History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c14.s4.t1.113

c14.s4.t1.113

33. The Purāṇas, to complete the history of Padmāvatī and Magadha before the rise of the Nava Nāgas and the Guptas, insert the history of Vanashpara, spelt in the Purāṇas as Viśvasphaṭi(ka), Viśvasphāṇi and Vimvasphāṭi,⁴ where Kharoshṭhī n has been misread and misreproduced as ś,⁵ as in the case of Kunāla misspelt as Kuśāla. Vimvasphāṭi and Vi(n)vasphāṭi stand for the name found in inscriptions at Sarnath, spelt as Vanashpara and Vanaspara. We know from two Sarnath inscriptions (E.I., Vol. VIII, p. 173) that Vanaspara ruled as governor of the province wherein Benares was situated, under the reign of Kanishka in his year 3. Vanashpara (Vanaspara) was at that time only a governor (Kshatrapa), while his chief Kharapallāna was a Mahākshatrapa (Viceroy). Vanashpara would have become a Mahākshatrapa later. We may, therefore, place him at about 90 A.D. to 120 A.D., for he seems to have had a long rule. This is the period when the Vidiśā Nāgas must seek security in obscurity.