The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c28.162.2

v2.c28.162.2

It is therefore likely that Devavarman was succeeded by his younger brother Kīrtivarman. Though it is not unusual for the compilers of royal genealogies to omit a brother from the family tree, there are reasons to suspect that this omission may have been more than casual. The *Prabodha-candrodaya* of Kṛṣṇa Miśra, which allegorically represents in the form of a drama the eternal struggle between *Viveka* and *Mahā-mōha*, supplies the following interesting information on the point.⁴ We are told in the introductory portion of the play that the ‘glorious Gopāla has ordered it to be produced before king Kīrtivarman.’ This Gopāla is called *Sakala sāmanta-cakra-cūḍāmaṇi*, who like Paraśurāma extirpated the race of tyrannical kings: “His merciless battle axe spared neither women, child, nor old age; it cleft the broad shoulders of the enemy, and its stroke was followed by a dreadful sound.’¹ In other passages Gopāla is compared with the Man-lion incarnation (*Nṛsiṁha-rūpa*) and with the primeval boar (*Mahā-varāha*) who ‘raised up the earth when it had sunk in the waters of destruction, poured down upon its sovereigns.’ These passages indicate that Gopāla acted as the saviour in a time of great crisis. Several passages tell us that his services were undertaken in the interest of Kīrtivarman.