Amoghavarsha I

Amoghavarsha I also known as the Amoghavarsha Nrupathunga I (800-878 CE) was the Rashtrakuta emperor, the greatest ruler of the Rashtrakuta dynasty and one of the great emperors of India. His reign of 64 years is one of the longest precisely dated monarchical reign on the record.

Amoghavarsha I was the accomplished poet and the scholar. He moved the Rashtrakuta regal capital from the Mayurkhandi in Bidar district to the Manyakheta in the Gulbarga district in modern Karnataka state. He is said to have built the regal city to “matach that of the Lord Indra”. The capital city was planned to include elaborately designed buildings for the royalty using the finest of workmanship. The Arab traveler Sulaiman described Amoghavarsha as one of the four great kings of the world. Sulaiman also wrote that Amoghavarsha respected Muslims and that he allowed the construction of mosques in his cities. For his religious temperament, his interest in the fine arts and the literature and his peace-loving nature, historians Panchamukhi has compared him to legendary emperor Ashoka and the given him the honorific “Ashoka of the South”.

History : Early Life 

Amoghavarsha I , whose birth name was Sharva was born in the 800 CE in the Sribhavan in the bank of the river Narmada during the return journey of his father, Emperor Govinda III, from his successful campaigns in the north India. Amoghavarsha I ascended to the throne in 814 at the age of 14 after the death of his father. All his inscriptions thereafter refer to him as Amoghavarsha I. His guardian during his early years as emperor was his cousin, Karka Suvarnavarsha of the Gujarat branch of the empire.

The revolt led by the some of his relatives together with the feudatories of the empire temporarily unseated Amoghavarsha I, who with the help of his guardian and the cousin (Karka) also known as the Patamalla, re established himself as the emperor by 821.

The first to revolt was the Western Ganga feudatory led by King Shivamara II. In the series of battles that followed, Shivamara II was killed in 816. But Amoghavarsha I's commander and confidant, Bankesha, was defeated in Rajaramadu by the next Ganga king, Rachamalla. Due to the resilience of the Western Gangas, Amoghavarsha I was forced to follow a conciliatory policy. He gave in marriage his daughter, Chandrabbalabbe, to the Western Ganga King Buthuga, and another daughter, Revakanimmadi, to prince Ereganga. More revolts occurred between 818 and 820, but by 821 Amoghavarsha I had overcome all resistance and established a stable kingdom to rule.

Amoghavarsha I preferred to the remain friendly with all his neighbours and the feudatories and avoided taking an aggressive postures against them. It is still debated whether he abdicated his throne at the times to fulfil religious pursuits. He deeply cared for his subjects and once when the calamity threatened to them (according to Sanjan plates), he also offered his fingers as the sacrifice to the goddess Mahalakshmiof the Kolhapur. Amoghavarsha I patronised Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

Resources:

https://ithihas.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/amoghavarsha-nripatunga-the-king-of-kings/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoghavarsha