History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c16.s3.11

c16.s3.11

§ 134. It cannot be entertained that the enumeration of the names of the Southern kings and chiefs in the Allahabad record is made at random. The writer Harisheṇa, who was one of Samudra Gupta's marshals and a man intimately associated with the emperor and who held the portfolio of the Minister of Peace and War, must be expected to follow an accurate record of his master's conquests. He was composing history which was intended to be published on an Aśokan pillar for all ages to come. He divided the conquests and submission of All India into Southern, Northern, Western and North-West groups, where he was following a geographical plan with accuracy. The string of names could not have been put in by haphazard. Further, we may assume that the composition must have found approval of the Emperor who was alive when the record was published.¹ Kāñchī, Avamukta, Veṅgī and Palakka are one division. Palakka as Palakkada appears several times in Pallava inscriptions² which refer to grants in the Guntur District, and also to Veṅgorāshṭra which here corresponds with Samudra Gupta's Veṅgī between the Godāvarī and the Krishṇā.