Epigraphia Indica Vol 07

Author(s): E Hultzsch
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 43

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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. VII.
piecing together the items of information furnished by these two charters, we find that Dharmapala defeated a prince named Indraraja, and acquired for himself the sovereignty of Mahôdaya or Kanauj, i.e. the supremacy of Pañchåla, but conferred it upon Chakrayudha, according to the Bhagalpur plates, and upon the king of Kanyakubja, according to the Khâlimpur plates. Further, as Dharmapala wrested the sovereignty of Mahôdays or Kanyakubja, not from the king of Kanyakubja himself, but from Indraraja, and bestowed it upon the king of Kanyakubja, the conclusion is irresistible that Indraraja must have vanquished the king of Kananj and occupied his capital before he himself suffered defeat at the hands of Dharmap&la. What we find, therefore, from these two charters is, that (i) Indraråja vanquished the king of Kanyakubja, but (ii) was afterwards defeated by Dharmapala, and that (iii) the king of Kanyakubja, who was ousted by Indraraja, was restored to his throne by Dharmapala; whereas the facts we have above ascertained from verse 19 of our grant and a Khajuraho inscription are, that (i) the Rashtrakața prince Indra III. reduced Mahodaya or Kananj and deprived its ruler of his dominions, that (ii) the name of this ruler was Kshitipala or Mahîpåla, and that (iii) Kshitipala or Mahipala regained his lost possessions through the assistance of the Chandella king Harshadēvs. Thus in both cases we have a king named Indraraja, who attacked Mahôdaya or Kananj and ousted the king of Kanyakubja. The Indraraja,' therefore, mentioned in the Bhagalpur and Khalimpur grants must be identical with the Rashtrakûța prince Indra III., and the king of Kanyakubja, whom he vanquished, is doubtless Kshitipâla or Mahipala. But the honour of placing Kshitipâla on his throne is claimed for the Chandella prince Harahadeva by the Khajuraho inscription above alluded to, and for Dharmapala by the Bhagalpur and Khalimpur charters. And what in all likelihood must have come to pass is, that both Harshadêva and Dharmapala placed Kshitipala on his throne.
There remains another conclusion yet to be deduced from the Bhagalpur grant. The king of Mahôdaya or Kanyakubja, whom Indraraja ousted, is mentioned therein as Chakrayudhe. And we have just shown that this king of Mahôdaya was Kshitipala or Mahipala. Kshitipala, therefore, appears to have borne the epithet Chakrayudha. Now, the Nausari charters of the Rashtrakûța prince Indra III. contain a verse, wherein Indra is represented to have conquered Upêndra. Of course, the terms Indra and Upendra, according to one sense, refer to the gods Indrs and Upendra; but when we take them in their other sense, what the verse means to state is, that the Rashtrakūta prince Indra III. vanquished a certain prince of the name of Upêndra. Upendra is another name for Vishņu, and Vishnu is also known by the name Chakrayudha. The allusion, therefore, in the Nausârî grants most probably refers to the defeat of Kshitipala, mentioned by the name Chakrayudha in the Bhagalpur charter. The Nausâri and Bhagalpur grants thus corroborate each other, and consequently there can be little doubt that Kshitipala also bore the epithet Chakrayudha or Upêndra.
In J. B. 4. 8. Vol. LXIII. p. 62, Mr. Batavyal has expressed the opinion that Indrs, brother of the Rashtrakata prince Govinda III., is the same as the Indraraja of the Bhagalpur charter, and the Latestara-mandala, which he is mentioned in the Kavf grant to have received from this Govinda III., may be identical with the kingdom of Kanauj. I leave it to those who are interested in the subject to judge of the correctness of this view.
. J. Bo. Br. R. 4. S. Vol. XLIX. pp. 259 and 263.
* In his note on verse 3 of the Bhagalpur charter in Ind. Ant. Vol. XX. p. 188, Prof. Kielhorn suggests that, jast as Bali wrested the sovereignty of the three worlds from the god Indra and gave it to Upendra-Chakrá yudhs, his younger brother, 80 Dharmapala took away the kingdom of a prince named Indrs and made it over to the prince Chakrayudha, whom, on the analogy of the mythological allusion, he thinks to be a brother of the prince Indrs. In this note he proposes, with some diffidence, that this name Chakrayudha points to Adivardha, which was another name of Bhdjadêva of Kansuj. In his paper on the Khalimpar plate of Dharmapaladeva (above, Vol. IV. p. 346. note 1) he puts forth the conjecture that there was some connection between Indra and Chakriyudhs of the Bhagalpur grant and Indrayudha, who is spoken of as governing the north in the colophon of the Jains Harinasta. Purana, meaning thereby, if I have correctly understood him, that Indra is identical with Indrayudha and that both Indrayudha and Chakrayudha belonged to one and the same family. But now our plates bave conclusively