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THE MAITRAKAS
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believed, they penetrated into the Indian interior as far as Chitrakūta. They certainly conquered the Eran district (Airikina pradeśa ) in the northern part of the present Central Provinces. The principal centres of their power in India, in the time of their kings Toramāṇa and Mihirakula, were Pavvaiya on the Chināb? and sākala, modern Siālkot, between the Chināb and the Degh, in the Upper Pañjāb.
Next to the Hun inroads must be mentioned the ambition of generals and feudatories. In the time of the Emperor Skanda Gupta, Surāshtra was governed by a Goptri or Margrave named Parņadatta, who was appointed by the emperor himself to the Viceroyalty of the Far West. Shortly afterwards, Bhaţārka, a chief of the Maitraka clan, established himself in this province as general or military governor, with his capital probably at Valabhi. He, as well as his immediate successor, Dharasena I, was satisfied with the title of Senāpati or general, but the next chief Droņasimha, the second son of Bhațārka (A.D. 502-03) had to be installed as Mahārāja by his suzerain. A branch of the dynasty established itself in Mo-la-po (Mālavaka)3 or the westernmost part of Mālwa in the latter half of the sixth century, and made extensive conquests in the direction of the Sahya and Vindhya Hills. Another, and a junior, branch continued to rule at
1 Bhand., Com. Vol., 216. Chitrakūta may be Chitor in Rajaputāna, or more probably the equally famous Chitrakūta on the Mandakini in Central India, where Rāma lived for a short time during his banishment. A Hūnamandala is mentioned in an inscription as being situated in the Malwa region (Ep. Ind. XXIII, 102).
2 JBORS, 1928, March, p. 33; C, J. Shah, Jainism in Northern India, 210, quoting Kuvalayamālā (? 8th century A. D.).
3 Smith, EHI, 4th edition, p. 343.
4 Dharasena II, king of Valabhi, left two sons, viz., Silāditya II Dharmāditya and Kharagraha I. The account of Hiuen Tsang seems to suggest that in his time (i. e., shortly after Sīlāditya) the Maitraka dominions split up into two parts, one part including Mo-la-po and its dependencies probably obeying the line of Silāditya-Dharmāditya, the other part, including Valabhî, obeying Kharagraha and his sons, one of whom was Dhruvasena II, Bālāditya or Dhruvabhata, who married the daughter of Harsha of Kanauj. The account of the Chinese pilgrim seems to receive confirmation from the Alina plate of Siladitya VII (Fleet, CII, 171 f. esp. 182n) which associates Derabhata, the son of Šilāditya I Dharmāditya, with the region of the Sahya and Vindhya mountains, while the descendants of Kharagraha I are connected with Valabhi. The Navalakhi and Nogā wā plates, however, suggest that occasionally the same
