Pulakeshin II assumed the title of ‘Dakshinapatheshvara’ (lord of the south) after defeating which of the following rulers of north India?

Correct — A. Pulakeshin II, the Chalukya king of Vatapi (Badami), checked Harshavardhana's advance into the Deccan at the Narmada, and the title in the stem records that success.

The victory is preserved in the Aihole inscription, composed by his court poet Ravikirti and dated 634 CE, which is the standard source for the reign.

Harsha ruled north India from Kannauj at exactly this time, so the ruler defeated is Harshavardhana, option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Rudrasena II — Rudrasena II was a Vakataka ruler of the Deccan in the late fourth century, married to Prabhavatigupta of the Guptas. He is neither a northern king nor a contemporary of Pulakeshin II.
• (c)
  Dhruvasena II — Dhruvasena II was a Maitraka king of Valabhi in Gujarat, a much smaller western power that submitted to Harsha. Defeating him would not earn a claim to lordship of the south.
• (d)
  Prabhakarvardhana — Prabhakarvardhana died in 605 CE, before Pulakeshin II came to the throne. He was Harsha's father and the Pushyabhuti ruler of Thanesar, a generation too early.

The seventh century in India turns on one confrontation. Harshavardhana of the Pushyabhuti line ruled the north from Kannauj; Pulakeshin II of the Chalukyas ruled the Deccan from Vatapi.

Harsha's authority stopped at the Narmada, which settled into the working boundary between them, and Pulakeshin took the title of lord of the south on the strength of it.

The Deccan then turned over again: the Pallava Narasimhavarman I took Vatapi in 642 CE, and Pulakeshin II's reign ended with it.

Key facts

• Pulakeshin II was the Chalukya ruler of Vatapi, present-day Badami in Karnataka.
• The Aihole inscription of his court poet Ravikirti, dated 634 CE, records the victory over Harshavardhana.
• Harshavardhana ruled north India from Kannauj in the first half of the seventh century.
• The Pallava king Narasimhavarman I captured Vatapi in 642 CE.

Common traps

• Reading the title as one Harsha took, when it is Pulakeshin's.
• Choosing Prabhakarvardhana because the name belongs to Harsha's own dynasty.
• Placing the Vakataka Rudrasena II in the seventh century, when he belongs to the Gupta period.

No directly related past PYQ was found.