The sole mentions are retrieved from the third book of Rajatarangini, an 11th-century work by Kalhana, which aimed to sketch an outline of Kashmir's history since ancient times, and did discuss the Karkota dynasty in depth.
[4][5][a] Kalhana claimed to have depended on a variety of sources — earlier historical works, dynastic genealogies, inscriptions, coins and Puranas.
[7] These coins are quite rare, made of copper, silver, or debased gold, and generally follow Kushan and Kidarite designs.
[7]They show on the obverse a standing Shiva figures, variously accompanied by animals or Gana attendants, with the name of the king in the Brahmi script.
[7] On the reverse, the Goddess Ardoxsho or Sri Lakshmi appears seated, with a Kidara monogram to left, and Jaya in Brahmi to right.
[9] However the chronology is widely deemed to be faulty and on cross-vetting with coins and inscriptions from outside Kashmir, the names of some of the Gonanda rulers are found to roughly correspond with the Alchon Huns, who ruled hundreds of years later than the time-frame assigned by Kalhana.
He subdued kings in regions as far as Sinhala Kingdom, forcing them to abandon animal slaughter.
According to Kalhana, the emperor Vikramditya (alias Harsha) of Ujjayini defeated the Shakas, and made his friend and poet Matrigupta the ruler of Kashmir.
According to D. C. Sircar, Kalhana has confused the legendary Vikramaditya of Ujjain with the Vardhana Emperor Harsha (c. 606-47 CE).
However, according to M. A. Stein, Kalhana's Vikramaditya is another Shiladitya mentioned in Xuanzang's account: a king of Malwa around 580 CE.
Historical evidence suggests that a king named Pravarasena ruled Kashmir in the 6th century CE.
He restored the rule of Vikramaditya's son Pratapshila (alias Shiladitya), who had been expelled from Ujjain by his enemies.
[9] However, after Baladitya's death, Durlabhavardhana ascended to the throne with help from a minister, and claimed descent from the mythical Naga king Karkotaka, establishing the Karkota Dynasty.