The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c28.174

v2.c28.174

Though there is some difference in the epigraphic and literary evidence, the former giving all the credit of the victory to Kīrtivarman and the latter to his chief *Sāmanta* Gopāla,³ yet there is fundamental agreement in the statement that the Candella power was for sometime completely eclipsed by the victories of Lakṣmī-Karṇa, the Kalacuri king of Ḍāhala (*c.* 1042-70). The *Prabodha-candrodaya* distinctly says that 'the race of the moon' (the Candellas) was dethroned by the lord of Cedi, while one inscription gives to Kīrtivarman the credit of recreating like the Creator the kingdom (of the Candellas). The destruction of the Candella kingdom is also referred to by Bilhaṇa, who describes Karṇa, the lord of Dāhala, as ‘the death to the lord of Kālañjara mountain’’ (*Kālaḥ Kālañjara-giri-pater yaḥ*).¹ It is therefore certain that Karṇa, whose contact with the kings of Northern India from the Arabian sea to the Bay of Bengal is established on authentic documents,² and who is said to have dominated India from the borders of Kashmir to the southernmost point of the Indian peninsula,³ must have held in subjection the Candella territory for some period before his defeat at the hands of Gopāla, the Brāhman general of Kīrtivarman. It is not unlikely, as the statement of Bilhaṇa seems to indicate, that one of the predecessors of Kīrtivarman may have even lost his life in the wars with the Kalacuris. The curious silence of the *praśastikāras* regarding the achievements of Vijayapāla and the omission of Devavarman from the family tree may therefore be explained to some extent by the fact that their reigns represented one of the darkest chapters in the dynastic history of the Candellas. We have traced how step by step their power increased till in the reign of Vidyādhara they were regarded by the Muslim writers as the most powerful kings in India. But the defeats which they inflicted on their Kalacuri neighbours since the days of Yaśovarman were at last reversed with disastrous results. In spite of Kīrtivarman's claims to have regained his dominions, the Candella power never really recovered from the blow inflicted upon it by Lakṣmī-Karṇa. Though it lingered long before it fell a prey to the Muslims, it could never again gain a predominant position in the chequered history of Northern India.