilometres. Gulbarga district was formerly part of Hyderabad state and...
in the modern
KarnatakaKarnataka is a state in the southern part of India. It was created on November 1, 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act...
state. He is said to have built the regal city to "match that of Lord
Indra' is the King of the gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology, and also he is the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall....
". The capital city was planned to include elaborately designed buildings for the royalty using the finest of workmanship.
Early years
Amoghavarsha I (whose birth name was Sharva) was born in 800 in Sribhavan on the banks of the river
NarmadaThe Narmada the Periplus Maris Erythraei calls it the Nammadus.. The British Raj called it the Nerbudda or Narbada[] is a river in central India and the fifth largest river in the Indian subcontinent. Narmada is a Sanskrit word meaning 'the Giver of Pleasure'...
during the return journey of his father, King
Govinda IIIGovinda III C.E. was a famous Rashtrakuta king who succeeded his illustrious father Dhruva Dharavarsha. He was militarily the most successful King of the dynasty with successful conquests from Cape Comorin in the south to Kannauj in the north, from Banaras in the east to Broach in the west...
, from his successful campaigns in northern India. This information is available from the Manne records of 803 and the Sanjan plates of 871, both important sources of information about Amoghavarsha I. The Sirur plates further clarify that Amoghavarsha I ascended to the throne in 814 at the age of 14 after the death of his father. All his inscriptions thereafter refer to him as Amoghavarsha I. His guardian during his early years as king was his cousin, Karka Suvarnavarsha of the Gujarat branch of the empire.
A revolt led by some of his relatives together with feudatories of the kingdom temporarily unseated Amoghavarsha I who, with the help of his guardian and cousin (Karka) also called Patamalla, re-established himself as the king of the empire by 821. This information comes from the Surat records and the Baroda plates of 835. The first to revolt was the
Western GangaThe Western Ganga Dynasty was an important ruling dynasty of ancient Karnataka in India. They are known as Western Gangas to distinguish them from the Eastern Gangas who in later centuries ruled over modern Orissa...
feudatory led by King
Shivamara IIShivamara II was the son of Sripurusha and ruled the Western Ganga Dynasty from 788 - 816 C.E. He was also a noted scholar in Kannada, Sanskrit and Prakrit...
. In the series of battles that followed, Shivamara II was killed in 816 and Amoghavarsha I's commander and confidant, Bankesha, was defeated in Rajaramadu by the next Ganga king, Rachamalla. Due to the resilience of the
GangasThe Western Ganga Dynasty was an important ruling dynasty of ancient Karnataka in India. They are known as Western Gangas to distinguish them from the Eastern Gangas who in later centuries ruled over modern Orissa...
, Amoghavarsha I was forced to follow a conciliatory policy. He married his daughter, Chandrabbalabbe, to the Ganga king Buthuga and another daughter, Revakanimmadi, to the Ganga prince Ereganga. More revolts occurred between 818 and 820, but by 821 Amoghavarsha I had overcome all resistance and established a stable kingdom to rule.
Wars in the south
Vijayaditya II of the Eastern Chalukya family overthrew Bhima Salki, the ruling Rashtrakuta feudatory at
VengiThe Vengi kingdom extended from the Godavari River in the north to Mount Mahendragiri in the southeast and to just south of the banks of River Krishna in the south of India. This area was part of Kalinga until that kingdom was conquered by Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire in the mid 200s BC...
, took possession of the throne and continued his hostilities against the Rashtrakutas. He captured Sthambha (modern Kammamettu), a Rashtrakuta stronghold. From the Cambay and Sangli plates it is known that Amoghavarsha I overwhelmingly defeated the Vengi Chalukyas and drove them out of their strongholds in the battle of Vingavalli. The Bagumra records mention a "Sea of Chalukyas" invading the Ratta kingdom which Amoghavarsha I successfully defended. After these victories he assumed the title
Veeranarayana.
Tranquility was restored temporarily by a marriage between Vijayaditya II's son, Vishnuvardhana V, and the Ratta princess Shilamahadevi, a sister of Karka of the Gujarat branch. However, Vishnuvardhana V attacked the northern
KalachuriKalachuri Empire is this the name used by two kingdoms who had a succession of dynasties from the 10th-12th centuries, one ruling over areas in Central India and were called Chedi or Haihaya and the other southern Kalachuri who ruled over parts of Karnataka. They are disparately placed in time...
feudatory of the Rashtrakutas in
TripuriThe Tripuri people are the original inhabitants of the Kingdom of Tripura in North-East India and Bangladesh. The Tripuri people through the Royal family of the Debbarmas ruled the Kingdom of Tripura for more than 2000 years till the kingdom joined the Indian Union in 1949.The Tripuris live on the...
, central India, and captured Elichpur near Nasik. Amoghavarsha I killed Vishnuvardhana V in 846 but continued a friendly relationship with the next Chalukya ruler, Gunaga Vijayaditya III, and suppressed the recalcitrant
AlupasThe Alupaskings were a minor dynasty who ruled parts of coastal Karnataka. They ruled independently the Alvakheda region in the beginning . Later with the dominance of Kadambas in Banavasi, they became feudatory to them. With the changing political scenario, soon they became the feudatories to...
of
South CanaraSouth Canara was a district under the British empire. It was bifurcated in 1859 from Canara district. It was the undivided Dakshina Kannada district. It was renamed as Dakshina Kannada in 1947.-Languages:1961 Census-External links:...
under prince Vimaladitya in 870. Likewise, Amoghavarsha I maintained friendly interactions with the
PallavaThe Pallava dynasty ruled northern Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh with their capital at Kanchipuram. The origin of Pallavas is a subject of speculation. They were perhaps the descendents of the Saka-Pahlava-Kambhoja warriors from Northwest India. They have settled in the Guntur region of Andhra...
who were busy keeping the Pandyas at bay. The Pallavas had marital ties with the Rashtrakutas as well. Nandivarman was married to a Ratta princess, Sankha, and their son was also called Nripatunga. This has prompted historians to suggest that the Pallava king must have married Amoghavarsha I's daughter.
The Sanjan inscriptions of 871 claim Amoghavarsha I made a great effort to overthrow the kingdom of the Dravidas and that the mobilization of his armies struck terror in the hearts of the kings of
KeralaKerala , is a state located in southwestern India. The state was created in 1956 on linguistc basis, bringing together those places where Malayalam formed the principal language...
, Pandya, Chola,
KalingaKalinga was an early kingdom in central-eastern India, which comprised most of the modern state of Odissa / Utkal, as well as some northern areas of the bordering state of Andhra Pradesh...
,
MagadhaMagadha formed one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas or regions in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganges; its first capital was Rajagaha then Pataliputra...
,
GujaratGujarat is the westernmost state in India. It is home to the Gujarati speaking people of India. The state encompasses major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization such as Lothal and Dholavira. Gujarat played an important role in the economic history of India throughout the history of India...
and
PallavaThe Pallava dynasty ruled northern Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh with their capital at Kanchipuram. The origin of Pallavas is a subject of speculation. They were perhaps the descendents of the Saka-Pahlava-Kambhoja warriors from Northwest India. They have settled in the Guntur region of Andhra...
. The record also states that Amoghavarsha I imprisoned for life the
Gangavamshi ruler and also those in his own court who had carried out plots against him.
Religion and culture
Amoghavarsha I preferred to remain friendly with all his neighbours and feudatories and avoided taking an aggressive posture against them. It is still debated whether he abdicated his throne at times to fulfill religious pursuits. He deeply cared for his subjects and once when a calamity threatened to harm them, he offered his finger as a sacrifice to the goddess Mahalakshmi of Kholapur. For this act he has been compared to
puranic heroes such as
BaliBali is an Indonesian island located at the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island....
, Shibi and Jimutavahana. It is written that the rulers of Vanga, Anga, Magadha, Malwa and
VengiThe Vengi kingdom extended from the Godavari River in the north to Mount Mahendragiri in the southeast and to just south of the banks of River Krishna in the south of India. This area was part of Kalinga until that kingdom was conquered by Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire in the mid 200s BC...
worshipped him.
Amoghavarsha I was a disciple of Jinasenacharya. Proof for this comes from the writing,
Mahapurana (also known as
Uttara Purana), by Gunabhadra in which the author states "blissful for the world is the existence of Jinasenacharya, by bowing to whom Amoghavarsha considered himself to be purified". The same writing proves that Amoghavarsha I was a follower of the "Digambara" branch of Jainism. His own writing
KavirajamargaKavirajamarga is the earliest available writing on rhetoric, poetics and grammar in the Kannada language. It was written by the famous Rashtrakuta King "Nripatunga" Amoghavarsha I and is based partly on an earlier Sanskrit writing, Kavyadarsa...
is a landmark literary work in
Kannada languageKannada is one of the major Dravidian languages of India, spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas , number roughly 38 million, making it the 27th most spoken language in the world...
and became a guide book for future poets and scholars for centuries to come. The Sanskrit writing
Prashnottara Ratnamalika is said to have been written by Amoghavarsha I in his old age when he had distanced himself from the affairs of the state. However others argue that it was written by
Adi ShankaraAdi Shankara ; , also known as ' and ', was an Indian philosopher who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, a sub-school of Vedanta. His teachings are based on the unity of the soul and Brahman, in which Brahman is viewed as without attributes...
or by Vimalacharya.
Amoghavarsha I patronised both
JainismJainism is an ancient dharmic religion from India that prescribes a path of non-violence for all forms of living beings in this world. Its philosophy and practice relies mainly on self-effort in progressing the soul on the spiritual ladder to divine consciousness...
and
HinduismHinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as ', a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as...
. His empire was one among the four great contemporary empires of the world and because of his peaceful and loving nature, he has been compared to Emperor Ashoka as noted above. The
JainJainism is an ancient dharmic religion from India that prescribes a path of non-violence for all forms of living beings in this world. Its philosophy and practice relies mainly on self-effort in progressing the soul on the spiritual ladder to divine consciousness...
Narayana temple of
PattadakalPattadakal is a town in the Indian state of Karnataka The town lies on the banks of the Malaprabha River in Bagalkot district of North Karnataka region. It is 22 km from Badami and about 10 km from Aihole...
, ( a
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...
World Heritage SiteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list that is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 state parties which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term.A World Heritage Site is a...
) the
basadiBasadi is a Jain shrine or temple.The word is generally used in South India, including Maharashtra. Its historical use in North is preserved in the names of the Vimala Vasahi and Luna Vasahi temples of Mount Abu...
at
KonnurKonnur is a panchayat town in Gadag district in the Indian state of Karnataka.-Geography:Konnur is located at . It has an average elevation of 606 metres .-Demographics:...
and the Neminatha basadi at
ManyakhetaManyakheta on the banks of Kagina River in Gulbarga district, Karnataka state was the capital of Rashtrakutas from . It is 40 km from Gulbarga city. The capital was moved from Mayurkhandi in Bidar district to Manyakheta during the rule of Amoghavarsha I...
were build during his rule. His queen was Asagavve. Writings such as
Mahapurana by Gunabhadra,
Prashnottara Ratnamalika and Mahaviracharya's
Ganita sara sangraha are evidence that Amoghavarsha I had taken up Jainsim in his old age. Famous scholars of his time were Shakatayan, Mahaveera, Virasena, Jinasena, Gunabhadra and Sri Vijaya.
External links