History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c14.s1.35

v1.c14.s1.35

When the Karkota dynasty came to an end, as usual by becoming old and rotten, Avantivarman came to the throne by his own power and founded the Utpala dynasty, Utpala being his grandfather and the first minister of the tottering Karkotakas who tried to seize the kingly status. Avantivarman as usual with founders of dynasties was a most capable and conscientious sovereign. Tales of his extreme sense of justice are related in the Tarangiṇī, which we may pass over. But his revenue administration was equally most successful. With the help of an able and imaginative minister named Suyya, he excecuted various works of irrigation by damming the Vitastā and other rivers of Kashmir. Hundreds of new villages sprang into existence and thousands of acres of land came under cultivation. The poet historian relates that whereas from the most ancient times a Khārī ( Khandi ) of grain ( rice ) sold in the most prosperous days for 200 dināras, the same Khārī in the same Kashmir land began to be sold for 36 dināras ( V. 117 ).