History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c15.s1.6

v1.c15.s1.6

The Veḷurpalaiyam plate from which the above fact is taken is important in other respects also. On inspecting it carefully (Archealojical Survey Report part V) we find, besides the śloka about Virakūrcha (यः फणीन्द्रसुतया सहाग्रहीद्राजचिन्हमखिलं यशोधनः) the following about Kumāra-Vishṇu son of Skandaśishya, son of this Virakūrcha:—गृहीतकाञ्चीनगरस्ततोऽभूत् कुमारविष्णुः समरेषु जिष्णुः This shows that Virakūrcha's grandson Kumāra Vishṇu took the city of Kāñchī and founded the Kāñchī power. This statement tallies with probable dates also. In the long list of Pallava ancestors given in the Vāyalūr inscription described by Dubreuil (p. 20) we have 36 kings. Of these Vishṇugopa No. 19 appears to be the Vishṇugopa whom Samudragupta conquered and who is mentioned in his famous Allahabad stone inscription of 338 A. D. And we have Narasimhavarman No. 34 contemporary of Hiuen Tsang and Chālukya Pulakeśin II of 640 A. D. Now from no. 19 to 34 there count 15 generations or 300 years at an average of 20. And this distance in time between Vishṇugopa and Narasinhavarman, exactly tallies with their historical dates as given above viz. 338 A. D. and 640 A. D. Now let us go back from Vishṇugopa no. 19 of 338 A. D. to Virakūrcha no. 11 in the list of Vāyalūr plate. We have a difference of 8 generations or 160 years which gives for Virakūrcha a date about 178 A. D. and brings him within the Sātavāhana rule. His grandson Kumāra Vishṇu, also given in the Vāyalūr list, thus seems to have become the king of Kāñchī about 200 A.D. The Mayadavollu grant in Prakrit which we have quoted in a foot-note may be taken to have been made by the grandson (no. 15) of this Kumāra Vishnu (no. 13) about 240 A. D.