The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c31.6

v2.c31.6

The history of Gujarat and Kathiawar immediately before the rise of the Caulukyas of Aṇahilapāṭaka (Anhilvad) is mainly connected with the general history of the Gurjara-Pratīhāras of Kanauj. The Una grants⁴ of the Cālukya feudatory Avanivarman, dated in A.D. 893 and 899 unquestionably show that the whole of this region, up to the southernmost part of the peninsula, was included in the empire of Mahendrapāla I (*c.* 893-907 A.D.). The Haddala grant¹ of the Cāpa feudatory Dharaṇīvarāha, indicates that Mahīpāla held at least Gujarat up to 914 A.D. I have already shewn elsewhere that the invasion of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa Indra III (*c.* 915-17 A.D.) and the defeat of Mahīpāla I (*c.* 914-43 A.D.) soon after A.D. 915 had very serious consequences for the fortunes of the Gurjara-Pratīhāra empire.² Though the Partabgarh inscription of Mahendrapāla II, dated in 945-46 A.D., proves that the Pratīhāras recovered their hold for some time in Malwa, there is enough evidence to indicate that their hold on Gujarat and Kathiawar grew precarious. The Karhad plates of Kṛṣṇa III (*c.* 940-56 A.D.) seem to show a renewal of Rāṣṭrakūṭa pressure on these provinces in the reign of his father Amoghavarṣa III Vaddiga (*c.* 934-40 A.D.). The statement contained in them, that the Rāṣṭrakūṭas advanced as far as Citrakūṭa,³ seems to be confirmed by the recently discovered Ahmedabad plates (949-70 A.D.) of the Paramāra Sīyaka II, a feudatory of Akālavarṣa Kṛṣṇa III.⁴ These struggles between the Gurjaras and the Rāṣṭrakūṭas apparently produced disorder and anarchic conditions in this area, such as are always favourable to the rise of bold adventurers and new dynasties. The Gurjara-Pratīhāra power had been sinking since its disastrous defeats in the second decade of the tenth century. But the rapid decline of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas during the period (*c.* 956-73 A.D.) which followed the death of Kṛṣṇa III must have indirectly helped the immediate rise of the Caulukyas in Gujarat.