The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c8.s13.19

v1.c8.s13.19

Some of the Vākāṭaka plates state at their end that when they were issued, so and so was the *senāpati* or the general of the king. Thus Chitravarman was the *senāpati* of Pravarasena II when one of his incomplete charters was issued in the eleventh year of his reign, as also when the Chammaka plates were issued seven years later. Six months later, however, when the Sivani plates were issued, Bappadeva was the *senāpati*.³ The manner in which the names of the generals are mentioned at the end of the copper plates suggests that their importance was next to that of the king himself. May it be that the names of these generals are given in this prominent manner because they were the prime-ministers or *sarvādhyakṣas*? Military skill and leadership was one of the necessary qualifications for appointment to ministerial posts in contemporary times. Many of the ministers of the Guptas were *daṇḍanāyakas* or *senāpatis*, and the same may have been the case under the Vākāṭakas as well.