The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c8.s2.19

v1.c8.s2.19

Vindhyaśakti, the founder of the Vākāṭaka family, undertook this enterprise in about A.D. 255.² As with the founders of many other dynasties, we do not possess much information about him personally. It is an irony of fate that even his descendants should have usually omitted his name from the genealogy of the house. He is mentioned only in the Ajanta record as the founder of the family;¹ all the copper plates of the house begin the family genealogy with his illustrious son, emperor Pravarasena I. At one time, therefore, even the historic existence of Vindhyaśakti was doubted by some scholars. There is, however, no longer any doubt that it was in fact Vindhyaśakti who first carved out the Vākāṭaka principality somewhere in the western Madhya Pradesha. The *Purāṇas*, like the Ajanta record, expressly mention him as the founder of the family and the father of the illustrious emperor Pravarasena I.² His name is omitted in the genealogy of the Vākāṭaka copper plates, probably because throughout his life he was a mere general and was never consecrated to kingship by any formal religious coronation. The draft of the Vākāṭaka charters was determined in the reign of Pravarasena II, and it is but natural that he should have started the genealogy with his namesake Pravarasena I, who indeed first raised the family to an undisputed imperial position in the Deccan.