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CHRONOLOGY OF GUJARAT
The Hūņa inroads under Toramāṇa and Mihirakula must have contributed further to the disintegration of the Gupta empire, which had begun after the death of Budhagupta. In addition to the Hūņas, we know of at least one other foreign invasion. Harişeņa, the Vākāțaka ruler of the Deccan invaded Malwa, and established his authority over Malwa and Gujarat.
The earliest land-grant of the Maitraka family, so far discovered, is the one issued by Mahārāja Droộasimha in 502 A.D. (Valabhi Samvat 183).
The most important and definite sources of information for ascertaining the initial year of the Valabhi Era are the two inscriptions found at Verawal, in Saurastra dated respectively in the years 927 and 945 of the Valabhi Samvat (Hultzsch, 'A Grant of Arjunadeva of Gujarat dated 1264 ', IA, XI, pp. 241-45 ; Keithorn, 'The Verawal Image Inscription', EI., III, p. 303). The second of these is also dated according to three other well-established eras, giving three different dates equivalent to the Valabhi Samvat 945. These years are, the Hijari 662, the Vikrama 1320, and the Simha 151. From a comparison of these dates it is clear that the Valabhi era comes 375 years later than the well-known Vikrama era, or in other words, it commenced in the 375th year of the Vikrama Samvatsara, i.e., in about 319 A.D., and was still in current usage during the 13th Century of the Christian era, at least in this part of India.-(Vide, 470 A.D., infra : p. 123)
The Maitrakas do not specify the era in dating their records, perhaps owing to its having been well-established in country-wide usage. The earliest known of their grants bears the date Samyat 183 (Bhāmodrá Moțā. Plate of Valabhi king Droņasimha', EI., XVI, p. 18), and was issued by king Droņasimha, who was the third in succession, but the first de jure ruler of that line. The last, dated 477 ( Fleet, 'The Aliņā Copperplates of king Silāditya VII', CII, III, p. 182) belongs to king silāditya VI (VII) who was probably also the last of the Maitrakas. The conclusion seems to be inevitable that the Maitrakas may have adopted an era started by some other ruling family and already current in Saurāşțra at the time when they established their rule. The Junagadh rockinscription of the Mahākşatrapa Rudradāman offers a clue to this problem, as it is dated in the year 72 of the Saka era, which was then current in Saurāşțra during the Kşatrapa period, i.e., from the 2nd to the 4th Century A.D. After this, the country passed into the hands of the Guptas, and the inscription of Skandagupta found on the same rock, and dated in Gupta Samvat 138, is evidence enough that the Gupta era was current during the period. After the death of Skandagupta the Gupta power over this part of the country declined, as the last date of the Guptas recorded in Saurāştra is G.S. 138 ( = 457 A.D.), and the earliest known date of the Maitraka king, as given above, is 183 (i.e., 502 A.D.). The interval of 45 years between the two dates is long enough to fit in the two predecessors of Dronasimha, Bhațārka and Dharasena I. Accordingly, we may take it that the era used by the Maitraka kings was the Gupta era- the initial year of both the eras being 319 A.D.-(K. Virji, Ancient History of Saurastra, 1955, pp. 106-109).
All the royal grants were issued from Valabhs, which must have been the capital
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