A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c11.60

c11.60

Mādhavavarman I is reputed to have performed eleven aśvamedhas and countless agniṣṭōmas, but we need not take this literally for the same is also said of Mādhavavarman II (556-616). Mādhavavarman I's queen must have been a Vākāṭaka princess for we read that his son Vikramendra I belonged to the families of Vishnukundi and Vākāṭaka. Indra-bhaṭṭāraka was victor in many fights, on one occasion overwhelming a kinsman—probably Mādhavavarman of the collateral line, lord of Trikūta. He also came into conflict with the eastern Ganga Indravarman and enlarged his kingdom at his expense. Govindavarman had the title Vikramāśraya (‘Refuge of Valour’), and his son Mādhavavarman II was probably the greatest monarch of his line and became the centre of many popular legends in later times. He had the title Janāśraya (‘Refuge of the People’) and performed a hiraṇyagarbha. Hostilities with the Gangas seem to have continued throughout his reign and he is said to have crossed the Godāvari to conquer the eastern region. The Vishnukundins were still ruling the Vengi country and its neighbourhood at the time of the invasion of the eastern Deccan, at the beginning of the seventh century, by the Chālukya ruler of Bādāmi, Pulakeśin II.