________________
quite young and
we are able to know that at that time Bhāravi was as famous as Kālidāsa. Therefore the Visnavardhana mentioned here should be identical with Kubja Vienavardhana who ruled between 615 and 633 A.D. and who was the founder of the Eastern Chālūkya Dynasty and the brother of Pulikesin II. The word tot in the sentence farsgardaient etc., indicates that Damodara got the friendship of Visnavardhana when the latter was quite young and therefore this might have been before A.D, 615. We also find from the Mysore Archaeological Report for 192] that the Ganga king Durvinīta ruled between A.D. 605 and 650. The word ooretesata: qualifying Durvinita shows that Damodara stayed with him before he had become the ruler, for if he had become the actual ruler then, it would not have been possible for him to be frequently travelling away from the capital. Therefore it must have been sometime about 600 A.D. that Damodara came into contact with Durvinita. And since Damodara was twenty years old at that time, he must have been born towards the close of the 6th century. The Pallara king Simhaviena is known to have ruled between 575 - 600 A.D. So the date of Damodara shculd be taken as the close of the 5th and the first half of the 7th Cintury. It follows, therefore, that the date ci his great-grand-son Dandin must be the close of the 7th or the former half of the 8th century A.D.
K. S. MAHADEVA SĀSTRI,
TRIVANDRUM, 25—3—54.
SUPERINTENDENT
