The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v2.c35.23

v2.c35.23

and Behar. He was sufficiently powerful to offer effective resistance to the feeble attempts of the Yamīnīs to penetrate into the Ganges-Jumna valley but neither he nor his dynasty showed any outstanding vigour or ability. In the South-East the dynasties of Orissa and the Ganjam and Vizagapatam districts of the Madras Presidency were welded into a single administration by the Gaṅga king Coḍagaṅga-Anantavarman (c. 1076-1147 A. D.). His dominions seem to have sometimes extended from the lower courses of the Godavari to the Ganges; but here also there is no sign that either he or his successor wished or had ability to plan a North Indian Empire. In the Western portion of North India the fall of the Paramāras synchronised with the rise into importance of the Caulukyas of Aṇahilapāṭaka and the Cāhamānas of Sākambharī. In the first half of the 12th century the former in the reign of Jayasiṃha Siddharāja (c. 1094-1144) united under their sway, in addition to Gujarat and Kathiawar, large portions of Central India and Rajputana. The success of Jayasiṃha was fully maintained by his successor Kumārapāla (c. 1144-73 A.D.) During the first half of the 12th century the Cāhamānas had also established a strong kingdom in Rajputana with Sākambharī as their capital. They were undoubtedly the most considerable power in Rajputana during this period, and maintained contact with the growing kingdom of the Caulukyas on their southwestern frontier. Sometime before 1164 A.D. they advanced into the Punjab and appear to have included under their sway most of the territories which now lie to the east of the Sutlej. This brought them into conflict with the declining Yamīnī Sultanate of Lahore and Ghazni and the Gāhaḍavālas of Kanauj and Benares. In the first half of the 12th century the position of the former was growing precarious owing to the pressure both of the Cāhamānas on the east and of the rising of the Shansabānīs of Ghūr. Before this period was over, fresh bands of Turks under the leadership of the princes of Ghūr had begun their depredations in India, In 1175 A.D. Mu'izzudthe *Gesta Romanorum*, the *Legenda Aurea* of Jacobus de Voragine, and the *Speculum Historiale* of Vincent of Beauvais. These were the books that fed the imagination of the Middle Ages, and they were the books that the Church, in its wisdom, provided for the instruction and edification of the faithful.