Indian Epigraphy c6.s5.14

c6.s5.14

The Candella king Dhaṅga (c. 950-1002 A.D.) is described in a stanza of an inscription at Khajuraho¹ (Chhatarpur District, Madhya Pradesh), which implies that the monarch crushed many kings, including the rulers of Kāñcī, Andhra, Rāḍhā and Aṅga, and had the queens of all the defeated rulers imprisoned in his capital. There is little doubt that the claim is an exaggeration. In the first place, it is doubtful if Dhaṅga at all came into collision with all the four kings mentioned in the record, even if the rulers of Aṅga and Rāḍhā are regarded as merely viceroys of the contemporary Pāla emperor of Eastern India. Secondly, even if Dhaṅga actually fought with the four kings, it is more doubtful that he succeeded in defeating all of them. Thirdly, even if he was victorious in all the four cases, it is difficult to believe that he succeeded in carrying off the queens of all his adversaries. Fourthly, even granting that Dhaṅga actually captured the queens of his enemies, he would normally be expected to have placed the ladies in his harem or in the charge of his favourite subordinates rather than in the prison.²