The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c30.s4.151.1

v2.c30.s4.151.1

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.