Indian resistance in the 11th–12th centuries

Detail

The raids of Mahmud of Ghazni (early 11th century) and Muhammad Ghuri (late 12th century) did not meet an empty land. Several strong regional kingdoms fought back. Many of them were also building temples and writing books at the very same time. Resistance and creativity went together.

Chandellas of central India

• Ruled the Bundelkhand region of central India. They resisted Mahmud of Ghazni.
• In these same centuries they built dozens of temples at Khajuraho, including the Kandariya Mahadeva and the Lakshmana temples.
• The dynasty is also spelt Chandela; their kingdom was called Jejakabhukti (Bundelkhand). [4]
• The dynasty peaked between AD 950 and 1050 — exactly the decades of Mahmud's raids. [2]
• About 20 temples survive today at Khajuraho out of many more once built. Counting one partly excavated structure, 23 temples stand, spread over about 6 sq km in three clusters — western, eastern and southern. [2][3]
• They belong to two religions — Hinduism and Jainism — and are built in the Nagara style (north Indian temple style with a curving tower over the shrine). [2][3]
• Kandariya Mahadeva is the largest and grandest of the group.
• Dedicated to Shiva.
• ASI attributes it to king Ganda (AD 1017–29). [3]

• It rises about 31 metres (102 feet), a build-up of porches and small turrets ending in a tall spire. [4]

• Khajuraho was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986. [2][4]

Takeaway for the exam: a kingdom under raid pressure still funded huge stone temples. Raids hurt, but they did not stop regional state-building.

Bhoja Paramara of Malwa

• Paramara dynasty, capital Dhara (Dhar, Madhya Pradesh). Bhoja ruled from 1010 for nearly half a century.
• His kingdom stretched from the Konkan coast to parts of Rajasthan.
• Direct link to the resistance story: he sent forces to help the Hindu Shahis against Mahmud. So Malwa's help travelled all the way to the north-west frontier.
• Britannica dates his reign c. 1010–55 and calls Dhar a centre of learning under him — this matches the NCERT dating. [5][6]
• The Paramaras began as feudatories (junior vassals) of the Rashtrakutas and rose to the top under Bhoja. [5]

Bhoja the scholar-king. He is remembered as much for books as for battles.

• Samarangana Sutradhara — a treatise on architecture and also on mechanical devices. [6]
• A commentary on the Yogasutra.
• Works on governance, poetics (kavya theory) and medicine.

Bhoja the builder.

• Founder of Bhojpur.
• Built the vast lake near Bhopal. The name 'Bhojpal' became Bhopal; the lake today is called Bhojtal.
• Built the unfinished Bhojeshwar Temple at Bhojpur.
• Dedicated to Shiva, 11th century, overlooking the Betwa river. [7]
• Rectangular plan; four massive pillars carry an incomplete dome with fine carving. [7][8]
• Houses a linga 2.3 metres (7.5 feet) high — one of the largest in India. [8]
• It is on India's UNESCO tentative list (a waiting list of sites a country proposes for World Heritage status). [7]

Careful: this Bhoja is not the 9th-century Gurjara-Pratihara Bhoja. Two different kings, two different dynasties, two different centuries. Exam papers mix them deliberately.

Chaulukyas (Solankis) of Gujarat

• Capital Anahilavada (Patan).
• They defeated Muhammad Ghuri at the foot of Mount Abu in 1178 — one of the clearest Indian victories over a Turkic invader.
• Two versions of who led the army:
• King Mularaja II.

• Or Queen Naikidevi, his mother, who led the army with her young son in her lap. This version comes from the Jain scholar Merutunga, writing about a century later.

• Where historians stand: the defeat of Ghuri in 1178 is well recorded. The Naikidevi story is a tradition reported in a later text, and historians are divided on it.

• Point to remember: Ghuri lost in 1178 but came back. He was beaten again at Tarain in 1191 and won at Tarain in 1192. Resistance delayed conquest; it did not prevent it.

Chahamanas (Chauhans) of Rajasthan

• A powerful Rajput dynasty of Rajasthan. They repelled invaders including Mahmud.
• Capital Ajayameru — today's Ajmer.
• In the 12th century they conquered Delhi, Haryana, parts of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, and most of Rajasthan. So they were the leading north Indian power when Ghuri arrived.
• Name trail for Delhi: their inscriptions call the city 'Dhillika' → 'Dhilli' → 'Delhi'. This is a favourite one-line question.

Why this section matters

• These four powers show resistance was regional, not united. Each fought the invader in its own area, at its own time.
• No single all-India command existed. Ghuri could face one kingdom at a time.

Prelims Hooks

• Khajuraho temples were built by the Chandella dynasty; the dynasty's peak was AD 950–1050. [2]
• Khajuraho was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986; about 20 temples survive over roughly 6 sq km. [2][3]
• Kandariya Mahadeva — largest Khajuraho temple, dedicated to Shiva, about 31 m / 102 ft tall, attributed by ASI to king Ganda (AD 1017–29). [3][4]
• Bhoja Paramara, capital Dhara (Dhar), ruled from 1010; author of Samarangana Sutradhara on architecture and mechanical devices.
• Bhoja's lake gave 'Bhojpal' → Bhopal; the lake is today's Bhojtal.
• Bhojeshwar Temple, Bhojpur — unfinished, on the UNESCO tentative list, linga of 2.3 m (7.5 ft), near the Betwa river. [7][8]
• Bhoja sent forces to help the Hindu Shahis against Mahmud of Ghazni.
• Muhammad Ghuri was defeated at the foot of Mount Abu in 1178 by the Chaulukyas (Solankis) of Gujarat — credited to Mularaja II or to Queen Naikidevi.
• The Naikidevi account comes from the Jain scholar Merutunga, about a century later.
• Chahamana (Chauhan) capital was Ajayameru (Ajmer); their inscriptions call Delhi 'Dhillika'.
• The Paramaras started as feudatories of the Rashtrakutas. [5]

Mains Points

• Resistance was real but fragmented. The Chandellas, Paramaras, Chaulukyas and Chahamanas each fought invaders successfully at some point — Mount Abu 1178 and Tarain 1191 are proof that Turkic armies could be beaten. What was missing was a common front. Ghuri fought these kingdoms one by one, and after Tarain 1192 the Chahamana collapse opened the Ganga plain. Use this to argue that the Sultanate's rise owed as much to Indian political fragmentation as to Turkic cavalry and tactics.
• State-building continued right through the raid period. Khajuraho's temples (peak 950–1050) [2] and Bhoja's Bhojpur works belong to the same decades as Mahmud's campaigns. This counters the simple "decline under invasion" story — regional kingdoms kept taxing, building and patronising scholarship.
• Kingship meant culture, not only war. Bhoja wrote on architecture, yoga, governance, poetics and medicine while also sending troops to the Hindu Shahis. Useful in GS-I answers on the character of early medieval Indian kingship, where military and cultural legitimacy went hand in hand.
• Sources shape what we can claim. The 1178 defeat of Ghuri is firmly recorded; the Naikidevi leadership comes from a later Jain text by Merutunga. Good material for an answer on how later chronicles, temple inscriptions and dynasty records give us uneven certainty about early medieval events — and on the place of women in political memory.