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No. 12.] JODHPUR INSCRIPTION OF PRATIHARA BAUKA; V. S. 894.
The Gurjara Pratihara line founded by Harichandra thus established itself in Rajputānā and fought successfully against the royal houses of Thaneswar and Badami: For about two hundred years they 1uld in splendour over the greater part of Rajputana but the Arab invasion of about 725 A.D. brought about a decline. The Nausari plates of the Gujarat Chalukya Pulakēśirāja, dated in October, A.D. 738, tell us that the Gurjaras were destroyed by an invasion of the Tajikas or Arabs, apparently shortly before that time.1
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It seems very likely that the Arab invasions referred to in the Nausari plates were those undertaken by the officers of Junaid, the general of Khalif Hasham (724-743 A.D.). Biláduri gives a short account of these expeditions and mentions, among other things, that Junaid sent his officers to Marmad Mandal, Barus and other places and conquered Bailaman and Jurz.* There can be no doubt that Marmad is the same as Maru-maḍa which is referred to in the Ghaṭiyala inscription of Kakkuka and includes Jaisalmer and part of Jodhpur State. Barus is undoubtedly Broach and Mandal probably denotes Mandor. It is now a well-known fact that Jurz was the Arabic corruption of Gurjara, and Bailaman probably refers to the circle of states mentioned in our inscription as Valla-mandala. It would thus appear that the Arab army under Junaid conquered the main Gurjara states in the north as well as the feudatory state of Broach in the south.
This catastrophe must have taken place at the beginning of the second quarter of the eighth century A.D. According to Biláduri the Arab expeditions were arranged by Junaid during the Caliphate of Hasham who ruled from 724 to 743 A.D. According to Elliot Junaid was succeeded by Tamin about 726 A.D. Evidently this last date is far from being definitely known and we may therefore conclude that the expeditions were undertaken shortly after 724 A.D. The Nausari plates show, however, that the expeditions referred to in them took place between 731 and 738 A.D. For, according to the Balsar plates, Avanijanafraya-Pulakesiraja did not come to the throne till the year 731 A.D., and as he himself takes the credit of having repelled the Arabs from Nausart, the event must be dated after that year.
The Chalukya prince Avanijanasraya-Pulakesiraja, who successfully resisted the Arabs, probably took advantage of this opportunity to wrest the Låta province from the Gurjaca kingdom. The decline of the Gurjara power thus brought about by the Arab invasion in the north and the Chalukya aggression in the south favoured the growth of a rival Pratihara dynasty which was ultimately destined to play the imperial rôle in India. The origin of this dynasty is described in verses 4 and 7 of the Gwalior prasasti of Bhoja published below. It records that Nagabhața, the first king, defeated the Mlechchhas, and after him ruled his two nephews Kakkuka and Devaraja. Vatsaraja, the son of the latter, became a very powerful king and wrested the empire from the famous Bhandi clan. Now, our inscription tells us that Siluka who was the protector of Valla-mandala (a circle of kingdoms) defeated Bhaṭṭika Devaraja (v. 19). As Devaraja of the Imperial Pratthara dynasty was the father of Vatsaraja whose known date is 783-4 A.D., he probably flourished about the middle of the eighth century A.D. Siluka, according to our scheme of chronology must also have been ruling about the same time and the identity of the two kings called Devaraja may be at once presumed. A careful study of the two inscriptions seems to show that Nagabhata, the founder of the Imperial Pratihāras, successfully resisted the Arab invasions which proved so disastrous to the other Pratihara line. His successors were not slow to take advantage of this favourable situation, and Devaraja entered into a contest for supremacy with Siluka. He was defeated by the latter.
Transactions of the Vienna Oriental Congress, Arian Section, p. 231.
Elliot-History of India, Vol. I, p. 126.
Above, Vol. IX, p. 278.
Elliot-History of India, Vol. I, p. 442.
Referred to in J. Bo. Br. R. A. S., Vcl. XVI, p. 5; and above, Vol. VIII, p. 231,
