Early Medieval Dynasties

Books for the Course

 Chapters for Module I

Satish Chandra
2. Northern India: Age of the Three Empires (800–1000)
3. South India: The Chola Empire (900–1200)

NCERT VII
2. New Kings And Kingdoms
Tripartite Struggle
•By the seventh century there were big landlords or warrior chiefs in different
regions of the subcontinent. Existing kings often acknowledged them as their
subordinates or samantas.

•They were expected to bring gifts for their kings or overlords, be present at their
courts and provide them with military support. As samantas gained power and
wealth, they declared themselves to be maha-samanta, maha-mandaleshvara (the
great lord of a “circle” or region) and so on.

•Sometimes they asserted their independence from their overlords. One such
instance was that of the Rashtrakutas in the Deccan. Initially they were subordinate
to the Chalukyas of Karnataka.
•After the decline of Harsha’s empire in the seventh century, a number of large
states arose in north India, the Deccan and south India.

•Unlike the Gupta and Harsha’s empire in north India, none of the other kingdoms
in north India were able to bring the entire Ganga valley under its control.

•Large states arose in north India and the Deccan between AD 750 and 1000.

•These were the Pala empire, which dominated eastern India till the middle of the
ninth century; the Pratihara empire, which dominated western India and the
upper Gangetic valley till the middle of the tenth century, and the Rashtrakuta
empire, which dominated the Deccan and also controlled territories in north and
south India at various times.
 The Palas

Gopala (750 – Dharmapala Devapala (810

770 CE) (770 – 810 CE) – 850 CE)

Madanapala
(1144 – 1162 Ramapala Mahipala I
CE)
Gopala (750 – 770 AD)
• First Pala king and founder of the dynasty.
• At the time of his death, Pala kingdom included Bengal and most of Bihar.
• He built the monastery at Odantapuri, Bihar.
• Considered the first Buddhist king of Bengal.

Dharmapala (770 – 810 AD)

• Expanded the kingdom.

• Was a pious Buddhist.
• Founded the Vikramshila University at Bhagalpur, Bihar.
• He had frequent wars with the Pratiharas and the Rashtrakutas.
• The Palas became the most powerful kingdom in northern and eastern India during his rule.
Devapala (810 – 850 AD)
• Extended the kingdom to Assam, Odisha and Kamarupa.
• Was a staunch Buddhist and built many monasteries and temples in Magadha.
• Defeated the Rashtrakuta ruler Amoghavarsha.

Mahipala I

• Ascended the throne in 988 AD.

• Recovered northern and eastern Bengal.
• Also took Bihar.

Ramapala
• The kingdom disintegrated during his son Kumarapala’s reign.

Madanapala (1144 – 1162 AD)

• After him, the Sena dynasty replaced the Palas.
 Significance
•They patronised Buddhist centres of learning like Nalanda University and the
Vikramshila University.

•During this time, the Bengali language developed. The first Bengali literary work
Charyapada is attributed to this period. It was written in an Abahatta (the
common ancestor of Bengali, Assamese, Odia and Maithili.

•Account of Pala administration by Arab merchant ‘Sulaiman’

•Balaputradeva, the Sailendra king of Java sent an ambassador to Devapala.

 The Pratiharas
•The Pratiharas who ruled over Kanauj for a longtime are also called Gurjara-
Pratiharas. Most scholars consider that they originated from the Gurjaras who
were pastoralists and fighters.

Nagabhatta I Bhoja Mahendrapala I

•The Pratiharas who first had their capital at Bhinmal gained prominence under
Nagabhatta I

Bhoja
•The real founder of the Pratihara empire and the greatest ruler of the dynasty was
Bhoja.
•He rebuilt the empire, and by about AD 836 he had recovered Kanauj which
remained the capital of the Pratihara empire for almost a century.
•Bhoja was a devotee of Vishnu, and adopted the title of ‘Adivaraha’ which has
been found inscribed in some of his coins.
•He is sometimes called Mihir Bhoja to distinguish him form Bhoja Paramara of
Ujjain who ruled a little later.
•Al- Masudi, a native of Baghdad, who visited Gujarat in 915–16, testifies to the
great power and prestige of the Pratihara rulers and the vastness of their empire.
Mahendrapala I
•Bhoja probably died in about 885.
•He was succeeded by his son Mahendrapala I.
•Mahendrapala, who ruled till about 908–09 maintained the empire of Bhoja
and extended it over Magadha and north Bengal.
•His inscriptions have also been found in Kathiawar, east Punjab and Awadh.
•The Pratiharas were patrons of learning and literature. The great Sanskrit poet
and dramatist, Rajashekhar.

•Between 915 and 918, the Rashtrakuta king, Indra III, again attacked Kanauj,
and devastated the city. This weakened the Pratihara empire, and Gujarat
probably passed into the hands of the Rashtrakutas.
 Rashtrakutas
•The kingdom was founded by Dantidurga who set up his capital at Manyakhet
or Malkhed near modem Sholapur.

•The Rashtrakutas soon dominated the entire area of northern Maharashtra.

Govinda Amoghavar
Dantidurg Krishna III
III sha Indra III
a (814–878)
(934–963)
(793–814)
• Amoghavarsha ruled for 64 years but by temperament he preferred the pursuit of religion
and literature to war.

• There were many rebellions in the far flung Rashtrakuta empire under Amoghavarsha.
These could be barely contained, and began afresh after his death. His grandson, Indra III,
(915–927) re-established the empire.

• Krishna III (934–963) was the last in a line of brilliant rulers. He was engaged in a
struggle against the Paramaras of Malwa and the eastern Chalukyas of Vengi.

• The Rashtrakuta rulers were tolerant in their religious views and patronised not only
Saivism and Vaishnavism but Jainism as well.

• The Rashtrakutas allowed Muslim traders to settle, and permitted Islam to be preached, in
their dominions.
 Administration
•The king’s position was generally hereditary.

•The armed forces were very important for the maintenance and
expansion of the empire.

•There was a minister of correspondence which included foreign

affairs, a revenue minister, treasurer, chief of the armed forces
(senapati), chief justice, and purohita.

•The empires consisted of area administered directly and areas ruled

over by the vassal chiefs.
• The directly administered territories in the Pala and Pratihara empires were divided into bhukti
(provinces), and mandala or visaya (districts).

• The governor of a province was called uparika and the head of a district, visayapati.

• During the period, there was an increase of smaller chieftains, called samantas or bhogapatis, who
dominated over a number of villages.

• In the Rashtrakuta kingdom, the directly administered areas were divided into rashtra (provinces),
visaya and bhukti. The head of rashtra was called rashtrapati, and he performed the same functions
as the uparika did in the Pala and Pratihara empires.

• Below these territorial divisions was the village. The village was the basic unit of administration.

• The head man was often helped in his duties by the village elders called grama mahajana or grama
mahattara.
•An important feature of the period was the rise in the Deccan of
h eredit ary reven ue officers called n ad gavu n da s o r de s a
gramakutas.

•They appear to have discharged the same functions as the

deshmukhs and deshpandes of later times in Maharashtra.
Imperial Cholas/Chola Empire
•Powerful kingdoms had risen in
south India during the sixth and
eighth centuries.

•The Chola empire which arose in

the ninth century brought under
its control a large part of the
peninsula.

•T h e C h o l a s d e v e l o p e d a
powerful navy which enabled
them to conquer Sri Lanka and
the Maldives.
•They were subordinate to the Pallava kings of Kanchipuram.
Vijayalaya, who belonged to the ancient chiefly family of the Cholas
from Uraiyur, captured the delta from the Muttaraiyar in the middle of
the ninth century.

•H e b u i l t t h e t o w n o f T h a n j a v u r a n d a t e m p l e f o r g o d d e s s
Nishumbhasudini there.

•The successors of Vijayalaya conquered neighbouring regions and the

kingdom grew in size and power. The Pandyan and the Pallava
territories to the south and north were made part of this kingdom.
 Vijayalaya Raja Raja
Aditya  I Rajendra I
Chola (846- Chola I (907-
(871-907 AD) (1014-44 AD)
907 AD) 1014 AD)

•The founder of the Chola empire was Vijayalaya, who was at first a
feudatory of the Pallavas. He captured Tanjore in AD 850.

Rajaraja
•Rajaraja destroyed the Chera navy at Trivandrum, and attacked Quilon.
He then conquered Madurai and captured the Pandyan king. He also
invaded Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and annexed its northern part to his empire.

•One of his naval exploits was the conquest of the Maldives. Rajaraja,
annexed the northwestern parts of the Ganga kingdom in Karnataka, and
overran Vengi.
Rajendra I
• He carried forward the annexationist policy of Rajaraja by completely overrunning the
Pandya and Chera countries and including them in his empire.

• The conquest of Sri Lanka was also completed, with the crown and royal insignia of the
king and the queen of Sri Lanka being captured in a battle.

• Sri Lanka was not able to free herself from the Chola control for another 50 years.

• One of the most remarkable exploits in the reign of Rajendra I was the march across
Kalinga to Bengal in which the Chola armies crossed the river Ganga, and defeated two
local kings.

• To commemorate this occasion, Rajendra I assumed the title of Gangaikondachola. He built

a new capital near the mouth of the Kaveri river and called it Gangaikondacholapuram
•N a v a l e x p e d i t i o n s a g a i n s t t h e
revived Sri Vijaya empire.

•The Sri Vijaya empire which had

been revived in the 10th century,
extended over the Malay peninsula,
Sumatra, Java and the neighbouring
islands, and controlled the overseas
trade route to China.

•The cause of conquest by Rajendra I

was the Chola eagerness to remove
obstacles to Indian traders, and to
expand trade with China.
 Administration
•The king was the most important person in the Chola administration. All
authority rested in his hands, but he had a council of ministers to advise him.

Mandala -Valanadus- Nadu –Village (Taniyars)

•The basic unit of administration was the nadu which consisted of a number of
villages having close kinship ties and other close associations.

•The Chola rulers built a network of royal roads which were useful for trade
as well as for the movement of the army.

•The Cholas also paid attention to irrigation. The river Kaveri and other rivers
were used for the purpose. Many tanks for irrigation were built.
•Rich peasants of the Vellala caste exercised considerable control over the
affairs of the nadu under the supervision of the central Chola government.

•The Chola kings gave some rich landowners titles like muvendavelan (a
velan or peasant serving three kings), araiyar (chief), etc. as markers of
respect, and entrusted them with important offices of the state at the centre.

Taxes
•Bhaga- Land tax (1/3rd of produce)
•Uppayam- Salt Tax
•Valiyam- Tax on Goods
•Hiranya-Land Tax in cash
Matha and Ghatika
 Local Administration
Ur Sabha Nagaram

Agraharams

Karnattan- Accountant Nagarakkanakku-

Tandal- Tax Collector
Madhyastha- Record of all Accountant of Nagaram
Niyayattar- Policing
proceedings
Inscriptions from Uttaramerur in Chingleput
district, Tamil Nadu, provide details of the way
in which the sabha was organised.

• The sabha had separate committees to look

after irrigation works, gardens, temples, etc.

• Names of those eligible to be members of

these committees were written on small tickets
of palm leaf; these tickets were put into an
earthenware pot, from which a young boy
was asked to take out the tickets, one by one
for each committee.
 Social Terms

•Velala - Shudra agriculturists

•Nagarattar - Vaishya class

•Temple service based hierarchy - Valangai and Idangai

•Varna hierarchies and Brahmanical domination

Advent of Turks
• The period from 1000 to 1200 saw rapid changes
both in West and Central Asia, and in north India.

• It were these developments which led to the

incursion of the Turks into northern India leading to
their rule towards the end of the period.

• By the end of the ninth century, the Abbasid

caliphate was in decline.

• The Turks had entered the Abbasid empire during

the ninth century as palace-guards and mercenary
soldiers.

• Soon they emerged as the king-makers. As the

power of the central government declined,
provincial governors started assuming independent
•To w ar ds t h e e n d o f t h e n i n t h
c e n t u r y, S a m a n i d s w h o w e r e
Iranians by descent rose to power.

•Shifting loyalties of Turks and

Ghazi soldiers.

•T h e S a m a n i d k i n g d o m s o o n
ended, and the Ghaznavids took
over the task of defending the
Islamic lands from the Central
Asian tribesmen.
 The Ghaznavids

•It was in this context that Mahmud

ascended the throne (998— 1030) at
Ghazni.

•Defened against the Central Asian

Turkish tribal invaders.

•Mahmud was closely associated with

the renaissance of the Iranian spirit
which grew rapidly during this
period.
 Subcontinental Invasions

•Invaded the subcontinent 17 times

•Mahmud never had any territorial

ambition. The looting was political
in nature and not religious.

•F i r d a u s i w a s a c o u r t - p o e t o f
Ghazni. His famous work “Shah
Namah”
 Rajput Dynasties
The Tomars of Delhi The Chauhans
The Palas of
of Delhi and
• The Tomars were the feudatories of the Pratiharas. Bengal
Ajmer
• Tomar Dynasty ruled between the 8th and 12th century
AD in parts of present-day Delhi and Haryana. The Guhilas
The Rathors
or Sisodiyas
• AnangaPala I founded Tomar Dynasty in 8th Century of Kanauj
of Mewar
AD.
• Anangpal II was the founder of Dhillikapuri, which The The
eventually became Delhi. He is also credited to have Chandellas of Paramaras of
established and populated Delhi during his reign in the Bundelkhand Malwa
11th century.
• Anangpal Tomar II was succeeded by his grandson The Senas of The Solankis
Prithviraj Chauhan. Bengal of Gujarat

• Chauhans captured Delhi in the middle of the 12th

century and the Tomars became their feudatories.
The Chauhans of Delhi and Ajmer
•The Chauhans declared their independence
in the 1101 century at Ajmer and they were
the feudatories of the Pratiharas.
•They captured Ujjain from the Paramaras of
Malwa and Delhi in the early part of the
12th century.
•They shifted their capital to Delhi.
•Prithviraj Chauhan was the most important
ruler of this dynasty.
 The Ghurid Invasion
• Ghaznavids decline- In Central Asia two new powers rose to prominence, the Khwarizmi
empire based in Iran, and the Ghurid empire based in Ghur in northwest Afghanistan.

• The rising power of the Khwarizmi empire severely limited the Central Asian ambition of the
Ghurids.

• Khurasan, which was the bone of contention between the two, was soon conquered by
Khwarizm Shah.

• This left no option for the Ghurids but to look for expansion towards India.

• In 1173, Shahabuddin, Muhammad (1173–1206) (also known as Muizzuddin Muhammad

bin Sam) ascended the throne at Ghazni.
By 1190, Muizzuddin
Muhammad had
conquered Peshawar,
Lahore and Sialkot, and
was poised for a thrust
towards Delhi and the
Gangetic doab.
 Battle of Tarain
First Battle of Tarain (1191) Second Battle of Tarain (1192)
Why were the Turks able to
expand?
Summary
Summary
Summary
Summary
Summary