March of Patriots

The book is a vivid historical description of two Rajput worrier sects, Kalachuri and Rashtrakuta, migrating from Rajastan to Karnataka during the medieval time. Their adventurous journey from Rajastan to Karnataka where they successfully established three major empires, Rashtrakuta (753-981), Hoysala (1026- 1335) and Vijayanagara (1336-1565) is the main theme of the book. The two wings eventually merge to form a small sect, the Nadavara community of the present in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka. The book includs many untold and unpublished stories of the Kalachuri, Rashtrakuta and Nadavara sects written by three different historians of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The three historians belonged to three generations of the Nadavara community and for some unknown reasons they did not publish their treasured stories. A few excerpts from the book:

· The ancient migration routes of Rashtrakuta and Kalachuri dynasties indicate that they dwelled in Elichpur of the northern Maharashtra and and Mahismati of the sothern Gujarat for centuries before moving to Latur and Mangalaved in the Southern Maharashtra. Nadavara initial verbal communication in Karnataka might be a mixture of Maharshtri and Kannada. The trails of bias to Maharashtri or Prakrit, can be detected in the accent of Nadavara-Kannada.
· The legendary Rashtrakuta Emperor, Nripatunga (Amoghavarsha I), reorganized Kannada literature into prose, poetry, drama, oratory, and critique. Nripatunga (814-878 AD) was a great poet and wrote Kavirajamarga in Kannada and Prashnottara Ratnamalika in Sanskrit. The literary scholars in his court compared him to the Mouryan Emperor, Asoka. But, in his own writings, Nripatunga associated himself with Jimuthavahan, the hero of the Naganada epic. In his famous book Kavirajamarga (Poet's Kingly Path), Nripatunga refers to the Nadavara clan in a majestic style, " Nadavaras are brave soldiers, shrewd kings, handsome people, and men of merit, great poets, philosophers, civilized, formidable and distinctive".
· Kalachuri devotion to the Chalukyas provided much needed support to suppress the upheaval instigated by the feudatories on the West Coast. The Hoysala King, Vishnuvardhana, and the Kadambas of Goa were trying to move away from their loyalty to the Chalukya throne. The Kalachuri King, Paramadi, was married to the sister of the Kalyani Chalukya King, Someshwar III. Paramadi, with his swift Kalchuri cavalry, came to Banavasi Nadu to subdue the rebellious feudatories. In 1127 AD, Paramadi strategically deterred both Hoysalas and the Kadamba incursions to reinstate the Chalukya supremacy in Banavasi. The Hoysala presence was pushed back beyond Banavasi to Hangal. The son of Paramadi, young Bijala II, was appointed as the governor of Banavasi in 1130 AD. It was the earliest institution of the Kalachuri authority in Banavasi Nadu or the present day Uttara Kannada. Kalachuris governed Banavasi from the fort near Adlur in the Kalaghod region that stretched along the northern coast of Gangavali, for many years. Bommayya Nayaka (Bommarasa), the son-in-low of Bijala was the appointed governor of Banavasi Nadu in 1161-62 AD. The sons of Bijala’s brother Mailugi were also the governors of Banavasi.
· A small faction of Nadavaras helped Haidar to encroach Uttara Kannada and Nadavaras were split into two groups, for and against Haidar Ali. Although the larger group was against Haidar, it did not possess the much-needed integrated muscle power to oppose him and tried to avoid any kind of conflict with Haidar. The conservative Jain bloc of Nadavaras, which was in alliance with Haidar, was seeking vengeance for the violence inflicted on Kalachuris living in the Keladi domain, particularly in Haduvalli. Certainly, it was the Kalachuri families of Kalgod that helped Haidar Ali against the Keladi Queen, Viramma.
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