Amoghavarsha (814-880 C.E.): After Govinda – III, his son Amoghavarsha came to the throne in 814 C.E. lie was the greatest ruler among Rashtrakutas. His early name was Sharva, and Sreevijaya was another name by which he was known. He was only 14 years old, when he ascended the throne. His uncle Karkasuvamavarsha became his guardian. Taking advantage of this, many subordinate Kings under the Rashtrakutas, rose in rebellion against Amoghavarsha.

Achievements: The Ganga ruler Shivamara – II rose against Amoghavarsha and after His death his son Rachamalla continued the war against the Rashtrakutas. Amoghavarsha’s commander Bankesha fought against the Gangas. Neither side could achieve superemacy. At hist, Amoghavarsha gave his daughter Chandralabbe in marriage to the Ganga Prince Bhutuga -1.

This matrimonial alliance between them, finally brought peace with the Gangas.

In 830 C.E., Amoghavarsha declared war against Vijayadhitya of the Vengi Chalukyas. He defeated the Chalukyas finally-at Vingavalli. Later, he developed matrimonial relations with the Chalukyas by giving his daughter Sheelamahadevi to the Chalukyan prince Vishnuvardhana – V (son of Vijayadhitya) and brought peace in that front.

Amoghavarsha had similar relations with the Pallavas too, by giving his daughter Sankha in marriage to Nandivarma – III of the Pallava dynasty. Thus, Amoghavarsha achieved much peace by matrimonial alliances with the Gangas, Chalukyas and Pallavas.

According to the inscriptions of Neelagunda and Sinir, Amoghavarsha was respected in Anga, Vanga, Magadha, Malwa and Vengi Kingdoms. In his last days, he had to face the rebellion of his own son.

The Arab traveller Sulaiman, visited his court in 851 C.E. He remarked that ‘The Kingdom of Amoghavarsha was one of the four great Empires of the world”. (The others being the Roman Empire, the Chinese Empire and the Khalifa of Baghdad).

During his last days, Amoghavarsha had to face the rebellion of Yuvaraja Krishna. Banks faced this rebellion ably. In memory of this victory, Amoghavarsha built the city of ‘Bankapura’ to honour Bankesha and made him the Governor of Banavasi. He built the new Rashtrakuta capital of Malakheda. Inscriptions have described that “Amoghavarsha’s capital was so great and grand, that it would put to shame even the capital of Lord Indra”.

Religion and Literature : Even though Amoghavarsha was the follower of Jainism, he extended equal respect and importance to other religions. He granted liberal grants and endowments to all religious institutions. He was a great devotee of Goddess Mahalakshmi of Kolhapur. Sanjan inscription says that he cut off his left thumb as a sacrifice to Mahalakshmi, to protect his subjects from plague and famine.

Amoghavarsha was peace loving, a patron of literature and a scholar himself. He wrote Trashnottara Ratnamala’ in Sanskrit. He patronised scholars like Jinasenacharya, Mahaveeracharya, Shakatayana, Srivijaya and others, Srivijaya wrote “Kaviraja Marga” in Kannada. Kaviraja’marga was the first literary work in Kannada. It refers to the fact that Karnataka was extending from Cauvery to Godavari. Amoghavarsha had titles like Nrupatunga, Athishayadhavala, Veeranarayana, Nitinirantara, Rajasimha, Rattamarthanda, Laxmi Vallabendra, Sri Vallabha etc., vested on him.