History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c15.s1.11

c15.s1.11

54. Pravarasena I was the first king who superseded the old orthodox imperial title of Dviraśvamedha-Yājin, ‘Performer of Two Aśvamedhas,’ which had been revived some five centuries before, after a lapse of several centuries, by P u ṣ y a m i t r a Ś u ṅ g a, Emperor of Āryāvarta, and by Śrī Sātakarṇi I, Emperor of Dakṣiṇāpatha. The Emperor Pravarasena performed Four Aśvamedhas, and also Bṛihaspati-sava—a ritual open only to Brahmins. Along with them he performed Vājapeyas and several other Vedic sacrifices. Unlike the Bhāraśivas, he assumed the title of Samrāṭ, to which he was fully entitled as he seems to have brought the South also under his control (§§ 82, 176), and achieved a result which had been unachieved after the imperial Mauryas. A great portion of northern Dakṣiṇāpatha, we find, becoming integral part of his dominions.