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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XVIII.
which he had conquered from Chakrăyudha, transferred his capital there, and probably succeeded in offering an effective resistance to the Palas till his death in 833-834 A.D.
Of Rāmabhadra, the son and successor of Nagabhata II, we know very little, but that the Gurjara power declined during his reign is quite evident from the scattered notices we possess about him. The twelfth verse of our inscription seems to imply that Rāmabhadra freed his country from the yoke of foreign soldiers. It seems likely that the band of foreign soldiers belonged to the Palas, for the other rival power (the Rāshtrakūtas ) is not known to have advanced as far as the Gurjara kingdom at this period. The Daulatpuri platesl also lead to the same conclusion. It renews the grant of a piece of land in Gurjaratra which was originally made by Vatsarāja, and continued by Nāgabhata, but had fallen into abeyance in the reign of Bhoja. This seems to indicate that the province was held by Vatsaraja and Nagabhata II but lost by Råmabhadra and regained by Bhoja, some time before 843 A.D., the date of the inscription.
Bhoja, the son and sucoessor of Ramabhadra, seems to have been a very powerful king and is described in nine grandiloquent verses. He inflicted a crushing defeat apon his powerful enemies and the poet seems to imply in verse 18, that the Goddess of Fortune forsook Dēvapala and chose Bhoja as her lord. It would thus appear that Bhoja regained the power and prestige of the family by defeating the Pala king. Our inscription closes with the resuscitation of the glory of the Gurjara Pratihāra clan under Bhojadēva. The poem reflects the true sentiment of the Gurjaras whose revivified enthusiasm, after a long period of stress and storm, led them once more to embark on that struggle for empire which had been unsuccessfully waged for four generations,
The hereditary struggle with the Palas and the Rashtrakūtas which seems to be the cardinal fact in the history of the Gariaras is also referred to in the inscriptions of the feudatory princes of the latter. Thus the Jodhpur inscription of the Pratihāra Bauka published above informs us that Kakka defeated the Gaudas at Mudgagiri or Monghyr. Most likely he had Accompanied Nagabhata II in his eastern wars. Another chief that probably accompanied Någabhata II on the same occasion was Våhukadhavala, the chief of Surashtra. For we learn from an inscription of his great-grandson Avanivarman II, a feudatory of Mahendrapaladēva, that he defeated king Dharma in battle, and as Kielhorn observes, this king Dharma may be identified with the Pala emperor of the same name. We can still trace & third chief who joined Nagabhata in his expedition against Bengal. This is Sankaragana, the Guhilot prince, referred to in the Châţsa inscription of Bäläditya. Again, Harsharaja,
Above, Vol. V, page 208.
Above, Vol. IX, p. 2 f. Kielhorn held that Välukadhavala lived in the middle of the ninth century A.D. and was fondatory of Bhöja (ibid, p. 8). Dr. V. A. Smith (J. R. 4. 8., 1909, p. 266) and Mr. R. Chanda (Gauda-raja-málä p. 28) have supported this view. But as his great-grandson was feadatory of Mahendrapala at the end of the ninth century A.D. it is more reasonable to hold, Mr. R. D. Banerji has done (Banglar Itihasa p. 167), that Vähukadhavala was a feudatory of Nagabhata at the beginning of the ninth century A.D.
* Above, Vol. XII, p. 10 f. It contains the following verse with reference to Sankaragana :
Pratijõām präk=kpitvondbhata-kari-ghatá-samkata-rane bhatarin jitvi Gauda-kshitipam=svanim sanngarahritäh balad-dain chakra (prajbha-charanayor-yab pranayinim tato bhupab soubhởjejita-baba-ranah Sarkara
ganah Il" Prof. D. R. Bhandarkar who editod this inscription concluded from the above that Sarkaragana conquered Bhata, the king of the Ganda country, and made a present of this kingdom to his overlord. Ho further suggested that this Bhata might be Bürapalo. I beg to differ from the views of the learned scholar. The verge seems to mean that Sarkaragana defeated the king of Ganda, a great warrior (bhata), and made the whole world, gained by warfare, subservient to his overlord. Secondly, Sankaragana was the great-grandson of Dhanika, one of whose known dates is 725 A.D. (ibid, p. 11). Sarkaragana should therefore be takon a contemporary of Nagablata and Dharmapāla at the beginning of the ninth centary A.D. The verse thus shows that Sarkaragana bolped his overlord Nagabhata to wrest the empire from Dharmapala by defeating the latter.
