History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c14.s4.t1.116

c14.s4.t1.116

34. This Vanaspara was so important that his descendants, the Banāphars of Bundelkhand, retained military reputation down to the Chandel times. They were considered low in origin and found it difficult to marry into Rajput families and their position is low still to-day. A dialect—Banāpharī—in Bundelkhand goes by their name. Vimvasphāṭi established himself at Padmāvatī (according to the Bhāgavata) and up to Magadha (according to all the Purāṇas). The Purāṇas record that he was very brave, that he conquered capitals, i.e. from Padmāvatī to Bihar; that in war he was powerful like Vishnu; that he looked like a eunuch. The Purāṇas here anticipated the description which Gibbon, the great historian, gave to the Huns:—‘as they were almost destitute of beards, they never enjoyed the manly graces of youth or the venerable aspect of age’. Vanaspara evidently had a Hun-like, Mongolian appearance. His policy is specially noted. He made the population practically Brahmin-less (prajāś ch-ā-brahma-bhūyiṣṭhāḥ). He depressed the high-class Hindus and raised low-caste men and foreigners to high positions. He abolished the Kshatriyas and created a new ruling caste. He made his subjects un-Brahmanical. The same policy was followed by the later Kushans as we shall see hereafter (§ 146 B)—a policy of social tyranny, and religious fanaticism—both actuated by political motives. Vanaspara created a new ruling or official class out of the Kaivartas (a low caste of aboriginal agriculturists, now called Kewat) and out of the Pañchakas, i.e. castes lower than the Śūdras—the untouchables. He imported [into Bundelkhand-to-Bihar] the Madrakas who had their home in the Punjab, and the Chakas and Pulindas or Chaka-Pulindas or Pulinda-Yavus¹. The detail about the first class of men imported for administrative purposes from the north to the east is useful as showing the policy of importing mercenaries from one part of India into another. The Chaka-Pulindas are really Śaka-Pulindas, Śaka often being rendered as Chaka in India, e.g. in the Garga-saṃhitā.² They are qualified as yapu- or yavu-Pulindas and are called Pulinda-yavu and Pulinda-abrāhmaṇānām.³ In other words, they were non-Brahmanical Scythic Pulindas, as opposed to the Indian Pulindas. They seem to be the Pāladas or Pālada-Śākas who appear prominently in the fourth century and the beginning of the fifth century on account of their coinage and their acceptance of the coinage of Samudra Gupta and Chandra Gupta.⁴