The Rashtrakutas and their Times c3.3

c3.3

The first Part (Chapters I–VI) deals with the political history of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa dynasty. More than 40 years have elapsed since the late Drs. R. G. Bhandarkar and Fleet wrote upon this subject. During this time, several new inscriptions of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas and their contemporaries have been published, necessitating the rewriting of the history of the dynasty. Some idea of the new material, that has become subsequently available in this period, may perhaps be gained, when it is pointed out that in the present work, it was found necessary to devote about four times the space that was found more than sufficient by Bhandarkar and Fleet for narrating the political history of the house. Like a novel, political history cannot be all new or original. It is, however, hoped that scholars will find the history of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas expounded here much more fully than in any book so far published. Several new suggestions, viewpoints, and conclusions will be met with, and Chapter I, dealing with the predecessors of Dantidurga, will be found to be substantially new and original. The political relations of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas with their contemporaries and feudatories have been fully discussed. The history of the feudatories, however, has not been dealt with in detail as it was outside the scope of the present work.