History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c14.s3.4

c14.s3.4

‘In his line there will be kings, and therein he who was a daughter’s son, popularly called the Infant, became king at Purikā.² In place of rājānas tatra yas tu (dauhitraḥ), some manuscripts read rājānas taṃ [or, te] trayas tu vai, which is a clear misreading, because the article ‘te’ before ‘trayaḥ’ would not be needed, and taṃ would give no meaning. If the reading ‘trayaḥ’ (three) be there, which I doubt, it will have to be interpreted as three lines of kings arising from Yaśaḥ Nandi and not three kings, in view of what the Viṣṇu says later, that the Nava Nāgas³ ruled from three capitals, Padmāvatī, Mathurā, and Kāntipurī. The dynasty of Y a s a ḥ N a n d ī, or at least one line of it, lapsed and got merged into ‘the d a u g h t e r ’ s s o n’, popularly known as the ‘Infant’. The Nāgas had, under the evident pressure of the Kushans, left Padmāvatī. We have the definite statement in the Purāṇas that Vinvasphāṇi ruled at Padmāvatī and ruled up to Magadha (§§ 33-34). Therefore, we may take it that about 80-100 A.D. the Nāga dynasty takes shelter, away from the trunk road between Mathurā and Vidiśā, into the inaccessible jungles of the Central Provinces (§ 31 A).