The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s8.16

c8.s8.16

It now remains to notice the last point relied on by the opponents of Albiruni. The date on a copper-plate grant by the last Śîlâditya of Valabhî hitherto known is 447. This Śîlâditya is also styled Dhrûbhaṭa in the grant and has been identified with the Tu-lu-va-po-tou or Dhruva-bhaṭa 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 Dhrûbhaṭa 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 being named Dharasena and the other Dhruvasena. They were the sons of Kharagraha, and the younger of them was the father and predecessor of Dharasena IV. This younger brother or Dhruvasena must have been Hwan Thsang's Dhruvabhaṭa. Nothing important is involved in the suffix Bhaṭa. It was a mere title or honorific termination as Pant and Râv are among us the Marâṭhâs. Sena, Simha, and Bhaṭa were the Valabhî honorific endings, and they could be used promiscuously. The king spoken of in the plates as Dhruvabhaṭa may have been called Dhruvabhaṭa by ordinary people, from whom Hwan Thsang must have got the name. Now, a copper-plate grant of Dhruvasena bears the date 310, and the earliest date of his successor Dharasena IV. is 326. The first corresponds to 629 A.D. (310 + 241 + 78 = 629), and the second to 645 (326 + 241 + 78 = 645). It is quite possible, therefore, that Dhruvasena was on the throne in 640 A.D. at the time when Hwan Thsang visited Valabhî.