1. Cultural contributions of Rashtrakutas: Religion: Rashtrakuta rulers practised religious tolerance towards all religions. Even though they were followers of the Vedic religion, they also patronised Jainism and Buddhism. Amoghavarsha was a great devotee of Goddess Mahalaxmi. They granted liberal grants and endowments to all religious institutions.
Rashtrakutas constructed a number of temples in Malkehda, Mudhola, Lakshmeshwar, Naregal, Jogeshwar, Ellora, etc., in different parts of their Kingdom. Brahmanas were engaged to perform yagnas and yagas. Kings respected them and gave them money generously.
2. Development of literature: The Rashtrakuta period witnessed great literary activity in both Kannada and Sanskrit. Amogahavarsha himself was a scholar and he wrote ‘Prashnottara Ratnamala’ in Sanskrit. He patronised scholars like Jjnasenacharya who wrote Adipurana and Parshwabhyudaya, Mahaveeracharya who wrote Ganita Sara Sangraha and Shakatayana who was the author of Shabdanushasana.
Srivijaya wrote ‘Kavirajamarga’, which was the earliest work of Kannada literature. It refers to the fact that Karnataka extended from Cauvery to Godavari. Asaga wrote Vardhamana Purana, Halayudha wrote Kavirahasya and Mruta Sanjeevini and Trivikrama wrote Madalasachampu.
3. Pampa was given patronage by Arikeshari -II: Pampa is respected as the ‘‘Adikavi’ of Kannada. He wrote Vikramarjuna Vijaya (Pampabharatha) and Adipurana (Champu Work). Ponna was called ‘Ubhaya Kavichakravarthi’ and he lived in the court of Krishna – III. He wrote Bhuvanaika Ramabhyudaya, Jinaks- haramala, and Shanthinathapurana.
Pushpadantha wrote Mahapurana and Nayakumar Charite. Shivakotyacharya wrote Vaddaradhane, which is accepted as the first prose work of old Kannada. Harisena and Gunabhadra were other well-known writers.
4. Art and Architecture: The contributions of the Rashtrakutas to the field of art and architecture are memorable. The architectural monuments of the Rashtrakutas are found at Ellora, Elephanta, Naregal, Malkheda, Mudhola, Lakshmeshwara, Jogeshwari, Mandape- shwara, etc., The Pallava (Dravidian) style of architecture was adopted by the Rashtrakutas.
Temples were built consisting of Pradakshanapatha, Mukhamantapa, Sabhamantapa, Antarala, and Garbhagruha. The Rashtrakuta contributions to art and architecture are reflected in the splendid rock-cut (Cave) shrines at Ellora, Ajantha, and Elephanta. There are 34 cave temples at Ellora. They belong to Buddhist, Hindu and Jain deties.
5. The Kailasanatha Temple: The most extensive temple is the Kailasanatha temple at Ellora, (Aurangabad Dist) built by Krishna – I in the 8th century C.E. The temple is divided into four main parts. It was carved out of a single rock. This storied temple is supported by life-size elephants at the base. It is 276 ft long, 154 feet wide and 107 feet deep. On the walls of the temples are the figures like Ravana lifting mount Kailasa, adorned with Nandi, Vishnu, Bairava, Laxmi, Shiva and Parvathi which attracts one’s attention.
There are other such scenes of carvings in bas relief like Shiva in dancing pose and Vishnu and Lakshmi listening to the music. Some other noteworthy and famous rock cuts are Ravana’s cave Rameshwara cave No. 21. Neelakhanta cave, Jagannatha sabha. Dasavathara cave – 15 etc.,
6. Dashavatara Cave: It consists of two storeys and the underground hall measures 97 ft × 50 ft. The sculptured figures of Vishnu and Shiva, and the scene of death of Hiranyakashipu are excellent.
7. Elephanta Caves (Trimufthi Temple): Elephanta is an island near Bombay. It has a big hall, 130 feet long and 129 feet wide. It has three entrances leading to the hall. At the end of this hall is the garbhagruha with Linga. Opposite to the central hall at the back, is the gigantic image of Thrimurthi which is 25 feet high.
Dwarapalaka, Ardhanareshwara, Shiva – Parvathi and other bas – reliefs have been beautifully carved. The paintings in the cave temples of Ellora are a witness to the fact that the Rashtrakutas patronised paintings.
