History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c15.s2.t15.2

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.