History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v2.c27.26

v2.c27.26

In this second volume of our history is presented to the reader the history of the second sub-period of mediæval Hindu history of India. As stated in the beginning of the preface to our first volume, the mediæval Hindu period of Indian History extends, according to our view, from 600 A.D. to 1200 A.D. roughly, i. e. from the accession of Harsha, the last Buddhist Emperor of India to the death of Prithvīrāja, the last Hindu Emperor of India. This period of about 600 years curiously enough falls into three sub-periods of about 200 years each, in which appear on the stage of Indian history different sets of Hindu kingdoms. In the first volume we presented to the reader the history of the first set of Hindu kingdoms led by the Varmās of Kanauj and the Chālukyas of Badāmī. Indeed, throughout the Hindu period, Kanauj in the north appears to have been the acknowledged capital of India and there was always a competing kingdom in Mahārāshtra struggling to divide imperial honour with it in the south. These first imperial Hindu kingdoms at Kanauj and at Badāmī disappear about 800 A.D. with other kingdoms, and the second set of Hindu kingdoms come in, led by the Pratihāras in the north and the Rāshtrakūtas in the south. These again disappear about the end of the second sub-period, i. e. about 1000 A. D. and the history of this second set of Hindu kingdoms is presented to the reader in this volume. A third set of Hindu kingdoms appear hereafter led by the Gaharwārs of Kanauj and the later Chālukyas of Kalyan in the north and the south respectively; and their history will be given in our third volume.