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HISTORY
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HISTORY
ACCORDING to Brahman tradition the sage Agastya, who introduced
Aryan civilisation from the north into the Deccan, when visited at
his hermitage near Nasik, presented Ram the hero of the Ramayan,
with a bow and other wonder-working weapons, and advised him to
pass the rest of his exile at Panchavati on the Godavari opposite Nasik. Janasthan or Nasik is described in the Ramayan as a forest country rich in fruit and flower trees, full of wild beasts and birds, and inhabited by tribes of Rakshasas. [Griffith's Ramayan, III. 45-72; Manning's Ancient and Mediaeval India, II. 19.]
The routes through Baglau to the Gujarat coast and through Nasik to the Konkan coast must have been lines of traffic from remote times. The early rulers of Nasik were probably local chiefs who were subject to the overlords of Tagar and Paithan, and had their head-quarters at Anjini or Anjaniri in the south-west, at Saler in the north-west, and at Chandor near the centre of the present district. [Tagar is said (Grant Duff's Marathas, 11; Wilford's As. Res. I. 369) to have been important enough to attract Egyptian merchants as early as B.C. 250. Its position has not been fixed. It has lately (Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. XIII. 9) been identified with Junnar in Poona. But Junnar does not agree with the position of Tagar given either by Ptolemy (A.D. 150) or by the author of the Periplus (A.D. 247), both of whom place Tagar east of Paithan. (Bertius' Ptolemy, Asia Map X; Mc Crindle's Periplus, 125, 126). The remark in the Periplus
(Mc Crindle's Edition, 126) that many articles brought into Tagar from the parts along the coast were sent by wagons to Broach, seems to show that Tagar was then in communication with the Bay of Bengal and lay on the line of traffic with the far east, which
then made Mesolia or Masalia (Masuli-patan) so important a trade centre (Ptolemy, Asia Map X.; Vincent's Periplus, II. 520, 523), and in later times enriched Malkhet, Kalyan, Bidar, Golkonda, and Haidarabad. Paithan, though traditionally founded by Shalivahan in A.D. 78, was a place of importance as early as the third century B.C. Bhau Daji in Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. VIII. 239.]
The large series of rock temples in the range of hills about five miles south-west of Nasik shows, that from the second century before to the second century after the Christian era, Nasik was under rulers who patronised Buddhism, some of whom probably lived at Paithan on the left bank of the Godavari about 110 miles below Nasik. [One of the pillars in the Bharhut Stup (B.C. 250-200) is the gift of a Buddhist pilgrim of Nasik. (Cunningham's Bharhut Stup, 138). One of the earliest inscriptions at Nasik (B.C. 100) mentions the town under its present name (Fergusson and Burgess' Cave Temples, 263; Jour. B. B. R. A. S. VII. 48). Patanjali (about B.C. 145 according to Professors Goldstucker and Bhandarkar, but as early as B.C. 700 according to Mr. Kunte, Vicissitudes of Aryan Civilization, 343) calls it Nasikya (Mahabhashya VI. 26), and Ptolemy (A.D. 150) enters it as Nasik. (Bertius' Ptolemy, Asia Map X).] The first dynasty of which distinct record remains are the
Andhrabhrityas, [The name Andhrabhritya, or Andhra servants, is supposed to show that, before they became independent, the Andhras wore subject to the Maurya sovereigns of Pataliputra the modern Patna. In later times (A.D. 319) the Andhrabhrityas were known as the Shatavahans (Trans. Sec. [1874] lnter. Cong. 349). According to the Purans, the Andhrabhrityas came after the Shang and Kanva dynasties. Their original seat was Andhra in Telingana the country to the north of the mouth of the Godavari (Lassen's Indische Alterthumskunde, IV. 83).] or Shatavahana, whose capital was Dhanakat, perhaps Dharnikot on the Krishna in the Madras district of Gantur. [This identification is confirmed by a find of leaden Shatavahan coins at Dharnikot. (Madras. Lit. Jour. III. [New Series], 225; Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. XIV. 154; and Trans. Sec. Inter. Cong. 349).] Of their rise to power so little is known that the most recent estimates of the date of their founder Shiprak, Sindhuk, or Shishuk, vary from
B.C. 300 to B.C. 21. [Bhau Daji (Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. VII. 118, and VIII. 240) places Shiprak in the fourth century before Christ; Bhagvanlal Indraji (ditto, XIII. 316) about B.C. 210; Prinsep (Essays, II. Useful Tables, 24) and Bhandarkar (Trans. Sec. Inter. Cong. 352) in B.C. 21; Wilford (As. Res. IX. 101) between the first and third centuries after Christ; and Wilson (Theat. Hind. 1. 6) as late as A.D. 192. The cause of this difference in the estimate of dates is the doubt whether the dynasties mentioned in the Purans as following the Mauryas (B.C. 315-B.c. 195), succeeded one another or ruled at the same time in different parts of the country.] They seera to have ruled in Nasik till the latter part of the first century of the Christian era, when Nahapan, a Skythian or Parthian of the Kshaharat dynasty, drove them from Nasik and Khandesh, and also, it would seem, from Paithan. [Nahapan, if not the founder of the dynasty, was probably of the same race as the Kshatraps of Gujarat, who were formerly erroneously
known as the Sah kings. Neither their origin nor their date has been certainly fixed. Newton (Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. IX. 6) thought they were Parthians, and Lassen (Ind. Alt IV. 83) thought they belonged to the Aghamas tribe of Yueichi, the Skythian conquerors of India in the second century before Christ. That they were foreigners from the north is shown by the Greek motto on their coins (Jonr. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. IX. 7). The Kshatrap kings probably date from the Shak era (A.D. 78). They lasted at least in Gujarat till A. D. 328 (Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. VII. 28; Traus. Sec. Inter. Cong. 352, 353). Newton (Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. IX. 7) notes that the inscriptions relating to Nahapan in the Nasik, Karli, and Junnar caves, establish five points: (1) He was either a king or an officer of some distant monarah; (2) his rule was widespread, including much of the Deccan; (3) he was a foreigner, probably a Parthian; (4) his daughter had a Hindu name and was married to a Hindu, the son of a Hindu; (5) his daughter, son-in-law, and minister were Buddhists.] Nahapan, though originally subordinate to some northern overlord, seems, after his conquest of the north Deccan, to have made himself independent and to have established his head-quarters in Malwa. [His capital seems to have been a town some way south of Ujain, mentioned as Minagara by Ptolemy but not identified. Nasik cave inscriptions show that Nahapan's daughter and her husband Ushavadat made grants both to Brahmans and Buddhists. One of the Ushavadat inscriptions states that he built flights of steps on the Birnasya (Banas in Palanpur), gave sixteen villages to gods and Brahmans, fed 100,000 Brahmans every year, gave wives to the Brahmans at Prabhas probably Somnath, built rest-houses at Broach, Dashpur (a town in Malwa), Govardhan or Nasik, and Supara in Thana, and made boat-bridges across the Iba (Ambika), Parada (Par), Damana (the Daman river), Tapi (Tapti), Karabena (perhaps the Kaveri a tributary of the Ambika, apparently the same as the Kalaveni across which [about A.D. 1150] the Anhilvada general Ambud had to make a bridge or causeway in leading his army against Mallikarjun the Silhara king of the Konkan: 693 Forbes' Ras Mala, 145) and Dahanuka (the Dahanu river). Ushavadat also made presents of robes to Buddhist monks (Trans. Sec. Inter. Cong. 328, 333, 335, 354).] At this time Nasik or Govardhan was a place of some trade with a large weaving industry. [Trans Sec. Inter. Cong. 333. It seems possible that the stylo of silk stuffs and gold brocade that Marco Polo (1290) found being woven at Baghdad and called nasich and nac originally came from Nasik. These silks were known in Europe in the fourteenth century as nac, nacquts, nachis, naciz, and nasis. Yule's Marco Polo, 1. 60, 62, 250.] The Kshatrap
kings seem to have held Nasik till (either about A.D. 124 or 319) Shatakarni Gautamiputra restored the Andhrabhrityas, earning the title of the Destroyer of Shaks, Yavans, and Palhavs. [Trans. Sec. Inter. Cong. 311. Gautamiputra's date depends on the date of the beginning of the Andhrabhritya dynasty. Bhandarkar (ditto), fixing the beginning of the dynasty a little before the Christian era and Gautamiputra's date at A.D. 319, extends Kshatrap rule in Nasik over about 140 years. The evidence from the writing and ornament in the caves seems conflicting. The alphabet used by Ushavadat, the son-in-law of Nahapan, differs very slightly from that used by Gautamiputra. At the same time the pillar capitals in Nahapan's cave (No. VIII.) are cut in so much better style than those in the veranda of Gautamiputra's cave (No. III.), that Gautamiputra's seem to belong to a much later period, though the difference in style may perhaps be due to the greater skill of Nahapan's northern architect (Fergusson and Burgess' Cave Temples, 266, 268, 269). Ptolemy's mention of Siri Polemics of Paithan, apparently corresponding with Shri Pulimat, Pulomavit, or Pudumayi, the son and successor of Gautamiputra, favours the view that Kshatrap rule over Nasik did not last for more than forty years. This also agrees with Professor Oldenberg's view (Ind. Ant. X. 227) that Shatakarni Gautamiputra's defeat of Nahapan was about A. P. 100.] Gautamiputra ruled over Asik, Ashmak, Mudhak, Surashtra, Kukur, Aparant, Vidarbh, Anup, Akar, and Avanti, a tract of country stretching from the north-west frontier of India to Berar. [Trans. Sec. Inter. Cong. 311. For the first three names Mr. Bhagvanlal reads Asik, Susak, and Mulak or Mundak, and understands them to be Skythian tribes on the north-west frontier, the Arsaks or Parthians, the Sus, and the Mundas.] Gautamiputra's son Shri Pulumayi, who is said to have been just and liberal to Buddhists, seems to have had kingly powers over the north Deccan, and a place called Navanar, near Govardhan or Nasik, seems to have been his local head-quarters. [Surashtra is Sorath or Kathiawar, Kukur Dr. Buhler identifies with Gujarat in the Panjab (Ind. Ant. VII. 263). Aparant is the Konkan, and Vidarbh apparently Bedar including Berar. (H. H. Wilson, 11.164). Of Anup a trace seems to remain in Anuppur and its ruined temples about seventy miles east of Jabalpur (see Cunningham's Arch. Sur. Rep. VII. 238). Akar and Avanti together form the modern Malwa.] Towards the close of the second century (178), Rudradaman, the third or more likely the fourth of the Gujarat Kshatraps, reduced the Andhras' power. He does not seem to have held Nasik or conquered any part of the Deccan. [Jour. Bom. Br. Boy. As. Soc. XII. 203, and Burgess' Archaeological Survey, Kathiawar and Cntch, 131133. Kshatrap power lasted in Gujarat to 250, that is, calculating on the Shak era, to A.D. 328 (Jour. Bom. Br. Boy. As. Soc. VIII. 28). In the Girnar inscription, Rudradsman (178) states that though he twice conquered Shatakarni, from their near relationship he did not destroy him. Ind. Ant VII. 262.] According to the Vishnu Puran, the restored Andh.-rabhrityas ruled for ninety-five years after the close of Gautamiputra's reign, that is, according to the date accepted as the beginning of the dynasty, either to about A.D. 220 or A.D. 414. Govardhan continued to be their local head-quarters. [Coins have (1870) been found at Nasik supposed to belong to the end of the fourth century A.D. The king's name has been read Manas Nrip, but nothing of him is known. Bhau Daji in Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. IX. cxcv.]
Early in the fifth century (A.D. 416) the ruling family in the north Deccan seems to have been of the Abhir or Ahir tribe, whose independence, according to the Purans, lasted for only sixty-seven years. [Trans. Sec. Inter. Cong. 354.] Their local capital is believed to have been at Anjaniri five miles east of Trimbak. [Lassen's Ind. Alt, IV. 100.] At this time Govardhan, or Nasik, was an
important Beat of industry with separate guilds of weavers, engineers, and oilmen. [ Trans. Sec. Int. Cong. 342. Buddhism was then flourishing, the chief followers being apparently craftsmen and labourers. The fame of Trirashmi, or Nasik, as a Buddhist settlement is shown by the fact that one of the caves was made by IndrAgnidatta, a northerner or Yavan who lived in Dattamitri a town near Sind. Mendicant priests from all sides met during the rains at Trirashmi. At the same time Brahmanism was not neglected. Ushavadit gave as much to Brahtnans as to Buddhists, and in Buddhist inscriptions BrAhmans are spoken of with reverence. Trans. Sec. Inter. Cong. 354.]
About the end of the fifth century (480), the country passed from the Abhirs to the Chalukyas, who, coming from Gujarat under Pulakeshi I., conquered the Deccan and established their power as far south as Badami in Kaladgi. [Lassen's Ind. Alt. IV. 90; Fleet in Ind. Ant. VII. 247. It was formerly thought that this branch of the Chalukyas was established in the Deccan in the fourth century (354) (Elliot in Jour. Roy. As. Soc. [Old Series], IV. 4-7), and had in the fifth century forced its way north to Gujarat and was (472) in possession of Broach. (Ind. Ant. VI. 182). But the latest opinion, Mr. Fleet's, is that the Gujarat Chalukyas of the fifth century were then on their way south and did not enter the Deccan till
they were led by Pulakeshi I. (489). Ind. Ant. VIII. 12.] In the middle of the seventh century (650) the Chalukya Nagvardhan granted the village of Bale-gram, apparently the present Belgaum-Taralha about twelve miles north-east of Igatpuri, which is described as being in the district of Goparashtra. [Mr. Fleet in Ind. Ant. IX. 123.] Lassen mentions Yadavs at Nasik in the latter part of the eighth century. But the reference is doubtful. [Ind. Alt IV. 139.]
The next dynasty which has left traces in Nasik were Rathods.
Baglan, the rich and strong tract in the north of the district, through which passes the chief line of traffic between Gujarat and the Deccan, seems from very early times to have been held by a family of Rathods. According to their own account they were of the stock of the Kanauj Rathods, [Tod (Annals of Rajasthan, II 2) places Rathods at Kanauj as early as 470, But Cunningham (Arch. Sur. Rep, I. 150) makes their conquest of Kanauj as late as about 1070.] and had been settled in Baglan since A.D. 300. [See the Maasiru-1-Omara in Bird's Gujarat, 122. Rashtrakutas were settled in other parts of the Deccan in the fourth and fifth centuries. Buhler in Ind. Ant. VI. 60.] They claimed to have at first been independent, coining their own money, and stated that they afterwards lost their power and paid tribute to Gujarat or to the overlord of the north Deccan, whichever happened to be the stronger. [Bird's
Gujarat, 122.] During early Muhammadan times (1370-1600) the Baglan Rathods continued powerful and almost independent, each chief on succession taking the title of Baharji. [Maasiru-l-Omara in Bird's Gujarat, 122. In 1370 when he paid tribute to Delhi (Briggs' Ferishta, IV. 282); in 1529 when he came to BahAdur Shah (Bird's Gujarat, 122); in 1573 when he paid tribute to Akbar (Bird's GujarAt, 123); and in 1737 when he was conquered by Aurangzeb (Orme's Historical Fragments, 170), the Baglan chief is called Baharji. The origin of this title is not explained. But the traditional relationship between the Baglan and the Kanauj Rathods suggests that Bahar(ji) may be the same as Baaurah, which, according to Macudi (Prairies D'Or, I. 372, 374,375), was the family name of the then (916) ruling house of Kanauj.] They submitted to Aurangzeb in 1640 and obtained good terms, but seem, not long after, to have been crushed in the struggles between the Marathas and the Moghals.
The connection between the different branches of the great Rathod tribe has not been fully made out. It is doubtful whether the
Rashtrakutas or Rattas of Malkhet, about twenty-three miles southeast of Kulbarga, were a Dravidian tribe who as conquerors gained a place among the northern Kshatris, or were northern Rajputs of the same stock as the Rathods of Kanauj (470-1193). Two copper-plate grants of the ninth century favour the view that the Rashtrakutas were northerners, and that perhaps their earliest southern settlement was in Baglan. In the beginning of the ninth century, king Govind III. (785-810) conquered from north Gujarat to the Tungabhadra, and raised his family to imperial power. Malkhet was not yet their head-quarters, and the fact that two of Govind's grants are dated from Mayurkhandi, the modern Markinda near Vani in Dindori, suggests that his family were connected with the Rathods of Baglan and that the earliest seat of Rashtrakuta power was in north Nasik. [ Dr. Burgess (Bidar and Aurangabad, 32) calls Markinda or Morkhanda an earlier capital, but Dr. Buhler (Ind. Ant. VI. 64) and Mr. Bhagvanlal think it was probably an outpost Both grants are dated A.D. 808 (S. 730). One of them refers to the village Ambak, the present Amb about ten miles south of Morkhanda. Ambak is mentioned in the grant as within the township of Van and in the district, desh, of Nasik. Of the four villages cited in the grant as marking the position of Amb, Vadtur on the east seems to be the modern Vadner, Varikhed on the south Varkhed, and Pallitavar on the west Paramori. Padmaval on the north has not been identified. The second grant refers to the village of Ratajun, apparently the modern Ratanjun in tile Karjat sub-division of Ahmednagar. Of the places mentioned in the grant the river Sinha is the Sina on whose right bank Ratanjun stands, Vavulala on the south is Babhulgaon, and Miriyathana on the west Mirajgaon. Vadaha on the north has not been identified. The Van grant is given in J. R. A. S. (Old Series), V. 362; the Rasin or Nagar grant in Ind. Ant. VI. 71.] In any case, whether or not their earlier home was in north Nasik, the Rashtrakutas of Malkhet continued overlords of the north Deccan during the ninth and the greater part of the tenth centuries. After the overthrow of the Rashtrakutas by Tailap Chalukya, about A.D. 970, [Dr. Buhler in Ind. Ant. VI. 60, and Elliot in J. R. A. S. (Old Series), IV. 3.] the overlordship of Nasik and the north Deccan seems to have been divided between the Anhilvada kings of Gujarat on the north, and, on the south, the Chalukyas and Kalachuris of Kalyan about forty miles north of Kulbarga till 1182, and after 1182 the Yadavs of Devgiritill their overthrow by the Musalmans in 1295. [The Anhilvada kings claim to have held as overlords a. considerable part of the north Deccan from about 970 to the close of their power (1295). (Forbes' Ras Mala, 2nd Ed., 67, 138). His reception, when fleeing fromulugh Khan in 1297, seems to show that Karon, the last of the Anhilvada kings, was then the acknowledged overlord of Baglan. Rig Mala, 214 and Briggs' Ferishta, I. 367.]
Besides the Rathods of Baglan, record remains of two dynasties of local rulers the Yadavs of Chandradityapur, probably Chandor in the centre, and the Nikumbhavanshas of Patna near Chalisgaon in the east of the present district of Nasik. Of these the Chandor family was much the more important. It was perhaps the original of the Devgiri Yadavs (1182-1295), as both families bore the title of Dvaravati Puravaradhishvar, that is lords of Dwarka. Dridhaprahar the founder of the dynasty, whose date is apparently about A.D. 850, is described as making famous the old town of Chandradityapur. [The date A.D. 850 is calculated from a copper plate of A.D. 1069 (S. 991), which shows that the fifth in descent from Dridbaprahar married the daughter of the Silhara king Jhanja whose date is A.D. 916. According to an account of Nasik written in the beginning of the fourteenth century by a Jain named Jin Prabhasuri, Dridhaprahar was the posthumous son of Vajrakumar the last king of Dvaravati (Dwarka), which is described as having been burnt by the sage Divirna, Vajrakumar's wife fled to Nasik and gave birth to a son in Kuntivihar the temple of the eighth Tirthankar. The author states that Dridbaprahar was Chosen king in reward for clearing the country of robbers. Besides to Dwarka the name Dviravati is applied to Dvarasamudra in Maisur where the Ballal branch of Yadavs had their seat between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries. (Gazetteer of Maisur, II. 17). It is doubtful from which of these places the title was taken.]
Dridhaprahar was succeeded by his son Seunchandra, who founded
a town called Seunpur in Sindiner, perhaps the modern Sinnar. As
far as present information goes, Seunchandra had seven successors
the last of whom lived about the middle of the eleventh century.
Besides being perhaps the ancestors of the Devgiri Yadavs, the
Chandor Yadavs were connected by marriage with the Silharas of the
Konkan and the Chalukyas of the Deccan Kalyan, and apparently
by adoption with the Rashtrakutas of Malkhet. [The copper plate from which this information is taken was found by Dr. Bhau Daji at Bassein in Thana (Jour. B. B. R. A. S. IX. 221). It is in the possession of Mr. Bhagvanlal Indraji and has not been published. The village granted was Chincholi 'in the twelve villages (petty division) of Sinhi.' These villages are probably Chincholi on the Nasik-Sangamner road about four miles east of Devlali and Sinde about three miles north-west of Chincholi. The name of the grantor was Seunchandra II. and the date A.D. 1069 (S. 991). The order of succession is Dridhaprahar (about A.D. 850), Seunchandra I., Dvadyappa, Bhillam I., Shriraj, Vardig who married Laehhiabba the daughter of the Silbara king Jhanja (A.D. 916) who was apparently adopted by one of the Rashtrakutas, Tesuk Vardig's son who married Nayiyalla the daughter of the Chalukya noble Gogiraj, Bhillam II. who conquered Ahavamalla son of Jaysing Chalukya (1040-1069 according to Chalukya lists), and Seunchandra II. the grantor who is said to have had to conquer other kings before he could hold his kingdom. These details have been contributed by Mr. Bhagvanlal Indraji. In some points they may be liable to correction, as his study of the plate is not yet completed.
The name Dvadyappa, the third of the line, closely corresponds with Dvadap or Dvarapthe king of Lat or South Gujarat, who was defeated by Mulraj of Anhilvada about A.D. 970. (Forbes' RasMala, 2nd Ed., 46). This cannot be the Dvadyappa of the copper plate, as his date must have been some seventy years earlier. But the very long period, over 150 years, allotted to the last four of the Chandor rulers, looks as if the name of some chief had been left out. The missing Dvadyappa II. was perhaps the father of Tesuk of whom the plate is silent, though it gives details both of Tesuk and of his mother] An inscription in
the Anjaniri temple dated A.D. 1141 (S. 1063) records a grant to the
Jain temple of Chandraprabh, the eighth Tirthankar, by a Vani
minister of Seundev probably Seunchandra III. of the same dynasty
of Chandor Yadavs.
The Nikumbhavanshas of Patna, a family of less power and
consequence than the Chandor Yadavs, seem to have ruled from
about 1000 to 1200. They were worshippers of Shiv, and one of
them Sonhadadev (1206) is mentioned as endowing a college with
money and land for the study of the astronomer Bhaskaracharya's
works. From the epithets 'devoted to his master,' 'strongly
devoted to his suzerain,' these chiefs seem to have been subordinate
to some overlord, probably at first the Kalyan Chalukyas, and in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Yadavs of Devgiri. [Jour. R. A. S. (New Series), I. 414, and Ind. Ant. VIII. 39.] The
Jain caves at Ankai near Manmad probably date from the time
of this dynasty. After the fall (1216) of the Nikumbhavanshas, art of Nasik was probably under an officer of the Yadavs of
Devgiri by whom most of the old temples, reservoirs, and wells,
known as Hemadpanti, were built. [Hemadpant their builder was probably the same as the celebrated Hemadri, the writer of voluminous treatises on Dharmashastra or jurisprudence, and the minister of Mahadev (1260-1271) the fifth of the Yadavs of Devgiri. Burgess in Ind. Ant. VI. 366. The local traditional identification of the Yadavs with Gauli Rajas or shepherd kings would seem to show that, as was the case in Kathiawar, the Yadavs and Ahirs were closely connected. Some of the remains known as Hemadpanti are probably older than the Devgiri Yadavs.] The Devgiri Yadavs continued
overlords of south and east Nasik till they were conquered by the Musalmans at the close of the thirteenth century.
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