The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c8.s3.20

v1.c8.s3.20

We have stated above that Pravarasena I was the most powerful ruler of the time and that he had brought practically the whole of the Deccan under his sovereignty. Some recent writers indeed have credited him with much more extensive conquests, and have declared that he was the lord paramount of the whole of India. Such, however, was not the case. The theory that he controlled Southern India through one of his sons, who founded the Andhra-bhṛitya or Pallava dynasty is a mere hypothesis that has yet to be proved. The view that he conquered the Uttara Pradesha and drove out the Kushānas into Afghanistan is based upon the assumption that the coins of Virasena, which are found in the upper Uttara Pradesha, are really the coins of Pravarasena. But this is not the case.¹ What Jayaswal takes to be the letter Pra in the left-hand lower corner of the coin is really a part of the Nandipada symbol. What he takes to be the symbols for 76 are parts of the symbol tree within the railing.² The coins in question were issued by Virasena and not by Pravarasena. And even if we assume for the sake of argument that Pravarasena I of the Vākāṭaka dynasty issued them, we cannot explain why they should be found only in the northern Uttara Pradesha and never in the Madhya Pradesha and Berar, which were the home provinces of the Vākāṭaka empire. There is no evidence whatsoever to prove that Pravarasena I had conquered the Punjab and driven out the Kushānas into Afghanistan. Even the coins of Virasena are found but very rarely in the Punjab. Jayaswal's theory is based upon the assumption that it was the pressure of Pravarasena which induced the Kushānas to accept willingly the overlordship of the Sassanians during the first decade of the fourth century A.D. There is, in fact, no shred of evidence whatsoever to support this view. The Sassanians had conquered the Kushānas and imposed their suzerainty upon them as early as c. A.D. 250, when Pravarasena was probably not even born. Further there is no evidence to show that the Kushānas welcomed the Sassanian sovereignty as a means of preserving their kingdom in India against the pressure of any indigenous power. They had to accept it as the natural corollary of a defeat in the battlefield. The theory therefore that Pravarasena I was lord paramount of the whole of India cannot be accepted. He was, however, lord paramount of the Deccan and ruled a kingdom much more extensive than that of any of his contemporaries. This was itself a great achievement and fully justified his assumption of the title *samrāṭ* or emperor.