The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c29.s1.25

Language: English

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The real founder of this line of the Kalacuris was king Rājaputra. Commenting on the date of the inscription (A. D. 1031), Kielhorn remarked that "it shows that the founder of this new branch of the Kalacuri family…cannot be placed later than the beginning of the 9th century." As Soḍhadeva is the 10th in lineal descent from Rājaputra, they cannot be separated by a period of more than 250 years (1031-250=781 A.D.). This prince is said to have captured the 'lord of horses' Vāhali, defeated the kings of the East, and lowered the fame of Kirīṭin and other princes. In the present state of our knowledge we cannot with certainty identify any of these. But if he was already ruling in the Gorakhpur region in the last quarter of the 8th century or the beginning of the 9th, some of the early Pāla kings may be included amongst the *prācī-kṣitīndras* defeated by him. Nothing is recorded of the next two princes, Śivarāja and Śaṅkaragaṇa I. But it is possible that the last of these two is to be identified with the *rājā* of the same name who was 'granted freedom from fear' by Kokkalla (*c.* 860-900 A. D.), the founder of the Tripurī branch of the Kalacuris.² Guṇāmbhodhi who succeeded Śaṅkaragaṇa I, is said to have received some land (*bhūmi*) from Bhojadeva, and taken away the fortune of the Gauḍa by a warlike expedition. As he is 4th in lineal descent from Rājaputra (*c.* 780-800 A.D.), he is probably to be referred to the last quarter of the 9th century A.D.

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This would make him a contemporary of the Gurjara-Pratīhāra emperor Bhoja I (*c.* 836-882 A.D.), and it seems likely that he took part in the great offensive of Bhoja against his eastern neighbours, the Pāla rulers of Gauḍa.¹ It is not improbable that Guṇāmbhodhi received a gift of land after the successful termination of this expedition. It is certain that this Kalacuri prince and his immediate feudatories were subordinate to the Gurjara-Pratīhāras; for as I have shown elsewhere,² the Pratīhāra empire some time after 836 A.D. gradually spread eastwards till in the reign of Mahendrapāla I it included large portions of Bihar and Northern Bengal. We may therefore venture the conclusion that the Pratīhāra hold on the Gorakhpur region remained unshaken till their serious reverses at the hands of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas in the first quarter of the 10th century A. D. Nothing definite is known about the next king, Ullabha, except that he abdicated in favour of his younger brother Bhāmāna. This last prince is credited with having distinguished himself in a war against a king of Dhārā; who the latter was is unknown. There is nothing to indicate that the authority of Bhāmāna extended from U. P. to Malwa. But it may be that this king of Dhārā was one of the earlier Paramāras, possibly (Harṣa) Sīyaka II, whose Ahmedabad grants are dated in 949 and 970 A.D.³ The Partabgarh inscription of Mahendrapāla II shows that the Gurjaras in 946 A.D. still held portions of Malwa.

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It is not unlikely that the struggle which made the Paramāras the masters of Dhārā was already raging. We have shown elsewhere that this was only a side-issue of the continuous struggle between the Gurjara-Pratīhāras and the Rāṣṭrakūṭas.⁴ The Paramāras fought as feudatories of the latter; and Bhāmānadeva, though holding a fief in U. P., may perhaps have fought on this frontier on behalf of his masters. It was probably in this war that he found an opportunity to distinguish himself against the *Dhārā-vanīśa*. Nothing is recorded of the next 5 rulers (7-10), *viz*., Śaṅkaragaṇa II,¹ Guṇasāgara II, Śivarāja II, Śaṅkaragaṇa III, and Bhīma. The last was probably dethroned in favour of Vyāsa, a son of Guṇasāgara II, the 8th prince. The grant records that this happened in *(V.) S.* 1087 (A.D. 1031) when the royal camp (*kaṭaka*) was at Gokulaghaṭṭa. Vyāsa's son was Soḍhadeva, the donor of the grant. It is difficult to determine the exact limits of Soḍhadeva's dominions, as the numerous localities mentioned in his inscription have not yet been identified. But since he is called 'the life of the bank of Sarayū'² (*Sarayūpāra-jīvitaṁ*) and he bathed in the Gaṇḍakī before making the grant, we may infer that his dominions probably included at least the Gorakhpur division of the U.P., and the Saran district of Bihar. His royal titles indicate that he was no longer a feudatory.

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Possibly the destruction of the Gurjara-Pratīhāra power in the Gaṅgā-Yamunā valley by the Yamīnīs and Candellas may have helped Vyāsa Maryādāsāgara, the father of Soḍhadeva, to carve out an independent principality on the banks of the Gogra and the Gandak. From the figure of the bull on his seal as well as his title *Parama-māheśvara*, we may infer that Soḍhadeva was a worshipper of Śiva. Nothing else is known about his reign or the reign of any of his possible successors. It is however not unlikely that Soḍhadeva was the last prince of this Kalacuri line. The rise of the Gāhaḍavāla power in the 2nd quarter of the 11th century appears to have destroyed the power of the Kalacuris on the Gogra. The Candravati grant of Candradeva, dated in *(V.) S.* 1150 (A.D. 1093), shows the extension of the Gāhaḍavāla dominions from Benares and Kanauj to the Svarga-dvāra *tīrtha* at the confluence of the Sarayū and the Ghargharā in Ayodhyā (Fyzabad district).³ As the earliest date (A.D. 1090)