History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c41.s21.6

v3.c41.s21.6

The other ruling clans which disappeared at the beginning of this sub-period were the Rāṣṭrakūṭas of the Deccan and the Chāvadas of Gujarat. In both countries, new strong ruling clans were substituted which re-established the power of Mahārāṣtra and Gujarat. In Bengal, the Pāla power declined in this sub-period and a new power arose viz. that of the Senas and divided rule in Bengal with the Pālas, while in Dravida, the Chola power became ascendant and attempted a Digvijaya extending as far as the Ganges and even the Himalayas. Soon however, the Eastern Gangas established again a separate kingdom in Kalinga or Telangana and confined the Cholas to the Tamil or Dravida land. Thus practically the several divisions of India marked by distinct peculiarities of language, climate and soil were under distinct ruling families in this sub-period also and formed disinct kingdoms. Why these kingdoms, large enough as they were compared with the small kingdoms of Mediæval or even modern Europe, did not develop into strong countries or nations is the problem which a historian of Mediæval Hindu India has to solve. Small Christian kingdoms of Europe could withstand the onslaught of Arabs and Turks and preserve their independence while Hindu kingdoms in India, large though they were, finally fell before the Turks and Afghans at the end of this sub-period.