History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c15.s3.51

c15.s3.51

82. The history of Southern India of the time is treated separately in this book (Pt. IV), but it is necessary to anticipate a few facts at this point to understand the Vākāṭaka and the Gupta history and its relation with the South. The Vākāṭaka Empire under their direct rule bordered on the frontiers of Kuntala. This is evident from the frequent clashes which occur on the subsequent rise of the strong Kadamba kingdom of Kuntala-Karṇāṭa. To be a neighbour of Kuntala, the direct Vākāṭaka government must cover Koṅkaṇa and the area of the Southern Maratha States, i.e., their sway must have penetrated to the other side of the Bālāghāṭ Range. The territory to the east was occupied by ‘the Āndhras’ who were within the Vākāṭaka zone; Kaliṅga and Kosalā also being under the Vākāṭaka overlordship. Before the time of Pravarasena I, almost contemporaneous with Vindhyaśakti, the Pallavas established in Andhra-deśa a seat for themselves. The Pallavas, like Vindhyaśakti, were Brahmins of the Bhāradvāja gotra. They, about the time of Pravarasena I, like him, perform Aśvamedha, Vājapeya and other Vedic sacrifices and try to succeed to the imperial throne of the Sātavāhanas, the Emperors of Dakṣiṇāpatha. Here history was being repeated as in the time of Pushyamitra Śuṅga and Sātakarṇi [I] Sātavāhana. The Pallavas are described in the Purāṇas under the designation ‘the Andhra Kings’—‘the kings of Andhradeśa’, as ruling over Mekalā with Andhra, and are specified as ‘the descendants (santati) of the Vindhyakas, i.e., Vindyaśakti (§ 176). A dynasty which lasted for about three generations preceded the Pallavas. They were the Ikshvākus who, on the heel of the extinction of the Sātavāhana line, try to succeed the Sātavāhanas, announcing their intention by an aśvamedha. Their capital was at Śrī Parvata which is now called Nāgārjuni koṇḍa in the Guntur district. They are known from the inscriptions of their relations at the newly discovered stūpa at Nāgārjuni koṇḍa and from inscriptions at Jaggayya-peṭa. The Ikshvākus disappear at the rise of Vindyaśakti and the Pallavas. The Pallavas were Brahmins and the Sātavāhanas had been Brahmins. There was a great Brahmin tradition of imperialism in the South, and it was so strong that the moment the Pallavas were defeated by Samudra Gupta, the Kadamba feudatory of the Pallavas, Mayūra-śarman, and his son Kaṅga, who were Brahmins, not accepting the abolition of the Southern Empire, declared the re-establishment of the Southern Empire. This was not, of course, suffered by Samudra Gupta and Prithivīsheṇa Vākāṭaka.