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OCTOBER, 1928)
WHO WERE THE IMPERIAL PRATIHARAS OF KANAUJ
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may be seen that the northern boundary of the modern Jodhpur State was nearly identical with that of the Gurjara-country, undoubtedly so called after the Gurjaras who once ruled over it. The rule of the Gurjaras in Marwâr must have commenced after the decline of the Kshatrapa power and ended sometime before A.D. 628, the date of the Chavada's rule at Bhinmål (Bhillamál, Srimal).
According to the Jodhpuro1 inscription of Bauka, dated v.s. 894 (A.D. 837), originally found in a Vishnu temple at Mandor, the wine-drinker (Kshatriya) sons of Harichandra born of his Kshatriya wife Bhadra ruled at Mandor (Mándavyapura). The date of Harichandra, the founder of the Kshatriya Pratihåras of Mandor and 13th predecessor of Biuka, whose known date is v.s. 894 (A.D. 837), will fall in the fourth quarter of the 6th century A.D. by assigning an average rule of twenty years to each of the rulers. Thus it appears that two ruling families—the Kshatriya Pratih åras at Mandor, while the Gurjaras, the Chåvadas and the Imperial Pratihåras successively at Bhînmâl-ruled side by side in Mârwår. How long the Pratih Aras (Pariharas) of Mandor ruled there is not known; but the discovery of an inscription' at Mandor in Jodhpur State shows that the throne of Mandor was transferred afterwards to the Chaubans of Nadol, who ruled there about the middle of the twelfth century A.D.
It is, however, difficult to state in what way the Pratiháras of Mandor were related to the Imperial Pratihâras, who first ruled at Bhinmal and then at Kanauj. It has been known that Kakka, the Pratih ära ruler of Mandor gained fame at Mudgagiri (Monghyr in Bihar) in the fighting with the king of Gauda23. It is also known from the above inscription of Govindaraja III that it was Vatsaraja of the Imperial Pratihara line, who is said to have defeated the king of Gauda and taken from him the two white (royal) umbrellas. Thus it appears that Kakka, being a feudatory to Vatsarâja,24 fought on his side at Mudgagiri against the Gaudas. From this it may be inferred that the Imperial Pratihâras and the Pratihåras of Mandor were the two different lines of rulers in Mârwâr—the one supreme at their capital Bhinmal and the other, probably subordinate, at their capital Mandor.26 The origin of the former is described in the Gwalior prasasti of Bhôja which distinctly states that Nagabhata (I) was the first king and that Vatsarâ ja (the 4th from him) wrested the empire from the Bhandi clan.
Having cleared the position so far let us now come to the subject proper. Antiquarians and learned men are apt to describe the Imperial Pratihåras of Kanaujas Gurjara-Pratihåras 26. In fact, there is no definite proof to connect them with the Gurjaras. That they belonged to the Solar race is evident from the following versions :
(1) The Gwalior prasasti of Bhoja speaks of Nagabhata, the founder of the dynasty, as belonging to the Solar race, and of Vatsaraja, as the glorifier of the race of Ikshváku.
(2) The Harshanatha inscription of Vigraharâ ja, dated v.s. 1030 (A.D. 973) tells us that Guvaka (one of the early Chauhans of Sambhar) attained pre-eminence as a hero in the court 21 fax: wife : voft wat al(
far... तेन श्रीहरिचन्द्रेण परिणीता द्विनात्मना । द्वितीया क्षत(त्रि)या भद्रा महाकुलगुणान्विता ॥ प्रतिहारा द्विना भूता ब्राह्मण्या येभवन्सुता: । राज्ञी भद्रा च यान्सते ते भता मधुपायिन:॥
Inscription proserved in the Rajputana Museum, Ajmer. 22 Annual Report of the Archæological Survey of India, 1909-10, p. 101. 23 catre fiya: *: qat ardi gara: 1 a garot zou wame(?:) II (P8x]
Verse 24 of the Jodhpur inscription. Ep. Ind., vol. XVIII, p. 98. 24 For Dr. R. C. Majumdar's views, see Ep. Ind., vol. XVIII, p. 94.
26 It is not known, however, whether thọ Pratihåras of Mandor were subordinates to the Imperial Pratih&ras prior to Vatsarâja.
26 Vide Bombay Gazetteer, vol. I, pt. I, pp. 465-69. Also JBBRAS, 1905 (Extra number), pp. 413-33. And Ep. Ind., vol. XVIII, pp. 100-101.
