58 R. D. BANERJI ON 



is mentioned as Adwand Bihar in the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri of Minhaj-ud-din' and as 

 Uddandapura in another mediaeval inscription in the town of the Gaya in Bengal.' 2 

 The Tibetan historian Lama Taranatha mentions it as Otantapura, 8 which is the 

 nearest approach to the Sanskrit Uddandapura. Surapala I or Vigrahapala I 

 married I,ajjadevi, the daughter of the Haihaya king of Tripuri. + Vigrahapala' s 

 father, Jayapala, was a Hindu by inclination, as after his father Vak-pala's death he 

 is said to have performed the funeral ceremony according to Hindu rites. Umapati, 

 a learned Brahmana of Kanjivilvl, is said to have got the Mahadana on that occasion. 

 The fact is recorded in a commentary on the Chandogap avis' ista named PariSista- 

 prakaSa by Umapati's grandson, Narayana :— 



Ksmapalaj = Jayapalatah sa hi MahMvaddham prabhutam. 



Mahadanam c-arth i-gan = arhan = ardra-hrdayah praty-agrahlt punyavan. — verse 8. 6 



The name of the village where Umapati lived is given as Kahjivinda in the 2nd 

 verse, but it is clearly a mistake for Kanjivilva, the name of a well-known town. 

 Nothing is known about the other relatives of this king, besides his son Narayana- 

 pala who succeeded him. The votive inscriptions mentioned above were incised in the 

 2nd year of the king and most probably Vigrahapala I or Surapala I had a very 

 short reign. 



Narayanapala succeeded to the throne in very troublesome times. The Gurjaras, 

 after their long confinement in the desert, were issuing again for the conquest 

 of Northern India, and this time they were destined to succeed and to make 

 Mahodaya or Kanyakubja their capital. Bhoja I succeeded his father Ramabha- 

 dra and at the beginning his kingdom seems to have consisted of the ancestral 

 lands of the Gurjara-Pratiharas. Step by step Bhoja advanced towards the North. 

 Kanauj or Mahodaya became his capital as several of his grants were issued from 

 that place. It is not known from whom the Gurjara king wrested Kanauj, and 



it may be that it was taken either from the Palas or one of 

 Bhoja I^ndhis war with thdr contemporar i es Nothing is known about the state of 



Uttarapatha or Northern India about this time, but it is 

 certain that the Palas lost much of their territorial possessions during this period. 

 Bhoja I invaded Bengal and defeated the king disastrously. The war with Bengal 

 is mentioned in his Gwalior inscription: — 



Yasya vairi brhad = bangan = dahatah kopa-vahnina. 



Pratapad = arnnasam rasln = patur = vvaitrsnam = avabhau. — verse 21/' 



This invasion must have taken place late in the reign of Bhoja I, as it must have 

 taken him some time to be seated on the throne, advance towards Kanauj, conquer 

 it and then invade Magadha and Vahga. The invasion is recorded in another Prati- 

 hara inscription found at Mandor in Jodhpur. Kakkuka, whose brother Bauka's 



1 Tabaqat-i-Nasiri (Bib. Ind.). p. 491. - Cunningham, Arch. Surv. Rep., Vol. Ill, p. 128. 



3 Ibid. * Ind. Ant., Vol. XV, p. 305, v. 9. 



6 Eggeling-Cat., Skt. MSS. in Ind. Office Lib., Pt. I, pp. 92-3. 



6 Ann. Rep. Arch. Surv. Ind., 1903-04, pp. 282-84. 



