Tripartite Struggle

(Pala, Pratihara and Rashtrakutas)

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Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur
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 Prepared by Gautam Mukhopadhyay,
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 Importance of Kanauj

Kanauj, situated in the Farrukhabad district

of Uttar Pradesh

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 Importance
• The importance of that city in ancient times
was probably due to its strategic advantages.
• The city stood on a cliff on the right bank of
the Ganges
• This part was actually then the highway of
commerce and communication
• Kanauj – a convenient centre for river traffic in
the upper Doab
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 Observation by Alexander Cunningham

• Reference – “Ancient Geography of India”,

• The situation is a commanding one, and before
the use of the cannon the height alone must
have made Kanauj a strong and important
position.

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 R.S. Tripathi’s view
• Reference – “History of Kanauj”
• Kanauj was the witness of the rise and fall of
mighty empires, the appearance and
disappearance of successive dynasties
• Although this fascinating panorama of events
chiefly unfolds itself during the centuries that
intervene between the decline of the Guptas
and the Muslim conquest.
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 With the passing away of Yasovarman
and Lolitaditya, no great power or political
personality arose in Northern India and for
nearly half a century it offered a most
tempting field to every ambitious political
adventurer. In that context in the eighth
century the main political powers like the
Palas of Bengal, the Rashtrakutas of South
and the Gurjara Pratiharas of the West
involved into a conflict.
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 The Rashtrakutas
The Rashtrakutas had wrested the political
power from the Chalukyas, and established
themselves as the ruling dynasty in 753 A.D.
Two powerful rulers of this dynasty Dhruva
and his son Govinda III sent strong military
expeditions to extent their powers in Northern
India, and brilliant, though temporary
successes attended their efforts.

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 The Pratiharas and the Palas
• Their chief adversaries in the North were the
Pratiharas.
• On the other hand, in Bengal Gopala was
succeeded by his son, Dharmapala, who ruled for
about 40 years. He was a man of dynamic
personality and really achieved a lot in his
lifetime. As the work of consolidation in Bengal
had already been done by his father, Gopala,
Dharmapala found himself in a position to
undertake foreign expedition.
• Shortly after the accession to the throne,
Dharmapala was involved in a tripartite struggle
between the three chief ruling powers of India.
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 Problem of discussion about
the Struggle
(R.C. Majumdar’s view)

• Reference – “History of Bengal, Vol. I”

• It is difficult to follow the exact course of
this struggle in strict chronological order, as
the few isolated facts, known to us from the
inscriptions of the three dynasties, are
capable of different interpretations.
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 View of D.C. Sircar
• Reference – “Kanyakubja-Gauda Struggle”
• It was actually a quadruple struggle.
• Ayudha dynasty of Kanauj was one of the
important powers of contemporary India.
• Sircar shows that Indrayudha of Kanauj was a
powerful king.

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 Sources
1. Pala inscriptions
Copper plate inscriptions:
• Khalimpur
• Munger
• Bhagalpur
• Jagajjivanpura
Pillar inscription:
• Badal prasasti (an eulogistic inscription)

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 2. Pratihara inscriptions
• Daulatpur
• Barā
3. Rashtrakuta inscriptions
• Sanjān
• Sirpur

Literary source
• Ramacharita by Sandhyakar Nandi

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 The Struggle
(Phase – I)
• The fight between the Palas and the Pratiharas
was the natural consequence of the imperial
design of both these powers.
• Dharmapala inherited a consolidated and
powerful kingdom and began to expand his
dominions towards the West, where the
political situation was admirably suited to his
ambition.

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• Vatsaraja, the king of the Pratiharas, also felled
the same urge of imperial ambitions and utilizes
the same opportunity by pushing his conquest
towards the North and East.
• In the light of subsequent events, one might safely
conclude that the possession of the imperial city
of Kanauj was the common objective of both, and
the contending parties probably came into clash
somewhere in the Doab.
• Vatsaraja defeated Dharmapala in a battle
somewhere in the Gangetic Doab.
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 Rashtrakuta intervention

• Intervention of the Rashtrakuta king Dhruva

• He inflicted a disastrous defeat upon Vatsaraja.
• After defeating him, Dhruva evidently
marched through his dominions right up to the
Doab.
• Here he met Dharmapala and defeated him.
• Dhruva was too far away from his base to
follow up his victory and there were probably
other causes to induce him to turn back.
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 Result
(a favourable situation for the Palas)
• It is rightly contended by R. C. Majumdar that
Dharmapala had gained more than he had lost.
• While the Pratihara dynasty lost heavily, Dharmapala
did not lose much.
• The Rashtrakutas not only crushed the Pratiharas who
were the rivals of the Palas but also offered a golden
opportunity to the Palas to add to their strength by their
quick withdrawal from Northern India.
• Dharmapala took full advantage of the situation and by
a series of victorious campaigns, made himself the lord
of practically the whole of Northern India.
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 (Phase – II)
• In the second chance Dharmapala defeated Indraraja
or Indrayudha, the ruler of Kanauj, deposed him and
in his place put Chakrayudha on the throne of Kanauj.
• We get the information about the victory from
Bhagalpur inscription, Munger inscription and
Jagajjivanpura copper inscription.

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 The Royal durbar at Kanauj
(Description from Khalimpur inscription)

• After this victory, Dharmapala held a Durbar at

Kanauj.
• This Durbar was attended by a large number of
vassal chiefs and the names of the rulers of Bhoja,
Matsya, Madra, Kuru, Yadu, Avanti, Gandhar and
Kira are mentioned in this connection.
• We are told that these chiefs not only approved of
the action of Dharmapala but also “bowed down
respectfully with their diadems trembling”.
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 Geographical situation of these powers
• Gandhara represents the Western Punjab and
lower Kabul Valley.
• Madra was in Central Punjab.
• Kira, Kuru and Matsya represented Kangra,
Thaneswar and Jaipur regions respectively.
• Avanti represents the whole or a part of Malava.
• Yavana represented some Muslim territory in the
Sindhu Valley.
• The Yadu or Yadava had settlements in
Simhapura, Mathura and Dwarka.
• Probably Berar or a part of it was ruled by Bhojas.
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 Significance of this victory
• It cannot be contended that these states were
annexed by Dharmapala.
• It only means this that they accepted his
suzerainty and were left undisturbed in their
internal affairs as long as they paid homage and
fulfilled the other conditions.
• Dharmapala became the paramount lord in
northern India and no wonder he is called
Uttarapathasvamin or lord of Northern India.
• But it was temporary; Dharmapala had to meet
another challenge
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 (Phase – III)
• Nagabhatta II, the Pratihara ruler, conquered
Kanauj and drove away its ruler, Chakrayudha.
• As Chakrayudha was a protégé of Dharmapala, a
war between Nagabhatta II and Dharmapala
became inevitable.
• A pitched battle was fought probably near Munger
in which Ngabhatta defeated Dharmapala.
• Nagabhatta II was not destined to enjoy the fruits
of his victory for a long time. He was himself
defeated by Govinda III, the Rashtrakuta ruler.
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 Significance

• Soon after this victory, Govinda III left for the

Deccan and thus Northern India became a free
field for the military ambitions of Dharmapala.
• The success of Nagabhatta II was merely a
passing phase and Dharmapala remained a
mighty king till the end of his life.

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 Devapala
Source
• Badal inscription
• Composed by Darbhapani and Kedar Mishra

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 Description of Badal inscription
• Devapala got tributes from the rulers of the whole
of Northern India from the Himalaya to the
Vindhyas and from the Eastern to Western ocean.
• His campaigns took him to Kamboja in the West
and the Vindhyas in the South.
• Exterminated the Utkalas
• Conquered Pragjyotisha
• Curbed the pride of the Hunas
• Humbled the rulers of the Gurjaras and Dravidas
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 Opinion of Abdul Momin Chowdhuri
• Reference – Dynastic History of Bengal
• The description of Badal inscription is actually
related and similar to a traditional idea of Indian
empire and an idea of ‘uttarapathasvamin’.
But it is also true that Huna kingdom,
Pragjyotisha, Kamboja, Utkala were situated in
the boarder area of the empire formed by
Dharmapala. So devapala could try to conquer
those regions. He himself stated about Kamboja
and Vindhya expeditions in one of his copper
plate inscriptions.
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• We are told that as soon as the armies of
Devapala under Jayapala reached near, the king
of Pragjyotisha made surrender without fighting
against the invader.
• Likewise, the king of Utkala left his capital and ran
away.
• Some scholars argue that the Utkalas were
defeated by a combined force of Kamarupa and
Gauda.
• The Hunas had many principalities and one of
them was in Uttarapatha near the Himalayas.
That was conquered by Devapala.

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• From there, Devapala proceeded to the Kamboja territory.
• But according to Abdul Momin Chowdhury, if we remember
about the Shahi rulers of Punjab, then we can say that it is
impossible for Devapala to conquer Kamboja region.
• The kingdom of Ramabhadra, the Pratihara king who was
son of Nagabhatta II, was invaded by Devapala and he was
defeated.
• King Bhoja also was defeated by Devapala. But in the
Gwalior inscription it is stated that Devapala was defeated
by Bhoja.
• Chowdhury argued that in the initial stage Devapala was
defeated but later Bhoja was defeated by Devapala.
• Devapala had to fight against three generations of the
Pratihara rulers and in spite of difficulties, he was able to
maintain his supremacy in Northern India.

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• In general it is said that the Dravidas stated in Badal
inscription were actually the Rashtrakutas.
• It is also said in Munger copper inscription that the
territory of Devapala was extended up to Rameswar.
• But in an inscription of Rashtrakuta king Amoghvarsha
it is stated that the Rashtrakuta king conquered Bengal.
But it is difficult to accept that Devapala was defeated
by the Rashtrakutas.
• R.C. Majumdar argued that the ‘Dravidanath’ stated
there, was actually Pandya king Srimar Sriballava. But
Niharranjan Ray opposed him.
• This he probably did in alliance with all those sates
who regarded the Rashtrakutas as their common
enemy.
• It is actually difficult to reach in a decision about that
matter.
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 Devapala – patron of Buddhism
• Devapala was a great patron of Buddhism.
• He gave 5 villages for “various comforts” of the
Bhikshus as well as for writing the
“Dharmaratnas” and for the upkeep of a Buddhist
monastery built there by Balaputrdeva, king of
Suvarnadvipa or Sumatra or Yavabhumi or Java.
• Devapala constructed many temples like
Traikutak temple and monasteries like Sompur.
Art and architecture received a fresh impetus.
• Nalanda continued to flourish as the chief seat of
Buddhist learning.
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 Evaluation of Devapala
• Sometime after 860 A.D., the Rashtrakutas defeated the Palas.
• The Pratiharas took advantage of this and extended their power to the
East.
• The Palas lost Magadha or South Bihar. For some time, even North
Bengal came into the hands of Pratiharas.
• The subordinate chiefs under the Palas revolted. The Sailodbhavas
established themselves in Orissa.
• So it can be said that Devapala became successful as a conqueror but
he failed to consolidate his empire and as result of that the empire
started to be declined after his death.
• Contemporary feudal nature and decentralizing factors were also
responsible for the decline of the empire.
• But yet we can agree with R.C. Majumdar’s view that the reigns of
Dharmapala and Devapala constitute the most brilliant chapter in the
history of Bengal.
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 Tripartite Struggle after Devapala
• Devapala was succeeded by Vigrahapala.
• Some scholars regard him as his nephew and other regard him as his son.
He ruled for about 3 or 4 years.
• After that, he abdicated and began to live the life of an ascetic.
• Vigrahapala was succeeded by Narayanapala. He ruled for more than half
a century.
• He was a man of pacific and religious disposition. Sometime after 860
A.D., the Rashtrakutas defeated the Palas.
• The Pratiharas took advantage of this and extended their power to the
East.
• The Palas lost Magadha or South Bihar. For some time, even North Bengal
came into the hands of Pratiharas.
• The success of Pratiharas weakened all the more the Palas. The
subordinate chiefs under the pals revolted. King Harjara of Assam took up
imperial titles.
• The Sailodbhavas established themselves in Orissa.
• It is stated that for a time the rule of Narayanapala was confined to a part
of Bengal alone.
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• However, he is stated to have recovered North
Bengal and South Bihar from the Pratiharas
about the year 908 A.D. this was done after
the defeat of the Pratiharas by the
Rashtrakutas under their king Krishna II.
• It is also possible that Narayanapala was
defeated by Krishna II.
• Before his death in about 908 A.D.,
Narayanapala was able to establish his
supremacy in Bengal and Bihar.
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 Analysis
• After that all the three powers became weak and then
declined. We can see some features of the tripartite
struggle.
• All the powers were not local and they fought against
each other to establish supremacy over Kanauj.
• Finally the Pratiharas became partly successful. But
after the long term war all the powers lost their
potentiality to survive.
• So there was no final result. But the political and
economic significance of tripartite struggle was very
important.
• For the continuous war they had to maintain big army
and so that the tax was very high. We can easily trace
some rebellions against the Mukhopadhyay,
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• Some scholars like R.S. Sharma identified the Kaibartya
rebellions during the Pala period as a peasant revolt.
• All the contemporary powers became dependable on
the samantas that was their weakness.
• After sometime the samanta kings became powerful
and caused the downfall of the big powers.
• On the other hand the unnecessary war weakened the
dynasties so that in North India we do not see any
powerful empire in the later period.
• At the time of Muslim invasion North Indian powers
became unable to protect themselves.
• So in conclusion we can say that tripartite struggle was
a war without gain for the powers.
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