Founded by Vindhyashakti c. 250 CE, the Vakatakas were the most powerful Deccan dynasty of their era and married into the Gupta imperial family; king Harishena's patronage produced the Ajanta cave paintings.
Declined and fragmented by the early 6th century amid succession struggles and pressure from the Nalas and Vishnukundins, its territory absorbed by regional successor states.
John Keay's acclaimed single-volume history of India places this dynasty within the sweep of the subcontinent's past.