 The Elichpur clan was a feudatory of the Badami Chalukyas , and during the rule of Dantidurga , it overthrew Chalukya Kirtivarman II and went on to build an empire with the Gulbarga region in modern Karnataka as its base . This clan came to be known as the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta , rising to power in South India in 753 . At the same time the Pala dynasty of Bengal and the Prathihara dynasty of Malwa were gaining force in eastern and northwestern India respectively . An Arabic text , Silsilat al @-@ Tawarikh ( 851 ) , called the Rashtrakutas one of the four principal empires of the world . 
