The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c8.s9.7

v1.c8.s9.7

The expression *apahritavamśaśriyaḥ*,¹ ‘who carried away the fortune of his own family’, suggests that this fortune had for a time got into the possession of one who was not the rightful heir. The enemy of Narendrasena would thus be a ruler who was not a scion of the Vākāṭaka stock. There is now sufficient evidence to show that a king named Bhavadattavarman, belonging to the Naḷa family ruling in Bastar state and part of the Chhattisgarh division, had temporarily succeeded in occupying a large part of the Vākāṭaka kingdom and penetrating right up to Nandivardhana, the former Vākāṭaka capital. For the Rithpur plates of this king were issued from Nandivardhana and record the grant of a village located in the Yeotmal District. The precise date of these plates cannot be determined, but palaeography suggests that they may have been issued by the middle of the fifth century A.D. It is thus certain that the Naḷa king Bhavadattavarman had succeeded in inflicting a signal defeat on the Vākāṭakas, which compelled them to abandon their capital city Nandivardhana, situated in the heart of their kingdom. That this victory was a sensational one is suggested also by the description of the victor as one to whom royal glory was granted by Mahāsena, the generalissimo of the gods. After annexing a part of the Vākāṭaka kingdom, Bhavadattavarman visited Prayāga, apparently as an act of thanksgiving. It was at the confluence of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā that, according to his charter, he granted the village in the Yeotmal District, and the locality of the grant is a proof of the extent of his dominions in this direction at the time.