The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c30.s1.16

v2.c30.s1.16

The next³ Kacchapaghāta ruler was Kīrttirāja. We are told that he conquered in battle the countless hosts of the prince of Mālava. “When that (Mālava prince) had met with defeat, the villagers surrounded their houses with the multitude of spears, which through fear had fallen from the hands (of his soldiers) in every direction.”⁴ As Mahīpāla of the Sasbahu inscription (A.D. 1093) is the fourth in lineal descent from Kīrttirāja, we can approximately assign the latter to the period *c.* 1015-35 A.D. He was thus a contemporary of Maḥmūd of Ghazni (998-1030 A.D.), the Candella Vidyādhara (1019 A.D.), and the Paramāra Bhoja (1021 A.D.). These synchronisms lead us to conclude that the *Mālava-bhūmipa* who was defeated by the Kacchapaghāta prince was probably Bhoja. They also indicate that Kīrttirāja was possibly a feudatory of the Candellas, whose power during this period had reached its height. The Dubkund inscription⁵ shows that Arjuna, the local Kacchapaghāta prince, was a contemporary of the Paramāra Bhoja, and a vassal of Vidyādhara. The synchronisms mentioned above also indicate that it was probably Kīrttirāja who commanded the fort of Gwalior when Maḥmūd besieged it in 1022 A.D. I have already mentioned elsewhere that the reference by Niẓām ud-Dīn to this prince of Gwalior at the time of Maḥmūd's invasion as *hākim* (حاکم), coupled with the statement that the Yamīnī invader reached the fort of Gwalior after invading the territories of 'Nandā,' indicate the subordination of the Gwalior ruler to the prince of Kalinjar.¹ As a Candella inscription tells us that the (Paramāra) Bhoja worshipped Vidyādhara 'full of fear, like a pupil,'² we may infer that Kīrttiraja's success against the powerful Mālava prince was attained not without the moral and material assistance of the mighty Candella king.