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No. 18.]
THE GWALIOR PRASASTI OF BHOJA.
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incursions against Ujjain, and if we remember that this is from the pen of an Arab historian, it must be looked upon as a tacit admission that the Arabs failed in their expedition against Ujjain. It is also significant, that the Nausari plates do not include the king of Avanti in the list of those that were defeated by the Arabs. Further, Biláduri himself admits that Janaid's successor was feeble, and, in his days, the Musalmans retired from several parts of India and left some of their possessions.
Thus all the available evidence shows that Någabhata I established the greatness of his family by his triumphant success over the Arabs. The Hansot plates of the Chābamâna fendatory Bhartsivaddha II records a grant that was made at Broach, in the increasing reign of victory of the glorious Nāgāvaloka, in the year 756 A.D. Prof. D.R. Bhandarkar upheld the view that this Nāgāvaloka is no other than Nagabhata I, and Dr. Sten Konow has accepted it. It would then follow that he re-established the Pratihāra sovereignty over Broach which the family of Jodhpur must have lost during the Arab expeditions. A reminiscence of Nagabhata's struggle with the neighbouring powers seems to have been preserved in the Raghóli plates of Jayavardhana II, a king of the Saila dynasty, ruling over part of the Central Provinces. We are told that Prithuvardhana, a king of the family, who probably ruled about the middle of the eighth century A.D., conquered the country of the Gurjaras.
We have seen above, in connection with the Jodhpur inscription of the Pratihāra Bauka, how, as an indirect result of the Mléchchha invasion, the suzerainty hitherto enjoyed by the dynasty of Harichandra passed into the family of Nāgabhata. It would appear that shortly after 725 A.D., when the Arab invaders seemed to have carried away everything before them, and, in particular, defeated the Pratihara clan who had been ruling in Rajputānā for about two centuries, Nagabhata gained successes over the Mléchchha forces and established his supremacy over the clan. The struggle which thus began between the two Pratthára families was long and tedious. Siluka, the king of the Rajputana family, succeeded in regaining his territory after defoating one Dövaraja, probably the nephew of Nagabhata I. Vatsa raja, the son and successor of Dēvarāja, however, continued the struggle and gave the final blow to the tottering rival power. The empire over which it had ruled for well-nightwo hundred years then fivally passed into the hands of the family of Nagabhata.
The data furnished by our inscription, supplemented by a few other known facts, enable ug to sketch a brief history of the ompire that was thus founded by Vatsarāja. Verses 6 and 7 describe his mighty prowess and splendour, and mention, in particular, that he had subdued the whole world. This statement, allowing for the natural exaggeration of the Prasasti writers, cannot be said to be altogether inaccurate, inasmuch as it is pretty certain that Vatsarāja had conditered the lord of Gauda and was thus probably master of by far the greater part of Northern India. This state of prosperity, however, did not continue long. The Rashtrakūta king Dbruva inflicted a crushing defeat upon him, overran his territory as far as the Ganges
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1 Transactions of the Vienna Oriental Congres, Arian Section, p. 231. . Above, Vol. XII, p. 197.
Ind. Ant., 1911, p. 240. • Above, Vol. XII, p. 200. . Above, Vol. IX, p. 41.
