A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c12.3

c12.3

During the last quarter of the fifth century the Gupta empire was shattered by the inrush of swarms of fierce Huns and allied nomad tribes from Central Asia. The short-lived Hun power was broken in India by a decisive victory gained by native princes about A. D. 528, but a long time elapsed before new political combinations of any stability could be formed. In the seventh century a great king named Harsha (606–47) reduced India north of the Narbadā to obedience, while the Deccan submitted to his able contemporary Pulakesin II Chalukya, and the far south was governed by a powerful Pallava king. The Chalukya fell before the Pallava in 642, and five or six years later Harsha died childless, leaving the empire which he had won a prey to anarchy.