Shri Prithvi-vallabha (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: ), or , was an imperial title used by several kings that ruled in present-day

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, including the

Chalukyas of Vatapi The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of south India, southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The ear ...

and the

Rashtrakuta The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal Indian polity ruling large parts of the Indian subcontinent between the 6th and 10th centuries. The earliest known Rashtrakuta inscription is a 7th-century copper plate grant detailing their rule from Manapu ...

s. It is a

Kshatriya Kshatriya () (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority"; also called Rajanya) is one of the four varnas (social orders) of Hindu society and is associated with the warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the con ...

title that translates as "Lord of the Earth," or alternatively as "Husband of the Earth and Her Fortunes."

Chalukyas of Vatapi

All the sovereign rulers of the Vatapi Chalukya dynasty bore the title '' Shri-prithvi-vallabha'', which means "the husband of the goddess of fortune and the Earth" (that is,

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

Mangalesha Mangalesha (IAST: Maṅgaleśa, r. ) was a king of the Chalukya dynasty of Vatapi in Karnataka, India. He succeeded his older brother Kirttivarman I on the throne, and ruled a kingdom that stretched from southern Gujarat in north to Bellary- ...

bore the exact title of ''Prithvi-vallabha'', as attested by the

Mahakuta The Mahakuta group of temples is located in Mahakuta, a village in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka state, India. It is an important place of worship for Hindus and the location of a well-known Shaiva monastery. The temples are dated to the 6t ...

inscriptions. The Manor inscription of the Chalukya governor Jayashraya Mangalarasa, dated to 7 April 691 (year 613 of the

Shaka era The Shaka era (IAST: Śaka, Śāka) is a historical Hindu calendar era (year numbering), the epoch (its year zero) of which corresponds to Julian year (calendar), Julian year 78. The era has been widely used in different regions of the Indian ...

), also mentions ''Prithvi-vallabha'' as one of his titles. His son Avanijanashraya Pulakeshin also bore the title.

Rashtrakutas

Among the Rashtrakutas, the title was first adopted by

Dantidurga Dantidurga (reigned 753–756 CE), also known as Dantivarman II was the founder of the Rashtrakuta Empire of Manyakheta. Reu (1933), p54 His capital was based in Gulbarga region of Karnataka. His successor was his uncle Krishna I who extende ...

, an 8th-century ruler of the

Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

and the founder of the Rashtrakuta dynasty. Prithvi means "the earth" and vallabha means either "head of household" or "lover", thus the title can be loosely translated as Lord of the Earth. Since Prithvi was also the name of an

earth goddess Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

controlled by

Lord Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation (sattva). Vish ...

, the title went so far as to equate Dantidurga and his heirs with the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

god Vishnu. The title was abbreviated to ''vallabha'' and was written by Muslim observers as ''Balhara''.

Later dynasties

The title was also adopted by the Chalukyas of Kalyani, who succeeded the Rashtrakutas in

. The title was also used by Munja alias Vakpati of

Paramara dynasty The Paramara Dynasty (IAST: Paramāra) was an Indian dynasty that ruled Malwa and surrounding areas in west-central India between 9th and 14th centuries. They belonged to the Parmar (clan), Paramara clan of the Rajputs. The dynasty was establi ...

, which succeeded the Rashtrakutas in

Malwa Malwa () is a historical region, historical list of regions in India, region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic plateau, volcanic upland north of the ...

References

Citations

Works cited