The dynasty controlled the area from the 9th to 10th centuries, coming into existence in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent under Avantivarman in 855 CE.

[7][8][a] He depended on a variety of material including earlier historical works, dynastic genealogies, inscriptions, coins and Puranas.

[8][11][12][13][9][14][15] Nonetheless, historical accuracy increases drastically from the fourth book onward, starting with the narration of Karkota dynasty; the book—typically the critical edition by Aurel Stein—has been heavily cited to reconstruct Kashmiri history.

[3] Following the death of Cippatajayapida, the last significant king of the Karkota dynasty, around 840 CE, a bitter power struggle erupted between his uncles.

The war between Padma, Utpala, Kalyana, Mamma, and Dharma to seize control of the empire grew increasingly bloody and the line of succession unclear.

In the meantime, puppet kings were propped up and discarded, hailing from the Karkota lineage but failing to exert sufficient authority or establish stability.

[17][23] New revenue offices were created and an elaborate taxation scheme was devised, which led to the employment of numerous Kayasthas in royal service.

[17] His ministers guarded-back the corpse to Kashmir, where last respects were conferred and funeral rites organized; some of his queens and servants died by Sati.

[17] Gopalavarman was installed as the new king, with John Nemec noting that the labyrinthine series of coups to start with him would be worthy of a Mahabharata-like epic.

[17] Gopalavarman led a famed expedition against a rebel Hindu Shahi king of Udabhanda c. 903 and bestowed the spoils on a "Toramana-Kamaluka.

[17] In 917, Kalhana mentions of a flood which subsequently led to a cataclysmic famine; the ministers along with Tantrins made profits by selling hoarded rice at high prices.

[17] A new revolution by the Tantrins then installed Suravarman I; he ruled for about a year before being compelled to abdicate the throne, after failing to raise the demanded bribes.

[17] In the meanwhile, Cakravarman forged an alliance with the Damaras (led by Samgrama) in exile and their combined forces took on Sambhuvardhana in the spring of 936 near Padmapura—modern-day Pampore.

[17] Samkaravardhana, who served as the war-commander for the tantrins was slain by Cakravarman himself, in what Kalhana described as a moment of impeccable valor and significance, as the rest were now easily routed.

[17][27] Particular criticism is reserved for his' granting an audience to Ranga, a famed singer from the lowly Domba caste; her daughters Hamsi and Nagalata are alleged to have ensnared the king in the process.

[17][28][29] Hamsi soon became the chief-queen and began to control the affairs of state by installing fellow Dombas (and people who were subservient to them) at important offices: they became the king's closest friends and their oral commands were as powerful as royal decrees.

[17] Cakravarman's Domba counsel allegedly even made him rape a Brahmin wife during her ritualistic fast, on the pretext of atoning his sins for having engaged in sexual relations with out-caste women.

[17] In the summer of 937, a group of Damara guards attacked Cakravarman in a privy at night and chased him into Hamsi's sleeping-chamber; Cakravarman—failing to locate any weapon—met with his end, in her embrace.

[17] In a regime marked by wanton violence, ridiculousness, and oppression, he was effectively controlled by a minister named Parvagupta, who desired for the throne.

[17] He died of a chronic disease in 939, suffering immense pain; before his death, he had Suravarman II (who was falsely proclaimed by the servants of his seraglio to be his own son) crowned.

[17] Suravarman II reigned for hardly a few days, before being ousted by his commander-in-chief Kamalvardhana, who had declared rebellion from his base in Madavarajya against the Damras (and by extension, the Utpalas).

[17] Kamalvardhana convened an assembly of Brahmins to appoint the next ruler, who rejected his self-nomination as well as a request from Suravarman II's mother.