The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c20.79

Language: English

v1.c20.79.1

This Vijayapāla may with some certainty be said to be another son of Mahīpāla I. The decay of Gurjara-Pratīhāra power is amply shown by the assumption of imperial titles by his feudatory Mathanadeva. The addition of the title *Parameśvara* to his father's *Mahārājādhirāja* may indicate the gradual growth of independence in the local dynasty at the cost of the imperial power. This inscription therefore further illustrates the tendency towards the disintegration of the empire which was first observed in the Candella records. The Khajuraho inscriptions of Dhaṅga (V.S. 1011), though it mentions the name of Vināyakapāla nevertheless gives the area of Dhaṅga's dominions as extending "as far as Kālañjarā, as far as Bhāsvat, on the banks of the river of Mālava, from here to the banks of the river Kālindī, and from here also to the frontiers of the Cedi country and even as far as the mountains called Gopā" (V. 45).¹ The area indicated includes practically the whole of the province of Central India. The possession of Kālañjara shows that the Rāṣṭrakūṭas were expelled from that fort by the Candellas, the nominal feudatories of the Gurjaras, some time before 954 A.D. The capture of the fort of Gwalior and the extension of Candella power to the Jumna must have struck severe blows at the very foundation of Gurjara-Pratīhāra sovereignty; and it was not long after this that the whole imperial structure crumbled into pieces, giving rise to independent dynasties in the provinces.

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The Mau stone inscription of Madanavarman informs us that the *Narendra* Dhaṅga, "having defeated on the battlefield the king of Kānyakubja, (who had subdued) all princes obtained exalted sovereignty (*sāmrājya*)."² This defeat of the Kanauj monarch must have happened some time after 954 A.D., and it is significant that the name of the Gurjara-Pratīhāra sovereigns does not occur in Candella inscriptions after this date. In the Sāsbahū inscription of Mahīpāla, the Kacchapaghāta Vajradāman is said to have "by honest means put down the rising valour of the ruler of Gādhinagara, his proclamation drum……resounded in the fort of Gopadri, conquered in battle by his irresistible strong arm."¹ The date of Vajradāman is supplied by his fragmentary Gwalior image inscription dated in V.S. 1034 (A.D. 977).² It seems likely that the Kacchapaghātas during this period acted as the subordinates of the Candellas, who were gradually growing powerful in Bundelkhand. The Baroda plates of Mūlarāja dated in V.S. 1030 (A.D. 974) show that the Caulukyas had established themselves in Gujarat and Kathiawar.³ As the recently discovered Ahmedabad grant of Paramāra Sīyaka II is dated in V.S. 1026 (A.D. 970),⁴ it seems probable that the Caulukyas ousted the Rāṣṭrakūṭa feudatories from that area between 970 and 974 A.D. Pushed from the west by the Caulukyas, the Paramāras were gradually driven into Malwa, which must have passed into their possession some time before V.S. 1031 (A.D. 973-74).

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For in that year the Paramāra *Mahārājādhirāja* Vākpatirāja issued his Dharmapurī grant from Ujjayinī.⁵ It should be noted in this connection that this city and Mandu were in the possession of the Gurjara-Pratīhāras at least up to V.S. 1003, the date of the Partabgarh inscription of Mahendrapāla II. In the East and South-east the Kalacuris had already established themselves as independent powers in the U.P. and the Central Provinces. There is some reason to believe that the Kalacuris, like the Candellas, were also at first feudatories of the Gurjara-Pratīhāras.⁶ In the Kalha plates of Soḍhahdeva Guṇāmbodhi is said to have obtained some land from Bhoja I, while in the Bilhari plate of Yuvarājadeva II and Benares grant of Karṇa Kokalla I is said to have supported Bhoja I in the north. In V. 8 of the Goharwa plates of Karṇa one of his predecessors, Lakṣmaṇarāja, is said to have defeated the Gurjara king along with other princes of Northern and Southern India.¹ As Lakṣmaṇarāja is four generations earlier than Gāṅgeya, who died about 1041 A.D., he can be safely placed in the neighbourhood of the middle of the 10th century A.D. In the west the Cāhamānas had already become an independentp ower before V.S. 1013 (A.D. 957), the date of the Harṣa stone-inscription of Vigraharāja,² while in the south-west the Guhilots appear to have become also independent soon after V.S. 1003.

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The Partabgarh inscription of that date contains the record of a grant of some land by the (Guhila) *Mahārājādhirāja* Bhartṛpaṭṭa in V. S. 999 (A.D. 943). The fact that he married a Rāṣṭrakūṭa princess³ may indicate that he allied himself with the traditional enemies of the Gurjara-Pratīhāras. This alliance may have been brought about after the capture of Chitor by Kṛṣṇa III. In the North-west the pressure of the Muhammadan Turks, which was to drive the Śāhis of Kābul beyond the Sutlej, had already commenced.⁴ Thus when Rājyapāla, son of Vijayapāla ascended the throne, some time between 960 and 1027 A.D. the Gurjara-Pratīhāra empire probably did not extend much beyond the Ganges-Jumna Doab.