History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c16.s2.50

c16.s2.50

¹ In the Kadamba Kula [pp. 13–18] dates are given on the assumption that Mayūraśarman began his rule as a result of Samudra Gupta’s southern conquests. But this is not correct. Mayūra, according to the Talagunda record, started his career as a political bandit and was given a fief by the ‘Pallava Emperor’ whose service he entered as a general and who anointed him as his Senāpati [paṭṭa-bandha-sampūjām, E.I., VIII. 32. Senāpatis received paṭṭabandha (‘pagree’-binding ceremony), according to the Rājā-Niti-mayūkha]. No aśvamedha by him is recorded in the Talagunda inscription of his great-grandson. It was probably in his last years that he assumed kingship. Cf. A.R.S.M., 1929, p. 50. His son Kaṅga was the first to assume the royal designation °varman. Mayūraśarman’s time should be regarded as 325-345 A.D. and that of his son Kaṅga, 345-360 A.D. This is confirmed by the date of Kākusthavarman on his plate which he issued as yuvarāja. It is dated in the 80th year. The Kadambas never founded any era of their own. We do not find there the era in which the 80th year is given, before or after any more. Prithiviṣeṇa conquered the king of Kuntala, i.e. the Kadamba king who could be no other than Kaṅga. Prithiviṣeṇa himself at the time was under Samudra Gupta, and Kākustha gave a daughter in marriage to the Guptas. The era used by the Yuvarāja Kākustha must be the Gupta era. In 400 A.D. [80 G.E.] Kākustha was the Yuvarāja to his elder brother Raghu. The time of his great-grandfather would thus be about 320-340 A.D. or 325-345 A.D.; that of Kaṅga who abdicated, about 340-355 or 345 to 360 A.D.; and of Kākustha, about 410-430 A.D. The dates proposed by Mr. Moraes in his Kadamba Kula for the Early Kadambas should go higher up by some 20 years.