Chapter VI

. page 57.

[145] Cunningham's Arch. Sur. X. 127; XV. 29-30.

[146] This coin of Rudrasena may have been taken so far from Gujarát by the Gujarát monk in whose honour the stúpa was built.

[147] Ísvaradatta's name ends in datta as does also that of Sivadatta the father of king Ísvarasena of the Násik inscription.

[148] Dr. Bhagvánlál's suggestion that Vijayasena (A.D. 238-249) was defeated by the Ábhír or Ahír king Ísvaradatta who entered Gujarát from the North Konkan seems open to question. First as regards the suggestion that Vijayasena was the Kshatrapa whose power Ísvaradatta overthrew it is to be noticed that though the two coinless years (A.D. 249-251) between the last coin of Vijayasena and the earliest coin of Dámájadasrí agree with the recorded length of Ísvaradatta's supremacy the absence of coins is not in itself proof of a reverse or loss of Kshatrapa power between the reigns of Vijayasena and Dámájadasrí. It is true the Pandit considers that Ísvaradatta's coins closely resemble those of Vijayasena. At the same time he also (Násik Stat. Acct. 624) thought them very similar to Víradáman's (A.D. 236-238) coins. Víradáman's date so immediately precedes Vijayasena's that in many respects their coins must be closely alike. It is to be noted that A.D. 230-235 the time of rival Kshatrapas among whom Víradáman was one (especially the time between A.D. 236 and 238 during which none of the rivals assumed the title Mahákshatrapa) was suitable to (perhaps was the result of) a successful invasion by Ísvaradatta, and that this same invasion may have been the cause of the transfer of the capital, noted in the Periplus (A.D. 247) as having taken place some years before, from Ozene or Ujjain to Minnagara or Junágadh (McCrindle, 114, 122). On the other hand the fact that Vijayasena regained the title of Mahákshatrapa and handed it to his successor Dámájadasrí III. would seem to shew that no reverse or humiliation occurred during the coinless years (A.D. 249-251) between their reigns, a supposition which is supported by the flourishing state of the kingdom at the time of the Periplus (A.D. 247) and also by the evidence that both the above Kshatrapas ruled near Karád in Sátára. At the same time if the difference between Víradáman's and Vijayasena's coins is sufficient to make it unlikely that Ísvaradatta's can be copies of Víradáman's it seems possible that the year of Ísvaradatta's overlordship may be the year A.D. 244 (K. 166) in which Vijayasena's coins bear the title Kshatrapa, and that the assumption of this lower title in the middle of a reign, which with this exception throughout claims the title Mahákshatrapa, may be due to the temporary necessity of acknowledging the supremacy of Ísvaradatta. With reference to the Pandit's suggestion that Ísvaradatta was an Ábhíra the fact noted above of a trace of Kshatrapa rule at Karád thirty-one miles south of Sátára together with the fact that they held Aparánta or the Konkan makes it probable that they reached Karád by Chiplún and the Kumbhárli pass. That the Kshatrapas entered the Dakhan by so southerly a route instead of by some one of the more central Thána passes, seems to imply the presence of some hostile power in Násik and Khándesh. This after the close of the second century A.D. could hardly have been the Ándhras or Sátakarnis. It may therefore be presumed to have been the Ándhras' successors the Ábhíras. As regards the third suggestion that Kshatrapa Gujarát was overrun from the North Konkan it is to be noted that the evidence of connection between Ísvarasena of the Násik inscription (Cave X. No. 15) and Ísvaradatta of the coins is limited to a probable nearness in time and a somewhat slight similarity in name. On the other hand no inscription or other record points to Ábhíra ascendancy in the North Konkan or South Gujarát. The presence of an Ábhíra power in the North Konkan seems inconsistent with Kshatrapa rule at Kalyán and Karád in the second half of the third century. The position allotted to Aberia in the Periplus (McCrindle, 113) inland from Surastrene, apparently in the neighbourhood of Thar and Párkar; the finding of Ísvaradatta's coins in Káthiáváda (Násik Gazetteer, XIII. 624); and (perhaps between A.D. 230 and 240) the transfer westwards of the head-quarters of the Kshatrapa kingdom seem all to point to the east rather than to the south, as the side from which Ísvaradatta invaded Gujarát. At the same time the reference during the reign of Rudrasimha I. (A.D. 181) to the Ábhíra Rudrabhúti who like his father was Senápati or Commander-in-Chief suggests that Ísvaradatta may have been not a foreigner but a revolted general. This supposition, his assumption of the title Mahákshatrapa, and the finding of his coins only in Káthiáváda to a certain extent confirm.

[149] Cave Temple Inscriptions, Bom. Arch. Sur. Sep. Number XI. page 57ff.

[150] J. B. B. R. A. S. XVI. 346.

[151] Epigraphia Indica, II. 19.

[152] Ind. Ant. XIII. 81ff.

[153] Ep. Ind. II. 20.

[154] Ind. Ant. VII. 248ff. Dr. Bhandárkar (Early Hist. of the Deccan, 42 note 7) has given reasons for believing this grant to be a forgery.

[155] Ind. Ant. XVIII. 265ff.

[156] J. B. B. R. A. S. XVI. 1ff.; Trans. Vienna Or. Congress, 210ff.

[157] Ind. Ant. XIII. 70ff. and V. 109ff.

[158] Trans. Vienna Or. Congress, 210ff.

[159] Fleet's Kánarese Dynasties, 27.

[160] Fleet's Kánarese Dynasties, 27.

[161] Ind. Ant. XIV. 75 and Jour. B. B. R. A. S. XVI. 1ff.

[162] Mr. Fleet (Corp. Ins. Ind. III. 9) and Sir A. Cunningham (Arch. Sur. IX. 77) agree in fixing A.D. 250 as the initial date of the Chedi era. Prof. Kielhorn has worked out the available dates and finds that the first year of the era corresponds to A.D. 249-50. Ind. Ant. XVII. 215.

[163] Válmíki's Rámáyana, Ganpat Krishnaji's Edition: Raghuvamsa, IV. 59.

[164] For details see above page 48.

[165] Tripura four miles west of Jabalpur; Kálanjara 140 miles north of Jabalpur.

[166] That the era used by the Gurjjaras and Chalukyas of Gujarát was the Chedi era may be regarded as certain since the discovery of the Sankhedá grant of Nirihullaka (Ep. Ind. II. 21), who speaks of a certain Sankarana as his overlord. Palæographically this grant belongs to the sixth century, and Dr. Bühler has suggested that Sankarana is the Chedi Sankaragana whose son Buddharája was defeated by Mangalísa some time before A.D. 602 (Ind. Ant. XIX. 16). If this is accepted, the grant shows that the Chedis or Kalachuris were in power in the Narbadá valley during the sixth century, which explains the prevalence of their era in South Gujarát. Chedi rule in the Narbadá valley must have come to an end about A.D. 580 when Dadda I. established himself at Broach. It being established that the Kalachuris once ruled in South Gujarát, there is no great difficulty in the way of identifying the Traikútakas with them. The two known Traikútaka grants are dated in the third century of their era, and belong palæographically to the fifth century A.D. Their era, therefore, like that of the Kalachuris, begins in the third century A.D.: and it is simpler to suppose that the two eras were the same than that two different eras, whose initial points were only a few years apart, were in use in the same district. Now that the Saka and the Vikrama eras are known to have had different names at different times, the change in the name of the era offers no special difficulty. This identification would carry back Kalachuri rule in South Gujarát to at least A.D. 456-6, the date of the Párdi grant: and it is worth noting that Varáhamihira (Br. Samh. XIV. 20) places the Haihayas or Kalachuris in the west along with the Aparántakas or Konkanis.

Though the name Traikútaka means of Trikúta, the authorities quoted by Dr. Bhagvánlál do not establish the existence of a city called Trikúta. They only vouch for a mountain of that name somewhere in the Western Gháts, and there is no evidence of any special connection with Junnar. Further, the word Trikútakam seems to mean rock-salt, not sea-salt, so that there is here no special connection with the Western coast. Wherever Trikúta may have been, there seems no need to reject the tradition that connects the rise of the Kalachuris with their capture of Kálanjara (Cunningham's Arch. Surv. IX. 77ff), as it is more likely that they advanced from the East down the Narbadá than that their original seats were on the West Coast, as the Western Indian inscriptions of the third and fourth centuries contain no reference either to Traikútakas or to Junnar or other western city as Trikúta.

With reference to the third suggestion that the Traikútakas twice overthrew the Kshatrapas, under Ísvaradatta in A.D. 248 and under Rudragana in A.D. 310-320, it is to be noted that there is no evidence to show that Ísvaradatta was either an Ábhíra or a Traikútaka and that the identification of his date with A.D. 248-250 seems less probable than with either A.D. 244 or A.D. 236. (Compare above Footnote page 53). Even if Ísvaradatta's supremacy coincided with A.D. 250 the initial date of the Traikútaka era, it seems improbable that a king who reigned only two years and left no successor should have had any connection with the establishment of an era which is not found in use till two centuries later. As regards Rudragana it may be admitted that he belonged to the race or family who weakened Kshatrapa power early in the fourth century A.D. At the same time there seems no reason to suppose that Rudragana was a Traikútaka or a Kalachuri except the fact that his name, like that of Sankaragana, is a compound of the word gana and a name of Siva; while the irregular posthumous use of the title Mahákshatrapa among the latest (23rd to 26th) Kshatrapas favours the view that they remained independent till their overthrow by the Guptas about A.D. 410. The conclusion seems to be that the Traikútaka and the Kalachuri eras are the same namely A.D. 248-9: that this era was introduced into Gujarát by the Traikútakas who were connected with the Haihayas; and that the introduction of the era into Gujarát did not take place before the middle of the fifth century A.D.--(A. M. T. J.)

[167] Váyu Purána, Wilson's Works, IX. 219n.

[168] Vishnu Purána, III.