Utpala dynasty

Utpala dynasty
855 CE–1003 CE
Coinage of King Sankaravarman, Dupatalas (Kashmir) Circa 883-902 CE.[1][2][3]
HINDU SHAHIS TRAKHAN DYNASTY SAFFARID DYNASTY KARAKHANID KHANATE GUJARA- PRATIHARA PALA EMPIRE Location of the heartland of the Utpala dynasty, and neighboring polities
Capital	Avantipur
Common languages	Sanskrit
Religion	Hinduism Buddhism
Government	Monarchy
Monarch
• 855 – 883 CE	Avantivarman
• 885 – 902 CE	Shankaravarman
• 904 – 906 CE	Sugandha
• 980 – 1003 CE	Didda
Historical era	Medieval
• Established	855 CE
• Disestablished	1003 CE
Preceded by Succeeded by Karkoṭa Empire Lohara dynasty
Today part of	Afghanistan India Pakistan

Utpala dynasty was a Kashmiri Kayasth kingdom which ruled over the Kashmir region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent from 9th to 10th century CE. The kingdom was established by Avanti Varman, ending the rule of Karkota dynasty in 855 CE.^[4][5] The cities of Avantipur and Suyapur were founded during the reign and many Hindu temples dedicated to both Vishnu and Shiva and Buddhist monasteries were built, notable of which is the Avantiswara and Avantiswami temples.^[6]

Sources[]

The Rajatarangini, an 11^th century work by Kalhana, was aimed at sketching an outline of Kashmir's history since ancient times, and did discuss the Utpala dynasty over the fifth book.^[7][8][a] He depended on a variety of material including earlier historical works, dynastic genealogies, inscriptions, coins and Puranas.^[10] The work has a contested repute of being the only pre-modern work in Sanskrit resembling Western notions of history; however, its historical accuracy is disputed — Zutshi and other scholars find the poem to be a blend of "mythical, political, social, spiritual, and geographical" narratives, which aimed at defining Kashmir as an idealized ethical space.^{[8][11][12][13][9][14][15]}

Nonetheless, historical accuracy increases drastically from the fourth book onward (starting with the narration of Karkota dynasty) the book (typically the critical edition by Aurel Stein) has been heavily cited to reconstruct Kashmiri history.^{[16][10][7][9][b]}

Coins issued by all major rulers have been located.^[3]

Establishment[]

Cippatajayapida, the last significant ruler of the Karkota dynasty was murdered in around 840. Subsequently, his maternal uncles — Padma, Utpala, Kalyana, Mamma, and Dharma — gained considerable power and engaged in an internecine warfare to retain complete control of the empire, whilst installing puppet kings belonging to the Karkota lineage.^[17][18]

Tribhuvanapida's son, Ajitapida was nominated by Utpala immediately after Cippatajayapida's death.^[18] A few years afterwards, Mamma waged a successful battle against Utpala, and installed Anangipida.^[18] Three years later, Utpala's son Sukhavarman rebelled successfully and installed Utpalapida, a son of Ajitapida.^[18] Within a few years, Sukhavarman set out to assume the throne for himself but was murdered by a relative; finally, his son Avantivarman deposed Utpalapida and claimed the throne c. 855 with help from minister Sura, thus establishing the Utpala dynasty.^[17][18]

Rule[]

Avantivarman[]

Avantivarman, the first and greatest ruler of the dynasty, ascended to the throne in about 855/856 AD, and went on to rule for 27 years until 883.^[18] Rajatarangini records no military activity during his reign and marginal territories remained outside Kashmir sovereignty.^[18]

His minister Suyya was responsible for several innovations in the field of irrigation and water-management.^[18][19]

Samkaravarman[]

The death of Avantivarman led to a power struggle.^[18] Samkaravarman was placed at the helm of affairs by Ratnavardhana, the chamberlain.^[18] However, counselor Karnapa did throne Sukhavarman instead.^[18] Multiple battles were waged between the two, before Samkaravarman emerged victorious.^[18]

Kalhana notes that he went on to invade Gujarat with an army composed of "nine lac infantrymen, three hundred elephants and one lac cavalry"; Alakhana, the local ruler had to gift a swath of territory to maintain his sovereignty.^[18][20][c] He initially brought cultural as well as economic prosperity.^[18] However, the later years of his regime were cruel and marked by rampant oppression, especially from a fiscal perspective.^[18]

Kalhana described him to be a "robber" who seized profits exacted by temples, plundered religious institutions and brought agraharas etc. under direct control of the crown whilst providing minimal compensations.^[18] Forced labor were systematically legitimized in Kashmir for the first time and non-abidance was sanctioned.^[18][21] New revenue offices were created and an elaborate taxation scheme was devised, which led to the employment of numerous Kayasthas in royal service.^[18] Kalhana blames these lowly Kayasthas for driving honest villagers to poverty and destroying all repute of Samkaravarman.^[18] Scholarship failed to flourish, either and court-poets lived a pitiful existence, often without pay.^[18] Famines and other calamities were commonplace.^[18] These continued despite Gopalavarman accusing his father of unbound greed and inflicting terrible misfortune on the subjects.^[18]

Samkaravarman was married to Sugandha, the daughter of the king of a neighboring tract and had at-least three other queens including one Surendravati.^[18] The last famed ruler of the dynasty, he died in 902 of a stray-arrow at a foreign territory, whilst returning from a successful conquest.^[18] His ministers guarded-back the corpse to Kashmir, where last respects were conferred and funeral rites organized; some of his queens and servants died by Sati.^[18]

He had thirty to forty issues but none other than Gopalavarman and Samkata survived past infancy, in what Kalnana ascribed to karma.^[18] Gopalavarman was installed as the new king, with noting that the labyrinthine series of coups to start with him would be worthy of a Mahabharata-like epic.^[22]

Gopalavarman[]

Gopalavarman had a short reign of two years (902-904) under the regency of Sugandha.^[18]

Effective power was however wielded by her paramour, Prabhakaradeva who was also the royal treasurer.^[18] He had led a famed expedition against a rebel Hindu Shahi king of Udabhanda c. 903 and bestowed the conquered territory on a Toramana-Kamaluka.^[18] However, he became increasingly haughty on the account of his victory, and the court was soon unapproachable for the commoners.^[18] At the same time, Prabhakaradeva did engage in prolonged embezzlement of state-coffers and was finally probed by Gopalavarman.^[18]

Subsequently, he employed a relative Ramadeva to assassinate the king by practice of witchcraft.^[18] Gopalavarman died of a fever and Ramadeva died by suicide, after his conspiracy became public knowledge.^[18] Samkata was the immediate successor but died after ten days.^[18]

Gopalavarman had at-least two consorts — Nanda, a child-girl and Jayalakshmi.^[18] He had no issue at the time of his death but Jayalakshmi was already pregnant.^[18]

Sugandha[]

Sugandha seized the throne after Samkata, apparently with an intention of securing it for her grandson — the yet-unborn child of Jayalakshmi, who however died soon after birth.^[18] Sugandha continued to rule for two more years, in an environment marked by upheaval of the Tantrins before trying to install Nirjitavarman, a grandson of Suravarman as well as her blood-relative.^[18] This was met with considerable resistance from the ministers as well as the Tantrins, on grounds of his lameness and they installed Nirjitavarman's child-son Partha instead.^[18] Sugandha and her counsel were ousted thereafter.^[18][d]

Partha and Nirjitavarman[]

Crowned at an age of ten, his reign of ten years (906-921) were under the regency of Nirjitavarman, who in turn was a puppet at the hands of Tantrins and the ministers.^[18] The subjects were oppressed and heavy bribes were exacted.^[18] Samkaravardhana, the eldest minister allied with another minister Sugandhaditya to plunder the royal finances; Merubardhana's sons accrued riches as well.^[18]

The entire span was marked by struggles for the throne between Partha and Nirjitavarman.^[18] In 914, Sugandha sought to unsuccessfully regain the throne with help from Ekangas and clashed with the Tantrins in a battle; she was imprisoned and executed.^[18] In 917, Kalhana mentions of a flood which subsequently led to a cataclysmic famine; the ministers along with Tantrins made profits by selling hoarded rice at high prices.^[18]

Partha had multiple wives, a mistress Sambavati, and at-least two sons Unmattavanti and Samkaravarman II.^[18] Nirjitavarman had at-least two queens — Bappatadevi and Mrigavati, who was the daughter of Meruvardhana.^[18] Kalhana notes both of the queens to have entered into sexual relations with Sugandhaditya, in order to secure the throne for their respective sons — Cakravarman and Suravarman I.^[18]

In 921, Partha was finally overthrown by the Tantrins in favor of Nirjitavarman.^[18] Nothing is recorded by Kalhana about Nirjitavarman, who ruled for two years.^[18] He died, after having placed Cakravarman on the throne.^[18]

Cakravarman and others[]

Cakravarman was yet another child-ruler; the Tantrins immediately tried to install Partha but in vain.^[18] Cakravarman went on to rule for ten years (till 933/934), a few months under the regency of his mother and then, grandmother Ksillika.^[18]

A new revolution by the Tantrins then installed Suravarman I; he ruled for about a year before being compelled to abdicate the throne, after his ministers did not pay the bribes, as demanded by the Tantrins.^[18] Partha was re-installed with Sambavati conciliating the Tantrins in his favor but deposed within a very short time-span, as Cakravarman promised the Tantrins with even greater riches.^[18] Cakravarman was subsequently restored in 935 and he installed Tantrins at important offices but had to flee soon again, after failing to raise enough taxes.^[18]

Following Cakravarman's abdication, Samkaravardhana dispatched his brother Sambhuvardhana to negotiate with the Tantrins on his behalf.^[18] He promised even greater bribes and purchased the crown straight-away, deceiving Samkaravardhana.^[18]

Cakravarman Restored[]

In the meanwhile, an exiled Cakravarman forged an alliance with the Damaras (led by Samgrama) and their combined forces took on Sambhuvardhana (and the tantrins) in the spring of 936 near Padmapura (modern day Pampore).^[18] Samkaravardhana, who served as the war-commander for the tantrins was slain by Cakravarman himself, in what Kalhana described as a moment of impeccable valor and significance, as they were now easily routed.^[18] Cakravarman was reinstalled after a victory-parade through the city and he exhibited no mercy to Sambhuvardhana and a bunch of tantrins, who were caught whilst fleeing away.^[18]

His subsequent rule of about a year is noted to be cruel and excessive, as Kalhana notes him to be led astray by the volume of showered praises and intermingling with people from low castes.^[18][23] Particular criticism is reserved for his' granting an audience to Ranga, a famed singer from the lowly Domba caste, whose daughters Hamsi and Nagalata are alleged to have ensnared him in the process.^[18][24][25] Hamsi soon became the chief-queen and began to control the affairs of the state by installing fellow Dombas (and people who were subservient to them) at important offices; they were the king's closest friends and their oral orders were effectively as powerful as royal decrees.^[18]

Courtiers had to eat the remnants of food left over by the Dombas and ministers adorn clothes, bearing menstrual stains of Domba queens.^[18][26][27] Sacred spaces were also "polluted", per Kalhana, by the low castes.^[18] Also, Cakravarman's counsel made him rape a Brahmin wife during her ritualistic fast, on the pretext of atoning his sins for having engaged in sexual relations with out-caste women.^[18]

An unarmed Cakravarman was murdered by a group of Damara guards in the summer of 937; this was a retaliation to his' killing numerous Damaras, in breach of their alliance.^[18] They attacked Cakravarman in a privy at night, and chased him into Hamsi's sleeping-chamber; he failed to locate any weapon and was murdered in her embrace.^[18] Kalhana notes that Cakravarman's wives urged the guards to stone his knees in his final dying moments.^[18]

Unmattavanti[]

Unmattavanti ascended to the throne after Cakravarman, with help from minister Sarvata and others.^[18] In a regime marked by wanton violence, ridiculousness, and oppression, he was effectively controlled by a minister named Parvagupta, who desired for the throne.^[18] Unmattavanti employed Kayasthas in royal services and appointed Rakka, a Brahmin foot-soldier from the house of Samgrama, as the prime-minister.^[18]

At Parvagupta's behest, he had his brothers starved to death and his unarmed father (and step-mothers) assassinated.^[18] Kalhana mentions of Unmattavanti to have been delighted at seeing Partha's corpse, which was even dagger-ed by Parvagupta's son Devagupta in front of him.^[18] Kalhana also accuses Unmattavanti of engaging in a range of dastardly acts including mutilating pregnant women, amputating limbs of laborers and hitting naked women at their cleavage.^[18]

Unmattavanti has fourteen queens and probably no son.^[18] He died of a chronic disease in 939, suffering immense pain; before his death, he had Suravarman II (who was falsely proclaimed by the servants of his seraglio to be his own son) crowned.^[18]

Suravarman II[]

Suravarman II reigned for hardly a few days, before being ousted by the forces of commander-in-chief Kamalvardhana, who had declared rebellion from his base in Madavarajya against the Damras (and by extension, the Utpalas).^[18] He fled the kingdom with his mother, bringing the Utpala Dynasty to an end.^[18]

Kamalvardhana convened an assembly of Brahmins to appoint the next ruler, who rejected his self-nomination as well as a request from Suravarman II's mother.^[18] Yasaskara, the son of Prabhakaradeva was instead chosen.^[18]

Society[]

Religion[]

Avantivarman was a devout Vaishnav in his private life but granted public patronage to Shiva.^[28] Vaikuntha Chaturmurti continued to be the tutelary deity of the Utpala dynasy; it was also venerated in adjoining regions.^[29]

Art and architecture[]

Literature[]

Avantivarman was a noted patron of arts; Ratnakara and Anandavardhana were his court-poets.^[18]

Shrines and Cities[]

Avantivarman along with his chief-minister Sura commissioned numerous temples and towns — Avantipura, Surapura and the Avantiswami Temple.^[18] Suyya established the town of Suyyapura.^[18] Samkaravarman established Samkarapura (modern-day Pattan) and, in conjunction with Sugandha, the Shiva-temples of Samkaragaurisa and Sugandhesa.^[18] Another Shiva-temple in Fattegarh has been dated to his times.^[30][e] Sugandha, during her rule, got constructed the towns of Sugandhapura and Gopalapura, the Vishnu temple Gopalakesava, and the monastery Gopalamatha.^[18] Nanda consecrated the shrines of Nandakesava and Nandamatha.^[18] Meruvardhana built the Vishnu shrine of Meruvardhanasvamin at Puranadhisthana (modern-day ).^[18] Sambavati was responsible for founding the Shiva-shrine of Sambveswara.^[18]

• 

  Remains of the Avantiswami Temple built by Avantivarman, of the Utpala dynasty

• 

  Reliefs from the Avantiswami Temple

Sculpture[]

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  Reliquary (?) with scenes from the Life of Buddha, Kashmir, at the time of the Utpala dynasty, 10th century CE. Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[31][32][33]

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  Four-Armed Goddess, possibly Sarada, at the time of the Utpala dynasty, late 9th century CE. Jammu and Kashmir.^[34][35]

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  The Buddhist Deity Chakrasamvara, 9th-10th century CE. LACMA.^[36]

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  Bodhisattva Padmapani, Kashmir, 10th century, Linden Museum, Stuttgart.

Notes[]

References[]