History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c17.s2.75

c17.s2.75

I have extended the genealogy beyond our period to bring out the utility of the Velurpalaiyam plates [S.I.I., II, 501]. These plates furnish the early history of the dynasty with which we are dealing, and are important otherwise. They give the rise of the family with Virakūrcha and then give the genealogy from Skandavarman II. On the succession of Nandivarman I, it gives the important information that when Vishnu Gopa (II) was dead and the other kings were all gone, Nandivarman succeeded. It means that after the extinction of the line of Vishnu Gopa and the line of Kumāra Vishnu III the succession opened to him. One Nandivarman, is mentioned in the Udayendiram plates [E.I., III, 142] as coming after Skandavarman III, son of Simhavarman I, but this plate is spurious, being in characters, as already pointed out, several centuries later; no reliance can be placed on it. Nandivarman I flourished in the line of Kumāra Vishnu II according to the Velurpalaiyam document. On the death of Simhavarman I his son Skandavarman III succeeded, and on the failure of his line, Yuvarāja Vishnu Gopa's son Simhavarman II succeeded. Vishnu Gopa evidently did not accept the throne. He ruled but did not reign (§ 187). According to the Narasaraopet plates [M.E.R., 1914, p. 82] Simhavarman II's son Vishnu Gopa II succeeded his father. This is confirmed by the list given in Vayalur pillar inscription.¹ After Vishnu Gopa II the members of the third line from Skandavarman II came in—first, Buddhavarman and his son Kumāra Vishnu III, and then his cousin Nandivarman. This is the meaning of ‘sa-Vishnugope cha Narendrabrinde² gate tato ’jāyata Nandivarmā’.