History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c15.s4.1

c15.s4.1

91. The period of Prithivīsheṇa I [348 A.D.-c. 375 A.D.], with his conquest of Kuntala [c. 360 A.D.]³, is more allied to the former period. The later Vākāṭaka period begins with Rudrasena II [c. 375-395 A.D.] which is uneventful, except for his change of faith to Vaishnavism, under the influence of his fatherin-law, Chandra Gupta II. After him the rule of his widow Prabhāvatī Guptā as Regent to her minor sons extends for about 20 years, probably a year or two beyond that of Chandra Gupta II. Her son Pravarasena II was a contemporary of Kumāra Gupta and seems to have died not at a very ripe age, as the son of Pravarasena II succeeded at the age of eight. According to the Ajaṇṭā inscription, the son of Pravarasena II 'ruled well' which is rendered in the Bālāghāṭ plates¹ as 'he who took upon himself (the responsibility of) the dynastic majesty, on account of the special qualities he had acquired by his previous training [pūrvvādhigata-guṇa viśeṣād-apahṛita-vaṃśa-śriyaḥ]'. Having succeeded at the age of 8, in his Yauvarājya he 'acquired' (adhigata) the necessary qualification and he shouldered the burden of government himself (taking it over from the regency). In this sense apahṛita is well-known in the Gupta literature, e.g. paścātputrairapahṛitabhāraḥ (Vikramorvaśī, Act 3) where apahṛita does not denote taking by force.³ The Ajaṇṭā inscription which makes the son and heir of Pravarasena II come on the throne at the age of 8, leaves no room for a rebellion by a younger prince. His name is lost in the Ajaṇṭā inscription but is preserved in the Bālāghāṭ plates as Narendrasena. That the prince ruled well is corroborated by the Bālāghāṭ inscription where Narendrasena is described to have kept his feudatories of Kosalā, Mekalā and Mālava obedient to him. The overlordship on Kuntala or a strong political alliance therewith is inferable from the fact of the marriage of Narendrasena with Lady Ajjhitā, daughter of the King of Kuntala. Narendrasena, according to the chronology proposed above, flourished about 435-470 A.D. The king of Kuntala with whom he had his political alliance through his marriage with the Princess Ajjhitā at that time was Kākustha, the Kadamba, who according to the Kadamba inscription on the Talagunda pillar (E.I., VIII, p. 33; cf. Moraes, Kadamba Kula, pp. 26-27) contracted political marriages with several great families including the Guptas. This monarch reached the zenith of the Kadamba power (c. 430 A.D.). Kākustha, as the Yuvarāja, in the reign of his brother used the Gupta era (§ 128 n.). On account of the marriage alliance his position improved. The Gupta marriages put the Kadambas and the Vākāṭakas on more or less an independent status. By or in the reign of Kumāra Gupta I Narendrasena's position must have been greatly strengthened as against his own feudatories and neighbours by his putting an end to the family feud with the Kadambas.