Essay on the pratiharas during Early Medieval India

The foundation of one branch of Pratiharas was laid down by Harichandra, a Brahman, near modern Jodhpur in the middle of the sixth century AD. The foundation of another branch was at Malwa with its capital at Ujjain, and the earliest known king of this branch was Nagabhatta I.

An inscription found at Jodhpur says that the Pratiharas descended from Lakshmana, and that Harichandra was a learned Brahman well-versed in the Vedas and that he had two wives, a brhaman and a Kshatriya. Sons of the brahmana wife were knowns as Pratihara brahmanas while those of the Kshatriya one as Kshatriya Pratiharas. These Pratihara sons were great warriors and they conquered the fort at Mandavyapura and erected there a high rampart.

Rajjila was one of these sons and his grandson, Nagabhatta, had his capital at Medantaka (probably Merta, 70 miles north-west of Jodhpur). It then gives a brief history of the family ending in Banka, eighth in descent from Nagabhatta and 11th from Harichandra. Considering that the inscription is dated around AD 837, it is believed that Harichandra founded the dynasty in c. 550. It lasted for about 300 years, upto the middle of the ninth century. The advent of this Guijara kingdom in the region was not to the liking of Pravakaravardhana, the ruler of Thaneswar (father of Harsha) and resulted in a conflict. It was not decisive, but Banabhata eulogised Prabhakara as “a troubler of the sleep of Guijara.”

Although Harichandra of Jodhpur was the earliest ruling Guijara, the dynasty which brought power and glory to the Guijaras flourished sometime later and probably in Malwa. Like Harichandra, they also claimed descent from Lakshmana and adopted the name Pratihara (meaning door-keeper, from legend when Lakshmana acted as a door-keeper) for their dynasty.

The earliest history of the family is given in the Gwalior inscription of King Bhoja, who was the seventh in descent. Beginning with the legend of Lakshmana, it mentions that the fifth king, Nagabhatta defeated a powerful mlechcha king. Considering that the Arab chronider Baladhuri also refers to Uzain in the country of Maliba, scholars place Nagabhatta around AD 725 at Ujjain in Malwa. The Arabs during their expedition from Sindh met with no resistance in several kingdoms of Rajasthan. However, they suffered defeat in the hands of Nagabhatta.

It is also likely that Nagabhatta by the 730s established his supremacy over the Jodhpur Pratihara line and the leadership of the Guijara Pratiharas passed on to him. Nagabhatta died in about 760 and left his powerful and extensive kingdom to his brother’s son Kakkuka who succeeded him.

Not much is known about Kakkuka (Kakustha), who was succeeded by his younger brother Devaraja who is described as a powerful ruler in the Gwalior inscription. Unfortunately, no other details of his reign are given.

Vatsaraja, the son and successor of Devaraja, has been eulogised in the Gwalior plate as a mighty ruler and as a distinguished kshatriya. The Jaina work Kuvalayamala composed in 778 at Javalipura (modern Jalore) refers to the Ranahastin Vatsaraja. Fleet interpreted a verse in Harivamsapurana by Jinasena (783-84) as referring to Vatsaraja, the king of Avanti. It would seem Avanti and Jalore in Rajasthan were under Vatsaraja and the nucleus of the kingdom was in Malwa, from where his ancestor Nagabhatta began his career.

The Osia stone inscription and the Daulatpura copper plate refer to his hold over Gujraratra in central Rajasthan, while the Gwalior inscription mentions his conquest over the Bhandi clan. Scholars think that this represented king Indrayudh of Kaniri and with it Vatsaraja attained supremacy. In the east, he defeated the king of Gauda, perhaps at a distance from the borders of Bengal. However, the glory was shortlived, as Vatsaraja was himself thereafter defeated by Dhruva, the Rashtrakuta king. Bereft of power, he took shelter in Rajasthan and sometime later shifted to Kanuaj, which became the chief seat of power of the Pratihara family.

The only known date of Nagabhatta II is 815, and he probably succeeded his father before 800. Taking advantage of Vatsaraja’s reverses, Dharmapala the king of Gauda annexed Kanauj and installed there his own nominee Chakrayudha. In order to restore the lost family prestige, Nagabhatta formed alliances with several states, particularly the Saindhava, Andhra, Vidarbha and Kalinga. In a curious choice of phrase, the Gwalior inscription describes that the rulers of those states succumbed to the power of Nagabhatta as moths do unto fire, meaning probably that they joined on their own accord, but became subordinate allies of the Pratiharas later. Although this view is not accepted by some, the political and geographical situations of these states lend credence to such a theory.

The Saindhavas were in Kathiawar and, in the neighbouring province of Lata, the Pratiharas were fighting with the Rashtrakutas for supremacy. The Andhras were the hereditary en­emies of the Rashtrakutas and had no qualms in forming an alliance with the Pratiharas against a common foe. The Vidarbhas and Kalingas were neighbours of the Rashtrakutas and the Palas (of Gauda) and must have been exasperated by their depredations. Naturally, they had no objection to being friendly with the Pratiharas and forming a confederacy.

The sequence of Nagabhatta’s operation for the recovery of lost territory is not clear, but the Gwalior inscription places the annexation of Kanuaj first with the defeat of Chakrayudha. As Chakrayudha was his nominee, the Gauda king Dharmapala became in­ volved. The Gwalior record states how the horses and elephants of the lord of Vanga were destroyed by Nagabhatta. The battle was probably fought at Monghyr (Munger).

The next verse of the Gwalior inscription states that Nagabhatta conquered Anartta, Malwa, Kirata, Turushka, Vatsa and Matsya countries. Matsya was a vassal of Gauda and so were Vatsa and Kirata. Thus, one by one, the outlying vassal states of Dharmapala’s kingdom came under Nagabhatta. Scholars identify Turushka as a Muslim settlement, where Nagabhatta, aided by chiefs Guvaka, Khummana and others, defeated Bashar (son of Daud, the Arab governor of Sindh) as alluded to in Prabandha-kosha. Also, the Dholpur inscription of the Chahamana chief, Chandamahasena (842), claims that he was obeyed by the mlechcha rulers on Charmanvati. The Anartta country was adjacent to the Rashtrakuta Empire and Malwa (that is Avanti) was lost by Vatsaraja (Nagabhatta’s father) to Dhruva of the Rashtrakutas. Thus Nagabhatta established the power of the Pratiharas over the Rashtrakutas, but once again the success was temporary.

Nagabhatta’s recovery of Malwa brought him into conflict with Rashtrakuta Indraraja, when (the Rashtrakutas claim) Nagabhatta was frightened like a deer. However, the battle was not as decisive as stated, but Indraraja and later, his son Karkaraja, proved to be a strong deterrent to the Pratiharas. Karkaraja’s Baroda plate states that the Rashtrakuta emperor had caused his arm to become an excellent door-bar of the country of the lord of Guijaras.

But Nagabhatta was too important to be left alone to be dealt with by side-kicks. So Govinda III, when he became free of his preoccupations, decided to teach Nagabhatta a lesson and took the offensive. Rashtrakuta records say that the Guijara king in fear vanished nobody knew whither, so that even in a dream he might not see battle. The Sanjan plates say that Govinda III carried away in bottles the fair and unshakable fame of kings and Nagabhatta…uprooted other kings….and afterwards reinstated them and then proceeded upto the Himalayas…and that Dharma (i.e. Dharmapala) and Chakrayudha surrendered to him of themselves.

Hyperbole apart, the military campaign of Govinda III in the north was undoubtedly a brilliant success. The surrender of Chakrayudha and Dharmapala also appears possible, considering that both of them suffered in the hands of Nagabhatta and naturally were grateful to Govinda for punishing their enemy.

Shorn of his imperial ambitions, Nagabhatta survived long after his defeat and did not completely lose. The Buchkala record (AD 815) found at Bilada district, Jodhpur, gives him all his titles and describes the region as sva-vishayaya or dominions proper. It would appear that he had all his imperial powers, at least in theory, and that his authority was centred in Rajasthan. That was perhaps how he had begun and then extended his area of influence in all directions. Anyway, whatever be the position relating to Kanauj, in the east Nagabhatta’s dominions included both Gwalior and Kalanjara.

Ramabhadra, who appeared to have succeeded Nagabhatta, ruled ineffectively for two years and two records of his son and successor Bhoja indicate that, at that time, Guijaratra in Rajasthan and Kalanjara- mandala were lost to the Pratiharas. The decline had set in the closing years of Nagabhatta, belying the brilliant promise he held out in the beginning of his reign.

Bhoja I, son and successor of Ramabhadra, undoubtedly the greatest king of the dynasty and a powerful ruler in the second half of the ninth century India, took over an empire in 836 very much reduced of its dominions and more than fifty years later left a vast consolidated one to his successor Mahendrapala. Bhoja’s earliest record is a copper plate dated in 836 (found at Barah) issued from his camp (Skandhavara) at Mahodaya confirming an endowment lapsed during the reign of his father. As Mahodaya was the name of Kanauj and Kalanjara was the region of the endowment, Banda in Uttar Pradesh, scholars conclude that by this time Bhoja recovered Kanauj and some of the earlier lost territories.

To the objection on the use of the word skandhavara (camp), it is stated that reference to well-known capitals like Pataliputra and Vikrampura as camps was common in those days (the Sena and Pala records contain such references). Likewise, the recovery of Guijaratra is indicated by the Daulatpura copper plate recording a grant issued by Vatsaraja, continued by Nagabhatta II, falling into abeyance (presumably) during the next reign and restored by Bhoja in 843. This is endorsed by an inscription of the Jodhpur Pratihara Banka (837). Presumably, with Nagabhatta’s decline, this vassal state tried to break free, and was brought to the fold again around 843 by Bhoja. In his expeditions, Bhoja was helped by
some of the old Pratihara feudatories; Guhilot prince Harsharaja, son of King Sankaragana, was notable among them.

Bhoja thereafter suffered defeats in the hands of the Palas and the Rashtrakutas. His military engagement with King Devapala is not known, but his defeat in the hands of the Rashtrakuta King Dhruvaraja II is recorded in the Bagumra plates. Probably, between 845 and 860, Dhruva overcame Bhoja.

Thereafter Bhoja had to wait for better times to regain supremacy and an allusion to his renewed efforts is seen in the Gwalior inscription No. 14 of 876 describing him as bent upon ‘conquering the three worlds’. Devapala died and internal conflicts in the Pala dominions together with the pacific disposition of the successor Narayanapala prompted Bhoja to attack Gauda. The Kahla plates tell us that Gunambhodideva, the Chedi ruler of Sarayupara (Gorakhpur dist.) obtained some territories from Bhojadeva by assisting him in his expedition against the Gaudas. Kokkalladeva of Tripuri, Harsharaja of the Guhilots and other feudatories also helped Bhoja and the whole of the Pala empire to the west of Magadha passed into the hands of the Pratiharas. The time was also favourable to Bhoja in respect of the Rashtrakutas, whose Krishna II was fighting a desperate war with the Eastern Chalukya prince Gunaga-Vijayaditya III. The Pratihara records say

Bhoja defeated Krishna, probably on the banks of the Narmada and drove him south.The Rashtrakutas claim that Bhoja lost Malwa, but the Partabgarh inscription of a local Chahamana dynasty state that I he was a feudatory (a source of great pleasure) of King Bhojadeva. Bhoja continued with expanding his empire after overcoming his two principal adversar­ies. The Pehowa inscription shows that Karnal in Haryana was under him as also the region bordering! Kashmir (mentioned in Rajatarangim). Bhoja’s em­pire thus included nearly the whole of north India excepting Sindh, Kashmir, Bihar, Bengal and parts of central India.

Bhoja ruled over this vast empire from Kanauj, now restored to the prestige of a capital city. Not much is known about him personally excepting that he worshipped Goddess Bhagavati, that he was also known as Prabhasa, Adivaraha and Mihira and that his coins were called Adivaraha dramma. He probably married Chahamana Chandraraja’s daughter, Kalavati. An Arab account by the merchant Sulaiman (AD 851) states: “This king maintains numerous forces and no other Indian prince has so fine a cavalry.

He is unfriendly to the Arabs….Among the princes of India there is no greater foe of Muhammadan faith than he. His territories form a tongue of land…There is no country in India safer from robbers.” The tongue of land refers to Kathiawar and in contrast to the Rashtrakutas, described as friends of Muslims; the Pratiharas are described as foes. Bhoja had a long reign of more than 46 years, for two of his known dates are 836 and 882. He died probably in 890 leaving the empire to his son Mahendrapala.

Mahendrapala is believed to have started his reign in or about 893. According to an oblique reference in Rajatarangini, he appeared to have been in conflict with the Kashmir king Sankaravarman, and ceded some territories. But seven records of his reign dated in his regnal years 2 to 19 and found at south Bihar and north Bengal state that his hold over the territories in the east was complete. He consolidated the conquests of Bhoja and exercised supremacy over Magadha and Varendra (north Bengal). Epigraphic records about him were found at Kathiawar, Haryana, Jhansi, Ayodhya, Malwa and Rajasthan. From this, it is evident that in his times the Pratihara Empire extended from the Himalayas to the Vindhyas and from the eastern to the western ocean.

He was known also as Mahendrayudha and the epithet Nirbhaya (fearless) was used by him. His guru, Rajasekhara, was a literary figure and in his works he described the imperial splendour of the city of Kanauj. Mahendrapala’s last known date is 907-908 and he probably died shortly afterwards. He had at least two queens, Dehanagadevi and Mahadevi. Mahadevi had two sons: Bhoja II and Vinayakapala. Bhoja II ascended the throne.

After a brief reign of four to five years, Bhoja II made room for his brother, Mahipala, also known as Vinayaka, Kshiti and Herambapala. Bhoja II’s reign was uneventful save for two doubtful references to a Rashtrakuta invasion and a patricidal war. Mahipala followed him probably in 912 and the Haddala grant (914) refers to his suzerainty over distant Kathiawar. A1 Masudi, visiting India in 915- 16 says that he had many horses and camels and a huge army of over three million adding that he was at war with the Rashtrakutas in the south and the Muslims in Multan. Rajasekhar, his father’s guru, also refers in the literary work Bala-Bharata, to Mahipala’s expansionist policy and mentions the conquest of the Murulas, Kalingas, Kulutas, Keralas, Kuntalas and Ramathas. Of these, the Kulutas lived in Kulu and the Ramathas were neighbours; the Kalingas were in eastern Deccan, Mekalas in the Mekala hills (Madhya Pradesh) and Kuntalas in western Deccan. Mahipala might not have con­quered those in the distant Deccan but perhaps fought them and gained victories in occasions.

However, the decline was soon to come and the Rashtrakuta king Indra III conquered Ujjaini, crossed Yamuna and devastated Kanauj. A Kanarese work Pampabharata states that Mahipala fled, as if struck by thunderbolts, staying neither to eat, nor rest, nor pick himself up. In any event, the defeat was not decisive; the Rashtrakutas could not consolidate their gains and Mahipala rallied his forces and got back the lost territories. Epigraphic evidences prove that Pratiharas were in possession of Benaras in 931, Chanderi (Narwar) in 942 and Malwa in 946.

However, the sack of the capital city of Kanauj and the flight of the emperor with the enemy in hot pursuit caused the feudatories to become defiant. It appears the fort of Kalanjara invaded by the Rashtrakutas was later seized by the Chandellas, nominally owing allegiance to the Pratiharas. They kept it in their possession and a Rashtrakuta record dated in 940 boastfully states that no attempt to recover it was made by the Pratiharas since that would make Krishna (the Rashtrakuta king) angry. Mahipala’s reign, though outwardly prosperous, thus ended on a note of impending decay and dissolution.

The period following the death of Mahipala is very obscure and from the epigraphic records (con­fusing as they are) a number of orders of succession have been suggested.

The only positive record is the one from the Chahamanas of southern Rajasthan (945-46) stating that Mahendrapala II was their suzerain and that his governors were ruling over Ujjain and Mandapika (Mandu).

In the beginning of the eleventh century, the decendants of Bhoja and Mahendrapala were still ruling in Kanauj, but it was then a small principality. The Pratihara Empire was gone and North India presented the chaos that followed the dissolution of a great empire, further compounded by the repeated attacks of the Muslims.