History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c34.s1.46

Language: English

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Bhoja was one of the great monarchs of India whose fame has been established in the annals of Indian history for all time to come. He was not only an independent king in his own country Malwa but his power was acknowledged throughout India. This has not been sufficiently realised. In the Udepur Praśasti he is said to rule the whole of India from the Himalayas to Rāma's bridge. This is no doubt untrue literally; but in ancient times imperial power did not mean in India actual rule but indicated overlordship only. Such praise when recorded in the inscriptions of the family itself would be treated merely as a hyperbole of the family bards; but when the praise is bestowed in the records of other kingly families the praise must be admitted to be based on truth. And we have such confirmation of this praise in the inscriptions of the imperial Gāhadavālas themselves. The two verses in the grants of Madanapāla and Govindachandra which have been, as above stated, misunderstood contain clear proof that Bhoja was for a time acknowledged as supreme king of India. The verse in the second grant (Ind. Ant. XIV p.

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103) states,* "When Śrī Bhoja bhūpa became a guest of the eyes of the women of the gods and when Karṇa remained only in his renown and the earth was troubled, the husband whom the earth chose from love and the protector in whom she placed confidence was king Chandradeva." This clearly means that the two great wielders of imperial power on earth (the Indian land) who immediately preceded Chandradeva were Bhoja and Karṇa. This Bhoja could not be Bhoja of Pratīhāra Imperial line of kings as he had long passed away (A. D. 840-890 vide Vol. II p. 113) and must be Bhoja of Malwa (who passed away in 1055 A. D). The Karṇa referred to may be taken to be the Karṇadeva of the Chālukyas of Anhilwād who reigned from 1063 to 1093 A. D. or Karṇa son of Gāṅgeyadeva king of Chedi. The former seems somewhat doubtful for the sovereignty of India is said to have passed to Chandradeva after Karna's death. The Karna of Gujarat seems to have passed away in the nineties of the 11th century; and he is not extolled so much as his successor Jayasinha Siddhārāja; while Karna of Chedi though the most powerful monarch of his line and is said to have conquered Malwa after Bhoja's death, yet he reigned long and seems to have been alive when Chandradeva rose to power about 1080 A. D. This verse says that Chandradeva attained imperial power when Karna passed away.

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Whatever may be the explanation of this difficulty, this verse does not speak of the land of Malwa for Malwa never acknowledged Chandradeva as king. It speaks plainly of imperial power in the whole of India, for the three kings Bhoja, Karna and Chandra were actual kings in three separate kingdoms viz: Malwa, Chedi and Kanauj. The trouble referred to in the word Kshmātyaya is the same as that referred to in the more general wording of the verse in the first record of the Gāhadavālas (Ind. Ant. XVIII p. 11) which may be translated as follows* “King Chandradeva who destroyed the darkness of violent and bold warriors and who allayed the troubles of all peoples by his greater valour”. This refers plainly to the trouble caused to the whole people of India by the raids of the ferocious Turks. In fact it seems that Bhoja had also contributed his quota to the allaying of this trouble and hence it is that he is remembered as the first king to whom India looked to for redress and afterwards to Karna the king of Chedi, Bhoja ruling upto 1055 and Karna later and the mantle of removing the oppression of the foreigners fell in the third instance on Chandradeva who as shown later on in Kanauj history, for this purpose, removed the incapable Pratihāra king on the imperial throne of Kanauj and established his dynasty there.

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Viewed in this light the praise bestowed upon Bhoja by the Udepur Praśasti that he was lord of the whole of India does not seem hyperbolical, supported as it is by this outside testimony of a Gāhadvāla inscription. Indeed the next verse in the Udepur Praśasti appears in another light from this standpoint and when it says that Bhoja conquered the king of Gurjaras, it refers not to Bhīma the king of what is now Gujarat, but to one of the Pratihāra kings of Kanauj who are styled in records of other states of that period as kings of Gurjaras (See Vol. II p. 98, 163). In fact modern Gujarat came to be called so probably at the end of the next century as we shall ourselves show later on and Gurjaras in this verse means very probably Pratihāra kings of Kanauj who had become effete and even dependents and allies of the Turks. It seems, therefore, probable that Bhoja had not only defeated Gāṅgeyadeva in the east but also the weak Pratihāra king and successor of Rājyapāl of Kanauj and also the Turks who assisted him. He thus freed the land of Northern India from the troubles of the foreign and irreligious rule of the Turks. The verse declares that mere contingents or generals sent by Bhoja defeated these kings and it seems very probable that Bhoja had sent forces as far north as the Panjab and Delhi.

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Although, therefore, Bhoja did not, like Samudragupta to whom Sir Vincent Smith compares him, take a world-conquering expedition through India, his power was felt and acknowledged all over the country and it is this which must have enabled him to build Śiva temples in such distant places as Somnāth, Rameśvara, Suṇḍira (east coast?) and Kedāra, in the four quarters of India as he is described to have done.* That he built a temple of Mahākāla in his own kingdom needs no mention but that he was allowed to build temples to god Śiva whose devout devotee he was, in such foreign lands and at so great a distance, testifies both to his political power and his prosperity as also his organising capacity. One is reminded here of the same power, prosperity and capacity of a later sovereign of Malwa, Devi Ahalyābai of sacred memory, who similarly built temples and ghats in sacred places throughout India. Ahalyābai built these holy structures from the immense legacy left her by Malharrao