Note 18 — Chapter X · THE GURJJARAS (a.d. 580–808.)

Dadda II.’s own grants describe him as having attained the five great titles, and praise him in general terms: and both he and his brother Raṇagraha sign their grants as devout worshippers of the sun. Dadda II. heads the genealogy in the later grant of 456 (a.d. 704–5),18 which states that he protected “the lord of Valabhi who had been defeated by the great lord the illustrious Harshadeva.” The event referred to must have been some expedition of the great Harshavardhana of Kanauj Chapter X. The Gurjjaras, a.d. 580–808. Dadda II. Praśántarága, C. 620–650 a.d. (a.d. 607–648), perhaps the campaign in which Harsha was defeated on the Narbadá by Pulakeśi II. (which took place before a.d. 634). The protection given to the Valabhi king is perhaps referred to in the Kheḍá grants in the mention of “strangers and suppliants and people in distress.” If this is the case the defeat of Valabhi took place before a.d. 628–29, the date of the earlier of the Kheḍá grants. On the other hand, the phrase quoted is by no means decisive, and the fact that in Hiuen Tsiang’s time Dhruvasena of Valabhi was son-in-law of Harsha’s son, makes it unlikely that Harsha should have been at war with him. It follows that the expedition referred to may have taken place in the reign of Dharasena IV. who may have been the son of Dhruvasena by another wife than Harsha’s granddaughter.