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History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c9.s1.t10: Sarvavarman

History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c9.s1.t10

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Sarvavarman

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Iśānavarman was succeeded by his son, Sarvavarman, whose mother was the Bhaṭṭārikā and Mahādevī Lakṣmivatī. The Haraha inscription discloses to us that Iśānavarman had another son named Sūryavarman, who during the lifetime of his father caused a dilapidated temple of Andhakārī, Siva, to be "raised at his wish and made an ornament of the earth." He is not mentioned in any other record, which probably shows that either he predeceased his father, or there was a struggle for succession, and Sūryavarman being worsted in the fight was ousted or put to death. Dr. H. C. Raychaudhuri, on the other hand, tries to identify the Maukhari Sūryavarman with the ruler of the same name mentioned in the Sirpur stone inscription of Mahāśivagupta.¹ He is there described as "born in the unblemished family of the Varmans, great on account of their supremacy (ādhipatya)." But there seems little reason to uphold this identification, since according to the learned editor of this undated inscription its characters "belong to the 8th or 9th century A. D.," which indicates that Sūryavarman "must have flourished about the 8th century A. D."²

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¹ *Pol. Hist. of India*, 3rd ed., p. 407, note 3. See for the inscription, *Ep. Ind.* XI, p. 185f.

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² *Ep. Ind.*, XI, p. 185.

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Sarvavarman turned out to be a chip of the old block; and he thoroughly avenged his father's defeat by his successful engagements with the Guptas. We are told in the Aphsad inscription that Dāmodaragupta "breaking up the proudly-stepping array of mighty elephants, belonging to the Maukhari became unconscious (and expired in the fight)."³ Although the poet appears to make the conventional claim for his hero's victory, the result of the struggle was in effect certainly adverse to Dāmodaragupta, as he is reported to have been killed on the battlefield itself. Now, who was this rival of the Guptas with the unassuming epithet of “Maukhari”? There seems little doubt that it refers to Sarvavarman, for in the Asirgaḍh seal he alone is specifically mentioned as “Sarvavarman, the Maukhari.” The significance of this term, occurring in an inscription of the dynasty, would be lost unless we do suppose that owing to some reason it had become specially associated with Sarvavarman’s name. Besides, we have already seen that the rivalry between the Guptas and the Maukharis in the preceding generation had ended against Īśānavarman, and this must have made his successor smart keenly under the blow. Sarvavarman, therefore, tried to retrieve the disaster, and his efforts against his Gupta contemporary met with conspicuous success.¹

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³ *C. I. I.*, III, pp. 203, 206.

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¹ Cunningham thinks that this rivalry is indicated in the coins as well. He says: “As a curious proof of the antagonism between the Guptas and the Maukharis, I may cite the fact that on the coins the Maukhari king has his face turned to the left, in the opposite direction to that of the Gupta kings. This opposition is also seen on the coins of Toramāṇa, the successor and probable supplanter of Budhagupta” (Arch. Surv. Ind., Rep. XVI, p. 81; also see J. R. A. S., 1906, pp. 849-50).

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Perhaps after the defeat and death of Dāmodaragupta, Magadha or at least its western portion was annexed by Sarvavarman. This conclusion seems evident from the Deo-Baranark inscription in which one Sarvavarman, identified with the Maukhari king of the same name, confirms a grant that was previously made by Bālāditya, the famous conqueror of the Hūṇas². We can explain this grant in the modern Shahabad district of Bihar Province only on the assumption that the supremacy over Magadha had passed to the Maukharis after this victory. What happened to the Later Guptas cannot be ascertained definitely, but the Harṣacarita probably gives a faint trace of their movements. Bāṇa calls Kumāragupta and Mādhavagupta, Mālavarājaputra (sons of the king of Malwa); and as the latter has been accepted on almost all hands as identical with Mādhavagupta of the Aphsad inscription, it may not be unreasonable to suggest that Mahāsenagupta, the son of Dāmodaragupta, retired to some part of Malwa, which continued to acknowledge the Gupta supremacy even after the downfall of the Imperial family.¹ This was probably Eastern Malwa, corresponding to the Bhilsa district on the Vetravatī, for we are told in the commentary of the Kāmasūtra of Vātsyāyana (Adhikaraṇa, III) that Ujjayinī or Ujjain denoted Western Malwa, and where only Malwa is mentioned it should be taken to mean Eastern Malwa.² It appears that Mahāsenagupta established himself in this region after being ousted from Magadha in order to pursue his schemes to regain the lost possession with greater vigour and unhampered by the enemy's proximity.³

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² C. I. I., III, pp. 216, 218.

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¹ Raychaudhuri, Pol. Hist. of India, 3rd ed., pp. 391-92; see the Betul plates of Parivrājaka Mahārāja Saṃkṣoba dated G. E. 199 = A. D. 518 (Ep. Ind., VIII, pp. 284-87); Khoh inscription of the year 209 G. E. = 528 A. D. (C. I. I., III, pp. 113-16) etc. Also consult Ep. Ind., XV, p. 124f.

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² Ujjayinīdeśabhavyāstā evāpara.nālavyah Mālavya iti pūrvamālava-bhavāḥ (Ind. Ant., 1878, p. 259, footnote 4; see also Cal. Rev. Feb., 1928, p. 210).

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³ It is only by this assumption that we can reconcile the testimonies of the Harṣacarita and the Deo-Baranārk and Aphsad inscriptions.

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The same passage, which records Sarvavarman's successful encounter with his Gupta rival also informs us that the "proudly stepping array of mighty elephants belonging to the Maukhari ... had thrown aloft in battle the troops of the Hūṇas (in order to trample them to death).”¹ Now, who were the Hūṇa opponents of Sarvavarman? There are indications in the *Harṣacarita* that the Hūṇas had retained their hold in the north-west, in spite of their expulsion from Central India. Prabhākaravardhana had fought against them and towards the close of his reign he had to send the crown-prince again to defend the frontiers of the kingdom against their attack. Probably these Hūṇas began their movements during the time of Sarvavarman, and being a great power in Northern India the Maukharis were then called upon to hold these nomads in check. The Vardhanas were not strong in this generation, and, as Thānesvar lay between Kanauj and the Hūṇa territories in the south-east of the Punjab, it may not be unreasonable to suppose that Sarvavarman’s undertakings against the Hūṇas were a sort of help given to the Vardhanas to repel their depredations and save northern India from another Hūṇa upheaval.

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¹ It appears from the manner of description that Sarvavarman inflicted a defeat on the Hūṇas before he came into conflict with Dāmodaragupta.

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