The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c30.s4.151

Language: English

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The Paramāra inscriptions are unanimous in praising Bhoja's great military talents. Thus the Udaipur *praśasti* teils us that he resembled king Pṛthu and "possessed the earth up to Kailāsa, up to the Malaya hills, and up to the two mountains of the setting and the rising sun; he scattered in all directions the weighty crowd of earth-supporters (*urvībhara*), easily uprooting them with the shaft of his bow. Seeing the Karṇāṭas, the lords of Lāṭa, the king of Gūrjara, the Turuṣkas, chief among whom were the lord of Cedi, Indraratha,² Toggala³ (?) and Bhīma, conquered by his mercenaries (*bhṛtya*)⁴ alone, his hereditary warriors (*maula*)⁵ thought only of the strength of their arms, not of the numbers of their fighters."⁶ The Dhar *praśasti* of Arjunavarman designates Bhoja as a *Sārvabhauma*, and gives him credit for having defeated Gāṅgeya, the Kalacuri king of Tripurī⁷ (*c.* 1030-41 A.D.). It is true there is much exaggeration in these statements of the *praśasti*-writers. But epigraphic evidence shows that there is a substantial basis for ascribing to Bhoja many of these conquests. The war with the Karṇāṭas was only another episode in the struggle which had taken so disastrous a turn in the reign of Vākpati II, and which was to prove in the end equally disastrous to Bhoja. But in the beginning of his reign Bhoja appears to have retaliated with success, and may have even avenged the death of Muñja.

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Merutuṅga refers to a story in which Bhoja, while attending a dramatic performance in which Tailapa II, was represented as imprisoned, was so stung by the sarcasm¹ of Dāmara, an emissary of the Caulukya king Bhīma I, that he at once ‘proceeded to march to the country of Telinga.’² The same story, with additions, is found in the *Bhoja-carita*, which tells us that Bhoja ‘captured Tailapa, subjected him to the same indignities to which Muñja had been subjected, and finally executed him.’³ Sir R. G. Bhandarkar suggests that, as Tailapa was dead before Bhoja ascended the throne, his name is probably a mistake for Vikramāditya I,⁴ of whom we know so little and put him to death.⁵ Several scholars have recently agreed with this conclusion of Bhandarkar.⁶ Whatever may be the value of this guess, it is certain that Bhoja gained some substantial successes against the Cāḷukyas of Kalyani before the Śaka year 941 (A.D. 1019).

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For the Balagamve stone-inscription of that date of the time of Jayasiṁha (*c.* 1018-42 A.D.) claims that he was ‘a moon to the lotus which was king Bhoja,’ *i.e.*, he ‘took away the glory of Bhoja just as the moon causes the water-lilies that bloom in the daytime to close their flowers at night.’¹ The samè inscription also claims that Jayasiṁha ‘searched out and beset and pursued and ground down and put to flight the confederacy of Mālava.’² There is no evidence to show who were the princes that were included in this ‘confederacy of Mālava’ The claim that the Cālukya king completely destroyed the power of Bhoja is most probably mere *praśasti*. That his success could not have been substantial is shown by the first three grants of the time of Bhoja. The first records the celebration of the festival-day of the conquest of Konkan in January 1020 A.D., which shows that the actual conquest must have taken place either in January 1019, or even earlier. The second grant, about 8 months later, again records gifts on the festival day of the victorious occupation of Konkan. That these are not mere vain boasts is shown by the Kalvan plates of his feudatory Yaśovarman, who appears to have held sway in the Nasik district, bordering on Konkan.³ Unfortunately this inscription is not dated in any era. ‘But that the struggle continued unabated on this frontier till at least Saka 946 (A.D.

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1024) is indicated by the Miraj plates of Jayasiṁha where he claims to have taken away everything belonging to the rulers of the seven-Koṅkaṇas (*Sapta-Koṅkaṇādhīśvarāṇāṁ sarvasaṁ gṛhītvā*).⁴ Bhoja’s success however was not permanent. The *Vikramāṅkadeva-carita* tells us that Āhavamalla (Someśvara I, *c.* 1044-68 A.D.) ‘stormed Dhārā, the capital of the Paramāras in Mālava, from which Bhoja had to flee.’⁵ The Nagpur *praśasti* of Naravarman (V.S. 1161)