<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (May 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Nagabhata I (730--756) extended his control east and south from Mandor, conquering Malwa as far as Gwalior and the port of Bharuch in Gujarat . He established his capital at Avanti in Malwa, and checked the expansion of the Arabs, who had established themselves in Sind . In this battle (738 CE) Nagabhata led a confederacy of Gurjara - Pratiharas to defeat the Muslim Arabs who had till then been pressing on victorious through West Asia and Iran . Nagabhata I was followed by two weak successors, who were in turn succeeded by Vatsraja (775--805). </P> <P> The metropolis of Kannauj had suffered a power vacuum following the death of Harsha without an heir, which resulted in the disintegration of the Empire of Harsha . This space was eventually filled by Yashovarman around a century later but his position was dependent upon an alliance with Lalitaditya Muktapida . When Muktapida undermined Yashovarman, a tri-partite struggle for control of the city developed, involving the Pratiharas, whose territory was at that time to the west and north, the Palas of Bengal in the east and the Rashtrakutas, whose base lay at the south in the Deccan . Vatsraja successfully challenged and defeated the Pala ruler Dharmapala and Dantidurga, the Rashtrakuta king, for control of Kannauj . </P> <P> Around 786, the Rashtrakuta ruler Dhruva (c. 780--793) crossed the Narmada River into Malwa, and from there tried to capture Kannauj . Vatsraja was defeated by the Dhruva Dharavarsha of the Rashtrakuta dynasty around 800 . Vatsraja was succeeded by Nagabhata II (805--833), who was initially defeated by the Rashtrakuta ruler Govinda III (793--814), but later recovered Malwa from the Rashtrakutas, conquered Kannauj and the Indo - Gangetic Plain as far as Bihar from the Palas, and again checked the Muslims in the west . He rebuilt the great Shiva temple at Somnath in Gujarat, which had been demolished in an Arab raid from Sindh . Kannauj became the center of the Gurjara - Pratihara state, which covered much of northern India during the peak of their power, c. 836--910 . </P>

Which dynasty stopped the expansion of the pratiharas into the deccan