History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c16.s1.t5.1

c16.s1.t5.1

After a very short reign lasting for about three years, Rāmabhadra was succeeded by his son Bhoja I, whose mother was queen Appādevī. It was believed that he came to the throne about 840 A. D.⁴ until the recently discovered copper plate at Barah furnished the Vikrama year 893 or 836 A. D. as his earliest date;⁵ and so his accession must be carried back at least four years. He is designated in the inscriptions by various names and titles, the most common being Bhoja. The Gwalior record calls him by the personal name (abhidhāna) Mihira, which is also used, as we shall see below, in one of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa inscriptions. In the Daulatpura inscription, however, he is given the title of Prabhāśa,¹ which means splendour, and perhaps refers to the name Mihira (the sun). Another title assumed by him in the Gwalior Caturbhuj epigraph and in certain coins of base silver was that of "Adivarāha," showing that he posed to identify himself with the boar-incarnation of Viṣṇu, although we are otherwise told that his predilections were towards the worship of the goddess Bhagavatī.