Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c15.s2.t15: Indrāyudha

History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c15.s2.t15

Language
English

Indrāyudha

c15.s2.t15.1

Vajrāyudha appears to have been succeeded by Indrāyudha or Indrarāja, but it is not clear what relationship they bore to each other. According to the passage from the Chambal to the Himalayas, which was afterwards divided into North and South Pāñcāla. The Ganges formed the boundary between the two, and they had their capitals at Ahicchatra and Kāmpilya respectively. Varāhamihira (6th century A. D.) includes the Pāñcālas among the peoples of the *Madhyadeśa*, and reckons their country as one of the nine great kingdoms (*Bṛhatsaṃhitā*, XIV, 32; *Ind. Ant.*, XXII, p. 186). Presumably this list refers to much earlier times. Alberuni, who wrote in 1030 A. D., also mentions these nine divisions, but adds that the names were not then commonly used (Sachau, Trans., Vol. I, p. 298).

c15.s2.t15.2

in the Jain *Harivaṃśa*,¹ Indrāyudha was ruling in Śaka year 705 or 783-84 A. D., being known as king of the north. Hence we may conclude from this description that, even when its glory had departed, Kanauj continued to enjoy pre-eminence among the kingdoms of the North. It was probably during Indrāyudha’s reign that Dhruva Rāṣṭrakūṭa (*circa* 779-794 A. D.) invaded the territories of the Doab, and “added the emblem of the Ganges and the Jumna to his imperial insignia.” For, a verse in the Baroda plates informs us that he “taking from his enemies the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā, charming with their waves, acquired at the same time that supreme position of lordship (which was indicated) by (those rivers in) the form of a visible sign.”² During this raid the Kanauj sovereign appears to have invoked the aid of his Gauḍa contemporary, who was, however, compelled to submit to the invader. This is evident if we take the above verse in conjunction with another occurring in the Sanjan plates, where we are told that Dhruva “seized the white umbrellas, the sporting lotuses of Lakṣmī (goddess of sovereignty), of the Gauḍa king, as he was fleeing between the Ganges and the Jumnā.”³ The monarch ruling in Gauḍa at this time must have been either Gopāla or Dharmapāla, but as the former is not known from the inscriptions of the Pāla dynasty to have wielded any considerable power, it is better to regard the latter as the adversary of Dhruva.

c15.s2.t15.3

¹ The following seems relevant here : “Śākeṣv-abdaśateṣu saptasu diśām pañcottareṣuttarām.” The full verse will be discussed later on.

c15.s2.t15.4

² Dr. Fleet took this line as referring to Govinda III (*Ind. Ant.*, XII, pp. 159, 163), but Dr. Majumdar has rightly pointed out that “the reference is not to Govindarāja but to his father Dhruva.” (*Jour. Dept. of Letters*, Vol. X, p. 35; see also Dr. D. R. Bhandarkar, *Ep. Ind.*, XVIII, p. 239, note 4).

c15.s2.t15.5

³ *Ep. Ind.*, XVIII, line 14, pp. 244, 252.

Linked texts (4)