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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA Inscription[1] claims that a king named Kshitipâla was placed on his throne by the Chandêlla prince Harshadêva. As this Harshadêva flourished at the beginning of the tenth century, the Kshitipâla, whom he re-instated on his throne, can be no other than Kshitipâla, king of Kanauj, who was a contemporary of, and vanquished by, Indra III. Indra III., therefore, appears not only to have attached Mahôdaya or Kanauj, but also to have defeated and ousted its ruler ‘Kshitipâla. Let us now proceed a step further. The Bhâgalpur grant of Nârâyaṇapâla[2] asserts that Dharmapâla, the second prince of the Pâla dynasty, acquired the sovereignty Mahôdaya by conquering Indrarâja and others, but bestowed it upon one Chakrâyudha, just as Bali acquired the sovereignty of the three worlds by vanquishing Indra and other gods, and bestowed it upon Chakrâyudha (Vishṇu). The Bhâgalpur grant thus tells us that Dharmapâla first defeated Indrarâja and others, and obtained the sovereignty of Mahôdaya or Kanauj for himself, but gave it over to one Chakrâyudha. The same event is referred to in the Khâlimpur charter[3] of Dharmapâla himself, in the verse-
The stanza, as it stands, yields no intelligible sense. There can be little doubt that the
reading of the last line is faulty, though it occurs, as given here, in the plates.[4] Since we have dattaḥ in the nominative case, ─ that which is given, or in this particular case abhishêka-ôda-
kumbhaḥ, which si in the nominative case, must go with daṭṭaḥ. Further, the person to
whom something is given must be in the dative case ; but we have no such dative in the verse, and
moreover the nominative śrî-Kanyakuv(b)jaḥ remains unconnected. The sense, however,
requires that śrî-Kanyakubja should be considered the person to whom the coronation pitcher was
given. Evidently, therefore, śrî-Kanyakubjaḥ requires to be corrected into śrî-Kanyakubjâya, even
at the risk of the break of the cæsura. With this emendation, the verse yields the following
sense :─ “With a sign of his eyebrows gracefully moved, he made over to the illustrious king of Kanyakubja his own golden water-pitcher of coronation, lifted up by the delighted elders of Pañchâla, and acquiesced in by the Bhôja, Matsya, Madra, Kuru, Yadu, Yavana, Avanti, Gandhâra
and Kîra kings, bent down while bowing with their heads trembling.” What the verse means is,
that Dharmapâla earned for himself the sovereignty of Pañchâla, and was consequently entitled to
the coronation as king of Pañchâla, which was approved of by the neighbouring rulers, such as
Bhôja, Matsya and other kings ; but he declined it and assented insteadto the installation of the
king of Kanyakubja. The Pañchâla country here referred to denotes the upper half of the Dôâb
between the Ganges and the Jumna with Kanyakubja as its principal town and to this effect we
have the authority of the poet Râjaśêkhara who flourished about this period.[5] Hence the fact
mentioned in the Khâlimpur charter is the same as that reported in the Bhâgalpur grant. And
[1] See above, Vol. I. p. 121 f. Prof. Kielhorn, however, thinks that Harshadêva firstvanquished Kshitipâla
and subsequently restored him to his throne. But, in my humble opinion, the natural interpretation that can be put
on the verse is that Harshadêva placed Kshitipâla on his throne, who was ousted, not by Harshadêva himself, but by
a different king. This interpretation is supported by the fact mentioned in our grant, that Indra III. reduced
Mahôdaya or Kanauj, in other words defeated the then reigning sovereign, who can be no other than Kshitipâla
himself. This interpretation, again, agrees with what the Khâlimpur and Bhâgalpur charters have to say, as will
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