EARLY HISTORY.

A.D. 100.

KOLHAPUR history may be divided into three periods, an early Hindu period, partly mythic and partly historic, reaching to about A.D. 1347; a Musalman period lasting from A.D. 1347 to about 1700; and a Maratha period since 1700. The oldest historic place in the State would seem to be Kolhapur where in making some excavations in 1877 the foundations of a large Buddhist relic mound were turned up and in the centre of the mound was found a square stone box with, on the inner face of its square lid, an inscription in letters of about the third century before Christ recording ' The gift of Bamha made by Dhamaguta.' [Journal Bombay Branch Royal Asiatic Society, XIV. 147 -154; Bombay Archaeological Survey, Separate Number 10, p. 39.] Copper and lead coins and brass models have also been found at Kolhapur which show that about the first century after Christ it was under rulers who were members or Viceroys of the great Shatakarni or Andhrabhritya kings of the North Deccan, one of whom bore the name Vilivayakura. [Journal Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc, XIV. 152,'153; Professor Bhandarkar's Deccan Early History, 17, 20,] About A. D. 150 the Egyptian geographer Ptolemy mentions Hippokura as the capital of Baleocuros who governed the southern division of the Deccan peninsula. Hippokura is probably Kolhapur and Professor Bhandarkar identifies Baleocuros with the Vilivayakura of the coins. [Bertius' Ptolemy, 205: Deccan Early History, 20.] To about this time or a little earlier belong the Buddhist caves called Pandav Dara about six miles west of Panhala, and the Pavala caves near Jotiba's hill about nine miles north-west of Kolhapur. From the Andhrabhrityas the district would seem to have passed to the early Kadambas (A.D.500) whose chief capital was at Palasika or Halsi in Belgaum about a hundred miles south-east of Kolhapur. From the early Kadambas it would seem to have passed to the early and Western Chalukyas from about 550 to 760; to the Rashtrakutas to 973; from the Rashtrakutas to the Western Chalukyas, who held the district, to about 1180 and under them to the Kolhapur Silaharas (1050-1120); and to the Devgiri Yadavs to the Musalman; conquest of the Deccan about 1347. Of the early and Western' Chalukyas no copperplates or stone inscriptions have yet been found in the district. Of the Rashtrakutas two copperplate grants have been found, one at Samangad fort four miles south of Gadinglaj and another at Sangli town. The Samangad grant, which belongs to the seventh Rashtrakuta king Dantidurga or Dantivarma II. bears date Shak 675 (A.D. 753-54) and mentions that Dantidurga's victorious elephants ploughed up the bank of the river Reva or Narmada, that he acquired supreme dominion by conquering Vallabha, and that he early defeated the army of the Karnatak which was expert in dispersing the kings of Kanchi or Conjeveram and Kerala, the Cholas, the Pandyas, Shriharsha, and Vajrata. [Fleet's Kanarese Dynasties, 32 - 33. This is the earliest known inscription in which the date is expressed by figures arranged according to the decimal system of notation.] The Sangli copperplate grant belongs to the fourteenth king Govind V. and is dated Shak 855 (A.D. 933-34). [Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. IV. 97; Fleet's Kanarese Dynasties, 37.] Of the Western Chalukyas who succeeded the Rashtrakutas in 973, except a copperplate grant from Miraj, no inscriptions have been found within Kolhapur limits. The Miraj grant belongs to the king Jayasimha III. and was made by him in Shak 946 (A.D. 1024-25) at his victorious camp, which, after warring against the mighty Chola the lord of the city of the Chandramila, and after seizing the possessions of the lords of the Seven Konkanas, was located near the city of Kollapura or Kolhapur, for conquering the northern country.

The [Fleet's Kanarese Dynasties, 98-106.] Kolhapur Silaharas possessed the territory lying round Kolhapur and in the north-west part of the Belgaum district from about the end of the tenth to early in the thirteenth century A. D. Their inscriptions are found at Kolhapur and places in its neighbourhood, at Miraj and at Sedbal in the Athni sub-division of the Belgaum district. Like their relatives of the northern branch in the Konkan, the Silaharas of Kolhapur claim to be of the lineage of the Vidyadhara Jimutavahana, who saved the Naga king Shankhachuda from Garuda by offering his own body to be torn instead of his; and also like them they carried the banner of a golden Garud suvarnagarudadhvaja. The Silaharas of Kolhapur were Jains by religion. Their family goddess was Mahalakshmi of Kollapura or Kolhapur; and though this town is not expressly mentioned as their capital till Shak 1109 (A.D. 1187-88), it must always have been one of the chief seats of their power, and it furnishes the most convenient appellation of this branch of the family for distinguishing it from the other branches. [The Silahara family tree is:

]

Silaharas 1050-1120.

Marasimh.

All that is at present known about the earlier members of the family is derived from a copper-plate grant of Marasimha, also called Gonkana-Ankakara and Guheyana-Singa, which was found somewhere in the neighbourhood of Miraj and is dated Shak 980 (A.D. 1058-59), the Vilambi Samvatsara. In it Jatiga I. is called the lion of the hill-fort of Panhala,' which is about ten miles to the north-west of Kolhapur; Jatiga II. is called ' the king of the city of Tagara; and Gonka is described as possessing the countries of Karahata, Kundi, Mirinja, and the Konkana. Karahata is the modern Karad or Karhad in the Satara district, at the junction of the Krishna and the Koyna; and Mirinja is the modern Miraj about thirty miles north-east of Kolhapur. Kundi is the Three-thousand district which in Shak 902 (A.D. 980-81) constituted the government of Kartavirya I. of the Ratta Mahamandaleshvaras of Saundatti, and which, so far as the Ratta inscriptions go, was still entirely in the possession of that family in Shak 970 (A.D. 1048-49), in the time of Anka, and again in Shak 1004 (A.D. 1082-83), in the time of Kannakaira II.; but unless this statement of Gonka holding the country of Kundi is an invention or an exaggeration, the Rattas must shortly before or after Shak 970 (A.D. 1048-49) have suffered some temporary loss of territory to which no allusion is made in their own inscriptions. And the possession by Gonka of part of the Konkana, probably in the time of Nagarjuna of the North Konkana branch of the Silaharas, who was intermediate between Chhittaraja (Shak 946, A.D. 1024-25), and Mummuni or Mumvani (Shak 982, A.D. 1060-61), and as to the events of whose reign the inscriptions of his family are silent, is corroborated by a passage concerning Anantapala or Anantadeva, the son of Nagarjuna, which has been quoted by Mr. Fleet [Fleet's Kanarese Dynasties, 91.] to show that the king of Kapardikadvipa who was killed by Jayakesi I. of the Kadambas of Goa, must have been Nagarjuna, and in which the expression 'a time of misfortune from relatives that had become hostile' plainly shows that Jayakesi I. who then overran and devastated the whole of that part of the Konkana, had taken advantage of dissensions and contests between the Silaharas of the Konkan and their relatives of Kolhapur. In the same inscription of Marasimha, Guvala I. or Guhala is called ' the lord of the hill-fort of Kiligila or Khiligila.' This place, which was also Marasimha's capital, has not yet been identified. Like his successors Marasimha styles himself only a Mahamandaleshvara, but gives no indication of any paramount sovereign of whom he was the feudatory. It is not likely, however, that the Silaharas were independent throughout the whole of the period for which records are available. The Silahara princess Chandaladevi or Chandralekha, who was one of the wives of the Western Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI. was probably a daughter of Marasimha.

Bhoja I.

The next name in respect of which there has been any historical information is that of Bhoja I. He seems to be undoubtedly the Bhoja who invaded the territories of Achugi I. of the family of the Sindha Mahamandaleshvaras of Erambarage, and who was successfully repulsed by Achugi. This must have been in about Shak 1020 (A.D. 1098-99).

Ballala.

There is an inscription of Ballala at Honnur near Kagal, which intimates that he ruled in conjunction with his younger brother Gandaraditya. [Graham's Kolhapur, 466,] But it is not dated, and it gives no historical information.

Gandaraditya.

The succession was continued by Gandaraditya, also called Ayyana-Singa I., the youngest son of Marasimha. His inscriptions range from Shale 1032 for 1031 (A.D. 1109-10) the Virodhi samvatsara, to Shak 1058 for 1057 (A.D. 1135-36) the Rakshasa samvatsara, and are found at Kolhapur itself and at Talalem in the neighbourhood. [Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. XIII. 1; and unpublished inscriptions, of which imperfect versions are given in Graham's Kolhapur, 326-480.] In Shak 1031 he was governing the Mirinja country, together with Saptakholla and a part of the Konkana, and his capital was Tiravada in the Edenad district. [This must be a totally different district to the Edenad Seventy which is mentioned in inscriptions at Balagamve (P, S. and O. C. Inscriptions No. 158), Sorab (Mysore Inscriptions, p. 239), Merkara (Ind. Ant. I. 365), and Bengalur (Mysore Inscriptions, 294), and which is placed by Mr. Rice near Sagar in Maisur.] In Shak 1057 his capital was Valavada, which, as suggested by Sir Walter Elliot, is probably the modern Valva, [Latitude 16° 29' north and longitude 74° 14' east. Possibly, however, it may be the ' Wuleewur' of the maps, about five miles to the east by north of Kolhapur, or the ' Wulewra' and ' Wulewday ' of the maps, about six miles to the south-west of Valva.] about sixteen miles to the south of Kolhapur.

Vijayaditya.

Gandaraditya was succeeded by his son Vijayaditya or Vijayarka, also called Ayyana-Singa II., whose inscriptions range from Shak 1065 for 1064 (A.D. 1142-43) the Dundubhi samvatsara, to Shah 1078 for 1075 (A.D. 1153-54) the Shrimukh samvatsara, and are found at Kolhapur, Miraj, Bamni near Kagal, and Sedbal in the Belgaum district. [Unpublished inscriptions.] His capital continued to be at Valavada. In the copper-plate grant of his son and successor Bhoja II., Vijayaditya is said to have reinstated the rulers of the province of Sthanaka or Thana and the kings of Gova or Goa. The first statement must refer to some assistance rendered by him to his relatives of the Konkana branch, after the reign of Anantapala or Anantadeva and before the reign of Aparaditya; and it was probably through this assistance that Aparaditya came to reign at all. The date that is usually allotted to Aparaditya is Shak 1109 (A.D. 1187-88): [ Ind. Ant. X. 39.] but, that this must have been towards the end of his reign, and that he was reigning between Shak 1058 and 1068 (A.D. 1135-1145), has been shown by Dr. Buhler ; [ Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. XII. Extra Number p. 52.] and this proves almost conclusively that it was Aparaditya whom Vijayaditya reinstated at Sthanaka. The statement regarding the kings of Gova, if it refers to any events affecting Goa itself, and unless it simply means that the Konkana Silaharas continued to bear the title of kings of Gova, though the place itself was lost to them, must allude to some: occurrences between the time of Jayakesi II. and Permadi or Shivachitta, of the Kadambas of Goa, to which no reference is made in the Kadamba inscriptions or in any others that have as yet come to notice.

Bhoja II.

Vijayaditya was succeeded by his son Bhoja II. also called Vijayadityadevana-Singa, whose inscriptions range from Shak 1101 for 1100 (A. D. 1178-79) the Vilambi samvatsara, to Shak 1115; (A. D. 1193-94) the Pramadi or Pramadicha samvatsara. His stone-tablets are found at Kolhapur; [Graham's Kolhapur, 382 414.] and a copper-plate grant of: his reign has been produced from somewhere in the Satara district.; [Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay, reprint of 1877, III. 411,] In Shak 1100 Valavada was his capital, but in Shak 1109 his; capital was Kollapura, the modern Kolhapur itself, and in Shak 1112 it was Pannaladurga, or, as the Sanskrit version of the name' is, Padmanaladurga, the hill-fort about ten miles to the north-west of Kolhapur. That he was still reigning in Shak 1127 (A.D. 1205-6),; the Krodhana samvatsara, is shown by a note at the end of the Shabdarnavachandrika of Somadeva, according to which the work was composed in that year in the reign of Bhoja II. at a Jain temple founded by Gandaraditya at Ajurika, the modern Ajra, in the country of Kolhapur. [Dr. Kielhorn, Ind. Ant. X. 75.]

Bhoja seems to have been the greatest of the dynasty and is said by tradition to have reigned over the tract extending from the Mahadev hill north of Satara to the Hiranyakeshi river south of Kolhapur and including all the southern tract of the Konkan as far as Sadashivgad or Karwar in North Kanara. He is the reputed builder of fifteen hill forts, six of which Bavda, Bhudargad, Khelna or Vishalgad, Panhala, Pavangad, and Samangad are in Kolhapur limits. Bhoja II. is said to have especially devoted his attention to the subjugation of the hill tribes on the West Kolhapur frontier and is therefore styled in one of his inscriptions as a thunderbolt levelling the mountain-like race of the turbulent chiefs who had subjugated the hill forts.' [Lieutenant-Colonel E, W. West.]

With the exception of what has been noted above in connection with Vijayaditya, the inscriptions of Gandaraditya and his successors give no historical details. But, as regards the termination of their power, there has been no trace of any member of the family after Bhoja II.; and, as in Shak 1135 (A.D. 1213-14), the Shrimukha samvatsara, the Devgiri-Yadav king Singhana II. was in possession of the country round Miraj. as is proved by his Khedrapur inscription, [Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. XII. 7.] which records the grant by him of the village of Kudaladamavada, the modern Kurundvad, in the Mirinji country; and as inscriptions of Singhana II. shortly after that date are found at Kolhapur itself, [Graham's Kolhapur, 425-436.] it would seem that Bhoja II. was the last of his family, and that he was overthrown and dispossessed by Singhana II. in or soon after Shak 1131 (A.D. 1209-10), the Shukla samvatsara, which was the commencement of Singhana's reign. This is borne out by one of Singhana's inscriptions dated Shak 1160, [P. S. and O. C. Inscriptions, No. 112, I. 10-11.] which speaks of him as having been 'a very Garuda in putting to flight the serpent which was the mighty king Bhoja, whose habitation was Pannala.' [Pannala-nilaya-prabala-Bhojabhupala-vyala-vidravana-Vihamgaraja.] There are some inscriptions extant which show that the descendants of Singhana exercised authority in Kolhapur. It may be assumed that the territory remained part of the dominions of the Yadavs of Devgiri, though probably the connection was merely nominal, as the hilly part of the country was occupied by Maratha palegars.