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I
THE MAURYAS OF KONKAN.
135
Vamba
reference to these Mauryas who must have flourished in the second century A.D. But important considerations militate against this view.
In the first place we know absolutely nothing were the about the movement and the early history of Moriar" the these Mauryas of the Konkan. Thus V. A. Smith': the monikerna “Petty Maurya dynasties, apparently connected in some unknown way with the imperial line, which ruled in the Konkan, between the Western Ghats and the sea anil some other parts of Western India, during the sixth, seventh and eighth centuries, are frequently mentioned in Inscriptions." These inscriptions are very late in origin. The Aihõle inscription of Pulakēsin II (7th century A.D.) speaks of these Mauryas of the Konkan in a manner not very creditable either to their military valour or their power of resistance. They are further mentioned in the inscriptions along with other small tribes, such as the Nalas, and the Kadambas. And yet a close study of Māmūlanār's poems, would indicate that the Vamba Moriar'were an imperial race who undertook a great South Indian invasion. '960 LITT QriteL 09WC Di Curiwr.' This description of Vamba Moriar'is not in keeping at all with all that we know of the Mauryas of the Konkan.
We are, therefore, not warranted in construing · Vamba Moriar's to mean unstable Mauryas'
1 V. A. Smith, Early History The right meaning of the of India, II Edition, p. 183. word Vamba' is therefore
For an account of the 'new'. Many examples might Mauryas of the Konkan, ree The be quoted froth classical poems Bombay Gazetteer, Vol.1, Part II, to support this interpretation a. p. 282.
hereunder:
