History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c17.s2.9

c17.s2.9

The statement is strictly true. Virakūrcha, the founder of the Pallava Dynasty, was invested with the insignia of full sovereignty by his marriage with the Nāga Princess, daughter of the Nāga emperor.² The Nāga emperor at the time, in the latter half of the third century, was the Bhāraśiva Nāga whose dominions extended through Nagpur and Bastar up to the confines of the Andhra country. Virakūrcha [or, °-korcha], an inscription of whose grandson found in Andhradeśa mentioning him as beginning the line gives him the feudatory title of ‘Mahārāja’ and the description of one who though endowed with the highest Brāhmaṇa-hood (*parama-brahmaṇya*) attained the position of a Kshatriya³, was thus a member of the Bhāraśiva empire with the position of a sub-king. In the Andhra country itself there had been no Nāga dynasty before. There were the Ikshvākus⁴ and before the Ikshvākus there were the Sātavāhanas. The Nāgas who installed Virakūrcha Pallava must have enjoyed an imperial position and must have been on the borders of the Andhra kingdom. These conditions are fulfilled only by the imperial Bhārasiva Nāgas.