Full text of "History of India"

THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

RIVERSIDE

Benares, the Sacred City of India

Benares, with its carved and golden temples, its myriad minarets, and
its hallo-wed ivaters of the Ganges, is the Holy City of India, the Eternal
Rome of the Brahmans, and the Mecca of the Hindus. To bathe in the
Ganges is to wash away one's sins, as in the River Jordan, and to die
on its bank is to attain hcarcn. Thousands of pilgrims travel from every
part of India to be blessed in the Golden Temple of Benares and to be
sprinkled with the consecrated water of its *\Vell of Knowledge. It is
easy, therefore, to understand how important a part Benares has played
throughout all periods of India's history.

I STORY
of INDIA

Edited b],

A. V. WILLIAMS JACKSON, Ph.D., LL.D.

Profeoor of (ado-Iranian Language* in Columbia University

VOLUME II

From the Sixth Century B. C. to the Mohammedan

Conquest, Including the Invasion of

Alexander the Great

VINCENT A. SMITH, M.A., M.R.A.S., F.R.N.S.

Late of the Indian Civil Service, Author of " Asolta. the Buddhk
Emperor of India "

Edition Nattonalf

Limited to One Thousand Copies
for England and America

EMnborn Jlrras

PREFACE BY THE EDITOR

This volume covers the interesting period from the
century in which Buddha appeared down to the first cen-
turies after the Mohammedans entered India, or, roughly
speaking, from 600 B. c. to 1200 A. D. During this long
era India, now Aryanized, was brought into closer con-
tact with the outer world. The invasion of Alexander
the Great gave her at least a touch of the West; the
spread of Buddhism and the growth of trade created
new relations with China and Central Asia; and, toward
the close of the period, the great movements which had
their origin in Arabia brought her under the influences
which affected the East historically after the rise of
Islam.

In no previous work will the reader find so thor-
ough and so comprehensive a description as Mr. Vincent
Smith has given of Alexander's inroad into India and
of his exploits which stirred, even if they did not deeply
move, the soul of India; nor has there existed hitherto
so full an account of the great rulers, Chandragupta,
Asoka, and Harsha, each of whom made famous the age
in which he lived. The value of the book is further

ii PREFACE

enhanced by a historical sketch of the mediaeval king-
doms of the North and the Deccan and by a brief outline
of the history of Southern Hindustan, a section to which
attention should be devoted by the historian who wishes
fully to understand India's present condition as well
as her past. Throughout the work the author has taken
advantage of every available source, whether literary,
traditional, archaeological, monumental, epigraphic, or
numismatic, including also the narratives of the early
Chinese pilgrims who visited India and whose narra-
tives yield important historic results.

The plan of the series has necessitated certain
changes from the original edition of the author's work
so as to bring the volume into closer accord with the
others of this History; to these alterations Mr. Smith,
like the other writers, has courteously consented, a con-
cession which I, as editor, desire to acknowledge with
appreciation. It was necessary, for example, to omit
the foot-notes and marginal references, one or two maps,
and some of the longer appendices that were of a strictly
technical character, in order to bring the volume within
the compass required. In no case, I believe, has any-
thing been eliminated that was essential to the main
theme, namely, the continuous story of India's develop-
ment during the period indicated. The reader who may
desire to pursue the subject further and devote attention
more specifically to minute details will consult Mr.
Smith's larger volume, which abounds in references.

In choosing the illustrations for the history of this
period, as of the others, much care has been taken and

PEEFACE iii

an endeavour has been made to add to the existing
material by including photographs from my own col-
lection made in India. Other persons also have kindly
aided in carrying out this part of the plan as designed,
by granting permission to reproduce pictures which
were their special property.

Among the obligations which both the publishers
and myself most cordially recognize is an indebtedness
to Mr. Holland Thompson, A. M., Instructor in History
in the College of the City of New York, who rendered
generous assistance in connection with the preparation
of the text to conform with the needs of the series, and
for aid in making the index.

With these words I present the volume, recalling
the reader once more from the present to the past, to
the early ages of India before and after the Christian
era.

A. V. WILLIAMS JACKSON.

CONTENTS

CHAPTEB PAI.F.

I. INTRODUCTION 1

II. THE DYNASTIES BEFORE ALEXANDER 22

III. ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN : THE ADVANCE ... 42

IV. ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN : THE RETREAT ... 75
V. CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA AND BINDUSARA .... 103

VI. ASOKA MAURYA 130

VII. ASOKA MAURYA AND His SUCCESSORS 153

VIII. THE SUNGA, KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES . . . 178
IX. THE INDO- GREEK AND INDO- PARTHIAN DYNASTIES . . 197
X. THE KUSHAN OR INDO -SCYTHIAN DYNASTY .... 219
XI. THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WESTERN SATRAPS : CHANDRA-
GUPTA I TO KUMARAGUPTA I 247

XII. THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WHITE HUNS .... 275

XIII. THE REIGN OF HARSHA 293

XIV. THE MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH . . . . 321
XV. THE KINGDOMS OF THE DECCAN 349

XVI. THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH 363

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Benares, the Sacred City of India Frontispiece

Frieze from a Buddhist stupa 1

India's sacred lotus 6

Statue of Buddha at Sanchi 12

Piprawa inscribed vase containing relics of Buddha 17

The Jain temple, Mount Abu, Dilwara 24

Buddhist tope and Jain temple at Sarnath near Benares .... 24

Temple of the sacred Bo-tree at Bodh Gaya ....... 26

Great chaitya or tope of Sanchi 28

King Ajatasatru comes to confession to Buddha 30

Portion of rail at Bharahat, as first uncovered. 32

Low caste Hindu woman, Bhil type 37

Pilgrims and beggars at the Well of Knowledge, Benares .... 39

The Indus near Attock 53

An old Hindu fort 56

Rope bridge across the flooded Jihlam 58

Indian shields 62

Burial of Alexander's favourite horse Bucephalus 68

Detail from an Ajanta cave painting 74

Ancient Hindu ship 78

Indian archer 85

Frieze from a Buddhist stupa 103

Indian foot-soldiers 115

An Indian charger fully caparisoned 124

Old astronomical observatory at Ujjain 131

Birthplace of Buddha 136

Tope at Sarnath, near Benares 137

Pillar of Asoka at Allahabad 139

Bharahat sculpture of a Buddhist stupa 143

Bas-relief on left-hand pillar, northern gateway of the rail at Sanchi . 145

Assyrian honeysuckle ornament from capital of Lat, at Allahabad . . 152

vii

viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Buddhist wheel of the law of piety, Dharraa-Chakra 154

Exterior of Ajanta cave 158

Interior view of Ajanta cave 161

Animal hospital 165

Entrance to Kuril cave 173

Buddhist sculptures 178

Tower of Victory, Chi tor 179

Horse-sacrifice 181

River Sipra at Ujjain 193

Coin of the Indo-Greek king, Menander 204

Copper coin of Kadphises, Kushan Dynasty 225

Fort Jamrud, Peshawar 230

Naga people worshipping the trisul emblem of Buddha, on a fiery pillar . 235

External elevation of great rail at Amaravati 237

Indian Palms 245

View of Botanical Gardens, Calcutta 255

Temple at Bodh Gaya with Bo-tree 257

Iron pillar of Delhi 261

Hilltop pagoda 262

Buddhist sculpture on the Bharahat stupa, showing the erection of the Jeta-

vana monastery 269

The god Brahma 271

Scene near Bodh Gaya 273

Buddhist sculpture 275

Bathing-place at Ujjain 279

Brahman Priests at Secundra, India 280

Gwalior, from Morar 288

Empire of Harsha, King of Northern India 295

Great Temple, Madura 298

King Harsha's autograph on the Banskhera Inscription 305

The sacred Bo-tree 308

Surya, the sun 318

An Indian Scene 325

Sas Bahu Temple, Gwalior 331

The Fort, Gwalior 333

Temple of Mahadeva, Kajuraho 337

Ruins of the Temple of Bhojpur 342

View of Saswar, in the Deccan, southeast of Poona 348

Glimpse of Hyderabad 350

Pulikesin II receives the envoys from the Persian king, Khusru II . . 352

The god Krishna 355

Temple of Kailasa, Ellora 356

Siva Puja, or worship of Siva , 358

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix

PAGE

Detail from an Ajanta cave painting 362

Specimen of Southern Indian temple sculpture 363

Water-lilies in Botanic Garden, Madras 373

View of Great Temple, Bhuvaneswar 377

The Ganesa-Ratha at Mamallaipuram 384

Pavilion, Little Conjevaram ... 388

FRIEZB FROM A BUDDHIST 6TUPA.

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

r I1HE researches of a multitude of scholars work-
-L ing in various fields have disclosed an unexpected
wealth of materials for the reconstruction of ancient
Indian history, and the necessary preliminary studies
of a technical kind have been carried so far that the
moment seems to have arrived for taking stock of the
accumulated stores of knowledge. It now appears to be
practicable to exhibit the results of antiquarian studies
in the shape of a " connected relation " not less in-
telligible to the ordinary educated reader than Elphin-
stone's narrative of the transactions of the Moham-
medan period.

The first attempt to present such a narrative of the
leading events in Indian political history for eighteen
centuries is made in this book, which is designedly con-
fined almost exclusively to the relation of political vicis-
situdes. A sound framework of dynastic annals must
be provided before the story of Indian literature and
art can be told aright. Although literary and artistic

2 INTRODUCTION

problems are touched on very lightly in this volume,
the references made will suffice, perhaps, to convince the
reader that the key is often to be found in the accurate
chronological presentation of dynastic facts.

European students, whose attention has been di-
rected almost exclusively to the Graeco-Roman founda-
tion of modern civilization, may be disposed to agree
with the German philosopher in the belief that " Chi-
nese, Indian, and Egyptian antiquities are never more
than curiosities; ' but, however well founded that
opinion may have been in Goethe 's day, it can no longer
command assent. The researches of Orientalists during
the last hundred years have established many points
of contact between the ancient East and the modern
West, and no Hellenist can now afford to profess com-
plete ignorance of the Babylonian and Egyptian culture
which forms the bed-rock of European institutions.
Even China has been brought into touch with Europe,
while the languages, literature, art, and philosophy of
the West have been proved to be connected by innu-
merable bonds with those of India. Although the
names of even the greatest monarchs of ancient India
are at present unfamiliar to the general reader, and
awaken few echoes in the minds of any save specialists,
it is not unreasonable to hope that an orderly presenta-
tion of the ascertained facts of ancient Indian history
may be of interest to a larger circle than that of pro-
fessed Orientalists, and that, as the subject becomes
more familiar to the reading public, it will be found no
less worthy of attention than more familiar departments

THE AUTHOR'S AIM 3

of historical study. A recent Indian author justly
observes that " India suffers to-day in the estimation
of the world more through the world's ignorance of
the achievements of the heroes of Indian history than
through the absence or insignificance of such achieve-
ments." The following pages may serve to prove that
the men of old time in India did deeds worthy of re-
membrance and deserving of rescue from the oblivion
in which they have been buried for so many centuries.

The section of this work which deals with the in-
vasion of Alexander the Great may claim to make a
special appeal to the interest of readers trained in the
ordinary course of classical studies, and the subject
has been treated accordingly with much fulness of
detail. The existing English accounts of Alexander's
marvellous campaign treat the story rather as an ap-
pendix to the history of Greece than as part of that
of India, and fail to make full use of the results of the
labours of modern geographers and archaeologists. In
this volume the campaign is discussed as a memorable
episode in the history of India, and an endeavour has
been made to collect all the rays of light from recent
investigation and to focus them upon the narratives of
ancient authors.

The author's aim is to present the story of ancient
India, so far as practicable, in the form of a connected
narrative, based upon the most authentic evidence
available; to relate facts, however established, with
impartiality; and to discuss the problems of history
in a judicial spirit. He has striven to realize, h'owever

4 INTRODUCTION

imperfectly, the ideal expressed in the words of
Goethe:

" The historian's duty is to separate the true from
the false, the certain from the uncertain, and the doubt-
ful from that which cannot be accepted. . . . Every
investigator must before all things look upon himself
as one who is summoned to serve on a jury. He has
only to consider how far the statement of the case is
complete and clearly set forth by the evidence. Then he
draws his conclusion and gives his vote, whether it
be that his opinion coincides with that of the foreman
or not."

The application of these principles necessarily in-
volves the wholesale rejection of mere legend as dis-
tinguished from tradition, and the omission of many
picturesque anecdotes, mostly folk-lore, which have
clustered round the names of the mighty men of old
in India.

The historian of the remote past of any nation must
be content to rely much upon tradition as embodied in
literature, and to acknowledge that the results of his
researches, when based upon traditionary materials,
are inferior in certainty to those obtainable for periods
of which the facts are attested by contemporary evi-
dence. In India, with very few exceptions, contem-
porary evidence of any kind is not available before
the time of Alexander; but critical examination of
records dated much later than the events referred to
can extract from them testimony which may be re-
garded with a high degree of probability as tradition-

UNITY OF INDIA 5

ally transmitted from the sixth or perhaps the seventh
century B. c.

Even contemporary evidence, when it is available
for later periods, cannot be accepted without criticism.
The flattery of courtiers, the vanity of kings, and many
other clouds which obscure the absolute truth, must
be recognized and allowed for. Nor is it possible for the
writer of a history, however great may be his respect
for the objective fact, to eliminate altogether his own
personality. Every kind of evidence, even the most
direct, must reach the reader, when in narrative form,
as a reflection from the mirror of the writer's mind,
with the liability to unconscious distortion. In the fol-
lowing pages the author has endeavoured to exclude the
subjective element so far as possible, and to make no
statement of fact without authority.

But no obligation to follow authority in the other
sense of the word has been recognized, and the narrative
often assumes a form which appears to be justified by
the evidence, although opposed to the views stated in
well-known books by authors of repute. Indian his-
tory has been too much the sport of credulity and hy-
pothesis, inadequately checked by critical judgment of
evidence or verification of fact, and " the opinion of
the foreman," to use Goethe's phrase, cannot be im-
plicitly followed.

Although this work purports to relate the early
history of India, the title must be understood with cer-
tain limitations. India, encircled as she is by seas and
mountains, is indisputably a geographical unit, and, as

6 INTRODUCTION

such, is rightly designated by one name. Her type of
civilization, too, has many features which differentiate
it from that of all other regions of the world, while they
are common to the whole country, or rather continent,
in a degree sufficient to justify its treatment as a unit

INDIA'S SACRED LOTUS.
From stereograph, copyright 1903, by Underwood & Underwood, New York.

in the history of human, social, and intellectual develop-
ment.

But the complete political unity of India under the
control of a paramount power, wielding unquestioned
authority, is a thing of yesterday, barely a century old.
The most notable of her rulers in the olden time cher-

SCOPE OF THE WOKK 7

ished the ambition of universal Indian dominion, and
severally attained it in a greater or less degree. But not
one of them attained it completely, and this failure
implies a lack of unity in political history which renders
the task of the historian difficult.

The same difficulty besets the historian of Greece still
more pressingly; but, in that case, with the attainment
of unity, the interest of the history vanishes. In the
case of India the converse proposition holds good, and
the reader's interest varies directly with the degree
of unity attained, the details of Indian annals being
insufferably wearisome except when generalized by the
application of a bond of political union.

A history of India, if it is to be read, must necessarily
be the story of the predominant dynasties, and either
ignore, or relegate to a very subordinate position, the
annals of the minor states. Elphinstone acted upon
this principle in his classic work, and practically con-
fined his narrative to the transactions of the Sultans of
Delhi and their Mogul successors. The same principle
has been applied in this book, and attention has been
concentrated upon the dominant dynasties which, from
time to time, have attained or aspired to paramount
power.

Twice in the long series of centuries dealt with in
this history, the political unity of all India was nearly
attained: first, in the third century B. c., when Asoka's
empire extended to the latitude of Madras; and again,
in the fourth century A. D., when Samudragupta carried
his victorious arms from the Ganges to the extremity

8 INTRODUCTION

of the Peninsula. Other princes, although their con-
quests were less extensive, yet succeeded in establish-
ing, and for a time maintaining, empires which might
fairly claim to rank as paramount powers. With the
history of such princes the following narrative is
chiefly concerned, and the affairs of the minor states are
either slightly noticed or altogether ignored.

The paramount power in early times, when it existed,
invariably had its seat in Northern India the region
of the Ganges plain lying to the north of the great
barrier of jungle-clad hills which shut off the Deccan
from Hindustan. That barrier may be defined con-
veniently as consisting of the Vindhya ranges, or may
be identified, still more compendiously, with the river
Narmada, or Nerbudda, which falls into the Gulf of
Cambay.

The ancient kingdoms of the south, although rich and
populous, inhabited by Dravidian nations not inferior in
culture to their Aryan rivals in the north, were ordi-
narily so secluded from the rest of the civilized world,
including Northern India, that their affairs remained
hidden from the eyes of other nations, and, native
annalists being lacking, their history, previous to the
year 1000 of the Christian era, has almost wholly
perished. Except on the rare occasions when an un-
usually enterprising sovereign of the north either pene-
trated or turned the forest barrier, and for a moment
lifted the veil of secrecy in which the southern poten-
tates lived enwrapped, very little is known concerning
political events in the south during the long period

SOURCES OF INDIAN HISTORY 9

extending from 600 B. c. to 1000 A. D. To use the words
of Elphinstone, no " connected relation of the national
transactions ' of Southern India in early times can
be written, and an early history of India must, per-
force, be concerned mainly with the north.

The time dealt with is that extending from the begin-
ning of the historical period in 600 B. c. to the Moham-
medan conquest, which may be dated in round numbers
as having occurred in 1200 A. D. in the north, and a cen-
tury later in the south. The earliest political event in
India to which an approximately correct date can be
assigned is the establishment of the Saisunaga dynasty
of Magadha about 600 B. c.

The sources of, or original authorities for, the early
history of India may be arranged in four classes. The
first of these is tradition, chiefly as recorded in native
literature; the second consists of those writings of
foreign travellers and historians which contain obser-
vations on Indian subjects; the third is the evidence
of archeology, which may be subdivided into the monu-
mental, the epigraphic, and the numismatic; and the
fourth comprises the few works of native contempo-
rary literature which deal expressly with historical
subjects.

For the period anterior to Alexander the Great, ex-
tending from 600 B. c. to 326 B. c., dependence must be
placed almost wholly upon literary tradition, communi-
cated through works composed in many different ages,
and frequently recorded in scattered, incidental notices.
The purely Indian traditions are supplemented by the

10 INTRODUCTION

notes of the Greek authors, Ktesias, Herodotus, the
historians of Alexander, and Megasthenes.

The Kashmir chronicle, composed in the twelfth cen-
tury, which is in form the nearest approach to a work
of regular history in extant Sanskrit literature, contains
a large body of confused ancient traditions, which can
be used only with much caution. It is also of high
value as a trustworthy record of local events for the
period contemporary with, or slightly preceding, the
author's lifetime.

The great Sanskrit epics, the Mahabharata and the
Ramayana, while of value as traditional pictures of
social life in the heroic age, do not seem to contain
matter illustrating the political relations of states dur-
ing the historical period.

Sanskrit specialists have extracted from the works
of grammarians and other authors many incidental
references to ancient tradition, which collectively
amount to a considerable addition to historical knowl-
edge. These passages from Sanskrit literature, so far
as they have come to my notice, have been utilized in
this work, but some references may have escaped
attention.

The sacred books of the Jain sect, which are still
very imperfectly known, also contain numerous histori-
cal statements and allusions of considerable value.

The Jatakas, or Birth stories, and other books of the
Buddhist canon include many incidental references to
the political condition of India in the fifth and sixth
centuries B. c., which, although not exactly contempo-

THE PURAJtfAS 11

raiy with the events alluded to, certainly transmit
genuine historical tradition.

The chronicles of Ceylon in the Pali language, of
which the Dipavamsa, dating probably from the fourth
century A. D., and the Mahavamsa are the best known,
offer several discrepant versions of early Indian tradi-
tions, chiefly concerning the Maurya dynasty. These
Sinhalese stories, the value of which has been sometimes
overestimated, demand cautious criticism at least as
much as do other records of popular and ecclesiastical
tradition.

The most systematic record of Indian historical tradi-
tion is that preserved in the dynastic lists of the Pura-
nas. Five out of the eighteen works of this class,
namely, the Vayu, Matsya, Vishnu, Brahmanda, and
Bhagavata, contain such lists. The Brahmanda and
Bhagavata Puranas being comparatively late works, the
lists in them are corrupt, imperfect, and of slight value.
But those in the oldest documents, the Vayu, Matsya,
and Vishnu, are full, and evidently based upon good
authorities. The latest of these three works, the Vishnu,
is the best known, having been completely translated
into English; but in some cases its evidence is not so
good as that of the Vayu and Matsya. It was composed,
probably, in the fifth or sixth century A. D., and cor-
responds most closely with the theoretical definition that
a Purana should deal with " the five topics of primary
creation, secondary creation, genealogies of gods and
patriarchs, reigns of various Manus, and the histories
of the old dynasties of kings." The Vayu seems to go

INTRODUCTION

back to the middle of the fourth century A. D., and the
Matsya is probably intermediate in date between it and
the Vishnu. The principal Puranas seem to have been
edited in their present form before 500 A. D.

Modern European writers have been inclined to dis-
parage unduly the authority of the Puranic lists, but

closer study finds in them much
genuine and valuable historical
tradition. For instance, the
Vishnu Purana gives the outline
of the history of the Maurya dy-
nasty with a near approach to
accuracy, and the Radcliffe manu-
script of the Matsya is equally
trustworthy for Andhra history.
Proof of the surprising extent to
which coins and inscriptions con-
firm the Matsya list of the Andhra
kings has recently been published.
The earliest foreign notice of
India is that in the inscriptions

of the Persian king Darius, son of Hystaspes, at Perse-
polis and Naksh-i-Bustam, the latter of which may be
referred to the year 486 B. c. Herodotus, who wrote
late in the fifth century, contributes valuable infor-
mation concerning the relation between India and the
Persian empire, which supplements the less detailed
statements of the inscriptions. The fragments of the
works of Ktesias of Knidos, who was physician to
Artaxerxes Mnemon in 401 B. c., and amused himself by

STATUE OF BUDDHA AT 8ANCHI.
From a photograph.

GREEK AND CHINESE SOURCES 13

collecting travellers' tales about the wonders of the
East, are of very slight value.

Europe was practically ignorant of India until the
veil was lifted by Alexander's operations and the re-
ports of his officers. Some twenty years after his death
the Greek ambassadors, sent by the Kings of Syria and
Egypt to the court of the Maurya emperors, recorded
careful observations on the country to which they
were accredited, which have been partially preserved
in the works of many Greek and Roman authors. The
fragments of Megasthenes are especially valuable.

Arrian, a Graeco-Roman official of the second century
A. D., wrote a capital description of India, as well as an
admirable critical history of Alexander's invasion.
Both these works, being based upon the reports of
Ptolemy, son of Lagos, and other officers of Alexander,
and the writings of the Greek ambassadors, are entitled
to a large extent to the credit of contemporary docu-
ments, so far as the Indian history of the fourth cen-
tury B. c. is concerned. The works of Quintus Curtius
and other authors who essayed to tell the story of Alex-
ander's Indian campaign are far inferior in value, but
each has merits of its own.

The Chinese " Father of History," Ssu-ma-ch'ien,
who completed his work about 100 B. c., is the first of a
long series of Chinese historians whose writings throw
much light upon the early annals of India. The accu-
rate chronology of the Chinese authors gives their state-
ments peculiar value.

The long series of Chinese Buddhist pilgrims who

14 INTRODUCTION

continued for several centuries to visit India, which
they regarded as their Holy Land, begins with Fa-
hien (Fa-hsien), who started on his travels in 399
A. D. and returned to China fifteen years later. The
book in which he recorded his journeys has been pre-
served complete, and has been translated once into
French and four times into English. It includes a very
interesting and valuable description of the government
and social condition of the Ganges provinces during the
reign of Chandragupta II, Vikramaditya. Several other
pilgrims left behind them works which contribute some-
thing to the elucidation of Indian history, and their
testimony will be cited in due course.

But the prince of pilgrims, the illustrious Hiuen
Tsang, whose fame as Master of the Law still resounds
through all Buddhist lands, deserves more particular
notice. His travels, described in a work entitled Rec-
ords of the Western World, which has been translated
into French, English, and German, extended from
629 A. D. to 645 or 646, and covered an enormous area,
including almost every part of India, except the ex-
treme south. His book is a treasure-house of accurate
information, indispensable to every student of Indian
antiquity, and has done more than any archaeological
discovery to render possible the remarkable resusci-
tation of lost Indian history which has recently been
effected. Although the chief historical value of Hiuen
Tsang 's work consists in its contemporary description
of political and social institutions, the pilgrim has
increased the debt of gratitude due to his memory by

MOHAMMEDAN WEITERS 15

recording a considerable mass of ancient tradition,
which would have been lost but for his care to pre-
serve it. The Life of Hiuen Tsang, composed by his
friend Hwui-li, contributes many details supplemental
to the narrative in the Travels.

The learned mathematician and astronomer, Albe-
runi, almost the only Mohammedan scholar who has ever
taken the trouble to learn Sanskrit, essentially a lan-
guage of idolatrous unbelievers, when regarded from a
Moslem point of view, entered India in the train of
Mahmud of Ghazni. His work, descriptive of the coun-
try, and entitled " An Enquiry into India " (Tahkik-i-
Hind), which was finished in 1031 A. D., is of high value
as an account of Hindu manners, science, and literature,
but contributes little information which can be utilized
for the purposes of political history.

The visit of the Venetian traveller, Marco Polo, to
Southern India in 1294-5 A. D. comes just within the
limits of this volume.

The Mohammedan historians of India are valuable
authorities for the history of the conquest by the armies
of Islam.

The monumental class of archaeological evidence,
considered by itself and apart from the inscriptions on
the walls of buildings, offers little direct contribution
to the materials for political history, but is of high
illustrative value and greatly helps the student in real-
izing the power and magnificence of some of the ancient
dynasties.

Unquestionably the most copious and important

16 INTRODUCTION

source of early Indian history is the epigraphic, and
the accurate knowledge of many periods of the long-
forgotten past which has now been attained is derived
mainly from the patient study of inscriptions during
the last seventy years. Inscriptions are of many kinds.
Asoka's edicts, or sermons on stone, form a class by
themselves, no other sovereign having imitated his
practice of engraving ethical exhortations on the rocks.
Equally peculiar is the record of two Sanskrit plays on
tables of stone at Ajmir. But the great majority of
inscriptions are commemorative, dedicatory, or dona-
tive. The former two classes comprise a vast variety
of records, extending from the mere signature of a
pilgrim's name to an elaborate panegyrical poem in
the most artificial style of Sanskrit verse, and are for
the most part incised on stone. The donative inscrip-
tions, or grants, on the other hand, are mostly engraved
on plates of copper, the favourite material used for per-
manent records of conveyances.

The south of India is peculiarly rich in inscrip-
tions of almost all kinds, both on stone and copper,
some of which attain extraordinary length. The known
southern inscriptions are believed to number several
thousands, and many must remain for future discovery.
But these records, notwithstanding their abundance,
are inferior in interest to the rarer northern documents,
by reason of their comparatively recent date. No south-
ern inscription earlier than the Christian era is known,
except the Mysore edition of Asoka's Minor Rock
Edicts and the brief dedications of the Bhattiprolu

INSCRIPTIONS AND COINS

caskets; and the records prior to the seventh century
A. D. are very few.

The oldest northern document is probably the Sakya
dedication of the relics of Buddha at Piprawa, which
may date back to about 450 B. c., and the number of
inscriptions anterior to the
Christian era is considera-
ble. Records of the second
and third centuries A. D.,
however, are rare.

The numismatic evi-
dence is more accessible as
a whole than the epi-
graphic. Many classes of
Indian coins have been dis-
cussed in special treatises,
and compelled to yield their
contributions to history.
From the time of Alexan-
der's invasion coins afford
invaluable aid to the re-
searches of the historian in
every period, and for the Bactrian, Indo-Greek, and
Indo-Parthian dynasties they constitute almost the sole
evidence.

The fourth class of materials for, or sources of,
early Indian history, namely, contemporary native
literature of a historical kind, is of very limited extent,
comprising only two works in Sanskrit and a few
poems in Tamil. None of these works is pure history:

PI Pit A WA INSCRIBED VASE CONTAIN-
ING RELICS OF BUDDHA.

Supposed to be the oldest memorial of
Buddha, probably about 450 B. o.

18 INTRODUCTION

they are all of a romantic character, and present the
facts with much embellishment.

The best known composition of this class is that
entitled the " Deeds of Harsha '' (Harsha-Charita),
written by Bana, about 620 A. D., in praise^ of his master
and patron, King Harsha of Thanesar and Kanauj,
which is of high value, both as a depository of ancient
tradition, and as a record of contemporary history, in
spite of obvious faults. A similar work called " The
Deeds of Vikramanka," by Bilhana, a poet of the
twelfth century, is devoted to the eulogy of a powerful
king who ruled a large territory in the south and west
between 1076 and 1126 A. D. The earliest of the Tamil
poems alluded to is believed to date from the sixth
or seventh century A. D. These compositions, which
are panegyrics on famous kings of the south, appear
to contain a good deal of historical matter.

The obstacles which have hitherto prevented the
construction of a continuous narrative of early Indian
history are due not so much to the deficiency of mate-
rial as to the lack of definite chronology. The rough
material is not so scanty as has been supposed. The
data for the reconstruction of the early history of all
nations are very meagre, largely consisting of bare lists
of names, supplemented by vague and often contradic-
tory traditions which pass insensibly into popular
mythology. The historian of ancient India is fairly well
provided with a supply of such lists, traditions, and
mythology, which, of course, require to be treated on
the strict critical principles applied by modern students

INDIAN ERAS 19

to the early histories of both Western and Eastern
nations. The application of those principles is not more
difficult in the case of India than it is in that of Baby-
lonia, Egypt, Greece, or Rome. The real difficulty is
the determination of fixed chronological points. A body
of history must be supported upon a skeleton of chro-
nology, and without chronology history is impossible.

The Indian nations, in so far as they maintained a
record of political events, kept it by methods of their
own, which are difficult to understand, and until
recently were not at all understood. The eras used
to date events not only differ from those used by
other nations, but are very numerous and obscure in
their origin and application. Cunningham's Book of
Indian Eras enumerates more than a score of systems
which have been employed at different times and places
in India for the computation of dates, and his list
might be considerably extended. The successful efforts
of several generations of scholars to recover the for-
gotten history of ancient India have been largely
devoted to a study of the local modes of chronological
computation, and have resulted in the attainment of
accurate knowledge concerning most of the eras used
in inscriptions and other documents. Armed with these
results, it is now possible for a writer on Indian history
to compile a narrative arranged in orderly chronological
sequence, which could not have been thought of forty
years ago.

At that time the only approximately certain date
in the early history of India was that of the accession

20 INTRODUCTION

of Chandragupta Maurya, as determined by his identi-
fication with Sandrakottos, the contemporary of Seleu-
kos Nikator, according to Greek authors. By the sub-
sequent establishment of the synchronism of Chandra-
gupta ? s grandson, Asoka, with Antiochos Theos, grand-
son of Seleukos, and four other Hellenistic princes, the
chronology of the Maurya dynasty was placed upon a
firm basis, and it is no longer open to doubt in its main
outlines.

A great step in advance was gained by Doctor
Fleet's determination of the Gupta era, which had
been the subject of much wild conjecture. His demon-
stration that the year 1 of that era is 319-20 A. D. fixed
the chronological position of a most important dynasty,
and reduced chaos to order. Fa-hien's account of the
civil administration of the Ganges provinces at the
beginning of the fourth century thus became an impor-
tant historical document illustrating the reign of
Chandragupta H, Vikramaditya, one of the greatest
of Indian kings. Most of the difficulties which con-
tinued to embarrass the chronology of the Gupta period,
even after the announcement of Doctor Fleet's dis-
covery in 1887, have been removed by M. Sylvain Levi's
publication of the synchronism of Samudragupta with
King Meghavarna of Ceylon (304 to 332 A.D.).

A connected history of the Andhra dynasty has been
rendered possible by the establishment of synchronisms
between the Andhra kings and the western satraps.

In short, the labours of many scholars have suc-
ceeded in tracing in firm lines the outline of the history

SOUTHERN INDIAN CHRONOLOGY 21

of Northern India from the beginning of the historical
period to the Mohammedan conquest, with one impor-
tant exception, that of the Kushan, or Indo-Scythian,
period, the date of which is still open to discussion.
The system of Kushan chronology adopted in this
volume has much to recommend it, and is sufficiently
supported to serve as a good working hypothesis. If
it should ultimately commend itself to general accept-
ance, the whole scheme of North Indian chronology
may be considered as settled, although many details
will remain to be filled in.

Much progress has been made in the determination
of the chronology of the southern dynasties, and the
dates of the Pallavas, a dynasty the very existence
of which was unknown until 1840, have been worked
out with special success.

CHAPTER H

THE DYNASTIES BEFORE ALEXANDER
600 B. C. TO 326 B. C.

THE political history of India begins for an orthodox
Hindu more than three thousand years before the
Christian era with the famous war waged on the banks
of the Jumna, between the sons of Kuru and the sons
of Pandu, as related in the vast epic known as the
Mahabharata. But the modern critic fails to find
sober history in bardic tales, and is constrained to
travel much farther before he comes to an anchorage of
solid fact.

That line which separates the dated from the un-
dated, in the case of India, may be drawn through the
middle of the seventh century B. c., a period of prog-
ress, marked by the development of maritime com-
merce and the diffusion of a knowledge of the art of
writing. Up to about that time the inhabitants of
India, even the most intellectual races, seem to have
been generally ignorant of the art of writing, and to
have been obliged to trust to highly trained memory
for the transmission of knowledge.

ANCIENT NORTHERN INDIA 23

In those days vast territories were still covered by
forest, the home of countless wild beasts and scanty
tribes of savage men; but regions of great extent in
Northern India had been occupied for untold centuries
by more or less civilized communities of the higher
races who, from time to time, during the unrecorded
past, had pierced the mountain barriers of the north-
western frontier. Practically nothing is known con-
cerning the early history of the possibly equally ad-
vanced Dravidian races who entered India, perhaps
from the valley of the lower Indus, spread over the
plateau of the Deccan, and penetrated to the extremity
of the Peninsula. Our slender stock of knowledge is
limited to the fortunes of the vigorous races, speaking
an Aryan tongue, who poured down from the moun-
tains of the Hindu Kush and Pamirs, filling the plains
of the Pan jab and the upper basin of the Ganges with
a sturdy and quick-witted population, unquestionably
superior to the aboriginal races. The settled country
between the Himalaya Mountains and the Narmada
River was divided into a multitude of independent
states, some monarchies, and some tribal republics,
owning no allegiance to any paramount power, secluded
from the outer world, and free to fight among them-
selves. The most ancient literary traditions, compiled
probably in the fourth or fifth century B. c., but looking
back to an older time, enumerate sixteen of such states
or powers, extending from Gandhara, on the extreme
northwest of the Panjab, the modern districts of
Peshawar and Rawalpindi, to Avanti or Malwa, with

THE DYNASTIES BEFOKE ALEXANDER

its capital Ujjain, which still retains its ancient name
unchanged.

The works of ancient Indian writers from which
our historical data are extracted do not profess to be
histories, and are mostly religious treatises of various
kinds. In such compositions the religious element
necessarily takes the foremost place, and the secular

BUDDHIST TOPE AND JAIN TEMPLE AT 8ARNATH NEAR BENARES.

From a photograph.

affairs of the world occupy a very subordinate position.
The particulars of political history incidentally recorded
refer in consequence chiefly to the countries most
prominent in the development of Indian religion.

The systems which we call Jainism and Buddhism
had their roots in the forgotten philosophies of the
prehistoric past, but, as we know them, were founded
respectively by Vardhamana Mahavira and Gautama

The Jain Temple, Mount Abu, Dilwara

At Dihvara on Mount Abu in Western India there are two of the oldest
and finest specimens of temples consecrated to the Jain religion that are
to be found anywhere in Hindustan. They date from the eleventh and
twelfth centuries of our era, and fabulous sums of money were spent in
erecting and adorning them. They are remarkable not only for their
beauty and wonderful carving, but also for the picturesque scenery amid
which they stand on a mountain-top five thousand feet above the level
of the sea.

THE REALM OF KOSALA 25

Buddha. Both these philosophers, who were for many
years contemporary, were born, lived, and died in or
near the kingdom of Magadha, the modern Bihar.
Mahavira, the son of a nobleman of Vaisali, the famous
city north of the Ganges, was nearly related to the
royal family of Magadha, and died at Pawa, in the
modern district of Patna, within the territory of that
kingdom.

G-autama Buddha, although born farther north, in
the Sakya territory at the foot of the Nepal hills,
underwent his most memorable spiritual experiences
at Bodh Gaya in Magadha, and spent many years of
his ministry within the limits of that state. The Bud-
dhist and Jain books, therefore, tell us much about the
Vrijjian confederacy, of which Vaisali was the capital,
and about Magadha, with its subordinate kingdom
of Anga.

The neighbouring realm of Kosala, the modern
kingdom of Oudh, was closely connected with Magadha
by many ties, and its capital Sravasti (Savatthi),
situated on the upper course of the Rapti at the foot
of the hills, was the reputed scene of many of Buddha's
most striking discourses.

In the sixth century B. c. Kosala appears to have
occupied the rank afterward attained by Magadha,
and to have enjoyed precedence as the premier state
of Upper India. It is therefore as often mentioned as
the rival power. At the beginning of the historical
period, the smaller kingdom of Kasi, or Benares, had
lost its independence and had been annexed by Kosala,

THE DYNASTIES BEFORE ALEXANDER

with which its fortunes were indissolubly bound up.
This little kingdom owes its fame in the ancient books
not only to its connection with its powerful neighbour,
but also to its being one of the most sacred spots in
Buddhist church history, the scene of Buddha's earli-

est public preaching,
where he first
" turned the wheel of
the Law."

The reputation
for special sanctity
enjoyed by both Be-
nares and Gaya in
Magadha among or-
thodox Brahmanical
Hindus adds little to
the detailed informa-
tion available, which
is mainly derived
from the writings of
Jains and Buddhists,
who were esteemed

go heretiCS bV tllC

worshippers of the
old gods. But the Brahmanical Puranas, compiled cen-
turies later in honour of the orthodox deities, happily
include lists of the Kings of Magadha, which had
become, before the time of their compilation, the recog-
nized centre, both religious and political, of India; and
so it happens that the Jain, Buddhist, and Brahmanical

TEMPLE OF THE SACRED BO - TREE AT BODH GAYA,
WHERE BUDDHA RECEIVED THE REVELATION.

From a photograph.

SAISUNAGA DYNASTY 27

books combined tell us much about the history of
Magadha, Anga, Kosala, Kasi, and Vaisali, while they
leave us in the dark concerning the fortunes of most
other parts of India.

In the Puranic lists the earliest dynasty which can
claim historical reality is that known as the Saisunaga,
from the name of its founder, Sisunaga.

He was, apparently, the king, or raja, of a petty
state corresponding roughly with the present Patna
and Gaya Districts, his capital being Rajagriha
(Rajgir), among the hills near Gaya. Nothing is
known about his history, and the second, third, and
fourth kings are likewise mere names.

The first monarch about whom anything substantial
is known is Bimbisara, or Srenika, the fifth of his
line. He is credited with the building of New Raja-
griha, the lower town at the base of the hill crowned
by the ancient fort, and with the annexation of Anga,
the small kingdom to the east, corresponding with
the modern District of Bhagalpur, and probably includ-
ing Monghyr (Mungir). The annexation of Anga was
the first step taken by the kingdom of Magadha in its
advance to greatness and the position of supremacy
which it attained in the following century, and Bim-
bisara may be regarded as the real founder of the
Magadha imperial power. He strengthened his posi-
tion by matrimonial alliances with the more powerful
of the neighbouring states, taking one consort from the
royal family of Kosala, and another from the influen-
tial Lichchhavi clan at Vaisali. The latter lady was

THE DYNASTIES BEFORE ALEXANDER

the mother of Ajatasatru, also called Kunika, or
Kuniya, the son who was selected as heir apparent and
crown prince. If tradition may be believed, the reign
of Bimbisara lasted for twenty-eight years, and it is
said that, toward its close, he resigned the royal power
into the hands of this favourite son, and retired into

GKEAT CHAITTA OR TOPE OF 8ANCHI.

private life. But the young prince was impatient, and
could not bear to await the slow process of nature.
Well-attested tradition brands him as a parricide and
accuses him of having done his father to death by the
agonies of starvation.

Orthodox Buddhist tradition affirms that this
hideous crime was instigated by Devadatta, Buddha's
cousin, who figures in the legends as a malignant

JAINISM AND BUDDHISM 29

plotter and wicked schismatic, but ecclesiastical ran-
cour may be suspected of the responsibility for this
accusation. Devadatta certainly refused to accept the
teaching of Gautama, and, preferring that of " the
former Buddhas," became the founder and head of a
rival sect, which still survived in the seventh cen-
tury A. D.

Schism has always been esteemed by the orthodox
a deadly sin, and in all ages the unsuccessful heretic
has been branded as a villain by the winning sect.
Such, probably, is the origin of the numerous tales
concerning the villainies of the Devadatta, including the
supposed incitement of his princely patron to commit
the crime of parricide.

There seems to be no doubt that both Vardhamana
Mahavira, the founder of the system known as Jainism,
and Gautama, the last Buddha, the founder of Bud-
dhism as known to later ages, were preaching in
Magadha during the reign of Bimbisara.

The Jain saint, who was a near relative of Bimbi-
sara 's queen, the mother of Ajatasatru, probably passed
away very soon after the close of Bimbisara 's reign,
and early in that of Ajatasatru, while the death of
Gautama Buddha occurred not much later. There is
reason to believe that the latter event took place in or
about the year 487 B. c.

Gautama Buddha was certainly an old man when
Ajatasatru, or Kunika, as the Jains call him, came
to the throne about 495 or 490 B. c., and he had at least
one interview with that king.

THE DYNASTIES BEFORE ALEXANDER

One of the earliest Buddhist documents narrates in
detail the story of a visit paid to Buddha by Ajatasatru,
who is alleged to have expressed remorse for his crime,
and to have professed his faith in Buddha, who accepted
his confession of sin. The concluding passage of the

tale may be quoted as
an illustration of an
ancient Buddhist view
of the relations be-
tween Church and
State.

" And when he had
thus spoken, Ajata-
satru the king said to
the Blessed One:
'Most excellent, Lord,
most excellent ! Just
as if a man were to set
up that which has been
thrown down, or were
to reveal that which is

^_ about 200 B. o.

(After Cunningham.} hidden away, or were

to point out the right road to him who has gone astray,
or were to bring a lamp into the darkness so that those
who have eyes could see external forms just even so,
Lord, has the truth been made known to me, in many
a figure, by the Blessed One. And now I betake myself,
Lord, to the Blessed One as my refuge, to the Truth,
and to the Order. May the Blessed One accept me as
a disciple, as one who, from this day forth, as long as

KING AJATASATRU COSIES TO CONFESSION TO
BUDDHA.

From the Bharahat Stupa, probably about 200 B. o.

KING AJATASATRU AND BUDDHA 31

life endures, has taken his refuge in them. Sin has
overcome me, Lord, weak and foolish and wrong that
I am, in that for the sake of sovereignty, I put to death
my father, that righteous man, that righteous king!
May the Blessed One accept it of me, Lord, that I
do so acknowledge it as a sin, to the end that in future
I may restrain myself/

" ' Verily, king, it was sin that overcame you in
acting thus. But inasmuch as you look upon it as sin,
and confess it according to what is right, we accept your
confession as to that. For that, king, is custom in the
discipline of the noble ones, that whosoever looks upon
his fault as a fault, and rightfully confesses it, shall
attain to self-restraint in future/

" When he had thus spoken, Ajatasatru the king
said to the Blessed One, ' Now, Lord, we would fain go.
We are busy, and there is much to do. *

" ' Do, king, whatever seemeth to thee fit.'

" Then Ajatasatru the king, pleased and delighted
with the words of the Blessed One, arose from his
seat, and bowed to the Blessed One, and, keeping
him on the right hand as he passed him, departed
thence.

" Now the Blessed One, not long after Ajatasatru the
king had gone, addressed the brethren, and said: ' This
king, brethren, w r as deeply affected, he was touched in
heart. If, brethren, the king had not put to death his
father, that righteous man, and righteous king, then
would the clear and spotless eye for the truth have
arisen in him, even as he sat here/

THE DYNASTIES BEFORE ALEXANDER

" Thus spake the Blessed One. The brethren were
pleased and delighted at his words."

PORTION- OF RAIL AT BHARAHAT, AS FIRST UNCOVERED.

It is difficult to sympathize with the pleasure and
delight of the brethren. The stern and fearless repro-
bation of a deed of exceptional atrocity which we should

AJATASATRU'S WAR WITH KOSALA 33

expect from a great moral teacher is wholly wanting in
Buddha's words, and is poorly compensated for by the
politeness of a courtier. Whatever be the reader's
judgment concerning the sincerity of the royal penitent
or the moral courage of his father confessor, it is clear
from the unanimity of tradition that the crime on which
the story is based really occurred, and that Ajatasatru
slew his father to gain a throne. But when the Cey-
lonese chronicler asks us to believe that he was followed
in due course by four other parricide kings, of whom
the last was dethroned by his minister, with the approval
of a justly indignant people, too great a demand is made
upon the reader's credulity.

The crime by which he gained the throne naturally
involved Ajatasatru in war with the aged King of
Kosala, whose sister, the queen of the murdered Bim-
bisara, is alleged to have died from grief. Fortune in
the contest inclined now to one side and now to an-
other, and on one occasion, it is said, Ajatasatru was
carried away as a prisoner in chains to his opponent's
capital. Ultimately peace was concluded, and a princess
of Kosala was given in marriage to the King of Ma-
gadha. The facts of the struggle are obscure, being
wrapped up in legendary matter from which it is
impossible to disentangle them, but the probability is
that Ajatasatru won for Magadha a decided prepon-
derance over its neighbour of Kosala. It is certain that
the latter kingdom is not again mentioned as an inde-
pendent power, and that in the fourth century B. c. it
formed an integral part of the Magadha empire.

34 THE DYNASTIES BEFORE ALEXANDER

The ambition of Ajatasatru, not satisfied with the
humiliation of Kosala, next induced him to undertake
the conquest of the country to the north of the Ganges,
now known as Tirhut, in which the Lichchhavi clan,
famous in Buddhist legend, then occupied a prominent
position. The invasion was successful; the Lichchhavi
capital, Vaisali, was occupied, and Ajatasatru became
master of his maternal grandfather's territory. It
is probable that the invader carried his victorious arms
to their natural limit, the foot of the mountains, and
that from this time the whole region between the
Ganges and the Himalaya became subject, more or less
directly, to the suzerainty of Magadha.

The victor erected a fortress at the village of Patali
on the bank of the Ganges to curb his Lichchhavi oppo-
nents. The foundations of a city nestling under the
shelter of the fortress were laid by his grandson Udaya.
The city so founded was known variously as Kusuma-
pura, Pushpapura, or Pataliputra, and rapidly devel-
oped in size and magnificence, until, under the Maurya
dynasty, it became the capital, not only of Magadha,
but of India.

Buddha, as has been mentioned above, died early
in the reign of Ajatasatru. Shortly before his death,
Kapilavastu, his ancestral home, was captured by
Virudhaka, King of Kosala, who is alleged to have
perpetrated a ferocious massacre of the Sakya clan to
which Buddha belonged. The story is so thickly en-
crusted with miraculous legend that the details of the
event cannot be ascertained, but the coating of miracle

DAKIUS AJSTD INDIA 35

was probably deposited upon a basis of fact, and we
may believe that the Sakyas suffered much at the hands
of Virudhaka.

If the chronology adopted in this chapter be even
approximately correct, Bimbisara and Ajatasatru must
be regarded as the contemporaries of Darius, the son of
Hystaspes, autocrat of the Persian empire from 521 to
485 B. c. Darius, who was a very capable ruler, em-
ployed his officers in the exploration of a great part
of Asia by means of various expeditions.

One of these expeditions was despatched at some
date later than 516 B. c. to prove the feasibility of a
passage by sea from the mouth of the Indus to Persia.
The commander, Skylax of Karyanda in Karia, man-
aged somehow to equip a squadron on the waters of
the Pan jab rivers in the Gandhara country, to make
his way down to the ocean, and ultimately to reach the
Red Sea. The particulars of his adventurous voyage
have been lost, but we know that the information col-
lected was of such value that, by utilizing it, Darius
was enabled to annex the Indus valley, and to send his
fleets into the Indian Ocean. The archers from India
formed a valuable element in the army of Xerxes, and
shared the defeat of Mardonius at Plataea.

The conquered provinces were formed into a sepa-
rate satrapy, the twentieth, which was considered the
richest and most populous province of the empire. It
paid the enormous tribute of 360 Euboic talents of
gold-dust, or 185 hundredweights, worth fully a million
sterling, and constituting about one-third of the total

36 THE DYNASTIES BEFORE ALEXANDER

bullion revenue of the Asiatic provinces. Although
the exact limits of the Indian satrapy cannot be deter-
mined, we know that it was distinct from Aria (Herat),
Arachosia (Kandahar), and Gandaria (Northwestern
Panjab). It must have comprised, therefore, the
course of the Indus from Kalabagh to the sea, including
the whole of Sind, and perhaps included a considerable
portion of the Panjab east of the Indus. But when
Alexander invaded the country, nearly two centuries
later, the Indus was the boundary between the Persian
empire and India, and both the Panjab and Sind were
governed by numerous native princes. In ancient
times the courses of the rivers were quite different from
what they now are, and vast tracts in Sind and the
Panjab, now desolate, were then rich and prosperous.
This fact largely explains the surprising value of the
tribute paid by the twentieth satrapy.

When Ajatasatru's blood-stained life ended (dr.
459 B. a), he was succeeded, according to the Puranas,
by a son named Darsaka or Harshaka, who was in turn
succeeded by his son Udaya. The Buddhist books omit
the intermediate name, and represent Udaya as the son
and immediate successor of Ajatasatru. It is difficult
to decide which version is correct, but on the whole the
authority of the Puranas seems to be preferable in
this case. If Darsaka, or Harshaka, was a reality, noth-
ing is known about him.

The reign of Udaya may be assumed to have begun
about 434 B. c. The tradition that he built Pataliputra
is all that is known about him. His successors, Nandi-

Low Caste Hindu Woman Bhil Type.

From a Photograph.

DAKSAKA AND UDAYA 37

vardhana and Mahanandin, according to the Puranic
lists, are still more shadowy, mere nominis umbrce.
Mahanandin, the last of the dynasty, is said to have
had by a Sudra, or low-caste, woman a son named Maha-
padma Nanda, who usurped the throne, and so estab-
lished the Nanda family or dynasty. This event may be
dated in or about 361 B. c.

At this point all our authorities become unintelligible
and incredible. The Puranas treat the Nanda dynasty
as consisting of two generations only, Mahapadma and
his eight sons, of whom one was named Sumalya.
These two generations are supposed to have reigned
for a century, which cannot possibly be true. The
Jains, doing still greater violence to reason, extend the
duration of the dynasty to 155 years, while the Buddhist
Mahavamsa, Dipavamsa, and Asokavadana deepen the
confusion by hopelessly muddled and contradictory
stories not worth repeating. Some powerful motive
must have existed for the distortion of the history of the
so-called " Nine Nandas " in all forms of the tradition,
but it is not easy to make even a plausible guess at the
nature of that motive.

The Greek and Roman historians, who derived their
information either from Megasthenes or the companions
of Alexander, and thus rank as contemporary witnesses
reported at second hand, throw a little light on the real
history. When Alexander was stopped in his advance
at the Hyphasis in 326 B. c., he was informed by a native
chieftain named Bhagala or Bhagela, whose statements
were confirmed by Poros, that the King of the Gan-

38 THE DYNASTIES BEFORE ALEXANDER

garidai and Prasii nations on the banks of the Ganges
was named, as nearly as the Greeks could catch the
unfamiliar sounds, Xandrames or Agrammes. This
monarch was said to command a force of twenty thou-
sand horse, two hundred thousand foot, two thousand
chariots, and three or four thousand elephants. Inas-
much as the capital of the Prasii nation was undoubt-
edly Pataliputra, the reports made to Alexander can
have referred only to the King of Magadha, who must
have been one of the Nandas mentioned in native
tradition. The reigning king was alleged to be ex-
tremely unpopular, owing to his wickedness and base
origin. He was, it is said, the son of a barber, who,
having become the paramour of the queen of the last
legitimate sovereign, contrived the king's death, and,
under pretence of acting as guardian to his sons, got
them into his power and exterminated the royal family.
After their extermination he begot the son who was
reigning at the time of Alexander's campaign and who,
" more worthy of his father's condition than his own,
was odious and contemptible to his subjects."

This story confirms the statements of the Puranas
that the Nanda dynasty was of ambiguous origin and
comprised only two generations. The Vishnu Purana
brands the first Nanda, Mahapadma, as an avaricious
person, whose reign marked the end of the Kshatriya,
or high-born, princes, and the beginning of the rule of
those of low degree, ranking as Sudras. The Maha-
vamsa, when it dubs the last Nanda by the name of
Dhana, or " Riches," seems to hint at the imputation

THE NANDA DYNASTY

of avariciousness made against the first Nanda by the
Puranic writer, and the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang
also refers to the Nanda raja as the reputed possessor
of great wealth.

By putting all the hints together we may conclude
with tolerable certainty that the Nanda family was

FILORIHS AND BEGGARS AT THE WELL OF KNOWLEDGE, BENARES.

From a photograph.

really of base origin, that it acquired power by the
assassination of the legitimate king, and that it retained
possession of the throne for two generations only. The
great military power of the usurpers, as attested by
Greek testimony, was the result of the conquests
effected by Bimbisara and Ajatasatru, and presumably
continued by their successors; but the limits of the
Nanda dominions cannot be defined, nor can the dates

40 THE DYNASTIES BEFORE ALEXANDER

of the dynasty be determined with accuracy. It is
quite certain that the two generations did not last for
a hundred and fifty-five, or even for a hundred, years;
but it is impossible to determine the actual duration,
and the period of forty years has been assumed as
reasonable and probably not far from the truth.

However mysterious the Nine Nandas may be
if, indeed, there really were nine there is no doubt
that the last of them was deposed and slain by Chandra-
gupta Maurya, who seems to have been an illegitimate
scion of the family. There is no difficulty in believing
the tradition that the revolution involved the extermina-
tion of all related to the fallen monarch, for revolutions
in the East are not effected without much shedding of
blood. Nor is there any reason to discredit the state-
ments that the usurper was attacked by a confederacy
of the northern powers, including Kashmir, and that
the attack failed owing to the Machiavellian intrigues
of Chandragupta's Brahman adviser, who is variously
named Chanakya, Kautilya, and Vishnugupta.

His accession to the throne of Magadha may be
dated with practical certainty in 321 B. c. The domin-
ions of the Magadha crown were then extensive, cer-
tainly including the territories of the nations called
Prasii and Gangaridai by the Greeks, and probably
comprising at least the kingdoms of Kosala and
Benares, as well as Anga and Magadha proper. Four
years before the revolution at Pataliputra, Alexander
had swept like a hurricane through the Pan jab and
Sind, and it is said that Chandragupta, then a youth,

ACCESSION OF CHANDRAGUPTA 41

met the mighty Macedonian. Whether that anecdote
be true or not, it is certain that the troubles consequent
upon the death of Alexander in the summer of 323 B. c.
gave young Chandragupta his opportunity. He as-
sumed the command of the native revolt against the
foreigner, and destroyed most of the Macedonian
garrisons. He had thus become the master of North-
western India before he attempted the revolution in
Magadha, and when that enterprise was accomplished,
he was undoubtedly the paramount power in India.
But before the story of the deeds of Chandragupta
Maurya and the descendants who succeeded him on
the throne of Magadha can be told, we must pause to
unfold the wondrous tale of the Indian adventure of
" Philip's warlike son."

CHAPTER III

ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN
The Advance

A LEXANDER THE GREAT, having completed the
-^- subjugation of Bactria, resolved to execute his
cherished purpose of emulating and surpassing the
mythical exploits of Dionysos, Herakles, and Semira-
mis by effecting the conquest of India. Toward the
close of spring in the year 327 B. c., when the sun had
sufficiently melted the snows, he led his army, including
perhaps fifty or sixty thousand Europeans, across the
lofty Khawak and Kaoshan passes of the Hindu Kush,
or Indian Caucasus, and after ten days' toil amidst
the mountains emerged in the rich valley now known
as the Koh-i-Daman.

Here, two years earlier, before the Bactrian cam-
paign, he had founded a town, named as usual, Alexan-
dria, as a strategical outpost to secure his intended
advance. The governor of this town, whose administra-
tion had been a failure, was replaced by Nikanor, son of
Parmenion, the king's intimate friend; the population
was recruited by fresh settlers from the surrounding

ADVANCE TO THE INDUS 43

districts; and the garrison was strengthened by a rein-
forcement of veterans discharged from the ranks of the
expeditionary force as being unequal to the arduous
labours of the coming campaign.

The important position of Alexandria, which com-
manded the roads over three passes, having been thus
secured, in accordance with Alexander's customary
caution, the civil administration of the country be-
tween the passes and the Kophen, or Kabul, River was
provided for by the appointment of Tyriaspes as satrap.
Alexander, when assured that his communications were
safe, advanced with his army to a city named Nikaia,
situated to the west of the modern Jalalabad, on the
road from Kabul to India.

Here the king divided his forces. Generals Hephais-
tion and Perdikkas were ordered to proceed in advance
with three brigades of infantry, half of the horse-
guards, and the whole of the mercenary cavalry by the
direct road to India through the valley of the Kabul
River, and to occupy Peukelaotis, now the Yusufzi
country, up to the Indus. Their instructions were
couched in the spirit of the Roman maxim, " Par cere
subiectis et debellare superbos."

Most of the tribal chiefs preferred the alternative of
submission, but one named Hasti (Astes) ventured to
resist. His stronghold, which held out for thirty days,
was taken and destroyed. During this march eastward,
Hephaistion and Perdikkas were accompanied by the
King of Taxila, a great city beyond the Indus, who had
lost no time in obeying Alexander's summons and in

44 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

placing his services at the disposal of the invader.
Other chiefs on the western side of the Indus adopted
the same course, and, with the help of these native
potentates, the Macedonian generals were enabled to
make satisfactory progress in the task of bridging the
Indus, which had been committed to them by their
sovereign.

Alexander in person assumed the command of the
second corps, or division, consisting of the infantry
known as hypaspists, the foot-guards, the Agrianian or
Thracian light infantry, the archers, the mounted
lancers, and the rest of the horse-guards. With this
force he undertook a flanking movement through the
difficult hill country north of the Kabul River, in order
to subdue the fierce tribes which inhabited, as they still
inhabit, that region, and thus to secure his communi-
cations, and protect his army from attacks on the flank
and rear. The difficulties of the operation due to the
ruggedness of the country, the fierce heat of summer,
the bitter cold of winter, and the martial spirit of the
hill-men, were enormous, but no difficulties could daunt
the courage or defeat the skill of Alexander.

Although it is absolutely impossible to trace his
movements with precision, or to identify with even
approximate certainty the tribes which he encountered,
or the strongholds which he captured and destroyed
in the course of some five months' laborious marching,
it is certain that he ascended the valley of the Kunar
River for a considerable distance. At a nameless town
in the hills, Alexander was wounded in the shoulder

NYSA SURRENDERS 45

by a dart, and the incident so enraged his troops that
all the prisoners taken there were massacred, and the
town was razed to the ground.

Soon after this tragedy, Alexander again divided
his forces, leaving Krateros, " the man most faithful
to him, and whom he valued equally with himself," to
complete the reduction of the tribesmen of the Kunar
valley, while the king in person led a body of picked
troops against the Aspasians, who were defeated with
great slaughter.

He then crossed the mountains and entered the
valley now called Bajaur, where he found a town named
Arigaion, which had been burnt and abandoned by the
inhabitants. Krateros, having completely executed his
task in the Kunar valley, now rejoined his master,
and measures were concerted for the reduction of the
tribes farther east, whose subjugation was indispen-
sable before an advance into India could be made with
safety.

The Aspasians were finally routed in a second great
battle, losing, it is said, more than forty thousand pris-
oners and 230,000 oxen. The perfection of the arrange-
ments by which Alexander maintained communication
with his remote European base is strikingly illustrated
by the fact that he selected the best and handsomest
of the captured cattle, and sent them to Macedonia for
use in agriculture.

A fancied connection with Dionysos and the sacred
Mount Nysa of Greek legend gave special interest to
the town and hill-state called Nysa, which was among

46 ALEXANDERS INDIAN CAMPAIGN

the places next attacked. An attempt to take the town
by assault having failed by reason of the depth of the
protecting river, Alexander was preparing to reduce
it by blockade when the speedy submission of the in-
habitants rendered further operations unnecessary.
They are alleged to have craved his clemency on the
ground that they were akin to Dionysos and the Greeks,
because the ivy and vine grew in their country, and the
triple-peaked mountain which overshadowed their
town was no other than Mount Meros. Alexander, who
found such fancies useful as a stimulant to his home-
sick troops, did not examine the evidence for the
kinship with Dionysos in too critical a spirit, but was
glad to accept the Nysaian appeals and to exercise a
gracious clemency.

In order to gratify his own curiosity, and to give
some of his best troops a pleasant holiday, he paid a
visit to the mountain, now known as the Koh-i-Mor,
accompanied by an adequate escort of the companion
cavalry and foot-guards. The chants and dances of the
natives, the ancestors of the Kafirs of the present day,
bore sufficient resemblance to the Bacchanalian rites
of Hellas to justify the claims made by the Nysaians,
and to encourage the soldiers in their belief that,
although far from home, they had at last found a people
who shared their religion and might be regarded as
kinsmen. Alexander humoured the convenient delusion
and allowed his troops to enjoy with the help of their
native friends a ten days' revel in the jungles. The
Nysaians, on their part, showed their gratitude for the

THE FORTRESS MASSAGA 47

clemency which they had experienced, by contributing
a contingent of three hundred horsemen, who remained
with Alexander throughout the whole period of his
advance, and were not sent home until October, 326 B. c.,
when he was about to start on his voyage down the
rivers to the sea.

Alexander now undertook in person the reduction
of the formidable nation called the Assakenoi, who
were reported to await him with an army of twenty
thousand cavalry, more than thirty thousand infantry,
and thirty elephants. Quitting the Bajaur territory,
Alexander crossed the Gouraios (Panjkora) River, with
a body of picked regiments, including, as usual, a large
proportion of mounted troops, and entered the Assa-
kenian territory, in order to attack Massaga, the great-
est city of those parts and the seat of the sovereign
power.

This formidable fortress, probably to be identi-
fied with Minglaur, or Manglawar, the ancient capital
of Suwat, was strongly fortified both by nature and
art. On the east, an impetuous mountain stream,
the Suwat River, flowing between steep banks, barred
access, while on the south and west gigantic rocks,
deep chasms, and treacherous morasses impeded the
approach of an assailing force. Where nature failed to
give adequate protection, art had stepped in, and had
girdled the city with a mighty rampart, built of brick,
stone, and timber, about four miles (35 stadia) in cir-
cumference, and guarded by a deep moat. While re-
connoitring these formidable defences, and considering

48 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

his plan of attack, Alexander was again wounded by an
arrow. The wound was not very serious, and did not
prevent hnr from continuing the active supervision of
the siege operations, which were designed and controlled
throughout by his master mind.

Commanded by such a general the meanest soldier
becomes a hero. The troops laboured with such zeal
that within nine days they had raised a mole level with
the ground sufficient to bridge the moat, and to allow
the movable towers and other engines to approach the
walls. The garrison was disheartened by the death
of their chief, who was killed by a blow from a missile
discharged by an engine, and the place was taken by
storm. Kleophis, the consort of the slain chieftain,
and her infant son were captured, and it is said that
she subsequently bore a son to Alexander.

The garrison of Massaga had included a body of
seven thousand mercenary troops from the plains of
India. Alexander, by a special agreement, had granted
these men their lives on condition that they should
change sides and take service in his ranks. In pur-
suance of this agreement, they were allowed to retire
and encamp on a small hill facing, and about nine miles
(80 stadia} distant from, the Macedonian camp. The
mercenaries being unwilling to aid the foreigner irf
the subjugation of their countrymen, desired to evade
the unwelcome obligation which they had incurred, and
proposed to slip away by night and return to their
homes. Alexander, having received information of
their design, suddenly attacked the Indians while they

STORMING THE FOKTKESS 49

reposed in fancied security, and inflicted severe loss
upon them. Recovering from their surprise, the mer-
cenaries formed themselves into a hollow circle, with the
women and children in the centre, and offered a des-
perate resistance, in which the women took an active
part. At last the gallant defenders were overpowered
by superior numbers, and, in the words of an ancient
historian, " met a glorious death which they would
have disdained to exchange for a life with dishonour."
The unarmed camp-followers and the women were
spared.

This incident, which has been severely condemned
by various writers, ancient and modern, as a disgrace-
ful breach of faith by Alexander, does not seem to have
been, as supposed by Diodorus, the outcome of im-
placable enmity felt by the king against the merce-
naries. The slaughter of the contingent was rather, as
represented by Arrian, the tremendous penalty for a
meditated breach of faith on the part of the Indians,
and, if this explanation be true, the penalty cannot
be regarded as altogether undeserved. While the
accession of seven thousand brave and disciplined
troops would have been a welcome addition to Alex-
ander's small army, the addition of such a force to the
enemy in the plains would have been a serious impedi-
ment to his advance; and he was, perhaps, justified
in protecting himself against such a formidable increase
of the enemy's strength.

Alexander next captured a town called Ora or Nora,
and occupied an important place named Bazira, the

60 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

inhabitants of which, with those of other towns, had
retired to the stronghold of Aornos near the Indus,
the great mountain now known as Mahaban. The
desire of Alexander to capture this position, believed
to be impregnable, was based upon military exigencies,
and fired by a legend that the demigod Herakles,
whom he claimed as an ancestor, had been baffled by the
defences.

The mountain, which is at least twelve miles in
circumference, and rises to a height of more than seven
thousand feet above the sea, or five thousand above the
Indus, is washed on its southern face by that river,
which at this point is of great depth, and enclosed by
rugged and precipitous rocks, forbidding approach from
that side. On the other sides, as at Massaga, ravines,
cliffs, and swamps presented obstacles sufficient to
daunt the bravest assailant. A single path gave access
to the summit, which was well supplied with water,
and comprised arable land requiring the labour of a
thousand men for its cultivation. The summit was
crowned by a steeply scarped mass of rock, which
formed a natural citadel, and was doubtless further
protected by art.

Before undertaking the siege of this formidable
stronghold, Alexander, with his habitual foresight,
secured his rear by placing garrisons in the towns of
Ora, Massaga, Bazira, and Orobatis, in the hills of
Suwat and Buner.

He further isolated the fortress by personally march-
ing down into the plains, probably through the Shahkot

THE STRONGHOLD OF AORNOS 51

pass, and receiving the submission of the important
city of Peukelaotis (Charsadda) and the surrounding
territory, now known as the Yusufzi country. During
this operation he was assisted by two local chiefs.
He then made his way somehow to Embolima, the
modern Arab, a small town on the Indus, at the foot
of Aornos, and there established a depot under the
command of Krateros. In case the assault should fail,
and the siege be converted into a blockade, this depot
was intended to serve as a base for protracted opera-
tions, should such prove to be necessary.

Having thus deliberately made his dispositions for
the siege, Alexander spent two days in careful personal
reconnaissance of the position with the aid of a small
force, chiefly consisting of light-armed troops. Assisted
by local guides, whose services were secured by liberal
reward, Ptolemy, the son of Lagos, secured a valuable
foothold on the eastern spur of the mountain, where
he entrenched his men. An attempt made by the king
to support him having been frustrated, this failure
led to a vigorous attack by the Indians on Ptol-
emy's entrenchments, which was repulsed after a hard
fight.

A second effort made by Alexander to effect a
junction with his lieutenant, although stoutly opposed
by the besieged, was successful, and the Macedonians
were now in secure possession of the vantage-ground
from which an assault on the natural citadel could be
delivered.

The task before the assailants was a formidable one,

62 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

for the crowning mass of rock did not, like most emi-
nences, slope gradually to the summit, but rose abruptly
in the form of a steep cone. Examination of the
ground showed that a direct attack was impossible
until some of the surrounding ravines should be filled
up. Plenty of timber was available in the adjoining
forests, and Alexander resolved to use this material to
form a pathway. He himself threw the first trunk into
the ravine, and his act was greeted with a loud cheer
signifying the keenness of the troops, who could not
shrink from any labour, however severe, to which their
king was the first to put his hand.

Within the brief space of four days Alexander suc-
ceeded in gaining possession of a small hill on a level
with the rock, and in thus securing a dominant position.
The success of this operation convinced the garrison
that the capture of the citadel was merely a question
of time, and the negotiations for capitulation on terms
were begun.

The besieged, being more anxious to gain time for
escape than to conclude a treaty, evacuated the rock
during the night, and attempted to slip away unob-
served in the darkness. But the unsleeping vigilance
of Alexander detected the movement, and partially
defeated their plans. Placing himself at the head of
seven hundred picked men, he clambered up the cliff
the moment the garrison began to retire, and slew
many.

In this way the virgin fortress, which even Herakles
had failed to win, became the prize of Alexander. The

CAPTURE OF AORNOS 53

king, justly proud of his success, offered sacrifice and
worship to the gods, dedicated altars to Athene and
Nike, and built a fort for the accommodation of the
garrison which he quartered on the mountain. The
command of this important post was entrusted to Sisi-

THE INDUB NEAR ATTOOK.

kottos (Sasigupta), a Hindu, who long before had
deserted from the Indian contingent attached to the
army of Bessus, the rebel satrap of Bactria, and had
since proved himself a faithful officer in the Macedonian
service.

Alexander then proceeded to complete the subjuga-
tion of the Assakenians by another raid into their
country, and occupied a town named Dyrta, which

54 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

probably lay to the north of Aornos. This town and the
surrounding district were abandoned by the inhabitants,
who had crossed the Indus, and taken refuge in the
Abhisara country, in the hills between the Hydaspes
(Jihlam) and Akesines (Chinab) Rivers. He then
slowly forced his way through the forests down to the
bridge-head at Ohind. Although the direct distance is
not great, the work of clearing a road passable for an
army was so arduous that fifteen or sixteen marches
were required to reach Hephaistion's camp.

Opinions have differed concerning the location of
the bridge over the Indus, and most writers have been
inclined to place it at Attock (Atak), where the river
is narrowest. But the recent investigations of M.
Foucher have clearly established the fact that the
bridge, probably constructed of boats, must have been
at Ohind, or Und, sixteen miles above Attock. Having
arrived at the bridge-head, Alexander sacrificed to the
gods on a magnificent scale, and gave his army thirty
days of much needed rest, amusing them with games
and gymnastic contests.

At Ohind Alexander was met by an embassy from
Ambhi (Omphis), who had recently succeeded to the
throne of Taxila, the great city three marches beyond
the Indus. The lately deceased king had met the
invader in the previous year at Mkaia and tendered
the submission of his kingdom. This tender was now
renewed on behalf of his son by the embassy, and was
supported by a contingent of seven hundred horse
and the gift of valuable supplies, comprising thirty

CROSSING THE INDUS 55

elephants, three thousand fat oxen, more than ten
thousand sheep, and two hundred talents of silver.

The ready submission of the rulers of Taxila is ex-
plained by the fact that they desired Alexander's help
against their enemies in the neighbouring states.
Taxila was then at war both with the hill kingdom of
Abhisara and with the more powerful state governed
by the king whom the Greeks called Poros, which
corresponded with the modern districts of Jihlam,
Gujarat, and Shahpur.

Spring had now begun, and as the omens were fa-
vourable, the refreshed army began the passage of the
river one morning at daybreak, and, with the help of
the Taxilan king, safely effected entrance on the soil of
India, which no European traveller or invader had ever
before trodden.

A curious incident marked the last day's march to
Taxila. When four or five miles from the city Alex-
ander was startled to see a complete army in order of
battle advancing to meet him. He supposed that
treacherous opposition was about to be offered, and had
begun to make arrangements to attack the Indians,
when Ambhi galloped forward with a few attendants
and explained that the display of force was intended
as an honour, and that his entire army was at Alex-
ander's disposal. When the misunderstanding had been
removed, the Macedonian force continued its advance
and was entertained at the city with royal magnifi-
cence.

Taxila, now represented by miles of ruins to the

66 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

northwest of Rawalpindi and the southeast of Hasan
Abdal, was then one of the greatest cities of the East,
and was especially famous as the principal seat of
Hindu learning in Northern India, to which scholars
of all classes flocked for instruction.

Ambhi recognized Alexander as his lord, and re-
ceived from him investiture as lawful successor of his
deceased father, the King of Taxila. In return for
the favour shown to him by the invader, he provided

AN OLD HINDU FORT.

the Macedonian army with liberal supplies, and pre-
sented Alexander with eighty talents of coined silver
and golden crowns for himself and all his friends.
Alexander, not to be outdone in generosity, returned
the presents, and bestowed on the donor a thousand
talents from the spoils of war, along with many ban-
queting vessels of gold and silver, a vast quantity of
Persian drapery, and thirty chargers caparisoned as
when ridden by himself. This lavish generosity, al-
though displeasing to Alexander's Macedonian officers,
was probably prompted more by policy than by senti-

FEOM TAXILA TO THE HYDASPES 57

ment. It purchased a contingent of five thousand men,
and secured the fidelity of a most useful ally.

While Alexander was at Taxila, the hill chieftain
of Abhisara, who really intended to join Poros in repel-
ling the invader, sent envoys who professed to sur-
render to Alexander all that their master possessed.
This mission was favourably received, and Alexander
hoped that Poros would display complaisance equal to
that of his ally. But a summons sent requiring him to
do homage and pay tribute was met with the proud
answer that he would indeed come to his frontier to
meet the invader, but at the head of an army ready for
battle.

Having stayed in his comfortable quarters at Taxila
for sufficient time to rest his army, Alexander led his
forces, now strengthened by the Taxilan contingent
and a small number of elephants, eastward to meet
Poros, who was known to be awaiting him on the far-
ther bank of the Hydaspes (Jihlam) River. The march
from Taxila to Jihlam on the Hydaspes, in a south-
easterly direction, a distance of about a hundred or a
hundred and ten miles, according to the route followed,
brought the army over difficult ground and probably
occupied a fortnight. The hot season was at its height,
but to Alexander all seasons were equally fit for cam-
paigning, and he led his soldiers on and on from con-
quest to conquest, regardless of the snows of the
mountains and the scorching heat of the plains. He
arrived at Jihlam early in May, and found the river
already flooded by the melting of the snow on the hills.

ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

The boats which had served for the passage of the
Indus were cut into sections and transported on wagons
to be rebuilt on the bank of the Hydaspes, where they
were again utilized for the crossing of that river.

In spite of the most elaborate preparations, the

ROPE BRIDGE ACROSS THE FLOODED JIHLAM.

ght 1903, b;
New Yorl

problem of the passage of the Hydaspes in the face of
a superior force could not be solved without minute
local knowledge, and Alexander was compelled to defer
his decision as to the best feasible solution until he
should have acquired the necessary acquaintance with
all the local conditions. On his arrival, he found the

CROSSING THE HYDASPES 59

army of Poros, fifty thousand strong, drawn up on the
opposite bank. It was obvious that the horses of the
cavalry, the arm upon which the Macedonian com-
mander placed his reliance, could not be induced to
clamber up the bank of a flooded river in the face of
a host of elephants, and that some device for evading
this difficulty must be sought.

Alexander, therefore, resolved, in the words of
Arrian, to " steal a passage." The easiest plan would
have been for the invader to wait patiently in his lines
until October or November, when the waters would
subside and the river might become fordable. Although
such dilatory tactics did not commend themselves to the
impetuous spirit of Alexander, he endeavoured to lull
the vigilance of the enemy by the public announcement
that he intended to await the change of season, and gave
a colour of truth to the declaration by employing his
troops in foraging expeditions and the collection of a
great store of provisions. At the same time his flotilla
of boats continually moved up and down the river, and
frequent reconnaissances were made in search of a
ford. " All this," as Arrian observes, " prevented
Poros from resting and concentrating His preparations
at any one point selected in preference to any other as
the best for defending the passage."

Rafts, galleys, and smaller boats were secretly pre-
pared and hidden away among the woods and islands
in the upper reaches of the river where it escapes from
the mountains. These preliminaries occupied six or
seven weeks, during which time the rains had broken,

60 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

and the violence of the flood had increased. Careful
study of the ground had convinced Alexander that the
best chance of crossing in safety was to be found near
a sharp bend in the river about sixteen miles marching
distance above his camp, at a point where his embarka-
tion would be concealed by a bluff and an island
covered with forest. Having arrived at this decision,
Alexander acted upon it, not only, as Arrian justly
remarks, with " marvellous audacity," but with con-
summate prudence and precaution.

He left Krateros with a considerable force, includ-
ing the Taxilan contingent of five thousand men, to
guard the camp near Jihlam, and supplied him with
precise instructions as to the manner in which he should
use this reserve force to support the main attack. Half-
way between the standing camp and the chosen cross-
ing-place three generals were stationed with the mer-
cenary cavalry and infantry, and had orders to cross
the river as soon as they should perceive the Indians
to be fairly engaged in action. All sections of the army
were kept in touch by a chain of sentries posted along
the bank.

When all these precautionary arrangements had
been completed, Alexander in person took command
of a picked force of about eleven or twelve thou-
sand men, including the foot-guards, hypaspist infan-
try, mounted archers, and five thousand cavalry of va-
rious kinds, with which to effect the passage. In order
to escape observation, he marched by night at some
distance from the bank, and his movements were

PASSAGE OF THE EIVEB 61

further concealed by a violent storm of rain and thun-
der which broke during the march. He arrived unper-
ceived at the appointed place, and found the fleet of
galleys, boats, and rafts in readiness.

The enemy had no suspicion of what was happening
until the fleet appeared in the open river beyond the
wooded island, and Alexander disembarked his force
at daybreak without opposition. But when he had
landed, he was disappointed to find that yet another
deep channel lay in front, which must be crossed. With
much difficulty a ford was found, and the infantry
struggled through, breast-deep in the stream, while the
horses swam with only their heads above water. The
sole practicable road from the camp of Poros involved
a wide detour, which rendered prompt opposition im-
possible, and Alexander was able to deploy his dripping
troops on the mainland before any attempt could be
made to stop him.

Then, when it was too late, the son of the Indian
king came hurrying up with two thousand horse and
120 chariots. This inadequate force was speedily
routed with the loss of four hundred killed and of all
the chariots. Fugitives carried the disastrous news to
the camp of Poros, who moved out with the bulk of
his army to give battle, leaving a guard to protect his
baggage against Krateros, who lay in wait on the oppo-
site bank. The Indian army deployed on the only
ground available, the plain now known as Karri, girdled
on the north and east by low hills, and about five miles

in width at its broadest part. The surface was a firm

ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

sandy soil, well adapted for military movements even
in the rainy season.

A stately force it was with which the Indian mon-
arch moved forth to defend his country against the
audacious invader from the west. Two hundred huge
elephants, stationed at intervals of not less than a
hundred feet from one another, and probably in eight
ranks, formed the front in the centre. The chief reli-

INDIAN SHIELDS.

From the Ajanta Cave Paintings. (After Griffiths.)

ance of P'oros was on these monsters, who would, it
was calculated, terrify the foreign soldiers and render
the dreaded cavalry unmanageable. Behind the ele-
phants stood a compact force of thirty thousand infan-
try with projections on the wings, and files of the
infantry were pushed forward in the intervals between
the elephants, so that the Indian army presented " very
much the appearance of a city, the elephants as they
stood resembling its towers, and the men-at-arms

BATTLE OF THE HYDASPES 63

placed between them resembling the lines of wall inter-
vening between tower and tower." Both flanks were
protected by cavalry with chariots in front. The cav-
alry numbered four thousand and the chariots three
hundred. Each chariot was drawn by four horses, and
carried six men, two of whom were archers, stationed
one on each side of the vehicle, two were shield-bearers,
and two were charioteers, who in the stress of battle
were wont to drop the reins and ply the enemy with
darts.

The infantry were all armed with a broad and heavy
two-handed sword, and a long buckler of undressed
ox-hide. In addition to these arms each man carried
either javelins or a bow. The bow is described by
Arrian as being " made of equal length with the man
who bears it. This they rest upon the ground, and,
pressing against it with their left foot, thus discharge
the arrow, having drawn the string backwards; for the
shaft they use is little short of being three yards long,
and there is nothing which can resist an Indian archer's
shot neither shield nor breastplate, nor any stronger
defence, if such there be."

But great as was the power of the Indian bow, it
was too cumbrous to meet the attack of the mobile
Macedonian cavalry. The slippery state of the surface
prevented the archers from resting the end of their
weapons firmly on the ground, and Alexander's horse
were able to deliver their charge before the bowmen had
completed their adjustments. The Indian horsemen,
each of whom carried two javelins and a buckler, were

64 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

far inferior in personal strength and military discipline
to Alexander's men. With such force and such equip-
ment Poros awaited the attack of the greatest military
genius whom the world has seen.

Alexander clearly perceived that his small force
would have no chance of success in a direct attack upon
the enemy's centre, and resolved to rely on the effect
of a vigorous cavalry charge against the Indian left
wing. The generals in command of the six thousand
infantry at his disposal were ordered to play a waiting
game, and to take no part in the action until they should
see the Indian foot and horse thrown into confusion
by the charge of cavalry under Alexander's personal
command.

He opened the action by sending his mounted
archers, a thousand strong, against the left wing of
the Indian army, which must have extended close to the
bank of the river. The archers discharged a storm of
arrows and made furious charges. They were quickly
followed by the Guards led by Alexander himself.
The Indian cavalry on the right wing hurried round by
the rear to support their hard-pressed comrades on the
left. But meantime two regiments of horse commanded
by Koinos, which had been detached by Alexander for
the purpose, swept past the front of the immobile host
of Poros, galloped round its right wing, and threatened
the rear of the Indian cavalry and chariots. While the
Indian squadrons were endeavouring to effect a partial
change of front to meet the impending onset from the
rear, they necessarily fell into a certain amount of con-

ELEPHANTS AND CAVALRY 65

fusion. Alexander, seeing his opportunity, seized the
very moment when the enemy's horse were changing
front, and pressed home his attack. The Indian ranks
on both wings broke and " fled for shelter to the
elephants as to a friendly wall." Thus ended the first
act in the drama.

The elephant drivers tried to retrieve the disaster
by urging their mounts against the Macedonian horse,
but the phalanx, which had now advanced, began to
take its deferred share in the conflict. The Macedonian
soldiers hurled showers of darts at the elephants and
their riders. The maddened beasts charged and crushed
through the closed ranks of the phalanx, impenetrable
to merely human attack. The Indian horsemen seized
the critical moment, and, seeking to revenge the defeat
which they had suffered in the first stage of the action,
wheeled round and attacked Alexander's cavalry. But
the Indians were not equal to the task which they
attempted, and, being repulsed, were again cooped up
among the elephants. The second act of the drama
was now finished.

The third and last began with a charge by the Mace-
donian massed cavalry, which crashed into the broken
Indian ranks and effected an awful carnage. The battle
ended at the eighth hour of the day in a scene of mur-
derous confusion, which is best described in the words
of Arrian, whose account is based on that of men who
shared in the fight.

" The elephants," he writes, " being now cooped up
within a narrow space, did no less damage to their

66 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

friends than to their foes, trampling them under their
feet as they wheeled and pushed about. There resulted
in consequence a great slaughter of the cavalry, cooped
up as it was within a narrow space around the ele-
phants. Many of the elephant drivers, moreover, had
been shot down, and of the elephants themselves some
had been wounded, while others, both from exhaustion
and the loss of their mahouts, no longer kept to their
own side of the conflict, but, as if driven frantic by
their sufferings, attacked friend and foe quite indis-
criminately, pushed them, trampled them down, and
killed them in all manner of ways. But the Mace-
donians, who had a wide and open field, and could
therefore operate as they thought best, gave way when
the elephants charged, and when they retreated followed
at their heels and plied them with darts, whereas the
Indians, who were in the midst of the animals, suffered
far more from the effects of their rage.

" When the elephants, however, became quite ex-
hausted, and their attacks were no longer made with
vigour, they fell back like ships backing water, and
merely kept trumpeting as they retreated with their
faces to the enemy. Then did Alexander surround with
his cavalry the whole of the enemy's line, and signal
that the infantry, with their shields linked together so
as to give the utmost compactness to their ranks, should
advance in phalanx. By this means the cavalry of the
Indians was, with a few exceptions, cut to pieces in the
action. Such also was the fate of the infantry, since
the Macedonians were now pressing them from every

POROS DEFEATED 67

side. Upon this, all turned to flight wherever a gap
could be found in the cordon of Alexander's cavalry. "

Meanwhile, Krateros and the other officers left on
the opposite bank of the river had crossed over, and
with their fresh troops fell upon the fugitives, and
wrought terrible slaughter. The Indian army was
annihilated, all the elephants were either killed or
captured, and the chariots destroyed. Three thousand
horsemen, and not less than twelve thousand foot-sol-
diers were killed, and nine thousand taken prisoners.
The Macedonian loss, according to the highest estimate,
did not exceed a thousand.

Poros himself, a magnificent giant, six and a half
feet in height, fought to the end, but at last succumbed
to nine wounds, and was taken prisoner in a fainting
condition.

Alexander had the magnanimity to respect his
gallant adversary, and willingly responded to his proud
request to be " treated as a king." The victor not only
confirmed the vanquished prince in the government of
his ancestral territory, but added to it other lands of
still greater extent, and by this politic generosity
secured for the brief period of his stay in the country
a grateful and faithful friend.

The victory was commemorated by the foundation
of two towns, one named Nikaia, situated on the battle-
field, and the other, named Boukephala, situated at the
point whence Alexander had started to cross the Hydas-
pes. The latter was dedicated to the memory of
Alexander's famous charger, which had carried him

68 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

safely through so many perils, and had now at last
succumbed to weariness and old age. Boukephala, by
reason of its position at a ferry on the high road from
the west to the Indian interior, became a place of such
fame and importance as to be reckoned by Plutarch
among the greatest of Alexander's foundations. It
was practically identical with the modern town of
Jihlam (Jhelum), and its position is more closely
marked by the extensive elevated mound to the west
of the existing town.

The position of Nikaia, which never attained fame,
is less certain, but should probably be sought at the
village of Sukhchainpur to the south of the Karri plain,
the scene of the battle.

Alexander, after performing with fitting splendour
the obsequies of the slain, offered the customary sacri-
fices, celebrated games, and left Krateros behind with
a portion of the army and orders to fortify posts and
maintain communications. The king himself, taking
a force of picked troops, largely composed of cavalry,
invaded the country of a nation called Glausai or Glau-
kanikoi, adjacent to the dominions of Poros. Thirty-
seven considerable towns and a multitude of villages,
having readily submitted, were added to the extensive
territory administered by Poros. The king of the lower
hills, who is called Abisares by the Greek writers, find-
ing resistance hopeless, again tendered his submission.
Another Poros, nephew of the defeated monarch, who
ruled a tract called Gandaris, probably that between the
Chinab and Ravi Rivers now known as Gondal Bar,

*- "*<* ~s&^> -~^ *+-* ? v^

ALEXANDEK ADVANCES EASTWAED 69

sent envoys promising allegiance to the invincible
invader, and sundry independent tribes followed the
example of these princes.

Alexander, moving in a direction more easterly than
before, crossed the Akesines (Chinab) at a point not
specified, but certainly near the foot of the hills. The
passage of the river, although unopposed, was difficult
by reason of the rapid current of the flooded stream,
which was three thousand yards (15 stadia) in width,
and of the large and jagged rocks with which the chan-
nel was bestrewn, and on which many of the boats were
wrecked.

The king, having made adequate arrangements for
supplies, reinforcements, and the maintenance of com-
munications, continued his advance eastwards, prob-
ably passing close to the ancient fortress of Sialkot.
The Hydraotes (Ravi) River was crossed without dif-
ficulty and Hephaistion was sent back in order to
reduce to obedience the younger Poros, who had re-
volted owing to feelings of resentment at the excessive
favour shown to his uncle and enemy.

Alexander selected as the adversaries worthy of his
steel the more important confederacy of independent
tribes which was headed by the Kathaioi, who dwelt
upon the left or eastern side of the Hydraotes, and
enjoyed the highest reputation for skill in the art of
war. Their neighbours, the Oxydrakai, who occupied
the basin of the Hyphasis, and the Malloi, who were
settled along the lower course of the Hydraotes below
Lahore and were also famous as brave warriors,

70 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

intended to join the tribal league, but had not actually
done so at this time. The Kathaioi were now supported
only by minor clans, their immediate neighbours, and
the terrible fate which awaited the Malloi was post-
poned for a brief space.

On the second day after the passage of the Hy-
draotes, Alexander received the capitulation of a town
named Pimprama, belonging to a clan called Adraistai
by Arrian, and, after a day's rest, proceeded to invest
Sangala, which the Kathaioi and the allied tribes had
selected as their main stronghold. The tribes pro-
tected their camp, which lay under the shelter of a low
hill, by a triple row of wagons, and offered a determined
resistance.

Meantime, the elder Poros arrived with a reinforce-
ment for the besiegers of five thousand troops, ele-
phants, and a siege-train, but before any breach in the
city wall had been effected, the Macedonians stormed
the place by escalade, and routed the allies, who lost
many thousands killed. Alexander's loss in killed was
less than a hundred, but twelve hundred of his men
were wounded an unusually large proportion. San-
gala was razed to the ground, as a punishment for the
stout resistance of its defenders.

Yet another river, the Hyphasis (Bias), lay in the
path of the royal adventurer, who advanced to its bank
and prepared to cross, being determined to subdue the
nations beyond. These were reputed to be clans of
brave agriculturists, enjoying an admirable system of
aristocratic government, and occupying a fertile terri-

THE SPEECH OF KOINOS 71

tory well supplied with elephants of superior size and
courage.

Alexander, having noticed that his troops no longer
followed him with their wonted alacrity, and were
indisposed to proceed to more distant adventures,
sought to rouse their enthusiasm by an eloquent ad-
dress, in which he recited the glories of their wondrous
conquests from the Hellespont to the Hyphasis, and
promised them the dominion and riches of all Asia.
But his glowing words fell on unwilling ears, and were
received with painful silence, which remained un-
broken for a long time.

At last Koinos, the trusted cavalry general, who had
led the charge in the battle with Poros, summoned up
courage to reply, and argued the expediency of fixing
some limit to the toils and dangers of the army. He
urged his sovereign to remember that out of the Greeks
and Macedonians who had crossed the Hellespont eight
years earlier, some had been invalided home, some
were unwilling exiles in newly founded cities far from
their own land, some were disabled by wounds, and
others, the most numerous, had perished by the sword
or by disease.

Few indeed were those left to follow the standards,
and they were weary wretches, shattered in health,
ragged, ill-armed, and despondent. He concluded his
oration by saying:

" Moderation in the midst of success, O king! is the
noblest of virtues, for, although, being at the head of so
brave an army, you have naught to dread from mortal

72 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

foes, yet the visitations of the Deity cannot be foreseen
or guarded against by man."

The words of Koinos were greeted with loud ap-
plause, which left no doubt about the temper of the
men. Alexander, deeply mortified and unwilling to
yield, retired within his tent, but emerged on the third
day, convinced that farther advance was impracticable.
The soothsayers judiciously discovered that the omens
were unfavourable for the passage of the river, and
Alexander, with a heavy heart, gave orders for retreat,
in September, 326 B. c.

To mark the farthest point of his advance, he erected
twelve huge altars, built of squared stone, and each
fifty cubits in height, dedicated to the twelve great
gods. Although the army had not passed the river,
these massive memorials were erected on the farther
bank, where they long remained to excite the wonder
and veneration of both natives and foreigners. Traces
of them may still exist, and should be looked for along
the oldest bed of the Bias, near the hills, in one or other
of the three districts Gurdaspur, Hoshyarpur, or
Kangra where nobody has yet sought them.

The judicious Arrian simply records :

" Alexander divided the army into brigades, which
he ordered to prepare twelve altars equal in height
to the loftiest military towers, while exceeding them
in breadth, to serve both as thank-offerings to the gods
who had led him so far on the path of conquest, and as
a memorial of his achievements. When the altars had
been constructed, he offered sacrifice upon them with

MEMORIAL ALTARS 73

the customary rites, and celebrated gymnastic and
equestrian games."

The structures thus solemnly dedicated were well
designed to serve their double purpose, and constituted
a dignified and worthy monument of the piety and
labours of the world's greatest general. Their signifi-
cance was fully appreciated by the Indian powers
which had been compelled to bend before the Mace-
donian storm. We are told that Chandragupta Maurya,
the first Emperor of India who succeeded to the lord-
ship of Alexander's conquests, and his successors for
centuries afterward, continued to venerate the altars,
and were in the habit of crossing the river to offer
sacrifice upon them.

But, if Curt'ius and Dipdorus are to be believed, the
noble simplicity of the monumental altars was marred
by a ridiculous addition designed to gratify the king's
childish vanity. The tale is given in its fullest form by
Diodorus, who gravely informs us that, after the com-
pletion of the altars, Alexander caused an encampment
to be made thrice the size of that actually occupied by
his army, encircled by a trench fifty feet wide and forty
feet deep, as well as by a rampart . of extraordinary
dimensions. " He further," the story continues, " or-
dered quarters to be constructed as for foot-soldiers,
each containing two beds four cubits in length for
each man, and besides this, two stalls of twice the
ordinary size for each horseman. Whatever else was to
be left behind was directed to be likewise proportion-
ately increased in size." We are asked to believe that

74 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

these silly proceedings were intended to convince the
country people that the invaders had been men of more
than ordinary strength and stature.

It is incredible that Alexander could have been guilty
of such senseless foUy, and the legend may be rejected
without hesitation as probably based on distorted ver-
sions of tales told by travellers who had seen the altars.

FROM AN AJANTA CAVii f AIKIIKO.

CHAPTER IV

ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN
The Retreat

retreating army retraced its steps, and arrived
J- again without further adventure on the bank of
the Akesines (Chinab), where Hephaistion had com-
pleted the building of a fortified town. Voluntary
settlers from the neighbouring country and such of the
mercenary troops as seemed unfit for active service
were left to occupy and garrison this post, and Alexan-
der began to prepare for his voyage down the rivers to
the Great Sea.

Envoys bearing tribute from the kings of the lower
hills, now known as the chieftainships of Rajauri and
Bhimbhar and the British District of Hazara, were
received at this time. Alexander, who regarded his
Indian conquests as permanent additions to the empire,
and evidently cherished hopes of a return to the coun-
try, having accepted the tenders of submission, solemnly
appointed the King of Abhisara (Bhimbhar and Ra-
jauri) to the office of satrap, and invested him with

76 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

authority over the King of Urasa (Hazara), who is
called Arsakes by Arrian.

About the same time a welcome reinforcement of
five thousand cavalry from Thrace, and seven thou-
sand infantry, sent by the king's cousin, Harpalos,
Satrap of Babylon, arrived, bringing no less than
twenty-five thousand suits of armour inlaid with gold
and silver. The new accoutrements were at once dis-
tributed to the ragged troops, and the old suits were
burned.

Alexander then advanced to the Hydaspes (Jihlam),
and encamped on the bank, probably on the site of the
camp formerly occupied by Poros. Several weeks were
now devoted to the final preparations for the voyage
down the rivers. All available country boats plying on
the river were impressed for the service, and deficien-
cies were supplied by the construction of new vessels,
for which the forests at the base of the hills afforded
ample facilities. Crews were provided from the con-
tingents of seafaring nations, Phoenicians, Cyprians,
Karians, and Egyptians, who accompanied the army,
and by the end of October, 326 B. c., all was ready.
The fleet, which included eighty galleys of thirty oars
each, and a multitude of horse transports and small
craft of all kinds, probably numbered nearly two thou-
sand vessels.

Before the voyage began, Alexander convoked an
assembly of his officers and the ambassadors of the
Indian powers, and in their presence appointed Poros
to be king of all the conquered territories lying between

VOYAGE DOWN THE HYDASPES 77

the Hydaspes and the Hyphasis. These territories are
said to have been occupied by seven nations, the Glau-
sai, Kathaioi, and others, and to have comprised no less
than two thousand towns. The opportunity was seized
to effect a reconciliation between Poros and his old
enemy, the King of Taxila, and the friendship between
the two monarchs was cemented by a matrimonial
alliance. The King of Taxila, who had vied with his
rival in zealous service to the invader, was formally
confirmed in his sovereignty of the country between the
Indus and the Hydaspes.

Alexander, who never neglected to make provision
for the protection of his flank and rear, and for the
uninterrupted maintenance of communications with his
distant base in Europe, instructed Generals Hephaistion
and Krateros to march with all possible speed to secure
the capital of King Saubhuti (Sophytes, or Sopeithes),
lord of the fastnesses of the Salt Range stretching from
Jihlam to the Indus, who submitted without resistance.

The fleet was to be protected by an army of 120,000
men marching along the banks, under the generals
above named. Krateros had the command on the
right, or western, bank of the river, while the larger
portion of the army, accompanied by two hundred
elephants, was led by Hephaistion along the left, or east-
ern, bank. Philippos, satrap of the countries west of
the Indus, had orders to follow three days later with
the rear-guard.

Thus escorted the vast fleet began its memorable
voyage. At daybreak one morning toward the end of

ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

October, Alexander, having offered libations from a
golden^bowl to the river gods, his ancestor Herakles,
Ammon, and any other god whom he was accustomed
to reverence, gave the signal for starting by sound of
trumpet. In stately procession, without confusion or
disorder, the ships quitted their anchorage and moved
down-stream to the astonishment of the crowds of

ANCIENT HINDU SHIP.
From an Ajanta Cave Painting. (After Griffiths.)

natives lining the banks, who had never before seen
horses on board ship. The plash of thousands of oars,
the words of command, and the chants of the rowers
wakened the echoes, which reverberated from bank to
bank, and enhanced the amazement of the gaping
throngs of spectators. On the third day the fleet
reached the place, perhaps Bhira, where Hephaistion
and Krateros had been ordered to pitch their camps
facing each other on opposite sides of the river. Here a

CONFLUENCE OF THE RIVERS 79

halt was made for two days to allow the rear-guard
under the command of Philippos to come up, and that
general, on his arrival, was directed to convert his
force into an advance-guard and proceed along the bank
of the river.

On the fifth day after leaving the halting-place, the
fleet arrived at the first river confluence, where the
Hydaspes met the greater stream of the Akesines.
The channel where the waters of the two rivers then
met was so very narrow that dangerous whirlpools were
formed, and much disorder was occasioned in the fleet.
Two of the war-ships were sunk with the greater part
of their crews, and the vessel which carried Alexander
was in imminent danger of sharing the same fate. By
dint of great exertion on the part of the king and all
concerned, the bulk of the fleet was ultimately brought
to a safe anchorage under the shelter of a headland, and
the necessary steps were taken to repair the damage
suffered.

It is impossible to determine the spot where these
exciting incidents occurred. The confluence of the two
rivers at Timmu (N. lat. 31 10') now takes place
quietly, and presents none of the peculiarities to which
Arrian and Curtius devote so much vivid description.
All that can be said is that in Alexander's time the con-
fluence must have been situated much farther to the
north.

Our exact knowledge of the courses of the rivers
in the Pan jab and Sind begins only from the date of
the Arab invasion in 712 A. D., more than a thousand

80 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

years subsequent to the expedition of Alexander. Con-
cerning the changes which happened during that millen-
nium absolutely nothing is known. But during the
twelve hundred years that have elapsed since the Arab
conquests changes on a stupendous scale are known to
have occurred, and it is certain that similar effects must
have been produced by the ever operating causes dur-
ing the thousand years which intervened between Alex-
ander and Muhammad bin Kasim. During the known
period, earthquakes, floods, changes of level, denuda-
tion, accretion, and alterations of climate have all con-
tributed to transform the face of the country. The
delta of the Indus has advanced more than fifty miles,
and has thus lengthened the courses of the rivers, while
diminishing their gradients and velocity. One huge
river, the Hakra or Wahindah, which formerly gave life
and wealth to the desert wastes of Bikanir, Bahawal-
pur, and Sind, has ceased to exist; the Bias (Hyphasis)
has forsaken its ancient independent bed and become
a tributary of the Sutlaj; and the other rivers, the
Indus, Jihlam (Hydaspes), Chinab (Akesines), and
Ravi (Hydraotes), have all repeatedly changed their
courses and points of junction.

These facts, although indisputably true, have been
ignored generally in practice by the historians of Alex-
ander, who have pretended to trace the line of his
river voyage on modern maps, and to " identify " town
after town on the banks of the several rivers. All such
identifications are vain. No man can tell in which of
the ancient beds the Chinab or any of the other rivers

CHANGES IN RIVERS 81

named flowed in the time of Alexander, and, when the
positions of the rivers are not ascertainable, it is clear
that we cannot reasonably expect to identify places on
their banks. The most that is possible is to give general
indications of the course of the voyage and of the
location of the principal nations encountered by Alex-
ander. The sites of the towns and the precise positions
of the confluences and crossing-places mentioned by the
ancient historians cannot be precisely determined.
Inasmuch as the courses of all the rivers were then
much shorter than they now are, all the confluences
must have been situated considerably farther north than
at present, and this a priori inference appears to be
fully supported by observation of the most ancient
beds of the streams. The confluence of the Akesines and
Hydaspes, the first of the four confluences described by
Arrian, was probably situated not very far from the
modern town of Jhang, and approximately in N. lat. 31.
Alexander here landed his troops in order to sub-
jugate the adjoining tribes, called Siboi and Agalassoi
by Curtius, and to prevent them from joining the
powerful nation of the Malloi (Sanskrit Malava or
Malaya), who dwelt lower down the river, and were
known to be preparing for strenuous resistance. The
Siboi, who are described as rude folk clad in the skins
of wild beasts and armed with clubs, submitted, and
were allowed to retain their freedom. Their neighbours,
the Agalassoi, who were able to muster a force esti-
mated at forty thousand foot and three thousand horse,
ventured to resist, and met with a terrible fate. Multi-

82 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

tudes were put to the sword, and multitudes sold into
slavery. Alexander advanced some thirty miles into
their country, and captured their principal town. At a
second town he met with an obstinate defence, which
cost the lives of many Macedonians. The inhabitants,
said to number twenty thousand, despairing of ultimate
success, set fire to the town and cast themselves with
their wives and children into the flames. The citadel
escaped the fire, and was garrisoned by a detachment
left behind for the purpose. The lives of three thousand
of its gallant defenders were spared.

Information was received that a confederacy of
the Malloi, Oxydrakai, and other independent tribes
occupying the* river valleys was being formed with
the intention of offering strenuous resistance to the
invasion. Alexander hastened the movements of his
fleet and army with the object of attacking the con-
federates severally in detail, before they could mature
their plans and combine their forces. The fleet and the
bulk of the army received orders to assemble at the next
confluence, that of the Hydraotes (Ravi) with the
Akesines (Chinab, including the Hydaspes, or Jihlam).

Alexander in person landed with a picked force,
largely composed, as usual, of mounted troops, to oper-
ate against the Malloi, the most formidable of the allied
tribes, who occupied the fertile valley of the Hydraotes,
on both banks of the river. Their neighbours, the
Oxydrakai, who dwelt on the banks of the upper course
of the Hyphasis, although ordinarily at war with the
Malloi, had resolved to forget old enmities and to make

ALEXANDER'S STRATEGY 83

common cause against the invader. The rival nations
cemented the alliance by wholesale intermarriage, each
giving and taking ten thousand young women for wives.
But personal jealousies, such as in all ages have re-
duced to futility political combinations in India, pre-
vented the alliance from taking effect. While the
allies were discussing the claims of rival generals to
command, Alexander acted, and with masterly strategy
sweeping down upon the Malloi, extinguished their
military power before the Oxydrakai could come to their
aid. The forces at the command of the confederacy
should have sufficed, if properly handled, to annihilate
the small flying column at Alexander's disposal, for
they are said to have comprised eighty or ninety thou-
sand fully equipped infantry, ten thousand cavalry, and
from seven to nine hundred chariots.

The exact strength of the Macedonian field force
is not stated, but it must have been very small, not
exceeding a few thousands. But what it lacked in num-
bers was compensated for by its perfect mobility and
the genius of its general. The Macedonians were
alarmed at the magnitude of the opposing forces, and a
repetition of the mutiny of the Hyphasis was with diffi-
culty prevented by a stirring address delivered by the
king. By two forced marches across the waterless
uplands, now known as the Bar, which separate the
valleys of the Akesines and Hydraotes, Alexander com-
pletely surprised the Malloi, most of whom were work-
ing unarmed in the fields. Many of the helpless
wretches were ruthlessly cut down, " without their even

84 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

turning to offer resistance, " and those who escaped the
sword were shut up in the fortified towns.

One of these towns, with a citadel situated on a
commanding height, was stormed under Alexander's
personal direction, and two thousand of the garrison
were slain. Another town, against which Perdikkas
had been sent, was found to be deserted. The inhabit-
ants fled to the marshes in the river valley, but, even
among the reeds and rushes, they could not escape the
weapons of the Macedonian cavalry. Alexander then
pushed on to the Hydraotes, and overtook the retreat-
ing Malloi at the ford, inflicting severe loss upon them.
He pursued them to the east of the river into the coun-
try now known as the Montgomery District, and took
by mining and escalade a town inhabited by Brahmans.
The king, with his customary disregard of danger, was
the first man to scale the wall. The place was gallantly
defended, but in vain. " About five thousand in all
were killed, and as they were men of spirit, very few
were taken prisoners."

The Malloi, being hard pressed, recrossed the Hy-
draotes, the passage of which they attempted to defend
with fifty thousand men; but they were no match for
the Europeans, and fled " with headlong speed " to the
strongest fortified town in the neighbourhood. This
small town, which cannot be identified precisely, and
was situated somewhere near the boundary of the Jhang
and Montgomery Districts, eighty or ninety miles to the
northeast -of Multan, was the scene of one of the most
memorable incidents in Alexander's adventurous career,

ALEXANDER WOUNDED

admirably described by Arrian from materials supplied
by Ptolemy, who did not, however, himself take part
in Alexander's defence, as has been erroneously asserted
by some authors.

The Macedonians, already masters of the town, were
endeavouring to scale the walls of the citadel, when

INDIAN ARCHER.

From the Ajanta Cave Paintings. (After Griffiths.)

Alexander, thinking that the men bearing the ladders
loitered too long, snatched one from the man carrying
it, and mounted the wall, followed by only three com-
panions, Peukestas, Leonnatos, and Abreas. Standing
on the wall in his gleaming armour, the king was a
mark for every missile, and, feeling that he could effect
nothing where he was without support, boldly leaped
down into the citadel, followed by his three comrades.
Abreas soon fell dead. Alexander, standing with his
back to a tree that grew near the wall, slew the Indian
governor and defended himself against all comers until
his breast was pierced by an arrow, and he fell. Peu-
kestas bestrode him as he lay, covering him with the

86 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

sacred shield brought from Ilion, while Leonnatos,
although severely wounded like his surviving comrade,
protected him from side attacks. The ladders having
broken, the maddened Macedonians were for a time
powerless to help their king, but at last a few managed
to scramble up the earthen wall, while others broke in
a gate, and so saved Alexander, who had fainted.

The barbed arrow was withdrawn by a bold opera-
tion which involved much bleeding and threatened
immediate death, but gradually Alexander's strong
constitution triumphed, and the dangerous wound was
healed. The infuriated troops fell upon the unfortunate
inhabitants, and slew them all sparing neither man,
woman, nor child. When convalescent, Alexander was
carried to the Hydraotes, and conveyed by boat to the
junction with the Akesines, where he met his fleet and
army, under the command respectively of Nearchos and
Hephaistion.

The survivors of the Malloi, whose nation had felt
the full weight of Alexander's hand, now tendered their
humble submission, and the Oxydrakai, whom for-
tunate procrastination had saved, feeling that resist-
ance would be hopeless, purchased the conqueror's
clemency by offers of tribute and the delivery of valu-
able gifts. Alexander, stern and even cruel to those
who opposed him, but always courteous and generous
to the submissive, readily accepted the proposals,
presents, and excuses of the tribal envoys. The pres-
ents are said to have included 1030 four-horse chariots,
one thousand bucklers of native manufacture, one hun-

RIVER VOYAGE CONTINUED 87

dred talents of steel, a great store of cotton goods, a
quantity of tortoise-shells, the skins of large lizards,
with tame lions and tigers, in addition to a contingent
of three hundred horsemen.

Philippos was then appointed satrap of the con-
quered nations, and the fleet, passing the third con-
fluence, where the Hyphasis contributed its waters to
the stream, continued its voyage to the fourth
confluence, that of the Akesines (Chinab), including
the Hydaspes (Jihlam), Hydraotes (Ravi), and Hy-
phasis (Bias), with the river which the ancient writers
call the Indus. But it is probable that the " lost river
of Sind," the Hakra, or Wahindah, then existed, and
that all the Pan jab rivers, including the Indus, joined
it, and formed one great stream, afterward known as
the Mihran of Sind.

It is absolutely impossible to determine the position
of any of the confluences in Alexander's time; but, long
afterward, in the days of the early Arab writers, all
the rivers met at a place called Dosh-i-ab, or " the
Meeting of the Waters," in territory now belonging to
the Bahawalpur State. Our complete uncertainty as
to the courses of the rivers, which have ranged, as the
old channels indicate, over a space a hundred and ten
miles wide in the region of the final confluence, deprives
the remainder of Alexander's river voyage of much of
its interest. His course in Upper Sind cannot be indi-
cated even approximately, and it is impossible to fix
accurately the position of either the towns or the
nations mentioned by the historians.

88 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

The confluence of the combined Pan jab rivers with
the " Indus," wherever it may have been situated, was
appointed to be the southern boundary of the satrapy
of Philippos, to whom all the Thracians were made
over together with an adequate force of infantry to form
the garrison of his province. At about the same time
the Bactrian nobleman, Oxyartes, father of Alexander's
wife, Roxana, was deputed to the Paropanisadai, or the
Kabul province, as satrap in succession to Tyriaspes,
whose administration had been unsatisfactory. A city
was founded at the confluence of the rivers with the
" Indus," which Alexander hoped would become pros-
perous and famous. Dockyards also were constructed.
Certain independent tribes, whom Arrian calls Abasta-
noi, Xathroi or Oxathroi, and Ossadioi, submitted or
were subjugated, and it is noted that galleys of thirty
oars and transport vessels were built and supplied by
the Xathroi. Although it is impossible to determine
accurately either the correct names or the true positions
of the tribes in Northern Sind mentioned by the various
ancient authorities, the region occupied by the tribes
referred to seems to be that lying to the north and
south of N. lat. 28 and between E. long. 69 and
70 30'. During this stage of the campaign, Krateros,
who hitherto, from the beginning; had always marched
on the right, or western, bank of each successive river,
was transferred to the left, or eastern, bank, which
offered greater facilities for movement and was occu-
pied by tribes less hostile than those on the other bank.

Alexander now hurried on in order to surprise the

FATE OF KING MOUSIKANOS 89

powerful monarch called Mousikanos by Arrian, who
had proudly abstained from sending envoys or presents
to the invader. The capital of this stiff-necked king
may be probably, although not certainly, identified with
Alor, or Aror, the ancient capital of Sind, now included
in the Shikarpur District, and situated in N. lat.
27 39', E. long. 68 59'. The peculiarities of the
people of this kingdom excited the surprise and
admiration of the Macedonians. The inhabitants
were believed to attain the age of a hundred and
thirty years, their longevity being the result of good
health secured by temperance in diet. Although
their country possessed mines of both gold and silver,
they refused to make use of either metal. Unlike
the other Indians, they kept no slaves, employing
in their stead " yoifcig men in the flower of their
age, as the Cretans employ the Aphamiotai, and the
Lacedaemonians the Helots." They also resembled the
Lacedaemonians in observing the custom of a public
meal, at which the food served was the produce of the
chase. They declined to study any science save that
of medicine, and were reputed to have no system of civil
law, the jurisdiction of the courts being confined to
cases of murder and other violent crime.

King Mousikanos, like the Malloi, being completely
surprised by the rapidity of the movements of Alexan-
der, who had reached the frontier before his departure
from his last camp had been reported, hastened to meet
the conqueror, bringing with him all his elephants and
the choicest presents which India could offer. Alexan-

90 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

der, with his habitual readiness to accept submission,
received the king courteously, expressed much admira-
tion of his capital and realm, and confirmed him in his
sovereignty. But Mousikanos, acting under the advice
of Brahman counsellors, quickly repented of his ready
submission, and revolted. Peithon, the son of Agenor,
who had been appointed satrap of the country to the
south of the territory entrusted to Philippos, was sent
in pursuit of the rebel, while Alexander in person
operated against the towns, some of which were
destroyed, while others were occupied by garrisons.
Mousikanos, having been captured by Peithon, was
crucified along with the Brahmans who had instigated
his defection.

Alexander next marched with a flying column
against a chief named Oxykanos, who was taken pris-
oner. His two principal cities were sacked, and the
other towns in the neighbourhood surrendered without
attempting resistance; " so much were the minds of
all the Indians paralyzed with abject terror by Alex-
ander and the success of his arms." Another chieftain,
named Sambos, whose capital was Sindimana, and who
had fled in terror, surrendered, and more Brahmans,
who had instigated the revolt of an unnamed town,
were executed. It is said that during this campaign
on the Lower Indus eighty thousand of the natives were
killed, and multitudes were sold as slaves.

After the execution of Mousikanos, the ruler of the
Delta, which was known to the Greeks as Patalene,
from its capital Patala, arrived in camp and proffered

ADVANCE TO PATALA 91

the submission of his kingdom, which was accepted.
He was sent back to his country to prepare for the
reception of the expedition.

About the same time Krateros, one of Alexander's
most trusted lieutenants, was detached with orders
to conduct a large portion of the army into Karmania
by the route leading through the territories of Ara-
chosia (Kandahar) and Drangiana (Sistan). The
troops entrusted to Krateros comprised the brigades
(ra'i5) of Attalos, Meleager, and Antigenes, besides
some of the archers, the " companions " or guards, and
other Macedonians unfit for further active service.
The elephants also accompanied this force.

Alexander in person retained the command of the
troops serving as marines, while Hephaistion was given
supreme command of the rest of the army, which ad-
vanced on the right bank of the river. Krateros, who
had been transferred to the left bank in Upper Sind,
had, of course, been obliged to recross the stream in
order to begin his homeward march. His place on the
left bank was now taken by Peithon, son of Agenor,
who was given a mounted force of lancers and Agrian-
ians, with instructions to place colonists in certain
fortified towns, suppress attempts at insurrection,
maintain order, and ultimately to rejoin Alexander at
Patala. The prince and people of that city fled in
terror, but were mostly reassured and induced to return
to their homes.

Alexander, considering Patala to be a position of
high strategical importance, caused Hephaistion to con-

92 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

struct a citadel there and to dig wells in the adjoining
region. He proposed to make a great naval station at
the point where the river divided, and remained suffi-
ciently long on the spot to see some progress made in
the construction of a roadstead and dockyard. He then
resolved to explore personally both arms of the river
down to the sea, and first sailed down the western, or
right, branch, which probably debouched near or below
Debal, the ancient port of Sind, distant about fifteen
miles from Thathah (Tatta). His sailors, accustomed
to the tideless waters of the Mediterranean, were
thrown into a state of great alarm and confusion by
the ebb and flow of the tide, but ultimately Alexander
succeeded in pushing on with some of the fastest vessels
and reaching the open sea. He sailed out a few miles
into the deep, sacrificed bulls to Poseidon, and followed
up the sacrifice by a libation, casting the golden vessels
used in the ceremony into the ocean as a thank-offer-
ing.

He then returned to Patala, where he found the
works of the new naval station well advanced, and pro-
ceeded to explore the eastern, or left, branch of the
river. Near its mouth he passed through a large lake,
apparently that now known as the Samarah lake to
the west of Amarkot, and again reached the seashore
in about latitude 25. Having spent three days in
reconnoitring the coast and arranging for the con-
struction of wells, he returned to Patala. Harbours and
docks were built on the shores of the lake, and furnished
with garrisons. Provisions to supply the forces for

THE SEA VOYAGE 93

four months were collected, and all other necessary
preparations were made for the two bold enterprises
which he had planned: the voyage of the fleet along the
coast to the Persian Gulf, and his own march with the
army through Gedrosia in a direction, so far as might
be practicable, parallel to the course of the fleet.

His plans were conceived upon a comprehensive
scale. Nearchos, the admiral who had successfully
commanded the flotilla during the ten months' voyage
from Jihlam to the sea, was instructed to bring the
fleet round the coast into the Persian Gulf as far as the
mouth of the Euphrates, and to record careful observa-
tions of the strange lands and seas which he should
visit. Alexander himself proposed to conduct the army
back to Persia through the wilds of the country then
called Gedrosia, and now known as Mukran, hitherto
untrodden save by the legendary hosts of Semiramis
and Cyrus. The king, who was independent of the
winds, started on his march about the beginning of
October, 325 B. c. Nearchos, being obliged to watch for
the change of the monsoon, did not leave his anchorage
in the river until two or three weeks later.

Although Gedrosia has usually remained outside the
Indian political system, the province, or part of it, has
been included from time to time within the dominions
of the sovereigns of Hind, and its history cannot be
regarded as altogether foreign to the history of India.
But the satrapy of Gedrosia undoubtedly lay beyond the
limits of India proper, and a summary narrative of
the adventures met with by Nearchos on its coasts and

94 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

his sovereign in its deserts will be sufficient to complete
the story of Alexander's Indian campaign.

Nearchos was detained for several days in the river,
and, after much difficulty in making a passage for the
ships round a bar, which obstructed the mouth of the
western branch, ultimately got out to sea. Contrary
winds detained him for twenty-four days in a secure
harbour, to which he gave the name of Alexander's
Haven. The coast-line has been changed so much by
both accretion and denudation, that attempts at de-
tailed identifications of places near the mouth of the
river are a waste of time, but it is safe to affirm that
the haven where Nearchos found shelter was not
very far from the modern Karachi (Kurrachee). The
admiral then crept cautiously along the inhospitable
coast, his crews often suffering severely from lack of
provisions and fresh water. After travelling a hundred
miles or so (850 stadia), the fleet reached the mouth of
the river Arabis (the Purali), which formed the bound-
ary between the Arabioi, the last a people of Indian
descent settled in this region, and the Oreitai, who
occupied an extensive territory to the west of the river.

Having traversed an estimated distance of eight hun-
dred stadia more, the fleet reached a place called Kokala,
where the wearied crews were allowed to disembark
and enjoy much-needed rest. While the sailors were
reposing here in a fortified camp, Nearchos came into
touch with Leonnatos, whom Alexander had detached
with a field force to subdue the Oreitai. News arrived
that a great battle had been fought, in which Leonnatos

SAVAGE TRIBES 95

had defeated the natives with terrible slaughter. The
Oreitai are said to have lost six thousand men and all
their leaders out of a total force of eight thousand foot
and three hundred horse. The Macedonian loss, al-
though numerically small, was noteworthy because it
included the colleague of Leonnatos, Apollophanes, who
had recently been appointed satrap of the country.
Communications between Leonnatos and Nearchos hav-
ing been established, the fleet was repaired and vict-
ualled, and sailors who had proved inefficient at sea were
drafted into the army, their places being taken by men
selected from the troops under the command of Leon-
natos.

Continuing their voyage westward, the ships passed
along the coast near the mouth of the river Tomeros,
which was inhabited by a race of savages, ignorant of
the use of iron, and armed only with wooden spears
charred at the point to harden them. These wild men
were covered with shaggy hair all over the body, and
had clawlike nails strong enough to rip up fish and to
split the softer kinds of wood. Their clothing was
made of the skins of wild beasts or those of the larger
fishes. After a skirmish with the savages, the fleet
delayed for five days to effect repairs, and on the sixth
day reached the rocky headland named Malana (now
Ras Malin), the eastern boundary of the Oreitai, a
people who were not savages, but were dressed and
armed like the inhabitants of India, although differing
from them in language and customs.

When the Malana cape had been passed, the inland

96 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

people were known as Gedrosioi, and no longer as
Oreitai. The inhabitants of the coast continued to
astonish the voyagers by their strange manners and
customs. " These poor wretches," we are told, " had
nothing but fish to live on," and so they were dubbed
Ichthyophagoi, or " Fish-eaters," by the Greeks -
what the real name of the race may have been is not
known. Whales, which were numerous along this coast,
although very alarming to the sailors of the fleet, were
extremely useful to the natives on shore, and supplied
the materials for the better houses, which were built
of whales' bones, the huge jaws serving as doorways.

The seamen on board the ships of Nearchos, being
superstitious, like the sailors of all ages and countries,
were much frighte'ned at the weird tales told about an
uninhabited island, which Arrian calls Nosala, and is
now known as Astola or Astalu. It lies nearly midway
between Urmera and Pasni headlands, and is to this
day as much an object of dread to the Med fisherman
as it was long ago to the Greek sailors.

Thus threading their way through all dangers, real
or imaginary, the explorers made their way to a port
called Badis, near Cape Jask at the entrance to the
Straits of Ormuz, and so came into touch with the
more civilized province of Karmania. Proceeding
through the straits, the delighted mariners found them-
selves at Harmozeia (Ormuz), a charming place, pro-
ducing everything that they wanted, except olives.
Here the men came ashore and were gratefully enjoying
their rest, when some of the more adventurous spirits

FLEET AND AKMY UNITE 97

strolled inland, and were astounded to meet a stranger
wearing Greek clothes and speaking Greek. Tears
came to their eyes as they heard the familiar sounds
of home in that strange and distant land. Explanations
having been exchanged, the stranger proved to be a
straggler from Alexander's army, and gave the welcome
information that the king was only five days' march
distant.

Nearchos and Archias at once arranged to go inland
to meet their sovereign, and, after many difficulties,
made their way to his presence, but so ragged and un-
kempt were they, that Alexander at first could not
recognize them. When at last he was convinced of his
friends' identity, he assumed hastily that they must be
the sole miserable survivors from his lost fleet, and was
in despair at the imagined disaster. But he was soon
reassured by Nearchos, who told him that the ships
were safe and sound, hauled up at the mouth of the
Anamis River for repairs.

The admiral, after volunteering to conduct the fleet
up the gulf to Susa, returned to the coast, to which he
was obliged to fight his way, and thence sailed on, with
little adventure, to the mouth of the Euphrates. He
then heard of Alexander's approach to Susa, and, turn-
ing back, entered the Tigris to meet him, and " it was
thus that the expedition which had started from the
mouths of the Indus was brought in safety to Alex-
ander."

The difficulties encountered by the army under the
command of Alexander were even greater than those

98 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

met and overcome by the fleet under Nearchos. The
king seems to have been ignorant of the existence of
the Hala range of mountains, which terminates in Cape
Malin. This great obstacle, which he was obliged to
turn, deranged his plans, and compelled him to pene-
trate far into the interior, and for a time to lose touch
with the fleet. The army suffered agonies from thirst,
and the unfortunate followers perished by thousands.
" The blazing heat and want of water," Arrian tells
us, " destroyed a great part of the army, and especially
the beasts of burden, which perished from the great
depth of the sand, and the heat which scorched like fire,
while a great many died of thirst." Ultimately, the
remnant of the force worked its way back to the coast,
emerging near the harbour of Pasni, almost on the line
where the telegraph-wire now runs, and its sufferings
were at an end. But the soldiers had been obliged " to
burn the rich spoils taken from their enemies, for the
sake of which they had marched to the utmost extrem-
ities of the East." The success of the general was the
ruin of the private.

While the army was still in Karmania, a report was
received that Philippos, satrap of the Indian provinces
north of the confluence of the Akesines with the Indus,
had been treacherously murdered by his mercenary
troops. Although this disquieting communication was
accompanied by the information that the murderers had
been slain by the satrap's Macedonian body-guard,
Alexander was not then in a position to make perma-
nent arrangements, and was obliged to content himself

DEATH OF ALEXANDER 99

with sending a despatch to India, directing Ambhi, King
of Taxila, and Eudamos, commandant of a Thracian
contingent on the Upper Indus, to assume the admin-
istration of the province until a satrap could be ap-
pointed in due course. The death of Alexander at
Babylon in the following year (June, 323 B. c.) effectu-
ally prevented any attempt being made to retain control
over the conquered countries east of the Indus.

When the second partition of the empire was effected
at Triparadeisos in 321 B. c., Antipater practically rec-
ognized the independence of India by appointing the
native kings Poros and Ambhi, as a matter of form,
to the charge of the Indus valley and Pan jab. Peithon,
whom Alexander had appointed Satrap of the Indus
Delta, was transferred to the provinces " which bor-
dered on the Paropanisadai," i. e. to Arachosia, etc.,
west of the Indus, and India was abandoned by the
Macedonian government in reality, though not in name.
Eudamos, alone of the Macedonian officers, retained
some authority in the Indus valley until 317.

The Indian expedition of Alexander may be said
to have lasted for three years, from May, 327 B. c., when
he crossed the Hindu Kush, to May, 324 B. c., when he
entered Susa. Out of this period, about nineteen
months were spent in India east of the Indus, from
March, 326 B. c., when he crossed the bridge at Ohind,
until September or October in the following year, when
he entered the territory of the Arabioi.

Looked at merely from the soldier 's point of view,
the achievements wrought in that brief space of time

100 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

are marvellous and incomparable. The strategy, tac-
tics, and organization of the operations give the reader
of the story the impression that in all these matters
perfection was attained. The professional military
critic may justly blame Alexander, as his own officers
blamed him, for excessive display of personal heroism,
and needless exposure to danger of the precious life
upon which the safety of the whole army depended,
but criticism is silenced by admiration, and by the
reflection that the example set by the king's reckless
daring was of incalculable value as a stimulus and en-
couragement to troops often ready to despair of success.

The descent of the rivers to the ocean through the
territories of civilized and well-armed nations, admit-
tedly the best soldiers in the East, and the voyage of
Nearchos from the Indus to the Tigris, may fairly be
described as unqualified successes. The third great
enterprise, the retirement of the army led by Alexander
in person through Gedrosia, would have been equally
prosperous but for the occurrence of physical difficul-
ties, which could not be foreseen, owing to the imper-
fection of the information at the king's command. But
even this operation was not a failure. Notwithstanding
the terrible privations endured and the heavy losses
suffered, the army emerged from the deserts as an
organized and disciplined force, and its commander's
purpose was attained.

On the whole, Alexander's Indian campaign was
a success. It was not really marred by the mutiny at
the Hyphasis. If his soldiers had permitted him to

EFFECTS OF THE INVASION 101

plunge more deeply into the interior, he would probably
have been unable to maintain the communication with
his European base, on which his safety depended, and
his small, isolated force might have been overwhelmed
by the mere numbers of his adversaries. Koinos and
his fellow remonstrants may be credited with having
prevented the annihilation of the Macedonian army.

The triumphant progress of Alexander from the
Himalaya to the sea demonstrated the inherent weak-
ness of the greatest Asiatic armies when confronted
with European skill and discipline. The dreaded ele-
phants lost their terrors, and proved to be a poor de-
fence against the Macedonian cavalry. The unopposed
march of Krateros from Sind to Persia through Sistan
opened up an alternative land route and solved the
problem of easy overland communication with Europe.
The circumnavigation of the coast by Nearchos gave
Alexander a third line of communication by sea, and,
if he had lived, there is no reason to suppose that he
would have experienced serious difficulty in retaining
his hold upon the Panjab and Sind.

All his proceedings prove conclusively that he in-
tended the permanent annexation of those provinces to
his empire, and the measures which he took for the
purpose were apparently adequate to ensure success.
But Alexander's premature death destroyed the fruits
of his well-planned and successful enterprise. Within
three years of his departure, his officers had been ousted,
his garrisons destroyed, and all trace of his rule had
disappeared. The colonies which he founded in India,

102 ALEXANDER'S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

unlike those established in the other Asiatic provinces,
took no root. The campaign, although carefully de-
signed to secure a permanent conquest, was in actual
effect no more than a brilliantly successful raid on a
gigantic scale, which left upon India no mark save the
horrid scars of bloody war.

India remained unchanged. The wounds of battle
were quickly healed; the ravaged fields smiled again as
the patient oxen and no less patient husbandmen re-
sumed their interrupted labours; and the places of
the slain myriads were filled by the teeming swarms of
a population which knows no limits save those imposed
by the cruelty of man or the still more pitiless opera-
tions of nature. India was not Hellenized. She con-
tinued to live her life of " splendid isolation," and
soon forgot the passing of the Macedonian storm.

" The East bowed low before the blast

In patient, deep disdain ;
She let the legions thunder past,
And plunged in thought again."

FRIEZE FROM A. BDDDHIST STUl'A.

CHAPTER V

CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA AND BINDUSARA
321 B. C. TO 272 B. C.

WHEN Alexander quitted the Panjab, he posted no
Macedonian garrisons in that province, making
over the care of his interests to King Poros, who must
have been independent in practice. Ambhi, King of Tax-
ila, was also entrusted with authority as a colleague of
Poros. After the assassination of Philippos, Alexander
had sent orders from Karmania to Eudamos, command-
ant of a Thracian garrison on the Indus, to act as resi-
dent pending the appointment of a satrap, and to super-
vise the native princes. But this officer had no adequate
force at his command to enforce his authority, which
must have been purely nominal. He managed, how-
ever, to remain in India, probably somewhere in the
basin of the Indus, until about 317 B. c., when he de-
parted to help Eumenes against Antigonos, taking with
him a hundred and twenty elephants, and a small force
of infantry and cavalry. He had obtained the elephants
by treacherously slaying a native prince, perhaps Poros,
with whom he had been associated as a colleague.

103

104 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BINDUSARA

The province of Sind, on the Lower Indus, below the
great confluence of the rivers, which had been entrusted
by Alexander to Peithon, son of Agenor, remained under
Greek influence for a still shorter period. At the time
of the second partition of the Macedonian empire in
321 B. c. at Triparadeisos, Antipater was avowedly un-
able to exercise any effective control over the Indian
rajas, and Peithon had been obliged already to retire
to the west of the Indus. The Indian provinces to the
east of the river were consequently ignored in the par-
tition, and Peithon was content to accept the govern-
ment of the regions bordering on the Paropanisadai, or
Kabul country. That country probably continued to
be administered by Roxana's father Oxyartes, whom
Alexander had appointed satrap. Sibyrtios was con-
firmed in the government of Arachosia and Gedrosia;
Stasandros, the Cyprian, was given Aria and Drangiana;
and his countryman Stasanor was appointed governor
of Bactria and Sogdiana. These arrangements clearly
prove that in 321 B. c., within two years of Alexander's
death, the Greek power to the east of the Indus had
been extinguished, with the slight exception of the small
territory, wherever it may have been, which Eudamos
managed to hold for some four years longer.

The insecurity of the Macedonian authority in the
newly annexed Indian provinces had been proved by
the assassination of Philippos, the report of which was
received while Alexander was in Karmania, and might
be expected to return some day to the scene of his
victories. His death in June, 323 B. c., dispelled all

EAELY LIFE OF CHAtfDRAGUPTA 105

fears of his return, and the native princes undoubtedly
took the earliest possible opportunity to assert their
independence and exterminate the weak foreign gar-
risons. The news of Alexander's decease was known
in India probably as early as August, but no serious
fighting would have been undertaken by ordinary com-
manders until the beginning of the cold season in Oc-
tober; for Alexander's indifference to climatic condi-
tions was not shared by Indian chiefs, who were accus-
tomed to regulate their military movements strictly in
accordance with precedent. We may feel assured that
as soon as the news of the conqueror's death had been
confirmed beyond doubt, and the season permitted the
execution of military operations with facility, a general
rising took place, and that Macedonian authority in
India was at an end early in 322 B. c., except for the
small remnant to which Eudamos continued to cling.

The leader of the revolt against the foreigners was
an able adventurer, Chandragupta by name, at that
time a young man, probably not more than twenty-five
years of age. Although he was on his father's side a
scion of the royal house of Magadha, the principal
State in Northern India, his mother was of lowly ori-
gin, and, in accordance with Hindu law, he belonged to
her caste and had to bear the reproach of inferior social
rank. The family name Maurya, assumed by the mem-
bers of the dynasty founded by Chandragupta, is said
to be a derivative from Mura, his mother's name. In
some way or other, young Chandragupta incurred the
displeasure of his kinsman, Mahapadma Nanda, the

106 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BINDUSAEA

reigning King of Magadha, and was obliged to go into
exile. During his banishment he had the good fortune
to see Alexander, and is said to have expressed the
opinion that the Macedonian king, if he had advanced,
would have made an easy conquest of the great kingdom
on the Ganges, by reason of the extreme unpopularity
of the reigning monarch. Mahapadma Nanda was re-
puted to be the son of a barber, who had secured the
affections of the late queen. The guilty pair had then
murdered the king, whose throne was seized by the
barber-paramour. His son, the now reigning monarch,
was avaricious and profligate, and naturally possessed
few friends.

Chandragupta, having collected, during his exile,
a formidable force of the warlike and predatory clans
on the northwestern frontier, attacked the Macedonian
garrisons immediately after Alexander's death, and con-
quered the Pan jab. He then turned his victorious arms
against his enemy, the King of Magadha, and, taking
advantage of that monarch's unpopularity, dethroned
and slew him, utterly exterminating every member of
his family. His adviser in this revolution was a subtle
Brahman named Chanakya, by whose aid he succeeded
in seizing the vacant throne. But the people did not
gain much by the change of masters, because Chan-
dragupta, " after his victory, forfeited by his tyranny
all title to the name of liberator, oppressing with servi-
tude the very people whom he had emancipated from
foreign thraldom." He inherited from his Nanda prede-
cessor a huge army, which he increased until it num-

CHANDBAGUPTA AND SELEUKOS 107

bered thirty thousand cavalry, nine thousand elephants,
six hundred thousand infantry, and a multitude of char-
iots. With this irresistible force, all the northern
States, probably as far as the Narmada, or even farther,
were overrun and subjugated; so that the dominions
of Chandragupta, the first paramount sovereign or em-
peror in India, extended from the Bay of Bengal to
the Arabian Sea.

While Chandragupta was engaged in the consolida-
tion of his empire, a rival was laying the foundations
of his power in Western and Central Asia, and pre-
paring to attempt the recovery of Alexander's Indian
conquests. In the course of the internecine struggle
between the generals of Alexander, two had emerged
as competitors for supreme power in Asia Antigonos
and Seleukos, who afterward became known as Nikator,
or the Conqueror. Fortune at first favoured Antigonos
and drove his antagonist into exile ; but in 312 B. c.
Seleukos recovered possession of Babylon, and six years
later felt himself justified in assuming the regal style
and title. He is conventionally described as King of
Syria, but was in reality the lord of Western and Cen-
tral Asia. The eastern provinces of his realm extended
to the borders of India; and he naturally desired to
recover the Macedonian conquests in that country,
which had been practically abandoned, although never
formally relinquished. In pursuit of this object, Seleu-
kos crossed the Indus in 305 B. c., and attempted to
imitate the victorious march of Alexander. The details
of the campaign are not known, and it is impossible

108 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BINDUSARA

to determine how far the invading army penetrated into
the Ganges valley, if at all, but the result of the war
is certain.

When the shock of battle came, the hosts of Chan-
dragupta were too strong for the invader, and Seleukos
was obliged to retire and conclude a humiliating peace.
Not only was he compelled to abandon all thought of
conquest in India, but he was constrained to surrender
a large part of Ariana to the west of the Indus. In
exchange for the comparatively trifling equivalent of
five hundred elephants, Chandragupta received the sa-
trapies of the Paropanisadai, Aria, and Arachosia, the
capitals of which were respectively the cities now
known as Kabul, Herat, and Kandahar. The satrapy
of Gedrosia, or at least the eastern portion of it, seems
also to have been included in the cession, and the high
contracting powers ratified the peace by " a matrimonial
alliance, " which phrase , probably means that Seleukos
gave a daughter to his Indian rival. This treaty may
be dated in 303 B. c. As soon as it was concluded, Seleu-
kos started on his long march westward to confront
Antigonos, whom he defeated and slew at Ipsos in
Phrygia in 301 B. c. As Ipsos was at least 2500 miles
distant from the Indus, the march to it must have occu-
pied a year or more.

The range of the Hindu Kush Mountains, known to
the Greeks as the Paropanisos or Indian Caucasus,
in this way became the frontier between Chandragupta 's
provinces of Herat and Kabul on the south, and the Se-
leukidan province of Bactria on the north. The first In-

MEGASTHENES VISITS PATALIPUTRA 109

dian emperor, more than two thousand years ago, thus
entered into possession of that " scientific frontier ' :
sighed for in vain by his English successors, and never
held in its entirety even by the Mogul monarchs of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

In the course of some eighteen years Chandragupta
had expelled the Macedonian garrisons from the Pan jab
and Sind, repulsed and humbled Seleukos the Con-
queror, and established himself as undisputed supreme
lord of at least all Northern India and a large part of
Ariana. These achievements fairly entitle him to rank
among the greatest and most successful kings known
to history. A realm so vast and various as that of
Chandragupta was not to be governed by weakness.
The strong hand which won the empire was needed to
keep it, and the government was administered with
stern severity. About six years after the withdrawal
of Seleukos, Chandragupta diad (297 B. c.), and handed
on the imperial succession to his son Bindusara.

Soon after the conclusion of peace in 303 B. c., Seleu-
kos had sent as his envoy to the court of Chandragupta
an officer named Megasthenes, who had been employed
under Sibyrtios, Satrap of Arachosia. The envoy resided
for a considerable time at Pataliputra (now Patna),
the capital of the Indian empire, and employed his lei-
sure in compiling an excellent account of the geography,
products, and institutions of India, which continued
to be the principal authority on the subject until mod-
ern times. Although often misled by erroneous in-
formation received from others, Megasthenes is a vera-

110 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BINDUSARA

cious and trustworthy witness concerning matters which
came under his personal observation, and his vivid
account of Chandragupta's civil and military adminis-
tration may be accepted without hesitation as true and
accurate. That account, although preserved in a frag-
mentary form, is so full and detailed that the modern
reader is more minutely informed in many respects
concerning the institutions of Chandragupta than he
is about those of any Indian sovereign until the days of
Akbar, the contemporary of Queen Elizabeth.

Pataliputra, the imperial capital, which had been
founded in the fifth century B. c., stood in the tongue of
land formed by the confluence of the Son with the
Ganges, on the northern bank of the former, and a
few miles distant from the latter. The site is now occu-
pied by the large native city of Patna and the English
civil station of Bankipur, but the rivers changed their
courses many centuries ago, and the confluence is at
present near the cantonment of Dinapur, about twelve
miles above Patna. The ancient city, which lies buried
below its modern successor, was, like it, a long, narrow
parallelogram, measuring about nine miles in length
and a mile and a half in breadth. It was defended by
a massive timber palisade, pierced by sixty-four gates,
crowned by five hundred and seventy towers, and pro-
tected externally by a broad and deep moat, filled from
the waters of the Son.

The royal palace, although chiefly constructed of tim-
ber, was considered to excel in splendour and magnifi-
cence the palaces of Susa and Ekbatana, its gilded pil-

LIFE AT THE COURT 111

lars being adorned with golden vines and silver birds.
The buildings stood in an extensive park, studded with
fish-ponds and furnished with a great variety of orna-
mental trees and shrubs.

Here the imperial court was maintained with bar-
baric and luxurious ostentation. Basins and goblets of
gold, some measuring six feet in width, richly carved
tables and chairs of state, vessels of Indian copper set
with precious stones, and gorgeous embroidered robes
were to be seen in profusion, and contributed to the
brilliancy of the public ceremonies. When the king
condescended to show himself in public on state occa-
sions, he was carried in a golden palanquin, adorned
with tassels of pearls, and was clothed in fine muslin
embroidered with purple and gold. When making short
journeys, he rode on horseback, but when travelling
longer distances he was mounted like a modern raja,
on an elephant with golden trappings. Combats of
animals were a favourite diversion, as they still are
at the courts of native princes, and the king took delight
in witnessing the fights of bulls, rams, elephants, rhi-
noceroses, and other animals. Gladiatorial contests be-
tween men were also exhibited. A curious entertain-
ment, which seems not to be known in the present age,
was afforded by ox-races, which were made the subject
of keen betting, and were watched by the king with
the closest interest. The course was one of thirty stadia,
or six thousand yards, and the race was run with cars,
each of which was drawn by a mixed team of horses
and oxen, the horses being in the centre, with an ox on

112 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BINDU8ARA

each side. Trotting oxen are still largely used for
drawing travelling-carriages in many parts of India,
but the breed of racers seems to be extinct.

The principal royal amusement was the chase, which
was conducted with great ceremony, the game in an
enclosed preserve being driven up to a platform occu-
pied by the king, who shot the animals with arrows;
but, if the hunt took place in the open country, he used
to ride an elephant. When hunting, he was closely
attended by armed female guards, who were obtained
by purchase from foreign countries, and formed an
indispensable element in the courts of the ancient In-
dian monarchs. The road for the sovereign's proces-
sion was marked off with ropes, which it was death
for any one, even a woman, to pass. The institution
of the royal hunt was abolished by Chandragupta's
grandson, Asoka, in 259 B. c.

As a rule, the king remained within the precincts
of the inner palace, under the protection of his Ama-
zonian body-guard, and appeared in public only to hear
cases, offer sacrifice, and to go on military or hunting
expeditions. Probably he was expected to show himself
to his subjects at least once a day, and then to receive
petitions and decide disputes in person. Like the mod-
ern Indians, Chandragupta took pleasure in massage
or friction of the limbs, and custom required that he
should indulge in this luxury while giving public audi-
ence; four attendants used to massage him with ebony
rollers during the time that he was engaged in disposing
of cases. In accordance with Persian custom, which had

THE ARMY 113

much influence upon the Indian court and administra-
tion, the king ceremonially washed his hair on his birth-
day, which was celebrated by a splendid festival, at
which the nobles were expected to make rich presents
to their sovereign.

In the midst of all the gold and glitter, and in spite
of the most elaborate precautions, uneasy lay the head
that wore the crown. The king's life was so constantly
threatened by plots that he dared not incur the risk
either of sleeping in the daytime, or of occupying the
same bedroom two nights in succession. The dramatist
brings vividly before us the astuteness of the Brahman
counsellor who detected the plots both of the poisoners
and of

" The brave men who were concealed
In the subterrene avenue that led
To Chandragupta' s sleeping chamber thence
To steal by night, and kill him as he slept."

The army, to which Chandragupta owed his throne
and empire, was maintained at enormous numerical
strength, and so organized, equipped, and administered
as to attain a high degree of efficiency, as measured
by an Oriental standard. It was not a militia, but a
standing army, drawing liberal and regular pay, and
supplied by the government with horses, arms, equip-
ment, and stores. The force at the command of Ma-
hapadma Nanda is said to have numbered eighty thou-
sand horse, two hundred thousand foot, eight thousand
chariots, and six thousand fighting elephants. This
huge force was greatly augmented by Chandragupta,

114 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BINDUSARA

who raised the numbers of the infantry to six hundred
thousand, and also had thirty thousand horse, and nine
thousand elephants, besides chariots, all' permanently
enrolled in a regularly paid establishment.

Each horseman carried two lances, resembling the
kind called saunia by the Greeks, and a buckler. All
the infantry carried the broadsword as their principal
weapon, and as additional arms, either javelins, or bow
and arrows. The arrow was discharged with the aid
of pressure from the left foot on the extremity of the
bow resting upon the ground, and with such force that
neither shield nor breastplate could withstand it.

Each chariot, which might be drawn by either four
or two horses, accommodated two fighting-men besides
the driver; and an elephant, in addition to the mahout,
or driver, carried three archers. The nine thousand ele-
phants therefore implied a force of thirty-six thousand
men, and the eight thousand chariots, supposing them
to be no more numerous than those kept by Mahapadma
Nanda, required twenty-four thousand men to work
them. The total number of soldiers in the army would
thus have been six hundred thousand infantry, thirty
thousand horsemen, thirty-six thousand men with the
elephants, and twenty-four thousand with the chariots,
or 690,000 in all, excluding followers and attendants.

These high figures may seem incredible at first sight,
but are justified by our knowledge of the unwieldy hosts
used in war by Indian kings in later ages. For instance,
Nunez, the Portuguese chronicler, who was contempo-
rary with Krishna Deva, the Raja of Vijayanagar, in

ORGANIZATION OF THE FORCES

115

the sixteenth century (1509-30), affirms that that
prince led against Raichur an army consisting of
703,000 foot, 32,600 horse, and 551 elephants, besides
camp-followers.

The formidable force at the disposal of Chandra-
gupta, by far the largest in India, was controlled and
administered under the direction of a War Office organ-
ized on an elaborate system. A commission of thirty
members was divided
into six boards, each
with five members, to
which departments
were severally assigned
as follows: Board No.
1, in co-operation with
the admiral Admi-
ralty; Board No. 2
Transport, C o m m i s -
sariat, and Army Service, including the provision of
drummers, grooms, mechanics, and grass-cutters; Board
No. 3 Infantry; Board No. 4 Cavalry; Board No. 5
-War-chariots; Board No. 6 Elephants.

All Indian armies had been regarded from time im-
memorial as normally comprising the four arms, cavalry,
infantry, elephants, and chariots; and each of these
arms would naturally fall under the control of a distinct
authority; but the addition of co-ordinate supply and
admiralty departments appears to be an innovation due
to the genius of Chandragupta. His organization must
have been as efficient in practice as it was systematic

INDIAN FOOT - SOLDIERS.

From an Ajanta Cave Painting. (After Griffiths.)

116 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BINDUSAEA

on paper, for it enabled him not only, in the words of
Plutarch, to " overrun and subdue all India," but also
to expel the Macedonian garrisons, and to repel the
invasion of Seleukos.

The details recorded concerning the civil adminis-
tration of Chandragupta's empire, if not so copious as
we might desire, are yet sufficient to enable us to realize
the system of government, which, although of course
based upon the personal autocracy of the sovereign,
was something better than a merely arbitrary tyranny.

The administration of the capital city, Pataliputra,
was regarded as a matter of the highest importance,
and was provided for by the formation of a Municipal
Commission, consisting of thirty members, divided, like
the War Office Commission of equal numbers, into six
boards or committees of five members each. These
boards may be regarded as an official development of
the ordinary non-official panchayat, or committee of five
members, by which every caste and trade in India has
been accustomed to regulate its internal affairs from
time immemorial.

The first Municipal Board, which was entrusted with
the superintendence of everything relating to the in-
dustrial arts, was doubtless responsible for fixing the
rates of wages, and must have been prepared to enforce
the use of pure and sound materials, as well as the per-
formance of a fair day's work for fair wages, as deter-
mined by the authorities. Artisans were regarded as
being in a special manner devoted to the royal service,
and capital punishment was Inflicted on any person who

CIVIL ADMINISTRATION 117

impaired the efficiency of a craftsman by causing the
loss of a hand or an eye.

The second Board devoted its energies to the case
of foreign residents and visitors, and performed duties
which in modern Europe are entrusted to the consuls
representing foreign powers. All foreigners were closely
watched by officials, who provided suitable lodgings,
escorts, and, in case of need, medical attendance. De-
ceased strangers were decently buried, and their estates
were administered by the commissioners, who forwarded
the assets to. the persons entitled. The existence of
these elaborate regulations is conclusive proof that the
Maurya empire in the third century B. c. was in con-
stant intercourse with foreign states, and that large
numbers of strangers visited the capital on business.

The third Board was responsible for the systematic
registration of births and deaths, and we are expressly
informed that the system of registration was enforced
for the information of the government, as well as for
facility in levying the taxes. The taxation referred to
was probably a poll-tax, at the rate of so much a head
annually. Nothing in the legislation of Chandragupta
is more astonishing to the observer familiar with the
lax methods of ordinary Oriental governments than this
registration of births and deaths. The spontaneous
adoption of such a measure by an Indian native state
in modern times is unheard-of, and it is impossible to
imagine an old-fashioned raja feeling anxious " that
births and deaths among both high and low might not
be concealed." Even the Anglo-Indian administration.

118 CHANDRAGUPTA AJSTD BINDUSARA

with its complex organization and European notions of
the value of statistical information, did not attempt the
collection of vital statistics until very recent times, and
has always experienced great difficulty in securing rea-
sonable accuracy in the figures.

The important domain of trade and commerce was
the province of the fourth Board, which regulated sales,
and enforced the use of duly stamped weights and meas-
ures. Merchants paid a license tax, and the trader who
dealt in more than one class of commodity paid double.

The fifth Board was responsible for the supervision
of manufactures on similar lines. A curious and not
easily intelligible regulation prescribed the separation
of new from old goods, and imposed a fine for violation
of the rule.

The collection of a tithe of the value of the goods
sold was the business of the sixth and last Board, and
evasion of this tax was punishable with death. Similar
taxation on sales has always been common in India, but
rarely, if ever, has its collection been enforced by a
penalty so formidable as that exacted by Chandragupta.

Our detailed information relates only to the munici-
pal administration of Pataliputra, the capital, but it
is reasonable to infer that Taxila, Ujjain, and the other
great cities of the empire were governed on the same
principles and by similar methods. The " Provincials'
Edict " of Asoka is addressed to the officers in charge of
the city of Tosali in Kalinga.

In addition to the special departmental duties above
detailed the Municipal Commissioners in their collective

HOME AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS 119

capacity were required to control all the affairs of the
city, and to keep in order the markets, temples, har-
bours, and, generally speaking, all public works.

The administration of the distant provinces was en-
trusted to viceroys, probably, as a rule, members of the
royal family. Chandragupta's brother-in-law was, as we
have seen, governor of remote Kathiawar on the west-
ern coast. The information concerning the viceroyalties
being more complete for Asoka's reign than for that of
Chandragupta, the subject will be referred to again
when Asoka's system of administration is discussed.

In accordance with the usual practice of Oriental
monarchies, the court kept watch over the more remote
functionaries by means of special agents, or " news-
writers/' the akhbar navis of modern times, who are
called " overseers " and " inspectors ' ' by the Greek
authors, and are mentioned in the Asoka Edicts as the
king's " men ' or " reporters." The duty of these
officers was to superintend or oversee all that occurred
in town or country, and to make private reports to the
government. Arrian notes that similar officers were
employed by the authorities of the independent nations
as well as by the monarchical governments of India.
They did not disdain to utilize as coadjutors the courte-
sans of the camp and city, and these must have trans-
mitted at times to their masters strange packets of
scandalous gossip. Arrian 's informants assured him
that the reports sent in were always true, and that no
Indian could be accused of lying; but it is permissible
to doubt the strict accuracy of this statement, although

120 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BINDUSAKA

it is certainly the fact that the people of ancient India
enjoyed a wide-spread and enviable reputation for
straightforwardness and honesty.

The general honesty of the people and the efficient
administration of the criminal law are both attested by
the observation recorded by Megasthenes, that while
he resided in Chandragupta's camp, containing four
hundred thousand persons, the total of the thefts re-
ported in any one day did not exceed two hundred
drachma^ or about eight pounds sterling. When crime
did occur, it was repressed with terrible severity. Or-
dinary wounding by mutilation was punished by the
corresponding mutilation of the offender, in addition to
the amputation of his hand. If the injured person hap-
pened to be an artisan devoted to the royal service, the
penalty was death. The crime of giving false evidence
was visited with mutilation of the extremities, and in
certain unspecified cases serious offences were punished
by the shaving of the offender's hair, a penalty regarded
as specially infamous. Injury to a sacred tree, evasion
of the municipal tithe on goods sold, and intrusion on
the royal procession going to the hunt were all alike
capitally punishable. These recorded instances of
severity are sufficient to prove that the code of crim-
inal law, as a whole, must have been characterized by
uncompromising sternness and slight regard for human
life.

The native law of India has always recognized agri-
cultural land as being Crown property, and has admitted
the undoubted right of the ruling power to levy a Crown

LAND REGULATIONS AND REVENUE 121

rent, or " land revenue," amounting to a considerable
portion, either of the gross produce or of its cash value.
Even the English laws, which, contrary to ancient cus-
tom, recognize private property in culturable land, in-
sist that the land revenue is the first charge on the soil,
and permit the enforcement of the charge by sale of
the land free of all incumbrances, in the event of default.
The land revenue is still the mainstay of Indian finance.
So it must have been in the days of Chandragupta. The
details of his system of " settlement," or valuation and
assessment of the land, have not been preserved, and
it is not known whether a fresh valuation was made
annually, or at longer intervals. The normal share of
the gross produce taken by the Crown is said to have
been one-fourth; but in practice, no doubt, the propor-
tion taken varied largely, as it does to this day, and
all provinces could not be treated alike. Certain other
unspecified dues were also levied. Since the army was
a professional force, recruited from the fighting castes,
the agricultural population was exempt from military
service, and Megasthenes noted with surprise and ad-
miration that the husbandmen could pursue their calling
in peace, while the professional soldiers of hostile kings
engaged in battle.

The proper regulation of irrigation is a matter of
prime importance in India, and it is much to the credit
of Chandragupta that he maintained a special Irriga-
tion Department, charged with the duty of measuring
the lands and of so regulating the sluices that every one
should receive his fair share of the life-giving water.

122 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BINDUSARA

The allusion to the measurement of lands as part of the
duty of the Irrigation Department seems to indicate
that a water-rate was levied, and the reference to sluices
implies a regular system of canals.

The inscription of the Satrap Rudradaman, engraved
about the year 150 A. D. on the famous rock at Girnar
in Kathiawar, on which Asoka, four centuries earlier,
had recorded a version of his immortal edicts, bears di-
rect testimony to the care bestowed by the central gov-
ernment upon the question of irrigation, even in the
most remote provinces. Although Girnar is situated
close to the Arabian Sea, at a distance of at least a thou-
sand miles from the Maurya capital, the needs of the
local farmers did not escape the imperial notice. Chan-
dragupta's brother-in-law Pushyagupta, who was vice-
roy of the western provinces, saw that by damming up
a small stream a reservoir of great value for irrigation
could be provided. He accordingly formed a lake called
Sudarsana, " the Beautiful," between the citadel on the
east side of the hill and the " inscription rock " farther
to the east, but failed to complete the necessary supple-
mental channels. These were constructed in the reign
of Chandragupta's grandson Asoka, under the superin-
tendence of his representative Tushaspa, the Persian,
who was then governor. These beneficent works con-
structed under the patronage of the Maurya emperors
endured for four hundred years, but in the year 150 A. D.
a storm of exceptional violence destroyed the embank-
ment, and with it the lake.

The embankment was rebuilt " three times stronger >:

GENERAL CONTROL AND SUPERVISION 123

than before by order of the local Saka Satrap Rudrada-
man, who has recorded the history of the work in an
inscription which is the only known epigraphic record
containing the names of Chandragupta and Asoka
Maurya. Notwithstanding the triple strength of Rudra-
daman's masonry, it, too, failed to withstand the fury of
the elements, and the dam again burst at some time
unknown. The lake thus finally disappeared, and its
site, buried in deep jungle, was so utterly forgotten that
modern local inquirers have experienced difficulty in
ascertaining its exact position.

The fact that so much pains and expense were lav-
ished upon this irrigation work in a remote dependency
of the empire is conclusive evidence that the provision
of water for the fields was recognized as an imperative
duty by the great Maurya emperors, and is a strik-
ing illustration of the accuracy of Megasthenes' remark
that imperial officers were wont to " measure the land,
as in Egypt, and inspect the sluices by which water is
distributed into the branch canals, so that every one
may enjoy his fair share of the benefit."

The central government, by means of local officers,
exercised strict control and maintained close super-
vision over all classes and castes of the population.
Even the Brahman astrologers, soothsayers, and sac-
rificial priests, whom Megasthenes erroneously de-
scribed as forming a separate caste of " philosophers '
or " sophists," received their share of official attention,
and were rewarded or punished according as their pre-
dictions and observations proved correct or mistaken.

124 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BLNDUSARA

Among the artisans, ship-builders and armour-makers
were salaried public servants, and were not permitted,
it is said, to work for any private person. The wood-
cutters, carpenters, blacksmiths, and miners were sub-
ject to special supervision, of which the nature is not
denned.

According to Strabo, no private person was per-
mitted to keep either a horse or an elephant, the pos-
session of either animal being a royal privilege. But
this assertion is undoubtedly inaccurate, and is contra-
dicted by the reasonable and detailed observations of
Arrian. That author tells us that the mounts used com-
monly were horses, camels, and asses, elephants being
used only by the wealthy, and considered specially ap-
propriate for the service of royalty. Except as regards
asses, which are now looked upon with contempt and
restricted to the humblest services as beasts of burden
for potters and washermen, the statement of Arrian
applies accurately to modern India. To ride an elephant
or camel, or to travel in a four-horse chariot, was, he
says, a mark of distinction, but anybody might ride or
drive a single horse.

The roads were maintained in order by the officers
of the proper department, and pillars, serving as mile-
stones and sign-posts, were set up at intervals of ten
stadia, equivalent to half a kos, according to the Indian
reckoning, or 2022% English yards. The provision of
these useful marks was made more liberally than it was
afterward by the Mogul emperors, who were content
with one pillar to each kos. A royal road, or grand

ADVANCED CIVILIZATION 125

highway, ten thousand stadia in length, connected the
northwestern frontier with the capital.

The foregoing review of the civil and military sys-
tem of government during the reign of Chandragupta
proves clearly that Northern India in the time of Alex-
ander the Great had attained to a high degree of civili-
zation, which must have been the product of evolution
continued through many centuries. Unfortunately, no
monuments have been discovered which can be referred
with certainty to the period of Chandragupta and his
son, and the archaeologist is unable to bring the tangible
evidence afforded by excavation to support the state-
ments of the Greek observers.

The earliest known examples of Indian art and archi-
tecture, with very slight exceptions, still date from the
reign of Asoka. No trace of stone architecture prior to
the age of Asoka has been detected. Writing was cer-
tainly in common use long before the days of Chandra-
gupta, when, according to the Greek authors, the bark
of trees and cotton cloth served as writing material,
and it is surprising that no inscriptions of his time have
yet been found. But some records, either on stone or
metal, probably exist, and may be expected to come to
light whenever the really ancient sites shall be exam-
ined.

Chandragupta ascended the throne at an early age,
and, inasmuch as he reigned only twenty-four years,
must have died before he was fifty years of age. In
this brief space of life he did much. The expulsion of
the Macedonian garrisons, the decisive repulse of Se-

126 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BINDUSARA

leukos the Conqueror, the subjugation of all Northern
India from sea to sea, the formation of a gigantic army,
and the thorough organization of the civil government
of a vast empire were no mean achievements. The
power of Chandragupta was so firmly established that
it passed peaceably into the hands of his son and grand-
son, and his alliance was courted by the potentates of
the Hellenistic world. The Greek princes made no at-
tempt to renew the aggressions of Alexander and Seleu-
kos upon secluded India, and were content to maintain
friendly diplomatic and commercial relations with her
rulers for three generations.

The Maurya empire" was not, as some recent writers
fancy that it was, in any way the result of Alexander's
splendid but transitory raid. The nineteen months
which he spent in India were consumed in devastating
warfare, and his death rendered fruitless all his grand
constructive plans. Chandragupta did not need Alex-
ander's example to teach him what empire meant. He
and his countrymen had had before their eyes for ages
the stately fabric of the Persian monarchy, and it was
that empire which impressed their imagination and
served as the model for their institutions, in so far as
they were not indigenous. The little touches of foreign
manners in the court and institutions of Chandragupta,
which chance to have been noted by our fragmentary
authorities, are Persian, not Greek; and the Persian
title of satrap continued to be used by Indian provincial
governors for centuries, down to the close of the fourth
century A. D.

BUSTDUSAKA AND HIS POLICY 127

The military organization of Chandragupta shows
no trace of Hellenic influence. It is based upon the
ancient Indian model, and his vast host was merely a
development of the considerable army maintained by the
kingdom of Magadha. The Indian kings relied upon
their elephants, chariots, and huge masses of infantry,
the cavalry being few in comparison, and inefficient.
Alexander, on the contrary, made no use of elephants
or chariots, and put his trust in small bodies of highly
trained cavalry, handled with consummate skill and
calculated audacity. In the art of war he had no
successor. The Seleukid kings were content to
follow the Oriental system and put their trust in ele-
phants.

When Chandragupta died, in the year 297 B. c., he
was succeeded by his son Bindusara. The Greek wri-
ters, however, do not know this name, and call the suc-
cessor of Chandragupta by appellations which seem to
be attempts to transcribe the Sanskrit epithet Amitra-
ghata, " Slayer of foes." The friendly relations be-
tween India and the Hellenistic powers, which had been
initiated by Chandragupta and Seleukos, continued un-
broken throughout the reign of Bindusara, at whose
court Megasthenes was replaced by Deimachos, as am-
bassador. The new envoy followed his predecessor's
example by recording notes on the country to which
he was accredited, but, unfortunately, very few of his
observations have been preserved. When the aged
founder of the Seleukid monarchy was assassinated
in 280 B. c., his place was taken by his son and colleague,

128 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BINDUSARA

Antiochos Soter, who continued to follow his father's
policy in regard to India.

The anecdote concerning the correspondence between
Antiochos and Bindusara, although trivial in itself, is
worth quoting as a tangible proof of the familiar inter-
course between the sovereign of India and his ally in
Western Asia. Nothing, we are told, being sweeter than
figs, Bindusara begged Antiochos to send him some figs
and raisin wine, and added that he would like him also
to buy and send a professor. Antiochos replied that he
had much pleasure in forwarding the figs and raisin
wine, but regretted that he could not oblige his corre-
spondent with the last-named article, because it was
not lawful for Greeks to sell a professor.

Nothing is recorded concerning the internal policy
of Bindusara, whose reign lasted for twenty-five years,
nor is any monument or inscription of his time know^n.
But it is probable that he continued his father's career
of annexation and conquest within the borders of India.
The limits of the empire ruled by Asoka, son and suc-
cessor of Bindusara, are known with sufficient accuracy,
and it is certain that his dominions extended as far
south as Madras. The country south of the Narmada
was not conquered by Asoka, whose only annexation was
that of the kingdom of Kalinga, on the coast of the
Bay of Bengal.

The Deccan, or peninsular India, down to approxi-
mately the latitude of Madras, must have been subju-
gated by either Chandragupta or Bindusara, because
it was inherited from the latter by Asoka; and it is

CONQUEST OF THE DECCAN 129

more probable that the conquest of the south was the
work of Bindusara than that it was effected by his busy
father. But the ascertained outline of the career of
Chandragupta is so wonderful and implies his posses-
sion of such exceptional ability, that it is possible that
the conquest of the south must be added to the list of
his achievements. With this brief glance the shadowy
figure of Bindusara passes from our view, and the next
two chapters will be devoted to the history of Asoka,
who rightfully claims a place in the front rank of the
great monarchs, not only of India, but of the world.

CHAPTER VI

ASOKA MAURYA

A CCORDING to credible tradition, Asoka-vardhana,
-j^- or Asoka, as he is generally called, served his ap-
prenticeship to the art of government during the life-
time of his father, Bindusara, as viceroy successively of
the northwestern frontier province and of Western
India. He was one of several sons, and was no
doubt selected by his father, in accordance with the
usual practice, as Yuvaraja, or crown prince, on
account of his ability and fitness for the imperial suc-
cession.

Taxila, the capital of the northwestern viceroyalty,
which probably included Kashmir, the Panjab, and the
provinces to the west of the Indus, was in those days
one of the greatest and most splendid of the cities of
the East, and enjoyed a special reputation as the head-
quarters of Hindu learning. The sons of people of all
the upper classes, chiefs, Brahmans, and merchants,
flocked to Taxila, as to a university town, in order to
study the circle of Indian arts and sciences. The terri-
tory surrounding the capital was rich and populous,
and, two generations earlier, had formed a small inde-

130

ASOKA MAURYA

131

OLD ASTKONO.MICAL OBSERVATORY AT UJJA1N.

From a photograph.

pendent state, weak enough to be in terror of its neigh-
bours, and yet strong enough to render Alexander val-
uable assistance.

The Greeks, who considered the little state to be
well governed,
noted with inter-
e s t , and without
disapprobation, the
local customs,
which included po-
lygamy, the expo-
sure of the dead to
be devoured by vul-
tures, and the sale
in open market of
maidens who had failed to secure husbands in the ordi-
nary course.

The position of the city on the highroad from Central
Asia to the interior of India fitted it to be the capital
of the northwestern viceroy, and its strategical advan-
tages are still recognized. Hasan Abdal, close to its
ruins, is a favourite ground for the manoeuvres of the
Indian army, and at Rawalpindi, a few miles to the
southeast, a huge cantonment guards the road to India
against possible Alexanders advancing from the north-
west.

Ujjain, the capital of Western India, was equally
famous, and equally suitable as the seat of a viceregal
government. Reckoned to be one of the seven sacred
cities, and standing on the road leading from the busy

132 ASOKA MAURYA

ports of the western coast to the markets of the interior,
it combined the advantages of a favourite place of pil-
grimage with those of a great commercial depot. The
city was recognized as the headquarters of Indian as-
tronomy, and latitudes were computed from its me-
ridian.

The Ceylonese tradition that Asoka was residing at
Ujjain when he was summoned to the capital by the
news of his father 's mortal illness may well be believed,
but no credence can be given to the tales which relate
that Asoka had a hundred brothers, ninety-nine of whom
he slew, and so forth. These idle stories seem to have
been invented chiefly in order to place a dark back-
ground of early wickedness behind the bright picture of
his mature piety. Asoka certainly had brothers and
sisters alive in the seventeenth year of his reign, whose
households were objects of his anxious care; and there
is nothing to indicate that he regarded his relatives with
jealousy. His grandfather, Chandragupta, " a man of
blood and iron," who had fought his way from poverty
and exile to the imperial throne, naturally was beset by
jealousies and hatreds, and constrained to live a life of
distrustful suspicion. But Asoka, who was born in the
purple and inherited an empire firmly established by
half a century of masterful rule, presumably was free
from the " black care " which haunted his ancestor. His
edicts display no sense of insecurity or weakness from
first to last, and the probability is that he succeeded
peaceably in accordance with his predecessor's nomina-
tion.

ACCESSION AND CORONATION 133

Inasmuch as the reign of Asoka lasted for fully forty
years, he must have been a young man when, in the
year 272 B. c., he undertook the government of the vast
empire which had been won and kept by his grandfather
and father. Nothing is recorded concerning the first
eleven years of his rule, which were spent presumably
in the current work of administration. His solemn cor-
onation did not take place until the year 269 B. c., about
three years after his accession, and this fact is the
only circumstance which supports the notion that
his succession was disputed. The anniversary of
his coronation was always celebrated with ceremony
and specially marked by the pardon and release of pris-
oners.

In the twelfth year of his reign, or the ninth, as
reckoned from the coronation, Asoka embarked upon the
one aggressive war of his life, and rounded off his do-
minions by the conquest of the kingdom of Kalinga, the
strip of territory extending along the coast of the Bay
of Bengal from the Mahanadi to ^the Godavari. The
campaign was wholly successful, and Kalinga became an
integral part of the Maurya dominions. Two special
edicts published a few years later show that the admin-
istration of the newly acquired territory caused much
anxiety to the emperor, who, like all sovereigns, some-
times was not well served by his officers. The royal
instructions, which enjoined just and paternal govern-
ment, and specially insisted on sympathetic, tactful
treatment of the wilder tribes, were disregarded at times
by officials, who had to be warned that disobedience of

134 ASOKA MAURYA

orders was not the way to win the favour either of
heaven or their master.

The kingdom of Kalinga had maintained a consider-
able military force, which was estimated by Megasthe-
nes as numbering sixty thousand infantry, one thousand
cavalry, and seven hundred war elephants. The oppo-
sition offered to the invaders was so stubborn that the
conquest involved immeasurable suffering. The victor
records with sorrow that 150,000 persons were carried
into captivity, one hundred thousand were slain, and
that many times that number perished from famine,
pestilence, and the other calamities which follow in the
train of armies.

The sight of all this misery and the knowledge that
he alone had caused it smote the conscience of Asoka,
and awakened in his breast feelings of " remorse, pro-
found sorrow, and regret." These feelings crystallized
into a steadfast resolve that never again would ambi-
tion lead him to inflict such grievous wrongs upon his
fellow creatures, and four years after the conquest he
was able to declare that " the loss of even the hundredth
or the thousandth part of the persons who were then
slain, carried away captive, or done to death in Ka-
linga would now be a matter of deep regret to his
Majesty."

The king acted up to the principles which he pro-
fessed, and abstained from aggressive war for the rest
of his life. About this time he came under the influence
of Buddhist teaching, his devotion to which increased
more and more as the years rolled on. The " chief est

ASOKA FORSWEARS WAR 135

conquest," he declares, is that won by the Law of Piety,
and he begs his descendants to rid themselves of the
popular notion that conquest by arms is the duty of
kings; and, even if they should find themselves engaged
in warfare, he reminds them that they might still find
pleasure in patience and gentleness, and should regard
as the only true conquest that which is effected through
the Law of Piety.

Asoka from this time forth made it the business of
his life to employ his unlimited autocratic power over
a vast empire in the teaching, propagation, and enforce-
ment of the ethical system which he called the Law
of Piety (dhamma) and had learned chiefly from his
Buddhist instructors.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth years of his reign,
he definitely decided upon his line of action, and pro-
claimed the principles of his government to his people
in a series of fourteen edicts engraved upon the rocks,
and laid down the general rules which must guide the
conduct of the lieges. These extraordinary documents
were followed by others specially concerning the con-
quered province of Kalinga, the purport of which has
been referred to above.

In the year 249 B. c., when he had occupied the throne
for twenty-three years, Asoka made a solemn pilgrimage
to the most sacred spots in the Buddhist Holy Land.
Starting from Pataliputra, the capital, he advanced
northwards along the royal road, the course of which
is marked by five great monolithic pillars, through the
districts now known as Muzaffarpur and Champaran,

136 ASOKA MAURYA

until he approached the base of the outer Himalayan
range.

Probably he then turned westwards, without crossing
the hills, and first visited the famous Lumbini Garden,
the Bethlehem of Buddhism, where, according to the
legend, the pains of travail came upon Maya, and she
gave birth to Buddha as she stood under a tree. At
this spot his guide and preceptor, Upagupta, addressed
Asoka and said: " Here, great king! was the Venerable
One born." A pillar inscribed with these words, still
as legible as when they were incised, was set up by
Asoka to preserve the memory of his visit, and stands
to this day.

In due course Saint Upagupta led his royal disciple
to Kapilavastu, the home of Buddha's childhood; to
Sarnath, near Benares, the scene of the Master's first
success as a preacher; to Sravasti, where he lived for
many years; to the Bodhi tree of Gaya, where he over-
came the powers of darkness; and to Kusinagara, where
he died. At all these holy places the king granted lib-
eral endowments, and set up memorials, some of which
have come to light in these latter days, after long ages
of oblivion.

In the year 242 B. c., when his reign had lasted for
thirty years, Asoka undertook a formal retrospect of
all the measures adopted by him in furtherance of the
ethical reforms which he had at heart, and took the
opportunity of laying down a concise code of regulations
concerning the slaughter and mutilation of animals,
practices which he regarded with abhorrence.

Birthplace of Buddha.
Pillar Elected by King Asoka in Lumbini Garden.

ASOKA'S PILGRIMAGE

137

TOPE AT 8ARNATH, NEAR BENARES.

About two years later, Asoka, recognizing fully the
validity of the Buddhist doctrine that no layman could
attain nirvana, determined to ensure his final deliver-
ance from rebirth so far as possible by entering the

138 ASOKA MAURYA

order of monks, and actually assuming the yellow robe.
He does not appear to have abdicated at the same time,
for edicts issued six years later were still published
by his authority and with his sanction; it is probable,
however, that he withdrew from active participation in
secular affairs, and left the administration in the hands
of his ministers and the heir apparent or crown prince.
But this supposition is not necessary to explain his con-
duct. His submission to the Ten Precepts, or ascetic
rules, binding upon ordained monks, did not inev-
itably involve his withdrawal from the duties of roy-
alty, and he would have found no difficulty in form-
ally complying with the obligations of mendicancy
by a begging tour within the spacious palace pre-
cincts.

The case of Asoka is not unique. A perfect parallel
is furnished by Chinese history, which records that
Hsiao Yen, the first emperor of the Liang dynasty, who
was a devout Buddhist, actually adopted the monastic
garb on two occasions, in 527 and 529 A. D. A less
completely parallel case is supplied by the story of a
Jain king of Western India in the twelfth century, who
assumed the title of " Lord of the Order," and at vari-
ous periods of his reign bound himself by vows of con-
tinence and abstinence.

Whatever may have been the exact procedure
adopted, there is no doubt that Asoka was formally
ordained as a monk, and the fact was so notorious that
a thousand years later his statues were still to be seen,
vested in monastic garb. The latter years of his reign

EDICTS OF ASOKA

139

were undoubtedly devoted in a special degree
to works of piety, but there is no sufficient
reason for believing the legends which depict
the emperor in his old age as a dotard devo-
tee incapable of administering the affairs of
the empire.

The latest edicts, dated 256 years after
the death of Buddha, that is to say, in the
year 232 or 231 B. c., must have been pub-
lished very shortly before the emperor's
death, which is supposed to have occurred
at a holy hill near Rajagriha, the ancient
capital of Magadha.

A large body of tradition affirms that a
Buddhist church council was held at the cap-
ital by the command and under the patron-
age of Asoka in order to settle the canon of
scripture and reform abuses in monastic dis-
cipline. Although the legendary details of
the constitution and proceedings of the coun-
cil are clearly unhistorical, the fact of the
assembly may be accepted without hesita-
tion. If it had met before the thirty-first
year of the reign in which the emperor pub-
lished the Pillar Edicts, recording his retro-
spect of the measures taken for the promo-
tion of piety, the council would assuredly
have been mentioned in those documents.
But they are silent on the subject, and the
fair inference is that the council was held

Pillar of Asoka
at Allahabad.

140 ASOKA MAURYA

at a date subsequent to their publication, and after the
emperor had assumed the monastic robe.

The one document in the whole series of the Asoka
inscriptions which is avowedly Buddhist in explicit
terms the Bhabra Edict evidently belongs to the
same period as the council, and is to be interpreted as
the address of the emperor-monk to his brethren of the
order.

The extent of the enormous empire governed by
Asoka can be ascertained with approximate accuracy.
On the northwest, it extended to the Hindu Kush moun-
tains, and included most of the territory now under the
rule of the Ameer of Afghanistan, as well as the whole,
or a large part, of Baluchistan, and all of Sind. The
secluded valleys of Suwat and Bajaur were probably
more or less thoroughly controlled by the imperial offi-
cers, and the valleys of Kashmir and Nepal were cer-
tainly integral parts of the empire. Asoka built a new
capital in the vale of Kashmir, named Srinagar, at a
short distance from the city which now bears that
name.

In the Nepal valley, he replaced the older capital,
Manju Patan, by a city named Patan, Lalita Patan, or
Lalitpur, which still exists, two and a half miles to the
southeast of Kathmandu, the modern capital. Lalita
Patan subsequently became the seat of a separate prin-
cipality, and it retains the special Buddhist stamp im-
pressed upon it by Asoka. His foundation of this city
was undertaken as a memorial of the visit which he
paid to Nepal in 250 or 249 B. c., when he undertook the

EMPIRE OF ASOKA 141

tour of the holy places. He was accompanied by his
daughter Charumati, who adopted a religious life, and
remained in Nepal, when her imperial father returned
to the plains. She founded a town called Devapatana,
in memory of her husband, Devapala Kshatriya, and
settled down to the life of a nun at a convent built by
her to the north of Pasupatinath, which bears her name
to this day. Asoka treated Lalita Patan as a place of
great sanctity, erecting in it five great stupas, one in
the centre of the town, and four others outside the walls
at the cardinal points. All these monuments still exist,
and differ conspicuously from more recent edifices.
Some minor buildings are also attributed to Asoka or
his daughter.

Eastwards, the empire comprised the whole of Ben-
gal as far as the mouths of the Ganges, where Tamra-
lipti (generally identified with the modern Tamluk) was
the principal port. The strip of coast to the north of
the Godavari River, known as Kalinga, was annexed in
261 B. c. Farther south, the Andhra kingdom, between
the Godavari and the Krishna (Kistna), appears to have
been treated as a protected state, administered by its
own rajas.

On the southeast, the Palar River, the northern fron-
tier of the Tamil race, may be regarded as the limit of
the imperial jurisdiction. The Tamil states extending
to the extremity of the peninsula, and known as the
Chola and Pandya kingdoms, were certainly independ-
ent, as were the Keralaputra and Satiyaputra states
on the southwestern, or Malabar, coast. The southern

142 ASOKA MAURYA

frontier of the empire must nearly have coincided with
the thirteenth degree of north latitude, or it may be
described approximately as a line drawn from the mouth
of the Palar River near Sadras on the eastern coast
(N. lat. 12 13' 15") through Bangalore (N. lat. 12
58') to the river Chandragiri on the western coast (N.
lat. 13 15').

The wilder tribes on the northwestern frontier and
in the jungle tracts of the Vindhya Mountains separat-
ing Northern from Southern India seem to have enjoyed
a limited autonomy under the suzerainty of the para-
mount power. The empire comprised, therefore, in mod-
ern terminology, Afghanistan south of the Hindu Kush,
Baluchistan, Sind, the valley of Kashmir, Nepal, the
lower Himalaya, and the whole of India proper, except
the southern extremity.

The central regions seem to have been governed
directly from Pataliputra under the king's personal
supervision. The outlying provinces were administered
by members of the royal family, holding the rank of
viceroys, of whom, apparently, there were four. The
ruler of the northwest was stationed at Taxila, and his
jurisdiction may be assumed to have included the Pan-
jab, Sind, the countries beyond the Indus, and Kashmir.
The eastern territories, including the conquered king-
dom of Kalinga, were governed by a viceroy stationed
at Tosali, the exact position of which has not been ascer-
tained. The western provinces of Malwa, Guzerat, and
Kathiawar were under the government of a prince,
whose headquarters were at the ancient city of Ujjain,

MONUMENTS OF ASOKA 143

and the southern provinces, beyond the Narmada, were
ruled by the fourth viceroy.

Asoka was a great builder, and so deep was the
impression made on the popular imagination by the
extent and magnificence of his architectural works that
legend credited him with the erection of eighty-four
thousand stupas, or sacred cupolas, within the space of

BHARAHAT SCULPTURE OF A BUDDHIST 8TUPA.

(After Cunningham.)

three years. When Fa-hien, the first Chinese pilgrim,
visited Pataliputra, the capital, at the beginning of
the fifth century A. D., in the reign of Chandragupta
Vikramaditya, the palace of Asoka was still standing,
and was deemed to have been wrought by supernatural
agency.

" The royal palace and halls in the midst of the city,
which exist now as of old, were all made by the spirits

144 ASOKA MAURYA

which he employed, and which piled up the stones,
reared the walls and gates, and executed the elegant
carving and inlaid sculpture work in a way which no
human hands of this world could accomplish."

These stately buildings have all vanished, and their
remains lie buried for the most part beyond hope of
recovery deep below the silt of the Ganges and Son
Rivers, overlaid by the East Indian railway, the city
of Patna, and the civil station of Bankipur. Slight
and desultory excavations have revealed enough to at-
test the substantial truth of the pilgrim's enthusiastic
description, and I have myself seen two huge and finely
carved sandstone capitals one with the acanthus-leaf
ornament dug. up near Bankipur.

The numerous and magnificent monasteries founded
by Asoka have shared the fate of his palaces, and are
ruined beyond recognition. The only buildings of the
Asokan period which have escaped destruction and
remain in a state of tolerable preservation are those
forming the celebrated group of stupas, or cupolas, at
and near Sanchi, in Central India, not very far from
Ujjain, where Asoka held court as viceroy of the west
before his accession to the throne. The elaborately
carved gateways of the railing round the principal mon-
ument, which have been so often described and figured,
may have been constructed to the order of the great
Maurya, and are certainly not much later than his time.

The massive monolithic sandstone pillars, inscribed
and uninscribed, which Asoka erected in large num-
bers throughout the home provinces of the empire,

PILLAKS, KOCKS, AND CAVES

145

some of which are fifty feet in height and about fifty
tons in weight, are not only worthy monuments of
his magnificence, but also of the high-
est interest as the earliest known exam-
ples of the Indian stone-cutter's art in
architectural forms. The style is Per-
sian rather than Greek, and the mechani-
cal execution is perfect.

The caves, with highly polished walls,
excavated in the intensely hard quartzose
gneiss of the Barabar hills near Gaya
by order of Asoka, for the use of the
Ajivika ascetics, a penitential order
closely connected with the Jains, recall
Egyptian work by the mastery displayed
over intractable material.

The most interesting monuments of
Asoka are his famous inscriptions, more
than thirty in number, incised upon rocks,
boulders, cave walls, and pillars, which
supply the only safe foundation for the
history of his reign, and must be briefly
described before I can enter upon the dis-
cussion of his doctrine and policy. The
more important documents, which ex-
pound fully both his principles of govern-
ment and his system of practical ethics,
supply many interesting autobiographi-
cal details. The shorter documents in-
clude dedications, brief commemorative

Bas-relief on Left-hand
Pillar, Northern
Gateway of the Rail
at Sanchi.

146 ASOKA MAURYA

records, and other matter; but all, even the most con-
cise, have interest and value.

The area covered by the inscriptions comprises
nearly the whole of India, and extends from the Him-
alaya to Mysore, and from the Bay of Bengal to the
Arabian Sea.

The documents are all written in various forms of
Prakrit, that is to say, vernacular dialects closely allied
both to literary Sanskrit and to the Pali of the Cey-
lonese Buddhist books, but not identical with either.
They were, therefore, obviously intended to be read and
understood by the public generally, and their existence
presupposes a fairly general knowledge of the art of
writing. The inscriptions designed for public instruc-
tion were placed either in suitable positions on high-
roads or at frequented places of pilgrimage where their
contents were ensured the greatest possible publicity.

Two recensions of the Fourteen Rock Edicts, in-
scribed on rocks at places near the northwestern fron-
tier of India, were executed in the script locally current,
now generally known to scholars as the Kharoshthi,
which is a modified form of an ancient Aramaic alpha-
bet, written from right to left, introduced into the Pan-
jab during the period of Persian domination in the fifth
and fourth centuries B. c. All the other inscriptions are
incised in one or other variety of the early Brahmi
alphabet, from which the Devanagari and other forms
of the modern script in Northern and Western India
have been evolved, and which is read from left to right.

The inscriptions readily fall into eight classes, which

KOCK EDICTS 147

may be arranged in approximate chronological order
as follows:

1. The Fourteen Rock Edicts, in seven recensions, dating from the
thirteenth and fourteenth regnal years, as reckoned from the corona-
tion, corresponding to 257 and 256 B. c.

2. The two Kalinga Edicts, issued probably in 256 B. c., and con-
cerned only with the newly conquered province.

3. The three dedicatory Cave Inscriptions at Barabar near Gay a,
257 and 250 B. c.

4. The two Tarai Pillar Inscriptions, 249 B. c.

5. The Seven Pillar Edicts, in six recensions, 243 and 242 B. c.

6. The Supplementary Pillar Edicts, about 240 B. c.

7. The Minor Rock Edicts, dated in the year 256 after the death
of Buddha, 232 or 231 B. c.

8. The Bhabra Edict, of about the same date as the Minor Rock
Edicts.

The Fourteen Rock Edicts contain an exposition of
Asoka's principles of government and ethical system,
each edict being devoted to a special subject. The dif-
ferent recensions vary considerably, and some do not
include all the fourteen edicts. The whole series, in all
its varieties, is confined to remote frontier provinces,
which were under the government of viceroys. The
emperor evidently was of opinion that in the home prov-
inces, under his immediate control, it was not necessary
to engrave his instructions on the rocks, as other and
more convenient methods of publication were available.
But many years later he perpetuated his revised code in
the home provinces also by incising it upon several of
the monolithic monumental pillars which it was his
pleasure to erect in numerous localities.

The two Kalinga Edicts are special supplements to

148 ASOKA MAURYA

the series of the Fourteen Rock Edicts, intended to fix
the principles on which the administration of the newly
conquered province and the wild tribes dwelling on its
borders should be conducted. They were substituted
for certain edicts (Nos. 11, 12, 13) of the regular series,
which were omitted from the Kalinga recension, as
being unsuitable for local promulgation.

The three Cave Inscriptions at Barabar in the Gaya
District are merely brief dedications of costly cave-
dwellings for the use of a monastic sect known as Aji-
vika, the members of which went about naked and were
noted for ascetic practices of the most rigorous kind.
These records are chiefly of interest as a decisive proof
that Asoka was sincere in his solemn declaration that he
honoured all sects, for the Ajivikas had little or noth-
ing in common with the Buddhists and were intimately
connected with the Jains.

The two Tarai Pillar Inscriptions, although ex-
tremely brief, are of much interest for many reasons,
one of which is that they prove beyond question the
truth of the literary tradition that Asoka performed
a solemn pilgrimage to the sacred spots of the Buddhist
Holy Land. The Rummindei, or Padaria, inscription,
which is in absolutely perfect preservation, has the great
merit of determining, beyond the possibility of doubt,
the exact position of the famous Lumbini Garden,
where, according to the legend, Gautama Buddha first
saw the light. This determination either solves, or sup-
plies the key to, a multitude of problems. The compan-
ion record at Nigliva, which is less perfectly preserved,

BIETHPLACE OF BUDDHA 149

gives the unexpected and interesting information that
Asoka's devotion was not confined to Gautama Buddha,
but included in its catholic embrace his predecessors,
the " former Buddhas."

The Seven Pillar Edicts, issued in their complete
form in the year 242 B. c., when Asoka had reigned for
thirty years and was nearing the close of his career of
activity in worldly affairs, must be read along with the
Fourteen Rock Edicts, to which they refer, and of which
they may be considered an appendix. The principles
enunciated in the earlier instructions are re-iterated
and emphasized in the later; the regulations enforcing
the sanctity of animal life are amplified and codified;
and the series closes with the most valuable of ah 1 the
documents, Pillar Edict No. 7, preserved on one monu-
ment only, which recounts in orderly fashion the meas-
ures adopted by the emperor in the course of his long
reiga to promote " the growth of piety."

The Supplementary Pillar Edicts are brief dedica-
tory records, more curious than important.

The Minor Eock Edicts, on the other hand, although
of small bulk, are in some respects the most interesting
of the inscriptions, and until recently presented a puzz-
ling enigma, or series of enigmas. It now seems to be
fairly well established that these Minor Rock Edicts
were published thirty-eight complete years after
Asoka's coronation, or about forty-one years after his
accession, and that they must therefore be referred
either to the year 232 or 231 B. c., the last year of the
aged emperor's life. They are dated expressly 256 years

150 ASOKA MAURYA

after the death of Buddha, and thus fix that event as
having occurred in or about the year 487 B. c., according
to the belief current at the court of Pataliputra, only
two centuries and a half after its occurrence. When
thus interpreted, these brief documents gain intense
interest as the valedictory address of the dying emperor-
monk to the people whom he loved to regard as his
children.

The extremely curious Bhabra Edict, which forms
a class by itself, should be referred apparently to the
same period as the Minor Rock Edicts, that is to say,
to the closing years of Asoka's life, when, although still
retaining his imperial dignity, he had assumed the mon-
astic robe and rule, and had abandoned the active direc-
tion of worldly affairs to others. This document, re-
corded, close to a recension of one of the Minor Rock
Edicts, at a lonely monastery in the Rajputana hills, is
an address by Asoka, as King of Magadha, to the Bud-
dhist monastic order generally, directing the attention
of monks and nuns, as well as of the laity, male and
female, to seven passages of scripture deemed by the
royal judgment to be specially edifying. But, while
earnestly recommending devout meditation upon and
profound study of these particular texts, the princely
preacher is careful to add the explanation that " all
that has been said by the Venerable Buddha has been
well said," whereas the selection of texts is merely the
work of v the king's individual judgment. The impor-
tance of this edict in the history of Buddhism cannot
be easily overrated.

LEGENDS OF ASOKA 151

The rank growth of legend which has clustered
round the name of Asoka bears eloquent testimony to
the commanding influence of his personality. In the
Buddhist world his fame is as great as that of Charle-
magne in mediaeval Europe, and the tangle of mytho-
logical legend which obscures the genuine history of
Asoka may be compared in mass with that which drapes
the figures of Alexander, Arthur, and Charlemagne.
The Asoka legend is not all either fiction or myth,
and includes some genuine historical traditions, but it
is no better suited to serve as the foundation of sober
history than the stories of the Morte d' Arthur or
Pseudo-Kallisthenes are adapted to form the bases of
chronicles of the doings of the British champion or
the Macedonian conqueror. This obvious canon of criti-
cism has been forgotten by most writers upon the
Maurya period, who have begun at the wrong end with
the late legends, instead of at the right end with the
contemporary testimony found in the various edicts of
the great king himself.

The legends have reached us in two main streams,
the Ceylonese and the North Indian. The accident that
the Ceylonese varieties of the stories happen to be re-
corded in books which assume the form of chronicles
with a detailed chronology, and have been known to
European readers for seventy years, has given to the
southern tales an illusory air of authenticity. The earli-
est of the Ceylonese chronicles, the Dipavamsa, which
was probably compiled late in the fourth century A. D.,
is some six centuries posterior to the death of Asoka,

152 ASOKA MAUEYA

and has little claim to be regarded as a first-rate au-
thority.

The North Indian legends are at least as old, but,
being recorded in fragments scattered through many
books, Indian, Nepalese, Chinese, and Tibetan, have
received scant consideration. All legendary material
must of course be used with extreme caution, and only
as a supplement to authentic data, but a moment's con-
sideration will show that legends preserved in Northern
India, the seat of Asoka's imperial power, are more
likely to transmit genuine tradition than those which
reached the distant island of Ceylon in translations
brought nobody knows how, when, or whence, and sub-
sequently largely modified by local influences. This
presumption is verified when the two groups of legends
are compared, and it then clearly appears that, in cer-
tain matters of importance in which they differ, the
Northern version is distinctly the more credible.

ASSYRIAN HONEYSUCKLE ORNAMENT FROM
CAPITAL OF LAT, AT ALLAHABAD.

CHAPTER VII

ASOKA MAUEYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

edicts are devoted mainly to the exposition,
J- inculcation, and enforcement of a scheme of prac-
tical ethics, or rule of conduct, which Asoka called
Dhamma. No English word or phrase is exactly equiva-
lent to the Prakrit dhamma (Sanskrit dharma), but
the expression Law of Piety, or simply Piety, comes
tolerably close to the meaning of the Indian term. The
validity of this Law of Piety is assumed in the edicts,
and no attempt is made to found it upon any theolog-
ical or metaphysical basis. Theological ideas are sim-
ply ignored by Asoka, as they were by his master Gau-
tama, and the current Hindu philosophy of rebirth,
inaccurately called metempsychosis, is taken for
granted, and forms the background of the ethical
teaching.

The leading tenet of Asoka 's Buddhism, as of the
cognate Jain system, and some varieties of Brahmanical
Hinduism, was a passionate, uncompromising belief in
the sanctity of animal life. The doctrine of the absolute,
unconditional right of the meanest animal to retain the
breath of life until the latest moment permitted by na-

153

154

ASOKA MAURYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

ture, is that of the edicts, and was based upon the
belief that all living creatures, including men, animals,
gods, and demons, form links in an endless chain of
existence, or rather of " becoming."

The being that is now a god in heaven may be re-
born in the course of aeons as an insect, and the insect,

BUDDHIST WHEEL OF THE LAW OF PIETY, DHARMA-CHAKRA.

From the Bliarabat Sculpture. (After Cunningham.)

in its turn, may work up to the rank of a god. This
belief, associated with the faith that the mode of rebirth
is conditioned by the karma, the net ethical result; or
balance of good or evil of the life of each creature at
the moment of its termination, lies deep down at the
roots of Indian thought, and is inseparably bound up
with almost every form of Indian religion. Sometimes
it is combined with theories which recognize the ex-
istence of a personal soul, but it is also firmly held

SANCTITY OF ANIMAL LIFE 155

by persons who utterly deny all forms of the soul
theory.

It is easy to understand that believers in ideas of
this kind may be led logically to regard the life of an
insect as entitled to no less respect than that of a man.
In practice, indeed, the sanctity of animal was placed
above that of human life, and the absurd spectacle was
sometimes witnessed of a man being put to death for
killing an animal, or even for eating meat. The most
pious Buddhist and Jain kings had no hesitation about
inflicting capital punishment upon their subjects, and
Asoka himself continued to sanction the death penalty
throughout his reign. He was content to satisfy his
humanitarian feelings by a slight mitigation of the
sanguinary penal code inherited from his stern grand-
father in conceding to condemned prisoners three days'
grace to prepare for death.

In early life Asoka is believed to have been a Brah-
manical Hindu, specially devoted to Siva, a god who
delights in bloody sacrifices, and he had consequently
no scruple about the shedding of blood. Thousands of
living creatures used to be slain on the occasion of a
banquet (samaja) to supply the kitchens of the over-
grown royal household with curries for a single day.
As he became gradually imbued with the spirit of Bud-
dhist teaching, this wholesale daily slaughter became
abominable in his eyes and was stopped, only three
living creatures at the most, namely, two peacocks and
one deer, being killed each day, and in 257 B. c. even
this limited butchery was prohibited.

166 ASOKA MAURYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

Two years earlier, in 259 B. c., Asoka had abolished
the royal hunt, which formed such an important ele-
ment in the amusements of his grandfather's court.
" In times past," he observes, " their Majesties were
wont to go out on pleasure tours, during which hunting
and other similar amusements used to be practised."
But his Sacred and Gracious Majesty no longer cared
for such frivolous outings, and had substituted for them
solemn progresses devoted to inspection of the country
and people, visits and largess to holy men, and preach-
ing and discussion of the Law of Piety.

As time went on, Asoka 's passionate devotion to
the doctrine of the sanctity of animal life grew in in-
tensity and, in 243 B. c., resulted in the production
of a stringent code of regulations applicable to all
classes of the population throughout the empire, with-
out distinction of creed. Many kinds of animals were
absolutely protected from slaughter in any circum-
stances, and the slaying of animals commonly used
for food by the flesh-eating population, although not
totally prohibited, was hedged round by severe restric-
tions. On fifty-six specified days in the year, killing
under any pretext was categorically forbidden, and in
many ways the liberty of the subject was very seriously
contracted. While Asoka lived, these regulations were,
no doubt, strictly enforced by the special officers ap-
pointed for the purpose, and it is not unlikely that
deliberate breach of the more important regulations
was visited with the capital penalty.

The second cardinal doctrine inculcated and insisted

TEUE CHARITY 157

on by Asoka was that of the obligation of reverence
to parents, elders, and preceptors. Conversely, supe-
riors, while receiving their due of reverence, were re-
quired to treat their inferiors, including servants, slaves,
and all living creatures, with kindness and considera-
tion. As a corollary to these obligations, men were
taught that the spirit which inspires reverence on the
one side, and kindness on the other, should further in-
duce them to behave with courteous decorum to rela-
tives, ascetics, and Brahmans, and likewise to practise
liberality to the same classes, as well as to friends and
acquaintances.

The third primary duty laid upon men was that of
truthfulness. These three guiding principles are most
concisely formulated in the Second Minor Rock Edict,
which may be quoted in full:

" Thus saith his Majesty:

" * Father and mother must be obeyed; similarly,
respect for living creatures must be enforced; truth
must be spoken. These are the virtues of the Law of
Piety which must be practised. Similarly, the teacher
must be reverenced by the pupil, and proper courtesy
must be shown to relatives.

" ' This is the ancient standard of piety; this leads
to length of days, and according to this men must act.'

Among secondary duties, a high place was given to
that of showing toleration for and sympathy with the
beliefs and practices of others, and a special edict, No.
12 of the Rock series, was devoted to the exposition
of this topic. The subjects of the imperial moralist were

158 ASOKA MAURYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

solemnly warned to abstain from speaking evil of their
neighbours' faith, remembering that all forms of relig-
ion alike aim at the attainment of self-control and purity
of mind, and are thus in agreement about essentials,
however much they may differ in externals. In con-
nection with these instructions, men were admonished
that all " extravagance and violence of language '
should be carefully avoided.

Asoka openly avowed his readiness to act upon these
latitudinarian principles by doing reverence to men of
all sects, whether ascetics or householders, by means
of donations and in other ways. The Cave Inscriptions,
which record costly gifts bestowed upon the Ajivikas,
a sect of self-mortifying ascetics, more nearly allied to
the Jains than the Buddhists, testify that Asoka, like
many other ancient Kings of India, really adopted the
policy of universal toleration and concurrent endow-
ment.

But his toleration, although perfectly genuine, must
be understood with two limitations. In the first place,
all Indian religions, with which alone Asoka was con-
cerned, had much in common, and were all alike merely
variant expressions of Hindu modes of thought and
feeling. There was no such gap dividing them as that
which yawns between Islam and Puranic Brahmanism.
In the second place, the royal toleration, although per-
fect as regarding beliefs, did not necessarily extend to
all overt practices. Sacrifices involving the death of
a victim, which are absolutely indispensable for the
correct worship of some of the gods, were categorically

Cave at Ajanta

The Care Temples of India are of the highest importance because of
their antiquity and historic significance. The most famous are in Western
India at Ajant'a, Ellora, Karli, Kanhari, and Elephanta. These stupendous
monuments, heivn out of the solid rock, impress the beholder by their
grandeur and by the beauty of the decorations on pillar and wall. The
marrcllous frescoes painted on the walls of the Ajanta caves date back
to the Buddhist ages; the paintings are of great value for the history
of art and as illustrations of the life of the Hindus during the centuries
to which they belong.

ASOKA'S KELIGIOUS ATTITUDE 159

prohibited, at least at the capital, from an early period
in the reign, and were further restricted, in all parts
of the empire, by the code promulgated later in the
Pillar Edicts. The conscientious objector was not per-
mitted to allege his conscience as a justification for
acts disapproved on principle by the government. Men
might believe what they liked, but must do as they were
told.

While almsgiving was commended, the higher doc-
trine was taught that " there is no such charity as the
charitable gift of the Law of Piety, no such distribu-
tion as the distribution of piety/' The sentiment recurs
in curiously similar language in Cromwell's earliest
extant letter. He wrote from St. Ives: " Building of
hospitals provides for men's bodies, to build material
temples is judged a work of piety; but they that pro-
cure spiritual food, they that build up spiritual temples,
they are the men truly charitable, truly pious."

Asoka cared little for ritual, and was inclined to look
with some scorn upon ordinary ceremonies, which are,
as he observes, " of doubtful efficacy." Just as true
charity consists in a man's efforts to diffuse a knowl-
edge of the Law of Piety among his fellow creatures,
so true ceremonial consists in the fulfilment of that law,
which " bears great fruit," and includes kind treat-
ment of slaves and servants, honour to teachers, respect
for life, and liberality to ascetics and Brahmans. These
things, with others of the same kind, are called " the
ceremonial of piety."

The preacher looked to men's hearts rather than to

160 ASOKA MAURYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

their outward acts, and besought his congregation, the
inhabitants of a vast empire, to cultivate the virtues
of " compassion, liberality, truth, purity, gentleness,
and saintliness." He hoped that the growth of piety
would be promoted by the imperial regulations devised
for that purpose; but, while enforcing those regulations
with all the power of an autocrat, he relied more upon
the meditations of individuals, stimulated by his teach-
ing. " Of these two means," he says, " pious regula-
tions are of small account, whereas meditation is of
greater value."

Notwithstanding his avowal of the comparative pow-
erlessness of regulations, the emperor did not neglect
to provide official machinery for the promulgation of
his doctrine and the enforcement of his orders. All
the officers of state, whom, in modern phraseology, we
may call lieutenant-governors, commissioners, and dis-
trict magistrates, were commanded to make use of op-
portunities during their periodical tours for convoking
assemblies of the lieges and instructing them in the
whole duty of man. Certain days in the year were
particularly set apart for this duty, and the officials
were directed to perform it in addition to their ordinary
work.

A special agency of censors was also organized for
the purpose of enforcing the regulations concerning the
sanctity of animal life and the observance of filial piety,
in the most extended sense. These officers were ex-
pressly enjoined to concern themselves with all sects,
and with every class of society, not excluding the royal

STANDARDS OF DUTY

161

family, while separate officials were charged with the
delicate duty of supervising female morals. In prac-
tice, this system must have led to much espionage and
tyranny, and, if we may judge from the proceedings
of kings in later ages, who undertook a similar task,
the punishments inflicted for breach of the imperial
regulations must have been terribly severe.

It is recorded by contemporary testimony that in

INTERIOR VIEW OF AJANTA CAVE.

the seventh century King Harsha, who obviously aimed
at copying closely the institutions of Asoka, did not
shrink from inflicting capital punishment, without hope
of pardon, on any person who dared to infringe his com-
mands by slaying any living thing or using flesh as food
in any part of his dominions.

In the twelfth century, Kumarapala, King of Gu-
jarat in Western India, after his conversion to Jainism
in 1159 A. D., took up the doctrine of the sanctity of

162 ASOKA MAURYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

animal life with the most inordinate zeal, and imposed
savage penalties upon violators of his rules. An un-
lucky merchant, who had committed the atrocious crime
of cracking a louse, was brought before the special court
at Anhilwara, and punished by the confiscation of his
whole property, the proceeds of which were devoted to
the building of a temple. Another wretch, who had
outraged the sanctity of the capital by bringing in a
dish of raw meat, was put to death. The special court
constituted by Kumarapala had functions similar to
those of Asoka's censors, and the working of the later
institution sheds much light upon the unrecorded pro-
ceedings of the earlier one.

More modern parallels to Asoka's censors are not
lacking. In 1876, when a pious Maharaja was in power
in Kashmir, breaches of the commandments of the
Hindu scriptures were treated by the state as offences,
and investigated by a special court composed of five
eminent pandits, belonging to families in which the
office was hereditary, who determined appropriate pen-
alties.

Up to the middle of the nineteenth century, and
possibly until a later date, similar hereditary Brahman
officers exercised jurisdiction over offenders charged
with breaches of caste rules in Khandesh, the Deccan,
and some parts of the Konkan, and imposed suitable
expiation in the shape of fine, penance, or excommuni-
cation.

These cases, ancient and modern, are sufficient to
prove that when Asoka made an innovation by appoint-

PEACTICAL PIETY 163

ing censors, officers who " had never been appointed in
all the long ages past," the new departure was in ac-
cordance with Hindu notions, and was consequently
readily imitated in later times by rulers of various
religions.

The practical piety of Asoka was exhibited in many
works of benevolence, on which he dwells with evident
pleasure and satisfaction. His theory of true charity
did not hinder him from bestowing liberal alms. The
distribution of the charitable grants made by the sov-
ereign and members of the royal family was carefully
supervised both by the censors and other officials, who
seem to have been organized in a royal almoner's
department.

Special attention was devoted to the needs of trav-
ellers, which have at all times evoked the sympathy
of pious Indians. The provision made for wayfarers,
including the dumb animals, who were never forgotten
by Asoka, is best described in the monarch's own
words: " On the roads," he says, " I have had ban-
yan-trees planted to give shade to man and beast; I
have had groves of mango-trees planted, and at every
half kos I have had wells dug; rest-houses have been
erected, and numerous watering-places have been pre-
pared here and there for the enjoyment of man and
beast." Distances were carefully marked by pillars
erected at convenient intervals, ever since Chandra-
gupta's time.

The lively sympathy of Asoka with his suffering
fellow creatures, human an'd animal, also found expres-

164 ASOKA MAURYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

sion in the extensive provision of relief for the sick.
Arrangements for the healing of man and beast were
provided, not only throughout all provinces of the em-
pire, but also in the friendly independent kingdoms
of Southern India and Hellenistic Asia, medicinal herbs
and drugs, wherever lacking, being planted, imported,
and supplied as needed.

The animal hospitals which existed recently, and
may still exist, at Bombay and Surat, may be regarded
as either survivals or copies of the institutions founded
by the Maurya monarch. The following account of
the Surat hospital, as it was maintained late in the
eighteenth century, would probably have been applica-
ble with little change to the prototype at Pataliputra.

" The most remarkable institution in Surat is the
Banyan Hospital, of which we have no description more
recent than 1780. It then consisted of a large piece of
ground enclosed by high walls and subdivided into
several courts or wards for the accommodation of ani-
mals. In sickness they were attended with the greatest
care, and here found a peaceful asylum for the infirmi-
ties of old age.

" When an animal broke a limb, or was otherwise
disabled, his owner brought him to the hospital, where
he was received without regard to the caste or nation
of his master. In 1772, this hospital contained horses,
mules, oxen, sheep, goats, monkeys, poultry, pigeons,
and a variety of birds; also an aged tortoise, which
was known to have been there seventy-five years. The
most extraordinary ward was that appropriated for

ANIMAL HOSPITALS

165

rats, mice, bugs, and other noxious vermin, for whom
suitable food was provided."

The active official propaganda carried on by vari-
ous agencies throughout the empire and protected states
did not satisfy the zeal of Asoka, who burned with a
desire to diffuse the blessings of both his ethical system

ANIMAL HOSPITAL.

and distinctive Buddhist teaching in all the independent
kingdoms with which he was in touch. For this pur-
pose he organized an efficient system of foreign mis-
sions under his personal supervision, the results of
which are visible to this day. His conception of the
idea of foreign missions on a grand scale was absolutely
original, and produced a well-considered and successful
scheme, carried out with method and thoroughness in

166 ASOKA MAUKYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

conjunction and harmony with his measures of domestic
propaganda.

Before the year 256 B. c., when the Rock Edicts were
published collectively, the royal missionaries had been
despatched to all the protected states and tribes on the
frontiers of the empire, to the independent kingdoms
of Southern India, to Ceylon, and to the Hellenistic
monarchies of Syria, Egypt, Gyrene, Macedonia, and
Epirus, then governed respectively by Antiochos Theos,
Ptolemy Philadelphos, Magas, Antigonos Gonatas, and
Alexander. The missionary organization thus embraced
three continents, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

The protected states and tribes brought in this way
within the circle of Buddhist influence included the
Kambojas of Tibet, with other Himalayan nations; the
Gandharas and Yavanas of the Kabul valley and re-
gions still farther west; the Bhojas, Pulindas, and
Pitenikas dwelling among the hills of the Vindhya
range and Western Ghats; and the Andhra kingdom
between the Krishna and Godavari Rivers.

The Dravidian peoples of the extreme south, below
the thirteenth degree of latitude, being protected by
their remoteness, had escaped annexation to the north-
ern empire. In Asoka's time their territories formed
four independent kingdoms, the Chola, Pandya, Kerala-
putra, and Satiyaputra. The capital of the Chola king-
dom was probably Uraiyur, or Old Trichinopoly, and
that of the Pandya realm was doubtless Korkai in the
Tinnevelli District. The Keralaputra State comprised
the Malabar coast south of the Chandragiri River, and

BUDDHIST PROPAGANDA 167

the Satiyaputra country may be identified with the
region where the Tulu language is spoken, of which
Mangalore is the centre. With all these kingdoms
Asoka was on such friendly terms that he was at liberty
to send his missionaries to preach to the people, and
even to found monasteries in several places. One such
institution was established by his younger brother Ma-
hendra in the Tanjore District, where its ruins were
still visible nine hundred years later.

An ancient Chinese writer assures us that " accord-
ing to the laws of India, when a king dies, he is suc-
ceeded by his eldest son (Kumararaja) ; the other sons
leave the family and enter a religious life, and they
are no longer allowed to reside in their native king-
dom." This compulsory withdrawal from secular af-
fairs did not necessarily imply the disappearance of
the younger brother into obscurity. The Church in
India, especially in Buddhist India, as in Roman Catho-
lic Europe, offered a career to younger sons, and the
able ecclesiastic sometimes attained higher fame than
his royal relative. Mahendra's assumption of the yellow
robe, in accordance with the rule above stated, was,
in the first instance, probably due to political necessity
rather than to free choice; but, whatever motive may
have led him to adopt the monastic life, he became a
devout and zealous monk and a most successful mis-
sionary.

When Asoka determined to extend his propaganda
to Ceylon, he selected as head of the mission his monk
brother, who probably was already settled at his mon-

168 ASOKA MAUBYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

astery in Southern India and then crossed over to
Ceylon with his four colleagues. The teaching of the
preachers, backed as it was by the influence of a mon-
arch so powerful as Asoka, was speedily accepted by
King Tissa of Ceylon and the members of his court,
and the new religion soon gained a hold on the affec-
tions of the people at large. Mahendra spent the rest
of his life in Ceylon, and devoted himself to the estab-
lishment and organization of the Buddhist Church in
the island, where he is revered as a saint. His ashes
rest under a great cupola or stupa at Mihintale, one of
the most remarkable among the many notable Buddhist
monuments which are the glory of Ceylon.

The Mahavamsa chronicle, which gives a list of
Asoka 's missionaries and the countries to which they
were deputed, makes no mention of the missions to
the Tamil kingdoms of Southern India. This reticence
is probably to be explained by the fierce hostility be-
tween the Sinhalese and the Tamils of the mainland,
which lasted for centuries. If I am right in believing
that Mahendra migrated from his monastery near Tan-
jore to the island, this fact would. have been most dis-
tasteful to the monks of the Great Vihara, who could
not bear to think that they were indebted to a resident
among the hated Tamils for instruction in the rudiments
of the faith, and much preferred that people should
believe their religion to have come direct from the Holy
Land of Buddhism. Some motive of this kind seems
to have originated the Sinhalese legend of Mahendra,
who is represented as an illegitimate son of Asoka, and

CONVEKSION OF CEYLON 169

is said to have been followed by a sister named Sangha-
mitra (" Friend of the Order "), who did for the nuns
of Ceylon all that her brother did for the monks.

This legend, which is overlaid by many marvellous
inventions, is fiction. The true version, representing
Mahendra as the younger brother of Asoka, was well
remembered at the imperial capital, Pataliputra, where
Fa-hien, at the beginning of the fifth century, was
shown the hermitage of Asoka 's saintly brother; and
it was still the only version known to Hiuen Tsang
in the seventh century. Even when the latter pilgrim
took down the Sinhalese legends from the lips of the
island monks whom he met at Kanchi, he applied the
stories to the brother, not to the son of Asoka.

The Mahavamsa seems also to err in attributing
to Asoka the despatch of missionaries to Pegu (Sovana-
bhumi). No such mission is mentioned in the inscrip-
tions, and it is very improbable that Asoka had any
dealings with the countries to the east of the Bay of
Bengal. His face was turned westwards toward the
Hellenistic kingdoms. The Ceylon form of Buddhism
appears to have been introduced into Burma and Pegu
at a very much later date, and there is reason to believe
that the earliest Burmese Buddhism was of the Tantric
Mahayana type, imported direct from Northern India
many centuries after Asoka 's time.

Unfortunately, no definite record has been preserved
of the fortunes of the Buddhist missions in the Hellen-
istic kingdoms of Asia, Africa, and Europe, nor are
the names of the missionaries known. The influence

170 ASOKA MAURYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

of Buddhist doctrine on the heretical Gnostic sects
appears to be undoubted, and many writers have sus-
pected that the more orthodox forms of Christian teach-
ing owe some debt to the lessons of Gautama; but the
subject is too obscure for discussion in these pages.

It is, however, certain that Asoka, by his compre-
hensive and well-planned measures of evangelization,
succeeded in transforming the doctrine of a local Indian
sect into one of the great religions of the world. The
personal ministry of Gautama Buddha was confined to
a comparatively small area, comprising about four de-
grees of latitude and as many of longitude, between
Gaya, Allahabad, and the Himalaya. Within these lim-
its he was born, lived, and died. When he died, about
487 B.C., Buddhism was merely a sect of Hinduism,
unknown beyond very restricted limits, and with no
better apparent chance of survival than that enjoyed
by many other contemporary sects now long forgotten.

The effective organization of the monastic system
by the Buddhists was probably the means of keeping
their system alive and in possession of considerable
influence in the Ganges valley for the two centuries
and a quarter which elapsed between the death of Gau-
tama and the conversion of Asoka. His imperial pat-
ronage, gradually increasing as his faith grew in in-
tensity, made the fortune of Buddhism, and raised it
to the position which enables it still to dispute with
Christianity the first place among the religions of the
world, so far as the number of believers is concerned.

Asoka did not attempt to destroy either Brahman-

ASOKA COMPARED WITH CONSTANTINE 171

ical Hinduism or Jainism, but his prohibition of bloody
sacrifices, the preference which he openly avowed for
Buddhism, and his active propaganda undoubtedly
brought his favourite doctrine to the front, and estab-
lished it as the dominant religion both in India and
Ceylon. It still retains that position in the southern
island, but has vanished from the land of its birth, and
has failed to retain its grasp upon many of its distant
conquests.

Still, notwithstanding many failures, fluctuations,
developments, and corruptions, Buddhism now com-
mands, and will command for countless centuries to
come, the devotion of hundreds of millions of men.
This great result is the work of Asoka alone, and en-
titles him to rank for all time with that small body of
men who may be said to have changed the faith of the
world.

The obvious comparison of Asoka with Constantine
has become a commonplace, but, like most historical
parallels, it is far from exact. Christianity, when the
emperor adopted it as the state creed, was already a
power throughout the Roman Empire, and Constan-
tine 's adherence was rather an act ^f submission to
an irresistible force than one of patronage to an obscure
sect. Buddhism, on the contrary, when Asoka accorded
to it his invaluable support, was but one of many sects
struggling for existence and survival, and without any
pretension to dictate imperial policy. His personal
action, probably prompted and directed by his teacher,
Upagupta, was the direct cause of the spread of the

172 ASOKA MAUEYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

doctrine beyond the limits of India; and, if a Chris-
tian parallel must be sought, his work is comparable
with that of Saint Paul, rather than with that of Con-
stantine.

Upagupta, to whom the conversion of Asoka is
ascribed, is said to have been the son of G-upta, a per-
fumer, and to have been born either at Benares or
Mathura. Probably he was a native of the latter city,
where the monastery built by him still existed in the
seventh century. Tradition also associated his name
with Sind, in which country he is said to have made
frequent missionary journeys.

The vigorous and effective action taken by Asoka
to propagate his creed and system of morals is con-
clusive proof of his absolute honesty of purpose, and
justifies the modern reader in giving full credence to
the devout professions made by him in the edicts.
" Work I must," he observed, " for the public bene-
fit; " and work he did. The world still enjoys the fruit
of his labours, and his words, long lost, but now re-
stored to utterance, ring with the sound of sincerity
and truth.

Asoka was a hard-working king, as unwearied in
business as Philip n of Spain, ready to receive reports
" at any hour and any place," and yet dissatisfied with
the outcome of his industry. " I am never," he laments,
" fully satisfied with my exertions and despatch of
business." Probably he worked too hard, and would
have effected still more if he had done less. But his
ideal of duty was high, and, like the Stoic philosopher,

CHARACTER OF ASOKA

173

ENTRANCE TO K AH! I CAVE.

he felt bound to obey the law of his nature, and to toil
on, be the result success or failure.

The character of Asoka must be deduced from his

174 ASOKA MAURYA AND HJS SUCCESSORS

words. The edicts are written in a style far too peculiar
and distinctive to be the work of a secretary of state,
and are alive with personal feeling. No secretary would
have dared to put into his master's mouth the passion-
ate expressions of remorse for the misery caused by
the Kalinga war, leading up to the resolve to eschew
aggressive warfare for the rest of his life, and the
declaration that " although a man do him an injury,
his Majesty holds that it must be patiently borne, as
far as it possibly can be borne."

The edicts reveal Asoka as a man who sought to
combine the piety of the monk with the wisdom of the
king, and to make India the kingdom of righteousness
as he conceived it, a theocracy without a God, in which
the government should act the part of Providence, and
guide the people in the right way. Every man, he
maintained, must work out his own salvation, and eat
the fruit of his deeds. " The fruit of exertion is not
to be obtained by the great man only, because even
the small man by exertion can win lor himself much
heavenly bliss; and for this purpose was given the
precept l Let small and great exert themselves.'
There could be no progress without individual effort;
the government could point out the road, but each man
must travel it for himself.

Reverence, compassion, truthfulness, and sympathy
were the virtues which he inculcated; irreverence, cru-
elty, falsehood, and intolerance were the vices which
he condemned. The preacher was no mere sermon-
writer. He was a man of affairs, versed in the arts of

SUCCESSORS OF ASOKA 175

peace and war, the capable ruler of an immense empire,
a great man, and a great king.

Asoka, like all Oriental monarchs, was a polygamist,
and had at least two consorts, who ranked as queens.
The name of the second of these ladies, Karuvaki, is
preserved in a brief edict signifying the royal pleasure
that her charitable donations should be regarded by
all officials concerned as her act and deed, redounding
to her accumulation of merit. She is described as the
mother of Tivara, who may be considered as a favourite
child of the aged emperor at the time the edict was
issued, late in his reign.

Tradition avers that his faithful chief queen for
many years was named Asandhimitra, and that when
she died, and Asoka was old, he married a dissolute
young woman named Tishyarakshita, concerning whom
and her stepson Kunala, the old folk-lore tale, known
to the Greeks as that of Phaedra and Hippolytus, is
related with much imaginative embellishment. But
folk-lore is not history, and the pathetic story of the
blinded Kunala must not be read or criticized as mat-
ter-of-fact narrative. The legend appears in diverse
forms with various names.

Another son of Asoka, named Jalauka, who plays
a large part in Kashmir tradition, although rather a
shadowy personage, has more appearance of reality
than Kunala. He was reputed to have been an active
and vigorous King of Kashmir, who expelled certain
intrusive foreigners, and conquered the plains as far
as Kanauj. He was hostile to Buddhism and devoted

176 ASOKA MAUBYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

to the worship of Siva and the Divine Mothers, in whose
honour he and his queen, Isanadevi, erected many tem-
ples at places which can be identified. But the story
of Jalauka, notwithstanding the topographical details,
is essentially legendary, and no independent corrobora-
tion of the Kashmir tradition has been discovered.

Tivara, the son mentioned in the Queen's Edict, is
not heard of again, and may have died before his father.
Dasaratha, the grandson of Asoka, who is described
in the Vishnu Purana as the son of Suyasas, or Su-
parsva, was certainly a reality, being known from brief
dedicatory inscriptions on the walls of cave-dwellings
at the Nagarjuni hills, which he bestowed upon the
Ajivikas, as his grandfather had done in the neighbour-
ing Barabar hills. The script, language, and style of
Dasaratha 's records prove that his date was very close
to that of Asoka, whom probably he directly succeeded.
Assuming this to be the fact, the accession of Dasaratha
may be dated in 231 B. c. His reign appears to have
been short, and is allotted (under other names) eight
years in two of the Puranas.

The whole duration of the Maurya dynasty accord-
ing to Puranic authority was 137 years, and if this
period be accepted and reckoned from the accession
of Chandragupta in 321 B. c., the dynasty must have
come to an end in 184 B. c., which date is certainly
approximately correct. Four princes who succeeded
Dasaratha, each of whom reigned for a few years, are
mere names. The empire seems to have broken up very
soon after Asoka 's death, his descendants, whose names

DECLINE OF THE MAURYA DYNASTY 177

are recorded in the Puranic lists, retaining only Maga-
dha and the neighbouring home provinces. The Andhra
protected state between the Krishna and Godavari
Rivers was among the earliest defections, and rapidly
grew into a powerful kingdom, stretching right across
India, as will be narrated in the next chapter. The
last king of the imperial Maurya line, a weak prince
named Brihadratha, was treacherously assassinated by
his commander-in-chief, Pushyamitra.

But descendants of the great Asoka continued as
local rajas in Magadha for many centuries, the last
of them being Purna-varman, who was nearly contem-
porary with the Chinese pilgrim, Hiuen Tsang, in the
seventh century. Petty Maurya dynasties, probably
connected in some way with the imperial line, ruled
in the Konkan, between the Western Ghats and the sea,
and some other parts of Western India, during the
sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, and are frequently
mentioned in inscriptions.

BUDDHIST SCULPTURE.

CHAPTER VIII

THE SUNGA, KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

184 B.C. TO 236 A.D.

THE SUNGA DYNASTY

PUSHYAMITEA, the commander-in-chief, having
slain his master, Brihadratha Maurya, and im-
prisoned the minister, usurped the vacant throne, and
established himself as sovereign of the now contracted
Maurya dominions, thus founding a dynasty known
to history as that of the Sungas.

The capital continued to be, as of old, Pataliputra,
and probably all the central or home provinces of the
empire recognized the usurper's authority, which ex-
tended to the south as far as the ISTarmada River, and
presumably embraced the territories in the Ganges
basin, corresponding with the modern Bihar, Tirhut,
and the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is
unlikely that either the later Mauryas or the Sungas
exercised any jurisdiction in the Panjab.

During the latter years of his reign, the usurper

178

THE SUNGA, KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES 179

was threatened by serious dangers menacing from both
east and west. Menander, a relative of the Bactrian

TOWER OF VICTORY, CHITOR.

monarch Eukratides, the King of Kabul and the Pan-
jab, formed the design of emulating the exploits of
Alexander, and advanced with a formidable force into

180 THE SUNGA, KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

the interior of India. He annexed the Indus delta, the
peninsula of Surashtra (Kathiawar), and some other
territories on the western coast, occupied Mathura on
the Jumna, besieged Madhyamika (now Nagari near
Chitor) in Rajputana, invested Saketam in southern
Oudh, and threatened Pataliputra, the capital.

About the same time, or a little earlier, Kharavela,
King of Kalinga on the coast of the Bay of Bengal,
invaded Magadha. He claims to have won some suc-
cesses, and to have humbled his adversary, but what-
ever advantage he gained would seem to have been
temporary or to have affected only the eastern frontier
of the Magadhan kingdom.

The more formidable invasion of Menander was
certainly repelled after a severe struggle, and the Greek
king was obliged to retire to his own country, but prob-
ably retained his conquests in Western India for a few
years longer.

Thus ended the last attempt by a European general
to conquer India by land. All subsequent invaders from
the western continent have come in ships, trusting to
their command of the sea, and using it as their
base. From the repulse of Menander in 153 B. c.
until the bombardment of Calicut by Vasco da Grama
in 1502 A. D., India enjoyed immunity from European
attack.

During the progress of these wars the outlying
southern provinces extending to the Narmada River
were administered by the crown prince, Agnimitra,
as viceroy, who had his capital at Vidisa, the modern

MENANDER'S INVASION 181

Bhilsa on the Betwa in Sindhia's territory. Agnimit-
ra's youthful son, Vasumitra, was employed on active
service under the orders of the king, his grandfather.
Pushyamitra, who at this time must have been ad-
vanced in years, resolved to crown his military suc-
cesses by pro-

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plete defeat of the raja, who was obliged to cede half
of his dominions to a rival cousin, the river Varada
(Warda) being constituted the dividing line.

Pushyamitra determined to revive and celebrate
with appropriate magnificence the ancient rite of the
horse-sacrifice (asvamedha), which, according to imme-
morial tradition, could only be performed by a para-

182 THE SUNGA, KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

mount sovereign, and involved as a preliminary a
formal and successful challenge to all rival claimants
to supreme power, delivered after this fashion :-

" A horse of a particular colour was consecrated
by the performance of certain ceremonies, and was
then turned loose to wander for a year. The king, or
his representative, followed the horse with an army,
and when the animal entered a foreign country, the
ruler of that country was bound either to fight or to
submit. If the liberator of the horse succeeded in ob-
taining or enforcing the submission of all the countries
over which it passed, he returned in triumph with all
the vanquished rajas in his train; but if he failed, he
was disgraced and his pretensions ridiculed. After
his successful return, a great festival was held, at which
the horse was sacrificed." 1

The command, at least nominally, of the guard at-
tendant on the consecrated steed liberated by Pushya-
mitra was entrusted to his young grandson, Vasumitra,
who is said to have encountered and routed a band of
certain Yavanas, or western foreigners, who took up
the challenge on the banks of the river Sindhu, which
now forms the boundary between Bundelkhand and the
Eajputana States. These disputants may have been
part of the division of Menander's army which had
undertaken the siege of Madhyamika in Rajputana.

The Yavanas and all other rivals having been dis-
posed of in due course, Pushyamitra was justified in
his claim to rank as the paramount power of Northern

1 Dowson, Classical Diet., s. v. Asvamedha.

HORSE. SACRIFICE 183

India, and straightway proceeded to announce his suc-
cess by a magnificent celebration of the sacrifice at his
capital. The dramatist Kalidasa, who has so well pre-
served the traditions of the time in his play on Xing
Agnimitra, professes to record the very words of the
invitation addressed by the victorious king to his son,
the crown prince, as follows:

" May it be well with thee! From the sacrificial
enclosure the commander-in-chief Pushyamitra sends
this message to his son Agnimitra, who is in the terri-
tory of Vidisa, affectionately embracing him. Be it
known unto thee that I, having been consecrated for
the Rajasuya [i. e. asvamedha] sacrifice, let loose free
from all check or curb a horse which was to be brought
back after a year, appointing Vasumitra as its defender,
girt with a guard of a hundred Rajputs. This very
horse wandering on the right [or ' south '] bank of
the Sindhu was claimed by a cavalry squadron of the
Yavanas. Then there was a fierce struggle between the
two forces. Then Vasumitra, the mighty bowman, hav-
ing overcome his foes, rescued by force my excellent
horse, which they were endeavouring to carry off. Ac-
cordingly I will now sacrifice, having had my horse
brought back to me by my grandson, even as Ansumat
brought back the horse to Sagara. Therefore you must
dismiss anger from your mind, and without delay come
with my daughters-in-law to behold the sacrifice."

The exaggerated regard for the sanctity of animal
life, which was one of the most cherished features of
Buddhism, and the motive of Asoka's most character-

184 THE SUNGA, KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

istic legislation, had necessarily involved the prohibi-
tion of bloody sacrifices, which are essential to certain
forms of Brahmanical worship and were believed by
the orthodox to possess the highest saving efficacy.
The memorable horse-sacrifice of Pushyamitra marked
the beginning of the Brahmanical reaction, which was
fully developed five centuries later in the time of Samu-
dragupta and his successors.

But the revival of the practice of sacrifice by an
orthodox Hindu ruler did not necessarily involve per-
secution of Jains and Buddhists who abhorred the rite.
There is no evidence that any member of those sects
was ever compelled to sacrifice against his will, as,
under Buddhist and Jain domination, the orthodox
were forced to abstain from ceremonies regarded by
them as essential to salvation. Pushyamitra has been
accused of persecution, but the evidence is merely that
of a legend of no authority.

But, although the alleged proscription of Buddhism
by Pushyamitra is not supported by evidence, and it
is true that the gradual extinction of that religion in
India was due in the main to causes other than perse-
cution, it is also true that from time to time fanatic
kings indulged in savage outbursts of cruelty, and com-
mitted genuine acts of persecution directed against
Jains or Buddhists as such. Well-established instances
of such proceedings will be met with in the course of
this history, and others, which do not come within its
limits, are on record. That such outbreaks of wrath
should have occurred is not wonderful, if we consider

THE LAST SUNGAS 185

the extreme oppressiveness of the Jain and Buddhist
prohibitions when ruthlessly enforced, as they certainly
were by some rajas, and probably by Asoka. The won-
der rather is that persecutions were so rare, and that
as a rule the various sects managed to live together in
harmony, and in the enjoyment of fairly impartial offi-
cial favour.

When Pushyamitra, some five years subsequent to
the retreat of Menander, died, after a long and event-
ful reign, he was succeeded by his son, the crown prince
Agnimitra, who had governed the southern provinces
during his father's lifetime. He reigned but a few
years, and was succeeded by Sujyeshtha, probably a
brother, who was followed seven years later by Vasu-
mitra, a son of Agnimitra, who as a youth had guarded
the sacrificial horse on behalf of his aged grandfather.
The next four reigns are said to have been abnormally
short, amounting together to only seventeen years.

The inference that the extreme brevity of these
reigns indicates a period of confusion, during which
palace revolutions were frequent, is strongly confirmed
by the one incident of the time which has survived in
tradition. Sumitra, another son of Agnimitra, who
was, we are told, inordinately devoted to the stage, was
surprised when in the midst of his favourite actors by
one Mitradeva, who " severed his head with a scimitar,
as a lotus is shorn from its stalk." The ninth king,
Bhagavata, is credited with a long reign of twenty-
six years, but we know nothing about him. The tenth
king, Devabhuti, or Devabhumi, was, we are assured,

186 THE SUNGA, KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

a man of licentious habits, and lost his life while en-
gaged in a discreditable intrigue. The dynasty thus
came to an unhonoured end after having occupied the
throne for a hundred and twelve years.

THE KANVA OR KANVAYANA DYNASTY

The plot which cost the royal debauchee Deva-
bhuti his throne and life was contrived by his Brahman
minister Vasudeva, who seems to have controlled the
state even during the lifetime of his nominal master.
Mitradeva, the slayer of Prince Sumitra, probably be-
longed to the same powerful family, which is known
to history as that of the Kanvas, or Kanvayanas. There
is reason to believe that the later Sunga kings enjoyed
little real power, and were puppets in the hands of their
Brahman ministers, like the Mahratta rajas in the
hands of the Peshwas. But the distinct testimony of
both the Puranas and Bana that Devabhuti, the tenth
and last Sunga, was the person slain by Vasudeva, the
first Kanva, forbids the acceptance of Professor Bhan-
darkar's theory that the Kanva dynasty should be re-
garded as contemporary with the Sunga.

Vasudeva seized the throne rendered vacant by his
crime, and was succeeded by three of his descendants.
The whole dynasty, comprising four reigns, covers a
period of only forty-five years. The figures indicate,
as in the case of the Sungas, that the times were dis-
turbed, and that succession to the throne was often
effected by violent means. Nothing whatever is known
about the reigns of any of the Kanva kings. The last

KANVAS AND ANDHKAS 187

of them was slain in 27 B. c. by a king of the Andhra,
or Satavahana, dynasty, which at that time possessed
wide dominions stretching across the table-land of the
Deccan from sea to sea.

The Puranas treat the whole Andhra dynasty as
following the Kanva, and consequently identify the
slayer of the last Kanva prince with Simuka, or Sipraka,
the first of the Andhra line. But, as a matter of fact,
the independent Andhra dynasty had begun about
220 B. c., long before the suppression of the Kanvas
in 27 B. c., and the Andhra king who slew Susarman
cannot possibly have been Simuka. It is impossible to
affirm with certainty who he was, because the dates
of accession of the various Andhra princes are not
known with accuracy.

ANDHRA DYNASTY

Before proceeding to narrate the history of the
Andhra kings after the extinction of the Kanva dy-
nasty, we must cast back a glance to the more distant
past, and trace the steps by which the Andhra kingdom
became one of the greatest powers in India.

In the days of Chandragupta Maurya and Megas-
thenes the Andhra nation, probably a Dravidian people,
now represented by the large population speaking the
Telugu language, occupied the deltas of the Godavari
and Krishna (Kistna) Rivers on the eastern side of
India, and was reputed to possess a military force
second only to that at the command of the King of the
Prasii, Chandragupta Maurya. The Andhra territory

188 THE SUNGA, KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

included thirty walled towns, besides numerous villages,
and the army consisted of one hundred thousand in-
fantry, two thousand cavalry, and one thousand ele-
phants. The capital of the state was then Sri Kakulam,
on the lower course of the Krishna.

The nation thus described was evidently independ-
ent, and it is not known at what time, in the reign
either of Chandragupta or Bindusara, the Andhras were
compelled to submit to the irresistible forces at the
command of the Maurya kings and recognize the suze-
rainty of Magadha.

When next heard of in Asoka's edicts (256 B.C.),
they were enrolled among the tribes resident in the
outer circle of the empire, subject to the imperial com-
mands, but doubtless enjoying a considerable degree
of autonomy under their own raja. The withdrawal
of the strong arm of Asoka was the signal for the dis-
ruption of his vast empire. While the home prov-
inces continued to obey his feeble successors upon the
throne of Pataliputra, the distant governments shook
off the imperial yoke and re-asserted their independ-
ence.

The Andhras were not slow to take advantage of
the opportunity given by the death of the great em-
peror, and, very soon after the close of his reign, set
up as an independent power under the government of
a king named Simuka. The new dynasty extended its
sway with such extraordinary rapidity that, in the
reign of the second king, Krishna (Kanha), the town
of Nasik, near the source of the Godavari in the West-

KING HALA AND LITERATURE 189

em Ghats, was included in the Andhra dominions,
which thus stretched across India.

A little later, either the third or fourth king, who
is described as Lord of the West, was able to send a
force of all arms to the aid of his ally, Kharavela, King
of Kalinga in the east, which kingdom had also recov-
ered its independence after the death of Asoka.

Nothing more is heard of the Andhra kings until
one of them, as above related, in 27 B. c., slew the last
of the Kanvas, and no doubt annexed the territory,
whatever it was, which still recognized the authority
of that dynasty. The Andhra kings all claimed to
belong to the Satavahana family, and most of them
assumed the title of Satakarni. They are consequently
often referred to by one or other of these designations,
without mention of the personal name of the monarch,
and it is thus sometimes impossible to ascertain which
king is alluded to. As already observed, the real name
of the slayer of Susarman Kanva is not known.

The name of Hala, the seventeenth king, by virtue
of its association with literary tradition, possesses spe-
cial interest as marking a stage in the development of
Indian literature. In his time, the learned dialect elab-
orated by scholars, in which the works of Kalidasa and
other famous poets are composed, had not come into
general use as the language of polite literature, and
even the most courtly authors did not disdain to seek
royal patronage for compositions in the vernacular dia-
lects. On such literature the favour of King Hala was
bestowed, and he himself is credited with the compo-

190 THE SUNGA, KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

sition of the anthology of erotic verses, called the
" Seven Centuries," written in the ancient Maharashtri
tongue. A collection of tales, entitled the " Great
Story-book," written in the Paisachi dialect, and a
Sanskrit grammar, arranged with special reference to
the needs of students more familiar with the vernacular
speech than with the so-called " classical " language,
are attributed to his ministers.

The next kings concerning whom anything is
known are those numbered twenty-one to twenty-three
in the dynastic list, who form a group distinguished by
peculiar personal names and a distinctive coinage, and
are commemorated by a considerable number of in-
scriptions and coins. Vilivayakura I, the first of the
group, whose accession would seem to indicate a break
in the continuity of the dynasty, perhaps due to the
ambition of a junior branch, obtained power in 84 A. D.,
and, according to the Puranas, enjoyed it only for half
a year. Some rare coins struck in his western domin-
ions are his sole memorial.

He was succeeded by Sivalakura, presumably his
son, who, after a reign of twenty-eight years, trans-
mitted the sceptre to Vilivayakura n, who bore his
grandfather's name, in accordance with Hindu custom.
His reign of about twenty-five years was distinguished
by successful warfare against his western neighbours,
the Sakas, Pahlavas, and Yavanas of Malwa, Gujarat,
and Kathiawar. The names of these foreign tribes
demand some explanation.

The Sakas, the Se (Sek) of Chinese historians, were

FOREIGN INVADERS 191

a horde of pastoral nomads, like the modern Turko-
mans, occupying territory to the west of the Wu-sun
horde, apparently situated between the Chu and Jax-
artes Rivers, to the north of the Alexander Mountains.
About 160 B. c., they were expelled from their pasture
grounds by another similar horde, the Yueh-chi, and
compelled to migrate southwards. They ultimately
reached India, but the road by which they travelled is
not known with certainty.

Princes of Saka race established themselves at Tax-
ila in the Pan jab and Mathura on the Jumna, where
they displaced the native rajas, and ruled principali-
ties for several generations, assuming the ancient Per-
sian title of satrap. Probably they recognized Mith-
radates I (174 - 136 B. c.) and his successors, the early
kings of the Parthian, or Arsakidan, dynasty of Persia,
as their overlords.

Another branch of the horde advanced farther to
the south, presumably across Sind, which was then a
well-watered country, and carved out for themselves
a dominion in the peninsula of Surashtra, or Kathiawar,
and some of the neighbouring districts on the mainland.

The Pahlavas seem to have been Persians, in the
sense of being Parthians of Persia, as distinguished
from the Parsikas, or Persians proper. The name is
believed to be a corruption of Parthiva, " Parthian/'
and is almost certainly identical with Pallava, the
designation of a famous southern dynasty, which is
frequently mentioned in inscriptions during the early
centuries of the Christian era, and had its capital at

192 THE SUNGA, KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

Kanchi, or Conjevaram, in the Chingleput District,
Madras.

The word Yavana is etymologically the same as
" Ionian,'* and originally meant " Asiatic Greek," but
has been used with varying connotation at different
periods. In the third century B. c. Asoka gave the
word its original meaning, describing Antiochos Theos
and the other contemporary Hellenistic kings as Ya-
vanas. In the second century A. D. the term had a
vaguer signification, and was employed as a generic
term to denote foreigners coming from the old Indo-
Greek kingdoms on the northwestern frontier.

These three foreign tribes, Sakas, Pahlavas, and
Yavanas, at that time settled in Western India as the
lords of a conquered native population, were the objects
of the hostility of Vilivayakura II. The first foreign
chieftain in the west whose name has been preserved
is Bhumaka the Kshaharata, who attained power at
about the beginning of the second century A. D., and
was followed by Nahapana, who aggrandized his domin-
ions at the expense of his Andhra neighbours. The
Kshaharata clan seems to have been a branch of the
Sakas.

In the year 126 A. D. the Andhra king Vilivayakura
H recovered the losses which his kingdom had suffered
at the hands of the intruding foreigners, and utterly
destroyed the power of Nahapana. The hostility of the
Andhra monarch was stimulated by the disgust felt by
all Hindus, and especially by the followers of the ortho-
dox Brahmanical system, at the outlandish practices

CHASHTANA AT UJJAIN

193

of foreign barbarians, who ignored caste rules, and

treated with contempt the precepts of the holy sastras.

This disgust is vividly expressed in the long inscrip-

tion recorded in 144 A. D. by the queen-mother Balasri,

of the Gautama family, in which she glorifies herself

as the mother of the hero who " destroyed the Sakas,

Yavanas, and Pah-

lavas . . . properly

expended the taxes

which he levied in

accordance with the

sacred law . . . and

prevented the mix-

ing of the four

castes/'

After the de-

RIVER 8IPRA AT UJJAIN.

struction Of Naha- rrom a photograph.

pana, the local government of the west was entrusted to
one Chashtana, who seems to have been a Saka, and to
have acted as viceroy under the Andhra conqueror.
Chashtana, whose capital was at Ujjain in Malwa, is
mentioned by his contemporary, Ptolemy the geogra-
pher, under the slight disguise of Tiastanes. From him
sprang a long line of satraps, who retained the govern-
ment of Western India with varying fortune, until the
last of them was overthrown at the close of the fourth
century by Chandragupta Vikramaditya.

In the year 138 A. D. Vilivayakura II was succeeded
on the Andhra throne by his son Pulumayi n, the Siro
Polemaios of Ptolemy, and about the same time the

194 THE SUNGA, KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

satrap Rudradaman, grandson of Chashtana, assumed
the government of the western provinces. His daugh-
ter, Dakshamitra, was married to Pulumayi, but this
relationship did not deter Rudradaman, who was an
ambitious and energetic prince, from levying war upon
his son-in-law. The satrap was victorious, and when
the conflict was renewed, success still attended on his
arms (145 A. D.). Moved by natural affection for his
daughter, the victor did not pursue his advantage to
the uttermost, and was content with the retrocession
of territory, while abstaining from inflicting utter ruin
upon his opponent.

The peninsula of Kathiawar, or Surashtra, the whole
of Malwa, Kachchh (Cutch), Sind, and the Konkan,
or territory between the Western Ghats and the sea,
besides some adjoining districts, thus passed under the
sway of the satraps, and were definitely detached from
the Andhra dominions.

Although Pulumayi II was a son of Vilivayakura II,
his accession seems to mark a dynastic epoch, empha-
sized by a transfer of the capital and the abandonment
of the peculiar type of coinage known to numismatists
as the " bow and arrow," favoured by the Vilivayakura
group. The western capital, which in the time of Vili-
vayakura II (Baleokouros) had been at a town called
Hippokoura by Ptolemy, probably the modern Kol-
hapur, was removed by Pulumayi n to Paithan, or
Paithana, on the upper waters of the Godavari, two
hundred miles farther north. Pulumayi n enjoyed
a long reign over the territories diminished by the

THE LAST OF THE ANDHRAS 195

victories of his father-in-law, and survived until
170 A. D.

The next two kings, Siva Sri and Siva Skanda, who
are said to have reigned each for seven years, seem to
have been brothers of Pulumayi H. Nothing is known
about them, except that the former struck some rude
leaden coins in his eastern provinces.

The most important and powerful of the last seven
kings of the dynasty evidently was Yajna Sri, who
reigned from 184 to 213 A. D. for twenty-nine years.
His rare silver coins, imitating the satrap coinage, cer-
tainly prove a renewal of relations with the western
satraps, and probably point to unrecorded conquests.
It would seem that Yajna Sri must have renewed the
struggle in which Pulumayi n had been worsted, and
recovered some of the provinces lost by that prince.
The silver coins would then have been struck for cir-
culation in the conquered districts, just as similar
coins were minted by Chandragupta Vikramaditya
when he finally Chattered the power of the Saka satraps.
The numerous and varied, although rude, bronze and
leaden coins of Yajna Sri, which formed the currency
of the eastern provinces, confirm the testimony of
inscriptions by which the prolonged duration of his
reign is attested. Some pieces bearing the figure of
a ship probably should be referred to this reign, and
suggest the inference that Yajna Sri's power was not
confined to the land.

His successors, Vijaya, Vada Sri, and Pulumayi m,
with whom the long series of Andhra kings came to

196 THE SUNGA, KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

an end about 236 A. D., are mere names; but the real
existence of Vada Sri is attested by the discovery of a
few leaden coins bearing his name. Research will prob-
ably detect coins struck by both his next predecessor
and immediate successor.

The testimony of the Puranas that the dynasty
endured for 456% years, or, in round numbers, four
centuries and a half, appears to be accurate. The num-
ber of the kings also appears to be correctly stated as
having been either thirty or thirty-one.

At present nothing is known concerning the causes
which brought about the downfall of this dynasty,
which had succeeded in retaining power for a period
so unusually prolonged. The fall of the Andhras hap-
pens to coincide very closely with the death of Vasu-
deva, the last of the great Kushan kings of Northern
India, as well as with the rise of the Sasanian dynasty
of Persia (226 A. D.), and it is possible that the co-
incidence may not be merely fortuitous. But the third
century A. D. is one of the dark spaces in the spectrum
of Indian history, and almost every event of that time
is concealed from view by an impenetrable veil of
oblivion. Vague speculation, unchecked by the salutary
limitations of verified fact, is, at the best, unprofitable,
and so we must be content to let the Andhras pass away
in the darkness.

CHAPTER IX

THE INDO- GREEK AND INDO - PARTHIAN DYNASTIES
250 B. C. TO 60 A. D.

THE story of the native dynasties in the interior
must now be interrupted to admit a brief review
of the fortunes of the various foreign rulers who estab-
lished themselves in the Indian territories once con-
quered by Alexander, after the sun of the Maurya
empire had set, and the northwestern frontier was left
exposed to foreign attack. The daring and destructive
raid of the great Macedonian, as we have seen, had
effected none of the permanent results intended. The
Indian provinces which he had subjugated, and which
Seleukos had failed to recover, passed into the iron
grip of Chandragupta, who transmitted them to the
keeping of his son and grandson. I see no reason to
doubt that the territories west of the Indus ceded by
Seleukos to his Indian opponent continued in posses-
sion of the successors of the latter, and that conse-
quently the Hindu Kush range was the frontier of
the Maurya empire up to the close of Asoka's reign.
But it is certain that the unity of the empire did

197

198 INDO- GREEK AND INDO - PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

not survive Asoka, and that when the influence of his
dominating personality ceased to act, the outlying prov-
inces shook off their allegiance and set up as independ-
ent states. The history of some of these has been told
in the preceding chapter. The regions of the north-
western frontier, when no longer protected by the arm
of a strong paramount native power in the interior,
offered a tempting field to the ambition of the Hellen-
istic princes of Bactria and Parthia, as well as to the
cupidity of the warlike races on the border. This chap-
ter will be devoted, so far as the very imperfect mate-
rials available permit, to a sketch of the leading events
in the annals of the Pan jab and trans-Indus provinces
from the close of Asoka 's reign to the establishment
of the Indo-Scythian, or Kushan, power.

The spacious Asiatic dominion consolidated by the
genius of Seleukos Nikator passed in the year 262 or
261 B. c. into the hands of his grandson Antiochos, a
drunken sensualist, miscalled even in his lifetime Theos,
or " the god," and, strange to say, worshipped as such.
This worthless prince occupied the throne for fifteen
or sixteen years, but toward the close of his reign his
empire suffered two grievous losses by the revolt of
the Bactrians, under the leadership of Diodotos, and
of the Parthians, under that of Arsakes.

The loss of Bactria was especially grievous. This
province, the rich plain watered by the Oxus (Amu
Darya) after its issue from the mountains, had been
occupied by civilized men from time immemorial, and
its capital, Zariaspa, or Balkh, had been from ancient

BACTRIA AND PARTHIA 199

days one of the most famous cities of the East. The
country, which was said to contain a thousand towns,
had been always regarded, during the time of the AchaB-
menian kings, as the premier satrapy, and reserved as
an appanage for a prince of the blood. When Alex-
ander shattered the Persian power and seated himself
upon the throne of the Great King, he continued to
bestow his royal favour upon the Bactrians, who in
return readily assimilated the elements of Hellenic
civilization. Two years after his death, at the final
partition of the empire in 321 B. c., Bactria fell to
the share of Seleukos Nikator, and continued to be
one of the most valuable possessions of his son and
grandson.

The Parthians, a race of rude and hardy horsemen,
with habits similar to those of the modern Turkomans,
dwelt beyond the Persian deserts in the comparatively
infertile regions to the southeast of the Caspian Sea.
Their country, along with the territories of the Choras-
mioi, Sogdioi, and Arioi (Khwarizm, Samarkand, and
Herat), had been included in the sixteenth satrapy of
Darius, and all the tribes named, armed like the Bac-
trians, with cane bows and short spears, supplied con-
tingents to the host of Xerxes. In the time of Alex-
ander and the early Seleukids, Parthia proper and Hyr-
kania, adjoining the Caspian, were combined to form
a satrapy. The Parthians, unlike the Bactrians, never
adopted Greek culture, and, although submissive to
their Persian and Macedonian masters, retained un-
changed the habits of a horde of mounted shepherds,

200 INDO- GREEK AND INDO- PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

equally skilled in the management of their steeds and
the use of the bow.

These two nations, so widely different in history
and manners, the Bactrians, with a thousand cities,
and the Parthians, with myriads of moss-troopers,
were moved at almost the same moment, about the
middle of the third century B. c., to throw off their
allegiance to their Seleukidan lord, and assert their
independence. The exact dates of these rebellions can-
not be determined, but the Bactrian revolt seems to
have been the earlier, and there is reason to believe
that the Parthian struggle continued for several years,
and was not ended until after the death of Antiochos
Theos in 246 B. c., although the declaration of Parthian
autonomy seems to have been made in 248 B. c.

The Bactrian revolt was a rebellion of the ordinary
Oriental type, headed by Diodotos, the governor of the
province, who seized an opportunity to shake off the
authority of his sovereign and assume the royal state.
The Parthian movement was rather a national rising,
led by a chief named Arsakes, who is described as being
a man of uncertain origin but undoubted bravery, and
inured to a life of rapine. Arsakes slew Andragoras,
the Seleukidan viceroy, declared his independence, and
so founded the famous Arsakidan dynasty of Persia,
which endured for nearly five centuries (248 B. c. to
226 A. D.). The success of both the Bactrian and Par-
thian rebels was facilitated by the war of succession
which disturbed the Seleukidan monarchy after the
death of Antiochos Theos.

REVOLT OF THE BACTRIANS AND PARTHIANS 201

The line of Bactrian kings initiated by Diodotos
was destined to a briefer and stormier existence than
that enjoyed by the dynasty of the Arsakids. Diodotos
himself wore his newly won crown for a brief space
only, and after a few years was succeeded (dr. 245 B. c.)
by his son of the same name, who entered into an alli-
ance with the Parthian king.

Diodotos II was followed (dr. 230 B. c.) by Euthy de-
mos, a native of Magnesia, who seems to have belonged
to a different family, and to have gained the crown
by successful rebellion. This monarch became involved
in a long-contested war with Antiochos the Great of
Syria (223-187 B.C.), which was terminated (cir.
208 B. c.) by a treaty recognizing the independence of
the Bactrian kingdom. Shortly afterward Antiochos
crossed the Hindu Kush, and compelled an Indian king
named Subhagasena, who probably ruled in the Kabul
valley, to surrender a considerable number of elephants
and large treasure. Leaving Androsthenes of Cyzicus
to collect this war indemnity, Antiochos in person led
his main force homeward by the Kandahar route
through Arachosia and Drangiana to Karmania.

Demetrios, son of Euthydemos and son-in-law of
Antiochos, who had given him a daughter in marriage
when the independence of Bactria was recognized,
repeated his father-in-law's exploits with still greater
success, and conquered a considerable portion of North-
ern India, presumably including Kabul, the Panjab,
and Sind (dr. 190 B. c.).

The distant Indian wars of Demetrios necessarily

202 INDO- GREEK AND INDO- PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

weakened his hold upon Bactria, and afforded the
opportunity for successful rebellion to one Eukratides,
who made himself master of Bactria about 175 B. c.,
and became involved in many wars with the surround-
ing states and tribes, which he carried on with varying
fortune and unvarying spirit. Demetrios, although he
had lost Bactria, long retained his hold upon his east-
ern conquests, and was known as " King of the In-
dians," but after a severe struggle the victory rested
with Eukratides, who was an opponent not easily
beaten. It is related that on one occasion, when shut
up for five months in a fort with a garrison of only
three hundred men, he succeeded in repelling the attack
of a host of sixty thousand under the command of
Demetrios.

But the hard-won triumph was short-lived. While
Eukratides was on his homeward march from India,
attended by his son Apollodotos, whom he had made
his colleague in power, he was barbarously murdered
by the unnatural youth, who is said to have gloried
in his monstrous crime, driving his chariot wheels
through the blood of his father, to whose corpse he
refused even the poor honour of burial.

The murder of Eukratides shattered to fragments
the kingdom for which he had fought so valiantly. An-
other son, named Heliokles, who assumed the title of
" the Just," perhaps as the avenger of his father 's cruel
death, enjoyed for a brief space a precarious tenure of
power in Bactria. Strato, who also seems to have
belonged to the family of Eukratides, held a princi-

FROM EUKRATIDES TO MENANDER 203

pality in the Pan jab for a few years, and was perhaps
the immediate successor of Apollodotos. Agathokles
and Pantaleon, whose coins are specially Indian in
character, were earlier in date, and contemporary with
Euthydemos and Demetrios.

It is evident from the great variety of the royal
names in the coin-legends, which are nearly forty in
number, that both before and after the death of Eukra-
tides, the Indian borderland was parcelled out among
a crowd of Greek princelings, for the most part related
either to the family of Euthydemos and Demetrios or
to that of their rival, Eukratides. Some of these prince-
lings, among whom was Antialkidas, were subdued by
Eukratides, who, if he had lived, might have consoli-
dated a great border kingdom. But his death in the
hour of victory increased the existing confusion, and
it is quite impossible to make a satisfactory territorial
and chronological arrangement of the Indo-Greek fron-
tier kings contemporary with and posterior to Eukra-
tides. Their names, with two exceptions, are known
from coins only.

One name, that of Menander, stands out conspic-
uously amid the crowd of obscure princes. He seems
to have belonged to the family of Eukratides, and to
have had his capital at Kabul, whence he issued in
155 B. c. to make the bold invasion of India described
in the last chapter. Two years later he was obliged to
retire and devote his energies to the encounter with
dangers which menaced him at home, due to the never-
ending quarrels with his neighbours on the frontier.

COIN OP THE INDO -GREEK KING

Ml.SAM'l.U.

204 INDO- GREEK AND INDO - PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

Menander was celebrated as a just ruler, and when
he died was honoured with magnificent obsequies. He
is supposed to have been a convert to Buddhism, and
has been immortalized under the name of Milinda in
a celebrated dialogue entitled " The Questions of
Milinda/' which is one of the most notable books in
Buddhist literature.

Heliokles, the son of Eukratides, who had obtained
Bactria as his share of his father's extensive dominion,

was the last king of Greek
race to rule the territories to
the north of the Hindu Kush.
While the Greek princes and
princelings were struggling
second century B.C. one w ith the other in obscure

wars which history has not condescended to record, a
deluge was preparing in the steppes of Mongolia, which
was destined to sweep them all away into nothingness.

A horde of nomads, named the Yueh-chi, whose
movements will be more particularly described in the
next chapter, were driven out of northwestern China
in the year 165 B. c., and compelled to migrate west-
wards by the route to the north of the deserts. Some
years later, about 160 B. c., they encountered another
horde, the Sakas or Se, who seem to have occupied the
territories lying to the north (or, possibly, to the south)
of the Alexander Mountains, between the Chu and
Jaxartes (Syr Darya) Rivers, as already mentioned.

The Sakas, accompanied by cognate tribes, were
forced to move in a southerly direction, and in course

THE SAKAS 205

of time entered India, possibly by more roads than one.
This flood of barbarian invasion burst upon Bactria
in the period between 140 and 130 B. c., finally extin-
guishing the Hellenistic monarchy, which must have
been weakened already by the growth of the Parthian
or Persian power. The last Graeco-Bactrian king was
Heliokles, with whom Greek rule to the north of the
Hindu Kush disappeared for ever.

The Saka flood, still pouring on, surged into the
valley of the Helmund (Erymandrus) River, and so
filled that region, the modern Sistan, that it became
known as Sakastene, or the Saka country.

Other branches of the barbarian stream which pene-
trated the Indian passes deposited settlements at Tax-
ila in the Pan jab and at Mathura on the Jumna, where
Saka princes, with the title of satrap, ruled for more
than a century, seemingly in subordination to the Par-
thian power. Another section of the horde, at a later
date, pushed on southwards and occupied the peninsula
of Surashtra, or Kathiawar, founding a Saka dynasty
which lasted for centuries.

Strato I, a Greek King of Kabul and the Panjab,
who was to some extent contemporary with Heliokles,
seems to have been succeeded by Strato n, probably
his grandson, who, in turn, was apparently displaced
at Taxila by the Saka satraps. The satraps of Mathura
were closely connected with those of Taxila, and belong
to the same period, a little before and after 100 B. c.

The movements of the Sakas and allied nomad tribes
were closely connected with the development of the

206 INDO- GREEK AND INDO - PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

Parthian or Persian power under the Arsakidan kings.
Mithradates I, a very able monarch (174 to 136 B.C.),
who was for many years the contemporary of Eukra-
tides, King of Bactria, succeeded in extending his
dominion so widely that his power was felt as far as
the Indus, and possibly even to the east of that river.
The Saka chiefs of Taxila and Mathura would not have
assumed the purely Persian title of satrap, if they had
not regarded themselves as subordinates of the Persian
or Parthian sovereign, and the close relations between
the Parthian monarchy and the Indian borderland at
this period are demonstrated by the appearance of a
long line of princes of Parthian origin, who now enter
on the scene.

The earliest of these Indo-Parthian kings apparently
was Maues, or Mauas, who attained power in the Kabul
valley andv Panjab about 120 B. c., and adopted the

title Of " Great King Of Kings " (/Soo-iX&t /Sa<rtXeW /ieyaXou),

which had been used for the first time by Mithra-
dates I. His coins are closely related to those of that
monarch, as well as to those of the unmistakably Par-
thian border chief, who called himself Arsakes Theos.
The King Moga, to whom the Taxila satrap was imme-
diately subordinate, was almost certainly the personage
whose name appears on the coins as Mauou in the
genitive case.

Vonones, or Onones, whose name is unquestionably
Parthian, was probably the immediate successor of
Maues on the throne of Kabul. He was succeeded by
his brother Spalyris, who was followed in order by

THE PARTHIAN KING GONDOPHARES 20?

Azes (Azas) I, Azilises, Azes n, and Gondophares.
The princes prior to the last named are known from
their coins only. Gondophares, whose accession may
be dated with practical certainty in 21 A. D., and whose
coins are Parthian in style, enjoyed a long reign of some
thirty years, and is a more interesting personage. He
reigned, like his predecessors, in the Kabul valley and
the Panjab.

The special interest attaching to Gondophares is
due to the fact that his name is associated with that
of St. Thomas, the apostle of the Parthians, in very
ancient Christian tradition. The belief that the Par-
thians were allotted as the special sphere of the mis-
sionary labours of St. Thomas goes back to the time
of Origen, who died in the middle of the third century,
and is also mentioned in the Clementine Recognitions,
a work of the same period, and possibly somewhat ear-
lier in date.

The nearly contemporary Acts of St. Thomas, as
well as later tradition, generally associate the Indians,
rather than the Parthians, with the name of the apostle,
but the terms " India " and " Indians " had such vague
signification in ancient times that the discrepancy is
not great. The earliest form of the tradition clearly
deserves the greater credit, and there is no apparent
reason for discrediting the statement handed down by
Origen that Thomas received Parthia as his allotted
region. According to the Clementine Recognitions, the
apostolic preaching brought about very desirable re-
forms in the morals and manners of the Medes and

208 INDO- GREEK AND INDO - PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

Persians, who were induced to abandon scandalous
practices, forbidden by religion, although sanctioned by
immemorial usage.

The legend connecting St. Thomas with King Gondo-
phares appears for the first time in the Syrian text of
the Acts of St. Thomas, which was composed at about
the same date as the writings of Origen. The substance
of the long story may be set forth briefly as follows:

" When the twelve apostles divided the countries
of the world among themselves By lot, India fell to
the share of Judas, surnamed Thomas, or the Twin,
who showed unwillingness to start on his mission. At
that time an Indian merchant named Habban arrived in
the country of the south, charged by his master, Gun-
daphar, King of India, to bring back with him a cun-
ning artificer able to build a palace meet for the king.
In order to overcome the apostle's reluctance to start
for the East, our Lord appeared to the merchant in a
vision, sold the apostle to him for twenty pieces of
silver, and commanded St. Thomas to serve King Gun-
daphar and build the palace for Viirn.

" In obedience to his Lord's commands, the apostle
sailed next day with Habban the merchant, and during
the voyage assured his companion concerning his skill
in architecture and all manner of work in wood and
stone. Wafted by favouring winds, their ship quickly
reached the harbour of Sandaruk. Landing there, the
voyagers shared in the marriage-feast of the king's
daughter, and used their time so well that bride and
bridegroom were converted to the true faith. Thence

LEGEND OF GONDOPHARES AND ST. THOMAS 209

the saint and the merchant proceeded on their voyage,
and came to the court of Gundaphar, King of India.
St. Thomas promised to build him the palace within
the space of six months, but expended the moneys
given to him for that purpose in alms-giving, and, when
called to account, explained that he was building for
the king a 'palace in heaven, not made with hands. He
preached with such zeal and grace that the king, his
brother Gad, and multitudes of the people embraced
the faith. Many signs and wonders were wrought by
the holy apostle.

" After a time, Sifur, the general of Bang Mazdai,
arrived, and besought the apostle to come with him
and heal his wife and daughter. St. Thomas hearkened
to his prayer, and went with Sifur to the city of King
Mazdai, riding in a chariot. He left his converts in
the country of King Gundaphar, under the care of
Deacon Xanthippos. King Mazdai waxed wroth when
his queen Tertia and a noble lady named Mygdonia
were converted by St. Thomas, who was accordingly
sentenced to death and executed by four soldiers, who
pierced him with spears on a mountain without the
city. The apostle was buried in the sepulchre of the
ancient kings; but the disciples secretly removed his
bones, and carried them away to the West."

Writers of later date, subsequent to the seventh
century, profess to know the name of the city where
the apostle suffered martyrdom, and call it variously
Kalamina, Kalamita, Kalamena, or Karamena, and
much ingenuity has been expended in futile attempts

210 INDO- GREEK AND INDO - PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

to identify this city. But the scene oi; the martyrdom
is anonymous in the earlier versions of the tale, and
Kalamina should be regarded as a place in fairyland,
which it is vain to try to locate on a map. The same
observation applies to the attempts at the identification
of the port variously called Sandaruk, Andrapolis, and
so forth.

The whole story is pure mythology, and the geog-
raphy is as mythical as the tale itself. Its interest in
the eyes of the historian of India is confined to the fact
that it proves that the real Indian king, Gondophares,
was remembered two centuries after his death, and was
associated in popular belief with the apostolic mission
to the Parthians. Inasmuch as Gondophares was cer-
tainly a Parthian prince, it is reasonable to believe that
a Christian mission actually visited the Indo-Parthians
of the northwestern frontier during his reign, whether
or not that mission was conducted by St. Thomas in
person. The traditional association of the name of the
apostle with that of King Gondophares is in no way at
variance with the chronology of the reign of the latter.

The alleged connection of the apostle with Southern
India and with the shrine near Madras dubbed San
Thome by the Portuguese stands on a different footing.
The story of the southern mission of St. Thomas first
makes its appearance in Marco Polo's work in the thir-
teenth century, and has no support in either probability
or ancient tradition. It may be dismissed without hesi-
tation as a late invention o,f the local Nestorian Chris-
tians, concocted as a proof of their orthodox descent.

KADPHISES I 211

The coins of Abdagases, the son of Gondophares'
brother, are found in the Panjab only, while those of
Orthagnes occur in Kandahar, Sistan, and Sindh. It
would seem that the Indo-Parthian princes were gradu-
ally driven southward by the advancing Yueh-chi, who
had expelled the last of them from the Panjab by the
end of the first century A. D. 1

For a period of some two centuries after the begin-
ning of the Saka and Parthian invasions, the northern
portions of the Indian borderland, comprising probably
the valley of the Kabul River, the Suwat valley, and
some neighbouring districts to the north and northwest
of Peshawar, remained under the government of local
Greek princes, who, whether independent or subject
to the suzerainty of a Parthian overlord, certainly exer-
cised the perogative of coining silver and bronze money.

The last of these Indo-Greek rulers was Hermaios,
who succumbed to the Yueh-chi chief, Kadphises I,
about 50 A. D., when that enterprising monarch added
Kabul to the growing Yueh-chi empire. The Yueh-chi
chief at first struck coins jointly in the name of himself
and the Greek prince, retaining on the obverse the por-
trait of Hermaios with his titles in Greek letters. After
a time, while still preserving the familiar portrait, he
substituted his own name and style in the legend.
The next step taken was to replace the bust of Her-
maios by the effigy of Augustus, as in his later years,
and so to do homage to the expanding fame of that

1 The successors of Gondophares seem to have followed in this order :
Abdagases, Orthagnes, Arsakes, Pakores, Sanabares.

212 INDO- GREEK AND INDO- PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

emperor, who, without striking a blow, and by the mere
terror of the Roman name, had compelled the Parthians
to restore the standards of Crassus (20 B. c.), which had
been captured thirty-three years earlier.

Still later probably are those coins of Kadphises I
which dispense altogether with the royal effigy, and
present on the obverse an Indian bull, and on the
reverse a Bactrian camel, devices fitly symbolizing the
conquest of India by a horde of nomads.

Thus the numismatic record offers a distinctly legi-
ble abstract of the political history of the times, and
tells in outline the story of the gradual supersession
of the last outposts of Greek authority by the irresisti-
ble advance of the hosts from the steppes of Central
Asia.

When the European historian, with his mind steeped
in the conviction of the immeasurable debt owed to
Hellas by modern civilization, stands by the side of
the grave of Greek rule in India, it is inevitable that
he should ask what was the result of the contact be-
tween Greece and India. Was Alexander to Indian
eyes nothing more than the irresistible cavalry leader
before whose onset the greatest armies were scattered
like chaff, or was he recognized, consciously or uncon-
sciously, as the pioneer of Western civilization and the
parent of model institutions? Did the long-continued
government of Greek rulers in the Panjab vanish before
the assault of rude barbarians without leaving a trace
of its existence save coins, or did it impress a Hellenic
stamp upon the ancient fabric of Indian polity?

CONTACT BETWEEN GREECE AND INDIA 213

Questions such as these have received widely diver-
gent answers, but undoubtedly the general tendency of
European scholars has been to exaggerate the Hellen-
izing effects of Alexander's invasion and of the Indo-
Greek rule on the northwestern frontier. The most
extreme " Hellenist " view is that expressed by Herr
Niese, who is convinced that all the later development
of India depends upon the institutions of Alexander,
and that Chandragupta Maurya recognized the suze-
rainty of Seleukos Nikator. Such extravagant notions
are so plainly opposed to the evidence that they might
be supposed to need no refutation, but they have been
accepted to a certain extent by English writers of
repute, who are, as already observed, inclined naturally
to believe that India, like Europe and a large part of
Asia, must have yielded to the subtle action of Hellenic
ideas.

It is therefore worth while to consider impartially
and without prejudice the extent of the Hellenic influ-
ence upon India from the invasion of Alexander to the
Kushan or Indo-Scythian conquest at the end of the
first century of the Christian era, a period of four cen-
turies in round numbers.

The author's opinion that India was not Hellenized
by the operations of Alexander has been expressed in
the chapter of this work dealing with his retreat from
India, but it is advisable to remind the reader of the
leading facts in connection with the more general ques-
tion of Hellenic influence upon Indian civilization dur-
ing four hundred years. In order to form a correct

214 INDO- GREEK AND INDO - PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

judgment in the matter, it is essential to bear dates
in mind. Alexander stayed only nineteen months in
India, and however far-reaching his plans may have
been, it is manifestly impossible that during those few
months of incessant conflict he should have founded
Hellenic institutions on a permanent basis or materially
affected the structure of Hindu polity and society. As
a matter of fact he did nothing of the sort, and within
two years of his death, with the exception of some small
garrisons under Eudamos in the Indus valley, the whole
apparatus of Macedonian rule had been swept away.
After the year 316 B.C. not a trace of it remained.
The only mark of Alexander's direct influence on India
is the existence of a few coins modelled in imitation
of Greek types which were struck by Saubhuti (So-
phytes), the chief of the Salt Range, whom he subdued
at the beginning of the voyage down the rivers.

Twenty years after Alexander's death, Seleukos
Nikator attempted to recover the Macedonian conquests
east of the Indus, but failed, and more than failed, being
obliged not only to forego all claims on the provinces
temporarily occupied by Alexander, but to surrender
a large part of Ariana, west of the Indus, to Chandra-
gupta Maurya. The Indian administration and society
so well described by Megasthenes, the ambassador of
Seleukos, were Hindu in character, with some features
borrowed from Persia, but none from Greece. The
assertion that the development of India depended on
the institutions of Alexander is a grotesque travesty
of the truth.

EXTENT OF GREEK INFLUENCE 215

For eighty or ninety years after the death of Alex-
ander the strong arm of the Maurya emperors held
India for the Indians against all comers, and those mon-
archs treated with their Hellenistic neighbours on equal
terms. Asoka was much more anxious to communicate
the blessings of Buddhist teaching to Antiochos and
Ptolemy than to borrow Greek notions from them.
Although it appears to be certainly true that Indian
plastic and pictorial art, such as it was, drew its in-
spiration from Hellenistic Alexandrian models during
the Maurya period, the Greek influence merely touched
the fringe of Hindu civilization, and was powerless
to modify the structure of Indian institutions in any
essential respect.

For almost a hundred years after the failure of
Seleukos Nikator no Greek sovereign presumed to at-
tack India. Then Antiochos the Great (dr. 206 B. c.)
marched through the hills of the country now called
Afghanistan, and went home by Kandahar and Sistan,
levying a war indemnity of treasure and elephants upon
a local chief. This brief campaign can have had no
appreciable effect on the institutions of India, and its
occurrence was probably unknown to many of the courts
east of the Indus.

The subsequent invasions of Demetrios, Eukratides,
and Menander, which extended with intervals over a
period of about half a century (190-153 B.C.), pene-
trated more deeply into the interior of the country;
but they, too, were transient raids, and cannot possibly
have affected seriously the ancient and deeply rooted

216 INDO- GREEK AND INDO - PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

civilization of India. It is noticeable that the Hindu
astronomer refers to Menander's Greeks as the " vi-
ciously valiant Yavanas." The Indians were impressed
by both Alexander and Menander as mighty captains,
not as missionaries of culture, and no doubt regarded
both those sovereigns as impure barbarians, to be
feared, but not imitated.

The East has seldom shown much readiness to learn
from the West, and when Indians have condescended,
as in the cases of relief sculpture and the drama, to
borrow ideas from European teachers, the thing bor-
rowed has been so cleverly disguised in native trap-
pings that the originality of the Indian imitators is
stoutly maintained even by acute and learned critics.

The Pan jab, or a considerable part of it, with some
of the adjoining regions, remained more or less under
Greek rule for nearly two centuries and a half, from
the time of Demetrios (190 B. c.) to the overthrow of
Hermaios by the Kushans (dr. 50 A. D.), and we might
reasonably expect to find clear signs of Hellenization
in those countries. But the traces of Hellenic influence
w even there are surprisingly slight and trivial. Except
the coins, which retain Greek legends on the obverse,
and are throughout mainly Greek in type, although
they begin to be bilingual from the time of Demetrios
and Eukratides, scarcely any indication of the pro-
longed foreign rule can be specified. The coinage un-
doubtedly goes far to prove that the Greek language
was that used in the courts of the frontier princes, but
the introduction of native legends on the reverses

GREEK INFLUENCE SLIGHT 217

demonstrates that it was not understood by the people
at large. No inscriptions in that tongue have yet been
discovered, and the single Greek name, Theodore, met
with in a native record, comes from the Suwat valley,
and is of late date, probably 56 A. D.

There is no evidence that Greek architecture was
ever introduced into India. A temple with Ionic pillars,
dating from the time of Azes (either Azes I, 50 B. c.,
or Azes II, some fifty years later), has been discovered
at Taxila; but the plan of the building is not Greek,
and the pillars of foreign pattern are merely borrowed
ornaments. The earliest known example of Indo-Greek
sculpture belongs to the same period, the reign of Azes,
and not a single specimen can be referred to the times
of Demetrios, Eukratides, and Menander, not to speak
of Alexander. The well-known sculptures of Gandhara,
the region around Peshawar, are much later in date,
and are the offspring of cosmopolitan Graeco-Roman art.

The conclusion of the matter is that the invasions
of Alexander, Antiochos the Great, Demetrios, Eukra-
tides, and Menander were in fact, whatever their au-
thors may have intended, merely military incursions,
which left no appreciable mark upon the institutions
of India. The prolonged occupation of the Panjab and
neighbouring regions by Greek rulers had extremely
little effect in Hellenizing the country. Greek political
institutions and architecture were rejected, although
to a small extent Hellenic example was accepted in the
decorative arts, and the Greek language must have been
familiar to the officials at the kings 'courts. The lit-

218 INDO- GREEK AND INDO - PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

erature of Greece was probably known more or less
to some of the native officers, who were obliged to learn
their masters' language for business purposes, but that
language was not widely diffused, and the impression
made by Greek authors upon Indian literature and
science is not traceable until after the close of the
period under discussion.

CHAPTER X

THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY
FROM 66 TO 225 A. D.

migrations of the nomad nations of the Mon-
golian steppes, briefly noticed in the preceding
chapter, produced on the political fortunes of India
effects so momentous that they deserve and demand
fuller treatment.

A tribe of Turki nomads, known to Chinese authors
as the Hiung-nu, succeeded in inflicting upon a neigh-
bouring and rival horde of the same stock a decisive
defeat about the middle of the second century B. c. The
date of this event is fixed as 165 B. c. by most scholars,
but M. Chavannes puts it some twenty or twenty-five
years later. The Yueh-chi were compelled to quit the
lands which they occupied in the province of Kan-suh
in Northwestern China, and to migrate westwards in
search of fresh pasture-grounds. The moving horde
mustered a force of bowmen, estimated to number from
one hundred to two hundred thousand, and the whole
multitude must have comprised at least from half a
million to a million persons of all ages and both sexes.

210

220 THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

In the course of their westward migration in search
of grazing-grounds adequate for the sustenance of their
vast numbers of horses, cattle, and sheep, the Yueh-chi,
moving along the route past Kucha (N. lat. 41 38',
E. long. 83 250, to the north of the desert of Gobi,
came into conflict with a smaller horde, named Wu-sun,
which occupied the basin of the Hi River and its south-
ern tributaries, the Tekes and Konges. The Wu-sun,
although numbering a force of only ten thousand bow-
men, could not submit patiently to the devastation of
their lands, and sought to defend them. But the supe-
rior numbers of the Yueh-chi assured the success of
the invaders, who slew the Wu-sun chieftain, and then
passed on westwards, beyond Lake Issyk-kul, the Lake
Tsing of Hiuen Tsang, in search of more spacious pas-
tures. A small section of the immigrants, diverging
to the south, settled on the Tibetan border, and became
known as the Little Yueh-chi, while the main body,
which continued the westward march, was designated
the Great Yueh-chi.

The next foes encountered by the Yueh-chi were
the Sakas, or Se, who probably included more than one
horde, for, as Herodotus observes, the Persians were
accustomed to use the term Sakai to denote all Scythian
nomads. The Sakas, who dwelt to the west of the
Wu-sun, probably in the territory between the Jaxartes
(Syr Darya) and Chu Rivers, also attempted to defend
their lands, but met with even worse success than the
Wu-sun, being compelled to vacate their pasture-
grounds in favour of the victorious Yueh-chi, who occu-

THE YUEH-CHI MIGRATION 221

pied them. The Sakas were forced to migrate in search
of new quarters, and, ultimately, as stated in the last
preceding chapter, made their way into India and
Sistan.

For some fifteen or twenty years the Yueh-chi re-
mained undisturbed in their usurped territory. But
meantime their ancient enemies, the Hiung-nu, had
protected the infant son of the slain Wu-sun chieftain,
who had grown to manhood under their care. This
youth, with Hiung-nu help, attacked the Yueh-chi, and
avenged his father's death by driving them from the
lands which they had wrested from the Sakas. Being
thus forced to resume their march, the Yueh-chi moved
into the valley of the Oxus, and reduced to subjection
its peaceful inhabitants, known to the Chinese as Ta-
hia. The political domination of the Yueh-chi was
probably extended at once over Bactria, to the south
of the Oxus, but the headquarters of the horde con-
tinued for many years to be on the north side of the
river, and the pastures on that side sufficed for the
wants of the newcomers.

In the course of tune, which may be estimated at
two or three generations, the Yueh-chi lost their nomad
habits, became a settled, territorial nation, in actual
occupation of the Bactrian lands south of the river,
as well as of Sogdiana to the north, and were divided
into five principalities. As a rough approximation to
the truth, this political and social development, with its
accompanying growth of population, may be assumed
to have been completed about 70 B. c.

222 THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

For the next century nothing is known about Yueh-
chi history; but more than a hundred years after the
division of the nation into five territorial principalities
situated to the north of the Hindu Kush, the chief of
the Kushan section of the horde, who is conventionally
known to European writers as Kadphises I, succeeded
in imposing his authority on his colleagues and estab-
lishing himself as sole monarch of the Yueh-chi nation.
His accession as such may be dated in the year 45 A. D.,
which cannot be very far wrong.

The pressure of population upon the means of sub-
sistence, which had impelled the Yueh-chi horde to
undertake the long and arduous march from the bor-
ders of China to the Hindu Kush, now drove it across
that barrier, and stimulated Kadphises I to engage in
the formidable task of subjugating the provinces to
the south of the mountains.

He made himself master of Ki-pin (Kashmir?) as
well as of the Kabul territory, and, in the course of
a long reign, consolidated his power in Bactria, and
found time to attack the Parthians. His empire thus
extended from the frontiers of Persia to the Indus, and
included Sogdiana, now the Khanate of Bukhara, with
probably all the territories comprised in the existing
kingdom of Afghanistan. The complete subjugation
of the hardy mountaineers of the Afghan highlands,
who have withstood so many invaders with success,
must have occupied many years, and cannot be assigned
to any particular year, but 60 A. D. may be taken as
a mean date for the conquest of Kabul.

RELATIONS WITH CHINA 223

The Yueh-chi advance necessarily involved the sup-
pression of the Indo-Greek and Indo-Parthian chiefs
of principalities to the west of the Indus, and in the
preceding chapter proof has been given of the manner
in which the coinage legibly records the outline of the
story of the gradual supersession of Hermaios, the last
Greek prince of Kabul, by the barbarian invaders.
The final extinction of the Indo-Parthian power in the
Pan jab and the Indus valley was reserved, however,
for the reign of the successor of Kadphises I, who is
most conveniently designated as Kadphises H.

At the age of eighty Kadphises I closed his victori-
ous reign, and was succeeded, in or about 85 A. D., by
his son Kadphises H. This prince, no less ambitious
and enterprising than his father, devoted himself to
the further extension of the Yueh-chi dominion, and
even ventured to measure swords with the Chinese
emperor.

The embassy of Chang-kien in 125 - 115 B. c. to the
Yueh-chi, while they still resided in Sogdiana to the
north of the Oxus, had brought the western barbarians
into touch with the Middle Kingdom, and for a century
and a quarter the Emperors of China kept up inter-
course with the Scythian powers. In the year 8 A. D.
official relations ceased, and when the first Han dynasty
came to an end in 23 or 24 A. D., Chinese influence in
the western countries had been reduced to nothing.
Fifty years later Chinese ambition re-asserted itself,
and for a period of thirty years, from 73 to 102 A. D.,
General Pan-chao led an army from victory to victory

224 THE KUSHAN OR INDO- SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

as far as the confines of the Roman empire. The King
of Khotan, who had first made his submission in 73 A. D.,
was followed by several other princes, including the
King of Kashgar, and the route to the west along the
southern edge of the desert was thus opened to the
arms and commerce of China. The reduction of Kuche
and Kharachar in 94 A. D. similarly threw open the
northern road.

The steady advance of the victorious Chinese evi-
dently alarmed Kadphises IE, who regarded himself
as the equal of the emperor and had no intention of
accepting the position of a vassal. Accordingly, in
90 A. D., he boldly asserted his equality by demanding
a Chinese princess in marriage. General Pan-chao, who
considered the proposal an affront to his master, ar-
rested the envoy and sent him home. Kadphises IT,
unable to brook this treatment, equipped a formidable
force of seventy thousand cavalry under the command
of his viceroy Si, which was despatched across the
Tsung-ling range, or Taghdumbash Pamir, to attack
the Chinese. The army of Si probably advanced by the
Tashkurghan pass, some fourteen thousand feet high,
and was so shattered by its sufferings during the pas-
sage of the mountains, that, when it emerged into the
plain below, either that of Kashgar or Yarkand, it fell
an easy prey to Pan-chao, and was totally defeated.
Kadphises IE was compelled to pay tribute to China,
and the Chinese annals record the arrival of several
missions bearing tribute at this period.

This serious check did not crush the ambition of

RELATIONS WITH ROME 225

the Yueh-chi monarch, who now undertook the easier
task of attacking India. Success in this direction com-
pensated for failure against the power of China, and
the Yueh-chi dominion was gradually extended (90 to
100 A. D.) all over Northwestern India, with the excep-
tion of Southern Sind, probably as far east as Benares.
The conquered Indian provinces were administered by
military viceroys, to whom apparently should be attrib-
uted the large issues of coins known to numismatists
as those of the Nameless King. These pieces, mostly
copper, but including a few in base silver, are certainly
contemporary with Kadphises II, and are extremely
common all over Northern India from the Kabul valley
to Benares and Ghazipur on the Ganges.

The Yueh-chi conquests opened up the path of com-
merce between the Roman empire and
India. Kadphises I, who struck coins
in bronze or copper only, imitated,
after his conquest of Kabul, the coin-
age either of Augustus in his later
years, or the similar coinage of Tibe-
rius (14 -to 38 A. D.). When the Roman
gold of the early emperors began to
pour into India in payment for the silks, spices, gems,
and dye-stuffs of the East, Kadphises II perceived the
advantage of a gold currency, and struck an abundant
issue of Orientalized aurei, agreeing in weight with their
prototypes, and not much inferior in purity. In South-
ern India, which, during the same period, maintained an
active maritime trade with the Roman empire, the local

226 THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

kings did not attempt to copy the imperial aurei, which,
however, they imported in large quantities, and used for
currency purposes, just as English sovereigns now are
in many parts of the world.

The Indian embassy, which offered its congratula-
tions to Trajan after his arrival in Rome in 99 A. D.,
was probably despatched by Kadphises II to announce
his conquest of Northwestern India.

The temporary annexation of Mesopotamia by Tra-
jan in 116 A. D. brought the Roman frontier within six
hundred miles of the western limits of the Yueh-chi
empire. Although the province beyond the Euphrates
was retroceded by Hadrian the year after its annexa-
tion, there can be no doubt that at this period the rulers
of Northern and Western India were well acquainted
with the fame and power of the great Western empire,
and were sensibly influenced by its example.

The victorious reign of Kadphises n was undoubt-
edly prolonged, and may be supposed to have covered
a space of thirty-five or forty years, from about 85 to
120 or 125 A. D., when he was succeeded by Kanishka,
who alone among the Kushan kings has left a name
cherished by tradition, and famous far beyond the
limits of India. His name, it is true, is unknown in
Europe, save to a few students of unfamiliar lore, but
it lives in the legends of Tibet, China, and Mongolia,
and is scarcely less significant to the Buddhists of those
lands than that of Asoka himself.

Notwithstanding the widespread fame of Kanishka,
his authentic history is scanty, and his chronological

KING KANISHKA 227

position strangely open to doubt. Unluckily, no pas-
sage in the works of the accurate Chinese historians
has yet been discovered which synchronizes hiiri with
any definite name or event in the well-ascertained his-
tory of the Middle Kingdom. The Chinese books which
mention him are all, so far as is yet known, merely
works of edification, and not well adapted to serve as
mines of historic fact. They are, in truth, translations
or echoes of Indian tradition, as are the books of Tibet
and Mongolia, and no student needs to be told how
baffling are its vagaries.

Kanishka and his proximate successors certainly
are mentioned in an exceptionally large number of in-
scriptions, of which more than a score are dated, and
it might be expected that this ample store of epigraphic
material would set at rest all doubts and establish
beyond dispute the essential outlines of the Kushan
chronology. But, unfortunately, the dates are recorded
in such a fashion as to be open to most various inter-
pretations, and eminent scholars are still to be found
who place the accession of Kanishka in 57 B. c., as well
as others who date that event in 278 A. D. Many lines
of evidence, which are of great collective force when
brought together, lead to the conclusion that Kanishka
was the contemporary of Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius,
and came to the throne about 120 or 125 A. D., directly
succeeding Kadphises n.

Kanishka unquestionably belonged to the Kushan
section of the Yueh-chi nation, as did the Kadphises
kings, and there does not seem to be sufficient reason

228 THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

for believing that he was not connected with them. The
coins both of Kadphises II and Kanishka frequently
display in the field the same four-pronged symbol, and
agree accurately in weight and fineness, besides exhib-
iting a very close relationship in the obverse devices.
The inevitable inference is that the two kings were very
near in time to one another in fact, that one immedi-
ately followed the other. Now Kadphises II (Yen-kao-
ching) was beyond doubt not only the successor, but
the son of Kadphises I (Kieu-tsieu-k'io), who died at
the age of eighty after a long reign. It is quite impos-
sible to bring Kanishka into close association with Kad-
phises H, except on the generally admitted assumption
that Kanishka was his immediate successor. Without
further pursuing in detail a tedious archaeological argu-
ment, it will suffice to say here that ample reason can
be shown for holding that the great majority of Indi-
anists are right in placing the Kanishka group directly
after that of the Kadphises kings.

Kanishka then may be assumed to have succeeded
Kadphises IT, to whom he was presumably related, in
or about 120 or 125 A. D. Tradition and the monuments
and inscriptions of his time prove that his sway, like
that of his predecessor, extended all over Northwestern
India, probably as far south as the Vindhyas. His coins
are found constantly associated with those of Kadphises
H from Kabul to Ghazipur on the Ganges, and their
vast number and variety indicate a reign of considerable
length. His dominions included Upper Sind, and his
high reputation as a conqueror suggests the probability

KANISHKA'S CAPITAL 229

that he extended his power to the mouths of the Indus
and swept away the petty Parthian princes who still
ruled that region at the close of the first century A. D.,
but are no more heard of afterward.

He probably completed the subjugation and annexa-
tion of the secluded vale of Kashmir, and certainly
showed a marked preference for that delightful coun-
try, in which he erected numerous monuments, and
founded a town, which, although now reduced to a petty
village, still bears his honoured name.

Tradition affirms that he carried his arms far into
the interior, and attacked the king residing at the an-
cient imperial city of Pataliputra. It is said that he
carried off from that city a Buddhist saint named
Asvaghosha. But little dependence can be placed upon
ecclesiastical traditions which connect the names of
famous saints with those of renowned kings, and all
such traditions need confirmation.

Kanishka's capital was Purushapura, the modern
Peshawar, the city which then guarded, as it now does,
the main road from the Afghan hills to the Indian
plains. There, in his latter days, when he had become
a fervent Buddhist, he erected a great relic tower, which
seems to have deserved to rank among the wonders of
the world. The superstructure of carved wood rose
in thirteen stories to a height of at least four hundred
feet, surmounted by a mighty iron pinnacle. When
Song-yun, a Chinese pilgrim, visited the spot at the
beginning of the sixth century, this structure had been
thrice destroyed by fire, and as often rebuilt by pious

230 THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

kings. A monastery of exceptional magnificence stood
by its side. Faint traces of the substructures of these
buildings may even now be discerned at the " King's
Mound " (Shahji-ki-Dheri) outside the Lahore gate of
Peshawar.

The monastery was still flourishing as a place of
Buddhist education as late as the ninth or tenth century,
when Prince Vira Deva of Magadha was sent there to

FORT JAMRUD, PESHAWAR.

benefit by the instruction of the resident teachers, who
were famous for their piety. The final demolition of
this celebrated establishment was undoubtedly due to
the Mohammedan invasions of Mahmud of Ghazni and
his successors. Moslem zeal against idolatry was always
excited to acts of destruction by the spectacle of the
innumerable images with which Buddhist holy places
were crowded.

The ambition of Kanishka was not confined by the

KAJSTISHKA'S CONQUESTS 231

limits of India. He engaged in successful war with
the Parthians, when attacked by the king of that na-
tion, who is described by the tradition as " very stupid
and with a violent temper." The prince referred to
may be either Chosroes (Khusru) or one of the rival
kings who disputed the possession of the Parthian
throne between 108 and 130 A. D.

The most striking military exploit of Kanishka was
his conquest of Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan, ex-
tensive provinces lying to the north of Tibet and the
east of the Pamirs, and at that time, as now, depend-
encies of China. Kadphises II, when he attempted the
same arduous adventure in 90 A. D., had failed igno-
miniously, and had been compelled to pay tribute to
China. Kanishka, secure in the peaceful possession of
India and Kashmir, was better prepared to surmount
the appalling difficulties of conveying an effective army
across the passes of the Taghdumbash Pamir, which
no modern ruler of India would dare to face, and he
had no longer General Pan-chao to oppose him. Where
his predecessor had failed, Kanishka succeeded, and he
not only freed himself from the obligation of paying
tribute to China, but compelled the defeated kings to
surrender hostages, including a son of the Han Emperor
of China, who built a Buddhist shrine at the place of
his detention in the province of Kapisa.

These hostages were treated, as beseemed their rank,
with the utmost consideration, and were assigned suit-
able residences at different Buddhist monasteries for
each of the three seasons, the hot, the cold, and the

232 THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

rainy. During the time of the summer heats, when the
burning plains are not pleasant to live in, they enjoyed
the cool breezes at a monastery in the hills of Kapisa
beyond Kabul, which was erected specially for their
accommodation. The Chinese prince deposited a store
of jewels as an endowment for this establishment before
his return home, and was gratefully remembered for
centuries. When Hiuen Tsang visited the place in the
seventh century, he found the walls adorned with paint-
ings of the prince and his companions attired in the
garb of China, while the resident monks still honoured
the memory of their benefactor with prayers and offer-
ings. The residence of the hostages during the cold
season was at an unidentified place in the Eastern
Panjab, to which the name of Chinapati was given in
consequence. The situation of their abode during the
rains is not mentioned. An incidental result of the stay
of the hostages in Kanishka's dominions was the intro-
duction of the pear and peach, both of which had been
previously unknown in India.

The biographer of Hiuen Tsang tells a curious story
about the treasure deposited by the Chinese prince as
an endowment for the Chinapati shrine, which was
known to be buried under the feet of the image of
Vaisravana, the Great Spirit King, at the south side
of the eastern gate of the hall of Buddha. An impious
raja who tried to appropriate the hoard was frightened
away by portents which seemed to indicate the dis-
pleasure of its guardian spirit, and when the monks
endeavoured to make use of it for the purpose of repair-

BUDDHISM IN CHINA 233

ing the shrine, in accordance with the donor's intention,
they too were terrified by similar manifestations.

While Hiuen Tsang was lodging at the shrine during
the rainy season, the monks besought him to use his
influence with the spirit to obtain permission to expend
the treasure on urgently needed repairs of the steeple.
The pilgrim complied, burned incense, and duly assured
the guardian spirit that no waste or misappropriation
would be permitted. The workmen who were set to
dig up the spot then suffered no molestation, and at
a depth of seven or eight feet found a great copper
vessel containing several hundredweights of gold and a
quantity of pearls. The balance of the treasure left
after the repairs to the steeple has doubtless been
appropriated long since by excavators less scrupulous
than the pious Master of the Law.

The monks of the Chinapati monastery were follow-
ers of the ancient form of Buddhism known as the
Hinayana, or Lesser Vehicle, and the narrative implies
that the Chinese prince belonged to the same sect. If
he was really a Buddhist, it is of interest to speculate
whether he brought his creed with him or learned it
in India. The stories dating from the seventh century
which narrate the arrival of Buddhist missionaries in
China in 217 B. c., although favourably regarded by
Professor Terrien de Lacouperie, are generally disbe-
lieved and are highly improbable.

The missionaries despatched by Asoka in the middle
of the third century B. c. were directed to the south and
west, not to the east, and there is little or no evidence

234 THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

of intercourse between India and China before the time
of the Yueh-chi invasion. The statement that the Em-
peror Ming-ti sent for Buddhist teachers in or about
64 A. D., although rejected by Wassiljew, has been ac-
cepted by most writers; but even those authors who
admit the fact that Buddhist missionaries reached China
at that date allow that their influence was very slight
and limited. The effective introduction of Buddhism
into China appears not to have taken place until the
reign of Hwan-ti, about the middle of the second cen-
tury, when " the people of China generally adopted this
new religion, and its followers became numerous."
This development of Chinese Buddhism was apparently
the direct result of Kanishka's conquest of Khotan,
and it is consequently improbable that the Han prince
brought his Buddhist creed with him. It may be as-
sumed that he adopted it during his stay in India and
that when he returned home he became an agent for
its diffusion in his native land. Wassiljew 's view that
the Buddhist religion did not become widely known
in China until the fourth century is not inconsistent
with the belief that the Indian system was effectively
introduced to a limited extent two centuries earlier.

The stories told about Kanishka's conversion and
his subsequent zeal for Buddhism have so much resem-
blance to the Asoka legends that it is difficult to decide
how far they are traditions of actual fact, and how far
merely echoes of an older tradition. The Yueh-chi
monarch did not record passages from his autobiogra-
phy as Asoka did, and when we are informed in the

KANISHKA ACCEPTS BUDDHISM

235

pages of a pious tract that his conversion was due to
remorse for the blood shed during his wars, it is impos-
sible to check the statement. Probably it is merely
an echo of the story of Asoka, as told by himself.

Just as the writers of edifying books sought to en-
hance the glory of Asoka 's conversion to the creed of
the mild Sakya sage by blood-curdling tales of his

NAGA PEOPLE WORSHIPPING THE TRISUL EMBLEM OF BUDDHA,
OH A FIERT PILLAR.

From a bas-relief at Amaravati.

fiendish cruelty during the days of his unbelief, so
Kanishka was alleged to have had no faith either in
right or wrong, and to have lightly esteemed the law
of Buddha during his earlier life. The most authentic

evidence on the subject of his changes of faith is af-
forded by the long and varied series of his coins, which,
like all ancient coinages, reflect the religious ideas of
the monarch in whose name they were struck. The
finest, and presumably the earliest, pieces bear legends,

236 THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

Greek both in script and language, with effigies of the
sun and moon personified under their Greek names,
Helios and Selene. On later issues the Greek script is
retained, but the language is a form of old Persian,
while the deities depicted are a strange medley of the
gods worshipped by Greeks, Persians, and Indians.
The rare coins exhibiting images of Buddha Sakya-
muni with his name in Greek letters are usually con-
sidered to be among the latest of the reign, but they
are well executed and may be earlier in date than is
generally supposed. It is impossible to fix the exact
date of Kanishka's conversion, but the event evidently
did not occur until he had been for some years on the
throne.

The appearance of the Buddha among a crowd of
heterogeneous deities would have appeared strange, in
fact would have been inconceivable to Asoka, while
it seemed quite natural to Kanishka. The newer Bud-
dhism of his day, designated as the Mahayana, or Great
Vehicle, was largely of foreign origin, and developed
as the result of the complex interaction of Indian,
Zoroastrian, Christian, Gnostic, and Hellenic elements,
which was made possible by the conquests of Alexander,
the formation of the Maurya empire in India, and,
above all, by the unification of the Roman world under
the sway of the earlier emperors. In this newer Bud-
dhism the sage Gautama became in practice, if not in
theory, a god, with his ears open to the prayers of the
faithful, and served by a hierarchy of Bodhisattvas and
other beings acting as mediators between him and sin-

KANISHKA'S BUDDHIST COUNCIL

237

ful men. Such a Buddha rightly took a place among
the gods of the nations comprised in Kanishka's wide-
spread empire, and the monarch, even after his " con-

BXTERNAL ELEVATION OF THE GKKAT BALL AT AMABAVATI.

version, " probably continued to honour both the old
and the new gods, as, in a later age, Harsha did alter-
nate reverence to Siva and Buddha.

The celebrated Gandhara sculptures, of which the
best examples date from the time of Kanishka and his

238 THE KUSHAN OB INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

proximate successors, give vivid expression in classical
forms of considerable artistic merit to this modified
Buddhism, a religion with a complicated mythology
and well-filled pantheon. The florid Corinthian capitals
and many other characteristic features of the style
prove that the Gandhara school was merely a branch
of the cosmopolitan Graeco-Roman art of the early
empire.

In Buddhist ecclesiastical history the reign of Ka-
nishka is specially celebrated for the convocation of
a council, organized on the model of that supposed to
have been summoned by Asoka. Kanishka's council,
which is ignored by the Ceylonese chroniclers, who
probably never heard of it, is known only from the
traditions of Northern India, as preserved by Tibetan,
Chinese, and Mongolian writers. The accounts of this
assembly, like those of the earlier councils, are dis-
crepant, and the place of meeting is named variously
as the Kundalavana Vihara, somewhere in Kashmir,
the Kuvana monastery at Jalandhar in the north of
the Pan jab, or Kandahar.

According to some authorities, the assembly, like
its predecessors, was concerned with the compilation
and expurgation of the scriptures purporting to be
the very words of Buddha, while, according to others,
its business was restricted to the preparation of elab-
orate commentaries on all the three pitakas, or main
divisions, of the pre-existing canon. Comparison of the
different authorities may be held to justify the conclu-
sion that the council was a reality; that it met first

DEATH OF KANISHKA 239

somewhere in Kashmir, and adjourned to Jalandhar
(or, possibly, met first in Jalandhar, and adjourned to
Kashmir), where it completed its sittings; and that it
set the stamp of its approval on certain commentaries
prepared in accordance with the teaching of the Sarvas-
tivadin school, and its derivative, the Vaibashika. If
it be true, as Hiuen Tsang was told, that the works
authorized by the council were engraved on copper
plates and deposited in a stupa, it is possible that they
may yet be revealed by some lucky chance. But the
vagueness of the statements concerning the locality
of the council precludes the possibility of deliberate
search for the alleged records of its decisions. The
assembly is said to have been convened by the king
on the advice of a saint named Parsvika, and to have
sat under the presidency of Vasumitra.

The legends published by M. Sylvain Levi include
a strange tale professing to relate the end of Kanishka,
which may possibly be founded on fact.

" The king," so runs the story, " had a minister
named Mathara, of unusual intelligence. He ad-
dressed Kanishka in these words: l Sire, if you wish
to follow the advice of your servant, your power will
assuredly bring the whole world into subjection. All
will submit to you, and the eight regions will take
refuge in your merit. Think over what your servant
has said, but do not divulge it.' The king replied:
* Very well, it shall be as you say.' Then the minister
called together the able generals and equipped a force
of the four arms. Wherever the king turned, all men

240 THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

bowed before him like herbage under hail. The peoples
of three regions came in to make their submission;
under the hoofs of the horse ridden by King Kanishka
everything either bent or broke. The king said: ' I
have subjugated three regions; all men have taken
refuge with me; the region of the north alone has not
come in to make its submission. If I subjugate it, I
shall never again take advantage of an opportunity
against any one, be he who he may; but I do not yet
know the best way to succeed in this undertaking. ' The
king's people, having heard these words, took counsel
together and said: ' The king is greedy, cruel, and
unreasonable; his campaigns and continued conquests
have wearied the mass of his servants. He knows not
how to be content, but wants to reign over the four
quarters. The garrisons are stationed on distant fron-
tiers, and our relatives are far from us. Such being
the situation, we must agree among ourselves, and get
rid of him. After that we may be happy.' As he was
ill, they covered him with a quilt, a man sat on top of
him, and the king died on the spot."

The reign of Kanishka appears to have lasted some
twenty-five or thirty years, and may be assumed to
have terminated about 150 A. D.

Very little is known about the successors of Ka-
nishka. He was immediately followed by Huvishka, or
Hushka, who was probably his son, and appears to have
retained undiminished the great empire to which he suc-
ceeded. His dominions certainly included Kabul, Kash-
mir, Gaya, and Mathura. At the last named city, a

REIGN OF HUVISHKA 241

splendid Buddhist monastery bore his name and no
doubt owed its existence to his munificence, for, like
Kanishka, he was a liberal patron of Buddhist ecclesias-
tical institutions. But he also resembled his more
famous predecessor in an eclectic taste for a strange
medley of Greek, Indian, and Persian deities. The
types on the coins of Huvishka include Heracles, Sa-
rapis, Skanda with his son Visakha, Pharro, the fire-
god, and many others, but the figure and name of Bud-
dha are wanting. It would seem that the Buddhist
convictions of these old Turkish kings were not very
deeply seated, and it is probably justifiable to hold that
the royal favour was granted to the powerful monastic
organization of the Buddhists as much as to their creed.
No prudent monarch in those days could afford to
neglect the wealthy and influential order, which had
spread its ramifications all over the empire.

The town of Hushkapura, founded by Huvishka in
Kashmir, occupied a position of exceptional importance
just inside the Baramula Pass, then known as the
" western gate " of the valley, and continued for cen-
turies to be a place of note. When Hiuen Tsang visited
Kashmir about 631 A. D., he enjoyed the liberal hospi-
tality of the Hushkapura monastery for several days,
and was escorted thence with all honour to the capital,
where he found numerous religious institutions, at-
tended by some five thousand monks. The town of
Hushkapura is now represented by the small village
of Ushkiir, at which the ruins of an ancient stupa are
visible.

242 THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

The reign of Huvishka was undoubtedly prolonged,
but all memory of its political events has perished. His
abundant and varied coinage is little inferior in inter-
est or artistic merit to that of Kanishka, with which it is
constantly associated, and, like the contemporary sculp-
ture, testifies to the continuance of Hellenistic influence.
A few specimens of the gold coinage present well exe-
cuted and characteristic portraits of the king, who was
a determined-looking man, with strongly marked fea-
tures, large, deep-set eyes, and an aquiline nose. So far
as appears, the Kushan power suffered no diminution
during his reign.

Huvishka was succeeded by Vasudeva, whose thor-
oughly Indian name is a proof of the rapidity with
which the foreign invaders had succumbed to the influ-
ence of their environment. Testimony to the same fact
is borne by his coins, almost all of which exhibit on
the reverse the figure of the Indian god Siva, attended
by his bull Nandi, and accompanied by the noose, tri-
dent, and other insignia of Hindu iconography. The
inscriptions of Vasudeva, found chiefly at Mathura, cer-
tainly range in date from the year 74 to the year 98
of the era used in the Kushan age, and indicate a reign
of not less than twenty-five years. If the Sanchi in-
scription bears the date 68, the reign would have lasted
about thirty-five years.

It is evident that the Kushan power must have been
decadent during the latter part of the long reign of
Vasudeva, and apparently before its close, or immedi-
ately* after that event, the vast empire of Kanishka

SASANIAN INFLUENCE ON INDIA 243

obeyed the usual law governing Oriental monarchies,
and broke up into fragments, after a brief period of
splendid unity. Coins bearing the name of Vasudeva
continued to be struck long after he had passed away,
and ultimately present the royal figure clad in the garb
of Persia, and manifestly imitated from the effigy of
Sapor (Shahpur) I, the Sasanian monarch who ruled
Persia from 238 to 269 A. D.

Absolutely nothing is known positively concerning
the means by which this renewed Persian influence
made itself felt in the interior of India. Bahrain (Va-
rahran) II is known to have conducted a campaign
in Sistan at some time between 277 and 294, but there
is no record of any Sasanian invasion of India in the
third century, during which period all the ordinary
sources of historical information dry up. No inscrip-
tions certainly referable to that time have been dis-
covered, and the coinage, issued by merely local rulers,
gives little help. Certain it is that two great paramount
dynasties, the Kushan in Northern India, and the
Andhra in the table-land of the Deccan, disappear to-
gether almost at the moment when the Arsakidan
dynasty of Persia was superseded by the Sasanian.
It is impossible to avoid hazarding the conjecture that
the three events were in some way connected, and that
the Persianizing of the Kushan coinage of Northern
India should be explained by the occurrence of an un-
recorded Persian invasion. But the conjecture is unsup-
ported by direct evidence, and the invasion, if it really
took place, would seem to have been the work of preda-

244 THE KUSHAN OR INDO- SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

tory tribes subject to Iranian influence, rather than a
regular attack by a Persian king.

So much, however, is clear that Vasudeva was the
last Kushan king who continued to hold extensive terri-
tories in India. After his death there is no indication
of the existence of a paramount power in Northern
India. Probably numerous rajas asserted their inde-
pendence and formed a number of short-lived states,
such as commonly arise from the ruins of a great Ori-
ental monarchy; but historical material for the third
century is so completely lacking that it is impossible
to say what or how many those states were.

The period was evidently one of extreme confusion,
associated with foreign invasions from the northwest,
which is reflected in the muddled statements of the
Vishnu Purana concerning the Abhiras, Gardabhilas,
Sakas, Yavanas, Bahlikas, and other outlandish dynas-
ties named as the successors of the Andhras. The
dynasties thus enumerated were clearly to a large
extent contemporary, not consecutive, and none of them
could claim paramount rank. It seems to be quite^hope-
less to attempt to reduce to order the Puranic accounts
of this anarchical period, and nothing would be gained
by quoting a long list of names, the very forms of which
are uncertain.

Coins indicate that the Kushans held their own in
the Panjab and Kabul for a long time. It is certain
that the Kushan Kings of Kabul continued to be a con-
siderable power until the fifth century, when they were
overthrown by the White Huns. At the beginning of

END OF THE KUSHAN RULE

245

the fourth century one of them gave a daughter in
marriage to Hormazd II, the Sasanian King of Persia,
and when Sapor n besieged A mi da, in 360 A. D., his
victory over the Roman
garrison was won with
the aid of Indian ele-
phants and Kushan
troops under the com-
mand of their aged king,
Grumbates, who occupied
the place of honour and
was supported by the
Sakas of Sistan.

It is difficult to judge
how far the foreign chiefs
who ruled the Pan jab
during the third century
and struck coins similar
to those of Vasudeva, yet
with a difference, were
Kushans, and how far
they belonged to other
Asiatic tribes. The mar-
ginal legends of the coins
of this class, which are
written in a modified
Greek script, preserve the
name either of Kanishka
or Vasu[deva] Kushan,
King of Kings, and so rec-

INI>IAH PALMS.

246 THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

ognize the Kushan supremacy; but the name in Indian
letters placed by the side of the spear is frequently
monosyllabic, like a Chinese name, Bha, Ga, Vi, and
so forth. These monosyllabic names seem to belong to
chiefs of various Central Asian tribes who invaded
India and acknowledged the supremacy of the Kushan
or Shahi Kings of Kabul. One coin with the modified
Kushan obverse, and the names Bashana, Nu, Pakal-
dhi (?) in Indian Brahmi characters in various parts
of the field, has on the reverse a fire altar of the type
found on the coins of the earliest Sasanian kings. It
is thus clear that in some way or other, during the
third century, the Pan jab renewed its ancient connec-
tion with Persia.

Nothing definite is recorded concerning the dynasties
of Northern India, excluding the Pan jab, during the
third century, and the early part of the fourth. The
imperial city of Pataliputra is known to have contin-
ued to be a place of importance as late as the fifth
century, but there is not even the slightest indication
of the nature of the dynasty which ruled there during
the third. The only intelligible dynastic list for the
period is that of the Saka satraps of Western India,
whose history will be more conveniently noticed in the
next chapter in connection with that of the Gupta em-
perors.

CHAPTER XI

THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WESTERN SATRAPS:
CHANDRAGUPTA I TO KUMARAGUPTA I

FROM 320 TO 455 A. D.

HE period between the extinction of the Kushan
-*- and Andhra dynasties, about 220 or 230 A. D., and
the rise of the imperial G-upta dynasty, nearly a century
later, is one of the darkest in the whole range of Indian
history. In the fourth century light again dawns, the
veil of oblivion is lifted, and the history of India regains
unity and interest.

A local raja at or near Pataliputra, bearing the
famous name of Chandragupta, wedded, in or about
the year 308, a princess named Kumara Devi, who
belonged to the ancient Lichchhavi clan, celebrated ages
before in the early annals of Buddhism. During the
long period of about eight centuries which intervened
between the reign of Ajatasatru and the marriage of
Kumara Devi the history of the Lichchhavis has been
lost. They now come suddenly into notice again in con-
nection with this marriage, which proved to be an event
of the highest political importance, being the founda-

247

248 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

tion of the fortunes of a dynasty destined to rival the
glories of the Mauryas.

Kumara Devi evidently brought to her husband as
her dowry valuable influence, which in the course of a
few years secured to him a paramount position in
Magadha and the neighbouring countries. It seems
probable that at the time of this fateful union the
Lichchhavis were masters of the ancient imperial city,
and that Chandragupta by means of his matrimonial
alliance succeeded to the power previously held by his
wife's relatives. In the olden days the Lichchhavis
had been the rivals of the Kings of Pataliputra, and
apparently, during the disturbed times which followed
the reign of Pushyamitra, they paid off old scores by
taking possession of the city, which had been built and
fortified many centuries earlier for the express purpose
of curbing their restless spirit.

Certain it is that Chandragupta was raised by his
Lichchhavi connection from the rank of a local chief,
as enjoyed by his father and grandfather, to such dig-
nity that he felt justified in assuming the lofty title
of " sovereign of Maharajas, " usually associated with
a claim to the rank of lord paramount. He struck coins
in the joint names of himself, his queen, and the Lich-
chhavis, and his son and successor habitually described
himself with pride as the son of the daughter of the
Lichchhavis.

Chandragupta, designated as the First, to distin-
guish him from his grandson of the same name, ex-
tended his dominion along the Ganges valley as far

CHANDKAGUPTA I AND SAMUDKAGUPTA 249

as the junction of the Ganges and the Jumna, where
Allahabad now stands, and ruled during his brief tenure
of the throne a populous and fertile territory, which
included Tirhut, Bihar, Oudh, and certain adjoining
districts. His political importance was sufficient to
warrant him in establishing, after the Oriental manner,
a new era dating from his formal consecration, or coro-
nation, when he was proclaimed as heir to the imperial
power associated by venerable tradition with the pos-
session of Pataliputra. The first year of the Gupta era,
which continued in use for several centuries, ran from
February 26, 320 A. D. to March 13, 321, of which dates
the former may be taken as that of the coronation of
Chandragupta I.

Before his death, which occurred five or six years
later, Chandragupta selected as his successor the crown
prince, Samudragupta, his son by the Lichchhavi prin-
cess. The paternal preference was abundantly justified
by the young king, who displayed a degree of skill in
the arts of both peace and war which entitles him to
high rank among the most illustrious sovereigns of
India.

From the moment of his accession, Samudragupta
assumed the part of an aggressively ambitious monarch
and resolved to increase his dominions at the expense
of his neighbours. Wars of aggression have never been
condemned by such public opinion as exists in the East,
and no king who cared for his reputation could venture
to rest contented within his own borders. Samudra-
gupta had no hesitation in acting on the principle that

250 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

" kingdom-taking " is the business of kings, and imme-
diately after his succession to the throne plunged into
war, which occupied many years of his unusually pro-
tracted reign.

When his fighting days were over, he employed a
learned poet, skilled in the technicalities of Sanskrit
verse, to compose a panegyric of his achievements,
which he caused to be engraved on one of the stone
pillars set up six centuries before by Asoka and incised
with his edicts. Samudragupta, an orthodox Hindu,
learned in all the wisdom of the Brahmans, and an
ambitious soldier full of the joy of battle, who cared
nothing for preachings of the monk Asoka recorded
in an antique script and an unfamiliar dialect, made no
scruple about setting his own ruthless boasts of san-
guinary wars by the side of the quietest moralizings
of him who deemed " the chief est conquest " to be the
conquest of piety.

Samudragupta 's anxiety to provide for the remem-
brance o^his deeds was not in vain. The record com-
posed by his poet-laureate survives to this day prac-
tically complete, and furnishes a detailed contemporary
account of the events of the reign, probably superior
to anything else of the kind in the multitude of Indian
inscriptions. Unfortunately the document is not dated,
but it may be assigned with a very near approach to
accuracy to the year 360 A. D., or a little earlier or later,
and it is thus, apart from its value as history, of great
interest as an important Sanskrit composition, partly in
verse and partly in prose, of ascertained age and origin.

CAMPAIGNS OF SAMUDRAGUPTA 251

The value as dated literature of the great historical
inscriptions, although emphasized by Buhler, is still,
perhaps, not fully recognized by scholars who occupy
themselves primarily with the literature preserved in
libraries. But our concern at present in the elaborate
composition of Harishena is with its contents as a
historical document, rather than with its place in the
evolution of Sanskrit.

The author of the panegyric classifies his lord's
opponents geographically under four heads: eleven
kings of the south; nine named Kings of Aryavarta,
or the Ganges plain, besides many others not specified;
the chiefs of the wild forest tribes; and the rulers of
the frontier kingdoms and republics. He also explains
Samudragupta's relations with certain foreign powers,
too remote to come within the power of his arm. Al-
though it is at present impossible to identify every one
of the countries, kings, and peoples enumerated by the
poet, enough is known to enable the historian to form
a clear idea of the extent of the dominions and the
range of the alliances of the most brilliant of the Gupta
emperors. Since the matter of the record is arranged
on literary rather than on historical principles, it is not
possible to narrate the events of the reign in strict
chronological order.

We may feel assured that this Indian Napoleon
first turned his arms against the powers nearest him,
and that he thoroughly subjugated the rajas of the
Ganges plain, the wide region now known as Hin-
dustan, before he embarked on his perilous adventures

252 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

in the remote south. His treatment of the rajas of the
north was drastic, for we are told that they were
" forcibly rooted up," a process which necessarily in-
volved the incorporation of their territories in the
dominions of the victor. Among the nine names men-
tioned, only one can be recognized with certainty, that
of Ganapati Naga, whose capital was at Padmavati,
or Narwar, a famous city, which still exists in the terri-
tories of the Maharaja Sindia.

The greater part of these northern conquests must
have been completed, and the subjugated territories
absorbed, before Samudragupta ventured to undertake
the invasion of the kingdoms of the south a task which
demanded uncommon boldness in design and masterly
powers of organization and execution.

The invader, marching due south from the capital,
through Chutia Nagpur, directed his first attack against
the kingdom of South Kosala in the valley of the
Mahanadi, and overthrew its king, Mahendra. Passing
on, he subdued all the chiefs of the forest countries,
which still retain their ancient wildness, and constitute
the tributary states of Orissa and the more backward
parts of the Central Provinces. The principal of those
chiefs, who bore the appropriate name of Vyaghra Raja,
or the Tiger King, is not otherwise known to history.
At this stage of the campaign, the main difficulties must
have been those of transport and supply, for the ill-
armed forest tribes could not have offered serious mili-
tary resistance to a well equipped army.

Still advancing southwards, by the east coast road,

INVASION OF THE SOUTH 253

Samudragupta vanquished the chieftain who held Pish-
tapura, now Pithapuram in the Godavari District, as
well as the hill-forts of Mahendragiri and Kottura in
Ganjam; King Mantaraja, whose territory lay on the
banks of the Kolleru (Colair) Lake; the neighbouring
Pallava King of Vengi between the Krishna and Goda-
vari Rivers; and Vishnugopa, the Pallava King of
Kanchi, or Conjevaram, to the southwest of Madras.
Then turning westwards, he subjugated a third Pallava
chieftain, named Ugrasena, King of Palakka, the mod-
ern Palghatcherry, situated in Malabar at the great gap
in the Western Ghats.

This place, distant some twelve hundred miles in
a direct line from Pataliputra, seems to have marked
the southern limit of Samudragupta 's audacious raid.
He returned homewards through the western parts of
the Deccan, subduing on his way the kingdom of Deva-
rashtra, or the modern Mahratta country, and Eranda-
palla, or Khandesh.

This wonderful campaign, which involved more than
three thousand miles of marching through difficult coun-
try, must have occupied about three years at least, and
its conclusion may be dated approximately in 340 A. D.

No attempt was made to effect the permanent annex-
ation of these southern states, and the triumphant victor
admitted that he exacted only temporary submission
and then withdrew. But beyond doubt he despoiled the
rich treasuries of the south, and came back laden with
golden booty, like the Mohammedan adventurer who
performed the same military exploit nearly a thousand

264 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

years later. Malik Kafur, the general of Ala-ud-din,
Sultan of Delhi, in the years 1309 and 1310 repeated
the performance of Samudragupta, operating, however,
chiefly on the eastern side of the peninsula, and
penetrating even farther south than his Hindu prede-
cessor. He forced his way to Ramesvara, or Adam's
Bridge, opposite Ceylon, where he built a mosque, which
was still standing when Firishta wrote his history in
the sixteenth century.

The enumeration by the courtly panegyrist of the
frontier kingdoms and republics whose rulers did hom-
age and paid tribute to the emperor, a title fairly earned
by Samudragupta, enables the historians to define the
boundaries of his dominions with sufficient accuracy,
and to realize the nature of the political divisions of
India in the fourth century.

On the eastern side of the continent the tributary
kingdoms were Samatata, or the delta of the Ganges
and Brahmaputra, including the site on which Calcutta
now stands; Kamarupa, or Assam; and Davaka, which
seems to have corresponded with the Bogra (Bagraha),
Dinajpur, and Rajshahi Districts to the north of the
Ganges, lying between Samatata and Kamarupa. Far-
ther west, the mountain kingdom of Nepal, then, as
now, retained its autonomy under the suzerainty of the
paramount power, and the direct jurisdiction of the
imperial government extended only to the foot of
the mountains. The kingdom of Kartripura occupied
the lower ranges of the Western Himalayas, including
probably Kumaon, Almora, Garhwal, and Kangra.

EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE

255

The Pan jab, Eastern Rajputana, and Malwa for the
most part were in possession of tribes or clans living
under republican institutions. The Yaudheya tribe
occupied both banks of the Sutlaj, while the Madrakas
held the central parts of the Pan jab. The reader may
remember that in Alexander's time these regions were
similarly occupied by autonomous tribes, then called
the Malloi, Kathaioi, and so forth. The Jumna prob-
ably formed the
northwestern fron-
tier of the Gupta
empire. The Arju-
nayanas, Malavas,
and Abhiras were
settled in Eastern
Rajputana and
Malwa, and in this
direction the river
Chambal may be re-
garded as the impe-
rial boundary. The

line next turned in an easterly direction along the terri-
tories of minor nations whose position cannot be exactly
determined, passing probably through Bhopal, until it
struck the Narmada River, which formed the southern
frontier.

The dominion under the direct government of Samu-
dragupta in the middle of the fourth century thus com-
prised all the most populous and fertile countries of
Northern India. It extended from the Hooghly on the

VIEW OF BOTANICAL GARDENS, CALCUTTA.

256 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

east to the Jumna and Chambal on the west, and from
the foot of the Himalayas on the north to the Narmada
on the south.

Beyond these wide limits, the frontier kingdoms of
Assam and the Ganges delta, as well as those on the
southern slopes of the Himalayas, and the free tribes
of Rajputana and Malwa, were attached to the empire
by bonds of subordinate alliance, while almost all the
kingdoms of the south had been overrun by the em-
peror's armies and compelled to acknowledge his irre-
sistible might.

The empire thus defined was by far the greatest
that had been seen in India since the days of Asoka,
six centuries before, and its possession naturally enti-
tled Samudragupta to the respect of foreign powers.
We are not, therefore, surprised to learn that he main-
tained diplomatic relations with the Kushan King of
Gandhar and Kabul, and the greater sovereign of the
same race who ruled on the banks of the Oxus, as well
as with Ceylon and other distant islands.

Communication between the King of Ceylon and
Samudragupta had been established accidentally at a
very early period in the reign of the latter, about
330 A. D. Meghavarna, the Buddhist King of Ceylon,
had sent two monks, one of whom is said to have been
his brother, to do homage to the Diamond Throne and
visit the monastery built by Asoka to the east of the
sacred tree at Bodh Gaya. The strangers, perhaps by
reason of sectarian rancour, met with scant hospitality,
and on their return to the island complained to the

BUDDHIST ENVOYS FROM CEYLON

257

king that they could not find any place in India where
they could stay in comfort. King Meghavarna recog-
nized the justice of the complaint, and resolved to
remedy the grievance by founding a monastery at which

TEMPLE AT BODH OAYA WITH BO-TREE.

his subjects, when on pilgrimage to the holy places,
should find adequate and suitable accommodation. He
accordingly despatched a mission to Samudragupta
laden with the gems for which Ceylon has always been
renowned, and other valuable gifts, and requested per-

258 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

mission to found a monastery on Indian soil. Samu-
dragupta, flattered at receiving such attentions from a
distant power, was pleased to consider the gifts as
tribute, and gave the required permission.

The envoy returned home, and, after due delibera-
tion, King Meghavarna decided to build his monaster}^
near the holy tree. His purpose was solemnly recorded
on a copper plate and carried out by the erection of
a splendid convent to the north of the tree. This build-
ing, which was three stories in height, included six halls,
was adorned with three towers, and surrounded by a
strong wall thirty or forty feet high. The decorations
were executed in the richest colours with the highest
artistic skill, and the statue of Buddha, cast in gold
and silver, was studded with gems. The subsidiary
stupas, enshrining relics of Buddha himself, were
worthy of the principal edifice. In the seventh century,
when Hiuen Tsang visited it, this magnificent estab-
lishment was occupied by a thousand monks of the
Sthavira school of the Mahayana, and afforded ample
hospitality to pilgrims from Ceylon. The site is now
marked by an extensive mound.

It was presumably after his return from the south
that Samudragupta determined to celebrate his mani-
fold victories and proclaim the universality of his
dominion by reviving the ancient rite of the horse-
sacrifice (asvamedha), which had remained long in
abeyance and probably had not been performed in
Northern India since the days of Pushyamitra. The
ceremony was duly carried out with appropriate splen-

VERSATILITY OF SAMUDRAGUPTA 259

dour and accompanied with lavish gifts to Brahmans,
comprising, it is said, millions of coins and gold pieces.
Specimens of the gold medals struck for this purpose,
bearing a suitable legend and the effigy of the doomed
horse standing before the altar, have been found in
small numbers. Another memorial of the event seems
to exist in the rudely carved stone figure of a horse
which was found in Northern Oudh and now stands at
the entrance to the Lucknow Museum with a brief
dedicatory inscription incised upon it, which appar-
ently refers to Samudragupta.

Although the courtly phrases of the official eulogist
cannot be accepted without a certain amount of reserva-
tion, it is clear that Samudragupta was a ruler of
exceptional capacity and unusually varied gifts. The
laureate's commemoration of his hero's proficiency in
song and music is curiously confirmed by the existence
of a few rare gold coins which depict his Majesty
comfortably seated on a high-backed couch, engaged in
playing the Indian lyre. The allied art of poetry was
also reckoned among the accomplishments of this versa-
tile monarch, who is said to have been reputed a king
of poets and to have composed numerous metrical
works worthy of the reputation of a professional author.
We are further informed that the king took much
delight in the society of the learned, and loved to em-
ploy his acute and polished intellect in the study and
defence of the sacred scriptures, as well as in the lighter
arts of music and poetry. The picture of Samudra-
gupta as painted by his official panegyrist reminds the

260 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

reader of that of Akbar as depicted by his no less par-
tial biographer, Abul Fazl.

By a strange irony of fate this great king warrior,
poet, and musician who conquered all India, and
whose alliance extended from the Oxus to Ceylon, is
unknown even by name to the earlier historians of
India. His lost fame has been slowly recovered by the
minute and laborious study of inscriptions and coins
during the last seventy years, and the fact that it is
now possible to write a long narrative of the events of
his memorable reign is perhaps the most conspicuous
illustration of the success gained by patient archaeo-
logical research in piecing together the fragments, from
which alone the chart of the authentic early history of
India can be constructed.

The exact year of Samudragupta's death is not
known, but he certainly lived to an advanced age, and
enjoyed a reign of uninterrupted prosperity for about
half a century. Before he passed away, he secured the
peaceful transmission of the crown by nominating as
his successor, from among many sons, the offspring of
his queen, Datta Devi, whom he rightly deemed worthy
to inherit a magnificent empire.

The son thus selected, who had probably been asso-
ciated as crown prince (yuvaraja) with his father in the
cares of government, assumed the name of his grand-
father, in accordance with Hindu custom, and is there-
fore distinguished in the dynastic list as Chandra-
gupta n. He also took the title of Vikramaditya (" sun
of power "), and has a better claim than any other

The Iron Pillar of Delhi

The Iron Pillar is a solid mass of malleable iron weighing over six tons.
It was not cast, but was constructed by a welding process and was orig-
inally surmounted by a statue, which was probably removed by the
Mohammedans. The pillar was set up by Chandragupta II, at the close
of his reign, and was dedicated in honour of Vishnu, his favourite divin-
ity^ but was not inscribed by the king. An inscription was added by
Kumaragupta I, his son and successor, about 415 A. D. The column
appears to hai>e stood originally on a mound known as Vishnupada in
the town of Mathura, but was removed to Delhi about 1050 A. D. by a
prince named Ananga Pala, who founded or refounded the city where
it now stands.

261

sovereign to be regarded as the original of the mythical
king of that name who figures so largely in Indian
legends. The precise date of his accession is not re-
corded, but it cannot be far removed from 375 A. D.,
and, pending the discovery of some coin or inscription
to settle the matter, that date may be assumed as
approximately correct.

So far as appears, the succession to the throne was
accomplished peacefully without contest, and the new
emperor, who must have been a man of mature age
at the time of his accession, found himself in a position
to undertake the extension of the wide dominion be-
queathed to him by his ever victorious father. He did
not renew Samudragupta's southern adventures, but
preferred to seek room for expansion toward the east,
northwest, and southwest. Our knowledge of his cam-
paign in Bengal is confined to the assertion made in
the elegant poetical inscription on the celebrated Iron
Pillar of Delhi that, " when warring in the Vanga coun-
tries, he breasted and destroyed the enemies confederate
against him; " and the language of the poet may refer
to the suppression of a rebellion rather than to a war
of aggression. The same document is the only authority
for the fact that he crossed the " seven mouths of the
Indus " and vanquished in battle a nation called Vah-
lika, which has not been identified.

But the great military achievement of Chandra-
gupta Vikramaditya was his advance to the Arabian
Sea through Malwa and Gujarat, and his subjugation
of the peninsula of Surashtra, or Kathiawar, which had

262

THE GUPTA EMPIKE

been ruled for centuries by the Saka dynasty, known
to European scholars as the western satraps. The
campaigns which added these remote provinces to the
empire must have occupied several years, and are
known to have taken place between 388 and 401 A. D.

A HILL -TOP PAGODA.

The year 395 may be assumed as a mean date for the
completion of the conquest, which involved the incor-
poration in the empire of the territory held by the
Malavas and other tribes, who had remained outside the
limits of Samudragupta's dominion. The annexation
of Surashtra and Malwa not only added to the empire
provinces of exceptional wealth and fertility, but

THE WESTEKtf SATRAPS 263

opened up to the paramount power free access to the
ports of the western coast, and thus placed Chandra-
gupta II in direct touch with the sea-borne commerce
with Europe through Egypt, and brought his court and
subjects under the influence of the European ideas
which travelled with the goods of the Alexandrian
merchants.

The Saka dynasty, which was overthrown in
395 A. D., had been founded in the first century of the
Christian era, probably by a chief named Bhumaka
Kshaharata. He was followed by Nahapana, a member
of the same clan. When the latter was destroyed by
the Andhra king, as related in Chapter VLLL, the local
government passed into the hands of Chashtana and
his descendants. In the middle of the second century
the satrap Rudradaman, having decisively defeated
his Andhra rival, had firmly established his own power
not only over the peninsula of Surashtra, but also over
Malwa, Cutch (Kachchh), Sind, the Konkan, and other
districts in short, over Western India. The capital
of Chashtana and his successors was Ujjain, one of the
most ancient cities of India, the principal depot for the
commerce between the ports of the west and the in-
terior, famous as a seat of learning and civilization, and
also notable as the Indian Greenwich from which longi-
tudes were reckoned. The place, which is still a consid-
erable town with many relics of its past greatness,
retains its ancient name, and was for a time the capital
of Maharaja Sindia.

Samudragupta, although not able to undertake the

264 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

conquest of the west, had received an embassy from
the satrap Rudrasena, son of Rudradaman, who was
doubtless deeply impressed by the emperor's trium-
phant march through India. Chandragupta II, strong
in the possession of the territory and treasure acquired
by his father, resolved to crush his western rival and
to annex the valuable provinces which owned the
satrap's sway. The motives of an ambitious king in
undertaking an aggressive war against a rich neigh-
bour are not far to seek, but we may feel assured that
differences of race, creed, and manners supplied the
Gupta monarch with special reasons for desiring to
suppress the impure foreign rulers of the west.

Chandragupta Vikramaditya, although tolerant of
Buddhism and Jainism, was himself an orthodox Hindu,
specially devoted to the cult of Vishnu, and as such
cannot but have experienced peculiar satisfaction in
" violently uprooting r foreign chieftains who cared
little for caste rules. Whatever his motives may have
been, he attacked, dethroned, and slew the satrap Ru-
drasinha, son of Satyasinha, and annexed his dominions.
Scandalous tradition affirmed that " in his enemy's
city the king of the Sakas, while courting another man's
wife, was butchered by Chandragupta, concealed in his
mistress's dress," but the tale does not sound like
genuine history. The last notice of the satraps refers
to the year 388 A. D., and the incorporation of their
dominions in the Gupta empire must have been effected
soon after that date.

The Gupta kings, excepting the founder of the

THE GUPTA CAPITAL 265

dynasty, all enjoyed long reigns, like the Moguls in
later times. Chandragupta Vikramaditya occupied the
throne for nearly forty years, and survived until
413 A. D. Little is known concerning his personal char-
acter, but the ascertained facts of his career suffice
to prove that he was a strong and vigorous ruler, well
qualified to govern and augment an extensive empire.
He loved sounding titles which proclaimed his martial
prowess, and was fond of depicting himself, after the
old Persian fashion, as engaged in successful personal
combat with a lion, and he had literary and artistic
talents like his father.

There are indications that Pataliputra, although it
may have been still regarded as the official capital,
ceased to be the ordinary residence of the Gupta sov-
ereigns after the completion of the extensive conquests
effected "by Samudragupta. The Maurya emperors, it
is true, had managed to control a dominion considerably
larger than that of the Guptas from the ancient impe-
rial city, but, even in their time, its remoteness in the
extreme east must have caused inconvenience, and a
more central position for the court had obvious advan-
tages. Ajodhya, the legendary abode of the hero Rama,
the ruins of which have supplied materials for the
building of the modern city of Fyzabad in Southern
Oudh, enjoyed a more favourable situation, and appears
to have been at times the headquarters of the govern-
ment of both Samudragupta and his son, the latter of
whom probably had a mint for copper coins there.

The Asoka pillar on which Samudragupta recorded

266 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

the history of his reign is supposed to have been
erected originally at the celebrated city of Kausambi,
which stood on the highroad between Ujjain and North-
ern India and was no doubt at tunes honoured by the
residence of the monarch. The real capital of an Ori-
ental despotism is the seat of the despot 's court for the
time being.

Pataliputra, however, although necessarily consid-
erably neglected by warrior kings like Samudragupta
and Vikramaditya, continued to be a magnificent and
populous city throughout the reign of the latter, and
was not finally ruined until the time of the Hun inva-
sion in the sixth century, from which date it practically
disappeared until it was rebuilt a thousand years later
by Sher Shah. Since his time the venerable city, under
the names of Patna and Bankipur, has regained much
of its ancient importance and has played a part in
many notable events.

We are fortunate enough to possess in the work
of Fa-hien, the earliest Chinese pilgrim, a contemporary
account of the administration of Chandragupta Vikra-
maditya, as it appeared to an intelligent foreigner at
the beginning of the fifth century. The worthy pilgrim,
it is true, was so absorbed in his search for Buddhist
books, legends, and miracles that he had little care for
the things of this world, and did not trouble even to
mention the name of the mighty monarch in whose
territories he spent six studious years. But now and
then he allowed his pen to note some of the facts of
ordinary life, and in more than one passage he has

VISIT FEOM A CHINESE BUDDHIST 267

recorded particulars which, although insufficient to
gratify the curiosity of the twentieth century, yet suf-
fice to give a tolerably vivid picture of the state of the
country. The picture is a very pleasing one on the
whole, and proves that Vikramaditya was capable of
bestowing on his people the benefits of orderly govern-
ment in sufficient measure to allow them to grow rich
in peace and prosper abundantly.

On the occasion of his first visit to Pataliputra the
traveller was deeply impressed by the sight of Asoka's
palace, which was at that time still in existence, and
so cunningly constructed of stone that the work clearly
appeared to be beyond the skill of mortal hands, and
was believed to have been executed by spirits in the
service of the emperor. Near a great stupa, also
ascribed to Asoka, stood two monasteries, one occupied
by followers of the Mahayana, and the other by those
of the Hinayana sect. The monks resident in both
establishments together numbered six or seven hun-
dred, and were so famous for learning that their lec-
tures were frequented by students and inquirers from
all quarters.

Fa-hien spent three years here studying Sanskrit,
and was made happy by obtaining certain works on
monastic discipline as taught by various schools, for
which he had sought elsewhere in vain. He describes
with great admiration the splendid procession of images,
carried on some twenty huge cars richly decorated,
which annually paraded through the city on the eighth
day of the second month, attended by singers and

268 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

musicians, and notes that similar processions were
common in other parts of the country.

The towns of Magadha were the largest in the Gan-
ges plain, which Fa-hien calls by the name of Central
India or the Middle Kingdom; the people were rich
and prosperous, and seemed to him to emulate each
other in the practice of virtue. Charitable institutions
were numerous, rest-houses for travellers were pro-
vided on the highways, and the capital possessed an
excellent free hospital endowed by benevolent and edu-
cated citizens.

" Hither come," we are told, " all poor or helpless
patients suffering from all kinds of infirmities. They
are well taken care of, and a doctor attends them, food
and medicine being supplied according to their wants.
Thus they are made quite comfortable, and, when they
are well, they may go away."

No such foundation was to be seen elsewhere in the
world at that date, and its existence, anticipating the
deeds of modern Christian charity, speaks well both for
the character of the citizens who endowed it, and for
the genius of the great Asoka, whose teaching still
bore such wholesome fruit many centuries after his
decease. The earliest hospital in Europe is said to have
been opened in the tenth century.

In the course of a journey of some five hundred miles
from the Indus to Mathura on the Jumna, Fa-hien
passed a succession of Buddhist monasteries tenanted
by thousands of monks, and in the neighbourhood of
Mathura found twenty of these buildings occupied by

CHANDRAGUPTA VIKRAMADITYA'S GOVERNMENT 269

three thousand residents. Buddhism was growing in
favour in this, part of the country.

The region to the south of Mathura, that is to say,
Malwa, specially excited the admiration of the trav-
eller, who was delighted alike with the natural advan-
tages of the country, the disposition of the people, and
the moderation of the govern-
ment. The climate seemed to
him very agreeable, being
temperate and free from the
discomforts of frost and
snow with which he was fa-
miliar at home and in the
course of his journey. The
large population lived hap-
pily under a sensible govern-
ment which did not worry.
With a glance at Chinese in-
stitutions, Fa-hien congratu-
lates the Indians that " they
have not to register their
households, or attend to any
magistrates and rules.'' (After Cunningham.)

They were not troubled with passport regulations, or,
as the pilgrim bluntly puts it: " Those who want to go
away, may go; those who want to stop, may stop."

The administration of the criminal law seemed to
him mild in comparison with the Chinese system. Most
crimes were punished only by fines, varying in amount
according to the gravity of the offence, and capital

BUDDHIST 8CCLPTTRE ON THE BHARA-
HAT 8TDPA, SHOWING THE ERECTION
OF THE JETAVANA MONASTERY.

270 THE GUPTA EMPIKE

punishment would seem to have been unknown. Per-
sons guilty of repeated rebellion, an expression which
probably includes brigandage, suffered amputation of
the right hand; but such a penalty was exceptional,
and judicial torture was not practised. The revenue was
mainly derived from the rents of the Crown lands, and
the royal officers, being provided with fixed salaries,
had no occasion to live on the people.

The Buddhist rule of life was generally observed.
" Throughout the country," we are told, " no one kills
any living thing, or drinks wine, or eats onions or
garlic. . . . They do not keep pigs or fowls, there are
no dealings in cattle, no butchers' shops or distilleries
in their market-places." The Chandala, or outcast
tribes, who dwelt apart like lepers, and were required
when entering a city or bazaar to strike a piece of wood
as a warning of their approach, in order that other
folk might not be polluted by contact with them, were
the only offenders against the laws of piety (dharma),
and the only hunters, fishermen, and butchers. Cowrie
shells formed the ordinary currency. The Buddhist
monasteries were liberally endowed by royal grants,
and the monks received alms without stint, houses,
beds, mattresses, food, and clothes were never lacking
to them wherever they might go.

These particulars, as collected and narrated by the
earliest Chinese traveller in India, permit of no doubt
that the dominions of Chandragupta Vikramaditya were
well governed. The authorities interfered as little as
possible with the subject, and left him free to prosper

BRAHMANISM AND BUDDHISM

271

and grow rich in his own way. The devout pilgrim
pursued his Sanskrit studies for three years at Patali-
putra, and for two years at the port of Tamralipti
(Tamluk), without let or hindrance, and it is clear that
the roads were safe for travellers. Fa-hien never has
occasion to complain of being stripped by brigands, a
misfortune which befell
his successor, Hiuen
Tsang, more than once
in the seventh century.
Probably India has
never been governed
better, after the Orien-
tal manner, than it was
during the reign of
Vikramaditya. The
government did not at-
tempt to do too much,
but let the people alone,
and was accordingly
popular. The merciful
teachings of Buddhism
influenced the lives of all classes, except the most
degraded, while, inasmuch as the sovereign was a
Brahmanical Hindu, the tendency to the harassing kind
of persecution, which a Buddhist or Jain government
is apt to display, was kept in check, and liberty of
conscience was assured. Fa-hien, as a pious devotee,
necessarily saw everything through Buddhist specta-
cles, but it is evident that, with a Brahmanical supreme

THE GOD BRAHMA.

From Moor 'i Hindu Pantheon.

272 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

government, Hinduism of the orthodox kind must have
been far more prominent than his account would lead
the reader to suppose, and sacrifices must have been
permitted. In fact, the Brahmanical reaction against
Buddhism had begun at a time considerably earlier than
that of Fa-hien's travels, and Indian Buddhism was
already upon the downward path, although the pilgrim
could not discern the signs of decadence.

While the general prosperity and tranquillity of the
empire under the rule of Chandragupta Vikramaditya
are abundantly proved by the express testimony of
Fa-hien and by his unobstructed movements in all
directions during many years, certain districts did not
share in the general well-being, and had retrograded
in population and wealth. The city of Graya, we are
informed, was empty and desolate; the holy places of
Bodh Gaya, six miles to the south, were surrounded by
jungle; and an extensive tract of country near the foot
of the mountains, which had been the seat of a large
population in the fifth century B. c., was now sparsely
inhabited. The great city of Sravasti, on the upper
course of the Rapti, was occupied by only two hundred
families, and the holy towns of Karrilavastu and Kusina-
gara were waste and deserted, save for a scanty rem-
nant of monks and their lay attendants.

The son of Yikramaditya, who ascended the throne
in 413 A. D., is known to history as Kumaragupta I, in
order to distinguish him from his great-grandson of the
same name. The events of this king's reign, which
exceeded forty years, are not known in detail, but the

KUMARAGUPTA I

273

distribution of the numerous contemporary inscriptions
and coins permits of no doubt that, during the greater
part of his unusually prolonged rule, the empire suffered
no diminution. On the contrary, it probably gained
certain additions, for Kumara, like his grandfather,
celebrated the horse-sacrifice as an assertion of his
paramount sovereignty, and it is not likely that he

SCENE NEAR BODH GATA.

From a photograph.

would have indulged in this vaunt, unless to some ex-
tent justified by successful warfare.

The extant records furnish the information that
at the close of his reign, in the middle of the fifth cen-
tury, Kumara 's dominions suffered severely from the
irruption of the Hun hordes, who had burst through
the northwestern passes, and spread in a destructive
flood all over Northern India. Before entering upon

274 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

the discussion of the Hun invasion and the consequent
break-up of the Gupta empire, it is desirable to pause,
in order to record a few brief observations on the sig-
nificance of the rule of the great Gupta sovereigns in
the evolution of Indian language, literature, art, and
religion.

BUDDHIST SCULPTURE.

CHAPTER XII

THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WHITE HUNS
FROM 455 TO 606 A. D.

THE general prevalence of Buddhism in Northern
India, including Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Suwat,
during the two centuries immediately preceding, and
the two next following the Christian era, is amply
attested by the numerous remains of Buddhist monu-
ments erected during that period and a multitude of
inscriptions, which are almost all either Buddhist or
Jain. The Jain cult, which was closely related to the
Buddhist, does not appear to have gained very wide
popularity, although it was practised with great devo-
tion at certain localities, of which Mathura was one.

But the orthodox Hindu worship, conducted under
the guidance of Brahmans, and associated with sacri-
ficial rites abhorrent to Jain and Buddhist sentiment,
had never become extinct, and had at all times retained
a large share of both popular and royal favour. Kad-
phises n, the Kushan conqueror, was himself conquered
by captive India, and adopted with such zeal the wor-

275

276 THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WHITE HUNS

ship of Siva as practised by his new subjects, that he
constantly placed the image of that Indian god upon
his coins and described himself as his devotee. Many
other facts concur to prove the continued worship of
the old Hindu gods during the period in which Bud-
dhism was unquestionably the most popular and gen-
erally received creed.

In some respects, Buddhism in its Mahayana form
was better fitted than the Brahmanical system to attract
the reverence of casteless foreign chieftains, and it
would not be unreasonable to expect that they should
have shown a decided tendency to favour Buddhism
rather than Brahmanism; but the facts do not indicate
any clearly marked general preference for the Buddhist
creed on the part of the foreigners. The only distinct-
ively Buddhist coins are the few rare pieces of that
kind struck by Kanishka, who undoubtedly, in his later
years, liberally patronized the ecclesiastics of the Bud-
dhist Church, as did his successor, Huvishka; but the
next king, Yasudeva, reverted to the devotion for Siva,
as displayed by Kadphises II. So the later Saka
satraps of Surashtra seem to have inclined personally
much more to the Brahmanical than to the Buddhist
cult, and they certainly bestowed their patronage upon
the Sanskrit of the Brahmans rather than upon the
vernacular literature.

The development of the Mahayana school of Bud-
dhism, which became prominent and fashionable from the
time of Kanishka in the second century, was in itself a
testimony to the reviving power of Brahmanical Hindu-

BUDDHISM AND BRAHMANISM 277

ism. The newer form of Buddhism had much in common
with the older Hinduism, and the relation is so close that
even an expert often feels a difficulty in deciding to
which system a particular image should be assigned.

Brahmanical Hinduism was the religion of the pan-
dits, whose sacred language was Sanskrit, a highly
artificial literary modification of the vernacular speech
of the Panjab. As the influence of the pandits upon
prince and peasant waxed greater in matters of religion
and social observance, the use of their special vehicle
of expression became more widely diffused, and gradu-
ally superseded the vernacular in all documents of a
formal or official character. In the third century B. c.
Asoka had been content to address his commands to
his people in language easy to be understood by the
vulgar, but in the middle of the second century A. D.
the western satrap Rudradaman felt that his achieve-
ments could be adequately commemorated only in elab-
orate Sanskrit. It is impossible to go more deeply
into the subject in these pages, but it is certain that
the revival of the Brahmanical religion was accom-
panied by the diffusion and extension of Sanskrit, the
sacred language of the Brahmans.

Whatever may have been the causes, the fact is
abundantly established that the restoration of the Brah-
manical religion to popular favour, and the associated
revival of the Sanskrit language, first became notice-
able in the second century, were fostered by the western
satraps during the third, and made a success by the
Gupta emperors in the fourth century. These princes,

278 THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WHITE HUNS

although apparently perfectly tolerant both of Bud-
dhism and Jainism, were themselves beyond question
zealous Hindus, guided by Brahman advisers, and
skilled in Sanskrit, the language of the pandits.

An early stage in the reaction against Buddhist con-
demnation of sacrifice had been marked by Pushya-
mitra's celebration of the horse-sacrifice toward the
close of the second century. In the fourth, Samudra-
gupta revived the same ancient rite with added splen-
dour, and in the fifth, his grandson repeated the
solemnity. Without going further into detail, the mat-
ter may be summed up in the remark that coins, in-
scriptions, and monuments agree in furnishing abundant
evidence of the recrudescence during the Gupta period
of Brahmanical Hinduism at the expense of Buddhism,
and of the favour shown by the ruling powers to
" classical " Sanskrit at the expense of the more popu-
lar literary dialects, which had enjoyed the patronage
of the Andhra kings.

Good reasons can be adduced for the belief that
Chandragupta H Vikramaditya, who reigned at the
close of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth cen-
tury and conquered Ujjain, should be regarded as the
original of the Raja Bikram of Ujjain, famed in popu-
lar legend, at whose court the Nine Gems of Sanskrit
literature are supposed to have flourished. Whether
Kalidasa, poet and dramatist, the most celebrated of
these authors, actually graced the durbar of Chandra-
gupta Vikramaditya at Ujjain, or lived under the pro-
tection of his son or grandson, is a question still open,

THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE GUPTAS

279

and it is even possible that he was a courtier of one
of Chandragupta's satrap predecessors; but popular
tradition certainly appears to be right in placing the
greatest of Indian poets in the age of which Vikrama-
ditya is the most conspicuous political figure.

To the same age probably should be assigned the
principal Puranas in their present form, the metrical
legal treatises, of which the so-called Code of Manu
is the most familiar example, and, in short, the mass
of the " classical "
Sanskrit literature.
The patronage of
the great Gupta em-
perors gave, as Pro-
fessor Bhandarkar
observes, " a general
literary impulse, "
which extended to
every department
and gradually raised
Sanskrit to the position which it long retained as the
sole literary language of Northern India. The decline
of Buddhism and the diffusion of Sanskrit proceeded
side by side, with the result that, by the end of the
Gupta period, the force of Buddhism on Indian soil had
been nearly spent and India, with certain local excep-
tions, had again become the land of the Brahmans.

The literary revolution was necessarily accompanied
by corresponding changes in the art of architecture.
The forms of buildings specially adapted for the PUT-

BATHING -PLACE AT UJJAIN.

280 THE GUPTA EMPIKE AND THE WHITE HUNS

poses of Buddhist ritual dropped out of use, and re-
markable developments in the design of the Hindu
temple were elaborated, which ultimately culminated
in the marvellously ornate styles of the mediaeval period,

extending from the ninth
to the end of the twelfth
century.

The golden age of the
Guptas, glorious in liter-
ary, as in political, his-
tory, comprised a period
of a century and a quar-
ter (330-455 A.D.), and
was covered by three
reigns of exceptional
length. The death of
Kumara, early in 455,
marks the beginning of
the decline and fall of

BRAHMAN PRIESTS AT SECUNDRA INDIA, the

& underwoodfNew York. ins deatn, He naci

involved, about the year 450, in serious distress by
a war with a rich and powerful nation named Push-
yamitra, otherwise unknown to history. The imperial
armies were defeated, and the shock of military dis-
aster had endangered the stability of the dynasty, which
was " tottering " to its fall, when the energy and abil-
ity of Skandagupta, the crown prince, restored the
fortunes of his family by effecting the overthrow of
the enemy.

SKANDAGUPTA AND THE HUNS 281

When Skandagupta came to the throne in the spring
of 455, he encountered a sea of troubles. The Pushya-
mitra danger had been averted, but one more formid-
able closely followed it, an irruption of the savage Huns,
who had poured down from the steppes of Central Asia
through the northwestern passes, and carried devasta-
tion over the smiling plains and crowded cities of India.
Skandagupta, who was probably a man of mature years
and ripe experience, proved equal to the need, and
inflicted upon the barbarians a defeat so decisive that
India was saved for a time.

It is evident that this great victory over the Huns
must have been gained at the very beginning of the
new reign, because another inscription, executed in
the year 457, recites Skandagupta 's defeat of the bar-
barians, and recognizes his undisputed possession of
the peninsula of Surashtra (Kathiawar), at the extreme
western extremity of the empire. The dedication, three
years afterward, by a private Jain donor of a sculptured
column at a village in the east of the Gforakhpur Dis-
trict, distant about ninety miles from Patna, testifies
to the fact that Skandagupta 's rule at this early period
of his reign included the eastern as well as the western
provinces, and the record expressly characterizes the
rule of the reigning sovereign as being " tranquil."

Five years later, in the year 465, a pious Brahman
in the country between the Ganges and Jumna, which
is now known as the Bulandshahr District, when endow-
ing a temple to the Sun, felt justified in describing the
rule of his king in the central parts of the empire as

282 THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WHITE HUNS

" augmenting and victorious." The conclusion is, there-
fore, legitimate that the victory over the barbarian in-
vaders was gained at the beginning of the reign, and
was sufficiently decisive to secure the tranquillity of
all parts of the empire for a considerable number of
years.

But, about 465 A. D., a fresh swarm of nomads poured
across the frontier, and occupied Gandhara, or the
Northwestern Pan jab, where a " cruel and vindictive '
chieftain usurped the throne of the Kushans and
" practised the most barbarous atrocities." A little
later, about 470, the Huns advanced into the interior
and again attacked Skandagupta in the heart of his
dominions. He was unable to continue the successful
resistance which he had offered in the earlier days of
his rule, and was forced at last to succumb to the re-
peated attacks of the foreigners. The financial distress
of his administration is very plainly indicated by the
abrupt debasement of the coinage in his later years.

The death of Skandagupta may be assumed to have
occurred in or about the year 480. When he passed
away, the empire perished, but the dynasty remained,
and was continued in the eastern provinces for many
generations. Skanda left no heir male capable of under-
taking the cares of government in a time of such stress,
and was accordingly succeeded on the throne of Ma-
gadha and the adjacent districts by his half-brother,
Puragupta, the son of Kumaragupta I by Queen
Ananda.

The reign of this prince was apparently very brief,

THE LATER GUPTAS 283

and the only event which can be assigned to it is a
bold attempt to restore the purity of the coinage. The
rare gold coins, bearing on the reverse the title Prakasa-
ditya, which are generally ascribed to Puragupta, al-
though retaining the gross weight of the heavy suvarna,
each contain 121 grains of pure gold, and are thus equal
in value to the aurei of Augustus, and superior in
intrinsic value to the best Kushan or early Gupta
coins.

Puragupta was succeeded by his son Narasimha-
gupta Baladitya, who was followed by his son, Kumara-
gupta II. Although these kings continued to assume
the high-sounding titles borne by their imperial ances-
tors, their power was very circumscribed, and confined
to the eastern portions of what had been the Gupta
empire.

The imperial line passes by an obscure transition
into a dynasty comprising eleven princes, who appear
to have been for the most part merely local rulers of
Magadha. The last of them, Jivitagupta n, was in
power at the beginning of the eighth century. The
most considerable member of this local dynasty was
Adityasena in the seventh century, who asserted a claim
to paramount rank, and even ventured to celebrate the
horse-sacrifice.

In the western province of Malwa we find the names
of rajas named Budhagupta and Bhanugupta, who cover
the period from 484 to 510, and were evidently the heirs
of Skandagupta in that region. But the latter of these
two princes, at all events, occupied a dependent posi-

284 THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WHITE HUNS

tion, and was presumably subordinate to the Hun
chieftains.

Toward the close of the fifth century, a chief named
Bhatarka, who belonged to a clan called Maitraka,
probably of foreign origin, established himself at Va-
labhi in the east of the peninsula of Surashtra (Kathia-
war), and founded a dynasty which lasted until about
770 A. D., when it was overthrown by Arab invaders
from Sind. The earlier Kings of Valabhi do not appear
to have been independent, and were doubtless obliged
to pay tribute to the Huns; but, after the destruction
of the Hun domination, the Kings of Valabhi asserted
their independence, and made themselves a consider-
able power in the west of India, both on the mainland
and in the peninsula of Surashtra.

The city was a place of great wealth when visited
by Hiuen Tsang in the seventh century, and was famous
in Buddhist Church history as the residence of two
distinguished teachers, Gunamati and Sthiramati, in
the sixth century. After the overthrow of Valabhi,
its place as the chief city of Western India was taken
by Anhilwara (Nahrwalah, or Patan), which retained
that honour until the fifteenth century, when it was
superseded by Ahmadabad. The above observations
will, perhaps, give the reader all the information that he
is likely to want concerning the principal native dynas-
ties which inherited the fragments of the Gupta empire.

But the Huns, the foreign savages who shattered
that empire, merit more explicit notice. The nomad
Mongol tribes known as Huns, when they moved west-

INVASION OF THE HUNS 285

wards from the steppes of Asia to seek subsistence for
their growing multitudes in other climes, divided into
two main streams, one directed toward the valley of
the Oxus, and the other to that of the Volga.

The latter poured into Eastern Europe in 375 A. D.,
forcing the Goths to the south of the Danube, and thus
indirectly causing the sanguinary Gothic war, which
cost the Emperor Valens his life in 378 A. D. The Huns
quickly spread over the lands between the Volga and
the Danube, but, owing to chronic disunion and the
lack of a great leader, failed to make full use of their
advantageous position, until Attila appeared and for
a few years welded the savage mass into an instrument
of such power that he was " able to send equal defiance
to the courts of Ravenna and Constantinople."

His death in 453 A. D. severed the only bond which
held together the jealous factions of the horde, and
within a space of twenty years after that event the
Hunnic empire in Europe was extinguished by a fresh
torrent of barbarians from Northern Asia.

The Asiatic domination of the Huns lasted longer.
The section of the horde which settled in the Oxus
valley became known as the Ephthalites, or White Huns,
and gradually overcame the resistance of Persia, which
ceased when King Firoz was killed in 484 A. D. Swarms
of these White Huns also assailed the Kushan kingdom
of Kabul, and thence poured into India. The attack
repelled by Skandagupta in 455 A. D. must have been
delivered by a comparatively weak body, which arrived
early and failed to effect a lodgment in the interior.

286 THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WHITE HUNS

About ten years later the nomads appeared in
greater force and overwhelmed the kingdom of Gan-
dhara, or Peshawar, and starting from that base, as
already related, penetrated into the heart of the Gan-
ges provinces, and overthrew the Gupta empire. The
collapse of Persian opposition in 484 must have greatly
facilitated the eastern movement of the horde, and
allowed immense multitudes to cross the Indian fron-
tier. The leader in this invasion of India, which, no
doubt, continued for years, was a chieftain named Tora-
mana, who is known to have been established as ruler
of Malwa in Central India prior to 500 A. D. He as-
sumed the style and titles of an Indian " sovereign of
maharajas," and Bhanugupta, as well as the King
of Valabhi and many other local princes, must have
been his tributaries.

When Toramana died, about 510 A. D., the Indian
dominion which he had acquired was consolidated suf-
ficiently to pass to his son Mihiragula, whose capital
in India was Sakala in the Panjab, which should be
identified apparently with either Chuniot or Shahkot
in the Jhang District.

But India at this time was only one province of
the Hun empire. The headquarters of the horde were
at Bamyin in Badhaghis near Herat, and the ancient
city of Balkh served as a secondary capital. The Hun
king, whose court, whether at Bamyin or Herat cannot
be determined, was visited by Song-Yun, the Chinese
pilgrim-envoy in 519 A. D., was a powerful monarch
levying tribute from forty countries, extending from

MIHIEAGULA THE HUN 287

the frontier of Persia on the west, to Khotan on the
borders of China in the east. This king was either
Mihiragula himself, or his contemporary overlord, most
probably the latter. The local Hun king of Gandhara,
to whom Song-Yun paid his respects in the following
year, 520 A. D., must be identified with Mihiragula.
He was then engaged in a war with the King of Kash-
mir (Ki-pin), which had already lasted for three years.

All Indian traditions agree in representing Mihi-
ragula as a bloodthirsty tyrant, stained to a more than
ordinary degree with the " implacable cruelty " noted
by historians as characteristic of the Hun temperament.
Indian authors having omitted to give any detailed
description of the savage invaders who ruthlessly op-
pressed their country for three-quarters of a century,
recourse must be had to European writers to obtain
a picture of the devastation wrought and the terror
caused to settled communities by the fierce barbarians.

The original accounts are well summarized by Gib-
bon:

" The numbers, the strength, the rapid motions, and
the implacable cruelty of the Huns were felt and
dreaded and magnified by the astonished Goths, who
beheld their fields and villages consumed with flames
and deluged with indiscriminate slaughter. To these
real terrors they added the surprise and abhorrence
which were excited by the shrill voice, the uncouth
gestures, and the strange deformity of the Huns. . . .
They were distinguished from the rest of the human
species by their broad shoulders, flat noses, and small

288 THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WHITE HUNS

black eyes, deeply buried in the head; and, as they
were almost destitute of beards, they never enjoyed
the manly graces of youth or the venerable aspect of
age."

The Indians, like the Goths, experienced to the full
the miseries of savage warfare, and suffered an added
horror by reason of the special disgust felt by fastidi-

GWALIOR, FROM MORAR.

ous caste-bound Hindus at the repulsive habits of bar-
barians to whom nothitfg was sacred.

The cruelty practised by Mihiragula became so un-
bearable that the native princes, under the leadership
of Baladitya, King of Magadha (probably the same as
Narasimhagupta), and Yasodharman, a raja of Central
India, formed a confederacy against the foreign tyrant.
About the year 528 A. D., they accomplished the delivery
of their country from oppression by inflicting a decisive

FALL OF THE HUN EMPIRE 289

defeat on Mihiragula, who was taken prisoner and
would have forfeited his life deservedly but for the
magnanimity of Baladitya, who spared the captive and
sent him to his home in the north with all honour.

But Mihiragula 's younger brother had taken advan-
tage of the misfortunes of the head of the family to
usurp the throne of Sakala, which he was unwilling to
surrender. Mihiragula, after spending some time in
concealment, took refuge in Kashmir, where he was
kindly received by the king, who placed him in charge
of a small territory. The exile submitted to this en-
forced retirement for a few years, and then took an
opportunity to rebel and seize the throne of his bene-
factor. Having succeeded in this enterprise, he at-
tacked the neighbouring kingdom of Gandhara. The
king, perhaps himself a Hun, was treacherously sur-
prised and slain, the royal family was exterminated,
and multitudes of people were slaughtered on the banks
of the Indus. The savage invader, who worshipped as
his patron deity Siva, the god of destruction, exhibited
ferocious hostility against the peaceful Buddhist cult,
and remorselessly overthrew the stupas and monas-
teries, which he plundered of their treasures.

But he did not long enjoy his ill-gotten gains. Be-
fore the year was out he died, and " at the time of
his death there were thunder and hail and a thick dark-
ness, and the earth shook, and a mighty tempest raged.
And the holy saints said in pity: ' For having killed
countless victims and overthrown the law of Buddha,
he has now fallen into the lowest hell, where he shall

290 THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WHITE HUNS

pass endless ages of revolution.' Thus the tyrant
met the just reward of his evil deeds in another world,
if not in this. The date of his death is not known
exactly, but the event must have occurred in or about
the year 540, just a century before Hiuen Tsang was
on his travels. The rapidity of the growth of the legend
concerning the portents attending the tyrant's death
is good evidence of the depth of the impression made
by his outlandish cruelty, which is further attested
by the Kashmir tale of the fiendish pleasure which he
is believed to have taken in rolling elephants down a
precipice.

Yasodharman, the Central Indian raja, who has been
mentioned as having taken an active part in the con-
federacy formed to obtain deliverance from the tyranny
of Mihiragula, is known from three inscriptions only,
and is not mentioned by Hiuen Tsang, who gives the
credit for the victory over the Huns to Baladitya, King
of Magadha. Yasodharman took the honour to him-
self, and erected two columns of victory inscribed with
boasting words to commemorate the defeat of the for-
eign invaders. Nothing whatever is known about either
his ancestry or his successors; his name stands abso-
lutely alone and unrelated. The belief is therefore
warranted that his reign was short and of much less
importance than that claimed for it by his magniloquent
inscriptions.

The dominion of the White Huns in the Oxus valley
did not long survive the defeat and death of Mihiragula
in India. The arrival of the Turks in the middle of

THE NAME HUN 291

the sixth century changed the situation completely.
The Turkish tribes, having vanquished a rival horde
called Joan- joan, made 'an alliance with Khusru Anu-
shirvan, King of Persia, grandson of Firoz, who had
been killed by the Huns in 484 A. D., and at some date
between 563 and 567 the allies destroyed the White
Huns. For a short time the Persians held Balkh and
other portions of the Hun territory, but the gradual
weakening of the Sasanian power soon enabled the
Turks to extend their authority toward the south
as far as Kapisa and to annex the whole of the countries
which had been included in the Hun empire.

In later Sanskrit literature the term " Hun "
(Huna) is employed in a very indeterminate sense
to denote a foreigner from the northwest, in the same
way as the Yavana had been employed in ancient times,
and as Wilayati is now understood. One of the thirty-
six so-called " royal " Rajput clans was actually given
the name of Huna. This vagueness of connotation
raises some doubt as to the exact meaning of the term
Huna as applied to the clans on the northwestern fron-
tier against whom Harsha of Thanesar and his father
waged incessant war at the close of the sixth and the
beginning of the seventh century. But it is unlikely
that within fifty years of Mihiragula's defeat the true
meaning of Huna should have been forgotten, and the
opponents of Harsha may be regarded as having been
outlying colonies of real Huns, who had settled among
the hills on the frontier. After Harsha 's time they
are not again heard of, and were presumably either

292 THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WHITE HUNS

destroyed or absorbed into the surrounding popula-
tion.

The extinction of the Ephthalite power on the Oxus
necessarily dried up the stream of Hun immigration
into India, which enjoyed immunity from foreign attack
for nearly five centuries after the defeat of Mihiragula.
The following chapters will tell how India made use,
or failed to make use, of the opportunity thus afforded
for internal development unchecked- by foreign aggres-
sion.

Very little is known about the history of India
during the second half of the sixth century. It is cer-
tain that no paramount power existed, and that all the
states of the Ganges plain had suffered severely from
the ravages of the Huns, but, excepting bare catalogues
of names in certain local dynastic lists, no facts of
general interest have been recorded. The king called
Siladitya of Mo-la-po by the Chinese traveller, Hiuen
Tsang, has no political connection with Harsha-Sila-
ditya of Kanauj and Thanesar, as has been commonly
supposed, or with the history of Northern India.

CHAPTER XIH

THE REIGN OF HARSHA
FROM 606 TO 648 A. D.

r I1HE deficiency of material which embarrasses the
J- historian when dealing with the latter half of the
sixth century is no longer experienced when he enters
upon the seventh. For this period he is fortunate
enough to possess, in addition to the ordinary epi-
graphic and numismatic sources, two contemporary
literary works, which shed much light upon the political
condition of India generally, and supply, in particular,
abundant and trustworthy information concerning the
reign of Harsha, who ruled the North as paramount
sovereign for more than forty years.

The first of these works is the invaluable book of
travels compiled by the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang,
who visited almost every part of India between 630
and 645 A. D. and recorded observations more or less
minute about each state and province. The narrative
in the Travels is supplemented by the pilgrim's biog-
raphy, written by his friend, Hwui-li, which supplies
many additional details. The second work alluded to

293

294 THE REIGN OF HARSHA

is the historical romance entitled the " Deeds of
Harsha " (Harsha- charita^ composed by Bana, a Brah-
man author who lived at the court and enjoyed the
patronage of the hero of his tale. Further information
of much interest and importance is given by the official
Chinese histories, and when all sources are utilized,
our knowledge of the events of the reign of Harsha far
surpasses in precision that which we possess respecting
any other early Indian king, except Chandragupta
Maurya and Asoka.

From remote ages the country surrounding the city
of Thanesar (Sthanvisvara) has been holy ground,
known as the " Land of Kuru," and famous as the
battle-field of legendary heroes. In the latter part of
the sixth century, the Raja of Thanesar, Prabhakara-
vardhana'by name, had raised himself to considerable
eminence by successful wars against his neighbours,
including the Hun settlements in the Northwestern
Panjab, and the clans of Gurjara, or the country of
Gujarat, between the Chinab and Jihlarn Rivers. 1 The
fact that his mother was a princess of Gupta lineage
no doubt both stimulated his ambition and aided its
realization.

In the year 604, this energetic raja had despatched
his elder son, Rajya-vardhana, a youth just entering
upon manhood, with a large army to attack the Huns
on the northwestern frontier, while his younger and
favourite son, Harsha, four years junior to the crown
prince, followed his brother with a cavalry force at a

1 Not to be confounded with the Western province of Gujarat.

INDIA IN 64O A.D.
EMPIRE OF MARSHA

(TMAVCLS or MIUCN

EMPIRE OF HAKSHA, KIHO OF KORTHER) I!DIA.

DEATH OF HARSHA'S FATHER 297

considerable interval. The elder prince advanced into
the hills to seek the enemy, while the younger lingered
in the forests at the foot of the mountains to enjoy
the sport of all kinds which they offered in abundance.

While thus pleasantly employed, Harsha, who was
then a lad fifteen years of age, received news that his
father lay dangerously ill with a violent fever. He
returned to the capital with all speed, where he found
the king in a hopeless condition. The disease quickly
ran its course, and all was over long before the elder
son, who had been victorious in his campaign, could
return to claim his birthright. There are indications
that a party at court inclined to favour the succession
of the younger prince, but all intrigues were frustrated
by the return of Rajya-vardhana, who ascended the
throne in due course. He had hardly seated himself
when news arrived which compelled him again to take
the field.

A courier brought the distressing intelligence that
Grahavarman, King of Kanauj, and husband of Raj-
yasri, sister of the princes, had been slain by the King
of Malwa, who cruelly misused the princess, " confin-
ing her like a brigand's wife, with a pair of iron fetters
kissing her feet." The young king, resolute to avenge
his sister's wrongs, started at once with a mobile force
of ten thousand cavalry, leaving the elephants and
heavy troops behind in his brother's charge. The King
of Malwa was defeated with little effort, but the joy
of victory was turned into sorrow when the victor was
treacherously slain by an ally of the Malwan king,

THE REIGN OF HARSHA

Sasanka, King of Central Bengal, who had inveigled
Rajya-vardhana to a conference by fair promises, and

GREAT TEMPLE, MADURA.

had assassinated him when off his guard. Harsha was
further informed that his widowed sister had escaped

HARSHA BECOMES KING 299

from confinement and fled to the Vindhya forests for
refuge, but no certain news of her hiding-place could
be obtained.

The murdered king was too young to leave a son
capable of assuming the cares of government, and the
nobles seem to have hesitated before offering the crown
to his youthful brother. Acting on the advice of
Bhandi, a slightly senior cousin, who had been edu-
cated with the young princes, they ultimately resolved
to invite Harsha to undertake the responsibilities of
the royal office. For some reason which is not apparent
on the face of the story, he hesitated to express his
consent, and it is said that he consulted a Buddhist
oracle before accepting the invitation. Even when his
reluctance, whether sincere or pretended, had been over-
come by the favourable response of the oracle, he still
sought to propitiate Nemesis by abstaining at first from
the assumption of the kingly style, modestly designat-
ing himself as Prince Siladitya. There is reason to
suppose that Harsha did not boldly stand forth as
avowed king until the spring of 612 A. D., when he had
been five and a half years on the throne, and that his
formal coronation, or consecration, took place in that
year. The era called after his name, of which the
year 1 was 606-7 A. D., dated from the time of his
accession in October, 606.

The immediate duties incumbent upon him obviously
were the pursuit of his brother's murderer and the
recovery of his widowed sister. The latter task, being
the more urgent, was undertaken in all haste, even at

300 THE REIGN OF HARSHA

the cost of permitting the assassin's escape. The haste
shown was none too great, for the princess, despairing
of rescue, was on the point of burning herself alive with
her attendants, when her brother, guided by aboriginal
chiefs, succeeded in tracing her in the depths of the
Vindhya jungles. The details of the campaign against
Sasanka have not been recorded, and it seems clear
that he escaped with little loss. He is known to have
been still in power as late as the year 619, but his
kingdom probably became subject to Harsha at a later
date.

Harsha, having recovered his sister a young lady
of exceptional attainments, learned in the doctrines of
the Sammitiya ^chool of Buddhism devoted his signal
ability and energy to the prosecution of a methodical
scheme of conquest, with the deliberate purpose of
bringing all India " under one umbrella/' He pos-
sessed at this stage of his career a force of five thousand
elephants, twenty thousand cavalry, and fifty thousand
infantry. Apparently he discarded as useless the chari-
ots, which constituted, according to ancient tradition,
the fourth arm of a regularly organized Indian host.

With this mobile and formidable force Harsha over-
ran Northern India, and, in the picturesque language
of his contemporary, the Chinese pilgrim, " he went
from east to west subduing all who were not obedient;
the elephants were not unharnessed, nor the soldiers
unhelmeted." By the end of five and a half years the
conquest of the northwestern regions, and probably also
of a large portion of Bengal, was completed, and his

HARSHA'S CAMPAIGNS 301

military resources were so increased that he was able
to put in the field sixty thousand war elephants and
one hundred thousand cavalry. But he continued fight-
ing for thirty years longer, and, as late as 643 A.D.,
was engaged in his last campaign, an attack upon the
sturdy inhabitants of Ganjam on the coast of the Bay
of Bengal.

His long career of victory was broken by one fail-
ure. Pulikesin II, the greatest of the Chalukya dy-
nasty, whose achievements will be noticed more fully
in a later chapter, vied with Harsha in the extent of
his conquests, and had raised himself to the rank of lord
paramount of the south, as Harsha was of the north.
The northern king could not willingly endure the ex-
istence of so powerful a rival, and essayed to overthrow
him, advancing in person to the attack, with " troops
from the five Indies and the best generals from all
countries. " But the effort failed. The King of the
Deccan guarded the passes on the Narmada so effectu-
ally that Harsha was constrained to retire discomfited,
and to accept that river as his frontier. This campaign
may be dated about the year 620 A. D.

In the latter years of his reign the sway of Harsha
over the whole of the basin of the Ganges (including
Nepal), from the Himalaya to the Narmada, was undis-
puted. Detailed administration of course remained in
the hands of the local rajas, but even the king of distant
Assam (Kamarupa) in the east obeyed the orders of
the suzerain, and the King of Valabhi in the extreme
west attended in his train.

302 THE EEIGN OF HARSHA

For the control of his extensive empire, Harsha
relied upon his personal supervision exercised with
untiring energy rather than upon the services of a
trained bureaucracy. Except during the rainy season,
when travelling with a huge camp was impracticable,
he was incessantly on the move, punishing evil-doers
and rewarding the meritorious. Luxurious tents, such
as were used by the Mogul emperors, and still form
the movable habitations of high Anglo-Indian officials,
had not then been invented, and Harsha was obliged
to be content with a " travelling palace ' made of
boughs and reeds, which was erected at each halting-
place and burned at his departure.

Hiuen Tsang, like his predecessor, Fa-hien, more
than two centuries earlier, was favourably impressed
by the character of the civil administration, which he
considered to be founded on benign principles. The
principal source of revenue was the rent of the Crown
lands, amounting, in theory at all events, to one-sixth
of the produce. The officials were remunerated by
grants of land; compulsory labour upon public works
was paid for; taxes were light; the personal services
exacted from the subject were moderate in amount;
and liberal provision was made for charity to various
religious communities.

Violent crime was rare, but the roads and river
routes were evidently less safe than in Fa-hien 's time,
as Hiuen Tsang was stopped and robbed by brigands
more than once. Imprisonment was now the ordinary
penalty, and it was of the cruel Tibetan type; the

HAKSHA'S GOVERNMENT 303

prisoners, wie are told, " are simply left to live or die,
and are not counted among men/' The other punish-
ments were more sanguinary than in the Gupta period:
mutilation of the nose, ears, hands, or feet being in-
flicted as the penalty of serious offences, and even for
failure in filial piety; but this penalty was sometimes
commuted for banishment. Minor offences were visited
with fines. Ordeals by water, fire, weighment, or poison
were much esteemed as efficient instruments for the
ascertainment of truth and are described with approval
by the Chinese pilgrim.

Official records of public events were kept in every
province by special officers, whose duty it was to reg-
ister " good and evil events, with calamities and for-
tunate occurrences." Such records were, no doubt,
consulted by the writers of the great historical inscrip-
tions, but no specimen of them has survived.

Education evidently was diffused widely, especially
among the Brahmans and numerous Buddhist monks,
and learning was honoured by the government. King
Harsha was not only a liberal patron of literary merit,
but was himself an accomplished calligraphist and an
author of reputation. Besides a grammatical work,
three extant Sanskrit plays are ascribed to his pen,
and there is no reason for hesitating to believe that
he had at least a large share in their composition, for
royal authors were not uncommon in ancient India.
One of these plays, the Nagananda, which has an edi-
fying Buddhist legend for its subject, is considered to
rank among the best works of the Indian theatre, and

304 THE REIGN OF HARSHA

the other dramas, the Ratnavali, or " Necklace," and
the Priyadarsika, or " Gracious Lady," although lack-
ing in originality, are praised highly for their simplicity
both of thought and expression.

The greatest ornament of the literary circle at
Harsha's court was the Brahman Bana, author of the
historical romance devoted to a panegyrical account
of the deeds of his patron, which is an amazingly clever,
but irritating, performance, executed in the worst pos-
sible taste, and yet containing passages of admirable
and vivid description. The man who attributes to the
commander-in-chief, Skandagupta, " a nose as long as
his sovereign's pedigree," may fairly be accused of
having perpetrated the most grotesque simile in all
literature. But the same man could do better, and
shows no lack of power when depicting the death-agony
of the king. " Helplessness had taken him in hand;
pain had made him its province, wasting its domain,
lassitude its lair. . . . He was on the confines of doom,
on the verge of the last gasp, at the outset of the Great
Undertaking, at the portal of the Long Sleep, on the
tip of death's tongue; broken in utterance, unhinged
in mind, tortured in body, waning in life, babbling in
speech, ceaseless in sighs; vanquished by yawning,
swayed by suffering, in the bondage of racking pains."
Such writing, although not in perfect good taste, un-
mistakably bears the stamp of power.

One campaign sated Asoka's thirst for blood; thirty-
seven years of warfare were needed by Harsha before
he could be content to sheathe the sword. His last

RELIGION UNDER HARSHA 305

campaign was fought against the people of Ganjam
(Kongoda) in 643 A. D., and then at last this king of
many wars doffed his armour and devoted himself to
the arts of peace and the practice of piety, as under-
stood by an Indian despot. He obviously set himself
to imitate Asoka, and the narrative of the doings in
the latter years of Harsha's reign reads like a copy of
the history of the great Maurya.

At this period the king began to show marked favour
to the quietist teachings of Buddhism, first in its Hina-
yana, and afterward in its Mahayana form. He led
the life of a devotee, and enforced the Buddhist pro-
hibitions against the destruction of animal life with
the utmost strictness and scant regard for the sanctity
of human life. " He sought, " we are told, " to plant
the tree of religious merit to such an extent that he
forgot to sleep and eat," and forbade the slaughter
of any living thing, or the use of flesh as food through-
out the " Five Indies," under pain of death without
hope of pardon.

Benevolent institutions on the Asokan model, for the
benefit of travellers, the poor, and the sick, were estab-
lished throughout the empire. Rest-houses (dharmsala)
were built in both the towns and rural parts, and pro-
vided with food and drink. Physicians were stationed
at them to supply medicines without stint to those who
needed them. The king also imitated his prototype in
the foundation of numerous religious establishments
devoted to the service both of the Hindu gods and the
Buddhist ritual.

306 THE REIGN OF HAKSHA

In his closing years the latter received the chief
share of the royal favour, and numerous monasteries
were erected, as well as several thousand stupas, each
about a hundred feet high, built along the banks of
the sacred Ganges. These latter structures doubtless
were of a flimsy character, built chiefly of timber and
bamboo, and so have left no trace; but the mere mul-
tiplication of stupas, however perishable the materials
might be, was always a work of merit. Although Bud-
dhism was visibly waning in the days of Harsha and
Hiuen Tsang, the monks of the order were still numer-
ous, and the occupants of the monasteries enumerated
by the pilgrims numbered nearly two hundred thousand.
A monastic population of such magnitude offered abun-
dant opportunities for the exercise of princely liberality.

The picture of the state of religious belief and
practice in India during the seventh century, as drawn
by the contemporary authors, is filled with curious and
interesting details. The members of the royal family
to which Harsha belonged freely acted on their indi-
vidual preferences in the matter of religion. His re-
mote ancestor, Pushyabhuti, is recorded to have enter-
tained from boyhood an ardent devotion toward Siva,
and to have turned away from all other gods. Harsha 's
father was equally devoted to the worship of the Sun,
and daily offered to that luminary " a bunch of red
lotuses set in a pure vessel of ruby, and tinged, like
his own heart, with the same hue." The elder brother
and sister of Harsha were faithful Buddhists, while
Harsha himself distributed his devotions among the

KOYAL ECLECTICISM 307

three deities of the family, Siva, the Sun, and Buddha,
and erected costly temples for the service of all three.
But, in his later years, the Buddhist doctrines held the
chief place in his affections, and the eloquence of the
Chinese Master of the Law induced him to prefer the
advanced teaching of the Mahayana sect to the more
primitive Hinayana doctrine of the Sammitiya school
with which he had previously been familiar.

The religious eclecticism of the royal family was
the reflection and result of the state of popular religion
at the time. Buddhism, although it had certainly lost
the dominant position in the Ganges plain which it
had once held, was still a powerful force, and largely
influenced the public mind. The Jain system, which
had never been very widely spread or aggressive in the
north, retained its hold on certain localities, especially
at Vaisali and in Eastern Bengal, but could not pretend
to rival the general popularity of either Buddhism or
Puranic Hinduism.

The last-named modification of the Hindu system
was now firmly established, and the earlier Puranas
were already revered as ancient and sacred writings.
The bulk of the population in most provinces was then,
as now, devoted to the service of the Puranic gods,
each man and woman being, of course, free to select
a particular deity, Siva, the Sun, Vishnu, or another,
for special adoration according to personal predilection.
As a rule, the followers of the various religions lived
peaceably together, and no doubt many people besides
the king sought to make certain of some divine support

308

THE KEIGN OF HARSHA

by doing honour to all the principal objects of popular

worship in turn.

But, while toleration and concord were the rule,

exceptions occurred. The King of Central Bengal,

Sasanka, who has been mentioned as the treacherous

murderer of Harsha's
brother, and who was
probably a scion of the
Gupta dynasty, was a
worshipper of Siva, and
hated Buddhism, which
he did his best to des-
troy. He dug up and
burned the holy Bodhi
tree at Bodh Gaya, on
which, according to
legend, Asoka had lav-
ished inordinate devo-
tion; he broke the stone
marked with the foot-
prints of Buddha at

From the Buddhist Stupa at Sanchi.

Pataliputra; and he

destroyed the convents, and scattered the monks, carry-
ing his persecutions to the foot of the Nepalese hills.
These events must have happened about 600 A. D. The
Bodhi tree was replanted after a short time by Purna-
varman, King of Magadha, who is described as being the
last descendant of Asoka, and as such was specially bound
to honour the object venerated by his great ancestor.
Harsha himself sometimes offended against the

THE SACRED BO-TREE.

HAKSHA AND HIUEN TSANG 309

principle of perfect religious toleration and equality.
Like Akbar, he was fond of listening to the expositions
of rival doctors, and he heard with great pleasure the
arguments adduced by the learned Chinese traveller
in favour of the Mahayana form of Buddhism, with the
doctrines of which he does not seem to have been famil-
iar. An interesting illustration of the freedom of
ancient Hindu society from the trammels of the system
of female seclusion introduced by the Mohammedans
is afforded by the fact that his widowed sister sat by
the king's side to hear the lecture by the Master of
the Law, and frankly expressed the pleasure which she
received from the discourse.

The king, however, was determined that his favour-
ite should not be defeated in controversy, and when
opponents were invited to dispute the propositions of
the Chinese scholar, the terms of the contest were not
quite fair. Harsha, having heard a report that Hiuen
Tsang's life was in danger at the hands of his theolog-
ical rivals, issued a proclamation concluding with the
announcement that " if any one should touch or hurt
the Master of the Law, he shall be forthwith beheaded;
and whoever speaks against him, his tongue shall be
cut out; but all those who desire to profit by his instruc-
tions, relying on my good-will, need not fear this mani-
festo."

The pilgrim's biographer naively adds that " from
this time the followers of error withdrew and disap-
peared, so that, when eighteen days had passed, there
had been no one to enter on the discussion."

310 THE REIGN OF HARSHA

A curious legend, narrated by Taranath, the Tibetan
historian of Buddhism, if founded on fact, as it may
be, indicates that Harsha's toleration did not extend
to foreign religions. The story runs that the king built
near Multan a great monastery constructed of timber
after the foreign fashion, in which he entertained the
strange teachers hospitably for several months, and
that at the close of the entertainment he set fire to the
building, and consumed along with it twelve thousand
followers of the outlandish system, with all their books.
This drastic measure is said to have reduced the relig-
ion of the Persians and Sakas to very narrow limits
for a century, and it is alleged that their doctrine, pre-
sumably Zoroastrianism, was kept alive only by a single
weaver in Khorasan.

King Harsha was so delighted with the discourse
of Hiuen Tsang, whom he had met while in camp in
Bengal, that he resolved to hold a special assembly at
Kanauj, which was then his capital, for the purpose
of giving the utmost publicity to the Master's teaching.
The king marched along the southern bank of the
Ganges, attended by an enormous multitude, while his
vassal Kumara, King of Kamarupa, with a large but
less numerous following, kept pace with him on the
opposite bank. Advancing slowly in this way, Harsha,
Kumara, and the attendant host reached Kanauj in the
course of ninety days, and there encamped, in February
or March, 644 A. D. The sovereign was received by
Kumara, the Raja of Kamarupa, who had accompanied
him on the march, the Raja of Valabhi in Western

A GKEAT RELIGIOUS CEKEMONY 311

India, who was connected with him by marriage, and
eighteen other tributary rajas, as well as by four thou-
sand learned Buddhist monks, including a thousand
from the Nalanda monastery in Bihar, and some three
thousand Jains and orthodox Brahmans.

The centre of attraction was a great monastery and
shrine specially erected upon the bank of the Ganges,
where a golden image of Buddha, equal to the king
in stature, was kept in a tower a hundred feet high.
A similar but smaller image, three feet in height, was
carried daily in solemn procession, escorted by the
twenty rajas and a train of three hundred elephants.
The canopy was borne by Harsha in person, attired as
the god Sakra, while his vassal, Raja Kumara, the most
important of the princes in attendance, was clad as
the god Brahma, and had the honour of waving a white
fly-whisk. The sovereign, as he moved along, scattered
on every side pearls, golden flowers, and other precious
substances, in honour of the "Three Jewels," -Buddha,
the Religion, and the Order, and having with his own
hands washed the image at the altar prepared for the
purpose, bore it on his shoulder to the western tower,
and there offered to it thousands of silken robes em-
broidered with gems. Dinner was succeeded by a public
disputation of the one-sided kind already described,
and in the evening the monarch returned to his " trav-
elling palace," a mile distant.

These ceremonies, which lasted for many days, were
terminated by startling incidents. The temporary mon-
astery, which had been erected at vast cost, suddenly

312 THE REIGN OF HARSHA

took fire, and was in great part destroyed; but when
the king intervened in person, the flames were stayed,
and pious hearts recognized a miracle.

Harsha, attended by his princely train, had ascended
the great stupa to survey the scene, and was coming
down the steps, when a fanatic, armed with a dagger,
rushed upon him and attempted to stab him. The
assassin, having been captured instantly, was closely
interrogated by the king in person, and confessed that
he had been instigated to commit the crime by certain
" heretics,'* who resented the excessive royal favour
shown to the Buddhists. Five hundred Brahmans of
note were then arrested, and, being " straitly ques-
tioned," were induced to confess that, in order to
gratify their jealousy, they had fired the tower by
means of burning arrows, and had hoped to slay the
king during the resulting confusion. This confession,
which was no doubt extorted by torture, was probably
wholly false; but, whether true or not, it was accepted,
and on the strength of it the alleged principals in the
plot were executed, and some five hundred Brahmans
were sent into exile.

After the close of the proceedings at Kanauj, Harsha
invited his Chinese guest to accompany him to Pra-
yaga (Allahabad), at the confluence of the Ganges and
Jumna, to witness another imposing ceremonial. The
Master of the Law, although anxious to start on his
toilsome homeward journey, could not refuse the invi-
tation, and accompanied his royal host to the scene
of the intended display. Harsha explained that it had

REGAL GENEROSITY AND POMP 313

been his practice for thirty years past, in accordance
with the custom of his ancestors, to hold a great quin-
quennial assembly on the sands where the rivers meet,
and there to distribute his accumulated treasures to
the poor and needy, as well as to the religious of all
denominations. The present occasion was the sixth
of the series (644 A. D.), which evidently had not been
begun until Harsha had consolidated his power in the
north.

The assembly was attended by all the vassal kings
and a vast concourse of humbler folk estimated to num-
ber half a million, including poor, orphans, and destitute
persons, besides specially invited Brahmans and ascet-
ics of every sect from all parts of Northern India. The
proceedings lasted for seventy-five days, terminating
apparently about the end of April, and were opened by
an imposing procession of all the rajas with their ret-
inues. The religious services were of the curiously
eclectic kind characteristic of the times.

On the first day an image of Buddha was set up
in one of the temporary thatched buildings upon the
sands, and vast quantities of costly clothing and other
articles of value were distributed. On the second and
third days, respectively, the images of the Sun and Siva
were similarly honoured, but the accompanying distri-
bution in each case was only half the amount of that
consecrated to Buddha. The fourth day was devoted
to the bestowal of gifts on ten thousand selected relig-
ious persons of the Buddhist order, who each received
one hundred gold coins, a pearl, and a cotton garment,

314 THE REIGN OF HARSHA

besides choice food, drink, flowers, and perfumes. Dur-
ing the next following twenty days, the great multitude
of Brahmans were the recipients of the royal bounty.
They were succeeded by the people whom the Chinese
author calls " heretics," that is to say, Jains and mem-
bers of sundry sects, who received gifts for the space
of ten days. A like period was allotted for the bestowal
of alms upon mendicants from distant regions, and a
month was occupied in the distribution of charitable
aid to poor, orphaned, and destitute persons.

" By this time the accumulation of five years was
exhausted. Except the horses, elephants, and military
accoutrements, which were necessary for maintaining
order and protecting the royal estate, nothing remained.
Besides these the king freely gave away his gems and
goods, his clothing and necklaces, ear-rings, bracelets,
chaplets, neck- jewel, and bright head- jewel; all these
he freely gave without stint. All being given away,
he begged from his sister [Rajyasri] an ordinary sec-
ond-hand garment, and, having put it on, he paid
worship to the ' Buddhas of the ten regions,' and
rejoiced that his treasure had been bestowed in the
field of religious merit."

The strange assembly, which in general appearance
must have much resembled the crowded fair still held
annually on the same ground, then broke up, and, after
a further detention of ten days, Hiuen Tsang was per-
mitted to depart. The king and Kumara Raja offered
him abundance of gold pieces and other precious things,
none of which he would accept, save a fur-lined cape,

DEATH OF HARSHA 315

the gift of Kumara. But although the Master of the
Law uniformly declined gifts intended to serve his per-
sonal use, he did not disdain to accept money for the
necessary expenses of his arduous journey overland to
China. These were provided on a liberal scale by the
grant of three thousand gold and ten thousand silver
pieces carried on an elephant.

A raja named Udhita was placed in command of
a mounted escort, and charged to conduct the pilgrim
in safety to the frontier. In the course of about six
months of leisurely progress, interrupted by frequent
halts, the raja completed his task, and brought his
sovereign's guest in safety to Jalandhar in the north
of the Panjab, where Hiuen Tsang stayed for a month.
He then started with a fresh escort, and, penetrating
with difficulty the defiles of the Salt Range, crossed
the Indus, and ultimately reached his home in distant
China by the route over the Pamirs and through Kho-
tan, in the spring of 646 A. D.

The pages of Hiuen Tsang and his biographer give
the latest information about King Harsha, who died
at the end of 647, or the beginning of 648, not long after
his distinguished guest's departure. During his lifetime
he maintained diplomatic intercourse with the Chinese
empire. A Brahman envoy, whom he had sent to the
Emperor of China, returned in 643 A. D., accompanied
by a Chinese mission bearing a reply to Harsha 's
despatch. The mission remained for a considerable
time in India, and did not go back to China until
645 A. D. The next year, Wang-hiuen-tse, who had

316 THE REIGN OF HARSHA

the second in command of the earlier embassy, was sent
by his sovereign as head of a new Indian mission, with
an escort of thirty horsemen. Before the envoys
reached Magadha in 648 A. D., King Harsha had died,
and the withdrawal of his strong arm had plunged the
country into disorder, which was aggravated by famine.

Arjuna, a minister of the late king, usurped the
throne, and gave a hostile reception to the Chinese
mission. The members of the escort were massacred,
and the property of the mission plundered, but the
envoys, Wang-hiuen-tse and his colleague, were fortu-
nate enough to escape into Nepal by night.

The reigning King of Tibet, the famous Srong-tsan
Gampo, who was married to a Chinese princess, suc-
coured the fugitives, and supplied them with a force
of a thousand horsemen, which co-operated with a Nepa-
lese contingent of seven thousand men. With this small
army Wang-hiuen-tse descended into the plains, and,
after a three days' siege, succeeded in storming the
chief city of Tirhut. Three thousand of the garrison
were beheaded, and ten thousand persons were drowned
in the neighbouring river. Arjuna fled, and, having
collected a fresh force, offered battle. He was again
disastrously defeated and taken prisoner. The victor
promptly beheaded a thousand prisoners, and in a
later action captured the entire royal family, took
twelve thousand prisoners, and obtained thirty thou-
sand head of cattle. Five hundred and eighty walled
towns made their submission, and Kumara, the King
of Eastern India, who had attended Harsha 's assem-

INDIA AFTER HARSHA'S DEATH 317

blies a few years earlier, sent in abundant supplies
of cattle, horses, and accoutrements for the victorious
army. Wang-hiuen-tse brought the usurper Arjuna as
a prisoner to China, and was promoted for his sendees.
Thus ended this strange episode, which, although known
to antiquaries for many years, has hitherto escaped
the notice of the historians of India.

The observations of Hiuen Tsang throw considerable
light upon the political arrangements of India in the
regions beyond the limits of Harsha's empire during
the seventh century A. D. In the north, Kashmir was
the predominant power, and had reduced the kingdoms
of Taxila and the Salt Range (Simhapura), as well as
the minor principalities of the lower hills, to the rank
of dependencies.

The greater part of the Pan jab between the Indus
and the Bias Rivers was comprised in the kingdom
called Tseh-kia by the pilgrim, the capital of which
was an unnamed city situated close to Sakala, where
the tyrant Mihiragula had held his court. The province
of Multan, where the Sun-god was held in special hon-
our, and a country called Po-fa-to, to the northeast
of Multan, were dependencies of this kingdom.

Sind was remarkable for being under the govern-
ment of a king belonging to the Sudra caste, and for
the large number of Buddhist monks which the country
supported, estimated at ten thousand. But the quality
was not in proportion to the quantity, as most of the
ten thousand were denounced as idle fellows given over
to self-indulgence and debauchery. The Indus delta,

318

THE REIGN OF HARSHA

to which the pilgrim gives the name of 0-tien-po-
chi-lo, was a province of the kingdom of Sind.

The Kings of Ujjain in Central India and of Pundra-
vardhana in Bengal, both of which kingdoms were more
or less subject to Harsha's control, belonged to the
Brahman caste. The Ujjain country supported a dense

population, which in-
cluded few Buddhists.
Most of the monasteries
were in ruins, and only
three or four, occupied
by some three hundred
monks, were in use.
The early decay of
Buddhism in this re-
gion, which was sancti-
fied by the traditions of
Asoka, and included the
magnificent buildings at
Sanchi, is a very curi-
ous fact.

Bhaskara - varman,
or Kumara Raja, the King of Kamarupa, or Assam,
who played such a prominent part in Harsha's ceremo-
nials, was also by caste a Brahman, and without faith
in Buddha, although well disposed toward learned men
of all religions. He was so far subject to the sovereign
of Northern India that he could not afford to disobey
Harsha's commands.

Kalinga, the conquest of which had cost Asoka such

SURYA, THE SUN.

ANARCHICAL AUTONOMY 319

bitter remorse nine hundred years earlier, was depop-
ulated, and mostly covered with jungle. The pilgrim
observes in picturesque language that " in old days the
kingdom of Kalinga had a very dense population.
Their shoulders rubbed one with the other, and the
axles of their chariot-wheels grided together, and when
they raised their arm-sleeves a perfect tent was
formed." Legend sought to explain the change by the
curse of an angry saint.

Harsha was the last native monarch prior to the
Mohammedan conquest who held the position of para-
mount power in the North. His death loosened the
bonds which restrained the disruptive forces always
ready to operate in India, and allowed them to produce
their normal result, a medley of petty states, with ever
varying boundaries, and engaged in unceasing inter-
necine war. Such was India when first disclosed to
European observation in the fourth century B. c., and
such it always has been, except during the compara-
tively brief periods in which a vigorous central gov-
ernment has compelled the mutually repellent mole-
cules of the body politic to check their gyrations, and
submit to the grasp of a superior controlling force.

Excepting the purely local incursions of the Arabs
in Sind and Gujarat during the eighth century, India
was exempt from foreign aggression for nearly five hun-
dred years, from the defeat of Mihiragula in 528 A. n.
until the raids of Mahmud of Ghazni at the beginning
of the eleventh century, and was left free to work out
her destinv in her own fashion. She cannot claim to

320 THE KEIGN OF HARSHA

have achieved success. The three following chapters,
which attempt to give an outline of the salient features
in the bewildering annals of Indian petty states when
left to their own devices for several centuries, may per-
haps serve to give the reader a notion of what India
always has been when released from the control of a
supreme authority.

CHAPTER XIV

THE MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

648 TO 1200 A.D.
I RELATIONS WITH CHINA AND TIBET

THE tenacity of the Chinese government in holding
on to the most distant possessions of the empire
has been exemplified in recent times by the recovery
of Kashgaria and Yunnan from Mohammedan powers,
and of Kuldja from the Russians. The history of the
seventh and eight centuries offers many illustrations
of the same characteristic, and exhibits China as mak-
ing the most determined efforts to exercise influence
in, and assert suzerainty over, the countries on the
northern frontier of India.

In the first half of the sixth century the power of
China in the " Western Countries " had vanished, and
the Ephthalites, or White Huns, ruled a vast empire,
which included Kashgaria (the " Four Garrisons " of
Chinese writers), Kashmir, and Gandhara, the region
near Peshawar.

About the year 565 (" between 563 and 567 ") the

321

322 THE MEDIAEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

Ephthalite dominion passed into the hands of the West-
ern Turks and Persians; but the grasp of the latter
power on the provinces south of the Oxus soon relaxed,
and the Turks became the heirs of the Ephthalites in
the whole of their territory as far as the Indus. Ac-
cordingly, in 630 A. D., when Hiuen Tsang was on his
way to India, his safety was assured by passports
granted by Tong-she-hu, the " Kazan," or supreme
chief of the Western Turks, which guaranteed him
protection as far as Kapisa. In the same year the
pilgrim's powerful protector was assassinated, and the
Chinese, under the guidance of the Emperor Tai-tsong,
the second prince of the Tang dynasty, inflicted upon
the Northern or Eastern Turks a defeat so decisive that
the vanquished became slaves to the Chinese for fifty
years.

When relieved from fear of the Northern Turks,
the Chinese were able to turn their arms against the
western tribes, and in the years 640 - 8 succeeded in
occupying Turfan, Korashar, and Kucha, thus securing
the northern road of communication between the East
and West.

At this time Tibet was on amicable terms with the
Middle Kingdom. In 641 the Chinese Princess Wen-
cheng had been given in marriage to Srong-tsan-
Gam-po, King of Tibet, and in the years 643 - 5 the
Chinese envoys to Harsha had been able to reach India
through the friendly states of Tibet and Nepal, both of
which sent troops to rescue Wang-Hiuen-tse from the
troubles into which he fell after Harsha 's death.

INDIA, CHINA, AND TURKESTAN 323

The work of subduing the Turks, begun by the
Emperor Tai-tsong, was continued by his successor,
Kao-tsong (650-83), and, by the year 659, China was
nominally mistress of the entire territory of the Western
Turks, which was then formally annexed. In 661-5
China enjoyed unparalleled prestige, and had reached
a height of glory never again attained. Kapisa was a
province of the empire, and the imperial retinue in-
cluded ambassadors from Udyana, or the Suwat valley,
and from all the countries extending from Persia to
Korea. But this magnificent extension of the empire
did not last long. A terrible defeat inflicted by the
Tibetans in 670 deprived China of Kashgaria, or the
" Four Garrisons," which remained in the hands of the
victors until 692 A. D., when the province was recovered
by the Chinese.

Between 682 and 691 the Northern Turks had re-
gained a good deal of the power which had been shat-
tered by the defeat of 630, and even exercised a certain
amount of control over the western tribes. But internal
dissension was at all times the bane of the Central
Asian nations, and the Chinese well knew how to take
advantage of the national failing. They intervened in
the tribal quarrels, with the support of the Uigurs and
Karluks, with such effect that in 744 the Uigurs estab-
lished themselves on the Orkhon in the eastern part
of the Turkish territory, while on the west the Kar-
luks gradually occupied the country of the Ten Tribes,
and took possession of Tokmak and Talas, the former
residences of the Turkish chiefs.

324 THE MEDIAEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

Between 665 and 715 the government of China was
unable to interfere effectually in the affairs of the coun-
tries between the Jaxartes (Syr Darya) and the Indus,
since the southern route to the west through Kashgaria
had been closed by the Tibetans, and the roads over
the Hindu Rush were blocked by the conquests of
Kotaiba, the Arab general.

The accession of the Emperor Hiuen-tsong in 713
marks a revival of Chinese activity; and determined
efforts were made by means both of diplomacy and arms
to keep open the Pamir passes and to check the ambi-
tion of the Arabs and Tibetans, who sometimes com-
bined. In 719, Samarkand and other kingdoms invoked
the aid of China against the armies of Islam, while the
Arab leaders sought to obtain the co-operation of the
minor states on 'the Indian borderland. The chiefs of
Udyana (Suwat), Khottal (west of Badakshan), and
Chitral, having refused to listen to Moslem blandish-
ments, were rewarded by the Emperor of China with
letters patent conferring on each the title of king, and
a similar honour was bestowed upon the rulers of Yasin
(Little Po-lu), Zabulistan (Ghazni), Kapisa, and Kash-
mir, received investiture as king from the emperor in
kingdoms, so as to form an effective barrier against
both Arabs and Tibetans. Chandrapida, King of Kash-
mir, received investiture as king from the emperor in
720, and his brother Muktapida-Lalitaditya was sim-
ilarly honoured in 733.

A few years later in 744 and 747 Chinese influence
had been so far extended that the emperor granted

KINGDOM OF NEPAL

325

titles to the King of Tabaristan, south of the Caspian.
In the latter year a Chinese army crossed the Pamirs,
in spite of all difficulties, and reduced the King of Yasin
to subjection.

But, as in the seventh century, so in the eighth, the
Chinese dominion over the western countries was short-
lived, and was shattered by a disastrous defeat inflicted
in 751 on the Chinese general Sien-chi by the Arabs,
who were aided by the Karluk
tribes. Indirectly this disaster
had an important consequence for
European civilization. The art of
making paper, up to that time a
monopoly of remote China, was
introduced into Samarkand by
Chinese prisoners, and so became
known to Europe, with results
familiar to all.

From the middle of the eighth
century, contact between the poli-
tics of India and China ceased, and was not renewed
until the English conquest of Upper Burma in 1885.
In these latter days, Tibet, which has been a dependency
of China since the close of the thirteenth century, has
again come within the purview of the Indian govern-
ment, and its affairs are again the subject of Indo-Chi-
nese diplomacy.

II NEPAL

The kingdom of Nepal, the most valuable portion
of which is the enclosed valley in which Kathmandu

AN INDIAN SCENE.

326 THE MEDIAEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

and other towns are situated, although it has remained
generally outside the ordinary range of Indian politics,
has maintained sufficient connection with India to re-
quire brief mention in a history of that country. In
Asoka's time Nepal was an integral part of the empire,
and was probably administered directly from the capi-
tal as one of the home provinces. In the days of
Samudragupta, in the fourth century A. D., when we
next hear of the Nepalese kingdom it was an autono-
mous tributary frontier state, but, after the fall of the
Gupta empire in the following century, it became inde-
pendent.

Harsha again reduced the kingdom to the position
of a tributary state about 638 A. D., and ten years later,
when he died, the Nepalese recovered their independ-
ence, subject, perhaps, to some slight control from
China. They were able to give valuable assistance
to the envoy Wang-Hiuen-tse in 648 A. D., when he was
expelled from India by Harsha 's usurping successor.
At the beginning of the eighth century, before the
revival of Chinese activity in the reign of the Emperor
Hiuen-tsong, Nepal was for a time a dependency of
Tibet.

The establishment of the Nepalese era, which dates
from October 20, 879 -A. D., in the reign of Raghava-deva,
probably marks some important event in local history,
the exact nature of which is not known. The kingdom
was never subjugated by any of the Mohammedan
dynasties, and has retained its autonomy to this day.
The conquest of the country by the Gurkhas took place

KASHMIR 32?

in 1768. A corrupt and decaying form of Buddhism still
survives in the country.

Ill KASHMIR

A detailed account of the history of Kashmir would
fill a volume; in this place a brief notice of some of
the leading passages will suffice. The valley had been
included in the Maurya empire in the time of Asoka,
and again in the Kushan dominion in the days of
Kanishka and Huvishka. Harsha, although not strong
enough to annex Kashmir, was yet able to compel the
king to surrender a cherished relic, an alleged tooth
of Buddha, which was carried off to Kanauj. The
authentic chronicles of the kingdom begin with the
Karkota dynasty, which was founded by Durlabhavar-
dhana during Harsha 's lifetime. This prince and his
son Durlabhaka are credited with long reigns.

The latter was succeeded by his three sons in order,
the eldest of whom, Chandrapida, received investiture
as king from the Emperor of China in 720, by whom
the third son, Muktapida, also known as Lalitaditya,
was similarly honoured in 733. This prince, who is said
to have reigned for thirty-six years, extended the power
of Kashmir far beyond its normal mountain limits, and
about the year 740 inflicted a crushing defeat upon
Yasovarman, King of Kanauj. He also vanquished the
Tibetans, Bhutias, and the Turks on the Indus. His
memory has been perpetuated by the famous Martanda
temple, which was built by him, and still exists. The
acts of this king, and all that he did, and some-

328 THE MEDLEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

thing more, are set forth at large in Kalhana's chron-
icle.

The reign of Avantivarman in the latter part of
the ninth century was notable for his enlightened pat-
ronage of literature, and for the beneficent schemes of
drainage and irrigation carried out by Suyya, his min-
ister of public works. The next king, Sankaravarman,
distinguished himself in war, but is chiefly remem-
bered as the author of an ingenious system of fiscal
oppression, and the plunderer of temple treasures.
The details of his exactions are worth reading as prov-
ing the capacity of an Oriental despot without a con-
science for unlimited and ruthless extortion. During
his reign, the last of the Turki Shahiya Kings of
Kabul, the descendants of Kanishka, was overthrown
by the Brahman Lalliya, who founded a dynasty which
lasted until 1021, when it was extirpated by the Mo-
hammedans.

During the latter half of the tenth century, power
was in the hands of an unscrupulous queen named
Didda, the granddaughter of a Shahiya king, who, first
as queen-consort, then as regent, and ultimately as
sovereign for twenty-three years, misgoverned the un-
happy state for half a century. In the reign of her
nephew, Sangrama, the kingdom suffered an attack
from Mahmud of Ghazni, and, although its troops were
defeated by the invader, preserved its independence,
which was protected by the inaccessibility of the moun-
tain barriers.

During the eleventh century, Kashmir, which has

DELHI, KANAUJ, AJMIR, AND GWALIOR 329

been generally unfortunate in its rulers, endured un-
speakable miseries at the hands of the tyrants Kalasa
and Harsha. The latter, who was evidently insane,
imitated Sankaravarman in the practice of plundering
temples, and rightly came to a miserable end.

A local Mohammedan dynasty obtained power in
1339, and the religion of Islam gradually spread in the
valley during the fourteenth century; but the natural
defences of the kingdom effectually guarded it against
the ambition of the sovereigns of India, until Akbar
conquered it in 1587 and incorporated it in the Mogul
empire.

IV DELHI, KANAUJ, AJMIR, AND GWALIOR

Europeans are so accustomed to associate the name
of Delhi with the sovereignty of India that they do
not easily realize the fact that Delhi is among the most
modern of the great Indian cities. Vague legends, it
is true, irradiate the lands along the bank of the Jumna
near the village of Indarpat with the traditional glories
of the prehistoric Indraprastha, and these stories may
or may not have some substantial basis. But, as an
historical city, Delhi dates only from the middle of the
eleventh century, when Anangapala, a Rajput chief of
the Tomara clan, built the Red Fort, where the Kutb
mosque now stands, and founded a town. The cele-
brated iron pillar on which the eulogy of Chandra-
gupta Vikramaditya is incised, was removed by him
from its original position, probably Mathura, and set
up in 1052 A. D. as an adjunct to a group of temples,

330 THE MEDIAEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

from the materials of which the Mohammedans after-
ward constructed the great mosque.

Anangapala, who seems to have come from Kanauj,
ruled a principality of modest dimensions, extending
to Agra on the south, Ajmir on the west, Hansi on the
north, and the Ganges on the east. His dynasty lasted
for just a century, until 1151 A. D., when it was sup-
planted by the Chauhan chief, Visala-deva of Ajmir.

The grandson of Visala-deva was Prithivi Raja, or
Rai Pithora, famous in song and legend as a chivalrous
lover and doughty champion, in whose person the lord-
ships of Ajmir and Delhi were united. His fame as a
bold lover rests upon his daring abduction of the not
unwilling daughter of Jayachchandra (Jaichand), the
Gaharwar Raja of Kanauj, which occurred in or about
1175. His reputation as a warrior is securely founded
upon the story of his defeat of the Chandella raja and
the capture of Mahoba in 1182, as well as upon gallant
resistance to the flood of Mohammedan invasion. Rai
Pithora may indeed be fairly described as the popular
hero of Northern India, and his exploits in love and
war are to this day the subject of rude epics and bardic
lays.

The dread of the victorious Mussulman host led by
Shihab-ud-din, who was now undisputed master of the
Pan jab, constrained the jarring states of Upper India
to lay aside their quarrels and combine for a moment
against the common foe. At first fortune favoured the
Hindus, and in 1191 Prithivi Raja succeeded in inflict-
ing a severe defeat upon the invaders at Tirauri, be-

FALL OF DELHI AND KANAUJ 331

tween Thanesar and Karnal, which forced them to
retire beyond the Indus. Two years later, in 1193,
Shihab-ud-din, having returned with a fresh force, again
encountered Prithivi Raja, who was in command of
an immense host, swollen by contingents from numer-
ous confederate princes. A vigorous charge by twelve
thousand well-armed Mussulman horsemen repeated the
lesson given by Alexander long ages before, and demon-
strated the incapacity of a mob of Indian militia to
stand the onset of trained cavalry. To use the graphic
language of the Mohammedan historian, " this pro-
digious army, once shaken, like a great building, tot-
tered to its fall, and was lost in its own ruins." Pri-
thivi Kaja, who was taken prisoner, was executed in
cold blood, and the wretched inhabitants of his capital,
Ajmir, were either put to the sword or sold into slavery.

In the same year, 1193 A. D. (A. H. 589), Delhi fell,
and Shihab-ud-din marched against Kanauj and took
that city, which had been for several centuries the most
splendid of the cities of Northern India. The raja,
Jayachchandra, retired toward Benares, but was over-
taken by his adversary, routed, and slain. The holy
citadel of Hinduism fell into the hands of the victors,
who could now feel assured that the triumph of Islam
was secure.

The surrender of Gwalior by its Parihar raja in
1196, the capture of Nahrwalah in 1197, and the capit-
ulation of Kalinjar in 1203 completed the reduction
of Upper India, and when Shihab-ud-din died in 1206,
Elphinstone says he " held, in different degrees of

332 THE MEDIAEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

subjection, the whole of Hindustan Proper, except
Malwa and some contiguous districts. Sind and Ben-
gal were either entirely subdued, or in rapid course of
reduction. On Gujarat he had no hold, except what
is implied in the possession of the capital (Nahrwalah,
or Anhalwara). Much of Hindustan was immediately
under his officers, and the rest under dependent or at
least tributary princes. The desert and some of the
mountains were left independent from neglect."

An important consequence of the capture of Kanauj
was the migration of the bulk of the Gaharwar clan
to the deserts of Marwar in Rajputana, where they
settled, and became known as Rathors. The state so
founded, now generally designated by the name of its
capital, Jodhpur, is one of the most important princi-
palities of Rajputana. Similar clan movements, neces-
sitated by the pressure of Mohammedan armies, were
frequent at this period, and to a large extent account
for the existing distribution of the Rajput clans.

V THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI AND THE KALACHURIS

OF CHEDI

The ancient name of the province between the
Jumna and Narmada, now known as Bundelkhand, was
Jejakabhukti, and the extensive region farther to the
south, which is now under the administration of the
Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces, nearly
corresponds with the old kingdom of Chedi. In the
mediaeval history of these countries two dynasties, the
Chandellas and the Kalachuris, which occasionally were

Nfl

THE CHANDELLA DYNASTY 336

connected by marriage, and constantly were in contact
whether as friends or as enemies, are conspicuous.

The Chandellas, like several other dynasties, first
come into notice early in the ninth century, when Nan-
nuka Chandella, about 831 A. D., overthrew a Parihar
chieftain, and became lord of Jejakabhukti. The Pari-
har capital had been at Mau-Sahaniya between Now-
gong (Naugaon) and Chhatarpur. The predecessors of
the Parihars were Gaharwar Rajas, members of the
clan which afterward gave Kanauj the line of kings
commonly miscalled Rathors.

The Chandella princes were great builders, and
beautified their chief towns, Mahoba, Kalinjar, and
Khajuraho, with many magnificent temples and lovely
lakes, formed by throwing massive dams across the
openings between the hills. In this practice of building
embankments and constructing lakes the Chandellas
were imitators of the Gaharwars, who are credited with
the formation of some of the most charming lakes in
Bundelkhand.

King Dhanga (950-99 A. D.), who lived to an age
of more than a hundred years, was the most notable of
his family. Some of the grandest temples at Khajuraho
are due to his munificence, and he took an active part
in the politics of his time. In 978 A. D. he joined the
league formed by Jaipal to resist Sabuktigin, and
shared with the Rajas of Ajmir and Kanauj in the
disastrous defeat which the allies suffered from the
invaders at Lamghan on the Kabul River.

When Mahmud of Ghazni threatened to overrun

336 THE MEDIAEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

India, Dhanga's son, Ganda (999-1025), joined the
new confederacy of Hindu princes organized by Ananga
Pala of Lahore in 1008, which also failed to stay the
hand of the invader. Twelve years later Ganda at-
tacked Kanauj and killed the raja, who had made terms
with the Mohammedans, but in 1022 or 1023 he was
himself compelled to surrender the strong fortress of
Kalinjar to Mahmud.

Gangeyadeva Kalachuri of Chedi (dr. 1015-40),
the contemporary of Ganda and his successors, was an
able and ambitious prince, who seems to have aimed
at attaining the position of paramount power in Upper
India. In 1019 his suzerainty was recognized in distant
Tirhut, and his projects of aggrandizement were taken
up and proceeded with by his son Karnadeva (dr.
1040 - 70), who joined Bhima, King of Gujarat, in crush-
ing Bhoja, the learned King of Malwa, about 1053 A. D.

But some years later, Karnadeva was taught the
lesson of the mutability of fortune by suffering a severe
defeat at the hands of Kirttivarman Chandella (1049 -
1100), who widely extended the dominion of his house.
Kirttivarman is also memorable in literary history as
the patron of the curious allegorical play entitled the
Prabodhachandrodaya, or " Rise of the Moon of Intel-
lect, " which was performed at his court, and gives in
dramatic form a very clever exposition of the Vedanta
system of philosophy.

The last Chandella king to play any considerable
part upon the stage of history was Paramardi, or Par-
mal (1165-1203), whose reign is memorable for his

TEMl'LE OF MAHADK.VA. KA.Il'KAHO.

CAPITULATION OF KALINJAR, 339

defeat in 1182 by Prithivi Raja Chauhan, and for the
capture of Kalinjar in 1203 (A. H. 599) by Kutb-ud-din
Ibak. The Chauhan and Chandella war occupies a large
space in the popular Hindi epic, the Chand-Raisa, which
is familiar to the people of Upper India.

The account of the death of Parmal and the capture
of Kalinjar, as told by the contemporary Mohammedan
historian, may be quoted as a good illustration of the
process by which the Hindu kingdoms passed under
the rule of their new Moslem masters.

" * The accursed Parmar,' the Rai of Kalinjar, fled
into the fort after a desperate resistance in the field,
and afterward surrendered himself, and placed ' the
collar of subjection ' round his neck, and, on his prom-
ise of allegiance, was admitted to the same favours as
his ancestor had experienced from Mahmud Sabuktigin,
and engaged to make a payment of tribute and ele-
phants, but he died a natural death before he could
execute any of his engagements. His Diwan, or Mah-
tea, by name Aj Deo, was not disposed to surrender
so easily as his master, and gave his enemies much
trouble, until he was compelled to capitulate, in con-
sequence of severe drought which dried up all the
reservoirs of water in the forts. * On Monday, the
20th of Rajab, the garrison, in an extreme state of
weakness and distraction, came out of the fort, and by
compulsion left their native place empty; . . . and the
fort of Kalinjar, which was celebrated throughout the
world for being as strong as the wall of Alexander/
was taken. ' The temples were converted into mosques

340 THE MEDIAEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

and abodes of goodness, and the ejaculations of the
bead-counters and the voices of the summoners to
prayer ascended to the highest heaven, and the very
name of idolatry was annihilated. . . . Fifty thousand
men came under the collar of slavery, and the plain
became black as pitch with Hindus/ Elephants and
cattle, and countless arms also, became the spoil of the
victors.

" The reins of victory were then directed toward
Mahoba, and the government of Kalinjar was conferred
on Hazabbar-ud-din Hasan Arnal. When Kutb-ud-din
was satisfied with all the arrangements made in that
quarter, he went toward Badaun, l which is one of the
mothers of cities, and one of the chiefest of the country
of Hind.' "

Chandella rajas lingered on as purely local chiefs
until the sixteenth century, but their affairs are of no
general interest. The Chandella clan was scattered,
and its most notable modern representative is the Raja
of Gidhaur, near Mungir (Monghyr) in Bengal.

The Kalachuri or Haihaya Rajas of Chedi are last
mentioned in an inscription of the year 1181 A. D.,
and the manner of their disappearance is not exactly
known, but there is reason to believe that they were
supplanted by the Baghels of Rewa. The Hayobans
Rajputs of the Baliya District in the United Provinces
claim descent from the Rajas of Ratanpur in the Cen-
tral Provinces, and are probably really an offshoot of
the ancient Haihaya race. The Kings of Chedi used
a special era, according to which the year 1 was equiv-

KING BHOJA OF MALWA 341

alent to 249 - 50 A. D., and it is possible that the dynasty
may have been established at that early date, but noth-
ing substantial is known about it before the ninth

century.

VI PARAMARAS OF MALWA

The Paramara dynasty of Malwa, the region north
of the Narmada, anciently known as the kingdom of
Ujjain, is specially memorable by reason of its associa-
tion with many eminent names in the history of later
Sanskrit literature. The dynasty was founded by a
chief named Upendra, or Krishnaraja, at the beginning
of the ninth century, when so many ruling families
attract notice for the first time, and lasted for about
four centuries.

The seventh raja, named Munja, who was famous
for his learning and eloquence, was not only a patron
of poets, but was himself a poet of no small reputation,
and the anthologies include various compositions attrib-
uted to his pen. The authors Dhanamjaya, Dhanika,
and Halayudha were among the distinguished scholars
who graced his court. His energies were not solely
devoted to the peaceful pursuit of literature, however,
as the Chalukya King Taila EC was defeated by him
sixteen times. The seventeenth attack failed, and
Munja, who had crossed the Godavari, Taila 's northern
boundary, was defeated, captured, and executed about
995 A. D.

The nephew of Munja, the famous Bhoja, ascended
the throne of Dhara, which was in those days the capital

342 THE MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

of Malwa, about 1010 A. D., and reigned gloriously for
more than forty years. Although his fights with the
neighbouring powers, including one of the Moham-
medan armies of Mahmud of Ghazni, are now forgotten,
his fame as an enlightened patron of learning and a
skilled author remains undimmed, and his name has

RTTIXS OF THE TEMPLE OF BHOJPUR.

become proverbial as that of the model king. Works
on astronomy, architecture, the art of poetry, and other
subjects are credibly attributed to him, and there is
no doubt that he was a prince, like Samudragupta, of
very uncommon ability.

The great Bhojpur Lake, a beautiful sheet of
water to the southeast of Bhopal, covering an area
of 250 square miles, formed by massive embank-

PALA AND SENA DYNASTIES 343

ments closing the outlets in a circle of hills, was
his noblest monument, and continued to testify to
the skill of his engineers until the fifteenth century,
when the dam was cut by order of a Mohammedan
king, and the water drained off. The bed of the lake
is now a fertile plain intersected by the Indian Mid-
land Railway.

About 1053 A. D. this accomplished prince succumbed
to an attack by the confederate Kings of Gujarat and
Chedi, and the glory of his house departed. 1 His
dynasty lasted as a purely local power until the begin-
ning of the thirteenth century, when it was superseded
by chiefs of the Tomara clan, who were in their turn
followed by Chauhan rajas, from whom the crown
passed to Mohammedan kings in 1401. Akbar sup-
pressed the local dynasty in 1569, and incorporated
Malwa into the Mogul empire.

VH PALA AND SENA DYNASTIES OF BIHAR AND BENGAL

Harsha, when at the height of his power, exercised
a certain amount of control as suzerain over the whole
of Bengal, even as far east as the distant kingdom of
Kamarupa, or Assam, and seems to have possessed full
sovereign authority over Western and Central Bengal.
After his death, the local rajas no doubt asserted their
independence; but, except for the strange story of
Arjuna and Wang-Hiuen-tse, related in the thirteenth

1 Bhoja Paramara of Dhara must not be confounded with the numerous dis-
tinct rajas of the same name. Bhoja, a King of Kanauj late in the ninth
century, was a specially notable personage.

344 THE MEDIAEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

chapter, no particulars are known concerning the his-
tory of Bengal during more than a century and a
half.

Early in the ninth century (dr. 815 A. D.), approx-
imately when the Chandella, Paramara, and other
dynasties are first heard of, a chieftain named Gopala
became ruler of Bengal. Toward the close of his life
he extended his power westwards over Magadha or
Bihar, and is said to have reigned forty-five years.
He was a pious Buddhist, and was credited with the
foundation of a great monastery at his capital, the
town of Bihar (Udandapura, or Otantapuri), which
had taken the place of Pataliputra, then in ruins. In-
asmuch as the word pala was an element in the personal
names of the founder of the family and his successors,
the dynasty is commonly and conveniently designated
as that of the " Pala Kings of Bengal."

The third king, Devapala (dr. 853-93 A. D.), is
alleged to have conquered Kamarupa and Orissa. The
ninth king, Mahipala, is known to have been on the
throne in 1026 A. D., and is believed to have reigned
for fifty years, until about 1060. Like all the members
of his dynasty, he was a devout Buddhist, and the
revival of Buddhism in Tibet, effected in 1013 A. D. by
Dharmapala of Magadha and his three pupils, may be
attributed to this king's missionary zeal.

At about the time of Mahipala 's death, a raja named
Yijayasena founded a rival dynasty in Bengal com-
monly called that of the " Sena kings," which seems
to have wrested the eastern provinces for a time from

MOHAMMEDAN INVASION 345

the hands of the Pala dynasty, the power of which was
then much circumscribed. Gangeyadeva of Chedi, as
has been already mentioned, was recognized as the
sovereign of Tirhut in 1076 A. D. But his supremacy
did not last long, and an independent local dynasty
of Northern Tirhut was established at Simraon early
in the thirteenth century.

In Bihar and Bengal both " Palas " and " Senas '
were swept away by the torrent of Mohammedan inva-
sion at the end of the twelfth century, when Kutb-ud-
din's general, Mohammed, the son of Bakhtiyar,
stormed Bihar in 1193 A. D. (A. H. 589), and surprised
Nudiah (vulgo Nuddea) in the following year. The
name of the last Hindu ruler of Bihar is given by tra-
dition as Indradyumna, who is supposed, but not
proved, to have belonged to the Pala line.

The Mussulman general, who had already made his
name a terror by repeated plundering expeditions in
Bihar, seized the capital by a daring stroke. The almost
contemporary historian met one of the survivors of
the attacking party in 1243 A. D., and learned from him
that the fort of Bihar was seized by a party of only
two hundred horsemen, who boldly rushed the postern
gate and gained possession of the place. Great quan-
tities of plunder were obtained, and the slaughter of
the " shaven-headed Brahmans," that is to say, the
Buddhist monks, was so thoroughly completed that,
when the victor sought for some one capable of explain-
ing the contents of the books in the libraries of the
monasteries, not a living man could be found who

346 THE MEDIAEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

was able to read them. " It was discovered," we are
told, " that the whole fort and city was a place of
study."

This crushing blow, followed up, of course, by sim-
ilar acts of violence, destroyed the vitality of Buddhism
in its ancient home. No doubt a few devout though
disheartened adherents of the system lingered round
the desecrated shrines for a few years longer, and even
to this day traces of the religion once so proudly domi-
nant may be discerned in the practices of obscure sects;
but Buddhism as a popular religion in Bihar, its last
abode in Upper India south of the Himalaya, was des-
troyed once and for all by the sword of a single Mussul-
man adventurer. Many monks who escaped death fled
to Tibet, Nepal, and Southern India.

The overthrow of the " Sena " dynasty was accom-
plished with equal or even greater ease. The ruler
of Eastern Bengal in those days was an aged king,
called Rai Lakhmaniya by the Mohammedan writer,
and was reputed to have occupied the throne for eighty
years. His family, we are told, was respected by all
the Rais, or chiefs, of Hindustan, and he was considered
to hold the rank of khalif (caliph), or sovereign. Trust-
worthy persons affirmed that no one, great or small,
ever suffered injustice at his hands, and his generosity
was proverbial.

This much-respected sovereign held his court at
Nudiah, situated in the upper delta of the Ganges, on
the Bhagirathi River, about sixty miles north of the
site of Calcutta. The town still gives its name to a

FALL OF THE HINDU KINGDOMS 347

British district, and is renowned as the seat of a Hindu
college organized after the ancient manner.

The year after his facile conquest of Bihar, Mo-
hammed, the son of Bakhtiyar, equipped an army for
the subjugation of Bengal. Riding in advance, he sud-
denly appeared before Nudiah with a slender following
of eighteen horsemen, and boldly entered the city. The
people supposed him to be a horse-dealer, but when he
reached the gate of the Rai's palace, he drew his sword
and attacked the unsuspecting household. The Rai,
who was at his dinner, was completely taken by sur-
prise, " and fled barefooted by the rear of the palace;
and his whole treasure, and all his wives, maid-servants,
attendants, and women, fell into the hands of the in-
vader. Numerous elephants were taken, and such booty
was obtained by the Mohammedans as is beyond all
compute. When his (Mohammed's) army arrived, the
whole city was brought under subjection, and he fixed
his headquarters there."

Rai Lakhmaniya fled to the shrine of Jagannath
(Juggernaut) in Orissa, where he died. The conqueror
presently destroyed the city of Nudiah, and established
the seat of his government at Lakhnauti. Mosques,
colleges, and Mohammedan monasteries were endowed
by him and his officers in all parts of the kingdom, and
a great portion of the spoil was judiciously sent to his
distant chief, Kutb-ud-din.

Such was the dishonoured end of the last Hindu
kingdoms of Bengal and Bihar, which would have made
a better fight for life if they had deserved to exist.

348 THE MEDLEVAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

The administration of the aged Lakhmaniya must have
been hopelessly inefficient to permit a foreign army to
march unobserved across Bengal, and to allow of the
surprise of the palace by an insignificant party of eight-
een horsemen.

Notwithstanding the manifest rottenness of their
system of government, the " Sena " kings were suffi-
ciently conceited to establish a special era of their own,
which they called by the name of Lakshmana-sena.
The first current year, according to this computation,
corresponded with 1119 - 20 A. D., and the epoch was
apparently the date of either the accession or corona-
tion of Lakshmana-sena, who seems to have been iden-
tical with the aged Rai Lakhmaniya of the Moham-
medan historians. One form of the tradition represents
this king as having come to the throne in 510 A. H.,
equivalent to 1116 - 17 A. D., just eighty lunar years
previous to the easy victory of the Moslem invader, and
the era was invented presumably to mark the date of
Lakshmana-sena 's coronation in October, 1119 A. D.

View of Saswar, in the Deccan, Southeast of Poona

CHAPTER -XV

THE KINGDOMS OF THE DECCAN

r M-tUH term Deccan, a convenient and familiar cor-
-JL ruption of the Sanskrit word meaning the south,
may be, and sometimes is, extended so as to cover the
whole of India south of the Narmada, but is more
usually understood as designating a more limited terri-
tory, in which Malabar and the Tamil countries of the
extreme south are not included. Thus limited, the term
connotes the whole region occupied by the Telugu-
speaking populations, as well as Maharashtra, or the
Maratha country. With reference to modern political
divisions, the greater part of the Deccan in this re-
stricted sense is occupied by the territories of the Nizam
of Hyderabad.

Physically, the country is for the most part a hot,
hilly table-land, watered by two great rivers, the Goda-
vari and the Krishna (Kistna), the latter of which
receives on the south an important affluent, the Tun-
gabhadra.

In this region the dominant power for four centuries
and a half, up to about 230 A. D., was the Andhra, the
history of which has already been discussed. For some

349

350

THE KINGDOMS OF THE DECCAN

three centuries after the extinction of the Andhra
dynasty, " we have/' as remarked by Professor Bhan-
darkar, " no specific information about the dynasties
that ruled over the country; " but there is reason to

GLIMPSE OF HYDERABAD.

believe that the western territory, or Maharashtra, was
governed by princes belonging to the Rashtrakuta, or
Ratta, clan, which long afterward, in the middle of the
eighth century, became for a time the leading power
of the Deccan.

Practically the political history of the Deccan begins
in the middle of the sixth century with the rise of the

KISE OF THE CHALUKYAS 351

Chalukya dynasty. The Chalukyas appear to have been
a race of Rajputs from the north, who imposed their
rule upon the Dravidian inhabitants of the Deccan table-
land. The dynasty was founded by a chieftain named
Pulikesin I, who made himself master of the town
of Vatapi, the modern Badami in the Bijapur District,
about 550 A. D., and established a principality of modest
dimensions. He aimed, however, at more extended
power, and is said to have asserted his claim to a para-
mount position by celebrating an asvamedha, or horse-
sacrifice.

His sons, Kirttivarman and Mangalesa, extended the
possessions of the family both eastward and westward.
The clans more or less completely subjugated by the
former include the Mauryas of the Konkan, the strip
of coast between the Western Ghats and the sea, who
claimed descent 1 from the ancient imperial Maurya dy-
nasty.

The succession to Mangalesa was disputed between
his son and one of the sons of Kirttivarman. The lat-
ter, having overcome his rival, ascended the throne of
Vatapi as Pulikesin II in 608 A. D., and was formally
crowned in the following year. For the space of twenty
years or more this able prince devoted himself to a
career of aggression directed against all the neighbour-
ing states. On the west and north, the Kings of Lata
(Southern Gujarat), Gurjara (Northern Gujarat and
Rajputana), Malwa, and the Mauryas of the Konkan
felt the weight of Pulikesin 's arm.

In the east he drove the Pallavas from Vengi, be-

352 THE KINGDOMS OF THE DECCAN

tween the Krishna and Godavari, and established his
brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana there as viceroy in
609 A. D. A few years later, about 620 A. D., while
Pulikesin was fully occupied by the war with Harsha
of Kanauj, this prince set up as an independent sov-
ereign, and founded the line of the Eastern Chalukyas.

All the southern kingdoms, the Chola, Pandya, and
Kerala, as well as the Pallava, were forced into conflict
with the ambitious King of Vatapi, who was undoubt-
edly the most powerful monarch to the south of the
Narmada in 630 A. D. Ten years before that date he
had successfully repelled the attack on his dominions
led in person* by Harsha, the lord paramount of the
north, who aspired to the sovereignty of all India.

The fame of the King of the Deccan spread beyond
the limits of India, and reached the ears of Khusru II,
King of Persia, who, in the thirty-sixth year of his
reign, 625 - 6 A. D., received a complimentary embassy
from Pulikesin. The courtesy was reciprocated by a
return embassy sent from Persia, which was Deceived
with due honour at the Indian court. A large fresco
painting in Cave No. 1 at Ajanta, although unhappily
mutilated, is still easily recognizable as a vivid repre-
sentation of the ceremonial attending the presentation
of their credentials by the Persian envoys.

This picture, in addition to its interest as a contem-
porary record of unusual political relations between
India and Persia, is of the highest value as a landmark
in the history of art. It not only fixes the date of some
of the most important paintings at Ajanta, but also

PULIKESIN II, THE ENEMY OF HAESHA 353

proves, or goes a long way toward proving, that the
Ajanta school of pictorial art was derived directly from
Persia, and ultimately from Greece.

The wonderful caves in the Ajanta valley were duly
admired by Hiuen Tsang, who visited the court of Puli-
kesin H, probably in the year 640 A. D. The pilgrim
was profoundly impressed by the military power of
Pulikesin, who was obeyed by his numerous subjects
with " perfect submission."

But his prosperity was not destined to last much
longer. In 642 A. D., the long-continued war, which,
since the year 609 A. D., had been generally disastrous
to the Pallavas of Kanchi, took a new turn, and brought
ruin and death upon Pulikesin. The Pallava king took
and plundered his capital, and presumably put him to
death. For thirteen years the Chalukya power, which
Pulikesin had laboured so hard to exalt, was in abey-
ance, while the*Pallavas dominated Southern India.

In 655 A. D. Vikramaditya I, a son of Pulikesin,
restored the fallen fortunes of his family by inflicting
a severe defeat upon the Pallavas, whose strongly forti-
fied capital, Kanchi, was captured. Victory inclined
now to one side, and now to the other. During this
reign a branch of the Chalukya dynasty succeeded in
establishing itself in Gujarat, where in the next century
it offered vigorous opposition to the Arabs.

The main feature of the succeeding reigns was the
never ending conflict with the Pallavas, whose capital
was again taken by Vikramaditya II about 740 A. D.

In the middle of the eighth century, Dantidurga,

864 THE KINGDOMS OF THE DECCAN

a chieftain of the ancient Rashtrakuta family, fought
his way to the front, and overthrew Kirttivarman II
Chalukya. The main branch of the Chalukyas now
became extinct, and the sovereignty of the Deccan
passed to the Rashtrakutas, in whose hands it remained
for two centuries and a quarter.

During the two centuries of the rule of the early
Chalukya dynasty of Vatapi, great changes in the re-
ligious state of the country were in progress. Bud-
dhism, although still influential, was slowly declining,
and suffering gradual supersession by its rivals, Jain-
ism and Brahmanical Hinduism. The sacrificial form
of the Hindu religion received special attention, and
was made the subject of a multitude of formal treatises.
The Puranic forms of Hinduism also grew in popu-
larity, and everywhere elaborate temples dedicated
to Vishnu, Siva, or other members of the Puranic pan-
theon, were erected. The orthodox Hindus borrowed
from their Buddhist rivals the practice of excavating
cave-temples, and one of the earliest Hindu works of
this class is that made in honour of Vishnu by Manga-
lesa Chalukya, at the close of the sixth century. Jain-
ism was specially popular in the Southern Maratha
country.

Dantidurga Rashtrakuta, after his occupation of
Vatapi, effected other conquests, but, becoming unpop-
ular, was deposed by his uncle, Krishna I, who com-
pleted the establishment of Rashtrakuta supremacy
over the dominions formerly held by the Chalukyas,
while a branch of his family founded a principality in

THE KINGS AND THEIR RELIGION

355

Gujarat. The reign of Krishna I is memorable for the
execution of the most marvellous architectural freak
in India, the Kailasa temple at Elura (Ellora), which
is by far the most extensive and sumptuous of the rock-
cut shrines.

Krishna I was succeeded by his son Dhruva, an able
and warlike prince, who continued
with success the aggressive wars so
dear to the heart of an Indian raja.
Govinda HI, son of Dhruva, may
justly claim to be the most remark-
able prince of his vigorous dynasty.
He transferred his capital from Nasik
to Manyakheta, generally identified
with Malkhed in the Nizam's do-
minions, and extended his power
from the Vindhya Mountains and
Malwa on the north to Kanchi on the
south, while his direct rule was car-
ried at least as far as the Tunga-
bhadra. He created his brother Vice-
roy of Lata, or Southern Gujarat.

The long reign of the next king, Amoghavarsha, who
occupied the throne for at least sixty-two years, was
largely spent in constant wars with the Eastern Cha-
lukya Rajas of Vengi. The Digambara, or naked, sect
of the Jains was liberally patronized by this prince.
The rapid progress made by Digambara Jainism late
in the ninth, and early in the tenth century, under the
guidance of various notable leaders, including Jinasena

THE GOD KRISHNA.

356 THE KINGDOMS OF THE DECCAN

and Gunabhadra, who enjoyed the favour of more than
one monarch, had much to do with the marked decay of
Buddhism, which daily lost ground, until it finally dis-
appeared from the Deccan in the twelfth century.

The war with the Cholas in the reign of Krishna in,
Rashtrakuta, was remarkable for the death of the Chola
king on the field of battle in 949 A. D. Much bitterness
was introduced into the wars of this period by the hos-
tility between the rival religions, Jainism and orthodox
Hinduism.

The last of the Rashtrakuta kings, Kakka H, was
overthrown in 973 A. D. by Taila n, a scion of the old
Chalukya stock. He restored the family of his ances-
tors to its former glory, and founded the dynasty known
as that of the Chalukyas of Kalyani, which lasted, like
that which it followed, for nearly two centuries and a
quarter. The impression made upon their contempo-
raries by the Rashtrakutas was evidently considerable,
and was justified by the achievements of their period.
Although the art displayed at Ellora is not of the high-
est kind, the Kailasa temple is one of the wonders of
the world, a work of which any nation might be proud.
Many other temples were the outcome of the royal
munificence, and literature of the type then in fashion
was liberally encouraged.

Taila, the restorer of the Chalukya name, reigned
for twenty-four years, and during that time succeeded
in recovering all the ancient territory of his race, with
the exception of the Gujarat province. Much of his
time was spent in fighting Munja, the Paramara Raja

w E
w 2

-Q.U.

THE CHOLAS AND CHALUKYAS 357

of Dhara, who claimed the victory in sixteen conflicts.
But toward the close of his reign Taila enjoyed the
luxury of revenge. His enemy, having crossed the
Godavari, which then formed the boundary between the
two kingdoms, was defeated, taken captive, and for
a time treated with the courtesy due to his rank. But
an attempt to escape was visited with cruel indignities
to the captive raja, who was ultimately beheaded,
995 A. D.

Two years later Taila died, and transmitted the
crown to his son Satyasraya, during whose reign the
Chalukya kingdom suffered severely from invasion by
the Chola king, Rajaraja the Great, who overran the
country with a vast host, said to number nine hundred
thousand men, pillaging and slaughtering in so merci-
less a fashion that even the women, children, and Brah-
mans'were not spared.

In 1059 A. D., Somesvara I, who was called Ahava-
malla, fought a battle at Koppam in Mysore, in which
Rajadhiraja, the then reigning Chola king, lost his life.
Somesvara also claims the honour of having stormed
both Dhara in Malwa and Kanchi in the south, and
of having defeated Kama, the valiant King of Chedi.
In 1068 A. D., Somesvara, seized by an incurable fever,
put an end to his sufferings by drowning himself in
the Tungabhadra River, while reciting his faith in Siva.
Suicide in such circumstances is authorized by Hindu
custom, and more than one instance is on record of
rajas having terminated their existence in -a similar
manner.

358

THE KINGDOMS OF THE DECCAN

Vikramaditya VI, or Vikramanka, the hero of Bil-
hana's historical poem, who came to the throne in
1076 A. D., reigned for half a century in tolerable, though
not unbroken, peace. He is recorded to have captured

Kanchi, and late in his
reign was engaged in a
serious struggle with
Vishnu, the Hoysala
King of Dorasamudra
in Mysore. His capital
Kalyana, probably the
modern Kalyani in the
Nizam 's dominions, was
the residence of the cel-
ebrated jurist, Vijna-
nesvara, author of the
Mitakshara, the chief
authority on Hindu law
outside of Bengal.

After the death of
Vikramanka, the Cha-
lukya power declined,
and in the course of the
years 1156 - 62 A. D., during the reign of Taila III, the
commander-in-chief, Bijjala, or Vijjana, Kalachurya, re-
volted and obtained possession of the kingdom. This
was held by him and his sons until 1183 A. D., when the
Chalukya prince, Somesvara IV, succeeded in recover-
ing a portion of his ancestral dominions. But he was
not strong enough to resist the attacks of encroaching

SIVA PUJA, OR WORSHIP OF SIVA.

THE HOYSALAS AND YADAVAS 359

neighbours, and in the course of a few years the greater
part of his kingdom had been absorbed by the Yadavas
of Devagiri on the west, and the Hoysalas of Dorasa-
mudra on the south. The end of the Chalukya dynasty
of Kalyana may be dated in 1190 A. D., after which
time the rajas of the line ranked merely as petty
chiefs.

The brief intrusive reign of Bijjala, the usurping
rebel, was marked by a religious revolution effected
by a revival of the cult of Siva and the foundation of
a new sect, the Vira Saivas, or Lingayats, which is a
power to this day. Bijjala was a Jain. According to
one version of the legend, he wantonly blinded two holy
men of the Lingayat sect, and was assassinated in con-
sequence in the year 1167 A. D. The blood of the saints
proved, as usual, to be the seed of the Church, which
had been founded by Basava, the Brahman minister
of Bijjala.

In other legends the tale is told quite differ-
ently. There is, however, no doubt that the rise of
the Lingayats dates from the time of Bijjala. The
members of the sect, who are especially numerous in
the Kanarese Districts, worship Siva in his phallic
form, reject the authority of the Vedas, and cherish
an intense aversion to Brahmans, notwithstanding the
fact that the founder of their religion was himself a
Brahman.

The growth of this new sect, which secured numer-
ous adherents among the trading classes, up to that
time the main strength of both Buddhism and Jainism,

360 THE KINGDOMS OF THE DECCAN

checked the progress of the latter religion, and drove
another nail into the coffin of Buddhism, the existence
of which in the Deccan cannot be traced later than the
first half of the twelfth century.

During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, chiefs
belonging to a family or clan named Hoysala attained
considerable power in the Mysore country. The first
notable prince of this line was Vishnu, or Bittiga
(1117 A. D.), who established his capital at Dorasa-
mudra, the modern Halebid, famous for the fine temple
which excited Mr. Fergusson's enthusiastic admiration.
During Vishnu's reign the Jain religion enjoyed high
favour under the protection of his minister Gangaraja,
and the Jain temples, which had been destroyed by
the orthodox Chola invaders, were restored. Vishnu
boasts in his records of numerous conquests, and claims
to have defeated the rajas of the Chola, Pandya, and
Chera kingdoms in the south. About the year 1223 A. D.,
one of his successors, Narasimha U, who was then
in alliance with the Cholas, actually occupied Trichin-
opoli.

The dynasty lasted until 1310 A. D., when the Mo-
hammedan generals, Malik Kafur and Khwaja Haji,
entered the Hoysala kingdom, laid it waste, captured
the reigning raja, and despoiled his capital, which was
finally destroyed by a Moslem force in 1327 A. D.

The Yadava Kings of Devagiri who have been men-
tioned were descendants of feudatory nobles of the
Chalukya kingdom. The territory which they acquired,
lying between Devagiri (Daulatabad) and Nasik, was

OVERTHROW BY THE MOHAMMEDANS 361

known as Sevana. The first of the Yadava line to
attain a position of importance was Bhillama, who was
killed in battle by the Hoysala chief in 1191 A. D. The
most powerful raja was Singhana (ace. 1210 A. D.), who
invaded Gujarat and other countries, and established
a short-lived kingdom almost rivalling in extent the
realms of the Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas.

The dynasty, like that of the Hoysalas, was des-
troyed by the Mohammedans. When Ala-ud-din, Sultan
of Delhi, crossed the Narmada, the northern frontier
of the Yadava kingdom, in 1294, the reigning raja,
Ramachandra, was obliged to surrender, and to ransom
his life by payment of an enormous amount of treasure,
which is said to have included six hundred maunds
of pearls, two maunds of diamonds, rubies, emeralds,
and sapphires, and so forth.

When the Sultan's incursion was repeated by Malik
Kafur in 1309 A. D., Ramachandra again refrained from
opposition, and submitted to the invader. He was the
last independent Hindu sovereign of the Deccan. After
his death, his son-in-law, Harapala, stirred up a revolt
against the foreigners in 1318, but, being defeated, was
flayed alive and decapitated. Thus miserably ended the
Yadava line.

The celebrated Sanskrit writer, Hemadri, popularly
known as Hemadpant, flourished during the reigns of
Ramachandra and his predecessor, Mahadeva. He de-
voted himself chiefly to the reduction to a system of
Hindu religious practices and observances, and with
this object compiled important works upon Hindu

362

THE KINGDOMS OF THE DECCAtf

sacred law. He is said to have introduced a form of
current script, the Modi, from Ceylon, and has given
a valuable historical sketch of his patron's dynasty in
the introduction to one of his books.

Specimen of Southern Indian Temple Sculpture

One of the characteristics of the Southern Indian temples, built in the
Dravidian style of architecture, is the long pillared hall zvitit massive
sculptured figures on either side. Some of the best specimens of Indian
carving are to be found in these corridors, or choultries, as they are
called. They are deserving of the attention of the student as examples of
Oriental sculpture.

**--'

I THE "THREE KINGDOMS"

A NCIENT tradition recognizes the " Kingdoms of
-^- the South " as three the Pandya, the Chola, and
the Chera. Of these three the Pandya kingdom occu-
pied the extremity of the peninsula, south of Pudu-
kottai, the Chola kingdom extended northwards to
Nellore, while the Chera kingdom lay to the west, and
included the Malabar coast.

In the third century B. c., the Chola and Pandya
realms were well known to Asoka; but in lieu of the
Chera state he specifies two kingdoms, those of Kerala
and Satiyaputra. The former of these is undoubtedly
the Malabar coast south of the Chandragiri River; the
latter should probably be identified with the tract on
the same coast to the north of that river, of which
Mangalore is the centre, and in which the Tulu tongue,
one of the Dravidian languages, is spoken. In the
Kerala of Asoka, which may be regarded as synonymous
with the Chera of tradition, the prevailing language is

363

364 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

Malayalam. The Chola and Pandya kingdoms both
belong to the Tamil-speaking region. Thus all the
kingdoms of the south were occupied by races speaking
Dravidian languages, who are themselves generally
spoken of as Dravidians.

No Aryan language had penetrated into those king-
doms, which lived their own life, completely secluded
from Northern India, and in touch with the outer world
only through the medium of maritime commerce, which
had been conducted with success from very early times.
The pearls of the Gulf of Manar, the beryls of Coim-
batore, and the pepper of Malabar were not to be had
elsewhere, and were eagerly sought by foreign mer-
chants, probably as early as the seventh or eighth cen-
tury before Christ.

But the ancient political history of Southern India
is irretrievably lost, and the materials for tracing the
development of the high degree of civilization unques-
tionably attained by the Dravidian races are lamentably
scanty. Nor is it possible to define with any accuracy
the time when Aryan ideas and the religion of the Brah-
mans penetrated to the kingdoms of the south, although
there are reasons for assuming that 500 B. c. may be
taken as a mean date.

The missionaries of Asoka introduced Buddhism,
and his brother Mahendra built a monastery in the
Chola country, but whether or not they found any
form of the Brahman religion in possession it is impos-
sible to say. The Jain religion also found great favour
in the southern countries, but how or when it was

INFORMATION REGARDING SOUTHERN INDIA 365

introduced from the north, there is no good evidence
to show.

The historical period begins much later in the south
than in the north, and it is quite impossible to carry
back the story of the south, like that of the north, to
600 B. c. As will appear in the following pages, the
orderly history of the Chola and Pandya dynasties does
not commence until the ninth and tenth centuries A. D.
respectively, although both kingdoms existed in Asoka's
time.

The earliest dynastic annals are those of the Pal-
lavas, which begin in the second century A. D. The
Pallava realm is not included in the three traditional
" kingdoms of the south," the reason apparently being
that the Pallavas were an intrusive foreign, non-Dravi-
dian race, which lorded it over the ancient territorial
Dravidian kingdoms in varying degrees from time to
time.

H THE PANDYA, CHERA, KERALA, AND SATIYAPUTRA KINGDOMS

The Pandya country, as defined by tradition, ex-
tended north and south from the Southern Vellaru
River (Pudukottai) to Cape Comorin, and east and west
from the sea to the " great highway," the Achchan-
kovil Pass leading into Kerala or Travancore, and was
thus nearly co-extensive with the present Districts of
Madura and Tinnevelli. The kingdom was ordinarily
divided into five principalities, known as the " five
Pandyas." The capital of the premier chief was in

366 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

early days at Korkai on the Tamraparni River in Tinne-
velli.

Korkai, or Kolkai, the Greek Ko\*ot, now an insig-
nificant village, was once a great city, and is indicated
by all native traditions as the cradle of South Indian
civilization, the home of the mythical three brothers,
who were supposed to have founded the Pandya, Chera,
and Chola kingdoms. In the days of its glory the city
was a seaport, the headquarters of the pearl trade,
which constituted the chief source of wealth enjoyed
by the Pandya kings, whose special crest or cognizance
was the battle-axe, often associated with the elephant.
In the course of time, the silting up of the delta ren-
dered Korkai inaccessible to ships, and the city gradu-
ally decayed, like the Cinque Ports in England.

Its commercial business was transferred to the new
port, Kayal (Coel), which was founded three miles
lower down the river, and continued to be for many
centuries one of the greatest marts of the east. Here
Marco Polo landed in the thirteenth century, and was
much impressed by the wealth and magnificence of
prince and people. But the same process which had
ruined Korkai caused the abandonment of Kayal, and
compelled the Portuguese to remove their trade to
Tuticorin, where a sheltered roadstead, free from de-
posits of silt, offered superior convenience. The site
of Kayal is now occupied by the huts of a few Moham-
medans and native Christian fishermen.

Madura, which was regarded in later times as the
Pandya capital, and the central seat of Tamil literature

THE PANDYA KINGDOM 367

and learning, is also of nigh antiquity, and probably
coexisted with Korkai from a very early date. The
Kings of Madura adopted a fish, or a pair of fishes, as
the family crest.

No continuous history of the Pandya dynasties prior
to the twelfth century can be written. The scraps of
information concerning them before that time are ex-
ceedingly meagre. The most ancient mention of the
name Pandya is found in the commentary of the gram-
marian Katyayana, who may be assigned to the fourth
century B. c. In Asoka's time the Pandya kingdom
was independent, and lay altogether outside the limits
of the northern empire, which extended to about the
latitude of Madras.

A Pandya king sent an embassy to Augustus Caesar,
and the pearl fishery in his dominions was well known
to the Greeks and Romans of the first century A. D.
Pliny was aware that the king resided at Madura in
the interior. Roman copper coins of the smallest value
have been found in such numbers at Madura as to sug-
gest that a Roman colony was settled at that place.
They come down to the time of Arcadius and Honorius
(400 A.D.).

Roman gold coins of the early empire have been
discovered in such large quantities in Southern India
that it is apparent that they served for the gold cur-
rency of the peninsula, as the English sovereign now
does in many foreign countries. Five coolie loads of
aurei were found in 1851 near Cannanore on the Mala-
bar coast, mostly belonging to the mintage of Tiberius

368 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

and Nero, and many other large hoards of Roman coins,
gold, silver, and copper, have been discovered in various
localities from time to time.

It is, therefore, certain that the Pandya state, during
the early centuries of the Christian era, shared along
with the Chera kingdom of Malabar a very lucrative
trade with the Roman empire, and was in exclusive
possession of the much prized pearl fishery, which had
its headquarters first at Korkai, and afterward at
Kayal.

From the fifth century onwards, occasional refer-
ences to the Pandya dynasty and country are met with
in literature and inscriptions. When Hiuen Tsang vis-
ited the south in 640 A. D., and stayed at Kanchi, the
southern limit of his travels, he ascertained that the
inhabitants of the region called by him Malakottai,
which was equivalent to the Pandya state and the Mala-
bar coast with a portion of the traditional Chola coun-
try, were reputed to care little for learning. In ancient
times many Buddhist monasteries had existed, but these
were in ruins at the time of his visit, only the bare
walls remaining, though the country was studded with
hundreds of Brahmanical temples and the adherents
of the Jain sect were numerous.

The most ancient Pandya king to whom an approx-
imate date can be assigned is Rajasimha, the contem-
porary of Parantaka I, Chola (907 - 47 A. D.), who claims
to have defeated his southern neighbour, and " des-
troyed " Madura. A great-grandson of the same Chola
king fought with a Pandya raja bearing the name of

END OF THE PANDYAS 369

Vira. The fact that many names or titles, Sundara,
Vira, Kulasekhara, and others, recur over and over
again, causes special difficulty in attempts to construct
the Pandya dynastic list.

The Pandya state, in common with the other king-
doms of the south, undoubtedly was reduced to a con-
dition of tributary dependence by Rajaraja the Great
about the year 1000, and continued to be more or less
under Chola control for a century and a half, or a little
longer, although, of course, the local administration re-
mained in the hands of the native rajas.

The Jain religion, which was popular in the days
of Hiuen Tsang in the seventh century, and had con-
tinued to enjoy the favour of the Pandya kings, was
odious to their Chola overlords, who were strict adher-
ents of Siva. A credible tradition affirms that, appar-
ently at some time in the eleventh century, a Pandya
king named Sundara was married to a Chola princess,
sister of King Rajendra, and was converted from Jain-
ism to the Saiva faith by his consort. King Sundara
displayed even more than the proverbial zeal of a con-
vert, and persecuted his late co-religionists, who refused
to apostatize, with the most savage cruelty inflicting
on no less than eight thousand innocent persons a hor-
rible death by impalement. Certain unpublished sculp-
tures on the walls of a temple at Trivatur in Arcot
are believed to record these executions.

The long duration of Chola supremacy suffices to
explain in large measure the lack of early Pandya
inscriptions. The series does not begin until near the

370 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

end of the twelfth century, but, after that time, the
records are so numerous that a dynastic list which
seems to be almost complete for the thirteenth century
has been constructed by Professor Kielhorn. The dy-
nasty can be traced, with some breaks, up to the middle
of the sixteenth century, but it lost most of its political
importance after the sack of Madura by Malik Kafur's
Mohammedan host in 1310 A. D. The maritime com-
merce of the kingdom, however, continued to exist on
a considerable scale to a much later date.

The most conspicuous event in the political history
of the Pandya kingdom is the invasion of the Sinhalese
armies under the command of two generals of Para-
krama-bahu, King of Ceylon, which occurred about
1175 A. D. Two detailed accounts of this incident, writ-
ten from different points of view, are extant. The
story, as told in the island chronicle, the Mahavamsa,
naturally represents the victorious career of the invad-
ers as unbroken by defeat; but the rival account, pre-
served in an inscription, proves that the invading army
gained considerable success at first, but was ultimately
obliged to retire in consequence of the vigorous resist-
ance of a coalition of the southern princes. The occa-
sion of the Sinhalese intervention was a disputed
succession to the Pandya throne of Madura, contested
by claimants bearing the oft-recurring names of Vira
and Sundara.

"Very little can be said about the southwestern king-
doms, known as Chera, Kerala, and Satiyaputra. The
last-named is mentioned by Asoka only, and its exact

CHERA AND OTHER SOUTHWESTERN KINGDOMS 371

position is unknown, but should probably be identified
with that portion of the Konkans or lowlands be-
tween the Western Ghats and the sea where the
Tulu language is spoken, and of which Mangalore is
the centre.

The name of Kerala is still well remembered, and
there is no doubt that the kingdom so called was equiv-
alent to the Southern Konkans, or Malabar coast. The
ancient capital was Vanji, also named Karur, or Karu-
vur, the Kdpovpa of Ptolemy, situated close to Cranga-
nore. This represents Muziris, the port for the pepper
trade, mentioned by Pliny and the author of the Peri-
plus at the end of the first century A. D.

The etymological identity of the names Kerala and
Chera is affirmed by philologists of high authority, but
whether this theory be correct or not, it is certain that
in early times the Chera kingdom included that of
Kerala. According to an unverified tradition, the latter
separated in 389 A. D., after which date the Chera realm
was restricted to Coimbatore and the southern parts of
Mysore and Salem.

The crest or cognizance of the Chera kings was a
bow. Their coins are very rare, and only two types,
characterized by the bow device, are known, which are
found in Salem and Coimbatore. The existence of a
native work, the Keralolpati, which professes to give
the history of Kerala, raises hopes which are disap-
pointed by perusal.

The authentic list of the Rajas of Travancore begins
in 1335 A. D., and that of the rajas of the neighbouring

372 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

state of Cochin, which is less complete, does not com-
mence until more than two centuries later.

HI THE CHOLA KINGDOM

According to tradition, the Chola country (Chola-
mandalam) was bounded on the north by the Pennar,
and on the south by the southern Vellaru River, or,
in other words, it extended along the eastern coast
from Nellore to Pudukottai, where it abutted on the
Pandya territory. On the west it extended to the bor-
ders of Coorg. The limits thus defined include Madras,
and several other British districts on the east, as well
as the whole of the Mysore state. The most ancient
capital was Uraiyur, or old Trichinopoli, so far as is
known with certainty.

But the existence of well-known traditional boun-
daries must not be taken to justify the inference that
they always agreed with the frontiers of the Chola
kingdom, which, as a matter of fact, varied enormously.
The limits of the Chola country, as determined by tra-
dition, seem to mark ethnic rather than political fron-
tiers, at least on the north and west, where they do not
differ widely from the lines of demarcation between
the Tamil and the other Dravidian languages. Tamil,
however, is as much the vernacular of the Pandya as
of the Chola region, and no clear ethnical distinction
can be drawn between the peoples residing north and
south of the Vellaru.

The kingdom of the Cholas, which, like that of the
Pandyas, was unknown to Panini, was familiar by name

THE CHOLA KINGDOM

373

to Katyayana, and was recognized by Asoka as inde-
pendent. Inasmuch as the great Maurya's authority
unquestionably extended to the south of Chitaldurg in
Mysore, and down to at least the fourteenth degree

WATEK- LILIES IN BOTANIC GARDEN, MADRAS.

of latitude, the Chola kingdom of his time must have
been of modest dimensions.

A passage in the work of Ptolemy, the geographer
of the second century A. D., is usually interpreted as
referring to the Chola kingdom, and intimating that
Arcot was then the capital. But the language used is

374 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

obscure, and the true meaning doubtful. Occasional
references to the country throw little light upon its
history.

From about the middle of the second century A. D.
the lordship of the Chola country, as defined by tradi-
tion, was disputed by the intrusive Pallava clans of
foreign origin. Chola rajas continued to exist through-
out all political vicissitudes, and to take part in the
unceasing internecine wars which characterize the early
history of Southern India. It is clear, however, that
these rajas were often reduced to a merely subordinate
position, and were much circumscribed in authority.

The observations of Hiuen Tsang give an interest-
ing notice of the Chola kingdom in the seventh century,
the significance of which has not been fully appreciated.
His visit to the south may be dated with almost absolute
certainty in the year 640 A. D. At that time the king-
dom of Chola (Chu-li-ye) was a restricted territory,
estimated to be four or five hundred miles in circuit,
with a small capital town barely two miles in circum-
ference. The country was wild and mostly deserted,
consisting of a succession of hot marshes and jungles,
occupied by a scanty population of ferocious habits,
addicted to open brigandage. The few Buddhist mon-
asteries were ruinous, and the monks dwelling in them
as dirty as the buildings. The prevailing religion was
Jainism, but there were a few Brahmanical temples.

The position of the country is indicated as being
some two hundred miles or less to the southwest of
Amaravati. It must, therefore, be identified with a

CHOLAS AND PALLAVAS 375

portion of the Ceded Districts, and more especially with
the Cuddapah District, which possesses the hot climate
and other characteristics noted by the pilgrim, and was
still notorious for brigandage when annexed by the
British in 1800. The pilgrim speaks merely of the
" country " of Chola, and makes no mention of a king,
doubtless for the reason that the local raja was a person
of small importance, subordinate to the reigning Pal-
lava King of Kanchi, the powerful Narasimha-varman,
who two years later destroyed the Chalukya power.

In the ninth century, the Chola rajas seem to have
begun to recover their authority, and at the beginning
of the tenth century, an able and vigorous prince, Pa-
rantaka I (907-47 A. D.), succeeded in making himself
formidable to his neighbours, with whom he was con-
stantly at war during his long reign. He claims to have
carried his victorious arms even to Ceylon. Inscrip-
tions recorded in the North Arcot and Chingleput Dis-
tricts prove the extension of his power into the heart
of the Pallava dominions, and are of especial interest
to students of village institutions by reason of the full
details which they give of the manner in which local
affairs were administered by committees, or panchayats,
exercising their power under royal sanction.

Rajaditya, the son and successor of Parantaka, was
killed in battle with Krishnaraja IH, the Rashtrakuta
king, in 949 A. D. His death was followed by a period
of disturbance lasting for thirty-six years, during which
the names of five obscure rajas are recorded.

The accession in A. D. 985 of a strong ruler, Rajaraja-

376 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

deva the Great, put an end to dynastic intrigue, and
placed at the head of the state a man qualified to make
it the leading power in the south. In the course of a
busy reign of some twenty-seven years, Rajaraja passed
from victory to victory, and, when he died, was beyond
dispute the lord paramount of Southern India, ruling
a realm which included nearly the whole of the Madras
Presidency, Ceylon, and a large part of Mysore.

His earliest recorded conquests were won on the
mainland toward the north and west between the
twelfth and fourteenth years of his reign, and com-
prised the Eastern Chalukya kingdom of Vengi, for-
merly held by the Pallavas, Coorg, and extensive
regions in the table-land of the Deccan. During the
next three years, Quilon (Kollam), on the Malabar
coast, and the northern kingdom of Kalinga were added
to his dominions. Protracted campaigns in Ceylon next
occupied Rajaraja, and resulted in the annexation of
the island in the twentieth year of his reign.

The ancient enmity between the Chalukyas and the
Pallavas was inherited by the Chola power, and led to
a four years' war which ended in the defeat of the
Chalukyas, who had not long been freed from subjection
to the Rashtrakutas. Rajaraja, moreover, did not con-
fine his operations to the land.- He possessed a power-
ful navy, and his last martial exploit was the acquisition
of a large number of unspecified islands, meaning, per-
haps, the Laccadives and Maldives.

The magnificent temple at his capital, Tan j ore (Tan-
juvur), built by his command, the walls of which are

VIEW OF THE GREAT TE

RAJARAJA THE GREAT 379

engraved with the story of his victories, stands to this
day as a memorial of his victorious career.

Although himself a worshipper of Siva, he was suf-
ficiently h'beral-minded to endow a Burmese Buddhist
temple at the port of Negapatam, where two such
temples continued to be the object of foreign pilgrim-
ages until the fifteenth century. One of them, probably
that endowed by Rajaraja, survived in a ruinous condi-
tion until 1867, when the remains of it were pulled down
by the Jesuit Fathers and utilized for the construction
of Christian buildings.

Rajendra-Choladeva I, the son and successor of
Rajaraja, continued his father's ambitious career, and
added still more territory to the Chola dominions. He
spent a long reign in war with his neighbours, as be-
fitted a self-respecting king, and carried his arms far
to the north, even into Orissa and Bengal. He did not
neglect the navy, and sent an expedition by sea against
a place called Kadaram, situated somewhere in Lower
Burma or the Indo-Chinese peninsula.

His successor, Rajadhiraja, an equally vigorous
fighter, emphasized his claim to paramount power by
reviving the ancient and costly rite of the horse-sac-
rifice, or asvamedJia. In the year 1059 A. D. he was
killed at the battle of Koppam in Mysore, while fighting
the Chalukyas. The war in which this battle occurred
was waged with great bitterness, owing to the religious
animosity between the combatants.

The next king worthy of notice was Rajendra-Chola-
deva II, son-in-law of the first of that name, and a

380 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

member of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty of Vengi.
That province, situated between the Krishna and Goda-
vari Rivers, had been ruled, after its conquest in the
time of Rajaraja, by the local kings as a fief of the
Tanjore monarchy. In 1070 A. D., however, Rajendra-
Choladeva II took advantage of internal dissensions to
seize the throne of his lord, and thus to found a new
line of Chola-Chalukya kings. His special achievement
in war was his defeat of the Paramara King of Dhara
in Central India.

Vikrama Chola, whose exploits are the subject of
a Tamil poem of some merit, is remembered for a suc-
cessful raid on Kalinga in 1120 A. D.

After the time of Vikrama, the Chola power gradu-
ally declined, and during the thirteenth century the
Pandya Kings of Madura recovered their independence,
and even reduced the Chola rajas to a position of in-
feriority. The Mohammedan invasion under Malik
Kafur in 1310 deprived the Chola kingdom of its impor-
tance, but local chiefs of the old dynasty may be traced
as late as the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

IV THE PALLAVA CONFEDERACY

Although the Pallavas seem to have been the pre-
mier power in the south for more than four centuries,
it is strange that no mention of them is to be found
either in the vernacular historical legends or in the
native dynastic lists. They had been forgotten, and
remained unknown to European inquirers until the acci-

THE PALLAVA CONFEDERACY 381

dental discovery of a copper-plate grant in 1840 re-
minded the world that such a dynasty had existed.
Sixty years of patient archaeological research have
elicited so many facts that it is now possible to write
an outline of Pallava history, with some breaks, from
the second century A. D. to the Chola conquest in 996,
and for the last few centuries of that long period to
write it almost continuously.

The origin of the Pallava clan or tribe is obscure.
The name appears to be identical with Pahlava, the
appellation of a foreign clan or tribe frequently men-
tioned in inscriptions and Sanskrit literature, and ulti-
mately with Parthiva, or Parthian.

This apparently sound etymology naturally suggests
the theory that the Pallavas, who became a ruling race
in the south, must have come originally from the coun-
tries beyond the northwestern frontier of India, and
gradually worked their way down to Malabar and the
Coromandel coast. This theory is supported by the
ascertained fact that Pahlavas formed a distinct and
noticeable element in the population of Western India
early in the second century, when they were classed
by native writers with the Sakas and Yavanas as
objects of hostility to native kings.

Vilivayakura II, the Andhra king (113 to 138 A. D.),
prided himself on his prowess in expelling the Sakas,
Yavanas, and Pahlavas from his dominions on the west-
ern coast; and it is reasonable to believe that some of
the defeated clans retired into the interior toward the
east and south. The Sakas retained the government of

382 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

the peninsula of Surashtra until the closing years of the
fourth century, but no Pahlava principality in Western
India is mentioned, and it is quite credible that the
Pahlavas may have sought their fortune in the south.

When first heard of in the second century A. D. the
Pallavas are already a ruling race, and their king, Siva-
skanda-varman, was lord of so many subordinate chiefs
that he considered himself authorized to perform the
asvamedha, or horse-sacrifice, a rite permissible only
to a paramount sovereign.

On the whole, although positive evidence of the
supposed migration is lacking, it is highly probable
that the Pallavas were really identical with the Pah-
lavas, and were a foreign tribe which gradually fought
its way across India and formed three principalities
at Kanchi, Vengi, and Palakkada, which were known
as " the three Pallava dominions." This movement
from the west must have occupied a considerable time,
and may be assumed to have ended before 150 A. D.
The three Pallava chiefs seem to have belonged to
different sections of the tribe, which had become thor-
oughly Hinduized, with a special leaning, occasionally
to Buddhism and Vishnuism, but more often to the
Saiva faith.

The home territories actually colonized and directly
administered by the Pallavas do not seem to have been
very extensive. The Pallava power was superimposed
upon the ancient territorial states, much in the same
way as the Mahratta power was in later times, and
presumably was confined ordinarily to the levying of

EXTENT OF THE PALLAVA KINGDOM 383

tribute and blackmail. This view of the nature of the
Pallava government explains the fact that its existence
was forgotten.

Every man could tell the position of the Chola
country, but nobody could define the Pallava country,
the extent of which depended on the relative strength
of a predatory tribe. In fact, during the seventh cen-
tury, almost the whole of the traditional " Chola coun-
try " was in subjection to the Pallavas, and the special
Chola territory was limited to a small and unhealthy
tract in the north. About the time (642 to 655 A. D.)
the Pallavas succeeded in imposing their rule for a
few years upon the whole of the Western Chalukya
kingdom, and at an unspecified date they levied tribute
even from the Kalinga territory in the north.

The three Pallava chiefs held their courts at Kanchi,
or Conjevaram, a strongly fortified town, between
Madras and Arcot; at Vengi, between the deltas of the
Krishna and Godavari; and at Palakkada, or Palghat,
in Malabar, situated at the gap in the Western Ghats.
A town named Dasanapura, from which some grants
were issued, does not seem to have been the capital
of a principality, and may have been only a precinct
of Kanchi, which was always the headquarters of the
clan.

In religion the Pallavas were, so far as is known,
orthodox Hindus, with the exception of one Buddhist
chief, Simha-varman n, who is described as a lay wor-
shipper of Buddha, and as having presented an image
at Amaravati. Several of the princes were devoted to

384 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

the worship of Vishnu, but in later times the rajas
inclined to the cult of Siva, and adopted the figure of
a bull as the family crest.

The celebrated rock-cut temples at Mamallaipuram
near Madras, commonly called the " Seven Pagodas,"
were excavated under the orders of various kings of the
dynasty during the sixth and seventh centuries, as
were also the cave-temples at Mahendravadi and Ma-
mandur in North Arcot. The temples at the former
place, three Saiva and one Vaishnava, date from the
reign of Mahendra-varman I, who came to the throne
about A. D. 600.

The first Pallava king about whom anything sub-
stantial is known was Sivaskanda-varman, who lived
in the second century A. D. His capital, although not
expressly named, was doubtless Kanchi, and his power
extended into the Telugu country as far as the Krishna
River, over territory included at times in the Andhra
kingdom. He had officers stationed at Amaravati
(Dhanakataka) , the famous Buddhist holy place, but
he himself was an orthodox Hindu, with a special devo-
tion for Siva. The king's boast that he had celebrated
the asvamedha, or horse-sacrifice, is good evidence that
he exercised jurisdiction over a considerable number
of subordinate rajas. He confirmed a grant made by
an ancestor named Bappa, possibly his father, who
may be regarded as the founder of the dynasty.

The next glimpse of the Pallavas is obtained two
centuries later from the record of the temporary con-
quests effected by the northern monarch, Samudra-

GRANTS BY THE PALLAVA CROWN 385

gupta, who claims to have defeated eleven kings of
the south. Among these rajas three seem to have
been Pallavas, namely, Vishnugopa of Kanchi, Ugra-
sena of Palakka (=Palakkada), and Hasti-varman of
Vengi.

The last-named prince may be reasonably identified
with King Attivarma, who issued an undated grant in
the Prakrit tongue, which was found in the Guntur
District to the south of the Krishna River. It is pos-
sible that the Vishnugopa of Kanchi, conquered by
Samudragupta, may be identical with the yuvaraja, or
crown prince of the same name, who issued a grant in
the Sanskrit language during the reign of his elder
brother Simha-varman, but it is more probable that
the author of the grant was distinct from and later
than the foe of Samudragupta.

The grant made by the crown prince is but one of
several illustrations of the Pallava custom, in virtue
of which the heir apparent was associated in the gov-
ernment with his father or elder brother as colleague
for years before he obtained the succession in natural
course. Much confusion in chronology results when
the years of office as crown prince are combined with
the regnal years after accession. The Dravidian fashion
of dating, which was also used in the early Andhra
records, is peculiar, in that the division of the year
into months is ignored, and the date is expressed by
quoting the serial number of the fortnight in each of
the three seasons hot, rainy, and cold; as, for example,
an inscription of Sivaskanda-varman is dated on the

386 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

fifth day of the sixth fortnight of the rainy season in
the eighth regnal year.

Several Pallava grants are known to have been
issued from the court at Palakkada, and it is reasonable
to assume that Ugrasena of Palakka was a Pallava,
a kinsman and subordinate of the King of Kanchi, like
Hasti-varman of Vengi. An early inscription of ap-
proximately the same period, found in Mysore, mentions
a grant of land " on the shore of the western ocean '
as having been made by the Pallava sovereign of
Kanchi.

From all these particulars the conclusion may be
drawn that in the fourth century three Pallava chiefs
were established at Kanchi, Vengi, and Palakkada, the
latter two being subordinate to the first, and that Pal-
lava rule extended from the Godavari on the north to
the Pandya boundary, or the Southern Vellaru River,
on the south, while it stretched across Mysore from
sea to sea.

A raja named Simha-varman H, son of the Crown
Prince Vishnugopa previously mentioned, issued a
grant in the eighth year of his reign from Dasanapura.
His father's grant and this document, when read to-
gether, give a complete genealogy of the Kings of
Kanchi for five generations and an equal number of
reigns, covering a period of about a century, but, un-
fortunately, neither the initial nor the terminal year
of this period can be fixed with precision.

Numerous documents executed by both Pallava and
Chalukya kings during the sixth, seventh, and eighth

THE PALLAVA CAPITAL 387

centuries, furnished with copious genealogical details,
supply sufficient material for the reconstruction of the
outline of Pallava history during the period extending
from about 575 to 770 A. D.

The Pallava dominion was evidently of wide extent
during the reign of Simhavishnu, who claims to have
defeated the King of Ceylon, as well as sundry conti-
nental kings, including the Chola, Pandya, and Kerala
rajas. His successor, Mahendra-varman I, was contem-
porary with the earlier years of Pulikesin IE, the great-
est of the Western Chalukya sovereigns, who fought his
way to the throne in 608 A. D. and was crowned in the
following year. The ambition of this monarch naturally
brought him into conflict with the Pallavas, at that
time the leading power of the south.

About the year 609 or 610 A. D., Pulikesin defeated
Mahendra-varman, and drove him to take shelter behind
the walls of his capital, Kanchi. The seriousness of
the defeat is proved by the fact that the province of
Vengi, which had been in the possession of a Pallava
chieftain for centuries, was annexed by the Chalukya
king, who placed it in charge of Vishnuvardhana, his
younger brother. After a few years, in or about
620 A. D., this prince established himself as an inde-
pendent sovereign, and so founded the Eastern Cha-
lukya line, which subsisted as a separate dynasty until
1070 A. D., when it was merged in the Chola dynasty.

Notwithstanding the loss of this important province,
the Pallava king claimed to have gained a victory over
the invader at Pullalura near Kanchi. This boast prob-

388 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

ably means that Pulikesin was repulsed in an attempt
to seize the Pallava capital, and was compelled to retire
to his own territory.

Hiuen Tsang, who visited Kanchi in the year
640 A. D., during the reign of Narasimha-varman I, and
stayed there for a considerable time, calls the country

PAVILION, LITTLE CONJEVARAM.

of which Kanchi was the capital by the name of
Dravida, and describes it as about a thousand miles
in circuit. It corresponded, therefore, very closely with
the traditional " Chola country r (CJiola-mandalam)
between the Pennar and Southern Vellaru Rivers. The
soil was fertile and regularly cultivated, producing
abundance of grain, flowers, and fruits. The capital
was a large city, five or six miles in circumference.

WARS OF THE PALLAVAS 389

The pilgrim had intended to proceed thence to Cey-
lon by sea, a three days' journey, but he learned that
it was in a state of disorder, and abandoned the pro-
posed visit. While staying at Kanchi he occupied him-
self in collecting from his informants the Buddhist
legends current in the island, and in recording such
particulars as interested him concerning the Indian
kingdoms of the extreme south, which he was unable
to visit personally. He then turned to the northwest,
across Mysore, until he reached the kingdom of Kong-
kin-na-pu-lo in the west, and so made his way into
the kingdom of the Chalukya sovereign, Pulikesin n,
which he calls Maharashtra.

In the Pallava realm of Kanchi he found some hun-
dreds of Buddhist monasteries, occupied by a large
number of monks, estimated at ten thousand, all at-
tached, like the majority of the Ceylonese, to the Stha-
vira school of the Mahayana, as well as about eighty
Brahmanical temples, and numerous adherents of the
Jain or Nirgrantha sect, which had gained great vogue
in Southern India from very early times. In the king-
dom of Kong-kin-na-pu-lo, the exact situation of which
is uncertain, there was a similar mixture of religions,
and " several hundred temples, in which many sectaries
dwell together," were to be seen.

The war between the Pallavas and Chalukyas, ini-
tiated by Pulikesin n, proved to be of long duration,
and in its course fortune favoured sometimes one, and
sometimes another combatant. Pulikesin himself ex-
perienced the full bitterness of the instability of for-

390 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

tune and in 642 A. D., at the close of his reign and life,
suffered the mortification of seeing his kingdom over-
run, and his capital, Vatapi (Badami), taken by the
Pallava king, Narasimha-varman I. The Chalukya
power then remained in abeyance for some thirteen
years, during which the Pallavas governed the kingdom,
doubtless through the agency of local rajas.

In or about 655 A. D., Vikramaditya I, a son of
Pulikesin, retrieved the fortunes of his family, and
recovered his father's dominions from Paramesvara-
varman, who had succeeded to the Pallava throne.
During this war Kanchi was taken and occupied for a
time by the Chalukyas. On the other hand, the Pallavas
claimed a victory gained at Peruvalanallur.

The perennial conflict continued during the succeed-
ing reigns, and Kanchi was again taken by Vikrama-
ditya n Chalukya, about 740 A. D., in the reign of Nandi-
varman Pallava, who may be considered the last of his
line to enjoy extensive dominion.

When the Rashtrakutas supplanted the Chalukyas
in the middle of the eighth century, the traditional hos-
tility of the two powers was not abated, and the new
rulers took up the old quarrel with the Pallavas. King
Dhruva, cousin of Dantidurga, who had overthrown
the Chalukya dynasty, inflicted a defeat on the Pallavas
about 775 A. D., and his son, Govinda HI, levied tribute
from Dantiga, King of Kanchi, in 803 A. D.

During the tenth century we hear of wars between
the Pallavas and the Ganga Kings of Gangavadi, or
Mysore, who are now commonly known as the Western

THE END OF THE PALLAVAS 391

Gangas, in order to distinguish them from the family
of the same name which ruled Kalinga, and held court
at Kalinganagara, the modern Mukhalingam in the
Ganjam District.

Toward the close of the tenth century, Rajaraja the
Great, the Chola king (985-1011 A. D.), succeeded in
reducing to subjection all the kingdoms of the south,
and in making himself lord paramount of Southern
India. This able monarch annexed Vengi in 996 A. D.,
and in subsequent years brought under his sway both
Kalinga and the territories of the Rashtrakutas, which
had been recovered by Taila, the Chalukya king, in
973 A. D. The operations of Rajaraja put an end to
the Pallava independent power, which had lasted for
more than eight centuries.

The later Pallava chiefs sank into the position of
mere feudatory nobles and officials in the service of
the territorial kingdoms, and it is on record that the
Pallava raja took the first place among the feudatories
of King Vikrama Chola early in the twelfth century.
The rajas can be traced as in possession of limited local
power down to the thirteenth century, and Pallava
nobles are mentioned as late as the close of the seven-
teenth century.

The raja of the Pudukottai tributary state, who is
the recognized head of the Kallar tribe, still styles him-
self Raja Pallava, and claims descent from the ancient
royal family. The Vellalas, who admittedly hold the
first place among the Tamil-speaking agricultural
classes, profess to be descended in the female line from

392 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

the Pallava kings, with whom the Palli caste, as well
as the Kallar, boasts a connection. The latter caste
exercised, during the eighteenth century, a formidable
control over the peaceable inhabitants of the Carnatic,
from whom its members levied blackmail on a regular
system, and so probably continued the practice which
had made the Pallavas a terror to their neighbours
in the early centuries of the Christian era.

CHRONOLOGICAL APPENDIXES

APPENDIX I

CHRONOLOGY (APPROXIMATE) OF SAISUNAGA AND NANDA

DYNASTIES

Serial
No.

King
(Vayu Parana).

Length of Reign.

Probable
date of
Accession.

Remarks.

Vayu P.

Assumed.

SAISUNAGA

DYNASTY.

B. C.

Sisunaga . . .

40 "I

600

Sakavarna . .
Kshemadharman

36 Lo ft

20 r 136

...

^Nothing known.

Kshattraujas . .

40J

...

Bimbisara . . .

519

Built New Rajagriha; an-

nexed Anga; contempo-

rary with Mahavira and

Gautama Buddha ; voy-

age of Skylax, dr. 500.

Ajatasatru . .

491

Parricide; death of Ma-

havira, dr. 490 ; death

of Buddha, 487; built

fort of Pataliputra ;

wars with Kosala and

Vai>ali.

Darsaka . . .

459

Nothing known.

(Harshaka)

Udaya ....

434

Built city of Pataliputra.

9
10

Nandivardhana .
Mahanandin . .

42) a*
43 { 85

401

I Nothing known.

Total . .

332

239

Average ,

33.2

23.9

NANDA

DYNASTY.

11 1

12 |

Mahapadma, etc.
9; 2 generations

I 100

361

MAURYA

DYNASTY.

Chandragupta .

321

Bindusara . . .

297

Asoka ....

272

Tibetan tradition reck-

Death of Asoka .

dr. 232

ons 10 reigns from No.

6, Ajatasatru, to No. 15,

End of Maurya
Dynasty.

dr. 184

Asoka, inclusive ; and
places Asoka's accession
in 234 A. B. (Rockhill,

Life of the Buddha, pp.

33, 233). He IB said to

have visited Khotan in

250 and 254 A. B. (J.A.

S.B. 1886, part 1, pp.

195, 197).

APPENDIX II

CHRONOLOGY OF THE INDIAN CAMPAIGN OF ALEXANDER THE

GREAT

FROM MAY, 327, TO MAY, 324 B. c.

DATE B. C.

327
Early in May

June . . .

August . .
September .

November . .
December . .

326

January . . .
February . .
March . . .
April ....
May ....
Beginning of

July
July ....

August . . .
September . .

Sept.-October .
End of October

325

January . . .
Till September

Beginning of

October
End of October

The Advance.

Passage of Hindu Kush mountains over the Ehawak and
Kaoshan passes.

From Nikaia (Jalalabad), Alexander with picked force pro-
ceeds to the subjugation of the mountains; Hephaistion
with rest of army advancing to the Indus through the
valley of the Kabul River.

Capture of stronghold of Astes (Hasti) by Hephaistion after
thirty days' siege.

Alexander subdivides his force, advancing in person against
the Aspasians ; he crosses the Gouraios (Panjkora) River,
captures Massaga of the Assakenians (probably Manglaur
on Suwat River), and massacres 7,000 Indian mercenaries.

Siege of Aornos (Mali ab an).

Capture of Aornos (Mahaban).

Arrival of Alexander at bridge-head at Ohind.

Halt of army for thirty days.

Passage of Indus " in beginning of spring ; " halt at Taxila.

Advance eastward.

Arrival at the Hydaspes (Jihlam) River.

Battle of the Hydaspes ; defeat of Poros.

Foundation of Nikaia and Boukephala ; passage of the Ake-
sines (Chinab) River near the foot of the hills.

Passage of the Hydraotes (Ravi) River, and conflict with the
Kathaeans.

Arrival at the Hyphasis (Bias) River; refusal of army to
proceed farther.

The Retreat.

Retirement to the Hydaspes (Jihlam) River.
Commencement of voyage down the rivers, and of march of
army escorting the fleet.

Collapse of the Mallian power.

Voyage continued, fighting with the Sogdoi, Sambos, Mousi-

kanos, etc.
Departure of Alexander to march through Gedrosia.

Nearchos starts on voyage to the Persian Gulf.
396

CHRONOLOGICAL APPENDIXES

397

DATE B. C.

324

Early in Jan. .

January . . .
February . .
End of April or

beginning of

May

323

June

Arrival of Alexander at Poura (Bampur), the Gedrosian

capital, sixty days distant from Ora.
Halt of army at Poura.
March through Karmania, about 300 miles.
Arrival at Susa in Persia, after about 500 miles of marching

from western frontier of Karmania.

Death of Alexander at Babylon.

NOTE The time spent by Alexander in India proper, from his passage

of the Indus in March, 326, until his departure for Gedrosia in September, 325,
was about nineteen months. The voyage down the river occupied about ten
months out of this period, and the march from India to Susa was effected in
about seven months. The march from the Bactrian frontier, that is to say, from
the Hindu Rush to the Indus, and the subjugation of the mountain tribes on
the northwestern frontier of India were completed in ten months.

I. May, 327, to February, 326, inclusive : march from Hindu Kush to Indus,
ten months.

II. March, 326, to September, 325, inclusive : in India proper, nearly nineteen
months.

III. October, 325, to April, 324, inclusive : march to Susa, seven months.

TOTAL DURATION OF EXPEDITION, THREE YEARS.

APPENDIX III

THE MAURYA DYNASTY

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

YKAB B.C.

EVENT.

326 or 325
Sept., 325
Feb., 324 .

June, 323 .
Oct., 323-322

321. . . .

315. . . .

312

Oct. 1, 312 .

306. . . .

305 or 304 .

303. . . .

303-301 . .

302. . . .

301. . . .

297. . . .

circa 296 . .

285. . . .

280. . . .

278 or 277 .

272. . . .

269. . . .

264. . . .

261. . . .

259. . . .

258. . . .
257.

256.

255.

?254
250.

Chaudragupta Maurya in his youth met Alexander the Great.

Alexander quitted India.

Alexander, while in Karmania, received news of the murder of

his satrap Philippos, in India; and placed Eudamos and

Ambhi, King of Taxila, in charge of the Indian provinces.
Death of Alexander at Babylon.
Revolt of Panjab under Chandragupta Maurya.
Destruction of Nanda dynasty of Magadha ; accession of Chan-
dragupta Maurya as Emperor of India.
Second partition of Alexander's empire at Triparadeisos.
Seleukos Nikator compelled by Antigonos to retire to Egypt.
Recovery of Babylon by Seleukos.
Establishment of Seleukidan era.
Assumption by Seleukos of title of king.
Invasion of India by Seleukos.
Defeat of Seleukos by Chandragupta ; treaty of peace ; cession of

a large part of Ariana by Seleukos.
March of Seleukos against Antigonos.
Megasthenes ambassador of Seleukos at Pataliputra.
Defeat and death of Antigonos at Ipsos in Phrygia.
Accession of Bindusara Amitraghata as Emperor of India.
Deimachos ambassador of Seleukos at Pataliputra.
Ptolemy Philadelphos, King of Egypt, ace.

Seleukos Nikator, King of Syria, d. ; Antiochos Soter, his son, ace.
Antigonos Gonatas, King of Macedonia, grandson of Antiochos I,

ace.
Alexander, King of Epirus, son of Pyrrhus, and opponent of

Antigonos Gonatas, ace.

Accession of Asoka-vardhana as Emperor of India.
Coronation (abhisheka) of Asoka.
Outbreak of First Punic War.
Conquest of Kalinga by Asoka ; Antiochos Theos, King of Syria,

son of Antiochos Soter, ace.
Asoka abolished hunting, instituted tours devoted to works of

piety, and despatched missionaries.
Magas, King of Cyrene, half-brother of Ptolemy Philadelphos,

died ; (?) Alexander, King of Epirus, died.
Rock Edicts III and IV of Asoka, who instituted quinquennial

official progresses for propagation of Law of Piety (dharma), and

dedicated cave-dwellings at Barabar for the use of the Ajivikas.
Publication of complete series of Fourteen Rock Edicts, and of

the Kalinga Borderers' Edict by Asoka, who appointed Censors

of the Law of Piety (dharmamahamatraJi).
Asoka enlarged for the second time the stupa of Konakamana

Buddha near Kapilavastu.

Publication by Asoka of the Kalinga Provincials' Edict.
Dedication by Asoka of a third cave-dwelling at Barabar for the

use of the Ajivikas.

398

CHRONOLOGICAL APPENDIXES

399

249. . .

247. . .
247 or 246

243. . .

242 . . .
242 or 239
241 . . .
?240 . .
V232-2C1

?224
?216
7206

?199
?191
184.

Pilgrimage of Asoka to Buddhist holy places ; erection of pillars
at Lumbini Garden and a stupa of Kouakatnana ; (?) his visit to
Nepal, and foundation of Lalita Patan ; his daughter Charumati
becomes a nun.

Ptolemy Philadelphos, King of Egypt, died.

Antiochos Theos, King of Syria, grandson of Seleukos Nikator,
died ; revolt about this time of Diodotos (Theodotos), and sepa-
ration of Bactria from the Seleukidan empire.

Composition by Asoka of Pillar Edict VI, confirming the Rock
Edicts.

Publication by Asoka of complete series of Seven Pillar Edicts

Antigonos Gonatas, King of Macedonia, died.

Close of First Punic War ; rise of the kingdom of Pergamum.

Supplementary Pillar Edicts of Asoka.

Publication of Minor Rock Edicts and Bhabra Edict ; Asoka died ;
Dasaratha (Kusala, Vayu P.), Emperor of India, ace., and dedi-
cated Nagarjuni caves to the Ajivikas; break-up of Maurya em-
pire began.

Sangata Maurya, king (Bandhupalita, Vayu P.)

Salisuka Maurya, king (Indrapalita, Vayu P.).

Somasarman Maurya, king (Dasavarman, or Devavarman, Vayu
P.).

Satadhanwan Maurya, king (Satadhara, Vayu P.).

Brihadratha Maurya, king (Brihadasva, Vayu P.).

Pushyamitra Sunga, ace., having slain Brihadratha; final destruc-
tion of Maurya empire.

APP1
CHRONOLOGY OF THE SUNG A,

SDNOA DYNASTY.

KANVA DYNASTY.

No.

King.

Length of Reign.

A(!ces
siou.

No.

King.

Length of Reign.

Acces-
sion.

Traditional.

Assn-
metl.

Traditional.

Assu-
med.

B. C.

Pushy aniitra (v. I.

60 (Vayu); 36

184

Pushpamitra)

(Matsya); 30

(Jain)

Agnimitra ....

8 (Brahmanda,

148

au d V ayu,

sons of P., un-

named)

Sujyeshtha ....

7 ( Vayu and

140

Matsya)

Vasumitra ....

8 (Vayu); 10

133

(Matsya)

Andraka (v. I. Antaka,

2 ( Vayu and

125

etc.)

Matsya)

Puiiudaka (v. I. Ma-

3 ( Vayu and

123

dhunandana, etc.)

Matsya)

G h o s h a v a s u (v. I.

3 ( Vayu and

120

Magha ?)

Matsya)

Vajramitra (v. I. Vi-

14 (Vayu); 9

117

kramitra ?)

(Matsya)

Bhagavata ....

32 (Vayu and

108

D e v a b h u m i (v. I.

10 (Vayu and

Kshemabhuini, etc.)

Matsya)

112

1 1

B. C.

] .,

End of Dynasty. .

Vasudeva .

9 (Vayu and

Matsya)

l:.

Bhumimitra

14 (ditto) . .

Narayana .

12 (ditto) . .

141

Susarman .

10 (ditto) . .

End of

Dynasty . .

Mos 21-23 torm a distinct group, with peculiar names, and "bow and arrow " coins. J True length of reign of Nc

IX IV

NVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

ANDHRA DYNASTY.

AVHHKA DYNASTY (continued).

King.

Length of Reign.

Acces-
sion.

No.

King.

Length of Reign.

A '('''"
sion.

Traditional.

Assu-
med.

Traditional.

Assu-
med.

B. C.

A. D.

.mka (v. I. Sisuka,

23 (Vayu and

220

Mandalaka (v. I. Man-

" ( Vayu and

tc.)

Matsya)

talaka, etc.)

Mattjja)

isbna ....

18 (Matsya);

197

Purindrasena (v. I.

5 (Matsya); 21

? 10 or 18

Purishasena, etc.)

(Vayu)

Sundara Satakarni .

1 (Matsya); 3

Malla Satakarni

56 (Vayu); 18

179

(Vayu)

(Matsya)

Vilivayakura I (Va-

1 ( Vayu and

rnotsanga [omit-

18 ( Vayu and

169

sishthiputra = Cha-

Matsya)

ng Srivasvani or

Matsya)

kora or Rajada Sata-

kandastambhi of

karni)

latsya R. only]

Sivalakura (Madha-

28 (Vayu and

Satakarni . . .

56 (Matsya and

151

riputra Sakasena

Matsya)

? Vayu)

(duration

= Siva Satakarui

mbodara . . .

18 (Vayu and
Matsi/a)

adjusted)

111

(-svati)
Vilivayakura II (Gau-

21 (Vayu and

261

113

itaka (v. I. Api-

12 (Vayu and

tainiputra Sri Sata-

Matsya)

ika, etc.)
:igha (v. I. Megha-
vati etc.)

Matsya)
18 (Matsya)

karni)
Pulumayi II (Vasi-
shthiputra Sri P.

28 (Vayu and
Matsya)

138

Satakarui (v I
atasvati)

18 (Matsya)

Satakarui)
Siva Sri (Vasishthi-

7 (Matsya)

170

andasvati, i. e
kanda Satakarni

7 (Matsya)

putra)
Siva Skanda Sata-

7 (Matsya) (v. I.

177

igeudra Satakarni

3 (Matsya)

karni
Yajua Sri (Gautami-

9 )

20 (Matsya)

184

.ntala Satakarui

8 (Matsya)

pntra Svaiui Sri Y.
Satakarni)

(v. I. ); 19
(Vayu)

a Satakarni . .

1 (Matsya)

Vijaya (Sri Satakarni)

6 (Vayu and
Matsya)

213

lumayi I (v. I. cor-
upt forms)

36 (Matsya);
24 (Vayu)

(duration
adjtiftcd)

A. D.

Vada Sri (Vasishthi-
putra Sri V. Sata-

}(n .Matsya);
:; ( Vayu)

219

gha Satakarni

38 (Matsya)

karni)
Pulumayi III ...

1 ( Vayu and

Matsya)

'ishta Satakarni

25 ( Vayu and

Z. Nemikrishna

.JfaJsya)

4561

236

tc.)

6 (Matsya); 1

(Fayu)

21, 27 determined approximately by inscriptions. 30 kings, according to Vishnu Parana, reigning for 486K year*.

APPENDIX V

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF BACTRIAN AND INDO- GREEK KINGS

AND QUEENS

SERIAL
NO.

NAME.

OBEEK TITLE OB
EPITHET.

BEMABKS.

Agathokleia .

Theotropos

Queen, or mother, of Strato I.

Agathokles . .

Dikaios . . .

Probably succeeded Pantaleon, No. 28,

and contemporary with Euthydemos

I or Demetrios.

Amyntas . .

Nikator . . .

A little earlier than Hennaios.

Antialkidas

Nikephoros

Contemporary with early years of

Eukratides, dr. 170 B. c.

Antimachos I .

Theos . . .

Probably succeeded Diodotos H, No.

13, in Kabul.

Antimachos II

Nikephoros

Later than Eukratides, No. 17, or pos-

sibly contemporary.

Apollodotos .

S o t e r, Megas,

Probably son of Eukratides, and king

Philopator .

of entire Indian frontier.

Apollophanes .

Soter ....

Probably contemporary with Strato I

or II.

Archebios . .

Dikaios, Nike-

Probably connected with Heliokles.

phoros

Artemidoros .

Aniketos . .

Later than Menander.

Demetrios . .

Aniketos . .

Son of Euthydemos I, No. 18.

T^i r\r\ f\ir\fi T

No coins known.

J-/lUClUtUo JL

Diodotos II

Soter. . . .

Son of No. 12.

Diomedes . .

Soter. . . .

Apparently connected with Eukratides,

No. 17.

Dionysios . .

Soter. . . .

Later than Apollodotos.

Epander . .

Nikephoros

Probably later than Eukratides, No.

17.

Eukratides . .

Megas . . .

Contemporary with Mithradates I.

Euthydemos I .

Subsequent to Diodotos II, No. 13.

19
20

Euthydemos II
Heliokles . .

Probably son of No. 11.
Son of No. 17 ; last of Bactrian dynasty.

Dikaios . . .

Herraaios . .

Soter ....

Last Indo-Greek king.

Hippostratos .

Soter, Megas .

Probably succeeded Apollodotoa.

It ft.1 1 1 A YIA

Queen of Hermaios.

I v (I i 1 M I | IT ,

Laodike . . .

^__

Mother of Eukratides.

Lysias . . .

Aniketos . .

Predecessor of Antialkidas, No. 4.

Menander . .

Soter, Dikaios

Later than Eukratides, invaded India

about 155 B. c.

Nikias . . .

Soter. . . .

Later than Eukratides.

Pantaleon . .

Contemporary with Euthydemos I or

Demetrios, probably preceded Aga-

thokles, No. 2.

Peukelaos . .

Dikaios, Soter

Contemporary with Hippoatratos (/.

A. S. B., 1898, part i, p. 131).

Philoxenos . .

Aniketos .

Probably succeeded Antimachos II,

No. 6.

40:',

CHRONOLOGICAL APPENDIXES

SERIAL
NO.

NAME.

GREEK TITLE OK
EPITHET.

REMARKS.

Plato. . . .

Epiphanes . .

165 B. c., contemporary with Eukra-

tides, No. 17.

(?) Polyxenos .

Epiphanes,

Num. Chron., 1896, p. 269 : Mr. Rapson

Soter

doubts the genuineness of the unique

coin described.

Strato I ...

Soter, Epipha-

Contemporary with Heliokles.

nes, Dikaios

Strato II . .

Soter. . . .

Son, or grandson, of No. 33. *

Telephos . .

Euergetes . .

J. A. S. B., 1898, part i, p. 130.

Theophilos

Dikaios . . .

J. A. S. B., 1897, part i, p. 1 ; con-

nected with Lysias.

Zoilos . . .

Soter, Dikaios

Apparently later than Apollodotos.

8Sg

= fc.-i.5O

c s cs o

1 S 2 -*-

3 isss

<H - a -
o c-og
5 gias

1 I' S ^

Indian conquests of
Dcmetrios.

* i

- -

1 o

^^ 1

c| *S
l
3g ^.f

I s 1-

ll*

Ifl

rfll

ooO

Interior India.

i
*

S, . g .

03 S)
' B '

& z

1 I

. s

3 I
i 3 * "3*

3 "

1 ::

o
o

i- <

1
F W. Indian Frontier, Panjab, and Kabul

M .1 ii M ;i dynasty
>emetrios Antimachos Pantaleon

Cuthydemos II Agathokles

Menander (Kabul)
Lpollodotos

princes

trato I Maues ace. Satraps of
Taxi la and
Itrato II Mathura
. . Vonones Various Greek
ace. princes

. Azes I ace.
. Gondophares ace. Hermaios

r ^ j-.

O "*

S 2

E
a

1 ^

5 25

' i a

. .0 .5

s. *\ . ..

i - 1

i s 1

| -E|j5 ^|

s ^

s 1 1

1 ill ll

S S w

H E s ^j 1 *

. ll I

.0 "'C 2

H.JJ.. 1. . .

J-a IK a

II s| 1

So "3.3 o
S3 fl 33

vv ttvtt <i vtt

;

pio-r} oio co>-i jeji

3l-t*tO *i ? *^_L WN

H ^- ^ i-4 ^4^4 *^W ^4*^

. . . . .JJ

8 2SSS

c c fi C

405

APPENDIX VI
APPROXIMATE KUSHAN CHRONOLOGY

B.C.

165

c. 163

c. 160

c. 150-140

c. 140

c. 138
c. 135

c. 125
c. 122
c. 114

c. 70

c. 65

c. 13
B.C. 2

A. D.

8
14

c. 24

c. 45

c. 45-60

c. 64

68,69

c. 85

c. 90-100
96

Expulsion of main body of Yueh-chi horde from Kan-suh by the
Hiung-nu.

Nan-tiu-mi, chief of the Wu-sun, killed by the Yueh-chi.

Yueh-chi occupation of the Saka territory ; Saka migration.

Saka invasion of India.

Expulsion of Yueh-chi from Saka territory by Koen-muo, the young
Wu-sun chief, son of Nan-tiu-mi.

Reduction of the Ta-hia, both north and south of the Oxus, to vas-
salage by the Yueh-chi, who begin to settle down.

Despatch by Chinese Emperor Wu-ti of Chang-kien as envoy to the
Yueh-chi.

Arrival of Chang-kien at Yueh-chi headquarters, north of the Oxus.

Return of Chang-kien to China.

Death of Chang-kien.

Extension of Yueh-chi settlements to the lands south of the Oxus ;
occupation of Ta-hia capital, Lan-sheu, south of the river, prob-
ably = Balkh.

Formation of five Yueh-chi principalities, including Kushan and
Bamian.

Epoch of the Malava or Vikrama era.

Indian embassy to Augustus.

The Chinese graduate, King-hien, or King-lu, instructed in Buddhist
books by a Yueh-chi king.

Temporary cessation of intercourse between China and the West.

Augustus, Roman Emperor, died ; Tiberius ace.

End of First, or Early Han dynasty of China.

Gaius (Caligula), Roman Emperor, ace.

Claudius, Roman Emperor, ace.

Kadphises I Kushan (Kieu-tsieu-kio, Kozolakadaphes, etc.) ace.

Consolidation of the five Yueh-chi principalities into Kushan empire
under Kadphises I ; conquest by him of Kabul (Kao-f u), ? Bactria
(Pota), and ? Kashmir (Ki-pin) ; Hermaios, Greek king in Kabul
and Pan jab, contemporary.

Nero, Roman Emperor, ace.

Buddhist books sent for by Chinese Emperor, Ming-ti.

Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, Roman Emperors.

Vespasian, Roman Emperor (ace. Dec. 22, 69).

Publication of Pliny's Natural History.

Epoch of the Saka, or Salivahana era.

Titus, Roman Emperor, ace.

Domitian, Roman Emperor, ace.

Death of Kadphises I, at age of 80 ; Kadphises II, his son, ace.
(= Yen-kao-ching, Hima Kadphises, etc.) ; the " Nameless King,"
Soter Meyas, contemporary and subordinate.

Kadphises II defeated by Chinese general Pan-ch'ao, and compelled
to pay tribute to China.

Annexation of Northern India, and destruction of Indo-Parthian power
in the Panjab by Kadphises II.

Nerva, Roman Emperor, ace.
406

CHBONOLOGICAL APPENDIXES

407

DATE.

A. I).

105

116

117

123-6

c. 123

c. 125-30

131-6

c. 135
138

c. 140
150

c. 153
161

162-5
175
180

c. 185
192, 193
193

c. 200
211
216
217
218
222
226

260
273
360

Trajan, Roman Emperor, ace.

Arrival of Trajan in Rome.

Overthrow by the Romans of the Nabataean kingdom of Petra in
Arabia ; rise of Palmyra ; Indian embassy to Trajan about this
time.

Conquest of Mesopotamia by Trajan.

Hadrian, Roman Emperor, ace. ; retrocession of Mesopotamia.

Residence of Hadrian at Athens.

Kanishka Kushan ace.

Conquest by Kanishka of Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan ; war with
King of Pataliputra.

War of Hadrian with the Jews.

Conversion of Kanishka to Buddhism.

Antoninus Pius, Roman Emperor, ace.

Buddhist Council in (?) Kashmir.

Junagarh inscription of Rudradaman, Western satrap.

Huvishka (Hushka) Kushan ace.

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Roman Emperor, ace.

Defeat of Parthian King, Vologeses III, by the Romans.

Eastern campaign of Marcus Aurelius.

Commodus, Roman Emperor, ace.

Vasudeva Kushan ace.

Pertinax and Julianas, Roman Emperors.

Septimius Severus, Roman Emperor, ace.

Palmyra created a Roman colony.

Caracalla, Roman Emperor, ace.

Parthian expedition of Caracalla.

Macrinus, Roman Emperor, ace.

Elagabalus, Roman Emperor, ace.

Alexander Severus, Roman Emperor, ace.

Foundation of Sasanian empire of Persia by Ardashir ; the death
of Vasudeva, the collapse of the Kushan power in India ; and the ter-
mination of the Andhra dynasty occurred at nearly the same time.

Defeat of Valerian, Roman Emperor, by Sapor I.

Capture of Palmyra by Aurelian.

Successful siege of Amida by Sapor II, with Kushan help.

APPENDIX VII
CHRONOLOGY OF THE GUPTA. PERIOD

DATE A,. D.

EVENT.

REMABKS.

dr. 308 . . .

Lichchhavi marriage of Chandragupta I

f Foundation of

320 ....

Chandragupta I ace. to independent power

I Gupta Era, of
1 which year 1 be-

l gan Feb. 26, 320

dr. 326 . . .

Samudragupta ace.

dr. 330 . . .

Embassy from King Meghavarna of Ceylon

dr. 326-36 . .

Campaigns in Northern India

dr. 337-40 . .

Campaign in Southern India

dr. 341 ...

Horse-sacrifice

dr. 375 . . .

Chandragupta II ace.

dr. 395 . . .

Conquest of Western India

401 ....

Udayagiri inscription

G. E. 82

405-11 . . .

Travels of Fa-hien in Gupta empire

86-92

407 ....

Garhwa inscription

" 88

409 ....

Silver coins of western type

412 ....

Sanchi inscription

413 ....

Kumaragupta I ace.

" 94

415 ....

Bilsar inscription

417 ....

Garhwa inscription

432 ....

Mathura inscription

113

436 ....

Mandasor inscription

V. S. 493 (=

G. E. 117)

440 ....

Silver coins

G. E. 121

443 ....

Silver coins

124

447 ....

Silver coins

" 128

448 ....

Silver coins and Mankuwar inscriptions

129

449 ....

Silver coins

130

dr. 450 . . .

Pushyamitra war

131

454 ....

Silver coins

135

455 ....

Silver coins

136

455 ....
456 ....

Skandagupta ace. ; first Hun war
Embankment ol lake at Girnar rebuilt

136
137

457 ....

Temple erected there

138

460 ....

Kahaon inscription (Gorakhpur District)

141

463 ....

Silver coins

144

464 ....

Silver coins

145

465 ....

Indor inscription (Bulandshahr District)

146

467 ...

Silver coins

148

dr. 470-80 . .

Second Hun war

151-61

477 ...

Pali inscription (Ep. Ind. 2. 363)

158

dr. 480 . . .

Puragupta ( ? Prakasaditya) ace.

dr. 485 .

Narasimhagupta Baladitya ace.

dr. 530 . . .

Kumaragupta II ace.

520 ....

Song-Yun visited White Hun King of Gan-

dhara

dr. 535 to 720.

Later Gupta dynasty of Magadha

dr. 490 to 770 .

Dynasty of Valabhi

dr. 490 to 510 .

Toramana

cir. 510 to 540 .

Mihiragula

Defeat dr. 528

dr. 530 to 580 .

Siladitya of Mo-ia-po

408

APPENDIX VIII
CHRONOLOGY OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY

EVENT.

cir. 600
dr. 605

606

606-12
Oct. 612

618
619-20

620
627-8

629
630-1

639

643

644

646

647-8

657
671

675-85

691-2

695

Persecution of Buddhism by Sasanka.

Rajya-vardhana, Raja of Thanesar, ace.

Harsha-vardhana, Raja of Thanesar, ace.

Conquest of Northern India by Harsha.

Coronation of Harsha as Lord Paramount of N. India.

Tang dynasty of China ace.

Ganjam inscription of Sasanka.

Defeat of Harsha by Pulikesin II Chalukya.

Banskhera inscription of Harsha.

Hiuen Tsang, Chinese pilgrim, began his travels.

Madhuban inscription of Harsha.

Reception by Harsha of A-lo-pen and other Syrian Christians,
who introduced Nestorianism into China in 635 A. D.

Expedition of Harsha to Ganjam (Kongoda) ; his meeting
with Hiuen Tsang ; Chinese mission of Li-I-piao and Waug-
hiuen-tse.

Harsha's assemblies at Kanauj and Prayaga ; Hiuen Tsang
started on return journey.

Second mission of Wang-hiuen-tse despatched ; arrival of
Hiuen Tsang in China.

Death of Harsha ; usurpation of Arjuna (A-lo-na-shoen, or
O-lo-na-shoen) ; attack on Chinese mission ; defeat of Ar-
juna by Wang-hiuen-tse with aid of Nepalese and Tibetans.

Third mission of Wang-hiuen-tse.

I-tsing, Chinese pilgrim, began his travels.

Residence of I-tsing at Nalanda monastery.

Composition of I-tsing's Record

Return of I-tsing to China.

409

INDEX

Abastanoi, tribe, 88

Abhisara, country in lower hills, 64, 55,

57, 75

Adityasena, of later Gupta dynasty, 283
Agalassoi, tribe, 81
Agathokles Dikaios, Indo-Greek king,

203, 401

Agnimitra, Sunga king, 180, 183, 186
Abmadabad, city, 284
Ajanta, caves and frescoes at, 352
Ajatasatru = Kunika, history of, 28-36
Ajivika, sect, 146, 148, 158, 176
Ajmir, inscribed Sanskrit plays at, 16
Ajodhya, in Gupta period, 265
Akbar, 309, 329, 343
Akesines = Chinab river, 64, 69

Return to, 76

Confluence with Hydaspes of, 79

Confluence with Hydraotes of, 87

Date of passage of, 396
Alberuni on India, 15
Alexander the Great, 3

Dynasties before, 22

Found the Indus boundary of India, 36

Met Chandragupta Maurya, 40, 106 .

Crossed Hindu Kush, 42

Wounded in Kunar valley, 44

Stormed Massaga, and was again
wounded, 47

Massacred mercenaries, 48

Occupied Ora and Bazira, 49

Took Aornos, 64

Advanced to Taxila, 65

Advanced to Hydaspes, 67

Captured Poros, 67

Founded Boukephala and Nikaia, 67

Crossed Hydraotes, 69

Built altars, 72

Camped at Jihlam, 76

Promoted Poros, 76

Started on voyage, 77

Attacked the Malloi, 82

Dangerously wounded, 86

Appointed satraps, 87

Advanced into Sind, 88

Advanced to Patala, 91

Reached the sea, 92

Prepared for return to Persia, 93

Despatched Nearchos, 93

Met Nearchos, 97

Suffered much hi Gedrosia, 98

Entered Susa in April, 324 B. c., 99

Chronology of his Indian campaign, 396

His death, 102

Wars of his successors, 104

Transitory effects of his raid, 102
Alexandrian commerce, 263
Alor, ancient capital of Sind, 89
Amazonian body-guard, 112
Amb = Embolima, 51
Ambhi = King of Taxila, 64, 66, 99
Amida, siege of, 245
Amitraghata (Arnitrochates), title of

Bindusara, 127

Amoghavarsha, Chalukya king, 355
Amu Darya = Oxus, river, 198
Amyntas, Indo-Greek king, 401
Anangapala Tomara, Raja of Delhi, 329
Andhra dynastic history, 20, 177, 187-
190, 243

Kingdom, 166, 349
Anga, kingdom, 27
Auhilwara, city, 284
Animal life, sanctity of, 149, 163-167,

183
Antialkidas Nikephoros, Indo-Greek king,

203, 401
Antigonos, (1) rival of Eumenes, 103

(2) Gonatas, King of Macedonia, 166,

398, 899
Antiochos, (1) the Great, 201, 216, 217

(2) Soter, 128

(8) Theos, 20, 166, 198
Antipater, unable to retain India, 104
Anushirvan (Khusru), King of Persia, 291
Aornos, identity and siege of, 50
Apollodotos, Indo-Greek king, 202
Arab invaders, 284
Arabioi, tribe, 94, 99
Arachosia = the Kandahar country, 36, 91

411

412

INDEX

Sibyrtios, satrap of, 109
Arcadius, Roman emperor, 367
Archaeology, results obtained from, 9, 15,

260

Archias, officer of Nearchos, 97
Architecture, Indian, earliest examples
of, 125

Not Greek, 217

In Gupta period, 279-280
Aria = the Herat country, 36, 108
Ariana, cession of part of, 108, 214
Arjuna, usurper, 316-317
Arms, Indian, 62, 114
Aror = Alor, 89
Arrian, on India, 13
Arsakes, leader of Parthian revolt, 200
Art, Indian, earliest examples of, 125
Aryavarta, 251
Asandhimitra, legendary queen of Asoka,

176

Asoka, contemporary with Antiochos
Theos, 20

Dates of accession and death of, 133,
139, 398

Abolished royal hunt, 112, 156

Provincials' Edict of, 118

The "king's men" of, 119

Beginnings of art and architecture in
reign of, 125

Full name Asoka-vardhana, 130

Viceroy of Taxila and Ujjain, 130-132

Went on pilgrimage, 135

Ordained as monk, 137

Death of, 139

Buddhist council convoked by, 139

Buildings of, 143-145

Inscriptions of, 139, 145-160

Legend of, 161

Ethics of, 153

Enforced sanctity of animal life, 153

Toleration of, 167

Appointed Censors, 160

Provided for travellers and sick, 163,
305

Despatched foreign missions, 166

Sent his brother Mahendra to Southern
India and Ceylon, 167

Made Buddhism a worjd-religion, 170

Character of, 171

Sons and successors of, 175

Disruption of empire of, 188

Kanishka legends resembling those of,

235

Aspasians, tribe, 45
Assakenoi, nation, 47
Astes = Hasti, 43
Astola (Astalu), enchanted isle, 96
Astrologers, control of, 123
Asvamedha = horse-sacrifice, q. v.
Attila, Hun king, 285

Attock (Atak), town, 64
Augustus, Indian embassies to, 367
Avauti = Malwa, q. v.
Avaiitivarinan, King of Kashmir, 328
Azes I and II, Indo-Parthian kings, 207,

217
Azilises, Indo-Parthian king, 207

Bactria, Alexander's conquest of, 42

Premier satrapy, 198
Bajaur, valley, 45
Baladitya, king, 283, 288
Balkh = Zariaspa, 198

Secondary Hun capital, 286
Bamyin, Hun headquarters, 286
Bana, author, 18, 294, 304
Bankipur, on site of Pataliputra, 110, 144
Banyan hospital, 164
Bar = waterless uplands, 83
Barabar caves, 145, et seq.
Basava, founded Lingayat sect, 359
Battle-axe, a Pandya cognizance, 366
Bazira, town in the hills, 49, 60
Benares = Kasi, 26
Bengal, Samudragupta's campaign in, 261

Included in Harsha's dominions, 300

Dynasties of, 343-348
Bhabra edict, 147, 150
Bhandi, cousin of Harsha, 299
Bhanugupta, raja, 283
Bhaskara-varman = Kumara Raja, q. .,

318

Bhatarka, founded Valabhi dynasty, 284
Bhima, King of Gujarat, 336
Bhoja, of Dhara, 336, 341
Bhojpur, lake, 342
Bhumaka, Kshaharata, 192, 263
Bihar, province := Magadha, 25, 346
Bijjala, Kalachurya king, 359
Bikram, raja, 278
Bilhana, author, 18, 358
Bimbisara, king, 27, 39
Bindusara, king, 109, 127
Bodh Gaya, Asoka's monastery at, 256

Desolate in Fa-hien's time, 272
Bodhi tree at Gaya, 136, 308
Bombay, animal hospital at, 164
Boukephala, city, 67
Bow, Indian, 63

The Chera cognizance, 371
Brahma, a god, 311
Brahmanical reaction, 184
Brihadratha, Maurya king, 177
Buckler, Indian, 63
Buddha (Gautama), birth and life of, 26

Preceded by "former Buddhas," 29

Visited by Ajatasatru, 29-33

Death of, 29

INDEX

413

Birthplace of, 136

Deified, 236

Footprints of, 308.
Buddhism, origin of, 26

Bhabra edict important in history of,
150

Asoka's preference for, 134

Menander a convert to, 204

Hinayana, ancient form of, 233, 267

Introduced into China, 233

Mahay ana, newer form of, 236, 267

Merciful teachings of, 268

Gradual decay of, 272, 277

Sammitiya school of, 300, 307

Devotion of Harsha to, 309

Revival in Tibet of, 344

Decline in Deccan of, 364

In Southern India, 364
Buddhist, Chinese pilgrims, 13, 307

Instructors of Asoka, 135

Holy land, 136

Doctrine concerning laymen, 137

Monastic order, 160

Fame of Asoka, 151

Church in Ceylon, 167

Monasteries, 230, 267, 306

Rule of life, 270

Pala kings of Bengal, 344
Budhagupta, raja, 283
Bundelkhand = Jejakabhukti, 332
Burma, Buddhism in, 169

Castes, as described by Megasthenes, 123
Censors of Asoka and others, 160, 161
Ceylon, chronicles of, 11, 151

Conversion of, 167

Pilgrims from, 256

In time of Hiuen Tsang, 389
Chalukya dynasty, 301, 351
Chanakya, minister, 40, 106
Chandala, outcast tribes, 270
Chandella, history, 332-339
Chandragupta, (1) Maurya = Sandra-
kottos, 20

Defeated Seleukos, 108, 126

Institutions of, 116

Length of reign of, 125

(2) I of Gupta dynasty, 247

(3) II of Gupta dynasty, Vikramaditya,
14,20

History of, 260

The original of Raja Bikrani, 278
Chandrapida, King of Kashmir, 327
Chang-kien, embassy of, 223
Chariot, Indian, described, 114
Charutnati, daughter of Asoka, 141
Chashtana, satrap, 193
Chedi = Central Provinces. 332

Chera, kingdom, 366

China. Kushan relations with, 231

Buddhism in, 233

Intercourse of Harsha with, 316

Relations of Northern India with, 326
Chiuab, river, 64, 69, 75, 79, 87
Chinese historians, 13
Chola dynasty, 363-366
Christian mission to Indo-Parthians, 207

Elements in Buddhism, 236
Chu, river, 191
Coel = Kayal, 366
Coins, many classes of, 17

Andhra, 190

Greek influence on, 214

Of Samudragupta, 259
Conjevaram = Kanchi, q. v.
Corinthian capitals, 238
Court, of Chandragupta Maurya, 111
Courtesans as informers, 119
Crassus, standards of, 212

Dakshamitra, daughter of Rudradaman,

194

Dantidurga, Rashtrakuta king, 353
Darius, Indian conquests of, 35
Darshaka, or Harshaka, king, 36
Dasaratha, grandson of Asoka, 176
Dead, exposure of, 131
Death, penalty of, 112, 116, 120, 156, 161
Deaths and births, registration of, 117
Deccan, meaning of, 349.

Maurya conquest of, 128
Delhi, iron pillar of. 261

History of, 329

Demetrios, king of the Indians, 201
Devabhuti (Devabhumi), Sunga king, 185
Devadatta, cousin of Buddha, 28
Dhamma (dhanna), meaning of, 153
Dhannsala, rest-houses, 305
Dhruva, Rashtrakuta king, 356, 390
Didda, Queen of Kashmir, 328
Digambara, Jain sect, 355
Dinapur, cantonment, 110
Diodotos I and II, Bactrian kings, 200,

201

Dionysos, in India, 42, 45
Dipavamsa, chronicle, 11, 151
Dravida, country, 388
Dravidian nations, 8, 166, 351, 364
Durlabhaka, King of Kashmir, 327
Durlabhavardhana, King of Kashmir, 327

Edicts of Asoka, 145
Egypt, embassy to India fiom, 13
Asoka's mission to, 166

414

INDEX

Elephant, failure in war of the, 101
Used by Seleukidan kings, 108
For riding, 124

Cognizance of Paiidya dynasty, 366
Elura (Ellora), rock-cut temples at, 356
Ephthalite empire, 321
Epics, Sanskrit, 10
K pirns, As< >ka's mission to, 166
Eudamos, in India, 99, 103, 214
Eukratides, Indo-Greek king, 202, et seq.
Euphrates, voyage of Nearchos to, 93
Euthy demos I and II, Indo-Bactrian
kings, 201, 203, 401

Fa-hien, first Chinese pilgrim, 14, 143
Described Pataliputra and Magadha,

266

Female morals supervised by Asoka, 161
Firoz, Persian king, 286
Foreigners, Maurya officials in charge
of, 117

Gaharwar, clan, 330, 332
Gandaria = Gandhara
Gaudhara country, defined, 23

Hun conquest of, 286

Sculptures of, 238
Gangaridai nation, 37
Gangavadi = Mysore, 390
Ganges, river, 23, 34, 106, 110, 249, 251,

254, 301

Gangeyadeva, King of Chedi, 336
G an jam = Kongoda, 305
Garrisons (Four) in Kashgaria, 323
Gaya, sanctity of, 26
Gedrosia = Mukran, 93

Alexander's march through, 98
Gedrosioi, people, 96
Girnar, lake and inscriptions at, 122
Gladiatorial contests, 111
Glausai (Glaukanikoi), nation, 68
Gnostic heresy and Buddhism, 170, 236
Godavari, river, 133, 141, 380
Gondal Bar = Gandaris, 68
Gondophares, Indo-Parthian king, 207
Gopala, founded Pala dynasty, 344
Govinda III, Rashtrakuta king, 355
Grseco-Roman influence on India, 207
Greek influence on India, 126, 212
Gujarat, (1) a district in the Pan jab, 55

(2) Western Kumarapala, king of, 161
Gupta empire, history and chronology
of, 247

Hadrian, Roman emperor, 226
Hair shaving, penalty of, 120

Hair washing, ceremony of, 113

Hal a, Andhra king, 189

Hala mountains, 98

Han dynasty of China, 223

Harsh a, (1) King of Kashmir, 329

(2) Or Harsha-vardhana, of Thanesar,
younger son of Prabhakara-var-
dhaua, 18

Accession of, 299

Empire and administration of, 302, 327

Imitated Asoka, 305

Religion of, 306

Death of, 315

The last native paramount monarch, 319
Harsha Charita, of Bana, 18, 304
Harshaka, king, 36
Hasan Abdal, town, 66
Hasti, tribal chief, 43
Hasti-varman, Pallava king, 386
Heliokles, Bactrian king, 204
Hellenistic kings, 127
Hephaistion, general, 43, 77, 86
Herat, city and territory, 36, 108
Hermaios, the last Indo-Greek king, 221
Herodotus, on India, 10, 12
Hinayana, primitive doctrine, 307
Hinduism, Buddhism a sect of, 171

Orthodox, 275
Hindu Kush, mountains, 23, 42

Frontier of Maurya empire, 140
Hippolytus, folk-lore tale of, 175
Hiuen Tsang, Chinese pilgrim, 14

"Travels" and "Life" of, 293

Favoured by Harsha, 309-310

Return to China of, 314

On political arrangements of India, 317
Hiuen-tsong, Emperor of China, 324
Hiung-nu, horde, 219, 221
Honorius, coins of, 367
Horse-sacrifice of Pushy amitra, 181

Of Samudragupta, 258

Of Kumaragupta I, 273

Of Adityasena, 283

Of Rajadhiraja Chola, 379

Of Sivaskandavarman, 382
Hostages, Chinese, 231
Hoysala dynasty, 360
Huna = Huns, q. v.
Huns, the, invasion of India by, 281

Two main streams of, 285

Asiatic empire of, 285

Characteristics of, 287
Hushka = Huvishka, 240
Huvishka, history of, 240
Hydaspes, river = Jihlam, 54

Difficulties of crossing, 57
Hydraotes, river = Ravi, 69
Hyphasis, river, Alexander stopped at, 37

= Bias, 70

Altars on further bank of, 72

INDEX

415

India, earliest foreign notice of, 12

Greek and Chinese accounts of, 13, 14

European invasions of, 179
Indian history, sources of, 9

Literature, 189, 277, 303, 341
Indo-Scythian = Kushan, 219
Indus, river, valley of lower, 23

Boundary between Persian empire and
India, 36

Bridged, 44, 64

Confluence with Akesines of, 87
Inscriptions, classes and value of, 15

Of Asoka, 146-164
Iron Pillar of Delhi, 261, 329
Irrigation in Maurya period, 121

Jaichand, Raja of Kanauj, 330
Jain historical texts, 10

Cult related to Buddhist, 275
Jain ism, origin of, 24

In Deccan, 364

In extreme south, 364-369
Jalandhar, city, 239, 316
Jalauka, legendary son of Asoka, 175
Jayachchandra = Jaichand Raja, 330
Jaxartes, river, 191, 204
Jejakabhukti, kingdom, 332
Jihlam, city, 60

River, 64

Jinasena, Jain leader, 355
Judas = St. Thomas, 208
Jumna, river, 281

Kabul, city, capital of Menander, 179

Turki kings of, 328
Kadphises I, history of, 211, 222

II, history of, 223-226
Kailasa, temple at Elura, 356
Kalachuri dynasty, 332-341
Kalachurya, King Bijjala, 368
Kalasa, King of Kashmir, 329
Kalinga kingdom, conquered by Asoka,
133

Depopulation of, in seventh century,
318

Annexed by Rajaraja Chola the Great,

376

Kalinjar, fortress, 331
Kanauj, city, Harsha's assembly at, 310

Captured by Mohammedans, 331

Captured by Ganda Chandella, 336
Kanchi, city, Pallava capital, 192, 382-390

Kanishka, history of, 226
Kanva (Kanvayana) dynasty, 186
Kao-tsong, Chinese emperor, 323
Karmania, province of Persia, 96
Karnadeva, King of Chedi, 336
Karri, plain, 61

Karuvaki, a queen of Asoka, 175
Kashgar, conquered by China, 224

Conquered by Kanishka, 231
Kashmir, chronicle of, 10

Capital built by Asoka in, 140

History of, 327

Kathaioi, autonomous tribe, 69
Kautily a = Chanakya, 40
Kayal, port, 366
Kerala, history of, 365
Keralaputra, kingdom, in Asoka' 8 time.

166, 365, 371

Keralolpati, chronicle, 371
Kharavela, King of Kalinga, 180
Khotan kingdom, conquered by Kanishka,

231
Khusru I, Anushirvan, King of Persia, 291

II, King of Persia, 362
Kieu-tsieu-k'io = Kadphises I, 211, 222
Kirttivarman, Chandella king, 336

I and II, Chalukya kings, 351, 354
Kleophis, Assakenian queen, 48
Koh-i-Mor = Mount Meros, 46
Koinos, general, 64, 71, 101
Kokala, in Gedrosia, 94
Kolkai (Kolchoi) = Korkai, 866, 368
Kongoda = Ganjam
Kophen, river, 43

Korkai, earliest Pandya capital, 866, 368
Kosala, North, 25

South, 252

Kozolakadaphes = Kadphises I, q. v.
Krateros, general, 45, 101
Krishna, Andhra king, 188

I and II, Kashtrakuta kings, 366
Krishna, river, 141, 349
Kubja Vishnuvardhana, Chalukya king,

362

Kucha, in Mongolia, 220, 322
Kudal = Madura, 366
Kuinara, King of Kamarupa, 801, 310, 316
Kuinara Devi, queen of Chandragupta I,

247
Kumaragupta I, history of, 272

n, 283

Kumarapala, King of Gujarat, 161
Kunala, legendary son of Asoka, 176
Kundalavana, monastery, 238
Kunika (Kuniya) = Ajatasatru, 28-36
Kuru, land of, 294
Kusinagara, site of, 136
Kusumadhvaja = Pataliputra, q. 9.
Kusumapura = Fatal iputra, q. t.
Kutb-ud-din Ibak, general, 339, 347

416

INDEX

Lakhmaniya Rai, King of Bengal, 346
Lakshmana-sena, King of Bengal, 348
Lalitaditya, Muktapida, King of Kashmir,

327
Lalita Patan (Lalitpur), Asoka's capital

of Nepal, 140

Lalliya, King of Kabul, 328
Land-revenue, or crown-rent, 120
Leonnatos, defended Alexander, 86

Defeated Oreitai, 95
Lichchhavi, clan, 27, 247
Lingayat, sect, 359
Lumbini garden, 136, 148

Macedonia, Asoka's mission to, 166
Madura, later Pandya capital, 366
Magadha kingdom, 25-40, 105, 177

Towns of, 268

Later Gupta dynasty of, 283
Magas, King of Cyrene, 166
Mahaban = Aornos, 50
Mahabharata, epic, 10
Mahadeva, Yadava king, 361
Mahanandin, king, 37
Mahapadma Nanda, king, 37, 105
Mahavamsa, chronicle, 11, 37, 168
Mahavira, founder of Jainism, 24, 29
Mahayana Buddhism, history of, 236, 267

In Burma, 169

Monastery of, 258
Mahendra, (1) brother of Asoka, 167

(2) King of South Kosala, 252
Mahendravadi, cave-temples at, 384
Mahendra-varman I and II, Pallava kings,

384-387

Mahipala, King of Bengal, 344
Mahmud of Ghazni, king, 15, 319, 328,

342

Mahoba, town, 335, 340
Malakottai, country, 368
Malava, kingdom, 142, 262. See Malwa

kingdom

Malik Kafur, compared with Samudra-
gupta, 254

In the Deccan, 360

Destroyed importance of Chola king-
dom, 380
Malloi, autonomous tribe in the Panjab,

69, 81-87
Malwa kingdom (see Malava) = Avanti, 23

Conquered by Chandragupta II, 261,
262

Described by Fa-hien, 269

Unnamed king of, 297
Mamallaipuram, "Seven Pagodas" at,
384

Mamandur, cave-temples at, 384

Maugalore, town, 167, 363

Mauju Patan, oldest capital of Nepal,

140

Manu, date of code of, 279
Manufactures, regulation of, 118
Massaga (Mazaga), town, 47, 50
Mathura, city, Upagupta a native of, 172
Satraps of, 191

Buddhist monasteries at, 240, 268
Iron pillar of Delhi probably erected

originally at, 329
Matsya Purana, date of, 11
Maues, king, 206
Maurya, origin of name, 105

Empire, 128, 141, 166
Megasthenes, on India, 109
Meghavarna, King of Ceylon, 256
Menander, Indo-Greek king, 179, 203,

204, 215

Meros, Mount, 46
Mihiragula (Mihirakula), Sakala capital

of, 317

History of, 286
" Milinda, Questions of," Buddhist book,

204

Mithradates I, Parthian king, 206
Mitradeva, assassinated Sumitra Sunga,

186

Moga, king, 206

Mohammed, son of Bakhtiyar, 345-347
Mohammedan conquest, 9, 345, 360
Monghyr (Mungir), district, 27
Mousikanos, king, 89
Mudra Kakshasa, drama, plots described

in, 117 (quotation)
Mukran =: Gedrosia, 93
Muktapida = Lalitaditya
Municipal administration in Maurya age,

116

Munja, Paramara Raja, 341
Muttra, see Mathura
Mysore =: Gangavadi, 390
Hoysala dynasty of, 360

Nagarjuni hills, inscriptions in, 176
Nahapana Kshaharata, chieftain, 192
Naksh-i-Rustain, inscription at, 12
Nanda dynasty, 37-40, 105
Nandivardhana, king, 36
Nandi-varman, Pallava king, 390
Narasimha II, Hoysala king, 360
Narasimhagupta Baladitya, king, 283
Narasimha-varman I, Pallava king, 390
Narmada (Narbada), river, 8, 23. 107, 128,

143, 178, 180, 255, 301, 349
Nearchos, Alexander's admiral, 93
Nepal, capitals of, 140

INDEX

417

History of, 325
Nerbudda, see N armada
News-writers of Asoka, 119
Nikaia, (1) = Jalalabad, 43

(2) On battle-field of the Hydaspes, 67
Nosala, enchanted isle, 96
Nysa, position of, 45, 46

Ohind, on Indus, 64, 99

Omphis = Ambhi, 64, 66, 99

Ora = Nora, a town in the hills, 49

Oreitai, nation or tribe, 95

Oudh, province, 25, 249

Oxathroi, tribe, 88

Oxus, river, 198, 221, 285

Oxyartes, father of Roxana, a satrap,
104

Oxydrakai, autonomous tribe of the Pan-
jab, 86

Oxykanos, chieftain, 90

Padaria, see Eummindei, 148
Pablava, tribe, 191, 380
Paithan, capital of Pulumayi II, 194
Pala dynasty of Bengal, 343
Palakka (Palakkada), a Pallava principal-
ity, 382

Palghatcherry = Palakka
Pali, language, 146
Pallava, origin and history, 191, 380
Palli, caste, 392
Pamirs, Aryan migration across, 23

Crossed by Hiuen Tsang, 316
Pan-ch'ao, Chinese general, 224, 231
Pandu, sons of, 22
Pandya, limits of country, 366

History of kingdom, 365-70
Panjab, changes in rivers of, 79
Pantaleon, Indo-Greek king, 203
Paper introduced into Europe, 326
Paramara, dynasty of Malwa, 341
Paramardi (Parmal), Chandella king, 336
Parantaka I, Chola king, 368
Parihar rule in Bundelkhand, 335
Paropanisadai, satrapy, 108
Paropanisos = Hindu Rush, or Indian

Caucasus, 108
Parthia proper, 198
Parthian early history, 199

King, Gondophares, 207

War of Kanishka, 231
Patala, city, capital of Patalene, 91, 92
Patalene = delta of Indus, 90
Pataliputra, city, foundation of, 34

= Patna, 110

Municipal administration in Maurya
age of, 116

Asoka's capital, 143

Animal hospital at, 164

Rebuilt by Sher Shah, 266

Free hospital at, 268

Footprints of Buddha at, 308
Patau, Asoka's capital of Nepal, 140
Patna, city = Pataliputra, 110, 144

District in Magadha, 25
Paul, St., compared with Asoka, 172
Pearl trade, 364
Peithon, son of Agenor, 90, 104
Penal code of Chaudragupta Maurya, 120
Pepper trade of Malabar, 364
Perdikkas, general, 43
Persia, Hun attacks on, 286

Embassies between India and, 362
Persian style of Asoka's pillars, 145

Influence on India, 126, 146, 214, 243

Combat with a lion, 266

Religion, 310

Peshawar = Purushapura, 229
Peukelaotis = Charsadda, 43, 61
Peukestas, defended Alexander, 86
Phaedra, folk-lore tale of, 176
Pharro, the fire-god, 241
Philippos, satrap of countries west of the
Indus, 77

Murdered, 98
Piety, law of, 153, 163
Pilgrims, Buddhist, 13
Pillar edicts of Asoka, 139, 147, 149
Pillars of Asoka, 144
Piprawa, oldest known inscription at, 17
Pithora Rai = Prithivi Raja, 330
Plays, Sanskrit, inscribed on tables of
stone at Ajmir, 16

Ascribed to Harsha, 303
Poros, (1) 55, 103

(2) Nephew of (1), 68
Prabhakara-vardhana, Raja of Thanesar,

294

Prabodha-chandrodaya, drama, 336
Prakasaditya, title of Puragupta, 283
Prakrit, language, 146
Prasii (Prasioi), nation, 38
Prayaga, Harsha' s assembly at, 312
Prithivi Raja, Chauhan, 330, 339
Priyadarsika, drama, 304
Ptolemy, (1) son of Lagos, 13, 61

(2) Philadelphos, 166
Pudukottai, town, 363, 366, 391
Pulikesin (I), Chalukya king, 861

(II) Chalukya king, 301, 361-863
Pulumayi (II), (III), Andhra kings, 193,

195

Puragupta, history of, 282
I'll ran as, eighteen, 11

Date of, 279

418

INDEX

Purnavarman, the last descendant of

Asoka, 177, 308

Purushapura, capital of Kanishka, 229
Pushpapura = Pataliputra, 34
Pushyabhuti, ancestor of Uarsha, 306
Pushyagupta, brother-in-law of Chan-

dragupta Maurya, 122
Pushyaniitra, (1) Sunga king, 178-86
(2) Nation, 280

Queen, of Bimbisara, 27

Kleophis of Massaga, 48

Mother of Mahapadma Nanda, 105

Didda of Kashmir, 328
Queens of Asoka, 175
44 Questions of Milinda," Buddhist book,
204

Rajadhiraja, Chola king, 379
Eajagriha, ancient capital of Magadha, 27

Asoka's death at, 139
Rajaraja the Great, Chola king, 357, 369,

376, 391

Rajasuya = horse-sacrifice, q. v.
Rajatarangini, chronicle of Kashmir, 10
Rajauri = Abhisara, 76
Rajendra Choladeva I and II, Chola kings,

379

Rajput, royal clans, 291
Rajyasri, sister of Harsha, 297, 314
Rajyavardhana, Raja of Thanesar, 294
Ramachandra, Yadava Raja, 361
Rashtrakuta, clan and dynasty, 354
Rathor, clan, 332
Ratnavali, drama, 304
Ratta, clan = Rashtrakuta, 354
Religion, Buddhism became a world, 170

In China, 233

Harsha's eclecticism in, 307

Persecution of Zoroastrian, 310

Jain, 369

State of South Indian, 389
Rest-houses, described by Fa-hien, 268,

305

Rock Edicts of Asoka, 146
Roxana, consort of Alexander, 88, 104
Rudradaman, western satrap, 122, 194
Rummindei, inscription of Asoka, 148

Sabuktigin, king, 335, 339
Saisunaga dynasty, 9, 27
Saka dynasty, 244

Religion, 310

Tribe, 190-193, 204-206
Sakala, capital of Mihiragula, 317

Sakya territory, 25

Samarkand = country of the Sogdioi,
199

Arab conquest of, 324
Sammitiya school of Buddhism, 300, 307
Samudragupta, history and wars of, 7,

249-260

Sanghamitra, legend of, 169
Sankaravarman, King of Kashmir, 328
Sanskrit, allied to Prakrit and Pali, 146

Revival of, 277
San Thoinfe, shrine of, 210
Sapor (Shahpur) I and II, Kings of Persia,

243, 245

Sarvastivadin, Buddhist school, 239
Sasanian dynasty, 196, 243
Sasanka, King of Central Bengal, 298
Satakarni, title of Andhra kings, 189
Satavahana dynasty = Andhra, q, v,
Satiyaputra kingdom, 363
Satyasraya, Chalukya king, 357
Saubhuti = Sophytes, 214
Sculpture, origin of Indian, 215
Se, tribe = Saka, 190-193, 204-206
Seleukos Nikator, contemporary of
Chandragupta, 107

Rival of Antigonos, and King of Syria,
107

Invaded India unsuccessfully and ceded
a large part of Ariana, 108

History of, 107

Niese's theory about, 213
Semiramis in India, 93
Sena, dynasty of Bengal, 344-347
Shahiya kings of Kabul, 328
Sher Shah, rebuilt Pataliputra, 266
Shihab-ud-din, wars of, 331
Si, viceroy of Kadphises II, 224
Sibyrtios, Satrap of Arachosia, 104
Sien-chi, Chinese general, 325
Siladitya, (1) King of Mo-la-po, 292

(2) Title of Harsha-vardhana, 299
Simhavarman II, Pallava king, 383
Siinuka, first Andhra king, 188
Sind, associated with Upagupta, 172

Kingdom of, 317
Sipraka = Shnuka,188
Sistan = Sakastene, 205, 216

Sakas of, 205
Sisunaga, 27

Siva, worshipped by Harsha, 306
Sivalakura, Andhra king, 190
Sivaskanda-varman, Pallava king, 382
Skandagupta, history of, 280-282
Skylax of Karyanda, 35
Sogdiana = Khanate of Bukhara, 222
Somesvara I, Chalukya king, 357
Sophytes, King of the Salt Range, 214
Sravasti, capital of Kosala, 26

Site of, 136

INDEX

419

Srenika = King Bimbisara, 27
Srinagar, capital of Kashmir, 140
Srong-tsan-Gampo, King of Tibet, 316,

322

Ssu-ma.-ch.ien, Chinese historian, 13
Sthanvisvara = Thanesar, 294
Sthavira, Buddhist Mahayana school, 258,

382

Sthiramati, Buddhist teacher, 284
Strato 1 and II, Indo-Greek kings, 205
Sudarsana, lake at Girnar, 122
Sudra king of Sind, 317
Sumalya, a Narula prince, 37
Sumitra, Sunga king, 186
Sun-worship, 306, 317
Sundara, a Pandya royal name, 369
Sunga dynasty, 178-186
Suparsva = Suyasas. 176
Surashtra, annexed by Chandragupta II,
261

Annexed by Menander, 180

Satraps of, 191, 205
Surat, animal hospital at, 164
Susarman, last Kanva king, 187, 189
Suyasas, a son of Asoka, 176
Syria, embassies to India from, 13

Asoka 1 s mission to, 166

Ta-hia, Chinese name for Bactrians, 221
Taila II and III, Chalukya kings, 356, 368
Tamil, states, 141

Hostility to Ceylon, 168

Language boundary, 372
Tamluk, probably = Tamralipti, 141
Tamralipti = Tamluk
Tanjore, district, 167

Great temple at, 376
Tarai pillar inscriptions, 148
Taxila, a great city, 43

Submitted to Alexander, 54

Seat of Hindu learning, 56

Maurya administration of, 118

Satraps of, subject to Kashmir in sev-
enth century, 317
" Ten Tribes," country of, 323
Thanesar = Sthanvisvara, 294
Thomas, Saint, 208
Tibet, Kambojas of, 166

Relations of India with, 322
Timber in ancient Indian buildings, 125
Tirhut, north of the Ganges, 84
Tishyarakshita, a legendary queen of

Asoka, 175

Tissa, King of Ceylon, 168
Tivara, a son of Asoka, 175
Tong-she-hu, Turkish chief, 322
Toramana, Hun chief, 286
Tosali, city, 118, 142

Trajan, Indian embassy to, 226
Travellers, Asoka's provision for, 163

Harsh a' s institutions for, 305
Triparadeisos, partition of, 99, 104
Truthfulness, duty of, 157
Tseh-kia, kingdom in Punjab, 317
Tulu language, 167, 363
Turki kings of Kabul, 328
Turkomans, Parthians resembled, 199
Turks, destroyed Him Asiatic empire,
290

Heirs of the Ephthalites, 322
Tushaspa, Asoka's Persian governor, 122
Tyriaspes, satrap of the Paropanisadai,
43, 88

Udaya, king, 36

Udhita, raja, 316

Ugrasena, Pallava king of Palakka, 885,

386

Uigur, horde, 323
Ujjain, capital of Malwa, 24, 144

Under Asoka, 131, 142

Capital of Chashtana, 193
Upagupta, teacher of Asoka, 136, 172
Uraiyur, ancient Chola capital, 166, 872
Ushkiir = Hushkapura, 241

Vaibashika, Buddhist school, 239
Vaisali, Lichchhavi clan at, 27

Conquered by Magadha, 84
Valabhi, dynasty of, 284

Raja of, 301

Vardhamana = Mahavira, 24, 29
Vasudeva, (1) Kanva king, 186

(2) Kushan king, 242
Vasumitra, Sunga king, 188
Vatapi = Badami, Chalukya capital,

351-354
Vengi, Pallava king of, 253

Eastern Chalukya dynasty of, 861, 380
Vijayanagar, army of, 114
Vijayasena, Raja of Bengal, 344
Vijjana, Kalachurya king, 368
Vijnanesvara, jurist, 358
Vikrama, Chola king, 380
Vikramaditya, title of Chandragupta II,
14

I and II, Chalukya kings, 368
Vikramanka, Chalukya king, 868
Vikramanka-charita, of Bilhana, 18
Vilivayakura I and II, Andhra kings,

190, 192, 381

Vindhya, mountains and tribes of, 142
Vira, a recurring name in Pandya royal
family, 369

420

INDEX

Vira Saiva, sect, 359
Virudhaka, king, 34
Visala-deva, Chauhan raja of Ajmir,

330
Vishnu, (1) deity, 264

(2) Hoysala king, 360
Vishuugopa, Pallava king, 385
Vishnugupta = Chanakya, 40
Vishuuvardhaua, Chalukya, 387
Vonones, Indo-Parthian king, 206

Wages fixed by authority, 116
Wahindah = Hakra, the lost river, 80
Wang-hiuen-tse, Chinese envoy, 316-317
War Office of Chandragupta Maurya, 115
Weapons, Indian, 63
Western Turks, 323
White Huns, history of, 286

Empire in sixth century of, 821
Writing, art of, 22, 126, 146
Wu-sun, horde, 220

Xandrames, king, 38
Xathroi, tribe, 88

Yadava, dynasty of Devagiri, 360
Yajna Sri, Andhra king, 196
Yarkand, plain of, 224, 231
Yasodharman, Raja of Central India,

288, 290
Yavana, tribe, meaning of name, 192

= Meuander's Greeks, 216
Yen-kao-ching = Kadphises II, 223-226
Yuan Chwaug = Hiuen Tsang, q. v.
Yueh-chi, migration, 204, 219

Zabulistan = Ghazni, 324
Zariaspa = Balkh, 198
Zoroastriau deities, 236
Alleged persecution, 310

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