The Maitrakas: The Learned Rulers of Saurashtra (5th to 8th CE)

The Kathasaritasagara of Somadeva, an 11th CE collection of stories, tells us a fascinating tale of a learned Brahmana who refused to send his son to the University of Nalanda as the University of Vallabhi was better. Where exactly was this university and who built it? This is one of the most fascinating stories from the 5th and 6th CE in Western India.

In (approximately) 475 CE, Central and Eastern India was in complete disarray. The might of the Gupta Empire had been broken by the attacks of the Hunas and the Empire was fragmenting. A great bastion of the Empire was the Western provinces, which had been wrested from the Western Kshatrapas by Chandra Gupta II and these provinces appeared to have been bypassed in the Huna invasion.