History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c15.s3.70

c15.s3.70

89. The Vākāṭakas established subsidiary dynasties of their relations. According to the Purāṇas, Pravarasena I's four sons were rulers. Mahārāja Śrī Bhīmasena who has left a painted inscription in a cave-temple on the Ginja hill, about 40 miles to the south-west of Allahabad, dated in the 52nd year, was evidently the governor of Kauśāmbī and probably a son of Pravarasena.¹ Important subordinate families (e.g. of Gaṇapati Nāga, Su-Pratikara), as well as the members of the Empire (the Republics), were allowed to mint their own money. In the Gupta system, in Āryāvarta, the only ruling relation was the Vākāṭaka who was practically independent. The Guptas preferred to have servants as governors and practically stopped the coinage of all subordinates. Both allowed their subordinate rulers to employ the title of Mahārāja, after the fashion of Mahākshatrapa, avoiding of course, that term. The Vākāṭaka emperor, however, did not translate the Shāhānushāhī as Mahārājādhirāja, as the Guptas did, but went back to the time-honoured Vedic imperial title Samrāṭ.