View source for Mahendrapala I

{{about|the emperor from the Gurjara Pratihara dynasty|the Pala dynasty emperor|Mahendrapala}}
{{short description|Gurjara-Pratiharan Emperor from 885 to 910}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2016}}
{{Infobox royalty
| title        = Parameshvara <br> Parama-bhattaraka <br> [[King of Kings|Maharajadhiraja]] <br> [[Kannauj|King of Kanyakubja]] <br> Raghukula-Chudamani
| succession   = [[King of Kings ]]of [[Āryāvarta]]<br>King of Kannauj
| reign        = {{circa|885|910}}
| predecessor  = [[Mihira Bhoja]]
| successor    = [[Bhoja II (Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty)|Bhoja II]]
| spouse-type  = Consorts
| spouse       = Dehanaga-Devi <br> Mahidevi
| issue        = [[Bhoja II (Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty)|Bhoja II]]
| father       = [[Mihira Bhoja]]
| mother       = Candra-Bhattarika-Devi
}}
'''Mahendrapala I''' ([[IAST]]: Mahendrapāla; r. 885 – 910) was the [[Emperor ]]of [[Aryavarta]] (ancient name for India, {{lit|Land of the (Indo-)Aryans}}) and King of Kannauj from 885 until his death in 910 and member of the [[Pratihara dynasty]]. He reigned over a vast empire in northern [[India]]. He is also mentioned on various inscriptions found in present-day Kathiawar, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh by the names ''Mahindrapala'', ''Mahendrayudha'', ''Mahisapaladeva'', and also ''Nirbhayaraja'', ''Nirbhayanarendra'' and ''[[Suryavamsa|Raghukula]]-tilaka'' in the plays of his [[guru]] [[Rajashekhara (Sanskrit poet)|Rajasekhara]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The History of the Gurjara-Pratihāras|author=Baji Nath Puri|publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers|year=1986|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=orAJAQAAIAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=History of Kanauj: To the Moslem Conquest|author=Rama Shankar Tripathi|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1989|isbn=978-81-208-0404-3 |page=248 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Tnh2QjGhMQC&pg=PA248}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | title =History of Ancient India: Earliest Times to 1000 A. D.  
 | author = Radhey Shyam Chaurasia  
 | publisher =Atlantic Publishers & Distributors
 | year =2002 
 | page =208 
 | isbn = 978-81-269-0027-5
 | url  =https://books.google.com/books?id=cWmsQQ2smXIC&pg=PA208}}</ref>

==Reign==
[[Rajasekhara]] called Mahendrapala as "[[Maharajadhiraja]] of [[Aryavarta]]" ({{lit|King Emperor of Northern India}}) indicating his imperial status in northern India.<ref>{{cite book|quote=Rajasekhara called Mahendrapala as Maharajadhiraja of Aryavarta or King Emperor of Northern India.|author=V.D. Mahajan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7TJlDwAAQBAJ|title=Ancient India|page=489|publisher=S. Chand |isbn=978-93-5253-132-5 }}</ref>

Bhoja is thought to have died around A.D. 885, and his son Mahendrapala I succeeded him. The earliest record of Mahendrapala dates to A.D. 893. There is an unclear verse in a work called Rdjatarangvn, that hints he may have lost some land in the Punjab—a territory his father had gained—to a Kashmiri king named Sahkaravarman. Other than that uncertain detail, Mahendrapala kept the large empire he inherited and even pushed its borders further east.<ref name="Majumdar Age of Imperial Kanauj"/>

According to historian R.C. Majumdar, the  empire of Mahendrapala I stretched from the Himalayan region in the north to the [[Vindhya|Vindhya range]] in the south, and from the eastern coast to the western sea.<ref name="Majumdar Age of Imperial Kanauj">{{cite book |last=Majumdar |first=R. C. |title=The History and Culture of the Indian People: The Age of Imperial Kanauj |year=2009 |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |location=Mumbai |isbn= |page=33}}</ref> Earlier it was thought that the greater part of [[Magadha]] and even the parts of [[North Bengal]] had come under the suzerainty of the emperor Mahendrapal I.<ref name="Sen">Sen, S.N., 2013, A Textbook of Medieval Indian History, Delhi: Primus Books, {{ISBN|9789380607344}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=21}} However, that theory has been debunked due to the discovery of a Pala king named [[Mahendrapala]] , whose inscriptions were mistakenly attributed to his Gurjara namesake.<ref name="Debala1991">{{cite book | author1=Debala Mitra | author2=Gouriswar Bhattacharya | title=Akṣayanīvī: Essays Presented to Dr. Debala Mitra in Admiration of Her Scholarly Contributions | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hu1tAAAAMAAJ | year=1991 | publisher=Sri Satguru Publications | isbn=978-81-7030-275-9}}</ref>


Mahendrapala’s name appears in several forms, including Mahindrapala and Mahendrayudha, and he was also known by titles such as Nirbhaya-narendra or Nirbhayaraja. His spiritual teacher, Rajaiekhara, was a well-known figure in Indian literature. Although Rajaiekhara's writings do not provide many details about Mahendrapala’s life or character, they clearly celebrate the magnificence of the imperial city of [[Kanauj]].<ref name="Majumdar Age of Imperial Kanauj" />

{{s-start}}
{{succession box
| title = [[Pratihara dynasty|Pratihara Emperor]]
| years = 890–910
| before = [[Mihira Bhoja]] (835–890)
| after = [[Bhoja II (Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty)|Bhoja II]] (910–913)
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Gurjara-Pratihara kings}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:9th-century Indian monarchs]]
[[Category:910 deaths]]
[[Category:Pratihara emperors]]
[[Category:Kings of Kannauj]]
[[Category:People from Kannauj]]


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