History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c17.s2.20

c17.s2.20

177. We have in the example of the ‘G a ṅ g a D y n a s t y’ a purely assumed dynastic title, unconnected with the gotra or personal name of the founder. Similarly the word Pallava, which means a ‘branch,’ probably stands for the ‘J u n i o r D y n a s t y,’ like the ‘C h u t u s’ of the imperial Sātavāhanas, whom they superseded. As the C h u t u s were to the imperial family of the S ā t a v ā h a n a s, so the P a l l a v a s were to the I m p e r i a l B h ā r a d v ā j a V ā k ā ṭ a k a s:—‘branch’ i.e. the Lesser Dynasty. The first Pallava king bears the name Virakūrcha; kūrcha means a bundle of twigs—almost the same as Pallava. The real name seems to be Vīra which is repeated in the name of his grandson Viravarman (§ 181 ff.). The name of the other son of Vindhyaśakti was P r a v i r a, who was probably the younger, as he had a very long reign. As Pravira married his son to the daughter of the Nāga E m p e r o r and thereby succeeded to the Nāga empire, similarly Vīra had married a Nāga princess and was made king of Andhradeśa [which his father as a Nāga general had probably conquered]. The Pallava inscription correctly relates that the ancestors of Virakūrcha used to assist the Nāga emperors in their government, that is, they were Nāga officers; we have already seen that Vindhyaśakti was at first only an officer, probably the chief general of the Nāga emperors (§ 59). The use of the word Bhāra in the inscription in connection with the burden of government of the Nāga king may or may not have an echo of the Bhāra of the ‘Bhāra Śiva Nāga.’¹