272 Identity of the Toramdnas of Eran and Kashmir. [No. 3, 
maternal grandfather. After a long life spent in travel he wrested 
his uncle’s dominion from the hands of a brahmin usurper Matri- 
gupta* on whom Harsa Vikramaditya of Ougein had bestowed 
it. His reign proved long and highly prosperous. According to his 
chroniclers he extended his arms from Kashmir to where the Ganges 
pours into the sea ;t and his minister Moraka, in his name, swayed 
the royal sceptre in Ceylon To the south, Pravara extended his 
conquests as far as Guzarat, whence he restored Malwa to Siladitya 
alias Pratapasila son of Vikramaditya, who had been expelled for 
some time from his patrimony by his enemies. The only return which 
he exacted, for this act of magnanimity to one whose father had 
been instrumental in giving away his uncle’s dominion to a parasite, 
was, it is said, no more than the famous throne of Vikrama which 
was supposed to have been mounted on thirty-two nymphs of rare 
merit. As an encourager of public works, Pravara’s name stands 
connectedjwith the foundation of the city of S'rinagara, which he 
is fabled to have built in compliance with the advice of Vetala, the 
demon attendant of Vikrama. A large bridge across the Vitasta 
(Byas) and several minor works of utility are likewise set down 
to his credit. Although described as a staunch Hindu and named 
Pashupati from his ardent devotion to Siva, he seems to have been 
connected by his mother’s side with the followers of, at the time, a 
heretical faith ; and his uncle Jay andhra claims preeminence for his 
dedication of a large Viliara to Vriliad Buddha. It is nowhere 
mentioned that Pravara ever had any control over Gwalior, but 
the circumstance of his power having extended as far as Guzarat 
via Ougein, would justify the supposition that he had, and that the 
name in the Gwalior inscription is his. 
The first objection which suggests itself against this identification 
is the fact of Pravara’s having assisted the son of Vikramaditya 
in regaining his paternal throne. Now, if this Vikramaditya he, as 
supposed by Col. Cunningham, the same with Chandragupta alias 
* In an excellent paper on Kalidasa, read before the Bombay Branch of the 
HI. Asiatic Society, Dr. Bliau Dajee has attempted to prove the identity of Matri- 
gupta with that renowned poet. 
t H JIlFTftlfwrT 1 ® ^ ^lfTf‘l^stI<TI 
Baja Tarangiui, chap. 3, v. 37. 
