Page 12 - Journeys Through Society-7

2.

New Kings and Kingdoms

Get Ready

Identify the ruler shown in the picture. Write a short note about him.
Clue: He was a skilled archer and possessed the ability to hit a target solely based on its sound.

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In the medieval period, there were social, economic
and political changes which led to the emergence of
new social groups. There were several regional
kingdoms established by the people who came from
other parts of the world.

Emergence of New Kingdoms
The beginning of medieval Indian history was marked
by a long struggle involving the Gurjara - Pratiharas of
Malwa, the Rashtrakutas of Deccan and the Palas of
Bengal to establish their supremacy over Kannauj.
With the end of the Gupta dynasty, the focus shifted
from the Gangetic Plains to Pataliputra to Kannauj.
Kannauj was strategically linked to trade routes going
eastwards into the Gangetic Plains as well as to those The location of Kannauj
going towards the south. Owing to its strategic Let’s take a closer look at the kingdoms involved in the
location, the Palas, the Gurjara-Pratiharas and the struggle.
Rashtrakutas directed their military activity towards
its conquest from the eighth to the tenth century CE. Palas
The struggle over Kannauj, dubbed as the Tripartite The Pala dynasty was founded by King Gopala.
struggle by historians, was an attempt to revive the According to the Tibetan monk, Taranatha, Gopala
notion of a single kingdom ruling the entire country. was elected as king in the eighth century CE by the
ever men in the region.

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