History of India

Medieval India refers to a long period of the Indian subcontinent’s history between 'ancient India' and 'modern India'. Definitions of the period itself vary widely, and partly for this reason, many historians now prefer to avoid the term completely. During the Sultanate period, India was famous for her fabulous wealth and it was the story of her enormous riches which tempted Sultan Mahmud to invade India. There is truth in the statement of the contemporary writers of the vast plunder acquired by Mohammad Bin Qasim, in Sind and Multan and Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni in India proper in the form of coined and the uncoined money, precious stones of various kinds and various other things valued at crores of rupees. Not only this, the Sultans of Delhi also acquired enormous booty in their expeditions, both in Northern and Southern India. Between 750 AD and 1000 AD, a number of powerful empires arose in Northern India. They were the Pala, the Pratihara and the Rashtrakuta Empire. The Rashtrakuta’s dominated Deccan and extended their sway for some time upto South India. Palas were dominant in the eastern part while Pratiharas were ruling western India and upper Gangatic valley. All three of them fought amongst themselves for domination of Kanauj. The conflict between Palas and Pratiharas was also for the control of rich resources in the region extending from Banaras to South Bihar. This book should be useful to the students and teachers of medieval Indian history.