50 R. D. BANERJI ON 



Govinda Ill's certain dates range from 794 to 813 a.d. 1 Consequently Dharmma- 

 pala must be placed in the last decades of the eighth and the first decades of the 

 ninth century a. d. 



The most important event in the reign of Dharmmapala is his conquest 

 of Northern India. The Rastrakuta king Dhruva had driven 



The events of Dharmma- the Qurjara invaders back into the desert and the Rastra- 

 pala s reign. . 



kuta occupation of the country most probably did not last 



long, otherwise there would not have been any necessity of a fresh invasion 

 under Govinda III. The whole of Northern India most probably relapsed into 

 that restless state which necessitated the election of a strong ruler in Bengal 

 On his accession, an able man like Dharmmapala practically found the whole 

 country at his mercy. The ancient race of Bhandi had been ousted from the 

 throne by Vatsaraja, Nagabhata's father, and a king named Indrayudha was 

 reigning at Mahodaya or Kanauj in the Vikrama year 705 = 783 A.D. It may be 

 that he also belonged to the family of Bhandi. When we remember that ac- 

 cording to the verse of the Bhagalpur grant of Narayanapala, Dhrammapala ousted 

 a king of Kanauj named Indraraja and gave the kingdom to Cakrayudha, we 

 feel certain that this Indrayudha is no other than the Indraraja of the Bhagalpur 

 grant. 



Dharmmapala's Northern Indian campaign must have begun some time after 

 783 a.d. In the Jaina Harivamsa Puraua we find that in the year 705 of the 

 Saka era Indrayudha was ruling in the North, SrI-Vallabha in the South, the Lord 

 of Avanti in the East, and Vatsaraja in the West: — 



$akesvabda$atesu saptasu diSam panchottaresuttaram 



Patindrdyudhandmni Krsnanrpaje Srlvallabhe daksinam ; 



Pftrvam Sirimad-Avantl-bhubhrti nrpe Vatsadiraje par am 



Sorya namcidhiman d ale javayiite vire varahe vati. 



We know already from the Wani and Radhanpur grants that Dhruva, Sri 

 Vallabha and Vatsaraja were contemporaries. In the year 783 Dhruva must 

 have been in his old age, and long before that he must have driven Vatsaraja back 

 into the desert country from Kanauj and Bengal as the latter is only mentioned as 

 ruler of the West. Again, as Indraraja or Indrayudha was reigning in the North in 

 783 a. d., so Dharmmapala's Northern Indian campaign must have taken place after 

 that year. As has been already stated above, Dhruva and Vatsaraja seem to have had 

 very long reigns. The invasion of Northern India by these two kings seems to have 

 taken place during the earlier parts of their reigns. Bengal most probably enjoyed 

 about fifty years' respite from foreign invasions before Dharmmapala came to the 

 throne. Though Indrayudha, the contemporary of Dhruva and Vatsaraja, was dis- 

 possessed of his throne by Dharmmapala, yet it appears that both of these kings died 

 before Dharmmapala's accession, as their sons, Nagabhata II and Govinda III, are 

 mentioned in the inscriptions as his contemporaries. The first act of Dharmmapala 



1 Ibid., Vol. VII, App. II, p. 3. 



