The present work substantially represents my thesis political Organisation of North India A.D. 950-1194 on which the Patna University awarded me the degree of Ph.D. in 1972. The period under survey represents the last two and a half centuries of the Hindu rule in North India. Many Rajput dynasties ruled over different parts of the country. They were brave, valiant and chivalrous, but the tragedy was that they quarrelled among themselves making it impossible for any well organised defence of the country against any foreign invasion which was normal feature of the period under review.
The period A.D. 950-1194 is significant in its own way. The country was divided into numerous principalities often at war with each other. Feudalism of the type current in Asia at the time was at its climax and the sense of unity was at its lowest ebb. The middle of the tenth century marks the disintegration of the Gurjara-Pratthāra empire while A.D. 1194 signifies the defeat and death of Jayachandra, the Gahadavala king of Kanauj, as well as the establishment of Muslim rule over a greater part of North India. Sindh and Multan had been in Muslim hand since A.D. 712 and 713 respectively having a Soon the Punjab changed different political organisation. masters and by 1021 the whole area was conquered by the Yamini Turks of Ghazni from the Hindu Shahiyas of Udabhandapura and later Nandana. We have also left out Kashmir in the north-west and Bengal in the east. Thus the survey includes such dynasties as the Chandellas of Jejak-bhukti, the Paramāras of Malwa; the later Pratihāras of Kanauj and Bari; the Gahadavālas of Kannauj and Vāranast; the Chauhans of Ajmer and Delhi and the Guhilas of Malwa and jaipur. The nature of the political organisation of these dynasties was largely identical but there were differences also in the designation of different officials, territorial divisions etc. So we have given a dynasty-wise treatment of the various aspects of the polity during the period under survey.
Inscriptions constitute the primary sources of our information. The kings have left many dated inscriptions with important details. The inscriptional evidences have been corroborated and supplemented wherever possible by information gathered from literary works of the period like Yuktikalpataru, Samarangan-asutradhāra, Kritya-Kalpataru, Prabandhachintamani, Dyyalray-amahakavya, Kirrtikaumudi, Nitivakyamrita, Hammiramaha-kavya, Yasastilaka etc., the details of which are given in the first chapter. We have also taken into account all the secondary sources related to our period and published so far.
As little work had been done to study the polity of North India during the closing centuries of the Hindu period, this subject attracted my attention. We do not claim originality for everything said in this treatise, but we have made certain suggestions wherever possible. This is a modest attempt to give a systematic, critical and comprehensive account of the various aspects of the political organisation of the dynasties. that we have selected for the purpose of our study. Care has. been taken to utilise only those sources which fall within our period in order to ensure accuracy.
The book consists of nine chapters followed by a bibliography and an index. Chapter 1 starts with an introduction of the various sources that have constituted the basis of the present work. Chapter II deals with Kingship. Chapter III gives a clear picture of ministry. Chapter IV introduces territorial divisions of the period and their administration. Chapter V deals with fiscal organisation while Chapter VI with military organisation and administration. Chapter VII traces. judicial organisation while Chapter VIII feudal organisation. Chapter IX is the concluding Chapter followed by a classified and exhaustive bibliography and an index.
I do not find words to express my sincere gratitude and deep indebtedness to my supervisor Dr. Yogendra Mishra, University Professor and Head of the Department of History, Patna University. I started working on the subject on his suggestion and it was his sympathy, advice, constant encouragement, untiring and unfailing guidance which made the completion of the work possible
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