History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c14.52

v1.c14.52

We now go on to notice the few important glimpses which we get of the Shahi kings from the Rājatarangiṇī. King Sankaravarman who ruled between 884 and 902 A. D. conquered the Shahi king Lalliya and seized the kingdom when Lalliya fled from it and took refuge with Ālakhāna Gurjara. This must have been in the time of the Samani Mahomedan kings of Ghazni who were overlords of Kabul, as stated above, about that time. Then again Prabhākaradeva after Sankaravarman's death during the regency of his widow, queen Sugandha for her minor son Gopālavarman is said to have conquered the Shahi kingdom* (it must have rebelled against Kashmir sovereignty) and placed on the throne Toramāna son of Lalliya. § This indicates that for some time Kabul was under the direct government of Kashmir during the period 884-904 A. D. Thereafter we read that a grand daughter of a Shahi king and a daughter of a king named Sinharāja of Lohara, by name Diddā was married to Kshemagupta king of Kashmir who reigned from 26 to 34 Laukika era (Rāj. VI, 187) i. e. between 951 to 959 A. D. This Shahi king's name is available as he built in Kashmir in honour of his grand daughter a temple of Vishnu called by his own name Bhimakeśava. ‡ The name of the king was thus apparently Bhimashah and he was a Vaishnava and not a Buddhist. It shows how in the tenth century Buddhism in India was generally dead and was changed into Vaishnavism by Buddha being admitted into the Indian godhead as an Avatāra of Vishnu as we shall have to show later on.