Tripartite Struggle

Kannauj Triangle War
The Pratihar Empire, The Pala Empire, and The Rastrakuta Empire in their respective peaks[1]
Date 785–816 Location Northern India Result Pratihara victory[2]
Belligerents
Pratihara dynasty	Rashtrakuta dynasty	Pala dynasty
Commanders and leaders
Vatsaraja Nagabhata II Indrayudha	Dhruva Dharavarsha Govinda III	Dharmapala Chakrayudha

The Tripartite Struggle (785–816), also called the Kannauj Triangle Wars, were a series of wars in northern India fought over the control of the throne of the Kingdom of Kannauj. It involved the three powerful royal houses of the era – the Pratiharas, the Palas and the Rashtrakutas.^[3]: 20 The war ultimately resulted in the Pratiharas winning the crown of Kannauj in 816,^[4][5][6] with Nagabhata II proclaiming himself King of Kannauj.

Epigraphist Dineschandra Sircar however, added a different perspective to this struggle. According to Sircar, the struggle between the Pratihara and the Rashtrakuta had begun earlier than the struggle over the Kingdom of Kannauj. These two powers shared a common frontier in the Gujarat and Malwa regions. The frontier was a shifting one and far from permanent, causing enmity between the two powers. Even before the struggle over Kannauj started, Dantidurga, the founder of the Rashtrakuta Empire, had defeated Nagabhata I of the Pratihara dynasty, as evident from the Dashavatara Temple inscription of Dantidurga at Ellora and the Sanjan inscription of Amoghavarsha I, both belonging to the Rashtrakuta dynasty which states that Dantidurga (r. 735–756) performed a religious ceremony at Ujjayani, and the king of Gurjara-desha (Gurjara country) acted as his door-keeper (pratihara),^[7][8] suggesting that the Rashtrakuta king had subdued the Pratihara king who was ruling Avanti at that time.^[9]

On the other hand, the conflict between the Palas of the Bengal Empire and the Ayudhas of the Kingdom of Kannauj was the continuation of an old power struggle that had started between Harshavardhana of the Kingdom of Kannauj and Sasanka of Gauda in the seventh century and would continue till the twelfth century. These regional struggles were escalated to a greater pitch over the issue of succession of the Ayudha dynasty. Also, the involvement of the four powers, i.e. the Pratihara Empire, the Pala Empire, the Rashtrakuta Empire, and the Kingdom of Kannauj meant that it was actually a four-power. After the attempts of conquering Kannauj by Vatsaraja and Nagabhata II were foiled by Rashtrakuta Kings Dhruva and Govinda III, leaving the city under Pala control, However, Nagabhata succeeded in finally capturing the city of Kannauj, and the city remained the capital of his descendents until the fall of the dynasty in 1036.

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Prehistoric Madrasian culture Soanian, c. 500,000 BCE Neolithic, c. 7600 – c. 1000 BCE Bhirrana 7570 – 6200 BCE Jhusi 7106 BCE Lahuradewa 7000 BCE Mehrgarh 7000 – 2600 BCE South Indian Neolithic 3000 – 1000 BCE
Ancient Indus Valley Civilization, c. 3300 – c. 1700 BCE Post Indus Valley Period (Cemetery H Culture), c. 1700 – c. 1500 BCE Vedic civilization, c. 1500 – c. 500 BCE Kuru kingdom, c. 1200 – c. 500 BCE Early Vedic period Rise of Śramaṇa movement Later Vedic Period Spread of Jainism – Parshvanatha Spread of Jainism – Mahavira Rise of Buddhism Kingdom of Magadha Haryanka Dynasty c. 544 – c. 413 BCE Shaishunaga Dynasty c. 413 – c. 345 BCE Nanda Dynasty, c. 345 – c. 322 BCE Mahajanapadas, c. 500 – c. 345 BCE
Classical Kingdom of Magadha Maurya Dynasty, c. 322 – c. 185 BCE Shunga Dynasty, c. 185 – c. 75 BCE Kanva Dynasty, c. 75 – c. 30 BCE Sangam period Kushan Dynasty, c. 30 – c. 230 CE Satavahana Dynasty, c. 30 BCE – c. 220 CE Gupta Dynasty, c. 200 – c. 550 CE
Early medieval Chalukya Dynasty, c. 543 – c. 753 CE Harsha's Dynasty, c. 606 CE – c. 647 CE Karakota Dynasty, c. 724 – c. 760 CE Arab Invasion, c. 738 CE Tripartite Struggle, c. 760 – c. 973 CE Pratihara dynasty Rastrakuta Dynasty Pala Dynasty Chola Dynasty, c. 848 – c. 1251 CE 2nd Chalukya Dynasty, c. 973 – c. 1187 CE
Late medieval Delhi Sultanate, c. 1206 – c. 1526 CE Slave Dynasty Khalji Dynasty Tugluq Dynasty Sayyid Dynasty Lodhi Dynasty Pandyan Dynasty, c. 1251 – c. 1323 CE Vijayanagara, c. 1336 – c. 1646 CE Bengal Sultanate, c. 1342 – c. 1576 CE
Early modern Mughal Dynasty, c. 1526 – c. 1540 CE Suri Dynasty, c. 1540 – c. 1556 CE Mughal Dynasty, c. 1556 – c. 1857 CE Bengal Subah, c. 1576 – c. 1757 CE Maratha Empire, c. 1674 – c. 1818 CE Company Raj, c. 1757 – c. 1858 CE Kingdom of Mysore, c. 1760 – c. 1799 CE Sikh Empire, c. 1799 – c. 1849 CE
Modern The Great Rebellion, 1857 – 1858 CE British Raj, 1858 – 1947 CE Independence Movement Independent India, 1947 CE – present Dominion of India, 1947 – 1950 CE Republic of India, 1950 CE – present
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By the eighth century, the Kingdom of Kannauj which had controlled much of northern India under Harshavardhana in the seventh century had greatly diminished in power under a succession of weak kings, and was replaced by two new great powers in North India — the Kingdom of Gurjara to the west and the Kingdom of Bengal to the east. In southern India, the Rashtrakuta royal family reigned, whose king Dhruva too had imperial ambitions to rule northern India.

The throne of Kannauj was equivalent to having imperial status over all of northern India and thus, the king of the Gurjaras, Vatsaraja, the king of Bengal (Gauda), Dharmapala and the king of the South, Dhruva all sought to control it. The incumbents of the Kannauj throne at that time, the Ayudha dynasty were weak rulers and the accession of Indrayudha triggered the first great war.

These successors of Yashovarman were weak kings, unable to live upto the prestige of the once great Kingdom of Kannauj. Kannauj had been long coveted by the other great kings of northern India. The king of Gurjara, Vatsaraja, the grand-nephew of Nagabhata I,^[10] expanded the small principality founded by his ancestor into a powerful kingdom in northwestern India. His ambitions matched those of Dharmapala, the king of Bengal who too wanted glory for himself and wanted to extend his power beyond his ancestral domain in eastern India.

The first move was made by Vatsaraja, soon after the ascension of the new king of Kannauj, Indrayudha. He swiftly invaded Kannauj and defeated the king. The weak king accepted the overlordship of Vatsaraja. Following this great success, Vatsaraja proceeded to invade Bengal. He defeated Dharmapala near his capital Pataliputra in Magadha. His men looted the royal treasury, and Vatsaraja set back on his way to his kingdom.

However, this victory would prove fruitless, as the ambitious king of the South, Dhruva (of the Rashtrakuta royal family) defeated the king of the North, Vatsaraja who had been on the return, and the latter was thus forced to flee and hide in the deserts of Maru. Following this, Dhruva met and defeated Dharmapala in the Doab. However, he soon had to make his return back to the South.

Dharmapala defeated Indraraja (or Indrayudha), the ruler of the Kingdom of Kannauj, who was a vassal of the Pratiharas, and installed Charkayudha as his own vassal, clearly avoiding annexation. He then held an imperial court at Kannauj, which was attended by the rulers of Bhoja (possibly Vidarbha), Matsya (Jaipur and north-east Rajasthan), Madra (East Punjab), Kuru (Haryana-Delhi-Western UP region), Yadu (possibly Mathura, Dwarka or Siṁhapura in the Punjab), Yavana, Avanti, Gandhara and Kira (Kangra Valley).^[11][12] These kings accepted the installation of Chakrayudha on the Kannauj throne, while "bowing down respectfully with their diadems trembling".^[13] Some historians have speculated that all these kingdoms might have been the vassal states of the Pala empire but maintained their autonomy.^[14]: 39

Vatsaraja was succeeded by his son Nagabhata II, who strived to rebuild the fallen empire of his father. However, history repeated itself with the defeat of Nagabhata II, son of Vatsaraja by Govinda III, son of Dhruva. Govinda occupied the Doab and Kannauj and was acknowledged as overlord by both Dharmapala and his vassal, Chakrayudha.^[15] Govinda conquered Malwa^[16] and Lata^[17]: 66 from the Gurjara Kingdom.

However, when Govinda inevitably died in 814, the Rashtrakuta terror was finally over. Nagabhata was careful not to waste any time at all. In 816, Nagabhata II invaded the Doab again, and defeated king Chakrayudha and proclaimed himself the King of Kannauj, establishing Kannauj as the Pratiharan capital,^[6][5][4] and marking the end of Ayudha control over the throne of Kannauj. Dharmapala prepared for the inevitable and Nagabhata, along with his vassals — Kakka of the Jodhpur Pratihara family, Vahukadhavala, the Chalukya chief of southern Kathiawar and the Guhilot Sankaragana, began the final invasion of Bengal. In the Battle of Monghyr, Nagabhata's forces soundly defeated those of Dharmapala, finally resulting in a Pratiharan victory,^[18] and marking the end of the decades-long tripartite struggle. Nagabhata also assumed the title Paramabhattaraka (All-Powerful) after his victory.^[19][20]

• Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra (1977) [1952], Ancient India (Reprinted ed.), Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 9788120804364