The Utpala Dynasty (855 to 1003 CE)

The Utpala dynasty was founded by Avantivarman in 855 CE. Its rule saw the greatest age of Kashmiri Sanskrit literature and also weak kings who fell to palace politics.

Avantivarman (855 to 883)

• He founded Avantipura (Awantipora, Pulwama) and built the Avantiswami (Vishnu) and Avantishvara (Shiva) temples there.
• His engineer Suyya ended the floods and the famine. He embanked the Vitasta (Jhelum), drained marshes, and dug channels, so grain became cheap. Sopore is believed to be named after him (Suyyapura).
• At his court were Anandavardhana (Dhvanyaloka), Ratnakara (Haravijaya), Shivaswamin and Muktakana.

Shankaravarman (883 to 902)

• He fought in the Punjab plains against the Gurjara king and others.
• Kalhana blames him for heavy taxes and for taking temple wealth.
• He founded Shankarapura (Pattan) with the Shankaragaurishvara temples. He died in a campaign at Urasa (Hazara) in 902.

After Shankaravarman

• His son Gopalavarman and Sugandha (queen, c. 904 to 906) ruled briefly. After her, the Tantrin soldiers (the army) began to make and unmake kings.
• Yashaskara (939 to 948) was chosen by an assembly of Brahmins. Kalhana praises him for justice and honest rule.
• The line then declined under Parvagupta and Kshemagupta, and passed to Queen Didda.

Avantivarman: details from the exam notes

• He brought political stability and prosperity. He gave his energy to public welfare, art, architecture and learning.
• Two things helped him: he gave up the policy of conquest, and he had the loyalty of his Prime Minister, Sura (Sheru).

Irrigation and farming

• His public works minister Suyya was a great engineer. Heavy flooding caused crop failure, and the price of rice rose sharply.
• Suyya widened and deepened the river channel, built embankments so rocks and boulders would not fall into it, and changed the confluence of the Jhelum and the Sindh, which had been creating swamps on good farmland.

Towns and temples

• Avantipura on the Jhelum was founded by Avantivarman. The Avanteeshwara temple is dedicated to Vishnu in some notes (strictly, Avantiswami = Vishnu and Avantishvara = Shiva).
• The Prime Minister Sura built a Sura matha and a Shiva temple on the eastern bank of the Dal Lake, and the town Surapura (modern Harpor, near Shopian).
• Suyya founded Suyyapura (modern Sopore).

Learning

• He appointed Ramana, a famed teacher of grammar, in the Vishnu temple he founded.
• Sivaswamin wrote the Buddhist text Kapphanabhyudaya.
• Kalhana names scholars such as Bhatta Kallata (pupil of Vasugupta, founder of Kashmir Shaivism), the poet Ratnakara and Anandavardhana.

Shankaravarman (883 to 901/902)

• He revived the policy of conquest (digvijaya). He had a very large army (Kalhana gives 9 lakh foot soldiers, 1 lakh horsemen and 300 elephants).
• He led an expedition against Naravardhana of Darvabhisara (Bhimber), who fled. He also fought the Gurjara Pratiharas.
• He built Shankarapura (modern Pattan, Baramulla, about 17 miles from Srinagar) and two temples, including the Shankaragaurishvara temple to Shiva at Pattan.
• He introduced forced labour. He was killed during the invasion of Hazara, and his queen Sugandha came to the throne.

Sugandha (904 to 906)

• She was queen regent for her son Gopalavarman (902 to 904), then was declared monarch in her own right in 904, as Sri Sugandha Deva.

Unmattavanti, Suravarman II and the Brahmin interlude

• Unmattavanti (937 to 939), "Mad Avanti", murdered his father Partha and starved his brother.
• The last Utpala king was Suravarman II. He fled when his commander revolted.
• A council of ministers chose Yashaskara as king (939 to 948), a period called Brahmin rule.
• Yashaskara was followed by his infant son Sangrama, who was killed by the powerful minister Parvagupta. Parvagupta began the Gupta Kula.