The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c29.s2.190

v2.c29.s2.190

The *Bhīmeśvara* of the above passage has been identified with some probability with ‘the rather handsome two-storeyed shrine of the god Bhīmeśvara-svāmin at Drākshārāma’ (Godavari District). This temple is reported to contain ‘a particularly big *liṅgam*, some fourteen or fifteen feet high’ and also inscriptions, dated from A. D. 1055.⁴ The Andhra king is probably to be identified with the Calukya Vijayāditya, who ruled in Veṅgi from about 1064 to 1074 A. D.⁵ The only other reference to his victory is contained in the Bheraghat stone-inscription of Alhaṇadevī. V. 14 of this record tells us that Yaśaḥ-Karṇa became famous by devastating *Campāraṇya*.⁶ Kielhorn suggested that this place should denote a tract of country near the Godavari river; but it is more likely that the place is to be identified with the modern Champaran district of Bihar. We have already seen that there is some evidence to show that Gāṅgeya, one of the predecessors of Yaśaḥ-Karṇa, ruled in Tira-bhukti which included Champaran.¹ This area may have been lost to the Kalacuris after the defeats which overwhelmed Karṇa during the latter part of his reign. Yaśaḥ-Karṇa may have therefore undertaken an expedition into that province to punish its rebellious tribes. That he succeeded in making no permanent impression in Tīra-bhukti is clear from the inscription of Alhaṇadevī. It was only a raid. At present we do not know the last date of Yaśaḥ-Karṇa, but as the first recorded date of his successor, so far known, is (K.) S. 902 (A. D. 1151), it is not impossible that his reign may have extended well into the beginning of the 3rd decade of the 11th century. In that case the rise of the Gāhaḍavālas in *c.* 1090 A.D. and their occupation of the whole area from Benares to Kanauj must have robbed Yaśaḥ-Karṇa of some of his fairest provinces in the Ganges-Jumna valley. This conclusion is supported by a grant of the Gāhaḍavāla Govindacandra, which in *V. S.* 1177 (A. D. 1122) sanctions the transfer of some land which was previously granted by the (Kalacuri) king Yaśaḥ-Karṇa.² As the reign of Lakṣmī-Karṇa ended before 1073 A.D., we can safely conclude that the Ganges-Jumna Doab was conquered by Candradeva (*c.* 1090-1104) from the Kalacuris in the reign of Yaśaḥ-Karṇa.³ Another serious defeat that Yaśaḥ-Karṇa appears to have suffered came from the revived Paramāra dynasty of Malwa. The Nagpur *praśasti* of Naravarman tells us that the illustrious Lakṣmadeva (*c.* 1070-1100 A. D.) attacked Tripurī and annihilating his warlike spirited adversaries encamped on the banks of the Revā.¹ Yaśaḥ-Karṇa probably also suffered defeats in the hands of the Candella Sallakṣaṇavarman² and the Cālukya Vikramāditya VI.³ There are reasons to believe that the hold of Tripurī on Tummāṇa also grew precarious during this period.⁴