44 R. D. BANBRJI ON 



story of the banished king, Jayaplda, who came to Bengal, married the daughter of 



the king, and freed him from the subjection of his liege- 

 From Kanauj, Assam. lord L Accordirig to the able translator of the Rajatarahgini, 



the true date of this king is between 760 and 800 a.d. Finally Bengal was con- 

 quered by the Gurjara and Rastrakuta kings. The Ourjara king Vatsaraja, accord- 

 ing to the Gwalior inscription of Mihira-Bhoja, had seized by main force the imperial 

 sway from the house of Bhandi : — 



Khyatad = Bhandi-kulan = madotkata-kari-prakara durllahghato yah samrajy- 

 am = adhijya-karmmuka-sakha samkhye hathad = agrahit — verse y.' 1 



Most probably after the fall of Harsavarddhana, the family of his cousin 

 Bhandi succeeded to the Empire. Bhandi is mentioned in the Harsacarita as the 

 mother's brother's son of Harsa. 3 Vatsaraja is said to have conquered Bengal very 

 easily and taken away from its king the radiantly white royal umbrellas. In the 

 Wani grant of the Rastrakuta king Govinda III, his father Dhruvaraja is said to 

 have taken away these umbrellas from Vatsaraja and driven him away into the 

 desert : — 



Hela-svikHa-Gaiida-rajya-kamala-rnattam prave&y-acirad = durmargam = maruma- 

 dhyam = aprati-balair-yo Vatsarajam balaih GaudTyam Saradindupada- 

 dhavalam chatradvayam kevalam tasman = n = ahrta tad-ya§o = pi kakubham 

 prante sthitam tat-ksanat. 



" Having with his armies, which no other army could withstand, quickly caused 

 Vatsaraja, intoxicated with the goddess of the sovereignty of the country of Gauda, 

 that he had acquired with ease, to enter upon the path of misfortune in the centre 

 of the deserts or Maru, he took away from him not only the two royal umbrellas 

 of Gauda, that were as radiantly white as the rays of the autumn moon, but 

 almost, at the same moment, his fame that had reached to the extremities of 

 the regions." + 



The late Mr. A. M. T. Jackson supposed that the country conquered by 

 Vatsaraja was Thanesar. 6 But the Gurjara king conquered Gauda and Vahga at 

 the same time and the two umbrellas were, most probably, one for Gauda and 

 the other for Vanga like the double crown of Egypt: — 



Gaudendra-V ahgapati nirjjaya-durvvidagdha sad = gurj j ares' vara dig = arggalatam ca 

 yasya ) 



Nitva bhnjam vihata-malava-raksaiuntham svaml tath = anyam-api rajya-phalani 

 bhimkte.—Baroda. plates of Karkaraja. 6 



The Radhanpur grant also contains the verse about the defeat of Vatsaraja by 

 Dhruva. 1 So according to the Wani and Radhanpur grants Dhruva, father of the 

 Rastrakuta king Govinda III, drove Vatsaraja back into the desert, and wrested 

 from him the double royal umbrellas of Gauda, and according to the Baroda grant 



1 Mem. A.S.B., Vol. Ill, p. 3, note 2. * Ann. Rep. Arch. Surv. Ind., 1903-04, p. 281. 



5 Covvell and Thomas, Harsacarita, Or. Tr. Fund Series, p. 116. * Ind. Ant., Vol. XI, p. 157. 



6 J.R.A.S., 1905, pp. 103-04. 6 Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, p. 160, 11. 39-40. 1 Epi. Ind., Vol. VI, p. 243. 



