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186 POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA braved the wrath of the saka king in his own city. According to sacred legends Vishņu in the shape of a Boar had rescued the earth in the aeon of universal destruction. It is significant that the worship of the Boar Incarnation became widely popular in the GuptaChalukya period. The poet Višākhadatta actually identifies the man in whose arms the earth found refuge when harassed by the Mlechchhas, who "shook the yoke of servitude from the neck" of his country, with the Vārāhitanu (Boar form) of the Self-Existent Being. Powerful emperors both in the north and the south recalled the feats of the Great Boar and the mightiest ruler of a dynasty that kept the Arabs at bay for centuries actually took the title of Adivarāha or the Primeval Boar. The Boar Incarnation then symbolized the successful struggle of Indians against the devastating floods issuing from the regions outside their borders that threatened to overwhelm their country and civilisation in a common ruin.
