The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c8.s2.12

v1.c8.s2.12

Whatever may have been the home of the Vākāṭakas, the sphere of their early military activity seems to have been rather in the Western than in the Eastern Deccan. The name of the founder of the family, Vindhyaśakti, obviously suggests that his early military exploits resulted in the establishment of his rule over a portion of the Vindhya territory. Purikā, which was one of the early Vākāṭaka capitals,¹ eventually gave its name to a province which has been coupled with Daśārṇa by the *Bṛhatsaṃhitā*² and mentioned along with Vidarbha and Aśmaka by the *Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa*.³ Nay, the *Purāṇas* place Vindhyaśakti himself among the kings of Vidiśā in Eastern Malwa. The nucleus of the original Vākāṭaka principality must therefore have been somewhere in the eastern Madhya Pradesha or in Berar, and the exploit of Vindhyaśakti must have consisted in incorporating in it a portion of the Eastern Malwa after crossing the Vindhyan passes.