Lords of the Deccan: Southern India from the Chalukyas to the Cholas by Anirudh Kanisetti

Author:Anirudh Kanisetti [Kanisetti, Anirudh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-01-29T18:30:00+00:00

In the late 780s,31 when Dhruva Rashtrakuta’s position in the Deccan was finally secure, a tiny event set off a chain reaction leading to an explosive confrontation between medieval India’s superpowers. The kingdom of Kashmir – a pugilistic and culturally sophisticated Himalayan power – raided Kannauj, imprisoning its king. As the Kashmiris attempted to ransom him, the Pratihara emperor Vatsaraja advanced to the city and set up his own candidate on the throne; he thus announced that the Pratiharas were claiming the sovereignty of north India, and that they saw the fertile Gangetic plains as their rightful sphere of influence.

The Palas immediately retaliated by choosing their own candidate to the throne of Kannauj. The Pala emperor, Dharmapala, moved west to install him at the head of an army of his own, but Vatsaraja Pratihara was ready and waiting. The Palas were defeated – though not conclusively – and driven away. The two white imperial umbrellas which were symbols of Pala sovereignty were gleefully seized by Vatsaraja, whose claim to north Indian supremacy now seemed indisputable.

Meanwhile, Dhruva Rashtrakuta had been carefully observing these events unfolding hundreds of kilometres away, and saw an opening. The overconfident Vatsaraja had left his southern flank, Malwa, completely exposed – a critical strategic error. We do not know the precise details of what followed. Did Dhruva initially set out only to conquer Malwa, or was he always planning on securing a symbolic submission from the two arrogant north Indian monarchs? How much did he know of what had happened between Vatsaraja and Dharmapala, and how did he plan his logistics and route of advance to confront them? Did his army consist of Rashtrakuta forces alone, or did vassal kings – such as his father-in-law, the Chalukya king of Vengi – join in?

All we know for certain is that the Rashtrakuta Vallabha did indeed march to war. Rituals were performed beforehand, astrologers consulted, plans made, and a great army of infantry, elephantry and cavalry was gathered and ordered to march. Along with the troops followed thousands of labourers, cooks, physicians, dancers, musicians, courtesans, poets, panegyrists, priests and preachers,32 the army stretching out for many kilometres, shaking the Earth, advancing like an immense, noisy, colourful serpent. Harsha, Lord of the North, had so fatefully crossed the Narmada into the Deccan almost exactly one hundred and eighty years earlier. Now Dhruva, Lord of the South, crossed the same Narmada from the Deccan into north India. How the tables had turned: the time had come for the Deccan, which once trembled at north India’s might, to terrify that ancient seat of empires.

It would not have been long before the Pratihara emperor Vatsaraja, concerned about the loss of his core territories, rushed to confront Dhruva. The precise location and date of their collision are unclear, but it is likely to have occurred somewhere in northern Malwa, perhaps near Vidisha or Jhansi, before Dhruva could erupt into the Gangetic plains. It was probably one of the most spectacular set-piece battles of the

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