Events

By the sixth century CE the Gupta Empire was declining: the Huna tribe from Central Asia attacked it again and again, and powerful regional rulers rose.

Bhoja of the Paramara dynasty reigned c. 1010–55, with his capital at Dhara.

After the decline of the Palas, the Sena dynasty became the dominant power over much of Bengal, with its capital at Nadiya.

Attributed to Bakhtiyar Khalji's campaigns (c. 1193-1200).

Bakhtiyar Khilji’s campaign through Bihar and Bengal destroyed the great Buddhist monasteries and universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila. Historians of Buddhism agree this hastened Buddhism’s decline in India; the loss also scattered learned scholars.

The nobles were unhappy at Raziyya’s attempts to rule independently, and she was removed from the throne in 1240.

Under Alauddin Khalji the state took land-revenue assessment and collection into its own hands and cancelled local chieftains’ rights to levy taxes. His coins called him ‘Sikander Sani’ — the second Alexander.

Sher Shah Suri, a powerful Afghan leader who had defeated Humayun, established the Sur Empire over much of north India and introduced lasting reforms; his administration became the model Akbar later followed. The Sur Empire was short-lived — Humayun regained his territories in 1555–56.

After the Battle of Talikota (1565) the city of Vijayanagara was sacked and left in ruins; the empire fragmented into smaller regions ruled by Nayakas, former military governors, and came to an end in the mid-17th century.

Shivaji, crowned with full Vedic rites at Raigad in 1674, died of a fever at the age of fifty. Within his lifetime his exploits had become legendary; the Bundela prince Chhatrasal, inspired by him, built an independent kingdom in Bundelkhand.

Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, instituted the Khalsa in 1699 and in 1706 authenticated the compilation now known as the Guru Granth Sahib. After his death in 1708 the Khalsa rose against Mughal authority under Banda Bahadur.