Medieval History

Introduction

The Islamic influence and rule over India is strongly associated with Medieval Indian history went on for nearly three centuries under the so-called indigenous rulers. In the mid third millennium arises in the Indus Valley a flourishing urban civilization, whose leading lights are the Harappa (Punjab), Mohenjo-Daro (Sindh) and Chanhu-Daro (Indus Valley), parallel to those of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Both were extraordinarily large cities, divided by narrow streets and houses of several stories that opened onto courtyards. The houses of brick, had deep wells, and the streets had an efficient system vaulted pipe. In the western part, of the cities rose the citadel, constructed with massive walls of adobe and brick, and housed palaces and temples. The domestic, small idols, statues of the Mother Goddess, provide a religious view, although the wider the square of the seals, usually of soapstone. They are covered with animals' mythological figures and inscriptions small stroke greatly simplified.

The medieval period gave great importance to the sculpture. All the temples, both the North and the South, were decorated inside and out. The sanctuaries and shrines containing statues, stone or bronze, entirely devoted to worship, and in the courts several pavilions housed monumental effigies of divine animals, such as Nandin bull of Shiva, Vishnu Garuda bird or boar Varaha, endorsement of Vishnu. Of this production overflowing great styles emerge, related to each other, through the great currents that define the general evolution of Indian art. Same time we must observe the increasingly complex iconographic rules, already well advanced in style Pala of Bengal to the early thirteenth century, and determines an increased recharging of the attributes and ornaments, and multiplying the number arms and heads up to some gods. It should be noted also an undeniable difference between northern and southern styles, indicating the first by a taste of the attitudes dynamic, driven, often contorted, while others give evidence of moderation and restraint, almost cold, tasting of attitudes calm and balanced, even in the most animated, for example, the dance of Shiva. In both regions the height of religious sculpture is between X and XII centuries, beginning with the decline in the following centuries.

The regional kingdoms of the Rashtrakutas (in northern Deccan, eighth-tenth centuries), Pratiharas (in eastern and central India, eighth-eleventh centuries), and Palas (in Bengal, mid-eighth-mid-twelfth centuries) also rose and fell in early medieval India. These kingdoms fought one another over the capital city of Kanauj, and their internecine struggle made them weak. The Pratihara kingdom broke into small principalities. In the eleventh century, the later Chalukyas and Senas replaced the Rashtrakutas and Palas, respectively. Meanwhile, the Rajputs (c. seventh-twelfth centuries) ruled most of the kingdoms in northern India, but their disunity prevented them from resisting aggression from the northwest. The Chola kings of south India, made wealthy through trade and commerce, were the most powerful figures (Albrow, p. 205).

The early medieval period also witnessed the development of unique regional temple architecture, such as the Brihadesvara temple at Tanjore and the gigantic Siva temple at Gangaikondacholapuram, ...