The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c10.12.1

v1.c10.12.1

But though the year 647 A.D. cannot be regarded as an epoch marking the transition of the ancient into the mediaeval period, it is certainly a date of considerable importance in the history of Northern India. There is some reason to believe that after the death of Harṣa the power of Tibet extended across Nepal to the Ganges valley. There was also probably a revival of the power of the Guptas under Ādityasena. But the most important event that followed was the struggle for the mastery of Kanauj. That city appears to have acquired an imperial reputation under the sway of the Maukharis and the Puṣpabhūtis. For about a hundred years Kānyakubja and the Ganges-Jumna Doab remained a bone of contention amongst the rulers of India. The struggle was opened by the Kārkoṭa Lalitāditya of Kashmir, who about 736 A.D. conquered the principality of Kānyakubja, which at that time extended “from the bank of the Yamunā to that of the Kālikā” (probably the Kālī Nadī, which runs parallel to the Ganges and falls into it below Kanauj). Then came the Pālas of Bengal and Bihar, who some time after 783 A.D., under Dharmapāla, conquered the city of Kanauj and extended their power as far as the eastern districts of the Punjab. Then came the attacks of the Gurjara-Pratīhāras of Western India and the Rāṣṭrakūṭas of the Deccan. The tripartite struggle between Pālas, Raṣṭrakūṭas and Pratīhāras at last resulted in the winning of the *Mahodayaśrī* by the last-named.