The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c28.132

v2.c28.132

It is not known when Gaṇḍa’s reign came to an end but he must have been succeeded by his son Vidyādhara some time before 1019 A. D. For Ibn ul-Athīr tells us that in the year A. H. 409 (a mistake for A. H. 410) Maḥmūd of Ghazni marched against India to protect his territories from a threatened attack by Bīdā. This king, we are told, ‘was the greatest of the rulers of India in territory; he had the largest armies; and his country was named Kajuraho’ کجر راهه. We are further told that some time before this date Bīdā, after a ‘long quarrel,’ had fought and killed ‘Rājaypāl,’ the ruler of Kanauj for ‘his flight and the surrendering of his territories to the Musalmans.’⁴ The truth of the last statement of Ibn ul-Athīr is demonstrated by the Dubkund inscription of the Kacchapaghāta Vikramasiṁha (V.S. 1145), which tells us that one of his predecessors named Arjuna, being anxious to serve the illustrious Vidyādhara, had fiercely slain in a great battle the illustrious Rājyapāla.¹ The statement is also supported by a Candella inscription from Mahoba which informs us that Vidyādhara "caused the destruction of the king of Kanauj."² These facts show that by the year 1019 A.D., Vidyādhara had come to be regarded as the most powerful ruler of India. The policy of Dhaṅga, who ceased to pay even a nominal homage to the throne of Kanauj, was thus successfully carried to its logical conclusion by his grandson when the latter forcibly uprooted the effete successor of Bhoja and Mahendrapāla.