Karkota dynasty in the context of "Vihara"

The Turk Shahis were a dynasty of Western Turk, or mixed Turco-Hephthalite origin, that ruled from Kabul and Kapisa to Gandhara in the 7th to 9th centuries AD. They may have been of Khalaj ethnicity. The Gandhara territory may have been bordering the Kashmir kingdom to the east. From the 560s, the Western Turks had gradually expanded southeasterward from Transoxonia, and occupied Bactria and the Hindu Kush region, forming largely independent polities. The Turk Shahis may have been a political extension of the neighbouring Western Turk Yabghus of Tokharistan. In the Hindu Kush region, they replaced the Nezak Huns – the last dynasty of Bactrian rulers with origins among the Xwn (Xionite) and/or Huna peoples (who are sometimes also referred to as "Huns" who invaded Eastern Europe during a similar period).

The Turk Shahis arose at a time when the Sasanian Empire had already been conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate. The Turk Shahis then resisted for more than 250 years the eastward expansion of the Abbasid Caliphate, until they fell to the Persian Saffarids in the 9th century AD. The Ghaznavids then finally broke through into India after overpowering the declining subsequent Hindu Shahis and Gurjaras.

Sankaravarman (died 2/3 February 902) was a ruler of the Utpala dynasty, a Kashmiri Hindu dynasty, which ruled over the Kashmir region of northern India from 8th to 10th century CE. The kingdom was established by Avantivarman, who ended the rule of Karkota dynasty in 855 CE.

Following the death of Avantivarman in 883 CE, a civil war broke out among his descendants resulting in Sankaravarman ruling from 883 CE until his death in 902 CE.

The Utpala Dynasty was a medieval Kashmiri Hindu dynasty that ruled over Kashmir from the 9th to 10th centuries. Founded by Avantivarman in 855, it replaced the Karkota dynasty. It came into existence in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent. The cities of Avantipur (Awantipora) and Suyapur (Sopore) were founded during the reign, and many Hindu temples dedicated to both Vishnu and Shiva, and Buddhist monasteries were built, notable of which is the Avantiswara and Avantiswami temples.