Delhi. Capital The Gahadavalas are associated with two ancient cities: Kanyakubja and Varanasi. According to the medieval legends, Kanyakubja (Kannauj) was their capital. However, according to Al-Biruni, most of the Kanyakubja city was in ruins by 1030 CE, nearly half a century before the dynasty's founder Chandradeva ascended the throne. The vast majority of the Gahadavala inscriptions have been discovered in and around Varanasi; only one has been found in the Kanyakubja area. The majority of these inscriptions state that the king made a grant after bathing in the Ganga river at Varanasi. This suggests that the Gahadavala kings mainly lived in and around Varanasi, which was their favoured capital. They probably considered Kanyakubja as a 'capital of honour', since it had been a seat of reputed kingdoms since the Maukhari period. A verse in the 1104 CE Basahi inscription of Madanapala states that his father Chandradeva had made Kanyakubja his capital. However, Madanapala's 1105 CE Kamauli grant omits this verse, although it repeats all the other introductory verses from the Basahi grant. Other than the 1104 CE Basahi inscription, no other inscription describes Kanyakubja as the Gahadavala capital. Historian Roma Niyogi theorized that Chandradeva temporarily moved his seat from Varanasi to Kanyakubja, because Kanyakubja was reputed as the capital of the earlier imperial powers. However, the Gahadavalas lost Kanyakubja to Ghaznavids somewhere between 1104 CE and 1105 CE, and Madanapala's son Govindachandra had to wage a war to recover it. As a result, the Gahadavalas probably moved their capital back to Varanasi soon after Chandradeva's reign. The writings of the Muslim chroniclers such as Ali ibn al-Athir, Minhaj-i-Siraj, and Hasan Nizami consistently describe Jayachandra as the "Rai of Banaras" (ruler of Varanasi), and make no reference to Kannauj (Kanyakubja) in their description of the Gahadavalas. This further suggests that the Gahadavalas no longer controlled Kanyakaubja by Jayachandra's time. History Rise to power By the last quarter of the 11th century, the north-central India was a troubled territory as a result of Ghaznavid raids and the lack of a strong imperial power. The Gurjara-Pratihara empire had ceased to exist. Their successors, such as the Paramaras and the Kalachuris, had declined in power. In these times of chaos, the first Gahadavala king Chandradeva brought stability to the region by establishing a strong government. The 1104 CE Bashai (or Basahi) inscription of his son Madanapala declares that he saved the distressed earth