Note 8 — Chapter X · THE GURJJARAS (a.d. 580–808.)

A recently published grant8 made by Nirihullaka, the chieftain of a jungle tribe in the lower valley of the Narbadá, shows that towards the end of the sixth century a.d. that region was occupied by wild tribes who acknowledged the supremacy of the Chedi or Kalachuri kings: a fact which accounts for the use of the Chedi or Traikúṭaka era in South Gujarát. Nirihullaka names with respect a king Śaṅkaraṇa, whom Dr. Bühler would identify with Śaṅkaragaṇa the father of the Kalachuri Buddhavarmman who was defeated by Mangalíśa the Chálukya about a.d. 600.9 Śaṅkaragaṇa himself must have flourished about a.d. 580, and the Gurjjara conquest must be subsequent to this date. Another new grant,10 which is only a fragment and contains no king’s name, but which on the ground of date (Saṃ. 346 = a.d. 594–5) and style may be safely attributed to the Gurjjara dynasty, shows that the Gurjjaras were established in the country within a few years of Śaṅkaragaṇa’s probable date.