North Indian Kingdoms: Indian Medieval History

North Indian Kingdoms

• There were three big kingdoms namely
• Rashtrakutas
• Pratiharas
• Palas

All these kingdoms fought with each other and tried to gain control over northern India, however, none of them succeeded for any length of time.

The Rashtrakuta Kingdom

• The kingdom was located in the northern Deccan and its capital was at Malkhed.
• Amoghavarsha was a great emperor of the Kingdom

The Pratihara Kingdom

• The Pratiharis after their success with the Arabs took their armies eastwards and by the end of the eighth century had captured Kannauj.
• The Pratiharis were also called Gurjara.
• The Pratiharis stood as a fortification of India’s defense against the the hostility of the Muslims from the days of Junayd of Sind to Mahmud of Ghaznavid.

Rulers:

• Nagabhata I - Founder of the Pratihara dynasty with Kannauj as its capital.
• Vatsaraja and Nagabhata II – played a vital role in merging the empire.
• Mihira Bhoja – the most powerful Pratihara king. During his period, the expanded from Kashmir to the Narmada and from Kathiawar to Bihar.
• Mahendrapala I – he was the son of Mihira Bhoja. He extended his control over Magadha and North Bengal.

Decline

• Rajyapala was the last Pratihara king.
• The vast empire was reduced to Kannauj.
• The Pratihara power began to decline after Mahmud of Ghazni attacked the kingdom in 1018 AD.

The Pala Kingdom

• Gopala I (765 AD - 769 AD)
• Founder of the Pala dynasty.
• Ruled over Northern and Eastern India.
• He extended the Pala dynasty and extended his power over Magadha.

• Dharmapala (769 AD – 815 AD)
• He is the son of Gopala.
• He brought Kannauj, Bengal, and Bihar under his control.
• He defeated the Pratiharas and became the ruler of Northern India.
• He was a steadfast Buddhist and founded the famous Vikramasila University and several monasteries.
• He also restored the Nalanda University.

• Devapala (815 AD – 855 AD)
• He kept the Pala territories intact.
• He captured Assam and Orissa.
• He was the most powerful ruler of the Pala Empire of Bengal region.

• Mahipala (998 AD - 1038 AD)
• The Palas become powerful during his reign.
• The Pala dynasty declined after the death of Mahipala.

Struggle for Kannauj

• Kannauj was the capital of Harsha and many campaigns in northern India were fought over the city of Kannauj
• It was geographically located in the northern plain, a strategic point from where it was easy to control the Ganga valley.
• Three major kingdoms were involved in this struggle to control Kannauj. Modern historians prefer to call them ‘tripartite’ (the three parties) struggle for Kannauj.
• The Tripartite struggle lasted for 200 years and weakened all of them which enabled the Turks to overthrow them.