The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c13.53.2

v1.c13.53.2

With a large army whose advance guard alone, according to the exaggerated estimate of Kalhaṇa, consisted of "9 lakhs of foot-soldiers, 300 elephants, and 1 lakh of horsemen" the king marched forth from the *dvāra* and following the Pīr Pantsāl route,² invaded Dārbābhisāra. At the approach of the Kashmirian army, its king Naravāhana took refuge in the mountain gorges.³ Śaṅkaravarman then captured and imprisoned a prince named Harigaṇa, and gradually reached the outskirts of the Punjab plain, "wholly bent on the conquest of Gūrjara." Pṛthvīcandra, the king of Trigarta (Kangra), who had previously given his son Bhavanacandra as a hostage, is reported at this stage to have come towards Śaṅkaravarman to do homage, but fearing capture, "fled far away, failing in resolve." Kalhaṇa's description does not show that Trigarta was actually conquered, and Stein is probably right in assuming that no "material success was achieved by him in the hills east of the Ravi." But he appears to have met with better success in his struggle with the *Gūrjarādhipa*, Alakhāna. I have already described elsewhere the possibility of some sort of an alliance between the *Adhirāja* Bhoja, Alakhāna, and the *Śāhi* Lalliya.¹ Though Śaṅkaravarman claims to have curbed the sovereign power of Bhoja and " uprooted in battle the fortune of Alakhāna, he seems to have gained no substantial success.