[92] Íśvaradatta’s name ends in datta as does also that of Śivadatta the father of king Íśvarasena of the Násik inscription. [↑]
[93] Dr. Bhagvánlál’s suggestion that Vijayasena (a.d. 238–249) was defeated by the Ábhír or Ahír king Íśvaradatta who entered Gujarát from the North Konkan seems open to question. First as regards the suggestion that Vijayasena was the Kshatrapa whose power Íśvaradatta overthrew it is to be noticed that though the two coinless years (a.d. 249–251) between the last coin of Vijayasena and the earliest coin of Dámájaḍaśrí agree with the recorded length of Íśvaradatta’s supremacy the absence of coins is not in itself proof of a reverse or loss of Kshatrapa power between the reigns of Vijayasena and Dámájaḍaśrí. It is true the Pandit considers that Íśvaradatta’s coins closely resemble those of Vijayasena. At the same time he also (Násik Stat. Acct. 624) thought them very similar to Víradáman’s (a.d. 236–238) coins. Víradáman’s date so immediately precedes Vijayasena’s that in many respects their coins must be closely alike. It is to be noted that a.d. 230–235 the time of rival Kshatrapas among whom Víradáman was one (especially the time between a.d. 236 and 238 during which none of the rivals assumed the title Mahákshatrapa) was suitable to (perhaps was the result of) a successful invasion by Íśvaradatta, and that this same invasion may have been the cause of the transfer of the capital, noted in the Periplus (a.d. 247) as having taken place some years before, from Ozene or Ujjain to Minnagara or Junágaḍh (McCrindle, 114, 122). On the other hand the fact that Vijayasena regained the title of Mahákshatrapa and handed it to his successor Dámájaḍaśrí III. would seem to shew that no reverse or humiliation occurred during the coinless years (a.d. 249–251) between their reigns, a supposition which is supported by the flourishing state of the kingdom at the time of the Periplus (a.d. 247) and also by the evidence that both the above Kshatrapas ruled near Karád in Sátára. At the same time if the difference between Víradáman’s and Vijayasena’s coins is sufficient to make it unlikely that Íśvaradatta’s can be copies of Víradáman’s it seems possible that the year of Íśvaradatta’s overlordship may be the year a.d. 244 (K. 166) in which Vijayasena’s coins bear the title Kshatrapa, and that the assumption of this lower title in the middle of a reign, which with this exception throughout claims the title Mahákshatrapa, may be due to the temporary necessity of acknowledging the supremacy of Íśvaradatta. With reference to the Pandit’s suggestion that Íśvaradatta was an Ábhíra the fact noted above of a trace of Kshatrapa rule at Karád thirty-one miles south of Sátára together with the fact that they held Aparánta or the Konkan makes it probable that they reached Karád by Chiplún and the Kumbhárli pass. That the Kshatrapas entered the Dakhan by so southerly a route instead of by some one of the more central Thána passes, seems to imply the presence of some hostile power in Násik and Khándesh. This after the close of the second century a.d. could hardly have been the Ándhras or Śátakarṇis. It may therefore be presumed to have been the Ándhras’ successors the Ábhíras. As regards the third suggestion that Kshatrapa Gujarát was overrun from the North Konkan it is to be noted that the evidence of connection between Íśvarasena of the Násik inscription (Cave X. No. 15) and Íśvaradatta of the coins is limited to a probable nearness in time and a somewhat slight similarity in name. On the other hand no inscription or other record points to Ábhíra ascendancy in the North Konkan or South Gujarát. The presence of an Ábhíra power in the North Konkan seems inconsistent with Kshatrapa rule at Kalyán and Karád in the second half of the third century. The position allotted to Aberia in the Periplus (McCrindle, 113) inland from Surastrene, apparently in the neighbourhood of Thar and Párkar; the finding of Íśvaradatta’s coins in Káthiáváḍa (Násik Gazetteer, XIII. 624); and (perhaps between a.d. 230 and 240) the transfer westwards of the head-quarters of the Kshatrapa kingdom seem all to point to the east rather than to the south, as the side from which Íśvaradatta invaded Gujarát. At the same time the reference during the reign of Rudrasiṃha I. (a.d. 181) to the Ábhíra Rudrabhúti who like his father was Senápati or Commander-in-Chief suggests that Íśvaradatta may have been not a foreigner but a revolted general. This supposition, his assumption of the title Mahákshatrapa, and the finding of his coins only in Káthiáváḍa to a certain extent confirm. [↑]
CHAPTER VI.
THE TRAIKÚṬAKAS
(a.d. 250–450.)
Chapter VI.
The Traikúṭakas, a.d. 250–450. Two Plates.The materials regarding the Traikúṭakas, though meagre, serve to show that they were a powerful dynasty who rose to consequence about the time of the middle Kshatrapas (a.d. 250). All the recorded information is in two copperplates, one the Kanheri copperplate found by Dr. Bird in 1839,[1] the other a copperplate found at Párdi near Balsár in 1885.[2] Both plates are dated, the Kanheri plate ‘in the year two hundred and forty-five of the increasing rule of the Traikúṭakas’; the Párdi plate in Saṃvat 207 clearly figured. The Kanheri plate contains nothing of historical importance; the Párdi plate gives the name of the donor as Dahrasena or Dharasena ‘the illustrious great king of the Traikúṭakas.’ Though it does not give any royal name the Kanheri plate expressly mentions the date as the year 245 of the increasing rule of the Traikúṭakas. The Párdi plate gives the name of the king as ‘of the Traikúṭakas’ but merely mentions the date as Saṃ. 207. This date though not stated to be in the era of the Traikúṭakas must be taken to be dated in the same era as the Kanheri plate seeing that the style of the letters of both plates is very similar.
The initial date must therefore have been started by the founder of the dynasty and the Kanheri plate proves the dynasty must have lasted at least 245 years. The Párdi plate is one of the earliest copper-plate grants in India. Neither the genealogy nor even the usual three generations including the father and grandfather are given, nor like later plates does it contain a wealth of attributes. The king is called ‘the great king of the Traikúṭakas,’ the performer of the aśvamedha or horse-sacrifice, a distinction bespeaking a powerful sovereign. It may therefore be supposed that Dahrasena held South Gujarát to the Narbadá together with part of the North Konkan and of the Ghát and Dakhan plateau.
Initial Date.What then was the initial date of the Traikúṭakas? Ten Gujarát copper-plates of the Gurjjaras and Chalukyas are dated in an unknown era with Saṃ. followed by the date figures as in the Párdi plate and as in Gupta inscriptions. The earliest is the fragment from Saṅkheḍá in the Baroda State dated Saṃ. 346, which would fall in the reign of Dadda I. of Broach.[3] Next come the two Kaira grants of the Gurjjara king Dadda Praśántarága dated Saṃ. 380 and Saṃ. 385[4]; and the Saṅkheḍá grant of Raṇagraha dated Saṃ. 391[5]; then the Kaira grant of the Chalukya king Vijayarája or Vijayavarman dated Saṃvatsara 394[6]; then the Bagumrá grant of the Sendraka chief Nikumbhallaśakti[7];
Chapter VI.
The Traikúṭakas, a.d. 250–450.
Initial Date. two grants from Navsári and Surat of the Chalukya king Śíláditya Śryáśraya dated 421 and 443[8]; two the Navsári and Kávi grants of the Gurjjara king Jayabhaṭa dated respectively Saṃ. 456 and Saṃ. 486[9]; and a grant of Pulakeśi dated Saṃvat 490.[10]
Of these the grant dated 421 speaks of Śíláditya Śryáśraya as Yuvarája or heir-apparent and as the son of Jayasiṃhavarmman. The plate further shows that Jayasiṃhavarmman was brother of Vikramáditya and son of Pulakeśi Vallabha ‘the conqueror of the northern king Harshavardhana.’ The name Jayasiṃhavarmman does not occur in any copperplate of the main line of the Western Chalukyas of the Dakhan. That he is called Mahárája or great king and that his son Śíláditya is called Yuvarája or heir-apparent suggest that Jayasiṃhavarmman was the founder of the Gujarát branch of the Western Chalukyas and that his great Dakhan brother Vikramáditya was his overlord, a relation which would explain the mention of Vikramáditya in the genealogy of the copper-plate. Vikramáditya’s reign ended in a.d. 680 (Śaka 602).[11] Supposing our grant to be dated in this last year of Vikramáditya, Saṃvat 421 should correspond to Śaka 602, which gives Śaka 181 or a.d. 259 as the initial date of the era in which the plate is dated. Probably the plate was dated earlier in the reign of Vikramáditya giving a.d. 250. In any case the era used cannot be the Gupta era whose initial year is now finally settled to be a.d. 319.