The district of Kaimur formed a part of the mighty Magadh Empire from 6th century B.C. to 5th century A.D., under the Mauryan and Gupta rulers of Magadh. In the 7th century A.D., this district came under the control of Harshawardhan, the ruler of Kannouj. An inscription in the Mundeshwari temple near Bhabua refers to the king Udaysena as the ruling chief of the area. The Seal of king Sasanka of Guada in Bengal is inscribed at Rohtasgarh in the district of Rohtas. The famous Chinese pilgrim Huen- tang, who journeyed through the country in the 7th century A.D., passed through Arrah, the headquarter of the old Shahabad district through this region of newly formed Kaimur district. The area of the district successively came under the rulers of Shail dynasty of central India and Pal dynasty of Bengal. According to C. Mark, a historian, the first ruler of Pal dynasty controlled this region. Later on Chandauli controlled Varanasi-Chandawali and also the Kaimur district in the 12th century, as confirmed by the Tarachandi inscription near Sasaram. After the fall of the Guptas the district in all probability relapsed into the hands of the aboriginal tribes and came under the control of petty chieftains. The Rajputs who came from Ujjain, and the province of Mallwa had a series of conflicts with the aboriginals and it took them many hundred years to subdue the aboriginals completely. The Census report of 1961 describes that when Bakhtiar Khiliji attacked on Bihar in 1193 A.D., he found Shahabad in the hands of petty Rajput chiefs often fighting among themselves. They were not united and strong enough to offer powerful resistance to the Muslim invaders. Hence Bakhtiyar Khiliji had an easy victory over them and the district soon became a part of his kingdom. Later it was annexed, along with the rest of Bihar, to the kingdom of Jaunpur. A hundred year later, it passed under the direct control of the Muslim empire of Delhi.