Southern India

• The period during A.D. 300 to A.D. 750 witnesses the second historical phase in the regions south of the Vindhayas.
• By the beginning of the seventh century, the Pallavas of Kanchi, the Chalukyas of Badami and the Pandyas of Madurai appeared to be the three major states.

The Vakatakas (A.D. 225-510)

• The Satvahanas were succeeded by the Vakatakas, a local power in northern Maharashtra and Vidarbha (Berar).
• The Vakatakas, who were Brahmanas themselves, are known from a large number of copper-plate and grants issued to the Brahmanas.
• They were great champions of the Brahmanical religion and performed severel Vedic sacrifices.
• Their political history is of more importance to north India than to south India. Culturally, the Vakataka kingdom became a channel for transmitting brahmanical ideas and social institutions to the south.
• The founder of this dynasty was Vidya Shakti but his son Pravarsena could be its real founder in western and central India.
• Chandragupta II realised the importance of this empire and formed alliance through marriage of his daughter into Vakataka family.
• In 5th century A.D., Vakatakas extended their power in Malwa.
• Harisena was the last important monarch controlling all the central Deccan.
• The Vakatakas contributed towards the arts and architecture.
• Several caves of Ajanta are credited to the royal patronage of the Vakatakas.
• They were uprooted by the growing power of Chalukyas of Badami, Pallavas of Kanchipuram and Pandyyas of Madurai.
• The Vakatakas had been in power for about two centuries.

The Chalukyas (543-753 A.D.)

Chalukyas of Badami

• The most notable of the early medieval dynasties of the Deccan was that of the Chalukyas.
• Jayasimha was the first Chalukyan king. But Pulakeshin I is generally attributed to be the first Chalukyan king.
• He was succeeded by Maharaja Kirtivarman in 566 A.D.
• Pulakeshin II was the most prominent ruler of the dynasty who ruled from A.D. 608 and was a contemporary of Harshavardhan His fame was far extended even upto Persia, with whom he exchanged embassies.
• He was defeated and killed by the Pallava ruler Narsimvarman. 32 years later in 674, one of Pulakeshin’s son avenged his father’s death and captured Kanchi.

Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi

• Pulkeshin II’s brother, Kubja Vishnu Vardhan established a new dynasty with its capital at the ancient city of Vengi.
• But soon its power was declined and in about 10th century they allied the Cholas but the Chola king did not maintain the alliance and annexed the kindom in A.D. 1076

Western Chalukyas of Kalyani

• The kingdom founded by Taila II in 973, after defeating Amoghavarsha IV, the last Rashtrakuta ruler.
• He extended his kingdom upto southern part of Pormera kingdom of Malwa.
• Vikramaditya II Tribhuvanmall (1076-1126) was the greatest ruler of this dynasty and he was regarded as the hero of Bilhana’s
• Vikramankadevacharita. He is the founder of the Vikarm Samvat Era.
• Jagadekamall II, was the last ruler after whose death his Kalachuri minister Vijjala usurped his throne.

Art and Architecture

• Art made great progress under their patronage.
• The temple architecture was a blend of Dravida and Nagara styles.
• They built about 70 temples at Aihole which is rightly regarded as the ‘cradle of Indian temple architecture’.
• Other famous temples include the Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal, the Vishnu temple of Badami, the Shiva temple of Maguti and the Kasi Vishvesvara temple of Lakhundi.
• They gave patronage to Hinduism and Jainism.
• Their empire came to an end by A.D. 753 when their feudatory Rastrakutas defeated Kirtivarman.

Ikshavakus

• On the decline of the Satvahana power in the eastern part of the peninsula there arose the Ikshavakus in the Krishna Guntur region.
• They seem to have been a local tribe who adopted the dignified name of the Ikshavakus in order to show the antiquity of their lineage.
• They are mostly recalled for monuments like Nagarjunakonda and Dharanikota.
• They were overthrown by the Pallavas.

Pallavas (600-757 A.D.)

• During the 6th century to late 8th century, the Pallavas were the dominant power in the Deccan, who were the indigenous subordinates of the Satavahanas.
• They marched to Andhra and then to Kanchi where they established the mighty Pallava Empire.
• Pallavas were religious tolerant and supported Buddhism, Jainism and the Brahminical faith and were patrons of music, paintings and literature.
• Their greatest monuments are at Mahabalipuram.
• The clash between the Pallavas and the Chalukyas continued for many centuries.
• The last Pallava ruler Aparajitavarma was defeated by the Cholas.

Struggle Between The Pallavas and the Chalukyas

• The main cause of the struggle between Pallavas and Chalukyas was the supremacy.
• The Pandyas, who were in control of Madurai and Tinnevelly district of Tamil Nadu, joined this conflict as a poor third.
• Although both the Pallavas and the Chalukyas supported Brahmanism, performed Vedic sacrifices and made grants to the Brahmanas, the two quarreled with each-other for prestige and territorial resources.
• Both tried to establish supremacy over the land lying between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra. 
• The first important event in this long struggle took place in the reign of Pulakeshin-II (609-642), the most prominent Chalukya king.
• He overthrew the Kadamba capital at Banavasi and compelled the Ganges of Mysore to accept his suzerainty.
• He also defeated Harsha’s army on the Narmada and checked his march towards the Deccan.
• In his conflict with the Pallavas, he almost reached the Pallava capital, but the Pallavas purchased peace by ceding their northern-provinces to Pulakeshin II.
• Pulakeshin’s second invasion of the Pallava territory ended in failure. The Pallava king Narasimhavarman (A.D. 630-668) occupied the Chalukya capital at Vatapi in about A.D. 642, when Pulakeshin II was probably killed in fight against the Pallavas.
• Narsimhavarman adopted the title of Vatapikonda or the conqueror of Vatapi.
• He is also said to have defeated the Cholas, the Cheras, the Pandyas and the Kalabhras.
• By the end of the seventh century, the conflict was subsided but it was again resumed in the first half of the eighth century A.D.
• The Chalukya king Vikramaditya II (A.D. 733-745) is said to have overrun Kanchi three times. In 740 A.D., he completely overthrow the Pallavas.
• His victory ended the Pallava supremacy in the far south although the ruling house continued for more than a century afterwards.
• However, the Chalukyas could not enjoy the fruits of their victory over the Pallavas for long for their own hegemony was brought to an end in A.D. 757 by the Rashtrakutas.

• The founder of the Chola dynasty was Vijayala, a feudatory of the Pallavas.
• His dynasty rose to high eminence and lasted for more than two centuries.
• Vijayala rose to power near Uraiyar, the capital of the Cholas of the Sangam Age.
• An inscription at Tiruchirapalli district records a gift of land in accordance with the orders of the Parakesari Vijayala Chladeva.
• The titles of Parakesari and Rajakesari were alternately assumed by the Chola sovereigns from the time of Vijayala.
• The ascendancy of Rajraja gave Cholas, the supreme power in India, Rajraja was the most famous and important among the Cholas.
• He very efficiently and successfully carried on the administration of his country from A.D. 985 to 1014
• A successful conqueror, he had defeated the Cheras and the Pandyas.
• He had annexed Mysore and Travancore and had defeated the Chalukyas of Vengi.
• The inscriptions reveal that he had conquered the Simhaldip.
• His conquests established his authority in the Deccan.
• Rajraja was succeeded by his son, Rajendra.
• He was also a brace warrior and a successful ruler.
• He ruled from A.D. 1015-1035.
• After his death, his son, Rajadhiraja, became the ruler.
• He was the last among the Cholas. In 1052, he was killed while fighting with the Chalukyas.

Chola Administration

• The most striking feature of the administrative system of the Cholas was their autonomous village and town administration.
• There was no significant difference between the central and provincial administration of the Cholas and that of any other dynasty of early medieval India.
• But, the administration of Cholas was more centralized than that of the Rashtrakutas or the Chalukyas.

Central Administration:

• The emperor or king was at the apex of the administration.
• He had an udankuttam, immediate attendants, a group of ministers representing all the chief departments of administration to advise him on the disposal of business, besides a chancery (olai).
• Worship at deceased rulers, and construction of temples as tributes to dead kings was a special feature of the Chola period.
• There was an elaborate and complicated administrative machinery or bureaucracy for the Cholas, comprising officials of various grades.
• The officials tended to form a separate class in society, organized in two ranks, an upper perundanam and a lower sirudanam.
• Higher officers were known by the title of adigarigal, while officers of all ranks were usually referred to by the general titles of Karumigal and Panimakkal.
• They were usually remunerated by assignments of land (jivitas) suited to their position.
• Titles of honour and shares in booty taken in war formed other rewards of public service.

Provincial Adminstration

• The empire was divided into principalities (under vassal chiefs) and mandalams (provinces under viceroys who were mostly royal princes) with further division of the provinces into Valanadus (divisions), Nadus (districts) and Kurrams (villages).
• Achievement of Cholas: The Chola empire during Rajaraja I included Tamil Nadu, Goorg, Srilanka and many islands including Laskswadeep and Maldives.
• Rajendra Chola assumed the title of Gangaikonda, after consolidating his territories right upto river Ganga.

Chola art and Literature:

• The Cholas greatly encouraged sculpture, architercute and painting.
• The Cholas established new cities and constructed many palatial buildings.
• They beautifully erected temples served as the conference houses for the assemblies.
• The Shiva temple of Rajrajeshwar at Tanjore is a perfect example of Chola art which is 197 feet high and has thirteen storeys.
• The Brihadesvara temple at Thanjore is the finest specimen of Chola architecture. Literature and culture too witnessed a great progress under the Cholas.
• Culture had reached the height of glory and peak of power.
• Sanskrit and Tamil languages developed to a great extent.
• The Chola kings greatly encouraged the scholarly and the literary minds.

Arab Influence

• On the west coast, the initiative in the trade with the west was gradually passing into the hands of the Arabs.
• Indian Traders were becoming suppliers of goods rather than carriers and communication with the West became indirect, via the Arabs, and limited to trade alone.
• Maritime trade with South East Asia continued.
• There were now three major kingdoms. Kambuja (Cambodia), Champa (Annan) and Shrivijaya (the southern Malay Peninsula and Sumatra), with whom cultural contact increased.
• Pallava architectural styles and the Tamil script were extensively used amongst the local royalty.

The Cheras

•  In ancient time Kerala was known as Cheras.
• The kingdom extended to the districts of Malabar, Travancore, Cochin, etc.
• The Cheras had trade relations with Rome in the first century A.D. the description of the Cheras of early times is found in the edicts of Ashoka, in which they have been called by the name of Kerala Putras.
• Enough historical material about the history of Keralas is not available.
• Some of the important rulers of this dynasty were Perunar, Adan II, and Senaguttavam, etc. who in their reigns fought many battles with other dynasties of the Deccan like the Cholas, the Pandyas, and the Hoyasalas, etc.
• They remained dominant till the 13th century A.D.

The Hoyasalas

• The kingdom of Hoyasalas situated between the kingdom of the Chalukyas on the North-West and that of the Cholas on Their capital was Dwarasamudra.
• The credit of bringing this dynasty into eminence goes to Vishnu Vardhan.
• He improved political position of his kingdom by his victories.
• With the help of his commander-in-chief, Ganga Raja, he defeated the Cheras, the Cholas and the Pandyas.
• He defeated the Gurjaras at Talkad.
• The Chennakesava temple built by Vishnuvardhan at Belur in A.D. 1117 and the Hoyasaleswar temple built in A.D. 1150 at Halesbid are examples of Hoyasala architecture.
• The kingdom of the Hoyasalas made all the progress under Vir Balla II.
• He defeated the Chalukyas and the Yadavas too.
• The last king of this dynasty was Vir Balla III, who was defeated by Malik Kafur, the chief general of Alauddin Khilji in 1311.
• He deposed him from the throne and this, dynasty came to its end.

The Yadavas

• The Yadavas were, at first, under the supremacy of the Chalukyas, became independent and began to gain power.
• They ruled over the region that extended from Nasik to Devagiri.
• Thus, Khandesh territory was under their sway.
• These people acknowledged being chandravansi (Moon race).
• Their great rulers were Bhillama; Simhana Ramachandra, etc.
• Bhillama was the first important king of this dynasty. He reigned from 1187 to 1191.
• He conquered the Hoyasalas and made Devagiri his capital.
• The most prominent king of this dynasty was Simhana who defeated several dynasties, such as, the Hoyasalas, the Andhras, etc.
• He also defeated Arjun Varman, the ruler of Malwa.
• In addition to this, he invaded Gujarat several times and tried to defeat it.
• The last king of this dynasty was Ramachandra who ruled the whole of the region upto the river Narmada.

The Kakatiyas

• The Kakatiyas were under the control of the Chalukya dynasty and after the downfall of Chalukyan they asserted their independent in the territories of Telingana and Warrangal, where they founded their own kingdom.
• Some of the powerful and important kings of this dynasty were Prolaraja, Ganpati Pratap Rudra Deo, etc.
• Prolaraja defeated the Chalukyas and fought many other battles.
• After him Ganpati was another important king of this dynasty.
• He defeated the Cholas, the Yadavas and several other rulers of various families.
• He reaped the full advantage of the disorder and disturbance in the political condition of those regions and extended his rule in all the four corners of his kingdom.
• The fact is that he was the most important king of the Kakatiya dynasty.
• In his reign, the Kakatiya rule was at the height of its power and progress.
• After his reign, the decline and decay of this dynasty started and finally in the reign of Pratapa Rudra Deo, Malik Kafur invaded their kingdom in A.D 1309.
• The Kadambas This dynasty was established by Brahman Mayurasarma in north Karnataka with his capital at Banavasi after defeating Satvahana.
• Mayurasaraman was a champion of Vedic sacrifices and is believed to have performed 18 Ashvamedha sacrifices.
• The kingdom was annexed to the Chalukya kingdom by Pulkesin II.

The ghaznavids

• Towards the end of 9th century Trans Oxiana Khorasan and parts of Iran were being ruled by Samanids who were Iranians by descent. Among the Samanid governor was a Turkish slave Alaptgin who established an independent kingdom with its capital at Ghazni. The Samanid kingdom soon ended and was taken over by Mohamud Ghazanavi.
• Mahmud ascended the throne in 998-1030 A.D. at Ghazni
• Firdausi was the poet laureate at the court of Mahmud.
• A high water mark in the Iranian renaissance was reached with Firdausi’s Shah Namah.
• Mahmud claimed descent from Iranian legendary king ‘Afrasiyab’.
• Mahmud is said to have made 17 raids into India from 1000 A.D. to 1027 A.D. The initial raids were directed against the Hindushahi rulers who had been battling against the Ghanzavids ever since the Time of Mahmud’s father.
• In 1001 A.D. Jayapala was defeated and taken prisoner, but was released. However, he decided to enter the funeral, pyre because the thought he had disgraced himself.
• Mahmuds most daring raids were against Kannauj in 1018 A.D. and against Somnath in Gujrat in 1025 A.D. (15th expedition). It gave him vast treasure and earned him prestige through out the Islamic world.
• Mahmud also posed as a great ‘But Shikan’ or ‘Destroyer of Images’ for the glory of Islam.
• Mahmud had no plan to build a huge empire. His basic aim was  to plunder and amass wealth. He annexed Punjab, Lahore and Multan because this region was important for communication.
• Hindu generals such as Tilak commanded the Ghaznavid armies in which Hindu soliders also were recruited.
• In the Vaccum two new powers rose to prominence-the Khawrizmi empire based on Iran and the Ghurid empire based on Ghur in N.W. Afghanistan.
• The power of Ghurids increased under Sultan Alauddin who earned the Title of “The world burner” (Jahan-soz) because he ravaged Ghazni and burnt it to the ground.

Muhamad of Ghuri

• The Yamini dynasty was overthrown by Muhamad of Ghur toward the close of 12th century. He belonged to the Shansabani dynasty of Ghur. In 1173, Shahabuddin Muhammad (1173-1206 A.D.) also known as Muizzudin Kuhammad bin Sam ascended the throne at Ghazni.
• Entering through Gomal pass he first conquered Multan and Uehh from Karmatia rulers in 1175 A.D. Then he attacked Gujrat in 1178 A.D. but was defeated by Chalukyan rulers. After this he revised his plans and attacked Punjab using Khyber pass.
• A.D. 1179: Mohammad of Ghur occupied Peshwar.
• A.D. 1181: Mohammad established a fortress at Sialkot.
• By 1182 A.D., whole of Sindh was subdued. Next he captured Lahore and deposed Khusraw Malik the Ghazanavid prince.

The Battle of Tarain

• The conflict started with rival claims for Tabarhinda (Bhatinda). In the first battle which was fought at Tarain 1191 the Ghuri forces were completely routed and Muizzudin Muhammad’s life was saved by young Khalji horsemen.
• The second Battle of Tarain in 1192 is regarded as one of the turning point in Indian History.
• The battle was mainly a battle between cavalry. The superior organization skill and speed of movement of Turkish cavalry ultimately decided the issue. Prithviraj escaped but was captured near Saraswati.
• Prithiviraj was allowed to rule over Ajmer for some time, for we have coins of this period giving the date.
• He returned to Ghazni leaving the charge of Indian territories to Qutub-ud-din Aibek, his trusted slave. He captured Delhi, Meerut, Ranthambhor and Koil and then advanced toward Banaras. In the meantime, Sultan returned and defeated Jaichand of Kanauj in battle of Chandwar in 1194 A.D.
• Gwalior fell in 1190 A.D. and next Anhilwara. With conquest of Kalinjar in 1203 A.D. the conquest of upper India was complete.
• Muizzudin lead his last conquest into India in 1206 A.D. in order to deal with Khokar rebellion. But by the time of his assassination in 1206 A.D. Bihar and Bengal were also conquered.

• A number of popular saints called nayanars (Shiva) and alvars (Vishnu) flourished in Tamil area between 6th and 9th century. The writings of these saints which were collected into eleven volumes under the name Tirummais are considered sacred and are looked upon as fifth Veda.
• Kambana who wrote Ramavatrama was one of the greatest figures of Tamil poetry. His Ramayan is known as Kamba Ramayana.
• Pampa, Ponna and Ranna are considered as three gems of Kannada poetry.
• In northern India, this period is considered a period of Stagnation and even of decline. The set back to trade and commerce was due to the collapse of Roman Empire in the west.
• South East Asia – Land of spice grew in Importance.
• With decline of trade and commerce the bodies like srenis and sangas lost their former importance.
• Harisena in his Brihat Katha Kosh describes adventures of sea voyages.
• The chief Indian port for sailing to java, Sumatara etc was Tamralipti in Bengal.
• One of the most prominent feature of this period was growth of feudalism.
• The disabilities from which the lower caste suffered increased during this period.
• Marriages between different castes were frowned upon.
• According to a writer Parasara, eating a Sudra’s food, association with a Sudra sitting on the same seat with Sudra are acts which drag down even the noblest person.
• Women were generally considered to be mentally inferior. Women continued to be denied the right to study the Vedas. The marriage age of girls was lowered thereby destroying their opportunities for higher education.
• Remarriage was allowed under certain conditions, when the husband desereted or was impotant or adapted the life of recluse.
• With the growth of property rights in land, the property rights of women also increased. In order to preserve the property of a family, women were given right to inherit the property of their male relations.
• The practice of Sati was in vogue.
• The Matsya Purana even authorized the husband to beat his erring wife with rope or spilt bamboo.
• Some advance was made in field of Mathematics. The Lilawati of Bhaskar II remained a standard book for long time.