Mushika-vamsha (IAST: Mūṣika-vaṃśa mahā-kāvyam) is a Sanskrit dynastic chronicle composed in 11th century by poet Atula.
[1][2] It narrates the legendary history of the Mushika dynasty, which ruled the northern part of the present-day Kerala state of India.
If this belief is true, Mushika-vamsha is the earliest known historical Sanskrit mahakavya, pre-dating Kalhana's Rajatarangini by a few decades.
Atula provides a mythological origin of the Mushika dynasty, tracing its descent to a Heheya queen, whose family was killed during Parashurama's slaughter of the Kshatriya rulers.
[10] The pregnant queen initially wanted to commit suicide, but her family preceptor dissuaded her from doing so, encouraging her not to destroy her unborn baby.
Feeling sorry for their widows, he decided to perform a ritual sacrifice to absolve himself from the sin of killing the Kshatriyas at the Eli mountain.
[16] After consolidating his rule in southern India, Rama crossed the Vindhya mountain, and asked the Magadha ruler Suvarman to hand over the former Heheya territory to him.
[18] At Kola, he performed a horse sacrifice, and after a long time, retired to penance, crowning Nandana as the new king of the Mushika kingdom.
[18][19] The very skilful girl friend, having understood the emotion of the playful one whose mind was besieged by Love, On the pretext of a spray she could pick with her own hand, led the beloved to a deserted creeper-house.
His successor Ahirana built the Ahiraneshvara Shiva temple on the western bank of the Pṛthana river[23] (identified as Valapattanam).
Vikramasena's son Vinayavarman ruled by dharma, and the next ruler Rajavarman built a Buddhist monastery (vihara) called Rajavihara.
[25] Where (in Kola) the totality of deities live together like the species of animals of the forest who have found a place In a hermitage of successful ascetics, perceived in the world as extremely contradictory.
[27] The warring kings decided to engage in a personal combat, but the Kerala prince Goda and Ishanavarman's nephew negotiated a peace treaty between the two kingdoms.
[28][29] An upset Nandini prayed to the goddess Bhadrakali (or Chandika),[27] and obtained a boon that the Mushika throne would be passed on to the sons of the female members of her family.
Taking advantage of this situation, the Kerala king invaded the Mushika kingdom, whose ministers recalled Palaka from Chedi.
Vikramarama build a huge wall of large rocks to prevent a Buddha (Jina) shrine from being swallowed by the Arabian Sea.
[34][27] Excellent women emerged from the houses because of the threshing fire, their children hanging on to them in the danger; Their very unsteady hands waving to the dancing of their braids of hair.
Valabha I, described in Canto 13, was a powerful warrior king, who subjugated the chieftain of Bhatasthali, and made his relative Nrparama the in-charge of that territory.
Vallabha visited the "cities" (shrines) of Vishnu and Shiva, the latter of which had been built by the earlier king Shatasoma, and paid obeisance to the deities.
Vallabha had to abandon the march midway, when a loyal subject told him that Jayamani had died, and an enemy named Ramavikrama had usurped the throne.
[37] His belly rent by a sharp sword, though fallen on the ground unconscious, The enemy soldier slowly regained consciousness through the breeze from the wings of a bird violently dragging out his intestines Vallabha's army defeated Ramavikrama's forces in a fierce battle.
[39] The poet Atula was primarily focused on eulogizing the dynasty's rulers, rather than on describing their reign based on the historical facts.
Narayanan theorizes that the Mushika family may have migrated from the Heheya kingdom of Central India to Kerala at the beginning of the Mauryan rule.
[43] Indologist A. K. Warder notes that the story of Shiva's boon (of living as long as they wished) to Sharmadatta and his 20 successors solves the chronological inconsistencies arising from dating the dynasty's origin to Parashurama's time, by allowing as much as hundred years for the kings' lifespans.
It appears that the Chola king Rajendra successfully invaded Kerala around 1020, and Atula has omitted this fact to avoid spoiling his glorious description of Vallabha's reign.