The Rashtrakutas and their Times c9.s2.14

c9.s2.14

It is not necessary for us to enter into a detailed discussion of the very complicated history of northern India of this period. Only facts, relevant for our enquiry, need be referred to. The Gwalior inscription of Bhoja I²² of the Gurjara-Pratīhāra dynasty informs us that his great-grand-father Vatsarāja had wrested away the empire from the Bhaṇḍi family. Kanauj in our period was occupying the position of Pataliputra in an earlier age, and we know from the *Harshacharita* that Bhaṇḍi was a maternal-uncle of Harsha. Indrāyudha, who was at this time ruling over Kanauj, may probably have been a descendant of this maternal-uncle of Harsha, and it is possible that his family in that case may have been known as Bhaṇḍikula. The statement in the Gwalior inscription that Vatsarāja forcibly wrested the empire from Bhaṇḍikula may support the view that soon after 783 A.D., Vatsarāja attacked Kanauj and defeated its ruler Indrāyudha. Indrāyudha does not seem to have been immediately deposed; for some time he continued to occupy the imperial throne at Kanauj as a mere puppet in the hands of the conqueror. This must have roused the jealousy of Dharmapāla, who was also an aspirant for the overlordship of northern India. Dharmapāla decided to champion the cause of Chakrāyudha, who was probably a relative of Indrāyudha. The Bengal ruler, however, suffered a reverse in the beginning; for a verse²³ in the Waṇi-Diṇḍori plates states that Vatsarāja was elated by the easy victory that he had scored over the lord of the Gaudas. The Bengal ruler defeated by him could not have been Gopāla, for the latter is not known to have sent any expedition outside the province of Bengal. The Sanjan plates, on the other hand, show that the armies of Dharmapāla were operating in the Ganges-Jumna Doab in the course of his wars with the Gurjara-Pratīhāras.