The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c20.79.1

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.