In this task, you will be given a passage to read. A fill in the blank question will be given to you.  Your answer should fit the blank appropriately.

 Since no inscriptions on any of the island have been discovered , the ancient history of the island is conjectural , at best . Pandavas , the heroes of the Hindu epic Mahabharata , and Banasura , the demon devotee of Shiva , are both credited with building temples or cut caves to live . Local tradition holds that the caves are not man @-@ made . The Elephanta caves are of unknown date and attribution  . Art historians have dated the caves in the range of late 5th to late 8th century AD . Archaeological excavations have unearthed a few Kshatrapa coins dated to 4th century AD . The known history is traced only to the defeat of Mauryan rulers of Konkan by the Badami Chalukyas emperor Pulakesi II ( 609 – 642 ) in a naval battle , in 635 AD . Elephanta was then called Puri or Purika , and served as the capital of the Konkan Mauryas . Some historians attribute the caves to the Konkan Mauryas , dating them to the mid @-@ 6th century , though others refute this claim saying a relatively small kingdom like the Konkan Mauryas could not undertake  an almost superhuman excavation effort , which was needed to carve the rock temples from solid rock and could not have the skilled labor to produce such high quality sculpture . Some other historians attribute the construction to the Kalachuris ( late 5th to 6th century ) , who may have had a feudal relationship with the Konkan Mauryas . In an era where polytheism was prevalent , the Elephanta main cave dedicates the monotheism of the Pashupata Shaivism sect , a sect to which Kalachuris as well as Konkan Mauryas belonged . fill in the blank  :  Since no inscriptions on any of the island have been discovered , the ancient __________________ of the island is conjectural , at best . 
 history 