Anandapala

The last great king in the Pratihara
dynasty, which ruled large sections of the
northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent between the eighth and eleventh
centuries. In 1001 C.E., Anandapala
assembled a coalition of Hindu princes
to do battle with Mahmud of Ghazni in a
desperate attempt to halt the latter’s
expansion. Anandapala and his allies
were annihilated in a battle near
Peshawar in modern Pakistan, and the
Pratihara dynasty’s power was completely
destroyed. With this powerful dynasty
out of the way, there was no political
force in northern India strong enough to
stop Mahmud. He began making annual
raids into India.