and Ganjam, and from the description of Xuanzang his empire comprised the 'most fertile and richest provinces of India' which includes the area of Punjab and Bengal. Hindu Shahis (c. 820–1030 CE) In the 9th century, the Hindu Shahi dynasty, with their origins disputed between the region of Oddiyana and with roots as Punjabi Brahmins, replaced the Taank kingdom in the Western Punjab, ruling Western Punjab along with eastern Afghanistan. The tribe of the Gakhars/Khokhars, formed a large part of the Hindu Shahi army according to the Persian historian Firishta. The most notable rulers of the empire were Lalliya, Bhimadeva and Jayapala who were accredited for military victories. Lalliya had reclaimed the territory at and around Kabul between 879 and 901 CE after it had been lost under his predecessor to the Saffarid dynasty. He was described as a fearsome Shahi. Two of his ministers reconstructed by Rahman as Toramana and Asata are said to of have taken advantage of Amr al-Layth's preoccupation with rebellions in Khorasan, by successfully raiding Ghazna around 900 CE. After a defeat in Eastern Afghanistan suffered on the Shahi ally Lawik, Bhimadeva mounted a combined attack around 963 CE. Abu Ishaq Ibrahim was expelled from Ghazna and Shahi-Lawik strongholds were restored in Kabul and adjacent areas. This victory appears to have been commemorated in the Hund Slab Inscription (HSI). Tomar and Katoch dynasties (c. 900–1150 CE) After the Ghaznavids conquest of the Hindu Shahis which led to the annexation of Western Punjab into their empire in the 11th century CE, two Punjab dynasties who ruled the territory in the East, the Katoch dynasty based in the region from Himachal Pradesh to Jalandhar and the Tomara dynasty based in the regions of modern day Haryana, Delhi and East Punjab, became heavily involved in conflicts with the Ghaznavids. According to the Dutch sanskritist J. Ph. Vogel, in 1043 CE, the Raja of the Tomaras conquered the occupied cities of Hansi,Thanesar and other places held by Ghaznavid garrisons under Mawdud of Ghazni, before sucessfully besieging the once captured Nagarkot fort, located in the Kangra district of modern day Himachal Pradesh, Eastern Punjab. He further states that Mahmud of Ghazni's, son Abd al-Rashid, captured the fort in c. 1052 CE but the Kangra rajas led an expedition which successfully recaptured the Kangra fort in 1060 CE, he then concludes that for the next 300 years it would remain in