History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c14.s3.7

c14.s3.7

24. The Purāṇas, when they reach ‘the Infant’ in the Nāga line, again take up the line of V i n d h y a - ś a k t i in the person of Vindhyaśakti's son, about whom they say that he was popularly known¹ as P r a v ī r a, ‘the Great Hero’. The Viṣṇu expressly states that the two, the Infant and the Great Hero, ruled together: ‘Śiśuka-Pravīrau.’ The Vāyu applies to them a plural verb, ‘bhokṣyanti’—a Prakritism for the dual.² The Bhāgavata omits the Infant altogether and only gives Pravīra. It is thus evident that the Purāṇic historians are signifying here that the Infant succeeded to the territories of the Nāga king, his maternal grandfather, and that in the name of the grandson (the Infant), Pravīra son of Vindhyaśakti ruled. The joint rule is emphasised by the word ‘ch=āpi’ (‘Vindhyaśakti-sutaś chāpi’) of the Vāyu and the Brahmāṇḍa. The Viṣṇu expressly places the Infant first while the Vāyu and the Brahmāṇḍa imply it. The Vāyu and the Brahmāṇḍa give a rule of 60 years to Pravīra, at ‘Purī Kāñchanakā’ or at ‘P u r i k ā a n d C h a n a k ā’³, the latter reading being, more likely, correct, owing to the presence of the ‘a n d’ [cha]. All this is fully confirmed, and fully tallies with, the known details of the Bhāra Śiva and Vākāṭaka history as contained in inscriptions (§ 25).