The History and Culture of the Indian People: Volume 5: The Struggle for Empire 

Roughly covering the period from A.D. 1,00 to 1,300, this volume the fifth in the series, deals with the transition period that marks the end of independent Hindu rule and the beginning of the dominance of Turkish tribes over a large part of India. The unsuccessful efforts of the Turkish invaders in North India, of the Chalukyas in the Deccan, and of the Cholas in South India, as well as of individual rulers, both in the north and in the south, which characterise this period, account for the title The Struggle for Empire of this volume. It opens with an account of Sultan Mahmud's invasions of India and ends with the downfall of great Hindu royal houses before the onslaught of the Khalji's. During this period, the Paramaras, the Chahamanas, the Gahadavalas, the Chalukya, the Kalachuris, the Yadavas, the Hoysalas, the Chalukyas, the Padyas, the Cholas, and a host of lesser of bigger dynastics played their part in the history of India. In refreshing contrast to the dismal spectacle presented by the north as the result of Muslim invasion, the south emerges as a dominant power playing its effective role in the domains of literature and art, and extending its sway beyond the frontiers of India. Altogether this volume gathers for the first time the history of not less than fifty dynasties and their success in the fields of art and architecture, literature, law and administration. Tjere is an elaborate treatment of Sanskrit and of Sanskritic and Dravidian literature in the chapter on "Language and Literature", in which Bengali, Gujarathi, Marathi and Telugu make their first appearance. Specially detailed chapters are devoted to "Art" and "Religion and Philosophy", Ceylon and South-East Asia also are included in the purview of this volume. Like the preceding volumes, this is first and foremost, a history of India and her people. The volume is profusely illustrated with fiftyseven text-figures, fiftyseven plates and two maps.