This chapter surveys India from roughly 600 CE to 1200 CE — called ‘post-classical’, ‘late classical’ or ‘early medieval’. After the Gupta Empire declined, no single power dominated the subcontinent. Multiple regional kingdoms rose, competed, and created some of India’s greatest art, architecture, and thought. The period was not a dark age — it was a land buzzing with new ideas, art, and culture, different in each region, yet all part of one India.

Harṣhavardhana ascended the throne in 606 CE at Kannauj (anciently Kānyakubja, present-day Uttar Pradesh). He belonged to the Puṣhyabhūti (Vardhana) dynasty, whose earlier capital was Sthāneśhvara (Thanesar, Haryana). He bore the title Mahārājādhirāja — Great King of Kings.

Xuanzang (Hsuan Tsang / Hiuen Tsang) travelled in India between 630 and 644 CE. He brought back more than 600 Sanskrit manuscripts (carried by 20 horses!) and translated them into Chinese. His meticulous travelogue recording politics, diplomacy, culture and religion is a major primary source for historians of this period. Harṣha held a grand assembly at Kannauj in his honour.

After Harṣha’s death in 647 CE, Kannauj became the centre of a long, indecisive Tripartite Struggle. Three powers warred repeatedly during the 8th–9th centuries with no lasting victor:

Why Kannauj? Strategically located on the Ganga; controlling it gave symbolic authority over the Gangetic plains and north India.

After Harṣha’s death Bengal fell into disorder. According to an inscription, the people chose Gopāla in 750 CE to restore stability — he was the first king of the Pāla dynasty. His successor Dharmapāla expanded the empire and became a great patron of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

Founded in the mid-8th century CE by Nāgabhaṭa I, from western India (‘Gurjara’ = region between Gujarat and Rajasthan). Early capital: Bhillamāla (modern Bhinmal, Rajasthan); later shifted to Ujjayinī. In the 9th century, King Bhoja — a devotee of Viṣhṇu — built an empire from Punjab and Kathiawar in the west to Kannauj in the east.

In the mid-8th century, Dantidurga became the first independent Rāṣhṭrakūṭa ruler when he overthrew the Chālukyas. Capital: Mānyakheṭa (modern Malkheda, Karnataka). Their empire spanned much of the subcontinent for nearly two centuries. King Krishna I commissioned the Kailashānātha temple — India’s largest rock-cut temple — carved out of a hillside at Ellora, Maharashtra. The temple is not a construction but a gigantic sculpture.

In the mid-8th century, a new power stirred in Kāśhmīra. Key historical source: Kalhaṇa’s Rājataraṅgiṇī (‘River of Kings’) — epic poem in Sanskrit (12th century) narrating the history of Kashmir’s ruling dynasties. Lalitāditya Muktāpīda of the Kārkoṭa dynasty is seen as a firm ruler who defeated an Arab chief three times. In the late 10th century, Queen Diddā consolidated power, founded towns, built and restored temples.

Ādi Śhankarāchārya (8th-century philosopher, teacher of advaita vedānta) is said to have visited the hill shown below — now the Shankaracharya temple, overlooking the Kashmir valley near Srinagar.

Once the Vākāṭaka dynasty ended, several mighty kingdoms contested for supremacy in the Deccan and South India. The map below shows the main kingdoms of this period.

In the mid-6th century CE, Pulakeśhin I founded the Chālukya dynasty. His grandson Pulakeśhin II blocked Harṣha’s southward ambitions at the Narmada. Capital: Vātāpi (Badami, Karnataka). Earlier capital Āryapura (Aihole) has 100+ Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples. A 7th-century Jain temple atop Meguti Hill bears a lengthy Sanskrit inscription praising Pulakeśhin II, by court poet Ravakīrti.

Capital: Kānchī (Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu). Dynasty reached its peak in the 7th century under Mahendravarman I and his son Narasimhavarman I (also ‘Mamalla’ = wrestler/warrior).

Rose to power by the 6th century. Capital: Madurai. Controlled southern Tamil Nadu and briefly northern Sri Lanka. Maritime trade via Korkai to Southeast Asia. Built many temples, patronised poets. Swept aside by Cholas in the 10th century, re-emerged three centuries later.

Along the Kerala coast, the Cheras (Chera Perumals) maintained independence. Copper-plate inscriptions record the presence of Christian, Muslim and Jewish traders from West Asia — showing India as a hub of international trade.

Reborn under Vijayālaya in the 9th century. Capital: Tanjāvūr (Thanjavur). Son Aditya I defeated the Pallavas, bringing most of Tamil Nadu under Chola control.

Fall of large unified empires gave way to smaller, decentralised kingdoms. Kings governed core regions directly but used sāmantas (subordinate rulers / vassals) for other regions.

• Land grant system (begun under Guptas) expanded greatly; created a new class of landholders
• Pallavas built numerous tanks in Tamil Nadu — many still functional today
• From 8th century: India’s west coast traded with Iran, Iraq, Africa’s east coast; east coast connected with Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, China
• Cities flourished as political, economic, religious hubs with temples as centres of commerce

Traditional jātis multiplied — many new ones based on occupation or region. The varṇa-jāti system was flexible rather than rigid. The term aspṛiśhya (‘not to be touched’) appeared in texts, pointing to discrimination against some communities — confirmed by Xuanzang’s account.

Rulers generally patronised Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain schools regardless of personal inclination. Tantric schools emerged around the 6th century. Jainism remained popular in western India and Karnataka; the monolithic Bāhubalī at Shravanabelagola (Karnataka, 10th century) and Jain cave temples at Ellora and Badami are prominent examples.

From the 6th century onward, personal devotion to a deity spread across all layers of society. The initial spark came from South India: the 12 Ālvārs (devotees of Viṣhṇu, including female saint Āṇḍāḷ) and the 63 Nāyanārs / Nāyanmārs (devotees of Śhiva, including three women).

The Hūṇas were a branch of the nomadic Huns from Central Asia (4th century), known for horse-riding, archery, and lightning-fast attacks. In the early 6th century, two Hūṇa leaders pushed deep into the Ganga plains until defeated by kings of the Aulikara dynasty (capital: Daśhapura = modern Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh).

By the 7th century, the Hūṇas had fully assimilated into Indian society: serving as soldiers, local administrators, even temple council members (goṣhṭhika). They adopted Sanskrit and Prakrit for inscriptions and used Gupta-style royal titles, coin designs, and religious symbols.

In 637 CE, Arab naval raids on Thānā (Thane), Bharuch, and Debal failed to secure lasting control. In 712 CE, Muḥammad bin Qāsim (nephew & son-in-law of governor of Iraq) swept into Sindh; King Dāhar was killed in battle.

Numerous dynasties rose and fell, battling one another but sometimes also in alliance. A few powerful kingdoms rose to the status of empires, but rarely managed to cover a large part of India or last more than a couple of centuries.