History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c9.s1.t9.21

c9.s1.t9.21

of the Gauḍas towards the north. These successes spurred on the ambitions of Iśānavarman, and he began to claim imperial dignity by assuming the title of Mahārājādhirāja. But the Guptas could not long tolerate Iśānavarman’s pretensions to supremacy or any growth in his strength, and so an appeal to arms became inevitable. This open rupture between the two houses is one of the most important events of Iśānavarman’s reign, and is thus recorded in the Aphsad inscription: “By whom playing the part of the mountain Mandara, there was quickly churned that formidable milk-ocean, the cause of the attainment of fortune, which was the army of the glorious Iśānavarman, a very moon among kings.”¹ This passage occurring in a record of a different dynasty is indeed remarkable, as besides testifying to the defeat of Iśānavarman it also implies his great power.² It must have been a severe blow—although only temporary—to the rise of the Maukharis, and probably after this victory Kumāragupta even pushed his territories as far west as Prayāga, for there are indications that his funeral rites took place there.³