About the middle of the eighth century
A.D. the Early Chalukyas were overthrown by the Rastrakutas. No
inscriptions of the Early Chalukyas have been found in Vidarbha, but
their successors the Rastrakutas have left several records. The
earliest of them is the copper-plate inscription of Krishna I
discovered at Bhandak and dated in the Saka year 694 (A.D. 772). It
records the grant of the village Nagana to a temple of the Sun in
Udumbaramanti, modern Rani Amravati in the Yavatmal district.
Thereafter several grants of his grandson Govinda III have been found
in the Akola and Amravati districts of Vidarbha. The Rastrakutas of
Manyakheta and the Kalacuris of Tripuri were matrimonially connected
and their relations were generally friendly. But in the reign of
Govinda IV, they became strained. The Kakacuri king Yuvarajadeva I
espoused the cause of his son-in-low Baddiga-Amoghavarsa III, the
uncle of Govinda IV and fought on the bank of the Payosni (Puna)
16.093 km. (10 miles) from Achalpura, between the Kalacuri and
Rastrakuta forces, in which the former became victorious. This event
is Rajasekhara, which was staged at Triputi in jabilation of this
victory.
The next Rastrakuta record in Vidarbha
is the aforementioned Devali copper-plate grant of the reign of
Baddhiga's son Krishna III, which mentions the visaya of
Nagapura-Nandi-vardhana.
The Rastrakuta were succeeded by the
Later Chalukyas of Kalayani. Only one inscription of this family has
been found in Vidarbha. It is the so-called Sitabuldi stone
inscription of the time of Vikramaditya VI. From the account of
Vinayakrav. Aurangabadkar this record seems to have originally
belonged to the Vindhyasana hill at Bhandak. It is dated the Saka year
1008 (A.D. 1087) and registers the grant of some nivartanas of land,
for the grazing of cattle, made by a dependant of a feudatory named
Dhadibhandaka. Another inscription of Vikramaditya's reign was
recently discovered at Dongarganv in the Yavatmal district. It sheds
interesting light on the history of the Paramara dynasty. It shows
that Jagaddeva, the youngest son of Udayaditya, the brother of Bhoja,
left Malva and sought service with Vikramaditya VI, who welcomed him
and placed him in charge of some portion of Western Vidarbha. This
inscription is dated in the Saka year 1034(A.D.1112).
Though western Vidarbha was thus
occupied by the Later Chalukyas, the Paramaras of Dhar raided and
occupied some portion of eastern Vidarbha. A large stone inscription
now deposited in the Nagpur Museum, which originally seems to have
belonged to Bhandak in the Chanda district, traces the genealogy of
the Paramara Prince Naravarman from Vairisimha. It is dated in the
Vikrama year 1161 corresponding to A.D. 1104-05, and records the grant
of two villages to a temple which was probably situated at Bhandak;
for some of the places mentioned in it can be identified in its
vicinity. Thus Mokhalipataka is probably Mokhar, 80.47 km. (50 miles)
west of Bhandak. Vyapura, the name of the mandala in which it was
situated, may be represented by Vurganv 48.280 km. (30 miles) from
Mokhar. After the downfall of the Vakatakas, there was no imperial
family ruling in Vidarbha. The centre of political power shifted
successively to Mahismati, Badami, Manyakheta and Kalyani. Men of
learning who could not get royal patronage in Vidarbha, had to seek it
elsewhere. Bhavabhuti, who ranks next to Kalidasa in Sanskrit
literature, was a native of Vidarbha. In the prologue of his play
Mahaviracharita he tells us that his ancestors live in Padmapura in
Vidarbha. As stated above, this place with the village Padampur in the
Bhandara district. With the downfall of the eighth century when
Bhavabhuti flourished there was no great king ruling in Vidarbha.
Bhavabhuti had India, and had to get his plays staged at the fair of
Kalapriyanatha ( the Sun-God at Kalpi). Later, he obtained royal
patronage at the court of Yasovarman of Kanauj. Rajasekhara, another
great son of Vidarbha, was probably born at Vatsagulma, (modern
Vasim), which he has glorified in his Kavyamimamsa as the
pleasure-resort of the god of the god of love. He had his ancestors
Akalajalada, Tarala and Surananda has to leave their home country of
Vidarbha and to seek patronage at the court of the Balaramayana, the
Balabharata and the Karpuramanjiri, were put on the boards at Kanauj
under the patronage of the Gurjara Pratiharas. Later, when the glory
of the Pratiharas declined as sekhara seems to have returned to
Tripuri in the train of the victorious conqueror. There his last play
Viddhasalabhanjika was staged in jubilation at the victory of
Yuvarajadeva over a confederacy of Southern kings led by Govinda IV in
the battle of the Paysoni. Another great poet of Vidrbha who had to go
abroad in search of royal patronage is Trivikramabhatt, the author of
the Nalacampu, in which he has given us a graphic description of
several towns, holy paces and rivers of Vidarbha. He flourished at the
court of the Rastrakuta king Indra III and is known to have drafted
the two sets of Bagumra plates of that king, dated Saka 816.