The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c29.s2.150

v2.c29.s2.150

It is clear from the above, that for a time Karṇa occupied a position of marked predominance. The complete destruction of the Paramāras and the Candellas gave him effective control over the whole of the region now known as Central India. When we also take into account the findspots of his inscriptions at Paikore, Benares, and Goharwa (Allahabad district), his close relationship with the Gurjara, Karṇāṭa and Gauḍa kings, and the significance of his assumption of the title of *Trikaliṅgādhipati*, we may well believe that for a time at least he dominated the whole region extending from the sources of the Banas and the Mahi rivers in the west to the estuaries of the Hooghly in the east, and from the Ganges-Jumna valley³ in the north to the upper waters of the Mahanadi, Wainganga, Wardha and Tapti. Thus the mantle of imperialism which had fallen from the shoulders of the Gurjara-Pratīhāras upon the Candellas and the Paramāras was at last seized by the Kalacuris. The achievements of Karṇa have sometimes been compared to those of Napoleon;⁴ but the comparison is misleading. Unlike Napoleon, Karṇa's achievements were not the results of a single generation; on the contrary, they were the culmination of a policy which had been systematically pursued by several predecessors, *viz.*, Yuvarāja I, Lakṣmaṇa-rāja, Yuvarāja II, and Gāṅgeya. The victorious career of the last of these rulers is sufficiently illustrated by his revival of the title of *Vikramāditya* and the epithet ‘world-conqueror’ given to him by his own enemies. But if Karṇa’s rise was not Napoleonic, his fall may have been to some extent meteoric, like that of the French emperor. There is evidence that he was overwhelmed by a series of defeats towards the latter part of his career. In the extreme east, the *Rāmacarita* and the Tibetan tradition tell us that Karṇa was defeated by Nayapāla and his son Vigrahapāla III. Nearer home the Candella Kīrtivarman, under the able guidance of his Brāhman general Gopāla, claims to have recreated the lost kingdom by defeating Karṇa. In the west Udayāditya appears to have revived the Paramāra kingdom in Malwa by ousting the forces of the Kalacuri emperor. Further westward, the Caulukya king Bhīma I, of Anahilwad is praised by the Jaina monk Hemacandra for having conquered Karṇa in battle.¹ In the South Bilhaṇa records the defeat of the Kalacuri monarch by Someśvara I, the Cālukya king of Kalyani.²