| Parameshvara Parama-bhattaraka Maharajadhiraja King of Kanyakubja Raghukula-Chudamani | |
| Succession: | King of Kings of Āryāvarta King of Kannauj |
| Predecessor: | Mihira Bhoja |
| Successor: | Bhoja II |
| Spouse-Type: | Consorts |
| Spouse: | Dehanaga-Devi Mahidevi |
| Issue: | Bhoja II |
| Father: | Mihira Bhoja |
| Mother: | Candra-Bhattarika-Devi |
Mahendrapala I (IAST: Mahendrapāla; r. 885 – 910) was the Emperor of Aryavarta (ancient name for northern 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 Raghukula-tilaka in the plays of his guru Rajasekhara.[1] [2] [3]
Inscriptions discovered at Ramgaya, opposite the Gadadhar temple at Gaya, at Guneria in the southern part of the Gaya district, at Itkhori in the Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand, describe his reign.
Earlier, it was thought that the greater part of Magadha up to even northern Bengal had come under the suzerainty of the emperor Mahendrapala I.[4] 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. [5]