A New Piece of the Early Rāṣṭrakūṭa Puzzle from Jamkhed

Abstract

A pair of copper plates found in Jamkhed and written in cursive box-headed characters document a donation of land by an anonymous prince or king who says he is the son of Devarāja and grandson of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Bhavanmāna. This paper identifies Bhavanmāna as the king known as Mānāṅka in two previously published inscriptions: the Pāṇḍaraṅgapallī plates of Avidheya and the Uṇḍikavāṭikā plates of Abhimanyu. Altogether four generations of this royal house, sometimes referred to as the Rāṣṭrakūtas of Mānapura, are known to have ruled successively. The new discovery furnishes no date or previously unknown dynastic information, but confirms that these rulers did indeed call themselves Rāṣṭrakūṭa, and hints that their domain may have extended to the area around Jamkhed.