In peninsular India, which of the following kingdoms was the local power that ruled over northern Maharashtra and Vidarbha?

Correct — C. The Vakatakas were the local power of the Deccan holding northern Maharashtra and Vidarbha, which is option (c).

They rose as the Satavahanas declined and ruled the region through roughly the third to fifth centuries CE. They stood close enough to the Guptas that Chandragupta II married his daughter Prabhavatigupta into the line.

The later rock-cut work at Ajanta, in Vakataka territory, was carried out under their patronage.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Chalukyas — The Chalukyas ruled from Vatapi (Badami) in Karnataka, in the western Deccan well south of the Vidarbha tract the stem describes.
• (b)
  Maitrakas — The Maitrakas ruled Saurashtra in Gujarat from their capital at Valabhi, which lies west of the region in the question.
• (d)
  Maukharis — The Maukharis were a north Indian power centred on Kannauj in western Uttar Pradesh, outside peninsular India altogether.

After the Satavahanas broke up, the Deccan was held by regional dynasties rather than one empire, and the Vakatakas were the strongest of them in the north-western Deccan.

Their politics ran on alliance as much as conquest: the Gupta marriage tied the two most important houses of the period together, and Prabhavatigupta later acted as regent for her sons.

Their cultural legacy is architectural. The Vakataka period covers the second, Mahayana phase of excavation at Ajanta.

Key facts

• Vindhyashakti founded the Vakataka dynasty.
• Prabhavatigupta, daughter of Chandragupta II, was married to the Vakataka ruler Rudrasena II.
• The later phase of the Ajanta caves was excavated under Vakataka patronage.
• The Vakataka heartland lay in northern Maharashtra and Vidarbha.

Common traps

• Reading peninsular India loosely and picking a north Indian dynasty such as the Maukharis.
• Confusing the Vakatakas with the Chalukyas, who ruled the Deccan later and further south.

No directly related past PYQ was found.