The Rashtrakutas and their Times c11.s2.11

c11.s2.11

The reign of Govinda IV, who succeeded Amoghavarsha II, was one of the least glorious ones. He was a youth of about 20, and his Sangli plates inform us that he was as beautiful as God of Love. Most of his time he spent in the pursuits of pleasures; Kharepatan plates of Raṭṭarāja state that he was the abode of the sentiment of love and was surrounded by a bevy of dancers.⁶² Deoli and Karhad plates also describe him as the very essence of love and its pleasures, and state that he took to evil ways, which led to disaffection of ministers and that he eventually perished. He, however, enjoyed life for about 15 years. He probably found no time to look after foreign affairs; a line in his Sangli record says that the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā served his palace,⁶³ suggesting that Allahabad was still in his possession. This, however, may have been perhaps the case at the beginning of his career, when the Rāṣṭrakūṭa armies may have been still in the north. Govinda IV, however, had neither the ability nor the inclination to try to hold the provinces conquered by his father. Some time during Govinda's reign, Mahīpāla reoccupied Kanauj and the Rāṣṭrakūṭa forces were either driven back or had to retire.