Post-Gupta / Early Medieval

Harsha, the Badami Chalukyas, Pallavas, Maitrakas and many regional kingdoms.

Move along the chart to see which powers existed in any year; click a bar for its page, or empty space to open the map.

Main polities of this period

Name	Type	Span	Region	Capital
Pallava Dynasty ★	Dynasty	c. 275 CE – c. 897 CE	South	Kanchipuram
Pushyabhuti (Vardhana) Dynasty ★	Dynasty	c. 500 CE – c. 647 CE	North	Thanesar, later Kannauj
Chalukyas of Badami ★	Dynasty	c. 543 CE – c. 753 CE	Deccan	Vatapi (Badami)
Maitraka Dynasty	Dynasty	c. 475 CE – c. 776 CE	West	Valabhi
Rai Dynasty of Sindh	Dynasty	c. 489 CE – c. 632 CE	Northwest	Aror
Later Guptas of Magadha	Dynasty	c. 490 CE – c. 750 CE	East	Magadha
Maukhari Dynasty	Dynasty	c. 550 CE – c. 606 CE	Gangetic Plain	Kannauj
Gauda Kingdom (Shashanka)	Kingdom	c. 590 CE – c. 626 CE	East	Karnasuvarna
Pandya Kingdom (First Empire)	Kingdom	c. 590 CE – c. 920 CE	South	Madurai
Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi	Dynasty	c. 624 CE – c. 1075	Deccan	Vengi
Karkota Dynasty of Kashmir	Dynasty	c. 625 CE – c. 855 CE	North	Parihasapura / Srinagar
Brahmin Dynasty of Sindh (Chach)	Dynasty	c. 632 CE – c. 712 CE	Northwest	Aror
Turk Shahis	Dynasty	c. 665 CE – c. 822 CE	Northwest	Kabul

Events

Year	Event	Polity
c. 550 CE	Colossal Buddhas carved at Bamiyan
c. 550 CE	Fall of the imperial Guptas North India fragmented among the Maukharis, Later Guptas and others.	Gupta Empire
606 CE	Harsha becomes king	Pushyabhuti (Vardhana) Dynasty
c. 612 CE	Harsha makes Kannauj his capital Kannauj became the imperial city of north India.	Pushyabhuti (Vardhana) Dynasty
c. 618 CE	Pulakeshin II defeats Harsha on the Narmada The Narmada became the southern limit of Harsha's empire.	Chalukyas of Badami
634 CE	Aihole inscription of Ravikirti	Chalukyas of Badami
c. 636 CE	Xuanzang studies at Nalanda	Pushyabhuti (Vardhana) Dynasty
642 CE	Narasimhavarman I captures Vatapi Pulakeshin II was killed and Narasimhavarman took the title Vatapikonda.	Pallava Dynasty
643 CE	Harsha's assemblies at Kannauj and Prayag	Pushyabhuti (Vardhana) Dynasty
647 CE	Death of Harsha	Pushyabhuti (Vardhana) Dynasty
c. 700 CE	Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram	Pallava Dynasty
712 CE	Muhammad ibn Qasim conquers Sindh Raja Dahir was killed and Sindh became an Umayyad province.	Umayyad Caliphate — Sindh province
c. 738 CE	Arab advance checked in Rajasthan Arab expansion east of Sindh was halted for centuries.	Gurjara-Pratihara Empire
c. 740 CE	Lalitaditya's Martand Sun Temple	Karkota Dynasty of Kashmir
c. 750 CE	Gopala elected king in Bengal	Pala Empire

📚 Recommended reading for this era

Reference

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Source-based chapters on Harappa, Vijayanagara, the Mughal court and 1857 — essential for UPSC.

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