The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c13.97

v1.c13.97

With the accession of Yaśaskara in A.D. 939 the Utpala dynasty came to an end. Kalhaṇa gives a favourable description of the reign of the new king. "The land became so free from robbery that at night the doors were left open in the bazars, and the roads were secure for travellers. As he exercised careful supervision, the functionaries, who had plundered everything, found no other occupation but to look after the cultivation."² The chronicler illustrates the judicial sagacity of the king by two stories which appear to be based on fact, and mentions the building of a *maṭha* for students from *Āryadeśa*.³ Yet he was not entirely free from defects. His excessive joy at the death of his eldest brother, his connivance at the love-intrigues of the *Maṇḍaleśa* Velāvitta with his queens, his infatuation for the courtesan Lallā, who "yet had meetings with a Caṇḍāla watchman" and association with those "who had eaten the food remnants of the *Ḍombas*," are mentioned among his faults.⁴ To this last fault Kalhaṇa ascribes his abominable' and lingering disease which overtook him towards the end of his reign. Rejecting the claims of his young son Saṁgrāmadeva, "as he knew that he was not begotten by himself," he then had Varṇaṭa, the son of his paternal grand-uncle Rāmadeva, consecrated "by the ministers, *Ekāṅgas* and feudal chiefs." But Varṇaṭa gave offence to the king by not visiting or even enquiring after his condition, and the scheming Parvagupta at the last moment persuaded the dying prince to grant the throne to Saṁgrāmadeva. Feeling his end to be near, he then proceeded to his *maṭha*, where his death was hastened by a dose of poison (948 A.D.).¹