History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c16.s1.t6.16

c16.s1.t6.16

In the west Mahendrapāla was certainly successful in maintaining and perhaps even in extending his hold over the peninsula of Saurāṣṭra, which gave him access to the sea. This seems clear from two grants found at Unā, a town in the southernmost part of Kāthiāwāḍ in the Jūnāgaḍh state;³ the one is dated in the (Valabhi) year 574 or 893 A. D., and the other in the (Vikrama) year 956 corresponding to 899 A. D. They record grants of the villages of Jayapura and Amvulaka in the Nakṣipur group of 84 in the Saurāṣṭra maṇḍala to the temple of the sun (Taruṇāditya-deva) by the Cālukya Balavarman and his son Avanivarman II Yoga respectively, who are described as feudatories (or, as the inscription expresses it, "had obtained the five Mahāśabdas") of the Paramabhaṭṭāraka, Mahārājādhirāja, Parameśvara Mahendrāyudhadeva. This suzerain is evidently the same as the Pratihāra king of Kanauj, for not only does the first record correctly represent him as meditating on the feet of Bhojadeva, but the second one even gives the standard form of his name, Mahendrapāla. Incidentally it is interesting to note that Balavarman is said to have "freed the earth from the Hūṇa race" by slaying Jajjapa and other kings. This shows that the south-western frontiers of Mahendrapāla's dominions were not free from disturbances, which were, however, effectively suppressed by the vigilance of his local feudatory.