Editing Lalitaditya Muktapida (section)

== Background ==

The main source of information about Lalitaditya is ''[[Rajatarangini]]'', a chronicle of the rulers of Kashmir, by the 12th-century Kashmiri writer [[Kalhana]]. Lalitaditya also finds a brief mention in the [[New Book of Tang]] (''Xin Tang shu''), a record of the [[Tang dynasty]] of China. This text mentions him as "Mu-to-pi" or "Muduobi" (a variation of Muktapida).{{sfn|MA Stein 1|1900|p=131}}{{sfn|Tansen Sen|2004|p=144}} The 11th-century Persian chronicler [[Al-Biruni]] mentions a Kashmiri king called Muttai, who was most probably Lalitaditya ("Muttai" being derived from the [[Apabhramsha]] form of "Muktapida").{{sfn|MA Stein 1|1900|p=131}}

The ''Rajatarangini'' names Lalitaditya as the youngest son of the [[Karkota]] [[Durlabhaka (Pratapaditya II)|king Durlabhaka (alias Pratapaditya)]] and queen Narendraprabha. His mother Narendraprabha was previously married to a foreign merchant settled in Kashmir. He had two elder brothers named [[Chandrapida (Karkota dynasty)|Chandrapida (alias Vajraditya)]] and Tarapida (alias Udayaditya), who preceded him as the rulers of Kashmir.{{sfn|MA Stein 1|1900|p=88}}

Kalhana states that Lalitaditya's reign lasted for 36 years, 7 months and 11 days.{{sfn|MA Stein 1|1900|p=155}} He suggests that Lalitaditya ruled during 724-761 CE.{{sfn|MA Stein 1|1900|p=131}} However, this is not correct, as Lalitaditya's predecessor is known to have sent an embassy to the Tang capital [[Chang'an]] in 720 CE.{{sfn|Hermann Goetz|1969|p=15}} This predecessor, mentioned as "Tianmu" in the Tang records, was probably Tarapida, although some scholars have identified him as Chandrapida.{{sfn|Tansen Sen|2004|p=144-145}} Modern historians date Lalitaditya's reign to c. 724/5 - c. 760 CE.{{sfn|Tansen Sen|2004|p=141}}

Lalitaditya claimed to be a descendant of the mythical [[Nāga]] king [[Karkotaka]].{{sfn|Meena Arora Nayak|2018|p=53}}