yasena or Vindhyashakti was succeeded by his son Pravarsena II. A Fragmentary inscription issued by Devasena who succeeded to the throne in circa A. D. 450 was issued from Vatsagulma which shows that the city continued to be the capital of the branch to the last. In the time of Harisena, the son of Devasena, it became the capital of a vast empire comprising a large part of the Deccan. Thus it can be said that it was a royal seat of the Vatsagulma branch of the Vakatakas from A. D. 330 to 500 when the son of Harishena whose name is not known succeeded to the throne in 500 AD. A reference to Washim is found in Kavyamimansa by Rajashekhara, the celebrated poet and dramatist of the Yayavara family who flourished from 875 to 925 AD. He has mentioned therein Vatsagulma as situated in Vidarbha. But even earlier references to Vatsagulma or Vatsa-gulma are found in Mahabharata and Kamasutra, which in their present form are assignable to a period before the age of the Vakatakas. The Karpuramunjari, a play written by Rajashekhara and staged at Kanauj under the patronage of the Gurjara-Pratiharas also mentions it as situated in the Daksina-patha (Dtccan). Vachchhoma (Vatsagulma) was the name of the Prakrit style current in Vidarbha. Vashima is derived from Vachchhoma the Prakrit name of Vatsagulma. The Sanskrit treatise Vatsagulmyamahatmya also gives traditional information about this town.
During the middle of the 18th century Washim was the famous centre of cloth production along with Balapur. It is clearly brought out by one of the articles of the treaty of Kanakpur entered into between Janoji Bhonsle and the Peshwa Madhavrao I after the battle between the two in 1769. The article states that the Bhosles should send annually to the Peshva cloth manufactured at Washim and Balapur worth Rs. 5,000. A mint was also in existence at Washim. The town was looted by the Pendharis in 1809 along with some other places in Berar.
When in 1768-69, the Peshva attacked the
