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RASTRAKUTA-PRATIHARA PERIOD
(C. 745 A.D.-942 A.D.)
*The Age of Imperial Kanauj' as named in the History and Culture of the Indian People', i.e. the Empire of the Gurjara-Pratihāras saw the rise and fall of three great empires in the country: of the Rāştrakūtas, founded by Dantidurga (c. 737-757 A. D.), and his successor, Krşņa I (c. 757-773 A. D.) which dominated the South till its collapse in the year 974 A. D.; of the Pālas in the East, which saw its zenith under Dharmapāla (c.770810 A. D.), though it revived a little at the end of the tenth century; and of the Pratihāras of the West and North founded by Nāgabhasa I, which saw its zenith during the reigns of Mihira Bhoja (C. 836-885 A. D.) and Mahendrapāla (C. 885-908 A.D.), who went under, on account of the catastrophic blows dealt by the Râştrakūta raids, but retained a shadowy imperial dignity to the end.-(The Age of Imperial Kanauj, 'Foreword' p. vii).
This Age of Kanauj or Kānyakubja, the imperial city of Ísānavarman, dominated Madhyadeśa, the heart of India. It was the coveted prize of the three Imperial powers racing for all-India supremacy. Ultimately it passed into the hands of the Pratibin Gurjareśvara about 815 A.D.; remained the metropolis of power till 950 A. D., and continued to be the most influential centre of culture till 1018 A. D. when it was destroyed ty Mahmud of Ghazni.-(Ibid, 'Foreword', viii).
Rästrakūta Dantidurga, the son of Indra I by a Calukyan princess of Gujarat, began his Napoleonic career in Circa 733 A. D., became the master of the whole of Mahārāșțra by 753 A. D., and destroyed the Cālukyan Empire to assume an Imperial status. He was succeeded by his uncle Kșşņa I, the king-builder of the Kailāsanātha temple of Elurā.
Thus, the empire of the Cālukyas of the South including South Gujarat and parts of Malwa passed into the hands of the Rāşțrakūța conquerors. And for two hundred years South Gujarat became a battle-field between the Imperial Rāstrakūtas of the South and the Gurjaras of the North.
Nāgabhata, who belonged to a branch of the royal Pratihāra family of Bhillamāla*, the capital of Gurjaradeśa, rallied to his banner the warriors of the allied clans of Prati
* " That Bhils (or Bhillas ) and Kirātas once lived in Rajputana and its neighbourhood, particularly its hilly tracts is shown by instances from later Rajput history, but particularly by the names Bhillamāla (modern Bhinmal), Kirātakūpa ( modern Kiradu) and Mundasthala. The first name occurs in the Saindhava plates from Saurastra. The mala ending in the same Bhilla māla is non-Sanskritic. The former is supposed to be a Dravidian word mal meaning upland, plateau. Thus both linguistically and culturally the word is non-Aryan, indicating that in the distant past the country was inhabited by non. Aryans, very likely Austro-Asiatic Tribes.- [ Sankalia, Studies in Historical Geography and Cultural Ethnography of Gujarat. (JGRS, VII, No. 4, Nov. 1955), Poona, 1949).
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