The palas had close trade contacts and cultural
EARLY MEDIEVAL INDIA
Gurjara Pratiharas,Palas & Rashtrakutas
The Gurjara Pratiharas
Gurjara Pratihara dynasty was founded by
Nagabhatta-I.
Al-Masudi ,an Arub traveler calls the Gurjara
Pratihara kingdom , Al-Juzr and king, Baura
The Pratiharas revived under Vastsaraja’s son
and successor Nagabata-II ,who also defeated
Pala king Dharmpala.
Bhoja, also known as Mihir Bhoja was the
greatest king of Pratihara dynasty .Bhoja was a
Vishnu worshipper. Bhoja called himself ‘Adi-
Varaha’.
Bhoja defeated Kalchuris of Gorakhpur and the
Chandellas of Bundelkhand Bhoja also
recovered Kannauj from Palas.
Bhoja was succeeded by his son Mahendrapal.
The great Sanskrit poet and dramatist
Rajeshekhar lived at the court of Mahipala a
grandson of Bhoja.
Rajashekhar wrote Karpurmanjari , Bal
Ramayan, Bal Mahabharat and Kanya
Mimamsa.
The palas
The Pala kingdom was founded by Gopala.
Gopala was succeeded by his son Dharmapala.
Dharmapala was defedated by the Rashtrakuta
ruler, Dhruva.
Ghe Gurjara Pratihara ruler, Nagabhatta-II also
defeated Dharmapala.
An Arab merchant Sulaiman. Who visited india
in the middle of the ninth century, wrote and
account of Pala Kingdom. He calls it Ruhma
(means Dharam, short for Dharmapala).
The palas were the followers of Buddhism.
The Nalanda University was revived by
Dharmapala. He also founded the Vikramshila
University which became second only to
Nalanda in fame.
links with south-east Asia.
The powerful Sailendra dynasty, which ruled
over Malaya, Java, Sumatra and neighboring
islands was Buddhist in faith. He sent many
embassies to the Pala court and sought
permission to build a monastery at Nalanda for
the benefit of foreign students.
The Rashtrakutas
This dynasty was founded by Dabtidurg.
Rashtrakutas were called Ballahara by Arabs.
Their capital was Mankir or Manyakheta
(present Malkhed near Sholapur, Maharashtra).
Arab travelers refer Rashtrakuta ruler as the
king of the kings (malik-al-muluk) of Al-Hind.
Krishna-I built the famous shiva temple (rock
cut temple of Ellora).
Dhruva incorporated the symbols of Ganga and
Yamuna into Rashtakuta emblem.
Amoghavarsha composed one of the earlies
text in Kannada literature . the “Kaviraj Marga”.
He ended his life by taking Jal Samadhi in the
Tungabhadra river.
The Rashtrakutas also fought constantly aginst
the eastern Chalukyas of Vengi and in the south
against the Pallavas of Kanchi and the Pandyas
of Madurai.
The greatest Rashtrakuta rulers were Govinda-
III and Amoghvarsha.
Krishna-III defeated the Chola king Parantaka-I
and annexed the northern part of the Chola
empire. He then pressed down to
Rameshwaram and set up a pillar of victory
there and built Jainism as well.
The great Aprabhamsha poet, Svayambhu lived
at the Rashtrakuta court.
Cholas of Thanjavur
Cholas were the gratest among all the south
Indian dynasties.
Vijalaya Chola was the founder of chola
dynasty.
 Rajaraja-I annexed important territories in
Indian ocean like Maldives Islands and Sri Lanka
(northern part) also called Anuradhapura,
thereby making cholas a naval power. Cholas
maintained a huge navy.
Rajaraja-I constructed Brihasdiswara temple at
Thajavur. It is also called Rajarajeswara temple.
It is the tallest temple in South India.
Rajendra-I was the most important Chola king.
He controlled the whole of Indian Ocean. His
influence reached south East Asian islands.
Rajendra-I sent an expedition to north India. His
army emerged victorious there and he assumed
the title “Gangaikonda Chola”.
He constructed a new capital
Gangaikondacholapuram. He also constructed a
Shiva temple, also called Brihadiswara temple.
Arrival of Muslims
Note
Mahmud of Ghazni
In 1001, Mahmud defeated Jayapala, a
Hindushahi king who ruled form Peshawar and
in 1008-1009, Mahmud defeated Anandapala,
son of Jayapala in Battle of Waihind.
From 1008-1025/26, he made 17 raids into
India and the subsequent raids of Mahmud
were aimed at plundering the rich temples of
cities.
He completely destroyed the Somnath temple
of Gujarat in1025 and looted its wealth.
Al-Beruni accompanied Mahmud to India with
his army and Firdausi was a poet in the court of
Mahmud.
Mahmud of Ghazni died in 1030 AD.
1192, He defeated Prithviraja Chauhan in the
Second Battle of Tarain.
Prithviraja was captured and released. He ruled
over Ajmer for some time and soon after,
executed on a charge of conspiracy.
In 1194, Mohammad Ghori defeated Jaichand
ruler of Kannauj in Battle of Chandawar and
killed him.
He deputed Qutbuddin Aibak as incharge of his
Indian possessions.
Images of goddess Lakshmi has been found on
coins of Mohammad Ghori. His name is also
written in Devnagari script on the coin.
Mohammad Ghori led his last campaign into
India in 1206 in order to deal with the Khokhar
rebellion. He crushed the rebellion, but on his
way back to Chazni, he was killed by a Muslim
Fanatic belonging to a rival sect.
 Firdausi wrote Shahnama
 Al-Beruni wrot Kitab –ul-Hind or Tahqiq-i-Hind.
 Jayadeva wrote Geet Govinda.
 Mahmud of Ghazni claimed descent from the
Iranian legendary king, Afrasiyab.

Mohammad Ghori

His real name was Muizuddin Mohammad bin

sam. In 1173 he ascended the throne at Ghazni
and started moving towards India around 1175.
He entered India through Gomal Pss and
conquered Multan and Uchch.
In 1191, he was defeated by Prithviraja
Chauhan in the First Battle of Tarain and in