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History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c15.s2.t16: Cakrāyudha

History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c15.s2.t16

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Cakrāyudha

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Indrāyudha’s reign must have terminated about the close of the 8th century, for we are informed in two epigraphic documents that he was attacked and defeated by Dharmapāla of Bengal, who, undeterred by earlier reverses, had now launched his ambitious schemes of conquest. The Bhagalpur plate of Nārāyaṇapāla¹ records the result of this conflict as follows : “Jitvendrarāja-prabhṛtin arātin upārjjitā yena Mahodaya-Śrīḥ dattā punaḥ sā valin-ārthayitre Cakrāyudhay-ānati Vāmanāya,” i.e., “This mighty one (balin) again gave the sovereignty, which he had acquired by defeating Indrarāja and other enemies, to the begging Cakrāyudha, who resembled a dwarf in bowing, just as formerly Bali had given the sovereignty (of the three worlds), which he had acquired by defeating Indra and his other enemies (the gods), to the begging Cakrāyudha (Viṣṇu), who had descended to earth as a dwarf.” We have in this passage a distinct statement that king Dharmapāla conquered Indrarāja and other enemies, but returned the sovereignty of Mahodaya², which he had thus gained for himself, to one Cakrāyudha—perhaps a brother or son of the vanquished monarch. And in making this arrangement Dharmapāla was only acting in consonance with the policy advocated by Kauṭilya³ and Manu,⁴ and sometimes followed by Indian Imperialists, that it is more prudent to raise a protégé in a distant conquest than to resort to direct annexation. The story of this dethronement is supplemented by the Khalimpur plate,¹ which details the subsequent transactions. We are told that the glorious Dharmapāla, who had humbled the great conceit of all rulers, "installed the illustrious king of Kānyakubja, who readily was accepted by Bhoja, Matsya, Madra, Kuru, Yadu, Yavana, Avanti, Gandhāra and Kira kings, bowing down respectfully with their diadems trembling, and for whom his own golden-coronation-jar was lifted up by the delighted elders of Pāñcāla."² Although this contemporary record does not name the king of Kanauj, it is obvious that the event described is the installation of Cakrāyudha in succession to Indrarāja or Indrāyudha, as specifically mentioned in the late Bhagalpur grant. The gathering of distant sovereigns like those of Gandhāra and Avanti to give "respectfully" their stamp of recognition to the settlement made by the Gauḍa monarch not only shows the importance of Kanauj and the keen interest bestowed on its affairs by the contemporary states of northern India, but also indicates the power and position of Dharmapāla, who seems to have attained in his day the rank of the premier king of the North. We should, however, guard against making any such deductions, as was done by Mr. R. D. Banerji, that Dharmapāla "conquered or overran eastern Panjab and Sindh (Kuru and Yadu), W. Panjab and N.-W. Frontier Provinces (Yavana and Gandhāra), Kangra (Kira), Malwa (Avanti) and North-Eastern Rajputana (Bhoja and Matsya)."³ Similarly,

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¹ Edited in *Ind. Ant.*, XV, pp. 305, 307; mentioned *Ibid.*, XX, p. 187, etc. Also see *J. A. S. B.*, Vol. XLVII (1878), pt. I, p. 384 f.

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² This is evident if we remember that the term “Mahodaya-śrīḥ,” like the rest of the verse, has a double meaning, and that with reference to Dharmapāla it can only be interpreted as “the sovereignty over Mahodaya or Kanauj.”

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³ *Arthaśāstra* (Shamasastry’s Trans. 3rd ed., 1929), Bk. VII, ch. 16, p. 339.

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⁴ Cf. *Manusmṛiti* :

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¹ *Ep. Ind.*, IV, pp. 243-54; first faulty edition in *J.A.S.B.*, Vol. LXIII (1894), pt. I, pp. 39-62.

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² *Ep. Ind.*, IV, pp. 248, 252.

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³ *Mem. As. Soc. Beng.*, Vol. V, No. 3, p. 51.

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"Sarveṣāṁ tu viditvaiṣāṁ samāsena cikīrṣitaṁ, Sthāpayet-tatra tad vaṁśyaṁ Kuryācca samaya-kriyām" (VII, 202).

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there is nothing in support of Mr. C. V. Vaidya’s view that the enumeration of the nine kings shows that “the empire or suzerainty of Kanauj was acknowledged even in its decline over a very large extent of territory.”¹ As already observed, the passage in question only gives us a list of the principal kingdoms that had dealings with Kanauj, and the assumption that they were subject to it seems altogether fantastic and wide the mark.

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¹ H. M. H. I., Vol. I, p. 341.

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Perhaps a few words on the territories of these attendant powers will not be out of place here. The Bhojas were a people of antiquity, whose kingdom, known as the Bhojakaṭa according to the Cammak copper plate inscription of Pravarasena II, almost coincided with modern Berar.² When the installation took place the Vākāṭakas had long ceased to rule over this part, and it is likely that the people, who preserved the tribal name at this time, lived in a comparatively circumscribed area near the Nerbudda.

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² Fleet, C. I. I., Vol. III, p. 236; J. R. A. S., 1914, p. 321; see also Mark Collins, *Geographical Data of the Raghuvamśa and the Daśakumāracarita* (Leipzig, 1907), p. 28, for a discussion on the Bhoja kingdom.

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The Matsyas were settled to the south or south-west of Indraprastha, and their territory roughly corresponded to the modern Alwar State with portions of Jaipur and Bharatpur.³

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³ *Arch. Surv. Ind. Rep.*, XX, p. 2. *Cambridge History of India*, Vol. I, p. 84.

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The country of the Madras lay between the Ravi and the Chenab in the central parts of the Panjab, and had its capital at Sākala or modern Sialkot.⁴

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⁴ For a fuller account of the Madradeśa, see J. A. S. B., N. S., XVIII, pp. 257-268.

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The Kurus seem to have occupied the Cis-Sutlej districts, and may be associated with the Kurukṣetra or Thanesvar. In the *Bṛhatsaṃhitā*¹ they are classed among the Matsyas and the Pāñcālas as belonging to the Middle Country.

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¹ *Ind. Ant.*, XXII, pp. 182-83; see also *Cambridge History of India*, Vol. I, pp. 47, 116, etc.

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The Yadus or Yādavas were according to the Lakkha Mandal *praśasti*² long ruling in part of the Punjab, but the reference in this passage may be to the people of Mathura territory. Of the Yavanas it is difficult to say with any confidence as the name was often used in a loose way to designate various races of foreign origin. Probably the word is used here simply in the sense of Mleccha, and is put in next to the word Yadu rather for "the sake of poetical ornamentation than with the object of conveying any very definite meaning."³

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² *Ep. Ind.*, I, p. 10 f; *J. R. A. S.*, (first series) XX, p. 452 f.

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³ Kielhorn, *Ep. Ind.*, IV, p. 246.

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Avanti, of course, denoted Malava or the country round Ujjain; and Gandhāra presumably designates the Peshawar district with certain adjoining regions along the Kabul river and Rawalpindi in the northern Panjab. The Kīras occupied territory in the Kangra valley, where their name is preserved in Kīragrāma, the village in which the famous temple of Vaidyanātha stood⁴.

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⁴ *Śiva Purāṇa*, cited in *Arch. Surv. Ind. Rep.*, V, pp. 178-80. For an account of the kingdom of Kira, see R. C. Majumdar, *Ind. Hist. Quart.*, IX (March, 1933), pp. 11-17.

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Thus amidst a distinguished assemblage of kings from far and near the installation ceremony of Cakrāyudha was carried out with great solemnity under the protection of Dharmapāla. But his rule was not destined to run its full course, for it was suddenly cut short by the attack of the Pratihāra Nāgabhaṭa II on Kanauj.

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