History of the Pallavas of Kanchi c9.s2.101

c9.s2.101

As regards the actual period of Simhavarman (II) we have already pointed out that being probably identical with the king of the name referred to in the Penugoṇḍa plates of the Western Ganga king Mādhavavarman II, his reign must have been at the same period as that of Harivarman the Ganga prince whom he is said to have installed on the throne. Judged palæographically the characters of the Penugoṇḍa plates point to their having been inscribed in the fifth century A.D. Dr. Fleet was also of opinion¹ that ‘A.D. 475 seems a very good date for it.’ If the plates which are dated in the reign of Mādhava II, are dated about the year A.D. 475, Simhavarman the contemporary of Ayyavarman whom he installed on the Ganga throne must have flourished immediately before. Hence it is not improbable that Simhavarman II began his rule sometime about the third decade of the fifth century which is also the date that we arrive at by the *Lokavibhāga* datum, equating the twenty-second year of Simhavarman with the Śaka year 380. This yields for Simhavarman, as we saw, the year A.D. 436 as the initial year, which tallies both with the palæographical indications of Penukoṇḍa and the Ōmgōḍu plates as well as the other considerations relating to the date of the Pallava kings who followed him. A calculation backward from the known date of Simhavishṇu also leads us to the same period.