Vatsaraja or Vatsraja was one of the great rulers of Gurjar Pratihar dynasty. He was grand-nephew of Nagabhata I

Nagabhata I

Nagabhata I replaced Harsha Vardhana as ruler when Gurjara Pratihara took over western India from the Pushpabhuti empire.The Gurjara Pratihara was an Indian dynasty which was ruled by Gujjars or Gurjars in Northern India during 6th to the 12th century.Nagabhatta I ruled over Ujjain and defended...

 and his mother was queen Bhuyikadevi.

Reign

After Nagabhata I

Nagabhata I

Nagabhata I replaced Harsha Vardhana as ruler when Gurjara Pratihara took over western India from the Pushpabhuti empire.The Gurjara Pratihara was an Indian dynasty which was ruled by Gujjars or Gurjars in Northern India during 6th to the 12th century.Nagabhatta I ruled over Ujjain and defended...

, there have been two rulers namely Kakkuka and Devaraja before Vatsraja came to the throne. Kakustha or Kakkuka was the nephew of Nagabhata I

Nagabhata I

Nagabhata I replaced Harsha Vardhana as ruler when Gurjara Pratihara took over western India from the Pushpabhuti empire.The Gurjara Pratihara was an Indian dynasty which was ruled by Gujjars or Gurjars in Northern India during 6th to the 12th century.Nagabhatta I ruled over Ujjain and defended...

 and nothing much is known about him. The younger brother of Kakkuka, king Devasakti or Devaraja also maintained dignity of Gurjara Pratihara family, though there are references that Gurjara Pratihara power was threatened during his reign.

Vatsaraja, as Gwalior inscription tells, conquered parts of central Rajasthan after defeating the Bhandi clan and also defeated Indrayudh of Kannauj

Kannauj

Kannauj , also spelt Kanauj, is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is traditionally derived from the term Kanyakubja . Kannauj is an ancient city, in earlier times the capital...

 and Dharampala of Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

 and seized even his crown.
Taking advantage of the time, Rastrakuta

Rashtrakuta Dynasty

The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian Subcontinent between the sixth and the 10th centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans. Rastrakutas in inscriptions represented as descendants of Satyaki, a Yadava well known...

 ruler Dhruva Dharavarsha

Dhruva Dharavarsha

Dhruva was one of greatest ruler of the Rashtrakuta Empire. He ascended the throne after replacing his elder brother Govinda II. Govinda II had become unpopular among his subjects on account of his various misconducts and demeanors as a ruler, including excessive indulgence in sensual pleasure....

 invaded upon Vatsraj and defeated him. After this possibly, his empire remained centralized in Rajasthan

Rajasthan

Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...

. In Gwalior Prasati Vatsaraja is represented as "foremost among the most distinguished Kshatriya

Kshatriya

*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...

".