History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c15.s2.t16.1

c15.s2.t16.1

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,