Early Medival History of India

HISTORY
Early Medieval Period (650-1206AD)

This post has taken my 3 hours. Kindly read once.
Proximate to the 8th century AD, there were three great powers in India. They were The Palas in the East, The Gurjar-Pratiharas in the North and The Rashtrakutas in the Deccan. The tripartite struggle among them was to establish their supremacy over the city of Kannauj (Farrukhabad Distt. UP) which was then a symbol of sovereignty.

THE PALA DYNASTY (750-850 AD)

GOPALA (750-770 AD)
Eastern India witnessed the presence of the Pala dynasty for almost a century, which was founded by the GOPALA KING with his capital at Patliputra (Bihar) in 750 AD. Gopala died in 770 AD. and succeeded by the greatest king of the Pala dynasty.

DHARMAPALA (770-810 AD)
After the death of Gopala, his son DHARMAPALA ascended to the throne in 770 AD. The struggle to establish supremacy over Kannauj was kicked off in his time. The Pala rulers were great patrons of Buddhist learning and religion. Dharmapala revived the Nalanda University which was founded by a Gupta king Kumargupta I. Dharmapala also established Somapuri Buddhist University in North Bengal and Vikramasila Buddhist University on the bank of river Ganga at Bhagalpur Distt. Bihar, which became second only to Nalanda in fame. Dharmapala died in 810 AD. and succeeded by his son Devapala.

DEVAPALA (810-850 AD)
Devapala extended his control over Pragjyotishpur (Assam) and parts of Orissa. But after his death, the Pala dynasty disintegrated. It was revived in the last quarter of 10th century AD by KING MAHIPALA I of Pala dynasty and continued till 1038 AD, when the KING VIJAYASENA, founded Sena dynasty by overthrowing the Palas.

MAHIPALA I (988-1038AD)
Mahipala is considered the second founder of the Pala dynasty. It was during his rule that Sultan Mahmud Ghazni carried out about 17 expeditions into north India and exposed the weaknesses of the Pala dynasty that provided an opportunity to Vijayasena to overthrow Mahipala I and establish Sena dynasty.

THE PRATIHARA DYNASTY
(850-950 AD)

MIHIR BHOJA (835-885 AD)
Pratiharas were at first local officilas but gradually carved out a principality in Gurjaratra or central and eastern Rajasthan. They came into prominence on account of the resistance they posed under their rural NAGABHATTA I to Arab incursion into Gujarat.
But the real founder and greatest ruler of the Pratihara dynasty was BHOJA. He was a devotee of Vaishnu, and adopted the tittle of "ADIVARAHA". He sometimes called Mihir Bhoja to distinguish him from Bhoja Paramara of Ujjain who ruled a little later. His empire was visited by an Arab merchant Sulaiman, who left a good account of his reign. He died in 885 AD and was succeeded by his son MAHENDRAPALA I.

MAHENDRAPALA I (885-909 AD)
Mahendrapala I maintained the empire of Bhoja and extended it over Magadha and North Bengal. He died in 909 AD and was succeeded by his son Bhoja II.

BHOJA II (909-913 AD)
Bhoja II ruled for a short period of time and was overthrown by his step brother MAHIPALA.

MAHIPALA (913-950 AD)
Mahipala was a patron of learning and literature. The great sanskrit poet and dramatist, Rajashekhara lived at his court. Al-Masudi a native of Baghdad, was visited in 915 at Mahipala's court and left a good account of his reign. In 916, the Rashtrakuta king, Indra III, attacked Kannaunj and devastated it. Internal dispute provided an exposure to the Rashtrakuta ruler, Krishna III, who gave the final blow to the Pratiharas.

THE RASHTRAKUTA DYNASTY (753-973 AD)

DANTIDURGA (753-756 AD)
The kingdom of Rashtrakuta was founded by Dantidurga. He made Manyakhet or Malkhed (Gulbarga Distt. Karnataka) as his capital. He was succeeded by his uncle Krishna I.
KRISHNA I (756-773 AD)
Krishna I assumed the throne from his nephew Dantidurga. He had built 18 shiva temples during his reign, which indicates his strong shiva faith. The kailasanatha temple at Ellora is one among them. He was succeeded by his eldest son Govinda II (773-780 AD)
Dhruva Dharavarsha (780-793 AD)

GOVINDA III (793-814 AD)
Govinda III ascended to the throne after his father Dhruva Dharavarsha. He was the most successful emperor of the dynasty with successful conquests-from Cape Comorin in the south to Kannauj in the north, from Banaras in the east to Broach (Bharuch) in the west. He was succeeded by Amoghavarsha I.

AMOGHAVARSHA I (814-878 AD)
Amoghavarsha I was the greatest ruler of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, and one of the great emperors of India. He ruled for 64 years but by temprament he preferred the pursuit of religion and literature to war. He was himself an author and wrote "Kavirajamarga" and "Ratnamalika" in kannada. He was succeeded by his son Krishna II (878-914 AD)

INDRA III (914-929 AD)
Indra III was the grandson of Amoghavarsha I. He was the most powerful king of his times. In 916, he attacked Kannaunj and devastated it which was under the possession of the Pala king Mahipala. Al-Masudi visited his kingdom and left a good account of his reign. He was succeeded by Amoghavarsha II (929-930 AD)
Govinda IV (930-936 AD)
Amoghavarsha III (936-939 AD)

KRISHNA III (939-967 AD)
Krishna III ascended to the throne after Amoghavarsha III. He was the last in a line of brilliant rulers. He defeated the Chola king, Parantaka I in 949 AD and annexed the northern part of the Chola empire. He gave final blow to the Pratiharas by defeating Mahipala. After his death, all his opponents united against his successor. The Rashtrkuta capital Manyakhet or Malkhed was sacked and burnt in 972 AD. This marked the end of the Rashtrakuta empire.

SOUTH INDIA (750-1200AD)

THE CHOLA EMPIRE
The Chola Empire which arose in the 9th century brought under its control a large part of the peninsula.

VIJAYALAYA CHOLA (850-871 AD)
The founder of the Chola empire was Vijayalaya, who was at first a feudatory of the Pallavas. He captured Tanjore from an ally of the Pandyas in 850 AD. He died in 871 AD and was succeeded by his son Aditya.

ADITYA CHOLA (871-907 AD)
Aditya extended the Chola dominions by overthrowing the Pallavas and occupying their territory completely. He died in 907 AD and was succeeded by his son Parantaka I.

PARANTAKA I (907-955 AD)
His reign ended in disaster and gloom brought about the hostility of the Rashtrakutas. Krishna III of the Rashtrakuta dynasty defeated him in 949 AD and annexed the northern part of the Chola empire. This was a serious setback to the Cholas. He died in 955 AD. After his death there was confusion about his successors for almost 30 years.

RAJA RAJA I (985-1014 AD)
The greatest Chola rulers were Rajaraja and his son Rajendra I. Both father and son marked their victories by erecting a number of shiva and vishnu temples at various places. Rajarajeshwara temple at Tanjore is one among them. He died in 1014 and was succeeded by his son Rajendra I.

RAJENDRA CHOLA I (1014-1044AD)
He conquered Bengal, Burma, Orissa, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Maldives, Java, Sumatra and Malay Peninsula in South East Asia with his fleet of ships. The Chola dynasty reached its summit during his reign. He marched across Kalinga to Bengal by crossing the Ganga, and defeated two local kings. To commemorate this expedition he assumed the tittle of Gangaikondachola ( the Chola conqueror of Ganga ). He built a new capital near the mouth of the Kaveri and called it Gangaikondacholapuram ( the city of the Chola conqueror of the Ganga ).

RAJENDRA CHOLA III
(1246-1279 AD)
He was the last ruler of the Chola dynasty. He ascended to the throne in 1246 AD. Although his father Rajaraja III was still alive. The later Chalukyan, the Pandyas and the Hoysalas weakened themselves by continually fighting against eachother, provided an exposure to, and ultimately destroyed by the Sultans of Delhi.

ADMINISTRATION OF THE CHOLAS
The king was at the apex and was assisted by a council of ministers, but the administration was democratic in nature. There was a custom of worshipping of deceased rulers, and in order to pay him a tribute they constructed the temples.

The Chola empire was divided into Mandalams (Provinces) under viceroys who were mostly royal princess. Mandalams in turn were divided into Valanadus (Divisions), Nadus (Districts) and Kurmars (Villages).

The villages were of three types ----

1. Ordinary villages with an inter-caste population, paying taxes to the king.
2. Brahmadeya or Agrahara villages granted to brahmins and inhabited entirely by them.
3. Devadana villages granted to God: they functions as the same manner as the first type except, the revenue from these villages were donated to the temples.

There were three types of Assemblies ----

1. Ur assemblies consisted of the tax-paying male adult residents of an ordinary village.
2. Sabha assemblies, it was found in the brahmins village and hence its membership was restricted only to the male adult brahmins of that village.
3. Nagaram assemblies, which were found in trade centres such as cities and towns.

FUNCTIONS OF ASSEMBLIES
Since land revenue and trade tax were the main sources of income their functions were collection of assessed land revenue for the Govt. or temple. Any additional tax for a particular purpose such as construction of water tank etc. They were also entrusted with the job to maintain records, settle agrarian disputes etc.

CULTURAL LIFE OF THE CHOLAS
Temple architecture in the south attained its climax under the Cholas. The style of architecture which came into vogue during this period is called Dravida e.g. Kailashnath temple of Kanchipuram and Brihadiswara temple of Tanjore built by Rajaraja I. The main feature of this style was the building of storey upon storey above the chief diety-room (Garbhagriha). The number of storey varied from 5 to 7 and they had a typical style which came to be called the Vimana. A pillared hall called Mandap, with elaborate carved pillars and a flat roof, was generally placed in front of sanctum which acted as an Audience hall. This entire structure was enclosed in a courtyard surrounded by high walls, which were pierced by lofty gates called Gopurams. Another aspect was image making which reached its climax in the dancing figure of the shiva called Nataraja.

The Chola rulers were great patrons of arts and literatures. A number of popular saints called Nayanars and Alvars who were devotees of Shiva and Vishnu composed their work in Tamil and other regional languages which were collected into eleven volumes under the name Tirumurais are considered sacred and are looked upon as the fifth Veda. The age of Kamban ( great poet of that era) is regarded as a golden age in Tamil literature. He wrote Ramavataram and Ramayana. Kambana, Kuttana and Pugalendi are considered as Three gems of Tamil Poetry. Apart from Tamil, Kannada also became a literary language of this age. Pampa, Ponna and Ranna are regarded as Three gems of Kannada Poetry