Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/382

 336 THE MEDIAEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH India, Dhanga's son, Ganda (999-1025), joined the new confederacy of Hindu princes organized by Ananga Pala of Lahore in 1008, which also failed to stay the hand of the invader. Twelve years later Ganda at- tacked Kanauj and killed the raja, who had made terms with the Mohammedans, but in 1022 or 1023 he was himself compelled to surrender the strong fortress of Kalinjar to Mahmud. Gangeyadeva Kalachuri of Chedi (dr. 1015-40), the contemporary of Ganda and his successors, was an able and ambitious prince, who seems to have aimed at attaining the position of paramount power in Upper India. In 1019 his suzerainty was recognized in distant Tirhut, and his projects of aggrandizement were taken up and proceeded with by his son Karnadeva (dr. 1040 - 70), who joined Bhima, King of Gujarat, in crush- ing Bhoja, the learned King of Malwa, about 1053 A. D. But some years later, Karnadeva was taught the lesson of the mutability of fortune by suffering a severe defeat at the hands of Kirttivarman Chandella (1049 - 1100), who widely extended the dominion of his house. Kirttivarman is also memorable in literary history as the patron of the curious allegorical play entitled the Prabodhachandrodaya, or " Rise of the Moon of Intel- lect, " which was performed at his court, and gives in dramatic form a very clever exposition of the Vedanta system of philosophy. The last Chandella king to play any considerable part upon the stage of history was Paramardi, or Par- mal (1165-1203), whose reign is memorable for his