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VI
THE POST-MAITRAKA PERIOD
The period that followed the fall of the Maitraka kingdom witnessed the ascendancy of several parallel powers in Gujarat. The Raṣṭrakūtas extended their power over the central and the northern parts of Mainland Gujarat, while the Pratihāras held supremacy over the local powers in Saurashtra. However, Saurashtra was divided into several kingdoms under the Saindhavas, the Calukyas and the Capas who seem to have acknowledged the supremacy of the Pratihāras. The north-western part of Mainland Gujarat was ruled over by the Cavaḍās, whose existence has not been proved by contemporary epigraphic evidence. But from literary traditions it is known that they were ruling over North Gujarat throughout this period.
(i) The Valabhi Era
The Valabhi era, which was in common use during the Maitraka period, now continued to a certain extent even after the fall of the Maitraka kingdom of Valabhi. Among the known epigraphic records of this period, this era appears in three records. They are as under :
(i) The Hilol plates of Mahāsāmanta Candrāditya, a feudatory of Rājādhirāja Kakka, are dated in the year 470 of an unspecified era'. Chronologically this Kakka is identified with the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Kakkarāja II of the Gujarat branch and the year 470 is ascribed to the Valabhi era2. Accordingly, the year of the grant would correspond to 788-89 A.C.
1-2. Vallabh Vidyanagar Research Bulletin, Vol. I, issue i, 1957, pp. 34 ff; El. Vol. XXXIV, pp. 213 ff.
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