South Indian Inscriptions

THE VATSAGULMA BRANCH

In an inscription of descendants, Mānāṅka is described as the ruler of the prosperous Kuntala country and as the conqueror of Aśmaka and Vidarbha.¹ Mānāṅka founded the city of Mānapura which became the capital of these Early Rāshṭrakūṭas. This Mānapura is probably identical with Māṇ, the chief town of the Māṇ. tālukā of the Sātārā District in the Mahārāshṭra State.

...Mānāṅka was thus ruling over the Southern Maratha country. His kingdom was contiguous to those of Aśmaka and Vidarbha. Aśmaka lay along the bank of the Gōdāvarī and comprised the Ahmadnagar and Bhīr Districts of Mahārāshṭra. The ruler of Aśmaka was probably a feudatory of the Vākāṭakas.

...From the palaeographical evidence afforded by the grants of his successors Mānāṅka seems to have flourished towards the close of the fourth century A.C. He was thus a contemporary of Vindhyasēna. As both Mānāṅka and Vindhyasēna claim a victory over each other, neither of them appears to have emerged completely victorious from this war. During the reign of Mānāṅka’s successor Dēvarāja, however, the kingdom of Kuntala came under the sphere of the influence of the Guptas; for, its government was carried on under the direction of Chandragupta II.² It therefore ceased to be a menace to the Vatsagulma Vākāṭakas.

...Vindhyasēna made the Bāsim grant in the 37th regnal year. The plates were issued from the royal capital Vatsagulma, and register the grant of a village situated in the territorial division of Nāndīkaṭa, modern Nāndēḍ in the Mahārāshṭra State. The genealogical portion of the grant is written in Sanskrit and the formal portion in Prakrit, which shows how the classical language was gradually asserting itself. Vindhyasēna, like his father and grand father, assumed the title Dharmamahārāja. His minister Pravara is mentioned in the Ghaṭōtkacha cave inscription. Vindhyasēna was probably a contemporary of Pṛithivīshēṇa I, and, like the latter, may have closed his reign about 400 A.C.

... Vindhyasēna was followed by his son Pravarasēna II, about whom little is known. The Ajaṇṭā inscription states that he became exalted by his excellent, powerful and liberal rule. He seems to have had a short reign (400-415 A.C.) ; for when he died, his son was only eight years old. His minister Śir-Rāma is mentioned in the Ghaṭōtkacha cave inscription.

... The name of this boy prince, who is said to have ruled well, is lost in the Ajaṇṭā inscription. His minister was Kīrti. He was succeeded in circa 450 A.C. by his son Dēvasēna, whose fragmentary copper-plate inscription discovered somewhere in South Berar has since then been deposited in the British Museum.³ This plate also was issued from Vatsagulma. which shows that the place continued to be the royal capital to the last.

... Dēvasēna had a very righteous and capable minister named Hastibhoja. He looked after the affairs of the State and pleased all subjects. Dēvasēna entrusted the government of
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¹ D.C. Sircar takes Vidarbha and Aśmaka in the expression sa-Vidarbh-Āśmaka-vijētā descriptive of the Rāshṭrakūṭa Mānāṅka as referring to ‘the Vākāṭakas of Berar’ and ‘the Vākāṭakas of Vatsagulma’ respectively. This view cannot be accepted; for the country round Vatsagulma also was included in Vidarbha as explicitly stated by Rājaśēkhara. This is also corroborated by the statement in the Ganēśapurāṇa that Kadambapura (modern Kalamb in the adjoining Yeotmal District) was included in Vidarbha. See Ind. Hist. Quart., Vol. XXIII, pp. 320 f. ; S.I., Vol. II, p. 164 f.
² See the tradition mentioned in several ancient Sanskrit works that Kālidāsa was sent as an ambassador to the court of Kuntalēśa. He reported to his master that the lord of Kuntala was spending his days in enjoyment leaving the governing of the kingdom to the care of Chandragupta. See A.B.O.R.I., VIL. XXV, pp. 45 f.; S.I, VOL. I, pp. 186 f.
³ No. 24.