The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c6.s5.1

c6.s5.1

These consisted of the Gahdvalas of Kanouj, the Chandellas of Kalinjar and the Kalachuris of Chedi. The Gahdvala principality was founded towards the end of the eleventh century by Chandra Deva⁴. The Chandellas established their power at the expense of the declining Gurjara-Pratiharas, earlier in the century¹. They held a brief suzerainty over the Ganges-Jumna Doab but were supplanted by Lakshmikarna of the Kalachuri dynasty, founded still earlier at Tripuri, in the Jubbulpur district of the Central provinces². The latter, however, had to succumb to the rising Gahdvalas who, under Govindachandra (1114-1154) extended their territory at the cost of the Pala and Sena rulers of Bengal on one side and probably of the Tomaras of Delhi, on the other. The Chandella dominion comprised western Bundelkhand, probably with the Jumna as the northern boundary; the south-eastern frontier must have been co-terminous with that of the Kalachuris. They also appear to have exercised suzerainty over the Kachwaha ruler of Gwalior³. The Gahdvala kingdom originally consisted of Kasi (Benares), Kosala (Awadh), Kausik (Allahabad region), and Indrasthana (Indraprastha—Delhi?)⁴. The expansionist policy followed by the kings of this dynasty soon affected the neighbouring states. Judging from the regnal titles of Chandra Deva, which include those borne earlier by Jasahkarna of Tripuri, the Kalachuris were the first to suffer⁵.