The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c8.s13.41

v1.c8.s13.41

Let us now survey the position of Hinduism. Early in the period under study Vedic sacrifices were still popular all over India, and we find Pravarasena I, the real founder of the Vākāṭaka greatness, performing a number of them like Agniṣṭoma, Āptoryāma, Ukthya, Shoḍashin, Atirātra, Vājapeya, Bṛhaspatisava, and Sādyaskra. He was a great conqueror and it is therefore no wonder that he should have celebrated the Aśvamedha sacrifice as many as four times. Though the Vākāṭakas were Brāhmans, Pravarasena’s zeal for Vedic religion did not descend to any of his successors. None of them seems to have cared to perform even a single Vedic sacrifice. The fact was that the Smārta religion was fast getting the upper hand over the Śrauta form of faith. Pravarasena’s grandson Rudrasena I became a Śaivite, probably under the influence of his maternal grandfather Bhavanāga of the Bhāraśiva dynasty. All the subsequent Vākāṭaka kings were devotees of Śiva, with the exception of Rudrasena II, who became a Vaiṣṇava under the influence of his wife Prabhāvatīguptā and her illustrious father Chandragupta II. It should, however, be noted that the followers of Śiva and Viṣṇu lived in complete amity, and that members of the same family often changed the object of their devotion according to their individual inclinations. Thus the Naḷa king Bhavattavarman was a Śaivite; he attributed his successes to the favour of Mahāsena. But his son Skandavarman, who built a Viṣṇu temple, was a Vaiṣṇavite.² Pravarasena II was a Śaivite but he wrote his Setubandhu to glorify the achievements of Rāma, an incarnation of Viṣṇu. In fact the Vākāṭakas paid particular reverence to the god Rāmagirisvāmin, whose temple was situated on the hill at Rāmtek, not far from their capital.³