[Yasodharman of Málwa, A.D. 533-4.] Regarding the history of the third destroyers of Gupta power in Málwa, inscriptions show that in A.D. 437-8, under Kumáragupta, Bandhuvarman son of Vishnuvarman ruled as a local king. [258] Possibly Bandhuvarman afterwards threw off his allegiance to the Guptas and thereby caused the temporary loss of Suráshtra towards the end of Kumáragupta's reign. Nothing further is recorded of the rulers of Málwa until the reign of Yasodharman in A.D. 533-4. [259] It has been supposed that one of Yasodharman's inscriptions mentioned a king Vishnuvardhana but there can be little doubt that both names refer to the same person. [260] The name of Yasodharman's tribe is unknown and his crest the aulikara has not been satisfactorily explained. [261] Mandasor [262] in Western Málwa, where all his inscriptions have been found, must have been a centre of Yasodharman's power. Yasodharman boasts [263] of conquering from the Brahmaputra to mount Mahendra and from the Himálayas to the Western Ocean. In the sixth century only one dynasty could claim such widespread power. That dynasty is the famous family of Ujjain to which belonged the well known Vikramáditya of the Nine Gems. It may be conjectured not only that Yasodharman belonged to this family but that Yasodharman was the great Vikramáditya himself. [264] The difficult question remains by whom was the power of Mihirakula overthrown. Yasodharman claims to have subdued Mihirakula, who, he distinctly says, had never before been defeated. [265] On the other hand, Hiuen Tsiang ascribes Mihirakula's overthrow to a Báláditya of Magadha. [266] Coins prove that Báláditya [267] was one of the titles of Narasimhagupta grandson of Kumáragupta I. (A.D. 417-453) who probably ruled Magadha as his son's seal was found in the Gházipur district. [268] If Hiuen Tsiang's story is accepted a slight chronological difficulty arises in the way of this identification. It is clear that Mihirakula's first defeat was at the hands of Yasodharman about A.D. 530. His defeat and capture by Báláditya must have been later. As Skandagupta's reign ended about A.D. 470 a blank of sixty years has to be filled by the two reigns of his brother and his nephew. [269] This, though not impossible, suggests caution in identifying Báláditya. According to Hiuen Tsiang Báláditya was a feudatory of Mihirakula who rebelled against him when he began to persecute the Buddhists. Hiuen Tsiang notices that, at the intercession of his own mother, Báláditya spared Mihirakula's life and allowed him to retire to Kashmir. He further notices that Mihirakula and his brother were rivals and his statement suggests that from Kashmir Mihirakula defeated his brother and recovered Gandhára. The ascendancy of the White Huns cannot have lasted long after Mihirakula. About A.D. 560 the power of the White Huns was crushed between the combined attacks of the Persians and Turks. [270]--(A.M.T.J.)] CHAPTER VIII. THE VALABHIS (A.D. 509-766.)