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The Communidade de Saligao---III We are continuing the story of Aryanization of Goa that began under the Mauryas .Today we shall talk about the Chalukyas, Kadambas and the Bahmanis as related by Maria Aurora Couto ‘ The earliest record of the Chalukya period dated AD 610 refers to the great emperor Pulakesi II. The Chalukyas became feudatories of the Rashtrakutas after King Dantidurga laid the foundation of the Rashtrakuta dynasty in AD 753 with Konkan as a feudatory province. They remained feudatoryies till AD 980. The Silaharas and the Kadambas later became feudatories of the Rashtrakutas. They were maritime powers who defended the west coast and traded with the countries of West Asia and East Africa. The history of Goa during this period recounts the fight for supremacy of the western ocean among these various powers. The Kadambas of Goa ruled from AD 1008 to AD 1300. Te greatest of them was Jayakeshi II, an aggressive ruler and good administrator. They patronized the arts and learning, build structural stone temples and encouraged the study of the Vedas, Dharmashastra and Vedanta, as also of traditional knowledge of history. Although agriculture was the main occupation, there was a wealthy trading and industrial class, a flourishing mercantile community that dealt in gold, silver, cotton cloth, victuals, paddy, pepper, fruits, oil, spices, camphor, perfumes and betel leaves. They developed Tiswadi island with small ports. A copper plate of Jayakeshi I dated AD 1053 reveals that Gopakapattana, their capital, was one of the most important emporiums on the west coast, a center of international trade, attracting people from as far away as Sumatra, Zanzibar and Sri Lanka, apart from Indian coastal regions like Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala. Inscriptions describe the splendour of the capital. Goans cherish a subliminal consciousness of culture, spirituality and material prosperity when they recall this period. The name of the great capital cities of Chandrapura and Gopakapattana glow in collective memory. The theory that the Rashtrakutas hailed from Loutulim was first suggested by Shenoi Goembab, crusader in the cause of Konkani literature and Goan identity, who died in 1946. Jose Pereira argues in ‘Baroque Goa’ that the Rashtrakutas may have been of goan descent ‘ for they themselves claimed to have originated from a place called Lattala( or Lattalura) which could well have been the goan village of Lottali or Lotli( Loutulim) in Saxtty( Salcete)’. Plates of the Konkan Maurya king Anirjitatvarman belonging to the sixth or seventh centuries have been found at Bandora. They concern the ownership of land by an unnamed Rashtrakuta; the area is distinctively named—Kumarzuem and Bardez—and precisely described using terms such as khazan land which make it unmistakably Goan. The Bahmani sultans ruled the Deccan from AD 1347 to 1489, Muhammad Shah Bahmani, who defeated Vijayanagar in AD 1368, was the first sultan to persecute the Hindus. The KONKANAKHANA,an ancient poem , observes that the image of Saptakoteshwar, the family deity of the Kadambas, was removed from the temple at Naroa in Divar and buried in rice field nearby for fear of desecration in 1356. It is the most ancient, the Shivalinga believed to have been consecrated by the Sapta Rishis, or seven sages, themselves. When Madhav Mantri of the Vijayanagar, first conquered Goa around 1369 e restored the temple. The Saptakoteswar is the most ancient of temples, situated on a hill that came to be known as the Kashi of the Konkan. Historically, the temple is said to have been constructed around AD 1155 by the Kadamba queen Kamaladevi, wife of Permadideva Shivachitta Kadamba. The Kadamba kings revered their family deity, Shiva, prefixed his name to their titles and maintained the architectural splendour of the temple’(3)… to be continued. Compiled by Fr. Nascimento Mascarenhas (3). COUTO, Maria Aurora, op.cit.,pp. 78-80. |
