Pala Dynasty under Dharmapala: Rule and Expansion (9th Century)

Name: Pala Dynasty under Dharmapala: Rule and Expansion (9th Century)
Start: 780
End: 810

Type Event Region South Asia Time 780–810

Dharmapala, one of the most powerful Pala rulers of the early 9th century, patronized Buddhism and expanded into North India, contesting Kannauj with…

Timeline

780–785Pataliputra (Pala political center) · BiharAfter inheriting the Pala throne, Dharmapala integrated the Bengal and Magadha regions, establishing the dynasty's dominance over the East Indian plains and laying the groundwork for his northward advance.
783–800Vikramashila · BiharDharmapala generously funded traditional Buddhist monasteries such as Nalanda and founded Vikramashila as a center of tantric and Buddhist scholarship, making East India a major seat of Buddhist learning in the 9th century.
790–810Kannauj · Uttar PradeshPala armies repeatedly marched north to contest control of Kannauj, forming a long standoff with the Gurjara-Pratiharas and Rashtrakutas; though they briefly occupied it, they could not hold it, yet this profoundly shaped 9th-century North Indian politics.

Sources

The Cambridge History of India, vol. 3: Turks and Afghans (chapter on early medieval India) (1928)
Encyclopaedia Britannica: Pala dynasty https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pala-dynasty