History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c9.17

c9.17

Thus according to this view the Allahabad pillar does not speak of Pollachi, Palghat, Mahēndragiri, Colair lake, Ērandol and Mahārāṣṭra. The identification of Āiraṇḍapalla with Ērandol appears in the light of the facts known from the Siddhāntam plates of Dēvēndravarman to be near Chicacole.² Similarly Dēvarāṣṭra which has been hitherto identified with Mahārāṣṭra, thus misleading scholars into the impression that Samudragupta went to Mahārāṣṭra, figures in an Eastern Chāḷukya grant.³ discovered in the Vizagapatam District. All the kingdoms mentioned in the inscription are situated in the east coast of the Dakhan. Again according to the same authority Samudragupta did not advance as far south as Kāñchi to defeat Viṣṇugopa, but was effectively subjugated by him on the banks of the Godavari or the Krishna. This is merely a hypothesis which has not been proved; there is no evidence against the orthodox view that Samudragupta did advance against Kāñchīpuram and most scholars are inclined to accept this view. There is nothing to sustain the view that the defeat inflicted upon Vishṇugopa and his colleagues have been exaggerated as presumed by Prof. Jouveau-Dubreuil in his *Ancient History of the Deccan*.¹ The distinction made in the Allahabad pillar inscription in regard to the various groups of states Samudragupta came into contact with, is clear evidence of an actual invasion and conquest in regard to these trans-Vindhyan states.