The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c12.101

v1.c12.101

The next point that is interesting, is the relationship of the *Sāhis* with other Indian States. I have already referred to the wise policy of the *Kārkoṭa* king Lalitāditya who appears to have cultivated a policy of friendship with the *Sāhis*. The verses of Kalhaṇa quoted above seem to indicate that there was also an alliance between the Gurjara king Alakhāna and these princes. Alakhāna appears to have ruled over 'the upper portion of the flat Doab between the Jhelum and Chenab rivers, south of Dārvābhisāra, and probably also a part of the Punjab plain further east.'³ What relations this prince had with the *adhirāja* Bhoja are uncertain. But if the latter is to be identified with the Gūrjara-Pratīhāra emperor Bhoja, as seems not improbable,⁴ then it is not unlikely that the two Gūrjara kings⁵ were on terms of friendship with each other. Their hostility to a common enemy, namely the Utpalas might have brought them together. This fact taken together with the well-known hostility of the Gurjara and *Sāhi* kings towards the Arabs, may indicate some sort of *entente cordiale* between these powers for joint action against their common enemies. By reversing the policy of friendship towards the *Sāhis*, Śaṅkaravarman only made the task of the defence of the Indian frontier against Islam all the more difficult. But Kalhaṇa makes it quite clear that this Utpala prince could not make much headway against the *Sāhis*. His statement that the illustrious Lalliya Śāhi, "whose mighty glory outshone the kings of the north," was not received into service by Saṅkaravarman because the latter desired to remove him from his sovereign position, is only a politic way of saying that his efforts were fruitless. His violent death in the hills of Uraśā (modern Hazara district), not very far from the *Sāhi* capital, may not be entirely unconnected with the hidden hand of the *Śāhis*.