Manyakheta

Manyakheta, later known as Malkhed, was the capital of the Rashtrakuta dynasty in the northern Deccan. Inscriptions credit Amoghavarsha I with making the city, and later kings issued grants from their royal seat here. Arab writers knew the capital as Mankir. The city became a centre of political and literary life under a dynasty whose power extended across a wide part of India.

Manyakheta suffered attacks from rival kingdoms. In the late tenth century the Paramara ruler of Malwa plundered the capital, and in 973 the Chalukyas overthrew the Rashtrakutas. The Chalukyas appear to have used Manyakheta as a seat before establishing their capital at Kalyani. Jain religious institutions maintained a presence at the old city, preserving another strand of its long history.