Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c22.s6.36

c22.s6.36

Shortly before his death, king Prabhākara-vardhana had given his daughter Rājyaśrī in marrige to Grahavarman, the eldest son of the Maukhari king Avantivarman. The alliance of the Pushyabhūtis with the sworn enemies of his family must have alienated Deva Gupta, who formed a counter-alliance with the Gauḍas whose hostility towards the Maukharis dated from the reign of Īśānavarman. As soon as Prabhākara died the Gupta king and the Gauḍa king, Śaśāṅka,² seem to have made a joint attack on the Maukhari kingdom. "Graha-varman was by the wicked *rājā* of Mālava cut off from the living along with his noble deeds. Rājyaśrī also, the princess, was confined like a brigand's wife with a pair of iron fetters kissing her feet and cast into prison at Kanyākubja.” “The villain, deeming the army leaderless purposes to invade and seize this country (Thanesar) as well.” Rājya-vardhana, though he routed the Mālava army “with ridiculous ease,” was “allured to confidence by false civilities on the part of the overlord of Gauḍa, and then weaponless, confiding and alone despatched in his own quarters.”