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Ruler

Vidyadhara

Chandela king who faced Mahmud of Ghazni

Reigned c. 1003–1035 CE

Vidyadhara ruled the Chandela kingdom of Jejakabhukti, modern Bundelkhand, when Mahmud of Ghazni reached the Ganga plain. He punished the king of Kanauj for submitting to Mahmud, faced the Sultan’s army twice and kept his kingdom. The Kandariya Mahadeva temple at Khajuraho is generally dated to his reign.

01The punishment of Kanauj

In 1018 Mahmud came down on Kanauj, and its Pratihara king Rajyapala fled and then made terms. To Vidyadhara this was betrayal. The Dubkund inscription of the Kachchhapaghatas records that their chief Arjuna, serving Vidyadhara, killed Rajyapala in a great battle. Ibn al-Athir, the Arab historian, names the Chandela king Bida and calls him the most powerful ruler of India, the one who had killed the king of Kanauj for his surrender. A Mahoba inscription of the Chandelas goes further and says Bhoja of Malwa and the Kalachuri king worshipped Vidyadhara like pupils.

02Mahmud at Kalinjar

Mahmud came south in 1019 to punish him. The Persian accounts say the two armies faced each other, the Chandela host vast in horse and elephants, and that the Indian army withdrew in the night; Mahmud took the abandoned camp but did not follow far. In 1022 he came again, besieged the Kachchhapaghata fort at Gwalior and then Kalinjar. The Muslim chroniclers say the Chandela king paid tribute and the siege was lifted. The Chandela records say nothing of it. What is not in doubt is the outcome: Mahmud went home, and the Chandela kingdom stood for nearly two more centuries.

Kannauj (Kanyakubja)
Place · Ancient; capital of the Maukharis, Harsha, the Pratiharas and the GahadavalasKannauj (Kanyakubja)For five hundred years whoever held Kannauj on the Ganga held the claim to north India. Harsha ruled from it, the Pratiharas, Palas and Rashtrakutas fought a century-long war over it, and its fall to Muhammad Ghuri in 1194 opened the Ganga plain.Read →

Battles

Mahmud before Gwalior and Kalinjar

Vidyadhara Chandela was the one king of the Ganga plain who stood up to Mahmud. Twice the Sultan came against him, and twice he went home without taking the Chandela strongholds.

1019 and 1022–1023 CE

Places

Kannauj (Kanyakubja)Ruined
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Kannauj (Kanyakubja)

For five hundred years whoever held Kannauj on the Ganga held the claim to north India. Harsha ruled from it, the Pratiharas, Palas and Rashtrakutas fought a century-long war over it, and its fall to Muhammad Ghuri in 1194 opened the Ganga plain.

Gwalior FortStanding
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Gwalior Fort

A sandstone ridge 3 km long above Gwalior city, held in turn by the Pratiharas, Kachchhapaghatas, Delhi sultans, Tomars, Mughals, Marathas and British. On its path stands the Chaturbhuj temple, whose inscription of 876 CE has the oldest dated zero in India written as a circle.

KhajurahoStanding
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Khajuraho

The temple city of the Chandelas, where about 25 of perhaps 85 temples survive. The Lakshmana, Vishvanatha and Kandariya Mahadeva temples are the high point of the Nagara style, and the Matangeshvara is still in worship.

Kalinjar FortRuined
The long resistance: Sindh to Tarain

Kalinjar Fort

A flat-topped Vindhya hill in Bundelkhand, sacred to Shiva as Neelkanth, the one who held the poison. As the great fortress of the Chandelas it was besieged by Mahmud of Ghazni, taken by Qutbuddin Aibak, and it killed Sher Shah.

On the timeline

  • December 1018 CE

    Kannauj falls without a fightWar

    The Pratihara Rajyapala abandoned his capital and Mahmud took its seven forts. For this the Chandela Vidyadhara had Rajyapala hunted down and killed.

  • 1019–1022 CE

    Vidyadhara stands up to MahmudResistance

    Twice Mahmud came against the Chandela king. In 1019 the two armies faced each other and Vidyadhara withdrew by night; in 1022 Mahmud besieged Kalinjar and left after a truce.