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No. 13.]
THE GWALIOR PRASASTI OF BHOJA.
III and one inscription specifically refers to the defeat inflicted upon Nagabhața by the same king, and his triumphant march to the Himalayas. It would thus appear that the Gurjara empire so laboriously rebuilt by Nagabhata II once more fell beneath the crushing blows of the hereditary foes of his family. There are reasons to believe that this was brought about by a confederacy between the two chief enemies of the Gurjaras, viz. the Palas of Bengal and the Rashtrakutas of the south. For the same inscription that records the defeat of Nagabhața II in the hands of Govinda III also mentions the fact that Dharmapala and Chakrayudha visited or submitted to the last named king of their own accord3.
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The victory of the Rashtrakutas, although by no means final and decisive, was no doubt disastrous to the Gurjaras. The province of Malwa passed into the hands of the Rashtrakuta, and Andhra, Vidarbha and Kalinga also possibly shared the same fate. The Pratihāras, however, did not cease to give trouble to the Rashtrakutas, for we are told in the inscription of the feudatory chief Karkaraja of Gujarat, that the Rashtrakuta king had "caused his arm to become an excellent door-bar of the country of the lord of the Gurjaras."
But ere long the political situation changed. The Rashtrakutas themselves were torn asunder by internal dissensions. Karkaraja of Lata, the son and successor of Indraraja, was expelled by his younger brother in 812 A.D., and what was worse still, the revolutionary movement, thus set on foot, afterwards developed into an attempt to prevent the accession of Amoghavarsha 1.5
This unexpected embroglio in the Rashtrakuta affairs left the Palas and the Gurjares free to fight among themselves. It appears that Nagabhata retained his hold upon Kanauj
1 Cf. Radhanpur plates, v. 15 (above, Vol. VI, p. 244), and the Nilgund ins., v. 5 (ibid, p. 102). Two passages in the Baroda plates of Karkarāja also seen to refer to the conflict between Nagabhata and the Rashtra. kūtas. Thus it is said with reference to Indraraja, the brother of Govinda III, and the founder of the Gujarat branch of the Rashtrakutas:
"Yen aikena cha Gürjjar-ösvara-patir-yy öddhum samabhyudyataḥ Sauryya-pröddhata-kandharo mriga iva kahipram diso grahitab bhit-isan (m)hata-Dakshinapatha-maha-samanta-chakram yato raksham-apa vilunṭhyamana-vibhavam Śrivallabhēn=adarat ||
Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, p. 160.
As it is explicitly stated that. Indraraja was placed on the throne of Lata by Govinda III, this defeat of the Gurjaras must have taken place during his reign. It was thus different from the expedition undertaken by Dhruva against Vatsaraja, and the word kena distinguishes it from the campaign of Govinda III referred to in the Radhanpur plate or the Nilgund inscription. Thus the opponent of Indraraja was most likely Nagabhata himself who is represented in the above passage as entering into some alliance, protective or defensive, if not offensive, with the mahāsāmantas of the south against Govinda III and actually prepared for war (cf. Fleet's remarks, ibid, p. 158). This fully confirms what I have suggested above on the strength of the eighth verse of our inscription. The other passage refers to Karkaraja as follows:
Gaud-endra-Vangapati-nirjjaya-durvvidagdha = sad-Gürjjar-vara-dig-arggalatah cha yaaya
nitvä bhujam vihata-Malava-rakshanarttham |
avami tatha-nyam-api rajya-chha (pha) läni bhunkte ||
Dr. V. A. Smith identified the "Lord of Gurjaras" in the above passage with Vatsaraja (J. R. A. 8., 1009, p. 252). But this is untenable. As Govinda died about 814 A.D., it must be maintained that the Gurjara chief against whom he employed his nephew in 812-3 A.D. could not be any other than Nagabhata who is specifically mentioned as being defeated by him (see f. n. 2 below). As Nagabhata defeated Vangapati, the phrase "Gaud-endra Vangapati-nirjjays-durvvidagdlaa" might well apply to him, and the Buchkala inscription (above, Vol. IX. p. 198) shows that he was ruling in 815 A.D.
The Sañjan copper-plate; J. Bo. Br. R. A. S., Vol. XXII, p. 118. Svayam-ay-opanatau cha yasya mahatas-tan Dharma-Chakray adhau || (Ibid.)
Baroda plates of Karkarāja; 11. 39-40; Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, p. 160. Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. I, Part II, pp. 402, 409.
