Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c23.14

c23.14

It now remains to notice the last point relied on by the opponents of Albîrûnî. The date on a copper-plate grant by the last Śîlâditya of Valabhî hitherto known is 447. This Śîlâditya is also styled Dhruvabhaṭa in the grant and has been identified with the Tu-lu-h'o-po-tou or Dhruvabhaṭa of Hwan Thsang who visited Valabhî in 640 A.D. The date 447 is understood as referring to the Gupta era, and, 319 being added it, corresponds to 766 A.D. It has therefore been argued that an earlier initial date must be assigned to the Gupta era so as to bring this Śîlâditya or Dhruvabhaṭa nearer to the date of Hwan Thsang's visit. But the identification of the last Śîlâditya with Hwan Thsang's Dhruvabhaṭa cannot stand. In the Si-yu-ki the Chinese writer does not speak of a king but of kings, and says they were nephews of Śîlâditya of Mâlvâ and the younger of them named Dhruvabhaṭa was son-in-law to the son of Harshavardhana. If they were nephews of the king of Mâlvâ they were brothers and both of them kings. Now, the predecessor of the last Śîlâditya of Valabhî was his father, and among the kings of Valabhî we do not find brothers reigning in succession at this period. There were two brothers who occupied the throne before this period, one of them