South Indian Inscriptions

THE HOME OF THE VAKATAKAS

wrong to infer that this gṛihapati Vākāṭaka was the resident of a country not very far from Amarāvatī. It may be noted in this connection that the inscriptions discovered at Amarāvatī generally mention countries, rivers and places of South India such as Draviḍa, the Kṛishṇā, the Godāvarī, Dhanakaṭaka and Kaṇṭakaśaila.¹ The only places of North India which I have noticed in the 126 inscriptions of Amarāvatī that have been published so far are Rājagṛiha and Pāṭaliputra, mentioned as places of residence of monks who or whose disciples made certain donations at Amarāvatī. The inference that the gṛihapati Vākāṭaka mentioned in inscription No. 126 was a resident of South India would thus appear reasonable.

........On palaeographic grounds this inscription has been referred to the third century A.C. The gṛihapati Vākāṭaka mentioned in it was not therefore far removed in time from Vindhyaśakti I, who seems to have come into prominence about 250 A.C. This gṛihapati was in all probability the progenitor of the Vākāṭaka family even as Gupta was of the Gupta family. What social or official status he had, we do not know; but he was apparently of sufficient importance to be regarded as the progenitor of the family. This Vākāṭaka was them a follower of Buddhism, but later on he or his descendants seem to have changed their religious faith and become staunch supporters of the Vedic religion. Several instances of such change of faith can be cited from the ancient history of india.

...(2)There are several other indications of the southern origion of the Vākāṭakas. In the formal portions of Vākāṭaka grants there occur several technical terms which are noticed in the Hirahaḍgallī and Mayidavōlu plates of the Pallava king Śivaskandavarman. Some of these may be given here.

... These similarities are surely not accidental. They presuppose some connection of the Vākāṭakas with the Pallavas. It is also possible that both these dynasties borrowed these expressions from earlier Satavahana inscriptions. No such technical terms have, however, been noticed in any early grants of North India.

...(3)Again, the titles Hāritīputra and Dharmahārāja, mentioned in connection with the earliest Vākāṭaka kings Pravarasēna I, Sarvasēna and Vindhyaśakti II in the Bāsim plates, unmistakably point to the southern origin of the family ; for, these titles are noticed in the early grants of only southern dynasties such as the Viṇhukaḍa Sātakarṇis, the Pallavas, the Kadambas and the Early Chālukyas. They are not found in the early grants of any northern dynasty.

...(4)Finally, the patronage that the Vākāṭakas extended to a ministerial family of South India for several generations may also indicate their southern origin. This family was named Vallūra after the village Vallūra ‘in the southern region which was its original place of residence’. This place has not yet been definitely identified, but it may be the same as modern Vēlur which lies about 30 miles north by east of Hyderābād in the Yelgaṇḍal
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¹ See the list of geographical names, ibid., pp. 332 f.