Mahipala I (913–944) ascended the throne of Pratihara dynasty after his step brother Bhoja II. He was a son of Queen Mahidevi. Mahipala I was also known by the names: ''Ksitipala'', ''Vinayakapala'', ''Herambapala'' and ''Uttarapatha Swami''.

Reign

It seems that

Indra III Indra III (reigned 914–929 CE) was the grandson of Rashtrakuta Krishna II and son of Chedi princess Lakshmi. He became the ruler of the empire due to the early demise of his father Jagattunga.From the Sangli, Karhad, Deoli and Bagumra inscri ...

's campaign did not influence

Kannauj Kannauj ( Hindustani pronunciation: ənːɔːd͡ʒ is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is a corrupted form of the class ...

much and Mahipala I soon revived

as court poet Rajasekhara calls him ''Maharajadhiraja of Aryavarta''. According to ''Kavyamimansa'' of Rajasekhara, Mahipala's reign extended from the upper course of the river Bias in the north-west to

Kalinga Kalinga may refer to: Geography, linguistics and/or ethnology * Kalinga (historical region), a historical region of India ** Kalinga (Mahabharata), an apocryphal kingdom mentioned in classical Indian literature ** Kalinga script, an ancient writin ...

Orissa Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of S ...

in the south-east, and from the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

s to the

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

or Chera country in the far south. That Mahipala occupied territories up to '' Narbada'' is evident from Partabgarh inscription, which provides information about his son Mahendrapala II ruling at

Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani pronunciation: �d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Pradesh by population and is the administrative centre of Ujjain district and Uj ...

in 946. R. S. Tripathi asserts that as Mahendrapala II is not credited with any achievements so Mahipala I must be the king who recovered

. The closing days of Mahipala's reign were disturbed by attacks by the

Rashtrakutas Rashtrakuta ( IAST: ') (r. 753-982 CE) was a royal Indian dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian subcontinent between the sixth and 10th centuries. The earliest known Rashtrakuta inscription is a 7th-century copper plate grant detailing the ...

on northern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

as the Deoli and Karhad plates of Krisna III, while praising his achievement in the style of an inflated panegyric, inform that ''by hearing conquest of southern regions, the hope about Kalanjara and Citrakuta vanished from the heart of the

Gurjara Gurjaradesa ("Gurjara country") or Gurjaratra is a historical region in India comprising the eastern Rajasthan and northern Gujarat during the period of 6th -12th century CE. The predominant power of the region, the Gurjara-Pratiharas eventual ...

''.

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

chronicler

Al-Masudi Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the " Herodotu ...

describes Mahipala I as follows:

"The ruler has four armies according to the four quarters of the wind. Each of these number 700,000 or 900,000 men. He has large armies in the garrisons in the north and in the south; in the east and in the west, for he is surrounded on all sides by warlike rulers."

Mahipala I, whom Kannada poet

Pampa The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazi ...

expressly calls "Gurjararaja", carried forward the work of his ancestors. Dharanivaraha, a Chapa or

Chavda The Chavda (IAST:Chávaḍá), also spelled Chawda or Chavada was a dynasty which ruled the region of modern-day Gujarat in India, from c. 690 to 942. Variants of the name for the dynasty include Chapotkatas, Chahuda and Chávoṭakas. During ...

ruler ruling at Vardhamana (now

Wadhwan Wadhwan, also spelled Vadhwan, is a city and a municipality in Surendranagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Located on the banks of the Bhogavo River, around 3 km from Surendranagar and 111 km from Ahmedabad, Wadhwan is a ...

Surashtra Saurashtra, also known as Sorath or Kathiawar, is a peninsular region of Gujarat, India, located on the Arabian Sea coast. It covers about a third of Gujarat state, notably 11 districts of Gujarat, including Rajkot District. It was formerly a ...

region of Gujarat) was a feudatory of Mahipala, which is mentioned in his grant dated 914.

References

10th-century Indian monarchs 944 deaths Year of birth uncertain Pratihara empire {{India-royal-stub