From the beginning of the seventh century, Rajput dynasties dominate North India, including areas now in Pakistan, and the many petty Rajput kingdoms become the primary obstacle to the complete Muslim conquest of Hindu India.

In the 1020s, the Rajput rulers of Gwalior and Kalinjar raise a successful defense against the attacks of Mahmud of Ghazni although both the cities pay tribute to Mahmud.

Hereafter, in the late twelfth century Muhammad of Ghor attempts to invade Gujarat but is defeated by the Solanki dynasty of Rajputs.

The Rajput kingdoms are disparate: loyalty to a clan is more important than allegiance to the wider Rajput social grouping, meaning that one clan will fight another.

This and the internecine jostling for position that takes place when a clan leader (raja) dies mean that Rajput politics are fluid and prevent the formation of a coherent Rajput empire.

Even after the Muslim conquest of the eastern regions of Punjab and the Ganges River valley, the Rajputs maintai their independence in Rajasthan and the forests of central India.

Later, Sultan Alauddin Khilji of the Khilji dynasty takes the two Rajput forts of Chittor and Ranthambhor in eastern Rajasthan in the foureteenth century but cannot hold them for long.

Subsequently, the Rajput Mewar Kingdom under Rana Sanga comse to be a contender for supremacy in India but is defeated by the Mughal emperor Babur at Battle of Khanwa in 1527.After the mid-sixteenth century, many Rajput rulers form close relationships with the Mughal emperors and serve them in different capacities Some Rajput nobles marry their daughters to Mughal emperors for political motives.

Later, the Rajputs come under influence of the Maratha Empire.

By the late eighteenth century, the Rajput rulers begin negotiations with the East India Company and by 1818 all the Rajput states have formed an alliance with the company.