History of Lunar race Yaduvansi Kshatriya's (Jadhavas )of Devagiri (modern Daulatabad )--

Histoty of Lunar race Yaduvanshi Kshatriya's (Jadhavas ) of Devagiri  (  modern Daulatabad ) ----

*The Jadhavas of Devagiri (modern Daulatabad ) are descents of Vajranabh's  grandson Subahu (great-great grandson of Shri Krishna ) .
**Subahu's son Dridhaprahara migrated from Mathura and settled in Deccan .He obtained the southern part of the Subahu's kingdom.
*** The Yaduvnshi Kshatriya's(modern Jadhavas )  of Devagiri belong  to the same branch of yaduvnsha like Jadons (puranic Yadavas  ) of Karauli family.

Name and Origin of the Dynasty ------

The Yadavas of Devagiri , popularly so called  ,are known to history as the ruler of the Sevuna dynasty .The former  name (Yadavas )  of this dynasty was brought into use by Fleet work who wrote an account of this dynasty in his work Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency in 1882 A.D × .From that time , it became current and remained so till very recently .But a historical survey of the contemporary inscriptions of the Western Chalukyas , the Kalachuris  ,the Hoysalas and the Kskatiyas  ,very clearly show that this name , namely ,the Yadavas of Devagiri  , was not used by them to denote this dynasty .Hemadri styles them as Sevunas  , after the second king of the dynasty  ,namely Sevunachandra  ,and the country they ruled over as Sevunadesh (1) .

        In their own inscriptions they call themselves Yadavanarayana and Sevunachakravati .The Hoysalas inscriptions refer to them as Sevunas only .The inscriptions of the Western Chalukyas and the Kakatiyas also call them by their family name Sevunas .Thus to the contemporary Deccan and South India they  were the Sevunas and not the Yadavas . With the Advent  of Muslim  and their invasion of Devagiri  ,the name ‘YADAVAS  OF DEVAGIRI’ was applied to them and it become popular .The Muslim historiyans  ,Amir Khusrav ,Barani , Isami ,Firishtah and others don’t refer to them as Sevunas at all .

      The Sevunas ( Puranic Yadavas )  originally came from the north ( Mathura ) .They established their rule   over Maharashtra about 1100 A.D .They are undoubtedly Kshatriyas belonging to the Yaduvnsha as their name indicates , believed to be descended from Shri Krishna as stated in a Prasasti of Hemadri ; and from the same Prasasti it seems clear that they were long established in the Deccan ; ( Bombay Gazetteer Vol .I ,part I.p.270) .
      The Sevunas ( Puranic yadavas  ) of Deccan whose brilliant rule has been found at this region and they were not Maratha but Nothern Kshatriyas families . ‘’They all originally belonged to Mathura  ; from the time of Krishna they were Lords of Dvaraka . From the son of Subahu these heroes of Yadavas vamsa ruled in the South .’’ The intermediate steps between Subahu and Seuna who gave his name to the country are many and we can well see that when the Yadavas rose to eminence they were not fresh-comers .They were connected by marriage relations with Chalukyas and other Maratha families of the Deccan and not the Kshatriyas families of the north and were therefore as completely Marathas as other Marathas families .
According to Bhandarkar Indraji , Sevunas ( ancient yadavas ) dynasties were two , one ruling from the early capital Chandradityapura and the other from Devagiri .(2 ) . Bhandarkar differentiated  them as Early and Latter Yadavas , respectively ( 3) .

Devagiri  became their capital by the time of Bhillama Vand prior to that Chandradityapura and Shrinagara were their capitals .This led Bhagavan Lal Indraji to treat those of the earlier capitals as of a different family , quite distinct from that of Bhillama V and his successors at Devagiri . One point which he did not notice was that throughout  ,they were called the Sevunas  , a name derived feom an early ruler  ,more indicative of a family than a clan .
The Hoysalas among the Yadavas and Lords of Dvaravati .But they are nowhere mentioned as the Yadavas of Dwarasamudra . On the other hand , they are named after their family , namely , the the Hoyasalas .Hence it  would  be more appropriate to refer to our kings as  ‘ Sevunas ‘ and not as  ‘’Yadavas of Devagiri ‘ , though the latter name is more popular .The name Sevuna is written in a variety of forms such as Seuna , Sevan , Semuna , Segunna and so on .But ,generally , the name is written as Sevuna in the inscriptions and this has been followed throughout this work .
Hemadri,s Vratakhand is the only literacy source which gives a full account of the origion of this dynasty .After invocations to Vishnu and Shiva , Hemadri refers to the Moon ,churned out of the ocean .Then he mentions the Buddha ,Purueavas ,Ayus ,Nahusha ,Yayati and Yadu in order .And it was Yadu after whom this dynasty came to be named as Yaduvamsha .Then Hemadri gives a very big list of 51 successive kings of this dynasty .These are merely Puranic names with high-sounding and conventional epithers here and there .
Hemdari refers to Subahu as the universal emperor who had four sons and amongst whom he divided his kingdom .The second son Dridhaprahara , was given the southern  part of the Subahu’s empire .According to Hemadri , originally they were the lords of Mathura and in the time of Lord Krishna moved to Dvaravati and from there migrated to the South with Dridhaprahara as their king . Dridhaprahara established himself in his capital is Shrinagara .He had a son called Sevunachandra who came to the thorne after his father and the country he ruled came to be called Sevunadesha .The earliest inscription of the dynasty so far discovered is from Sangamner in Ahmadnagar district belonging to Billama IIof 1000A.D (4 ).This epigraph begins the genealogy from Subahu and has the name Brahma ,Marichi , Atri ,Indu ,Pururavas ,Ayus ,Nahusha ,Yayati and Yadu .Then it refers to Sevunachandra .The next inscription is the Kalas Badruk grant of Bhillama IIIof 1025A.D.(5 ).It relates that in the Yaduvamsha  was born a king called SevunaChandra .The Bassein grant of Sevuna Chandra II belonging  to 1069A.D (6 ) refers to the mythical hero Yadu and then to Dridhaprahara who is said to have come from Dvaravati and made the previously existing Chandradityapura a famous one .His son was Sevuna Chandra who founded the city of Sevunapura in Sindinera .TheMethi inscription of the king Krishna dated 1254 A.D ( 7 ).  It opens with an invocation to Vishnu , then refers to the Yadavas family in which was born Dridhaprahara whose son was Sevunachandra .
    The claim of ‘Yaduvamsha ‘ was very popular in ancient and medieval India. Many dynasties were eager to associate themselves with the Yaduvansha in which was bornthe great hero Yadu and Shri Krishna .This may not be altogether without any specific reason .It is difficult to find undisputably Brahmin and Kshatriyas dynasties , particularly after Pallavas .Most of the dynasties belonged to the Shudra caste (now backward ) But most of them had become powerful ruling families of importance .Their political power and their lowly origion had to be reconciled by assuming a higher status for themselves .In such cases Yaduvamsha came in very handy and hence most of the dynasties professed to belong to Yaduvamsha .This claim gave them a higher status they very much liked to have .
The family into which the great hero Yadu was born , originally lived in Mathura .They were also associated with the city of Dvaravati .But not all the dynasties which professed belong to Yaduvansha , originally lived in Mathura .Their claim to Yadava origin rests merely on the fact  ,that they were born in that line .Hence their claim is just to trace their descent to the mythical hero Yadu  ,rather than to an original home in Mathura .

What was Sevunas Original home ?  ----
Dvaravati or any other northern city as the original home of the Sevunas is highly improbable .Any such quest to locate the area has to take into account the various other yadava groups of the Deccan and the South .Many yadava families were ruling in northern parts of Karnataka  ,in Dharwar and in Bijapur districts in the 9th century A.D ( 8) .Mahasamanta Kuppeyarasa of the Yadava family held Gadag area as a feudatory of Rashtrakuta Amoghavarsha I in 865-869 A.D (9). Kuppeyarasa  ,the chief of Mevundi near Bijapur  , a feudatory of Rashtrakuta Krishna styles himself as Yadava ( 10 ) .Yet another Yadav chief Mahamandaleshvara Permadiyarasa , is known as a subordinate of the Chlukyas ( 11) .He was even entitled Lord of Dvaravati . Another chief , a Yadavanarayana was subordinate of the Chalukyas ( 12 ) .In the early part of the 10th century A.D ., the Hoysalas  of the Yadava family could be noticed migrating from the mountainous tracts to make themselves powerful in the plains .These different chiefs , all belonging to the ‘ YADAVAVAMSHA ‘were slowly settling themselves in some area  or other about northern Karnataka .Their  Rashtrakuta? sovereigns  were too powerful and not until their fall could some of the Yadava chiefs establish their own independent kingdom .Dridhaprahara could possibly be one among them and Chandradityapura in the Nasik district  ,could be quite the place  , to give ample opportunity and scope for his political activity .

The Sevunas migrated from Karnataka -----
  The Rashtrakutas who had several Yadava feudatories ruled from 753 A.D to the 3rd quarter of the 10th century A.D .During this period  ,in the Gujrat region where Dvaravati is traditionally situated suffered no insecurity to prove  any such exodus .Nor have any positive evidence to prove that moving into Chandradityapura was from the south .But the anxiety of the rulers of the Sevuna dynasty to conquer Karnataka and their Karnataka bias are intriguing  ,even indicative of an anxiety to win back their patrimony in Karnataka .
An examination of the names of the kings of this dynasty is highly interesting from this point of view .The names Dhadiyappa ,Vaddiga , Rajagi ,Mallugi ,and Jaitugi were popular in Karnataka .Particulrly the name Dhadiyappa is a Kannada form .The suffix ‘appa’ is of Karnataka origin and even today many proper names in Karnataka region and end with ‘appa’. The word Dhadiya’ , itself means ‘strong –bodied’, and Dhadiyappa means a strong –bodied man .In the case of the names like Mallugi ,Rajugi ,Jaitugi ,Vadugi , the ending ‘gi’ is a suffix of proper names in old Kannada and such ending are very common in the Kannada region .
The ‘ ga ‘ending for proper names is also an old Kannada derivation .Vaddiga is the name of another Sevuna king .The ‘gi’  and ‘ga’ ending for proper names are not found in Karnataka of the the pre-Rashtrakuta period .The ‘ga’ ending is true of some of the Rashtrakuta rulers  ,like Dadiga etc .The ‘gi’ ending could as wellbe a variant of ‘ga’.In which case the Sevunas could have adopted them after their Rashtrakuta suzerains .This would again indicate that the emergence of the Sevunas into any political importance could not be earlier than the middle of the 8th century A.D.
The names like Bhillama and Singhana were popular in Karnataka .The Kalachuris of Karnataka had some of these names. Some other names had close resemblance to those of many Karnataka dynasties including the Hoysalas, the Sindas, the Santaras and other minor dynasties.
Their matrimonial alliances with the families of Karnataka are equally intresting. The king Vaddiga married a priencess Voddiyavva, daughter of Dhroppa. Both the names Dhorappa and Voddiyavva are names of kannada origin. Another prince of the dynasty, Bhillama II married Lacchiyavva. The next prince Vesugi married Nayilladevi, daughter of Chalukya Goggiraja. Bhillama III married Hamma Avalladevi, also of the chalukyan origin. The four princesses mentioned above came from Karnataka. The anxiety of the sevunas to have matrimonial alliances, with the families of Karnataka, even if it is for political purposes, could have some special purpose and significance.
Kamalabhava  , a jain author who wrote Shantishvara purana  in Kannada was patronized by the king Singhana (13) . Singhana’s conquest of most of the parts of Karnataka was only temporary . After his death most of the northern parts of Karnataka were reoccupied by Hoysalas and other Karnataka dynasties .This almost settled the question of who should rule over Karnataka , and it was certainly not in fasvour of the Sevunas .Though the Sevuna rulers were anxious to assume the title  , ‘the supreme Lord of the Karnataka country ’, ( as was done by Billama V and Singhana ) , the contemporary Hoysalas were not happy to admit them to this great honour . Hence the Hoysalas became the protector of the interests of the people of Karnataka . Further , though the political activity of the Sevunas was right in the Karnataka area , they made no attempts to establish their capital there .On the other –hand they went further north .This was because of the danger of the constant trouble from Chalukyas in the first instance and the Hoysalas later .Hence the subjects of Karanataka looked up to the Hoysalas as their rulers and not to the
The following is the complete genealogy of this dynasty-
Singhan I --Mallugi --Billama (saka 1109 to1113 )--Jaitugi I (saka 1113 to 1131 )--Singhana II  (saka 1131 to 1169 ) --Jaitugi II.He has two sons --
A-Krishna ( saka 1169 to 1182 ).His son was Ramchandra ( saka 1193 to 1230) .He has 2sons and one daughter married with Harpala.Ramchandra's sons were 1-Samkara (saka 1231 to 1233 ) and 2son was Bhima .

B-Mahadeva (saka 1182 to 1193 ).His son was Amana.

Sevunas .In this psychological conflict , the Kannada authors did not go to the Sevunas capital . From these arguments one would conclude  that the Sevunas were of  Kannada origin .
The sevunas may have been one of the yadava families ruling in the neighbourhood of Bijapur and Dharwar and finding it impossible to thrive under the imperial rulers moved further north but could never come back permanently, though they made very strong efforts to do so. This may be due to the pressure continually exerted by the Hoysalas in  Karnataka. The defeat of Sevunas at the battle of Soratur may be taken as an important step in this direction. In that case it could have caused Bhillam V to established his capital at Devagiri in the north. Gradually, they  move into Marathi area , found it more congenial for their power and began to consolidate themselves there. From all these facts it could be easily concluded that the Sevunas were Kannadigas.

REFERENCES ----
+The Dynasties of the Kanarese districts of the Bombay Presidency by John Faithful Fleet ,1882.
1-Hemadri , Verse 22
2. IA,Vol.XII,p.119
3. Bhandankar,EHD.p.115
3. Hemadari,verse22
4. EI,Vol.II,p.212
5. IA,Vol.XVII,p.117
6. ibid,Vol.XII,p.119
7. JBBRAS,Vol,III,p.189
8. EI,Vol,XXVIII,p.312
9. IA,Vol.XII,p.124
10. EI,Vol.XXVIII,p.312
11. ibid,Vol.XIII,p.117and Bombay Karnataka Inscriptions,Vol.I.part1.Nos.11 and 12
12. ibid,No.22
13. Ibid,No.30
14. Ibid,part II.No.165
15. Narasimhachar,R.and S.G., Karnataka Kavicharitre,Vol.I,p.292

Author – DR. Dhirendra Singh Jadoun
Village- Larhota near Sasni
District- Hathras, Uttar Pradesh.(IND.)
Associate Professore of Agriculture
SAHID CAPTAIN RIPUDAMAN SINGH Govt. COLLEGE, SAWAI MADHOPUR,(RAJ.)