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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XII.
Pratihárs Nagabhata is identical with the Paramabhattāraka Mahārājādhiraja Paramēšvara Nägabhatta, whose Buchkala inscription is dated Vikrama Samvat 872, i.e. A.D. 815. Nagabhatta was the son of the Maharājādhiraja Paramēsvara Vatsarāja, and this Vatsarāja is no doubt the ruler mentioned at the end of the Jains work Harivansapurana where we read,
sākëshuwabdajatëshu saptasu disam pafichottarenhüttarām pat-Indrayudha-namni Krishna-npipa-jë gri-Vallabhe dakshinam ! pūrvän Srimad-Avanti-bhabhriti nripë Vatsādhiraje-pardin
saurunamuadhimandalan jaya-yutë virë Varahēzvati || We learn from this stanza that Vatsa ruled in the west in Saka 705, i.e. A.D. 783, at a period when Kadauj was still under the rule of king Indrayudha, who is certainly the king Indraraja whoin king Dharmapäla defeated, after which he gave the sovereignty of Kanauj to Obakriyudha. Now the Hansot plates are dated in A.D. 756, and Bhartsivaddha's overlord Nagávaloka cannot therefore be identical with the Pratihara Nagabhatta, the son of Vatsarāja. Mr. Bhandarkar is however no doubt right in identifying him with an older Nagabhata, of the same family, whose name occurs in the Gwalior prasasti of the reign of Bhojadeva, an edition of which we owe to Mr. Bhandarkar himself. The genealogy of the Pratihāras is here carried back one generation further than in the materials utilized by Professor Kielhorn in his lists. After obeisance to Vishnu we are introduced to the Sun, in whose lineage Råma arose. Rama's brother Saumitri (Lakshmana) acted as repeller, or perhaps, as doorkeeper (pratīhāra) in the act of repelling the foes) in the fight against Meghanāda. In his lineage arose Nāgabhata I., who is said to have conquered the armies of the Valachas-mlöchchhas, i.e. of the Baluchas. His brother's son was Kakkuka, who had a younger brother Dēvarāja, who is evidently identical with the Mahārāja Devasakti of Professor Kielhorn's list. Dēvarāja's son was Vatsarāja, who " seized by main force the imperial away from the famous house of Bhandi." Vatsaraja's son agaia was Nāgabhata 11., who is described as a valiant warrior, and who is also stated to have defeated Chakrāyudha.
It will be seen that it is this second Nagabhata who must be identified with the Nägávaloka of the Harsha and Pathari iuscriptions. Nágávaloka of the Hangot plates, on the otber hand, Mr. Bhandarkar identifies with Nāgabhata I., and I think that this identification can safely be adopted. If Vatsaraja ruled in A.D. 783, Nagabhata, who was the brother of his grandfather, may well have been on the throne in A.D. 756, the date of our inscription. The wording of the Gwalior inscription naturally leads us to infer that Nagabhata's brother, the father of Kakkuka and Devaraja, did not rule or that he was older than Nagabhata, since bis name is not mentioned and no particulars about him are given. The comparatively short and thoroughly conventional praise bestowed on Kakkuka sud Dēvarāja makes us inclined to think that their rule must, at all evenis, have been short, and that it may very well be compressed within the twenty-seven years intervening between the date of the Hansdt grant and A.D. 783, when Vatsaraja had already ascended the throne.
I therefore agree with Mr. Bhandarkar that Någåvaloka, Bhartsivaddha's overlord, was Nagabhata I. of the Pratibāra dynasty. His family had not however then established itself in Kanauj bat had its capital farther to the west. Vatsarája is in the Hariva naapurāna described as the king of the western quarter, and if we remember that the Avanti-king, 1.e. the ruler of Malwa, is said to hold sway over the Eastern quarter, this localisation takes us to Lāța and
See Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part II, p. 197, n. 2. . Archaological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1903-4, pp. 277 ff. . Sve the correction by Bhandarkar, Ind. Ant., Vol. XL, p. 240, a. 12.
