The Rashtrakutas and their Times c9.s2.17

c9.s2.17

At the time of Dhruva's intervention in the northern Indian politics, Dharmapāla had again rallied up his forces and advanced into the Doab with a view to capture Kanauj. Dhruva must have first attacked Vatsarāja, his immediate neighbour, in c. 789 A.D. The latter was probably engaged in meeting the second invasion of Dharmapāla, and so Dhruva could get a decisive victory, capturing the two white umbrellas of the Bengal ruler which Vatsarāja had snatched away from him in a former battle. This defeat of Vatsarāja brought Dhruva into contact and conflict with Dharmapāla, who was already in the Doab. Each must have regarded the other as standing in the way of the realization of his imperial ambition and a conflict was inevitable. We have no details of the military operations, but the Sanjan plates of Amoghavarsha I, distinctly assert²⁴ that the defeat of the Gauda king took place in the Ganges-Jumna Doab. The statement in the Sanjan plates is confirmed by verse 22 of the Surat plates of Karka Suvarṇavarsha, which I am at present editing for the Epigraphia Indica, where Dhruva and God Śiva are both described as 'Gāṅgaughasantatinirodhavivṛddhakīrtiḥ.'24a There is a pun on the expression, and with reference to Dhruva, it can refer both to his imprisonment of the Ganga ruler, as well as to his campaign in Ganges valley. The term ogha is not very happy if taken in connection with the imprisonment of the Ganga ruler. It can be more appropriate with reference to the campaign in the Ganges valley, when the huge southern army, consisting of elephants, horses and soldiers may have, while encamped on the banks of the Ganges, appeared to be obstructing the flow of that river either while bathing in it or crossing it across.