Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India c25.13

c25.13

² Cf. Altekar *The Rāṣṭrakūṭas and their Times*, p. 102. There is a pun on the word *Kuśasthala* which indicates the city of Kanauj as well as a field covered with *kuśa* grass. According to the much exaggerated claim put forward in the verse, Indra III totally destroyed the city of Kanauj which from that time became a field of *kuśa* grass. There is however no reason to believe that the Rāṣṭrakūṭas were successful in razing Kanauj to the ground or to paralyse Pratihāra power in the Doab even for a short period. That Malwa was occupied by Indra III is concluded from the wrong identification of Kālapriyanātha with Mahākāleśvara of Ujjain. For Pratihāra possession of Malwa, cf. the Partabgarh inscriptions of Mahendrapāla II, dated 946 A.D. The verse—