| Nannuka | |
|---|---|
| Nṛpati, Mahipati | |
| Ruler of the Chandela Empire | |
| Reign | c. 831–845 |
| Successor | Vakpati |
| Issue | Vakpati |
| House | Chandel |
| Dynasty | Chandela dynasty of Jejakabhukti |
| Religion | Hinduism |
Nannuka (r.c. 831–845 CE), also known by his possible nickname Chandravarman, was the founder of the Chandela Empire. He overthrew the local Pratihara rulers and established his authority over a part of the Vindhya range. Initially a kingdom during Nannuka's lifetime, the Chandela dynasty of Jejakabhukti expanded into a vast Indian empire, known as the Chandela Empire, in the decades after his death.
Medieval Indian Bardic traditions, particularly the Prithviraja Raso and Alhakhand, attribute the foundation of the Chandela Empire and the wider Chandel clan to a ruler named Chandravarman. According to these traditions, he was the son of a Brahmin woman named Hemavati and Chandra (Soma), the Hindu god of the Moon. The Mahoba Khand, also known as the Parmal Raso, preserves a legendary account of his birth and foundation of the dynasty. However, the military exploits attributed to Chandravarman in these narratives do not correspond with information from contemporary historical sources, and the account has generally been rejected by historians.
The Khajuraho inscriptions identify Nannuka as the founder of the Chandela Empire and the Chandela dynasty of Jejakabhukti. The inscriptions also state that he was the descendant of Sage Chandratreya (another name of Chandra, god of Moon), who was the son of Sage Atri. In the inscription of Khajuraho, dated Vikrama Samvat 1011 (954 CE), Chandela emperor Yashovarman is described as the sixth in descent from Nannuka. The inscription of V.S. 1059 (1002 CE) also provides information about Nannuka and his Imperial family. H. C. Ray suggested that Chandravarman, the founder mentioned in bardic traditions, might have been a biruda (epithet) of Nannuka rather than a separate historical ruler.
The date of Nannuka's accession has generally been placed around 831 CE. Alexander Cunningham arrived at this chronology by identifying Samvat 225, mentioned in a manuscript of the Mahoba Khand as the date of Chandravarman's consecration, with the Harsha Era. He also used the genealogy recorded in the Khajuraho inscription of Chandela emperor Yashovarman to estimate the date of the Empire's founder. Assuming an average reign of 20 to 25 years, Cunningham placed Nannuka in the early ninth century. Vincent Smith and H. C. Ray accepted his chronology.
Nannuka's reign is known principally from two inscriptions at Khajuraho, dated Vikrama Samvat 1011 (954 CE) and 1059 (1002 CE), respectively. Both records are eulogistic in character and offer limited information about the political and military events of his reign. Nevertheless, they provide important evidence of his position in the early Chandela genealogy and the status attributed to him by his descendants.
The first inscription praises his victorious military career, handsome appearance, widespread fame and authority. It describes him as a kṣatra-suvarṇa-sāra-nikaṣagrāva, comparing him to a touchstone by which the worth of gold is tested. His enemies are said to have bowed before his unprecedented valour, while other princes, overcome by fear, carried out his commands as though bearing them upon their heads like a crown. It also characterises him as a conqueror of numerous groups of enemies (bahu-vairi-varga-jayinah).
The second inscription compares Nannuka to the sun and describes him as the pearl-jewel of his family. It likens his exceptional valour and skill in archery to those of Arjuna. The record also praises his generosity, modesty and popularity among his subjects, describing him as the janānanda (delight of his people) and a repository of modesty (vinaya-nidhānam).
Nannuka's political status and the circumstances surrounding the establishment of Chandela authority have been debated by modern historians. His inscriptions employ royal epithets such as nṛpa and mahipati. R. K. Dikshit notes that these titles have led some historians to regard him as a petty feudatory ruler, although the absence of higher royal titles alone does not conclusively establish his political subordination.
According to traditional accounts preserved in the Mahoba region, the Chandelas established their authority after defeating the Gurjara-Pratiharas. Vincent Smith suggested, on the basis of accounts preserved in the Qānūngo families of Mahoba, that Nannuka might have been the leader who wrested Mahoba from the Pratiharas. He further maintained that Nannuka and his successor Vākpati were not merely ancestral figures but had exercised sovereign authority, as indicated by the epithets nṛpa and mahipati used in the Khajuraho inscriptions.
H. C. Ray disputed Smith's interpretation. He considered it unlikely that the early Chandelas had established a sovereign state by overthrowing the Pratiharas while the latter were at the height of their power. Ray suggested that Nannuka might instead have been a feudatory of the Gurjara-Pratihara Emperor Nagabhaṭa II (r. 815–833 CE).
R. K. Dikshit similarly considered it unlikely that Nannuka had defeated the Gurjara-Pratiharas at the height of their power, observing that such a victory would presumably have received prominent mention in the Chandela records. He considered it possible, however, that Nannuka had displaced a local branch of the Pratiharas controlling territories in the Vindhyan region. One such branch had its capital at Mau-Sahaniya, between Nowgong and Chhatarpur. The existence of another branch ruling over the Jhansi–Guna region is indicated by the Bharat Kala Bhavan copper-plate inscription of Harirāja.
Sisir Kumar Mitra questioned the assumption that the early Chandelas were necessarily feudatories of the Gurjara-Pratiharas. He noted that northern India was politically unstable in the early ninth century owing to the struggle for supremacy among the Gurjara-Pratiharas, Rashtrakuta Empire and Pala Empire. According to Mitra, these circumstances may have enabled a Nannuka, a local leader of Chandela tribe in the present-day Bundelkhand region to establish an independent Kingdom without owing allegiance to any paramount power. He considered it possible that Nannuka took advantage of the prevailing conditions to organise his following on a military basis, thereby establishing the Chandela Empire. Mitra also observed that there was no positive evidence of a direct conflict between the early Chandelas and the Gurjara-Pratiharas.
Nannuka was succeeded by his son Vākpati, who ruled approximately from 845 to 865 CE.