THE PALAS OF BENGAL. 51 



after his accession seems to have been the invasion of Kanauj. The exact 



cause of this invasion has not been revealed to us by any 



Conquest of Kanauj and f the records discovered up to date. Most probably 

 displacement of Indra- . , . , . . ■,<•-, , • <• 



yu dha. • tne existence of the weak kingdom on his western frontier 



tempted him to lead an invasion into the heart of the 



middle country. The result of this invasion is already well known. Indrayudha, 



the old king, — old he must have been as he was to some extent the contemporary 



of the Rastrakuta Dhruva and the Gurjara Vatsaraja, — was deposed. Dharmmapala 



set up a nominee of his own, named Cakrayudha, who was most probably the 



king of the Pahcala Country. The last supposition is based on the fact that 



in the Khalimpur grant it is stated that the Elders of the Pahcala Country 



rejoiced at his election. This selection finally proved to be a very costly one 



for Dharmmapala. In the famous historical verse of the Khalimpur grant we 



find that the Kuru, Yadu, Yavana, Avanti, Gandhara, Kira, Bhoja, Matsya 



and Madra kings "had to agree to the selection of Cakrayudha as the king of 



Kanauj or Mahodaya. This means , in plain language, that Dharmmapala had 



to defeat these kings, and then to force his nominee on them. Consequently we 



must acknowledge that Dharmmapala conquered or overran Eastern Punjab 



and Sindh {Kuru and Yadu), Western Punjab and the North- Western Frontier 



Provinces {Yavana and Gandhara), Kangra {Kir a), Malwa {Avanti), and North- 



Eastern Rajputana {Bhoja and Matsya). The Madras are mentioned in the Maha- 



bharata as living outside the pale of Aryan civilization, and most probably the 



country meant is some part of Afghanistan. 1 



The accession of Cakrayudha on the throne of Kanauj was not satisfactory 



to Xagabhata II, the king of the Gurjaras. We know from the gth verse of 



the Gwalior inscription of Bhoja I, that Nagabhata II defeated Cakrayudha. 



According to the ioth verse of the same inscription he is said to have defeated 



the King of Bengal also : — 



Durvvara-vain-vara-varana-vaji-varayan = augha-samghatana-ghora-ghan — andha- 



karam, 

 Nirjjitya V amgapatim = avirabhud = vivasvan = udyan = n-iva tri-jagad-eka vikata- 



koSah. — verse io. 2 



It is evident that Dhammapala tried his best to support his protegee. In 

 so doing he must have suffered a serious reverse at the hands of the Gurjara king. 

 In this condition both Dharmmapala and Cakrayudha sought the help of the 

 Rastrakuta Emperor Govinda III. This is proved by the 23rd verse of the 

 unpublished grant of Amoghavarsa I in the possession of Mr. S. R. Bhandarkar. 

 Being solicited by the most influential king of Northern India and his subordinate, 

 the king of one of the oldest cities in India, the Rastrakuta monarch led a campaign 

 against the powerful Gurjaras. The result of this campaign has already been stated 

 above while quoting the 23rd verse of the unpublished grant of Amoghavarsa I. 



1 Ind. Ant., Vol. XXXV, p. 17. 2 Arch. Survey Rep., 1903-04, p. 281. 



