Vishakhadatta

Vishakhadatta ( was an Indian Sanskrit poet and playwright. Although Vishakhadatta furnishes the names of his father and grandfather as Maharaja Bhaskaradatta and Maharaja Vateshvaradatta in his political drama Mudrārākṣasa, we know little else about him. Only two of his plays, the Mudrārākṣasa and the Devichandraguptam are known to us. His period is not certain but he probably flourished in or after the 6th century CE. Some scholars such as A. S. Altekar, K. P. Jayaswal and Sten Konow theorized that Vishakhadatta was a contemporary of Chandragupta II, and lived in late 4th century to early 5th century. But this view has been challenged by other scholars, including Moriz Winternitz and R. C. Majumdar.

==Origins== Based on his name, historians argue that Vishakhadatta was from Kamarupa. A colony of Brahmins were settled by King Bhutivarman, and this charter was reissued by King Bhaskaravarman. Saradaranjan Roy argues that Vishakhadatta belonged to North Bengal due to the references to śāli padd, the beauty of Gauḍa women, and the references to Khasis forming part of the army of Malayaketu. During the reign of Bhaskaravarman, North Bengal formed a part of Kamarupa, thus placing him in the Northeast. ==Mudrarakshasa==