History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c20.s1.1

c20.s1.1

At the head of the state was the king, whose office was hereditary. He exercised despotic powers, and except his immediate advisers the people in general had hardly any share in the determination of his policy in peace or war. The inscriptions usually apply to him the epithets *Paramabhaṭṭāraka*, *Mahārājādhirāja* and *Parameśvara*, which have been taken to imply Imperial status. But sometimes to the names of even mighty potentates like Mihira Bhoja are prefixed merely the honorific *Śrīmat*¹ or the unassuming title of *Mahārāja*.*²* In the Gāhaḍavāla epigraphs the kings are also given the appellations of *Aśvapati*, *Gajapati*, *Narapati*, *Rājatrayādhipati*, *Vividha-vidyā-vicāra-vācaspati*; the exact connotation of the first three terms is no doubt obscure, but if our surmise, made elsewhere, be correct, they may be understood either to signify various classes of feudatories or to stand for the lordship over the three branches of the army¹. Next to the sovereign were the chief queen (*Agra* or *Paṭṭamahiṣī*) and the crown-prince (*Yuvarāja* or *Mahārājaputra*), and from the Gāhaḍavāla plates they appear to have been quite important personages being invested with certain "royal prerogatives" of granting land.² Their grants had, however, to receive the consent of the ruling monarch before they could take effect. Thus, when the Yuvarāja Jayacandra³ and the Mahārājñī Gosaladevi⁴ make a grant, they do so with the approval of Vijayacandra and Govindacandra respectively. Sometimes the crown-prince was more closely associated with the government, as was Govindacandra during his father's lifetime.