The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c20.22.5

v1.c20.22.5

who has conquered the Kulūtas; who is a very axe to the Kuntalas, and who by violence has appropriated the fortunes of the Ramaṭhas." In the same passage we are further told that the play was acted before an assembly of guests invited by Mahīpāla, ‘the pearl-jewel of the lineage of Raghu the *Mahārājādhirāja* of *Āryāvarta*.’ Another passage of the same work tells us that the play was performed by the king’s orders at the great city of Mahodaya.¹ The list of Mahīpāla’s conquests given by Rājaśekhara may possibly be exaggerated, after the manner of court poets. But an examination of it does not reveal any unsurmountable obstacles to our acceptance of it as mainly true. Thus a king who ruled over the Karnal district might well wage war with the tribes in the Kangra valley and the neighbouring regions.² Again a prince who ruled over Bundelkhand, Bihar, and Northern Bengal might well have engaged in hostilities with the rulers of the upper Narbada and the lower Mahanadi. Nor does a struggle with Kuntala present any difficulty. The rulers of Kuntala or the Kanarese districts of the Bombay Presidency were certainly the Rāshṭrakūṭas of Mānyakheṭa.