Chapter II

., it seems reasonable to suppose that about Saka 900 (A.D. 978) Tailappa entrusted Gujarát to his general Bárappa or Dvárappa, who fought with the Solanki Múlarája of Anahilaváda (A.D. 961-997).

[The text does not carry the question of the origin of the Ráshtrakútas beyond the point that, about the middle of the fifth century A.D., two tribes bearing the closely associated names Ráthod and Ratta, the leaders of both of which are known in Sanskrit as Ráshtrakútas, appeared the first in Upper India the second in the Bombay Karnátak, and that the traditions of both tribes seem to show they were either southerners or foreigners Bráhmanised and included under the all-embracing term Rájput. The Sanskrit form Ráshtrakúta may mean either leaders of the Ráshtra tribe or heads of the territorial division named ráshtra. The closely related forms Ráshtrapati and Grámakúta occur (above page 82) in Valabhi inscriptions. And Mr. Fleet (Kánarese Dynasties, 32) notices that Ráshtrakúta is used in the inscriptions of many dynasties as a title equivalent to Ráshtrapati. Such a title might readily become a family name like that of the Sáhi Játs of the Panjáb or the Maráthi surnames Patel, Nadkarni, and Desái. It may be noted that one of the Márwár traditions (Rájputána Gazetteer, III. 246) connects the word Ráthod with Ráshtra country making the original form Ráshtravara or World-blessing and referring to an early tribal guardian Ráshtrasyena or the World-Falcon. It is therefore possible that the origin of both forms of the name, of Ráthod as well as of Ráshtrakúta, is the title ruler of a district. At the same time in the case of the southern Ráshtrakútas the balance of evidence is in support of a tribal origin of the name. The Rattas of Saundatti in Belgaum, apparently with justice, claim descent from the former Ráshtrakúta rulers (Belgaum Gazetteer, 355). Further that the Ráshtrakútas considered themselves to belong to the Ratta tribe is shown by Indra Nityamvarsha (A.D. 914) calling himself Rattakandarpa the Love of the Rattas. The result is thus in agreement with the view accepted in the text that Ráshtrakúta means leaders of the Ratta tribe, the form Ráshtra being perhaps chosen because the leaders held the position of Ráshtrakútas or District Headmen. According to Dr. Bhandárkar (Deccan History, 9) the tribal name Ratta or Ráshtra enters into the still more famous Dakhan tribal name Maharátha or Mahrátta. So far as present information goes both the Rattas and the Great Rattas are to be traced to the Rástikas mentioned in number five of Asoka's (B.C. 245) Girnár edicts among the Aparántas or westerners along with the Petenikas or people of Paithan about forty miles north-east of Ahmadnagar (Kolhápur Gazetteer, 82). Whether the Rástika of the edicts is like Petenika a purely local name and if so why a portion of the north Dakhan should be specially known as the country or Ráshtra are points that must remain open. [455]

The explanation that Kúta the second half of Ráshtrakúta, means chief, has been accepted in the text. This is probably correct. At the same time the rival theory deserves notice that the name Ráshtrakúta is formed from two tribal names Kúta representing the early widespread tribe allied to the Gonds known as Kottas and Kods in the Central Provinces North Konkan and Delhi (Thána Gazetteer, XII. Part II. 414). In support of this view it may be noticed that Abhimanyu's fifth century Ráshtrakúta inscription (J. Bo. Br. R. As. XVI. 92) refers to the Kottas though as enemies not allies of the Ráshtrakútas. At the same time certain details in Abhimanyu's grant favour an early Ráshtrakúta settlement in the Central Provinces, the probable head-quarters of the Kottas. The grant is dated from Mánapura and is made to Dakshina Siva of Pethapangaraka which may be the Great Siva shrine in the Mahádev hills in Hoshangábád, as this shrine is under the management of a petty chief of a place called Pagára, and as Mánpur in the Vindhya hills is not far off. Against the tribal origin of the word Kúta is to be set the fact that the northern Rattas are also called Ráshtrakútas though any connection between them and the Kotta tribe seems unlikely.

The question remains were the southern Rattas or Ráshtrakútas connected with the northern Ráthods or Ráshtrakútas. If so what was the nature of the connection and to what date does it belong. The fact that, while the later southern Ráshtrakútas call themselves Yádavas of the Lunar race, the northerners claim descent either from Kusa the son of Ráma or from Hiranyakasipu would seem to prove no connection did not Abhimanyu's fifth century grant show that in his time the southern Ráshtrakútas had not begun to claim Yádava descent. That the Márwár Ráthods trace their name to the ráht or spine of Indra (Tod's Annals, II. 2), and in a closely similar fashion the Ráth or Rattu Játs of the Sutlej (Ibbetson's 1881 Census, page 236) explain their name as stronghanded, and the Rattas of Bijápur (Bijápur Stat. Account, 145) trace their name to the Kánarese ratta right arm, may imply no closer connection than the common attempt to find a meaning for the name Ratta in a suitable word of similar sound. A legend preserved in the Rájputána Gazetteer (III. 246), but not noted by Tod, tells how Sevji, after (A.D. 1139) the Musalmáns drove his father Jaichand out of Kanauj (Tod's Annals, I. 88) took Khergad from the Gehlots and went to the Karnátak. where the Ráthods had ruled before they came to Kanauj. From the Karnátak Sevji brought the image of the Ráhtod Ráshtrasyena which is now in the temple of Nágána in Mevád. The account quoted in the text from Tod (Annals, I. 88) that the Ráthods who rose to power in Márwár in the thirteenth century belonged to a royal family who had held Kanauj since the fifth century has not stood the test of recent inquiry. It is now known that about A.D. 470 Kanauj was in the hands of the Guptás. That about A.D. 600, according to the contemporary Sríharshacharita it was ruled by the Maukhari Grahavarmán who was put to death by a Málwa chief and was succeeded by Harsha. About A.D. 750, according to the Rájátaranginí, Kanauj was held by Yasovarmán, and, in the next century, as inscriptions prove by the family of Bhoja. It was not till about A.D. 1050 that Kanauj was occupied by the Gáhadavála or Gáharwála family from whom the Ráthods of Márwár claim descent. [456] If the legendary connection of the Márwár Ráthods with Kanauj must be dismissed can the Márwár Ráthods be a branch of the southern Ráshtrakútas who like the Maráthás some 800 years later spread conquering northwards? Such a northern settlement of the southern Ráshtrakútas might be a consequence of the victories of the great Ráshtrakúta Dhruva who according to received opinions about A.D. 790 conquered as far north as Allahábád. It is beyond question that southerners or Karnátas were settled in North India between the seventh and the eleventh centuries. Still the latest information makes it improbable that Dhruva's conquests extended further north than Gujarát. Nor has any special connection been traced between the southern Ráshtrakútas and the middle-age settlements of southerners or Karnátas in North India. [457] Must therefore the North Indian tribe of Ráthods be admitted to have its origin as late as the twelfth century, and further is the North Indian name Ráthod not tribal but derived from the title head of a district. Several considerations make both of these solutions unlikely if not impossible. First there is the remarkably widespread existence of the name Ráhtor, Ratha, or Ratti, and endless variations of these names, in almost all parts of the Panjáb, among all castes from the Bráhman to the Baluch, among all religions Musalmán, Sikh, Jain, and Bráhmanic. [458] No doubt the practice of a waning tribe adopting the name of a waxing tribe has always been common. No doubt also the fame of the name during the last 600 years must have tempted other classes to style themselves Ráthod. Still it is to be noted: first that (Ibbetson, page 240) the Ráthods of the Panjáb though widespread are not numerous: and second that the list of sub-caste-names has this merit that with a few exceptions the holders of the sub-name are not known by it but by some general or craft name. The evidence of these sub-caste or tribal names seems therefore to support the view that some very large section of the Panjáb population represent an important tribe or nation of whom the least mixed remnant are perhaps the Ráthis or lower class Rájputs of Kángra and Chamba (Ibbetson, pages 219 and 251) and from some connection with whom the Márwár Ráthods of the thirteenth century may have taken their name. Among other traces of northern Ráshtras in the middle ages may be mentioned the twelfth and thirteenth century Ráshtrakútas of Badaun in the North-West Provinces (Kielhorn in Epigraphia Indica, I. 61 and 63) and (A.D. 1150) in the Kumárapála-Charitra (Tod's Western India, 182) the mention of Ráshtra-desa near the Sawálak hills. Among earlier and more doubtful references are the Aratrioi whom probably correctly (since at that time A.D. 247 one main Roman trade route to Central Asia passed up the Indus) the author of the Periplus (McCrindle, 120) places between Abhiria or lower Sindh and Arachosia or south-east Afghanistán that is in north Sindh or south Panjáb. Another earlier and still more doubtful reference is Pliny's (A.D. 77) Oraturæ (Hist. Nat. VI. 23) whom Vivien de St. Martin (Geog. Greque et Latine de l'Inde, 203) identifies with the Ráthods. The fact that while claiming descent from Ráma the Márwár Ráthods (Tod's Annals, II. 2 and 5) preserved the legend that their founder was Yavanaswa from the northern city of Paralipur supports the view that the tribe to which they belonged was of non-Indian or Central Asian origin, and that this is the tribe of whom traces remain in the Ráthi Rájputs of the Kángra hill country and less purely in the widely spread Ráts, Rattas, and Rátis of the Panjáb plains. The examples among Panjáb caste names Rora for Arora (Ibbetson's 1881 Census, page 297), Her for Ahir (Ditto, 230-275), and Heri for Aheri (Ditto, 310) suggest that the Panjáb Ráthors or Rattas may be the ancient Arattas whom the Mahábhárata (Chap. VII. Verse 44. J. Bl. Soc. VI. Pt. I. 387 and Vivien de St. Martin Geog. Greque et Latine de l'Inde, 149) ranks with Prasthalas, Madras, and Gandháras, Panjáb and frontier tribes, whose identification with the Báhikas (Karnaparvan, 2063ff.) raises the probability of a common Central Asian origin. Remembering that the evidence (Kshatrapa Chapter, pages 22 and 33) favours the view that the Kshatrapa family who ruled the Panjáb between B.C. 70 and A.D. 78 were of the same tribe as Nahápana, and also that Sháhi is so favourite a prefix in Samudra Gupta's (A.D. 380) list of Kushán tribes, the suggestion may be offered that Kshaharáta is the earlier form of Sháharatta and is the tribe of foreigners afterwards known in the Panjáb as Arattas and of which traces survive in the present widespread tribal names Ráta, Ratta, Ratha, and Ráthor.]

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