The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c28.29.7

v2.c28.29.7

the Rāṣṭrakūṭas' attacks on the Gurjara-Pratīhāra empire were renewed. The Jura inscription of Kṛṣṇa III, discovered recently in the Maihar state, shows that his claim to have captured Kālañjara sometime before 940 A.D., from the Gurjaras, may not be entirely baseless. That the Gurjaras referred to in the Karhad and Deoli plates in connection with Kālañjara, were the Gurjara-Pratīharas of Kanauj is proved by the Barah copper plate of Bhojadeva, which granted land in *Kālañjara-maṇḍala* of the *Kanyakubja-bhukti*.¹ The Khajraho stone inscription of Dhaṅga, dated in 1011 V.S. (A.D. 954) tells us that Yaśovarman easily conquered the mountain of Kālañjara, ‘the dwelling-place of Śiva.’² As Yaśovarman therefore appears to have been a contemporary of Kṛṣṇa III, it is not unlikely that he may have captured the famous hill-fort, not from the Gurjara-Pratīhāras, as was so long believed, but from the Rāṣṭrakūṭas. The sudden emergence of the Candellas as one of the first-class powers in the country south of the Jumna may therefore be due partially to their success against these ruthless marauders of the Deccan, the predecessors of the Marāthā horsemen of a later period. In the Khajraho inscription, referred to above, the poet gives the following graphic, if somewhat exaggerated, account of the victories and campaigns of Yaśovarman: