The Age of the three Great Indian empires - mid 8th to 11th Century AD
The historians have neglected to write in detail about the era in Indian history from mid 8th century to mid 11th centuries, We have been obsessed by the Maurya, Gupta and Mughal empires. But the above period saw the emergence of three great empires that arose around 750 AD or earlier and divided the Indian sub continent into three pieces that varied in sizes as the three struggled between themselves. The Gurjara Pratihara empire with Kannauj as its capital was the north Indian element and boasted of great emperors and finest cavalry in India. It kept the Turko Arabic invasions at bay. Early Islamic invasions of India were rebutted by the founder of the empire Nagabhatta Pratihara.
The second empire was the South Indian element called the Rashtrakutas that survived into the 11th century. At its peak, it was perhaps the most powerful of the three and was based out of Manyakheda in South and conquered as far up north as the Himalayan foothills. It had the finest infantry in India.
The third was the Palas of Bengal out of Gauda. It too enjoyed great emperors and at times extended into West and North India. It had the finest elephant corps.
These empires all arose in the middle of 8th century AD around 750 AD and weakened and vanished near to 1000 AD with the Palas extending upto 1100 AD or thereabouts. Their vanishing from the scene created the vacuum of power that enabled rapacious conquerors like Mahmud Ghazni to come in.
Historians familiar with the languages, archaeology, texts and geography of these empires' domains should write a great work on each of these empires that should be spoken of in the same breath as the Maurya, Gupta and Mughal empires.
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