Mahipala I (913–944) ascended the throne of Pratihara Empire after his half 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's campaign did not influence

Kannauj Kannauj (Hindustani language, Hindustani pronunciation: ) is an ancient city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar palika, Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Ut ...

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 or

Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...

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 Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 pea ...

s to the

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...

or Chera country in the far south. That Mahipala reigned over territories up to the '' Narbada river'' is evident from the Partabgarh inscription, which provides information about his son Mahendrapala II ruling at Ujjain 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 Ujjain. The closing days of Mahipala's reign were disturbed by attacks by the

Rashtrakutas The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal Indian polity ruling large parts of the Indian subcontinent between the 6th and 10th centuries. The earliest known Rashtrakuta Indian inscriptions, inscription is a 7th-century copper plate grant detailing th ...

on northern

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

as the Deoli and Karhad plates of Krishna 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''.

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

chronicler

Al-Masudi al-Masʿūdī (full name , ), –956, was a historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geo ...

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 Quechuan languages, Quechua 'plain'), also known as the Pampas Plain, are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentina, Argentine Provinces of Argentina, provinces of Buenos Aires Pro ...

expressly calls "Gurjararaja", carried forward the work of his ancestors. Dharanivaraha, a Chapa or Chavda ruler ruling at Vardhamana (now Wadhwan in Surashtra region of Gujarat) was a feudatory of Mahipala, which is mentioned in his grant dated 914.

References

Bibliography

* {{Gurjara-Pratihara kings 10th-century Indian monarchs 944 deaths Year of birth uncertain Pratihara emperors Kings of Kannauj People from Kannauj