Vindhyashakti founds the Vakataka dynasty

Almost all that is known about Vindhyashakti comes from later sources. An inscription in Ajanta Cave XVI, carved more than two centuries later, calls him the ‘banner of the Vakataka family’ and a dvija (‘twice-born’) who increased his power by fighting great battles and had a large cavalry, but gives him no royal title. The Puranas mention him as well and seem to make him a ruler of Vidisha, which is not accepted, and the 96 years of reign that the Vayu Purana gives him are clearly unrealistic. His reign is dated to about 250–270 (or 275). Where the family came from is disputed: the Deccan, especially Vidarbha (Berar), the Vindhya region further north (Bundelkhand), or Andhra. Its gotra, Vishnuvriddha, is often taken as a sign of Brahmin origin, but the epigraphist K. V. Ramesh has argued that ruling families often adopted the gotra of their priests.

His son and successor Pravarasena I (c. 270–330 or 275–335) was the only Vakataka to be called samrat, universal ruler; he performed four Ashvamedha sacrifices and a Vajapeya. After him the kingdom divided into branches, of which two are known — that of Nandivardhana and Pravarapura and that of Vatsagulma. The Gupta emperor Chandragupta II married his daughter Prabhavatigupta into the Vakataka house, and she later ruled as regent; under the Vatsagulma king Harishena, late in the 5th century, the later Buddhist caves of Ajanta were carved. The dynasty came to an end in the early 6th century.