The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c29.s2.93

v2.c29.s2.93

After Lakṣmaṇarāja came his younger brother Yuvarāja II.⁶ The Goharwa plates of Lakṣmī-Karṇa call him a ‘moon among the kings of Cedi’ (*Cedīndra-candra*), who became a ‘supreme ruler’ (*Parameśvara*).⁷ The Karanbel stone-inscription of Jayasiṁha tells us that he dedicated the wealth which he took from other kings to the holy Someśvara (*i.e.*, Somanātha in Gujarat).¹ It was probably in the course of this western expedition, which he may have undertaken, to emulate the success of his father, that he came into violent conflict with the Paramāras. The Udaipur *praśasti* of the kings of Malwa informs us that Vākpati II (Muñja) (*c.* 974 A.D.) ‘conquering Yuvarāja and slaying his generals, as victor, raised on high his sword in Tripurī.’² This expedition by Vākpati was probably undertaken as a retaliation for the western campaigns of the Kalacuri kings. The remark in the Khairha and the Jubbulpore grants of Yaśaḥ-Karṇa that Yuvarāja ‘purified the town of Tripurī,’³ may have a veiled reference to the purificatory ceremonies which the Kalacuri king possibly performed after the re-occupation of his capital. In connection with these hostilities between Vākpati and Yuvarāja, it is interesting to remember the struggles between the former and the Cāḷukya Taila II, the nephew (sister's son) of Yuvarāja. The recent discovery of the Ahmedabad grants of the Paramāra Harṣa Sīyaka II (*c.* 947-70)⁴ has shown that the predecessors of Vākpati were feudatories of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas of Mānyakheṭaka. This explains to some extent the nature of the struggle between the Rāṣṭrakūṭas, Cāḷukyas, Kalacuris, and Paramāras of this period. These conflicts, in which the Rāṣṭrakūṭas ceased to exist as a great power in the Deccan and in which Tripurī was plundered and Vākpati Muñja met a tragic end, were possibly not detached incidents, but only episodes of the long drawn duel between the Rāṣṭrakūṭas and Paramāras on the one hand and the Cāḷukyas and Kalacuris on the other. The alliance between the Cāḷukyas and the Kalacuris however did not long survive these events. The claim put forward in some of the later Cālukya records that Taila, in addition to subverting the power of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas, overcame the king of Cedi, indicates that Yuvarāja II must have subsequently come into conflict with his relatives.¹ Thus the history of Kalacuri-Cālukya relationship forms a close parallel to the earlier Kalacuri-Rāṣṭrakūṭa connections.