DDK HistoryF.p65 - CSIR

xxviii CHRONOLORICAL OUTLINE
—A. D. 50. The foundation of the Ku^ana empire by Kaatf§ka started the era of A.
D. 78. The last Ku^ana emperor Vasudeva ruled about A. D. 200 but the title devaputra
of this dynasty (from the Chinese ‘Son of Heaven’ or possibly from the Iranian)
was claimed by some enemies of the Guptas as late as the 4th century, and it is
possible that descendants continued to rule at Kabul till the end of the 8th century.
Chap. IX : Gupta era founded A. D. 319-20 by the first emperor Candragupta I;
his father Ghatotkaca and grandfather Srigupta were local chieftains, ia the Fyzabad-
Prayag region. The major successors took the throne approximately as follows :
Samudragupta, A. D. 330; Candragupta II, 380; Kumaragupta I, 415 ; Skandagupta,
455 ; Budhagupta ruled in the north till about 515. The Valabhi dynasty was founded
by Bhatarka in 480, and lasted till A. D. 700. The Huns Tormana and Mihiragula held
sway over Malawa from about A. D. 500 to 528. Harsa, say A. D. 605-6 to 647.
Sar$a’s enemy Narendragupta-Sasanka was the last of the northern Guptas. The
visit of Fa Hian to India covers 405 ; Hieun Tsang, about A. D. 629-645. The Kadamba
king Mayuraiarman is now placed late in the 4th century.
Chap. X : Marco Polo visited south India twice, in A. D. 1288 and 1292-3.
The greatest known Chinese flotillas were ted into Indian waters by the Ming
admiral Chcng Ho, between the years A. D. 1405 and 1433. The last four voyages
went as far as Ormuz and the African coast, (cf. China Reconstructs 5.7, July 1956,
pp. 11-14). The first Muslim (Arab) raids seem to have begun from about 637.
The steady reduction of territory for permanent Occupation began with Muhammad
bin Al-KasimV victory over Dahir in A. D. 712, whereby Multan and the whole of
the lower Indus valley was brought under the Muslims. Mahmud of Ghazni (died
A. D. 1030) extinguished in successive raids the Sahiya dynasty of Udabharula
(Urid), and the Pratiharas of Kanauj. The Gurjara-Pratihara (Parihara) kingdom
was founded about A. D. 725 by one Nagabhata. The second king of this name
took Kanauj (which remained the capital) about 810 The dynasty ended with
Rajyapala who was killed in 1020, after the defeat by Mahmud. The, Palas of
Bihar and west Bengal began with a local chieftain Gopala about 750, and petered
out in 1175, though the territory from about 1108 to Muhammad bin Bakhtyar
Khalji’s raid at the end of the century. The Candel kings, who started as aboriginal
(Goi? ) chiefs founded their own kingdom after a defeat of the Pratlhatas in the 9th
century and ruled over Bundelkhand (Jejakabhukti) till the end of the 12th century.
The Gahatavala (Rathor) kings succeeded to the throne of Kanauj with Candradeva
in 1090, and were wiped out in 1194 by Muhammad Ghuri, who had also defeated
the Cauhan (Chaunsna) king Prthvi Raja a year or so earlier. In the peninsula,, the
Chalukyas began with PulikeSin I at Badamf, about A.D. 550, and were overthrown
in 757 by the Rastrakutat, who defeated Kirtivarman. The eatery continued till
1070. when Rajendra m Coja (KulottuAga) united the two