Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c20.s3.9

c20.s3.9

¹ *Cf.* Dikshit, *ASI, AR*, 1927-28, p. 188; S. K. Chatterji, "*The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language,*" II, 1061; IHQ, I, 2. 255. Paṇḍit H. P. Sāstrī believed that this local ruler who bore the modest title of Mahārāja was identical also with the mighty emperor (*bhūmipati prāpta aikādhirājya*) Chandra of the Meharauli Iron Pillar Inscription who "*in battle in the Vaṅga countries turned back with his breast the enemies who uniting together came against him and by whom having crossed in warfare the seven mouths of the Indus the Vāhlikas were conquered.*" Others suggest the identification of the great Chandra with one or other of the famous Chandra Guptas of the Imperial Gupta Dynasty. But Chandra is never styled either Chandravarman or Chandra Gupta and, unlike the court poets of the Varmans and Guptas, the panegyrist of the mighty Chandra, who is said to have carried his arms to the distant corners of India, never gives the slightest hint about his pedigree. He does not even mention the name of his father. It may be noted here that the Purāṇas represent the Nāgas as ruling in the Jumna Valley and Central India early in the fourth century A.D. We learn from the *Vishṇu Purāṇa* that Nāga dynasties ruled at Padmāvatī and Mathurā. A Nāga line probably ruled also at Vidiśā (Pargiter, *Kali Age*, p. 49). Two kings named Sadā-Chandra and Chandrāṁśa, "*the second Nakhavant,*" are mentioned among the post-Andhran kings of Nāga lineage. One of these, preferably the latter, who was obviously a ruler of note, may have been the Chandra of the Meharauli Inscription. The Vāhlikas beyond "*the seven mouths of the Indus*" are apparently the Baktrioi occupying the country near Arachosia in the time of the geographer Ptolemy (*Ind. Ant.*, 1884, p. 408). An inscription of Mahārājādhirāja Śrī Chandra has been discovered on a Jaina image at Vaibhāra hill (ASI, AR, 1925-26, p. 125). The identity of this Chandra is not clear.