[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882) › c8.s3.81 # The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s3.81 The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s3.81 - **Language:** English ### [c8.s3.81](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c8.s3.81) have been held in the time of Asoka, is represented to have sent missionaries to Mahâraṭṭha, Aparântaka, and Vanavâsi.¹ Whether the name Mahâraṭṭha or Mahârâṣṭra had come into use in the time of Asoka does not appear clear from this, but that it was used in the early centuries of the Christian era admits of little doubt. In some inscriptions in the cave-temples at Bhâjâ, Beḍsâ, and Kârli which are to be referred to the second century, the male donors are called Mahâraṭhi and the female Mahâraṭhiṇî, which names, as observed before, correspond to Mahâbhoja and Mahâbhojî and signify the great Raṭhi (man and woman).² Similarly, in the large cave at Nânâghâṭ a Mahâraṭhi hero is mentioned. Of the old Prâkrits the principal one was called Mahârâṣṭrî, because we are told it was the language of Mahârâṣṭra. We have a poem in this dialect entitled Setubandha attributed to Kâlidâsa and mentioned by Daṇḍin, and a collection of amorous verses attributed to Sâlivâhana. It is the language of Prâkrit verses put into the mouths of women in Sanskrit dramatic plays. Its grammar we have in Vararuchi's Prâkṛit Prakâśa; but the date of this author is uncertain, though there is reason to believe that he was one of the nine gems of the court of Vikramâditya and was thus a contemporary of Varâhamihira and Kâlidâsa. Though the date of Kâlidâsa has not yet been satisfactorily determined, still he is mentioned as a poet of great merit in the first half of the seventh century by Bâṇa in his Harshacharita in the north,³ and in an inscription at Aihole⁴ dated 556 Saka in the south. A hundred years is not too long a period to allow for the spread of his fame throughout the country, perhaps it is too short. Kâlidâsa may therefore be referred to that period of Sanskrit literature in which the nine gems flourished, and which has been placed by Dr. Kern in the first half of the sixth century.⁵ The Mahârâṣṭrî dialect, therefore, in which Kâlidâsa wrote the Setubandha and the Prâkṛit verses in his plays, must have undergone a course of cultivation for about two or three centuries earlier and been called by that name, since it has been known by no other in the whole literature. Varâhamihira also, who lived in the beginning of the sixth century, speaks of Mahârâṣṭra as a southern country; and in the Aihole inscription alluded to above Mahârâṣṭra is mentioned as comprising three countries and ninety-nine thousand villages. Hwan Thsang, the Chinese traveller, calls the country ruled over by the Châlukyas in the second quarter of the seventh century, Moholocha, which has been properly identified with Mahârâshṭra. The occurrence of the name of Mahârâshṭra in the Purâṇas has already been noticed. - [Previous: c8.s3.80](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c8.s3.80) - [Next: c8.s3.82](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c8.s3.82) - [Up: c8.s3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c8.s3) ## Linked texts (5) - [Setubandha](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.kavya.prakrit.setubandha) — Pravarasena II, Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit - [Prākṛtaprakāśa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.vyakarana.prakrit.prakrtaprakasa) — Vararuci, Sanskrit - [Harṣacarita](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.historical.harsacarita) — Bāṇabhaṭṭa, Sanskrit - [Bhaja Caves](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.monument.bhaja-caves) - [Kârli Caves](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.karli-caves) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c8.s3.81](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.fleet-1882.c8.s3.81) · Pramāṇa