Siyaka is the earliest Paramara ruler known from his own inscriptions, which have been discovered in present-day Gujarat, and suggest that he was once a feudatory of the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta.
[2] By the time of Siyaka's ascention to the Paramara throne, the once-powerful Gurjara-Pratiharas had declined in power, because of attacks from the Rashtrakutas and the Chandelas.
[4] The Harsola inscriptions record Siyaka's village grants to two Nagar Brahmins, after a victorious campaign against one Yogaraja.
[5] Nava-sahasanka-charita, an epic poem by the Paramara court poet Padmagupta, states that Siyaka defeated Huna princes, and turned their harems into a residence of widows.
[6] The fragmentary Modi inscription also corroborates this victory of Siyaka, stating that he ruled the land "sprinkled over by the blood of the Hunas".
Siyaka might have defeated a successor of the Huna chief Jajjapa, who had been killed by the Chalukya feudatory Balavarman in 9th century.
A 956 CE Chandela inscription in Khajuraho states that Yashovarman was the God of death for the Malavas (that is Paramaras, the rulers of Malwa region).
Yashovarman extended the Chandela kingdom up to Bhasvat (Vidisha) and Malava river (possibly Betwa) in the west.
[10] After the battle, Siyaka pursued Khottiga's retreating forces to the Rashtrakuta capital Manyakheta, and sacked that city.
This event happened in 972-973 CE, as suggested by the poet Dhanapala, who states that he wrote Paiyalacchi-namamala when the lord of Malava was looting Manyakheta.
[12][13] According to the Paramara court poet Padmagupta, Siyaka was a Rajarshi ("king-sage"): he retired as an ascetic, after which he wore clothes made of grass.
[16] This inscription, issued on 31 January 949 CE, was discovered in the possession of a Visnagar Brahmin of Harsol in the 20th century.
The plate depicts a Garuda (the Paramara royal emblem) in human form, about to strike a snake held in its left arm.