| In
A.D. 1018, the Punjab having been annexed to his dominions in part, Mahmud crossed the
Yamuna and at tacked the kingdom of Kanauj. Haradatta, a feudatory, submitted; and
another, Kulachandra, when all his 50,000 warriors lay dead, killed his wife and himself
with the same dagger. Mathura was
plundered. When the foreign army reached Kanauj, Rajyapala, its king, was defeated, and
fled. Kanauj was sacked and the descendant of the imperial Gurjaras became a vassal of the
ruler of Ghazni.
But against this imbecile travesty of imperial greatness
rose a confederacy led by Vidyadhara Chandella (A.D. 1019-1022), the grandson of Dhanga,
the most powerful king of the North. Vidyadhara killed Rajya pala, the puppet of the
foreign ruler, and consolidated the forces. |
