The Tripartite struggle happened among the Palas, the Pratiharas and the _______.

Correct — A. The tripartite struggle was a three-cornered contest for Kannauj, fought through the eighth and ninth centuries by the Palas of Bengal and Bihar, the Gurjara-Pratiharas of western India and the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan.

Kannauj was the prize because holding it meant holding the upper Ganga plain, and because it had been Harsha's capital.

The Rashtrakutas struck north across the Narmada and beat both rivals more than once, but it was the Pratiharas who finally kept the city.

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  Maukharis — The Maukharis held Kannauj two centuries earlier, in the sixth and seventh centuries, and their line ended with Grahavarman, after which Harsha united the two kingdoms. They were gone before this contest began.
• (c)
  Chandelas — The Chandelas were a Bundelkhand power remembered for the Khajuraho temples, and they rose after this contest. They were not one of the three contenders for Kannauj.
• (d)
  Chalukyas — The Chalukyas of Badami were the Deccan power that the Rashtrakutas displaced under Dantidurga. It is the Rashtrakutas who then carried the Deccan into the fight for Kannauj.

By the eighth century the political centre of north India was Kannauj, and three regional powers converged on it.

The Palas under Dharmapala pushed west from Bengal. The Gurjara-Pratiharas under Vatsaraja and then Nagabhata II pushed east from Rajasthan and Malwa. The Rashtrakutas under Dhruva and Govinda III came up from the Deccan.

The Rashtrakuta raids broke the other two in turn but never became occupation, because the Deccan base pulled them home. The Pratiharas ended up holding Kannauj and made it their capital.

Key facts

• The tripartite struggle was fought by the Palas, the Gurjara-Pratiharas and the Rashtrakutas for control of Kannauj.
• Dharmapala led the Palas, Vatsaraja and Nagabhata II the Pratiharas, and Dhruva and Govinda III the Rashtrakutas.
• The Pratiharas finally held Kannauj and made it their capital.
• The Rashtrakutas ruled from the Deccan and built the Kailasa temple at Ellora under Krishna I.

Common traps

• Naming the Chalukyas as the third power because they too ruled in the Deccan.
• Putting the Maukharis in the contest because they are also associated with Kannauj.

No directly related past PYQ was found.