Rashtrakuta Empire

The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal Indian polity that ruled large parts of the Indian subcontinent between the sixth and tenth centuries, with the earliest documented evidence of its rule found in a seventh-century copper plate grant describing its authority from Manapur in central or western India. The dynasty, previously vassals of the Badami Chalukyas, rose to independent power around 753 AD when Dantidurga overthrew his overlords and established a realm centered on the Gulbarga region of modern Karnataka, and a ninth-century Arabic text, the Silsilat al-Tawarikh, named the Rashtrakutas one of the four principal empires of the world. At its zenith the empire stretched from the Gangetic plains in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, a period marked by substantial political expansion, architectural achievement and literary patronage, before ending on 20 March 982 AD.