The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c16.172

v1.c16.172

Mr. A. K. Maitreya has read in these two verses an indirect hint of the calamities which according to him fell in the reign of Vigrahapāla II. He says:—“By referring to him as a moon sprung from the sea and getting thereby an opportunity of fastening upon him the (fault of) *kalāmayatva*, the poet may have hinted at his adversities. In the next śloka, the story of his elephants, after roaming about hither and thither and finding rest at last in the slopes of the Himalayas, and the reference immediately after this to the recovery of lost dominions by Mahīpāla, may lead us to believe that the first eclipse of the Pāla power probably occurred in the reign of Vigrahapāla II.”¹ This conclusion has been accepted by other scholars as reasonable,² and fits in well with our scheme of things. Though there is at present nothing to support my guess I would venture to suggest that there might have been some connection between the extension of the Gurjara power in North Bengal and the Kāmboja rulers of the same locality. If my suggestion that these rulers were of Yunnanese origin, who came to the Brahmaputra valley and then to North Bengal, be accepted then it is possible they might have come to Bengal as allies of the Gurjaras. A double attack like this was eminently successful against Śaśāṅka when Harṣa and Bhāskaravarman combined against him. The withdrawal of Gurjara power after their defeat by the Rāṣṭrakūṭas in *c.* 916-17 A.D. left the Kāmbojas masters of Northern Bengal. Anyhow it is certain that there was no great interval between the disappearance of the Gurjara hold on Gauḍa proper and the rise of this line of kings.¹