History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c17.s2.78

c17.s2.78

It became customary after Vishnu Gopa I to call every ancestor ‘Mahārāja,’ whether he had succeeded to the Pallava throne or not, as in the case of Vishnu Gopa I himself, whom his son calls only Yuvamahārāja but his grandson gives the title of Mahārāja. So the plates of Kumāra Vishnu III call his each ancestor ‘Mahārāja’. Unless we get actual grants from them we cannot be certain of their succession even in a secondary line of rulers. On the evidence of the plates only one line seems to have ruled, and till now we have no evidence of the existence of more than one ruling line of the dynasty. Vishnu Gopa I, who alone could have been the contemporary of Samudra Gupta, was regent in Simhavarman II's time and was in charge of the government at Kāñchī; hence he would be called Kāñcheyaka. Members of the family might have been temporary local governors with titles of ‘Mahārāja,’ i.e. ‘Governor’ or ‘Yuvamahārāja,’ i.e. ‘Lieutenant Governor’.