Gurjara–Rashtrakuta War

Gurjara–Rashtrakuta War
The Pratihara dynasty, the Pala Empire, and the Rashtrakuta Empire at their respective peaks during the Tripartite Struggle.
Date 790 A.D–968 A.D Location Gujarat, Malwa, (modern day India) Result Rashtrakuta victory Capture of Malwa & Lata by Yadavas Rashtrakutas conquered the southern part of the Partihara kingdom, up to Kannauj
Belligerents
Rashtrakuta Empire Devagiri Yadavas Western Gangas Chalukyas	Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty Paramara dynasty Chandela dynasty
Commanders and leaders
Dhruva Dharavarsha # Govinda III # Indra II # Amoghavarsha # Krishna II # Indra III # Govinda IV # Krishna III # Seunachandra I # Vaddiga I # Marasimha II Satyavakya Tailapa II	Vatsaraja  Nagabhata II  Mihira Bhoja # Mahendrapala I # Mahipala I # Rajapala # Dhangavarman Siyaka

Gurjara–Rashtrakuta War was a series of engagement fought between the Rashtrakuta Empire and Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty.

Background

According to the Epigraphist Dineschandra Sircar, the struggle between the Pratihara and the Rashtrakuta had begun earlier than the struggle over the Kingdom of Kannauj. These two powers shared a common frontier in the Gujarat and Malwa regions. The frontier was a shifting one and far from permanent, causing enmity between the two powers. Even before the struggle over Kannauj started, Dantidurga, the founder of the Rashtrakuta Empire, had defeated Nagabhata I of the Pratihara dynasty, as evident from the Dashavatara Temple inscription of Dantidurga at Ellora and the Sanjan inscription of Amoghavarsha I, both belonging to the Rashtrakuta dynasty which states that Dantidurga (r. 735–756) performed a religious ceremony at Ujjayani, and the king of Gurjara-desha (Gurjara country) acted as his door-keeper (pratihara), suggesting that the Rashtrakuta king had subdued the Pratihara king who was ruling Avanti at that time.

On the other hand, the conflict between the Palas of Gauda/Bengal and the Ayudhas of Kannauj was the continuation of an old power struggle that had started between Harshavardhana of Kannauj and Sasanka of Gauda in the 7th century and would continue till the 12th century. These regional struggles were escalated to a greater pitch over the issue of succession of the Ayudha dynasty. Also, the involvement of the four powers, i.e. the Pratihara Empire, the Pala Empire, the Rashtrakuta Empire, and the Kingdom of Kannauj meant that it was actually a four-power struggle.

Prelude

By the eighth century, the Kingdom of Kannauj which had controlled much of northern India under Harshavardhana in the seventh century had greatly diminished in power under a succession of weak kings, and was replaced by two new great powers in North India — the Kingdom of Gurjara to the west and the Kingdom of Bengal to the east. In southern India, the Rashtrakuta royal family reigned, whose king Dhruva too had imperial ambitions to rule northern India.

The king of the Gurjaras, Vatsaraja, the grand-nephew of Nagabhata I, expanded the small principality founded by his ancestor into a powerful kingdom in northwestern India. His ambitions matched those of Dharmapala, the king of Bengal who too wanted glory for himself and wanted to extend his power beyond his ancestral domain in eastern India. The throne of Kannauj was equivalent to having imperial status over all of northern India and thus, Vatsaraja, Dharmapala, and Dhruva, all sought to control it. The incumbents of the Kannauj throne at that time, the Ayudha dynasty were weak rulers and the accession of Indrayudha triggered the first great war.

War

The ambitious king of the South, Dhruva (of the Rashtrakuta dynasty) decided to intervene in the ongoing conflict of the northern kingdoms. While Vatsaraja was on his return journey with the spoils of war, he was defeated by Dhruva's forces, and was thus forced to flee and hide in the deserts of Maru. Following this, Dhruva met and defeated Dharmapala in the Doab. Dhruva however, had no intentions for any permanent territorial conquests and only intended to raid the invaded regions. He thus returned to the South in 790.

Vatsaraja was succeeded by his son Nagabhata II (r. 795–833), who strived to rebuild the fallen empire of his father. In the Deccan, Dhruva was succeeded by his son Govinda III (r. 793–814). Wary of the rising might of Nagabhata, he decided to crush Nagabhata's power before he became too powerful. After securing the Vindhya passes under his loyal brother Indra, he invaded the Gurjara kingdom though Bhopal and Jhansi and defeated Nagabhata near Gwalior. Govinda conquered Malwa, Lata and Mahakoshal from the Gurjaras.

Chakrayudha made an unconditional surrender to Govinda, and thus, Govinda made no effort to conquer the Doab. Dharmapala also submitted.

Mihira Bhoja first consolidated his territories by crushing the rebellious feudatories in Rajasthan, before turning his attention against the old enemies the Palas and Rastrakutas.

After consolidating his rule, he stepped into a war of succession for the throne of Gujarat between Dhruva II of the Gujarat Rashtrakuta dynasty and his younger brother. Bhoja led a cavalry raid into Gujarat against the Dhruva while supporting his Dhruva's younger brother. Although the raid was repulsed by Dhruva II, Bhoja was able to retain dominion over parts of Gujarat and Malwa.

Sometime before 888, the Gurjara-Pratiharas were defeated in large battle in Ujjain by Krishna II, the Rastrakuta king of Gujarat. However, retribution likely soon followed on the part of the Pratiharas, as by the end of his reign, Bhoja had successfully exterminated the Gujarat Rashtrakuta line. Krishna III however again defeated Bhoja and recovered all territories lost to Bhoja.

Immediately after coming to power, Indra III had to fight a Paramara ruler, a feudatory of the Gurjara-Pratihara and routed him out of Govardhana near Nasik. Thereafter the Paramaras became feudatories of the Rashtrakutas. The Gurjara Pratihara ruler Mahendrapala I was experiencing some family feuds and this gave Indra III an opportunity to attack Kannauj in the Ganges - Yamuna doab. Kannauj at this time was under the control of the Pratihara empire. From the writings of Kannada poet Adikavi Pampa it is known that Indra III sent his feudatory, Chalukya king Narasimha II of Vemulavada, in pursuit of Mahipala I the incumbent Pratihara emperor who fled the area. Kannauj was "completely destroyed", and the Pratihara ruler weakened. The northern campaign of Indra III produced more dramatic results then during the rule of Dhruva Dharavarsha and Govinda III as the Rashtrakutas were actually able to hold Kannauj until c. 916.

While Krishna III focussed on southern Deccan, the Chandelas had captured Chitrakuta and Kalinjar. This prompted Krishna III to send his Western Ganga vassal Marasimha II, son of Butuga II, to retrieve the lost areas. Marasimha defeated the Gurjara Prathiharas. The northernmost Kannada inscription of the Rashtrakutas, dated about 964 is the Jura record (near Jabalpur) in present-day Madhya Pradesh. The details of these victories are inscribed in this inscription. Two inscriptions of Marasimha, dated 965 and 968, state that his forces destroyed Ujjayani (which lies in the Paramara territory of Malwa). Based on this, some historians such as A. S. Altekar conclude that the Paramara king Siyaka must have rebelled against the Rashtrakuta suzerainty, resulting in a military campaign against him. Thus, Marasimha must have also defeated the Paramaras. However, K. N. Sethi believes that Krishna III only targeted the Gurjara-Pratiharas: there is no evidence to show that Siyaka rebelled against Krishna III or faced a battle against his forces.

Reference

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