Vakataka dynasty, Vatsagulma branch
State | Defunct
350 CE to 543 CE
The Vākāṭaka Empire is a royal Indian dynasty that originates from the Deccan in the mid-third century CE.
Their state is believed to have extended from the southern edges of Malwa and Gujarat in the north to the Tungabhadra River in the south as well as from the Arabian Sea in the western to the edges of Chhattisgarh in the east.
They are the most important successors of the Satavahanas in the Deccan and contemporaneous with the Guptas in northern India.The Vākāṭakas, like many coeval dynasties of the Deccan, claim Brahmanical origin.
Little is known about Vindhyaśakti (c. 250–270 CE), the founder of the family, whose name occurs in the Puranas.
Territorial expansion begins in the reign of his son Pravarasena I.
It is generally believed that the Vākāṭaka dynasty was divided into four branches after Pravarsena I.
Two branches are known and two are unknown.
The known branches are the Pravarpura-Nandivardhana branch and the Vatsagulma branch.
The Gupta emperor Chandragupta II marries his daughter into Vakataka royal family and with their support annexes Gujarat from the Saka Satraps in fourth century CE.
The Vakataka power is followed by that of the Chalukyas of Badami in Deccan.
The Vakatakas are noted for having been great patrons of arts, architecture and literature.
They led great amount of public work and their monuments are a visible legacy.
The rock-cut Buddhist viharas and chaityas of Ajanta Caves (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) was built under the patronage of Vakataka Emperor Harishena.
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The Vakataka, an Indian dynasty which has ruled parts of today's Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh from the third century, are the most important successor dynasty of the Satavahanas, contemporaneous with the Gupta.
Even Samudragupta (335-380), the great conqueror of the Gupta, seems to have avoided a war with the Vakataka.
The Rudradeva in Samadragupta's victory inscription of Allahabad may be Pravarasena I's son Rudrasena I (330-355).
But from this, Samadragupta would have garnered no lasting success.
Rudrasena I had a son named Prithvisena I (355-380), and Prithvisena I had a son named Rudrasena II.
In the late fourth century, the state seems to have occasionally divided.
Rudrasena II (380-385) had married Prabhavatigupta, the daughter of the Gupta King Chandragupta II (375-413/15) and died after a very short reign in 385 CE, following which Prabhavatigupta rules as a regent on behalf of her two sons, Divakarsena and Damodarsena (Pravarsena II).
During this period the Vakataka realm is practically a part of the Gupta empire, and many historians refer to this period as the Vakataka-Gupta age.
Rudrasena II, who in 380 had become emperor of Vakataka in the Deccan Plateau of India, is said to have married Prabhavatigupta, the daughter of the Gupta King Chandragupta II (375-413/15).
Rudrasena II had died in 385 after a very short reign, following which Prabhavatigupta has ruled as a regent on behalf of her two sons, Divakarasena and Damodarasena (Pravarsena II) for twenty years.
During this period the Vakataka realm has been practically a part of the Gupta Empire.
The Allahabad Pillar Inscription mentions the marriage of Chandragupta II with a Naga princess Kuberanaga.
A pillar from Mathura referring to Chandragupta II has recently been dated to 388 CE.
Chandragupta II's daughter, Prabhavatigupta, by his Naga queen Kuberanaga was married to the powerful Vakataka dynasty ruler Rudrasena II (r.380-385 CE).
His greatest victory was his victory over the Shaka-Kshatrapa dynasty and annexation of their kingdom in Gujarat, by defeating their last ruler, Rudrasimha III.
Chandragupta II's son-in-law, the Vakataka ruler Rudrasena II, had died fortuitously after a very short reign in 385 CE, following which Queen Prabhavati Gupta (r. 385-405) ruled the Vakataka kingdom as a regent on behalf of her two sons.
During this twenty-year period the Vakataka realm was practically a part of the Gupta empire.
The geographical location of the Vakataka kingdom had allowed Chandragupta II to take the opportunity to defeat the Western Kshatrapas once for all.
Many historians refer to this period as the Vakataka-Gupta Age.
Chandragupta II controls a vast empire, from the mouth of the Ganges to the mouth of the Indus River and from what is now North Pakistan down to the mouth of the Narmada.
Pataliputra continues to be the capital of his huge empire but …
…Ujjain too becomes a sort of second capital.
The large number of beautiful gold coins issued by the Gupta dynasty are a testament to the imperial grandeur of that age.
Chandragupta II also started producing silver coins in the Saka tradition.
He is succeeded in 413 by his second son, Kumaragupta I, born of Mahadevi Dhruvasvamini.
The magnificent paintings of the Ajanta caves in India’s north Deccan, thirty rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments that date from the second century BCE, cut into the volcanic rock and elaborately painted, were long thought to epitomize Gupta patronage.
However, according to art historian and longtime researcher Walter M. Spink, the first phase was the construction of sanctuaries (known as chaytia-grihas) built in the canyons of the Waghora River during the period 100 BCE to 100 CE, probably under the patronage of the Satavahana dynasty, in power from 230 BCE to about 220 CE. (Spink, Walter M. (2007). Ajanta: History and Development Volume 5: Cave by Cave. Leiden: Brill)
The caves 9, 10, 12 and 15A were constructed during this period.
Murals preserved from this time belong to the oldest monuments of painted art in India.
Scholars disagree about the date of the Ajanta Caves' second period.
For a time it was thought that the work was done over a long period from the fourth to the seventh century CE, but recently Spink declared that most of the work took place over short time period, from 460 to 480 CE, during the reign of Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka dynasty.
The rock cut architectural cell-XVI inscription of Ajanta states that he conquered Avanti (Malwa) in the north, Kosala (Chhattisgarh), Kalinga and Andhra in the east, Lata (Central and Southern Gujarat) and Trikuta (Nasik district) in the west and Kuntala (Southern Maharashtra) in the south.
Some twenty cave temples were simultaneously created, for the most part viharas: monasteries with a sanctuary in the structure's rear center.
Each of cave temples seem to be patronized by influential authority, with numerous of the best available artists involved in the work with fruitful rivalry between the neighboring construction sites.
The caves form the largest corpus of early Indian wall-painting; other survivals from the area of modern India are very few, although they are related to fifth century paintings at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka.
The elaborate architectural carving in many caves is also very rare, and the style of the many figure sculptures is a highly local one, found only at a couple of nearby contemporary sites, although the Ajanta tradition can be related to the later Hindu Ellora Caves and other sites.
According to Spink, the Ajanta Caves appear to have been abandoned shortly after the fall of Harishena, around 480 CE.
Since then, these temples have been abandoned and gradually forgotten.
During the intervening centuries, the jungle grows back and the caves are hidden, unvisited and undisturbed.
India has fallen into anarchy following the collapse of the Gupta empire and decline of the Kadamba Dynasty.
The small states of the Deccan Plateau begin warring with one another for regional control, where one Jayasimha ("victory-lion") had established rule over a small kingdom, founding the Chalukya dynasty, with its capital in Badami.
The Chalukya dynasty begins pressuring to control territories on India’s northwest coast.
Jayasimha Vallabha (500 – 520) and his son, Ranaranga (520 – 540) must have been petty chiefs under the Kadambas, but we know little about their activities and achievements.
In 543, Ranaranga's son Pulakesi, an outsider and former petty chieftain who claims royal (Rajput) descent, earns the distinction of being the first independent king and the real founder of the dynasty.
Successfully defying the waning power of the Kadambas, he proclaims Chalukyan independence in 543.
He captures the hill fort of Vatapi (Badami), chooses it as his capital, and constructs a strong hill fortress on a defensible location surrounded by rivers and steep mountains.
He seizes territories between the western Deccan and the Western Ghats from their Vakataka rulers, giving him access to the valuable Arabian Sea trade routes.