Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c16.9

c16.9

An inscription on copper-plates found in the *chaitya* of one of the caves at Kânheri is dated in the 245th year of a dynasty, which, if the word has been correctly lithographed, is called Strakûṭaka ⁶ But the published copy of the inscription was made in the time of Dr Bird and the plates themselves are not now available for re-examination This Strakûṭaka, may be a mislection for Râshṭrakûṭa But it is not unlikely Traikûṭaka, as the late Paṇḍit Bhagvânlâl contended He has published a copper-plate charter issued from the camp of the victorious army of Traikûṭakas by a prince of the name of Darhasena⁷ in the year 207 Traikûṭaka was thus probably the name of a race and the prince belonged to it And the Kânheri inscription would show that this dynasty had an era of its own From the form of the characters in the inscription, it appears that it was engraved in the latter part of the fifth century of the Christian era, so that the Traikûṭaka dynasty was founded about the middle of [47] the third century, *i e*, after the extinction of the Sâtavâhanas But further information about the dynasty is not available, and we do not know over what extent of country it ruled But since the epoch of the era appears to be the same as that of the era used by the kings of Chedi, possibly the race of the Haihayas or Kalachuris which ruled over that province rose to power about 249 A D and held sway over a part of the Dekkan including the western coast up to the country of Lâṭ They were afterwards driven away by some other race and had to confine themselves to Chedi The resemblance between the names Tripura the capital of the dynasty and Trikûṭa is perhaps not fortuitous