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HISTORY |
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[This Chapter is contributed by Prof. E. V.
Oturkar.]
EARLY
HISTORY
(A.D. 100).
KOLHAPUR history may be divided into three periods,
early Hindu period, partly mythic and partly historic, reaching to
about A.D. 1347; Musalman period lasting from A.D. 1347 to about
1700; and Maratha period since 1700. Kolhapur would seem to be one
of the very old cities in the country. In making some excavations on
its site 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
of about the third century before Christ recording " The gift of
Bamha made by Dhamaguta." [Journal Bombay Branch Royal Asiatio
Society, XIV. 147-154, Bombay Archeological Survey. Separate
Number 10, page 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 kings or viceroys of the
great satakarni or Andhrabhritya dynasties of the North Deccan, one
of whom bore the name Vilivayakura. [Journal Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc.
XIV. 152-153; Professor Bhandarkai's Early History
of the Deccan, 17, 20.] About A.D. 150 the
Egyptian geographer Ptolemy mentions Hippokura as the capital of
Baleocures who governed the southern divisions of the Deccan
peninsula. Hippokura is probably Kolhapur [In fact it is Dr.
Bhandarkar who identifies Hippokura with Kolhapur; but Dr. Katre,
who has examined the problem linguistically is of opinion that
Hippokura cannot be derived from Kolhapura (Social Survey of
Kolhapur by N. V; Sohani, Vol II, "page 2).] and Dr.
R. G. Bhandarkar identifies Baleocures with the Vilivayakura of the
coins. [Bertius' Ptolemy, 205; Deccan Early History, 20.]
(A.D. 750).
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 Andhrabhrtyas 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 Calukyas from about 550 to 760; to the
Rastrakutas to 973; from the Rastrakutas to the Western Calukyas,
who held the district, to about 1190 and while under them, to the
Kolhapur Silaharas (A.D. 942-1205), and to the Devagiri Yadavas upto
the Musalman conquest of the Deccan about 1347. Of the early and
Western Calukyas no copper plates or stone inscriptions referring to
Kolhapur proper have yet been found, Of the Rastrakutas, two copper
plate grants have been found, one at Samangad fort four miles south
of Gadhinglaj and another at Sangli town. The Samangad grant, which
belongs to the seventh Rasrakuta king Dantidurga or Dantivarma II,
bears date sak 675 (A.D. 733-54) 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 easily defeated the army of the Karnatak which
was expert in dispersing the kings of Kanci or Conjeveram and
Kerala, the Colas, the Pandyas, Sriharsa, 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 copper plate grant
belongs to the fourteenth king Govind V and is dated Sak 855 (A.D.
933-34) [Jour. Bom. Br. Roy. As. Soc. IV. 97; Fleet's Kanarese
Dynasties 37.]. Of the Western Calukyas who succeeded the
Rastrakutas in A. D. 973, there is a copper plate grant from Miraj,
which belongs to king Jayasimha III. It was made by him in
Sak 946 (A.D. 1024-25) at his victorious camp which, after
warring against the mighty Colas, the lord of the city of the
Candramila and after seizing the possessions of the lords of the
Seven Konkans, was located near the city of Kolhapura or Kolhapur
for conquering the northern country. There is an inscription of
Somadeva in the Mahalaksmi temple at Kolhapur, but it does not refer
to Kolhapur itself. Next in point of time is a reference in a grant
of the Kadamb king of Goa of (A.D. 1078). Therein the king Sastha is
said to have gone to Kolhapur and worshipped the Goddess Mahalaksmi.
It was during Somesvara regime that Colas under Rajendra II invaded
the Calukyan territory as far north as Kolhapur and even claimed to
have set up a pillar of victory at this place. [Excavations at
Brahmpuri by Dr. Sankalia and Dr. Dikshit pages 5-6.]
Apart from the inscriptional evidence on the basis
of which the early history of Kolhapur is being traced here, there
are many references in Puranas which throw light both on the
derivation of the word Kolhapur and the sacredness that the city has
come to possess on account of the location of Ambabai temple there.
The Puranic evidence has to be utilised with great caution, but it
would be wrong to keep it out of sight altogether. "According to
Puranas," says Major Graham writing in 1854, " this tract of the
country was originally called ' Kurwir' (Karavira) from the goddess
Mahalaksmi using her mace (Kur) in lifting her favoured retreat from
the waters of the great deluge." According to another legend the
name " Kolhapur" is derived from the story that a demon " Kole " was
defeated and killed on a hill in the vicinity of Kolhapur. [Sankalia
and Dikshit, p. 1.] Karavir-mahatmya which was written in
A.D. 1867 and is said to form part of Padmapurana refers to
the goddess Mahalaksml. So does a section of the Markandeya purana
called Devimahatmya, which is said to be not older than A.D. 800.
Another Purana, Harivamia, refers to Karavirpura which is
said to be the same as Kolhapur. It has been stated therein that
Krisna, and Balaram in their fight against Jarasandha at Mathura had
to go to the south and reached Karavirpura. The place was then ruled
by Srgala who was a man of an evil disposition. The two brothers
after some unsuccessful effort to settle elsewhere, gave battle to
Srgala and killed him. The throne of Karvirpura was given to his son
Sakradeva. After waiting for some time the two brothers went back to
Mathura and they are said to have reached the distance within six
days.
Among the literary references the most authentic and
datable is that of Hemacandra (C.A.D. 1130), the famous Jain writer
of Gujarat. In his Dvyasraya kavya he refers to the
gift sent by the lord of Kollapura, who was blessed by the goddesses
Laksmi and Gauri, for Prince Camunda, the son of Mularaja. If the
account is a genuine record of events, then the antiquity of
Kolhapur as a seat (pitha) of these goddesses can be placed at least
one hundred years earlier than the time of Hemacandra himself (A. D.
1088-1173). In Visvakarma Sastra referred to by
Hemadri in his caturvarga cintamani there is a
reference to (Mahalaksml of Kollapura. Another work
Sarasvatipurana refers to Kollapura as a Mahapitha
(great seat) wherein the four goddesses Mahalaksml, Mahakali, Kolla
and Kankala were installed in east, north, south and west of the
place respectively by Jayasinha Siddharaja (C.A.D. 1093-1142). In
Jain literature, Harisena's Brhat Kathakosa, composed
in A.D. 931-932 at Vardhamanapura, probably Wadhawan in Saurastra,
refers in one of the stories to Kolladigiripattana in Daksinapatha.
This seems to be no other than Kolhapur. As this mention occurs in a
folk story recorded in the 10th century, the town must probably have
been known by this name a couple of centuries earlier. [The above
account is based upon the Report on the ' Excavations at Bramhapuri'
(1945-46) by Dr. H. D. Sankalia and Dr. M. G. Dikshit, pp. 1 to 3]
Fresh light has been thrown by recent excavations on
the antiquity and the earliest habitation of this place. The report
on the excavations states that the oldest village from out of which
Kolhapur later developed into a great city was situated on a hill on
the banks of the river Pancaganga. It is now known as Bramhapuri. "
An inscription of the Kolhapura Silahara king Gandaraditya of
Saka 1048' (A.D. 1126-27) calls Kolhapura a Mahatirtha and
refers to a temple Khedaditya (a Sun temple) at Bramhapuri." The
statement in the inscription that Kolhapura or Bramhapuri was
created by Brahman might signify that the site of Bramhapuri was so
old that its origin in course of time was attributed to Brahma, the
lord of creation himself. The inscription also mentions the capital
Vallavadagrama, identified with Valavade, the site of the present
Radhanagari, 27 miles south-west of Kolhapur. [Sankalia and Dikshit,
p. 4. The exact identification of Vallavadagrama is controversial.]
The years later in Saka 1058 (A.D. 1135) the same king's
patronage to a Jaina temple by the name Rupa-Narayana at Kolhapur is
referred to in an inscription located in the same temple in the
present (Sukrawar Peth).
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