The Rashtrakutas and their Times c24.3

c24.3

The Rāṣṭrakūṭas were, on the whole, an able set of rulers. Their empire was certainly more extensive than that of any of their Hindu successors in the Deccan. It is possible that the Āndhras and the early Chālukyas, who preceded them, were perhaps ruling, for some time, over more extensive areas; but neither of them could claim an equally brilliant career. The Chālukyas could boast of having only repelled successfully the attempted invasion of Harṣa. The Āndhras could no doubt launch an expedition into the Madhyadeśa and overthrow the Kaṇvas, but the latter, at the time of the Āndhra victory, were mere petty rulers. In no other period of Ancient Indian History did the Deccan enjoy the same high political prestige, which it did under the Rāṣṭrakūṭas. The observation of Sulaiman, that the Rāṣṭrakūṭas were the most feared and powerful rulers of India, is no flattery, but a mere statement of facts. A glance at the Indian History shows that it is usually the northern Indian powers which try to expand at the cost of their southern neighbours. During the Rāṣṭrakūṭa regime, neither the Pālas nor the Gurjara-Pratīhāras could entertain such ambitions. Nay, we find that the latter were several times signally defeated in their own provinces by the Rāṣṭrakūṭas. Three times the armies of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas crossed the Vindhyas and defeated their northern opponents, who were, unlike the Kaṇvas, strong and ambitious rulers, attempting to establish their own hegemony in the north. The Rāṣṭrakūṭas could capture the Gurjara-Pratīhāra capital; the latter could not even cross the Rāṣṭrakūṭa border in retaliation. The Pallavas were a perpetual source of anxiety to the early Chālukyas; no southern neighbour of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas, though given repeated provocation, ever dared to invade the empire from the south.