History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c18.s1.23

c18.s1.23

Next, Gāṅgeyadeva’s son, Karṇa, who ruled from *circa* 1041 to 1072 A. D., aggrandised himself in northern India. He was a great monarch, and he even defeated Bhoja with the help of Bhīma of Gujarat (1022-1064 A. D.). Indeed, the Kalacuri monarch’s military achievements were of such a high order as have won for him the proud epithet of “Hindu Napolean.”¹ According to the Jabalpur copper plate he erected a lofty temple at Benares called Karṇa’s Meru,² and in the Karanbel inscription of Jayasiṃhadeva we are informed of the progress of his arms as far north-west as the Kīra country or the Kangra valley.³ This shows that Karṇa must have made some depredations in the Kanauj territory and asserted his influence there, and it is no doubt significant that the Basahi plate mentions him along with Bhoja in connection with the “earth’s distress” before the rise of the Gāhaḍavālas. But Karṇa’s power was not long after shattered by Kirtivarman Caṇḍella and the Cālukya Someśvara I Āhavamalla (*circa* 1042-1068 A. D.), while there are even reasons for believing that the latter also turned his attention towards Kanauj, since the Yewur tablet tells us that afraid of his might “the king of Kānyakubja, who was uncontrolled from the beginning, quickly experiences an abode among the caves.”⁴ When the “earth” was thus badly disturbed by political upheavals and destructive raids, a bold adventurer of the Gāhaḍavāla sept named Candradeva arose, and, as the dynastic inscriptions say, by his “noble prowess” put an end to “all distress of the people”.⁵