.4 STUDENT'S HISTORT OF INDIA
PREHISTORIC
ANCIENT AND HINDU
INDIA
R. D. BANERJI, M.A.
Late Manindra Chandra Nundy Professor of Ancient Indian History and
Culture, Benares Hindu University; Sometime Lecturer Post- Graduate
Department, Calcutta University; formerly Fellow of the Bombay
University, &c. &c.
BLACKIE & SON (INDIA) LIMITED
WARWICK HOUSE, BOMBAY; CALCUTTA AND MADRAS
f'trst
PREFACE
This book was written and revised by my father, but
unfortunately he did not live to see it published. The
duty of, in some measure, still further revising it, and of
seeing it through the Press, has therefore fallen upon
myself.
The work is primarily meant for students, and if it
can help to create in the heart of the rising generation a
just pride in their national heritage, the deceased scholar's
labours will be amply rewarded.
Opinions will almost inevitably differ as to the value
of sources relied upon, and the soundness of conclusions
reached, by the Author. To generous critics who would
have me correct some slip or make good some omission
I shall feel grateful.
My grateful thanks are due to Prof. S. Bhattacharji, M.A.,
of the Sanskrit College, Calcutta, and to Messrs. P. Gupta,
M.A., and A. Raychaudhuri, M.A., for help received
during the revision of the work.
I have to acknowledge a debt of gratitude to Mr.
Donald A. Mackenzie, who has so kindly contributed a
Foreword to the book. Mr. Mackenzie has expressed
himself as being " particularly struck by observing how
far advanced the deceased author was in his perception
of the trend of anthropological discovery in India ".
Lastly, my thanks are due to members of the staff of
our publishers, Messrs. Blackie & Son (India), Ltd.,
without whose interest and willing co-operation the book
would never have seen the light of day.
A. C. BANERJI.
CALCUTIA.
FOREWORD
BY DONALD A. MACKENZIE
Modern research has greatly extended our knowledge
of early India. As the " miracle of Greece " no longer
obtains in consequence of the revelations of the archae-
ologists in Crete and elsewhere in the Near East, so there
is in India no longer an " Aryan miracle ".
It has been established that a wonderful pre-Aryan
civilization existed in the Indus valley many centuries
before the period of the Aryan intrusions, and that it was
of higher and more complex character than can be gathered
from the patriotic writers who celebrated the achievements
of the famous Vedic Age. The discovery at Harappa on
the Ravi in the Montgomery district of the Panjab of
" seals " lettered in a strange script, which had been un-
earthed from time to time, presented to modern scholars
a problem that aroused speculations on the one hand
and scepticism regarding these on the other, but ulti-
mately led to the thrusting open of the door to forgotten
wonders of antiquity.
In 1921 the author of this volume was engaged in
laying bare Buddhist remains at Mohenjo-Daro on the
Indus, in the Larkana district of Sindh, when, as Sir
John Marshall has recorded, l he " came by chance on
several ' seals ' which he recognized as belonging to the
same class as the remarkable * seals ' with legends in an
undecipherable script, long known, from the ruins of
Harappa, in the Panjab ". He " was quick to appreciate
* Mofunjo-Dato and the India Civilisation. Probsthain, 1932, 3 vols.
vii
viii FOREWORD
the value of his discovery ", and he at once deepened
his digging on the east side of a Buddhist monastery.
Here, Mr. Banerji was a pioneer, and his work resulted
in the discovery of remarkable remains that antedate the
Buddhist structures by two or by three thousand years.
" This was no small achievement ", says Sir John Mar-
shall, and he goes on to remind us that Mr. Banerji's
conclusions upon it have been remarkably borne out by
subsequent research. Larger operations have since been
carried out, but they do not lessen the credit due to Mr.
Banerji or diminish the importance of his discoveries.
Mohenjo-Daro lies about four hundred miles distant
from Harappa, and, after the discoveries made there by
Mr. Banerji in 1921-22, the larger operations that were
conducted fully established the existence of the pre- Aryan
city of Mohenjo-Daro and that of Harappa, the eloquent
relics of a homogeneous pre- Aryan civilization which, in
the light of comparative evidence, has been carried back
to the fourth millennium B.C.
Seals similar to those discovered in the Indus valley
have been found at various sites in Elam and Sumeria
(Lower Mesopotamia), and there are other indications
that cultural and trading connexions existed between north-
western India and the ancient civilization of the Tigro-
Euphrates valley. The Aryans did not enter India till
'the second millennium B.C., and their culture had no
connexion with that of the much earlier settlers, who were
apparently the Dravidians or proto-Dravidians, later re-
presented by various communities in southern India,
speaking dialects of the Dravidian language.
The early Indus valley settlers were agriculturists and
traders and their high social organization is reflected by
their well-planned and well-built cities. Mohenjo-Daro
was laid out with thoroughfares that, like the great
pyramids of Egypt, were oriented as nearly as possible to
the cardinal points, and the buildings were constructed of
kiln-baked bricks. Houses had doors and windows, paved
floors and drains like those in Mesopotamia and Crete,
and there were bathrooms and other conveniences. A
FOREWORD ix
great variety of vessels were manufactured. Copper, tin
and lead had come into use and ornaments were made of
gold, silver, ivory, bone, imported lapis-lazuli and of
faience. Yet stone was still so freely used that the archae-
ologists regard the early Indus settlers as a people of the
Chalcolithic Age the transitional stage between the ages
of stone and metal. Artifacts (articles made by man) of
chert were still being manufactured for occupational
purposes. Domesticated animals included the elephant
and camel, as well as the pig, shorthorn and humped
cattle, the buffalo, sheep and the dog. Barley, wheat and
the cotton plant were cultivated, and spinning and weaving
had reached an advanced stage. Clay figures and images
and phallic baetylic stones suggest that Durga and Siva
worship was of a very much greater antiquity in India
than has hitherto been supposed.
It was formerly customary to explain, by wrongly
adopting the theory of biological evolution, the gradual
development of Vedic religion into the Brahmanical
complex, with Brahma, Siva and Vishnu eclipsing Indra,
Agni, Varuna and Mithra, and with the goddesses rising
into prominence. The modern view, confirmed by the
striking Indian discoveries, is that the process was rather
one of " culture mixing ", and that the religious changes
were due mainly to the fusion of Aryans and Dravidians
and their distinctive cultures, the ancient Dravidians
having been a refined and highly civilized people. As
is shown in the chapters that follow, the Dravidians had
a currency while yet the Aryans practised a system of
barter, and were sea-traders before the introduction of a
Sanskrit equivalent for the word " sea ".
Research in Indian pre-history and history has been
further promoted by the aid of numismatology (science
of coins in relation to history), by philology and by the
study of art and inscriptions and a great abundance of
literature in various languages. Some dynasties have
been restored almost by numismatic data alone, and much
light has been thrown upon the origin and development
of styles in sculpture and architecture by the accumula-
x FOREWORD
tion and critical investigation of comparative evidence.
In this volume a wonderfully full and consecutive nar-
rative is provided from early times to the period of the
Musalman conquest. Many blanks have been filled in,
and for each period there are useful bibliographies which
will serve as guides to those who desire to specialize
in particular fields of research. The various kingdoms
of the north and south are given special treatment, as
are also the various intrusions of alien peoples who have
contributed to the ethnical complex of the great sub-
* continent of India. Of very special interest is the restora-
tion of the Dravidians to their proper place in history as
influential shapers of Indian civilization. Pro- Aryan
writers of the past have inclined in no small measure
to share the political prejudices of the ancient Vedic
authors, who referred to the Dravidians as fierce, hostile
and semi-savage peoples. Fusions of Aryan and Dravidian
cultures and peoples came in time. In this volume it is
shown that before the period of the Musalman intrusions
there were prosperous, progressive and enterprising Aryo-
Dravidian communities in southern India, who not only
extended their sway towards the north, but to farther
India, the Dutch East Indies and Malaya. Greeks,
Romans and Arabs had long traded with and influenced
Dravidian seaport communities, and Aryo-Dravidian
seafarers and colonizers carried from time to time the
elements of a complex Indian civilization with Western
features to distant places, including Cambodia, whence,
it would appear, there emerged at intervals fresh carriers
of some of the elements of the specialized and locally
developed Aryo-Dravidian colonial culture to even more
distant areas.
CONTENTS
Book I Prehistoric India
CHAPTER i Page
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF INDIA ----- i
CHAPTER II
THE RACES OF INDIA AND THEIR LANGUAGES 6
CHAPTER III
THE EARLIER INDO-ARYANS AND THE MARITIME EMPIRE
OF THE DRAVIDIANS ------ 22
CHAPTER IV
THE SPREAD OF INDO- ARYAN CIVILIZATION AND THE CON-
VERSION OF THE DRAVIDIAN PEOPLE TO HINDUISM - 31
CHAPTER V
VEDIC LITERATURE -------39
CHAPTER VI
THE EPIC LITERATURE OF INDIA 45
CHAPTER VII
JAINISM: ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT - - 51
CHAPTER VIII
BUDDHISM, THE EARLIER PHASE OF ITS DEVELOPMENT, AND
THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA 58
xii CONTENTS
Book II Ancient India
CHAPTER I Page
THE SIXTEEN KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH - -66
CHAPTER II
THE PERSIAN CONQUEST OF NORTH-WESTERN INDIA AND
THE INVASION OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT - 73
CHAPTER III
THE MAURYA EMPIRE ------ 83
CHAPTER IV
THE DECLINE OF THE POWER OF MAGADHA, AND THE
GREEK INVASIONS - - - - - -102
I. The Later Mauryas - - - - 102
II. The Suriga Dynasty - - - - 104
III. The Greek Kings of Bactna and India - 108
IV. The Kanvas or the Kanvayanas - - 113
CHAPTER V
THE DRAVIDIAN DYNASTIES OF THE SOUTH - - 114
I. The Chetis of Kaliriga 114
II. The Satavahanas of the Kanarese Country - 117
III. The Tamil Kingdom 119
CHAPTER VI
THE IRRUPTION OF THE BARBARIANS INTO NORTHERN
INDIA -------- 122
I. The Sakas . . . - 122
II. The Indo-Parthians - - - - - 124
III. The Great Kushans - - 125
CONTENTS xiii
CHAPTER VII Page
GENERAL CULTURE OF NORTHERN INDIA (235 B.C.-
A.D. 280) 133
I. Indian Literature of the Post-Mauryan Period 133
II. Religion and Society - - - - 134
III. The Coinage 136
IV. Sculpture 138
V. Trade and Commerce ----- 145
VI. Greek and Roman Influence on Indian Civil-
ization ------- 146
CHAPTER VIII
THE DRAVIDIAN AND THE SCYTHIAN KINGDOMS OF
SOUTHERN AND WESTERN INDIA - 147
I. Early Satraps, Western India - 147
II. The Satavahanas ..... j^g
III. The Later Western Satraps The Dynasty of
Chashtana - - - - - - I S I
CHAPTER IX
THE CIVILIZATION OF SOUTHERN INDIA UP TO THE END
OF THE SIXTH CENTURY - - - - - 155
I. Sculpture and Architecture - - 155
II. The Coinage ...... 158
III. Literature ------- 159
Book III History of Mediaeval India
CHAPTER I
THE GUPTA EMPIRE OF NORTHERN INDIA - - - 161
I. Chandragupta I - - - - - - 161
II. Samudragupta - - - 162
III. Ramagupta - - - 168
IV. Chandragupta II (380-414) - 169
V. Kumaragupta I (414-455) ....
xiv CONTENTS
Page
VI. Skandagupta (455-4*8) - 175
VII. The Shadow Emperors (468-473) - - - 176
VIII. Budhagupta (476-495) ----- 178
IX. The Later Emperors 178
CHAPTER II
THE FIRST INDIAN RENAISSANCE AND THE CULTURE OF
THE GUPTA AGE - 181
CHAPTER III
THE NORTHERN DYNASTIES OF THE EARLY MEDIAEVAL
PERIOD - 187
I. Vakatakas 187
II. The HQnas ... - 188
III. The Maitrakas of Valabhi - - 190
IV. The Kings of Uchchakalpa - - - 192
V. The Parivrajaka Maharajas - - - - 193
VI. Yatodharman - - - - 194
VII. The Guptas of Magadha - - - 194
VIII. The Maukhans of Kanauj - 196
IX. The Kings of KamarQpa - - - - 197
CHAPTER IV
NORTHERN INDIA IN THE BEGINNING OF THE SEVENTH
CENTURY - 198
Harshavardhana - - - - - -198
CHAPTER V
THE SOUTHERN DYNASTIES OF THE EARLY MEDI/EVAL
PERIOD - - 204
I. The Pallavas 204
II. Early Chalukyas of Badami - - - - 206
III. The Kadambas 211
IV. The Kajatsuris or the Ka lac hurls - 212
V. The Rftshtrakotas of Malkhcd - - - 213
CONTENTS xv
CHAPTER VI Page
THE EARLY MEDI^^VAL CULTURE OF SOUTHERN INDIA - 317
CHAPTER VII
INDIA OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY, AS DESCRIBED BY YUAN
CHWANG (HIUEN-TSANG) ----- 224
CHAPTER VIII
THE ORIGIN OF THE RAJPUTS AND THE RISE OF THE GUR-
JARA EMPIRE - 230
I. The Pratiharas of Bhinmal and Kanauj - - 231
II. The Rajput Kingdoms of Afghanistan and the
Western Panjab ----- 236
III. The Rajputs of Sindh 237
IV. The Tomaras of Delhi - 238
V. The Chandellas of Bundelkhand - - - 238
VI. The Paramaras of Malava - 242
VII. The Chahamanas of Sakambhari and Ajmer - 245
VIII. The Chalukyas of Gujarat - - - - 247
IX. The Haihayas or Chedls of Dahala - - 252
X. The Gahadavalas of Kanauj - - - - 257
CHAPTER IX
THE EARLY MEDIEVAL KINGDOMS OF NORTH-EASTERN
INDIA -------- 259
I. The Palas of Bengal 259
II. The Khadgas of Eastern Bengal - - - 265
III. The Chandras of Vikramapura - - 266
IV. The Senas 266
V. The Yadavas of Eastern Bengal - - 269
VI. The Bhanjas of Orissa - - 269
VII. The Eastern Garigas of Kalinga - - - 270
CHAPTER X
THE LATE MEDIEVAL DYNASTIES OF THE SOUTH - 272
I. The Western Chalukyas of KalyanI - - 272
xvi CONTENTS
Page
II. The Eastern Chalukyas of Vengl - - 274
III. The Malabar Country ... - 275
IV. The Cholas of Tanjuvur (Tanjore) - - 276
V. The Pandyas of Madura - - - 282
VI. The Yadavas of Devagiri - - 283
VII. The Hoysalas of Dorasamudra - - 287
CHAPTER XI
THE MEDIEVAL HISTORY OF KASMIRA 291
I. The Karkota Dynasty - 291
II. The Utpala Dynasty - - 292
III. The Gupta Dynasty - 294
IV. The First Lohara Dynasty - 295
V. The Second Lohara Dynasty - - - 297
CHAPTER XII
THE MUHAMMADAN CONQUEST OF NORTHERN INDIA - 299
GENEALOGICAL TABLES ------ 307
INDEX .... - - - 321
BOOK I
Prehistoric India
CHAPTER I
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF INDIA
India is the central peninsula of the three which lie in the
south of Asia. On account of its extent, diversity of climate, Extent,
differences in physical features, and the variety of races that
inhabit the country, it can very well be called a continent. The
northern part very often resembles a tract in the frigid zone,
though situated in the temperate area, and the extreme south
resembles, to some extent, the central part of Africa on account
of its very great heat. The name India was originally applied
to the country on both banks of the River Indus by the Greeks
who served under the Hakhamanishiya or Achaemenid em-
perors of ancient Persia, or those who came with Alexander
the Great. The Sanskrit name for the River Indus, Sindku,
became Hindu, Hidu in the ancient dialects of Iran (Avestan
and Old Persian), which the Greeks turned into Indos, and
this Indos is the source of Indus, India.
The extent of the country has varied at different times.
At present many scholars think that Afghanistan did not form Afghani*
a part of India at any time. But the explorations of Stein in *****
Central Asia and of the French School of Archaeology in
Afghanistan prove that that tract at one time formed an
integral part of India. Afghanistan may be roughly divided
into three parts: Kabul and Herat in the north, and Kandahar
(B668) 1 B
PREHISTORIC INDIA
INDIA
Surface Features
English Miles
Colombo t
46o/ 6000 feet
1500 to 30t)0 feet
600 to 1500 foet
Sea levfi to GOO fat
L.ist 80 of < .re* nwirh
in the south. Of these three, the Kabul district is the most
fertile, Kandahar stands next, and Herat last both in point of
fertility and population. Kabul and Kandahar were Indian
in population, language, and faith till the beginning of the
sixteenth century.
Afghanistan consisted of the provinces of Aria, Arachosia,
Gedrosia, Paropanisadai, and part of Drangiana. These
provinces are now represented by the Vilayat* of Herat, Balkh,
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF INDIA 3
Kabul, Ghazna or Ghazni and Kandahar. They formed a
province of the first and northernmost region of India.
Baluchistan has always been a different country and forms
a part of the Iranian desert, though it lies so very close to the
Indian provinces of Afghanistan and Sindh. This country was Baluchi-
the borderland between India and Persia, and the northern 8
part of it, now called Kalat, was called Drangani in Sanskrit
and Zranka in Old Persian, both of which terms mean " The
Frontier ". When the Greeks came they transliterated this
term into Drangiane or Drangiana.
Geographically India is divided into four parts. The first The Four
. r i . ,. r 11 Regions.
consists of the mountainous country extending from the bor-
ders of Persia in the west to those of the province of Yun-nan The First
in the south of China. Most of the provinces in this region
are enclosed within a very long and wide mountain system
called the Himalayas and the Hindu-Kush. The Himalayas
form a barrier between the high tableland of Tibet and the low
plains of the basins of the Ganges and the Indus river systems.
Towards the north-west this mountain chain encloses the
fertile valley of Kashmir, which was the bed of a lake in pre-
historic times, and the small groups of valleys of the modern
districts of Balkh, Kabul and Kandahar in Afghanistan. The
western part of this mountain system has acquired different
names; such as the Karakorum, the Hindu-Kush, the Sulai-
man, and the Khirthar; but in reality they are parts of one
range. The western side of these mountains is entirely different The
from the eastern; the latter is covered with dense vegetation, Region.
while the former is almost bare. But these western ranges
contain the fertile valleys of Kabul and Kandahar. The
eastern part contains the less productive and smaller valleys
of Kumaun, Garhwal, and Nepal. In the north-eastern corner,
these valleys, though more frequent and fertile, are not pro-
ductive, on account of the dense jungle, which has not been
removed since the formation of this tract.
The second part, or region, consists of the basins of the
seven rivers of the Panjab and the flat plains through which
the Ganges and the Brahmaputra flow. In recent geological
ages, this tract, with the exception of the hills in the Jhelum
district of the Panjab, formed with Rajputana a sea-bed.
4 PREHISTORIC INDIA
The ancient sea has gradually dried up and the basins of the
great rivers have been filled with alluvium brought down during
thousands of years. Rajputana has remained barren and arid,
as no freshwater stream flows through it to make its soil fertile
and productive. The bed of the ancient sea was uncovered,
and the vast sandy plain, which once formed the ocean bed,
now constitutes the great Indian Desert lying between the
provinces of Malwa and the Panjab. A remnant of the ancient
sea now forms the salt lake of Sambhar near Ajmer and the
great salt marsh, called the Rann of Cutch (Sanskrit Irina),
between the mouths of the Indus and the peninsula of Kathia-
wad. The second region is bounded on the north by the
jungles at the foot of the Himalayas, on the east by the moun-
tain ranges which separate Bengal from Burma, on the west
by the mountains of Afghanistan and Baluchistan, and on
the south by the jungles on the northern slope of the Vindhya
ranges.
The third region consists of the great plateau in the centre
of the Indian Peninsula. The plateau rises abruptly at the
end of the vast plain through which the Ganges, the Brahma-
putra, and the Indus flow. The country between the basins
of these rivers and the slope of the tableland is full of dense
jungle and low hilk. The Vindhya Mountains run through
the centre of this belt of hills and forests. They consist of two
or more parallel ranges of hills, running from Rajmahal at the
western extremity of Bengal to the Gulf of Cambay. The
plateau itself is a triangle, smaller than the peninsula, two sides
of -which are almost parallel to the eastern and western coasts
of India. This plateau is much less fertile than the second
Th Third region and consists of a vast undulating plain intersected by
smaller plateaux, which very often rise in two or three tiers.
rpj je WC8tem ec jg e O f thjg plateau is higher than the eastern,
and these two edges are bounded by mountain chains called
the Eastern and the Western Ghats. The plateau slopes from
west to east, and the apex of the triangle is formed by a high
projection which runs due south from the Nilgiris and divides
Travancore from the British province of Madras. This pro-
jection is called the Anaimalai Hills. The soil of the plateau
varies in different regions. The western part is formed of
PHYSICAL FEATURES OF INDIA 5
lava and its soil is almost black. As one approaches the eastern
edge of the plateau, he sees the change in the soil, and near
the Eastern Ghats it is reddish, as is that at the end of the
plateau to the south of the rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra.
The plateau culminates in the Hindu state of Mysore, which
is higher at the southern end than most of the plateau itself.
The fourth part or region of India consists of a broad belt
of fertile land which runs along the sides of the peninsula.
It is bounded on one side by the sea and on the other side by
the Eastern or the Western Ghats. The western part of this
belt is called the Konkan, from Sanskrit Kaftkana, a bracelet.
The northern part, lying between the Gulfs of Cambay and
Trombay, is very fertile and formed the richest portion of the
Mughal Subah of Gujarat. Near Bombay the hills approach
the Arabian Sea, and the tract between Bombay and Goa is
not so fertile as Gujarat. But the coast land produces salt and
provides for a large number of fishermen, while the valleys
produce abundant crops of rice on account of the heavy rain-
fall during the south-western monsoon. South of Goa, the
land is as fertile as Bengal and supports a very dense popu-
lation. The country consists of a flat alluvial plain stretching
from the Western Ghats or the Anaimalai Hills to the salt
creeks near the sea coast. The eastern belt of coastland, from
Ramnad near Ramesvaram to Tanjore, is also very rich and
fertile and supports the densest population in Southern India.
To the north of Tanjore the belt contracts, and above Madras
the nature of the soil changes. The population is also less
dense. The northern part of the eastern belt is much less*
fertile than the southern part, and the inhabitants are less
enterprising than the people of the western coast. The people
of Malabar are born sailors, and their sea-going craft are much
more seaworthy than the cruder boats of the eastern coast.
Therefore, while the natives of Konkan and the Malabar coast
are bold sailors and trade with the Gulf of Persia and the Red
Sea, the more primitive craft of the eastern coast are hardly
fit for the open sea. The difference between the types of the
sea-going craft of the eastern and western coasts of India
reflects to some extent the important characteristics of the
inhabitants of those parts.
6 PREHISTORIC INDIA
From a historical viewpoint the four regions differ greatly.
Since early times the sea coast has been the abode of enter-
prising foreigners, who have crossed over from other lands.
The rich fertile coast land has seen the rise of many different
civilizations. The Deccan plateau and the three mountain
systems which gird it have afforded a safe refuge to conquered
races from time immemorial, and its barren and unproductive
soil has repelled invaders, while the broad fertile plain of the
basins of the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra has attracted
hungry nomads from outside India from the very dawn of the
history of mankind. Like the third region, the secluded valleys
of the mountain-girt Himalayan region have sheltered the
remnants of conquered races of different historic periods.
The languages, manners, and customs of the different inhabi-
tants of these alpine valleys of India afford very great help in
the reconstruction of the history of her prehistoric past.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, chap. i.
CHAPTER II
THE RACES OF INDIA AND THEIR LANGUAGES
Being really a continent, India is inhabited by peoples of
different races, who speak many different languages. The
oldest of these peoples are the inhabitants of the Andaman
The Islands, who belong to the Negrito branch of the Negro race,
g toes rpkeir language d oes no t show any affinity to any other lan-
guage of the world. The Negritoes are to be found on the sea
coast of Makran, between India and Persia, in the Malay
Peninsula, and in the Philippines. Formerly they lived along
the entire sea coast from Arabia to China, but now they have
been either driven inland or have been exterminated or enslaved
and absorbed by people of many other races. The Negritoes
lived entirely by fishing and hunting, and the ancient Greek
writers called them Ichthyophagoi or fish -eaters. They pos-
RACES AND LANGUAGES 7
sessed very rude weapons made of stone and bones of animals.
Their weapons of stone are so rude and primitive that scholars TIM
call them weapbns of the Old Stone Age or Palceotiths. They uSSST"
had no idea of building houses or huts, and lived in caves or Period
in mere thatched shelters. They had no idea of throwing
missiles, and we do not know as yet whether they had ad-
vanced sufficiently to make earthenware pots. Agriculture
was not known among them, and they clothed themselves
with skins or grass mats. The Andaman Islanders do not
know how to produce corn even now, and live entirely by
hunting and fishing, and on wild roots and berries. They
fashion weapons from old nails or pieces of glass and shoot
fish with arrows. 1
The Negritoes were followed by another race, who came
from the south-eastern regions of Asia and at one time covered
the entire archipelago, from the Easter Islands in the Pacific
to Madagascar on the coast of Africa. In the north, the Ian-
guages spoken by them are still to be found in Yasin to the
north of Kashmir and in the small valleys of Nepal. Scholars
call these people the Austric, or Southern race. This word
has nothing to do with Australia. No connexion has as yet
been established between the primitive inhabitants of Aus-
tralia and the Austric people of Southern Asia and the islands.
Some scholars think that these Austric people possessed an
advanced civilization at one time. There are huge statues
and pyramid -shaped altars in many of the islands of the
Pacific, but these are certainly not the handiwork of the
modern inhabitants. Traces of irrigation works and stone
masonry are to be found in some of the islands whose p esent-
day inhabitants do not know anything about masonry. 2
The Austric languages fall into two broad groups, which are
called the Austronesian and the Austro- Asiatic. The Austro-
nesian or " Southern Island " languages are distributed over
a very wide area and include almost all the languages spoken
in the islands of the Pacific and the Indian Oceans, with the
exception of those spoken on the continent of Australia. The Group
Austro-Asiatic languages, on the other hand, are confined to *
1 Keane, Man, Past and Present, pp. 145-59.
1 Perry, Children of the Sun.
8 PREHISTORIC INDIA
a smaller area. This group has been divided into three sepa-
rate sub-divisions. The first consists of the languages of the
wild Semang and Sakai who live in the Malay Peninsula. The
second contains the languages of the Khasi hillmen of Assam,
the inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands, and some of the isolated
inhabitants of Burma, such as the Palaung, the Riang and the
Wa. The third sub-division consists of the Munda or Kolian
languages of Central India and the group of languages called
the Mon-Khmer, which are spoken in Lower Burma and
Cambodia.
Scholars connect the invasion of India by the Austric people
with the age of weapons of polished stone or the Neolithic
Age. In this age men learnt to throw missiles, such as arrows
and darts, and improved their weapons of stone very greatly
by polishing them. The discovery of the potter's wheel also
belongs to this age.
While the traces of the people of the Palaeolithic Age are
confined to the hilly region of Central India and the eastern
part of the Deccan plateau, the remains of the Neolithic Age
are spread all over India. Traces of the habitation of Neo-
lithic men in the flat alluvial plains in the basins of the great
northern rivers are still apparent. The use of the Austric
languages is supposed to have extended at one time from the
north of Kashmir to Annam in Further India. It is supposed
that when the Austric-(Kol)-speaking neolithic people were
driven out of the fertile lands of the second region, some of
them took shelter in the inaccessible valleys of the Himalayas.
The little-known language of the people of the Yasin valley,
called Burushaski, is regarded by some scholars as being
allied to the Austric group of languages; and Austric influence
is apparent in some of the languages spoken in certain in-
accessible valleys of Nepal.
The largest group of Austric languages in Central India
,is the Kolian or the Munda group. People who speak these
languages live in the hilly jungle tracts on both sides of the
Vindhyan range. They are the Santals, Mundas, Bhumijes,
.Birhors, Kodas, Larka Kols, Turs, Asurs, Agars, and Korwas.
These people live in the eastern part of the Vindhyan chain,
extending from Rajmahal in the east to certain parts of Chota-
RACES AND LANGUAGES 9
Nagpur. This group of languages extends as far west as the
Mahadeo Hills in the Central Provinces, where Kurku is
spoken. In the hilly tracts of Orissa, a small wild tribe, called
the Juangs, and in the Oriya-speaking districts of Madras
two other wild tribes, called the Savaras and the Gadabas, speak
'similar languages. This group of languages, which is com-
monly called the Munda languages, is supposed to represent
the language of the first group of the Austric people, who came
to India from the north-east.
The second wave of the Austric race, which invaded India *n
some time after the first, used polished stone weapons with invasion
" shoulders ", 1 This new type of weapon is to be found in Austric
Burma and Assam and very rarely in Chota-Nagpur. The Pe P |e -
languages of the second group do not extend westwards be-
yond Bengal. The present remnants of these languages are
to be found in Assam, Burma, and the Nicobar Islands.
Certain Mongoloid tribes who invaded Assam in historical
times, such as the Angami Nagas, continued the use of
" shouldered " stone implements up to recent times. ,
The aboriginal tribes, who live in the western portion of
the Vindhyas, in the Aravalli range and the Western Ghats,
are allied to the Kolians or the Austric people, though they
have ceased to speak~Austric languages. These are the Bhils,
the Minas, the Mairs, and the Kolis of Rajputana and Western
India. The wild tribes of Southern India, such as the Yanadis St^jJ 1 *
of the Telugu country, the Kurumbas, the Irulas, the Pani- the wt
yans, and the Kadirs, have adopted Dravidian languages, south,
though they seem to be of Negrito origin or the result of a
mixture of the Negrito and the Austric races. Some of these
tribes have become partially civilized and Hinduized. The
Kurubas of the Madras Presidency belong ethnically to the
same stock as the wilder Kurumbas, but they have taken to
agriculture and turned Hindu. 2
The Neolithic phase of culture in the Indus valley was a
complex one. Remarkable evidence has been brought to
light by the discovery of brick-built, well-planned and
highly-organized cities of agriculturists and traders at
A shouldered weapon possesses a small area on each side of the tenon which fits it
into the handle. .They are mostly adxes or axes.
1 . Thurston, Caitit and Trib** oftht Madras Prtiidtncy, Vol. IV, pp. 155-9.
(B668) B2
io PREHISTORIC INDIA
Harappa, in the Montgomery area of the Punjab and
Mohenjo-daro, in the Larkana area of Sindh. Although
copper was in use, stone implements were very freely used,
and a wonderful craftsmanship was displayed in the pro-
duction of ornaments of gold, silver, ivory, semi-precious
stones and even faience. Trading relations with other
d EI centres of civilization have been established by finds of Indus
" valley " seals " in Sumeria (Lower Mesopotamia) and Eiam
^(Western Persia). These cities were built by Dravidians, or
proto-Dravidians. The scanty human remains so far forth-
coming indicate that representatives of the Mediterranean
race were, during the late city period, mixing with " round-
heads " of the Alpine race and, perhaps, proto- Mongols.
The Dravidian languages are divided into four broad
groups: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. Telugu
is spoken in the northern part of the Madras Presidency
jG^Lin- and the eastern part of the dominions of the Nizam of
Haidarabad. Tamil is spoken along the eastern coast from
near Madras to the end of the Indian Peninsula as well as in
the northern part of Ceylon. It is the richest of Dravidian
languages, and its literature is of extraordinary merit and
goes back to the early centuries of the Christian era. Old
Tamil literature enables us to form some idea of the civiliza-
tion of the Dravidians of the south at an early date. The
Kannada language is spoken in the south-western part of
India, consisting of the southern districts of the Bombay
Presidency, the western districts of the dominions of the
Nizam of Haidarabad, the Bellary and South Kanara districts
of Madras, and the state of Mysore. This, too, is an old lan-
Swthern B 1121 ^ 6 which possesses a considerable literature of its own, and
Dravidian can be divided into two different strata, old and new. Along
goage*. the south-western coast, Malayalam, which is regarded by
scholars as a branch of Old Tamil, is spoken from Canna-
nore to Cape Comorin. Kodagu, the language of Coorg, is
regarded by some as a dialect of the Kannada language. The
northernmost of the Dravidian languages is Brahui, the
language of Central Baluchistan. Other northern Dravidian
speeches are the language of the Malers of the Rajmahal
Hills, and that of the Oraons of Chota-Nagpur. These two
5
"S
ia PREHISTORIC INDIA
tribes migrated to the north in historical times, after adopting
Dravidian languages, manners, and customs. In the eastern
part of the jungle tract, which lies to the south of the Vindhya
Hills, live the Gonds, another aboriginal tribe, who for a
time destroyed the Aryan kingdoms in this area. Many
of these Gond kings became Hindus and ruled over the
country extending from Orissa in the east to Saugor, in the
Central Provinces, on the west. The Hinduized Gonds call
themselves NagavamSi Rajputs and have given up speak-
ing the Dravidian dialects, which the wilder Gonds still use.
The language of the Oraons is called Kurukh and that of the
Go n( j 8> Gondi. Gondi, Kurukh, Malto (the language of the
Malers of Rajmahal), Kandh (the language of a small tribe
in the hill tracts of Orissa), Kollami (spoken by a very primi-
tive tribe in Berar), and Telugu together form the northern
group of the Indian Dravidian languages.
To the south of the Narmada, all wild aboriginal tribes
adopted Dravidian languages, religions, and customs; and
later on, some of them migrated to the north. The Bhils, the
Minas, and the Mairs of Rajputana at present speak dialects
of the Aryan language.
The Dravidians possessed a distinctive culture of their own,
and, perhaps, brought the knowledge of the use of metals
with them. They practised burial without cremation,
and followed the same customs regarding the disposal of
the dead as the ancient inhabitants of the islands of Crete
and Rhodes, and the cities of Troy and Babylon. They
placed the dead bodies in a crouching position inside terra-
cotta sarcophagi or placed the disintegrated bones in an
earthenware vessel. These earthenware vessels containing
dead bodies or bones have been found along the northern
coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in Mesopotamia, Babylonia,
Persia, Baluchistan, Sindh, and Southern India. When they
came in touch with the Indo-Aryans, who cremated their
dead instead of burying them, the Dravidians started burning
their dead also, but continued their ancient custom of placing
some of the bones in an earthenware jar, which was placed
in the family vault. Along with the dead, food, clothing, the
personal ornaments of the deceased, his arms, and other
RACES AND LANGUAGES 13
favourite objects were placed in the same burial urn, terra-
cotta sarcophagus, or stone burial chamber. The tombs of SS
the Dravidians in Baluchistan and Sindh show the exclusive
use of copper and bronze weapons and ornaments. But the
tombs discovered to the south of the Godavari show the use
of iron, along with ornaments and vessels of bronze and
copper. Some of the bronze vessels are of exquisite beauty,
and show that the people who made them had advanced
considerably in the use of metals. The Dravidians also knew
the use of gold and silver and used golden crowns and arm- Gold and
lets. Some of these golden crowns have been discovered in
Dravidian tombs of the Iron Age at Adittanallur, in the
extreme south of the Indian Peninsula. The terra-cotta
sarcophagi found at Pallavaram and Perumbur in the Chingle-
put District, Dadampatti in the Madura District, and certain
places in the Salem District are exactly like the bath-tub-
shaped sarcophagi discovered at Brahmanabad and Mohen-
jo-daro in Sindh, at Gehareh near Bagdad, and other places
in Babylonia. The multiple-legged cists found at Perumbur
and numerous other places in the Madras Presidency resemble
the terra-cotta chests (larnakes) found at different places in
the Island of Crete. Herodotus has recorded that the Lycians
in Asia Minor were descended from the ancient Cretans and
they brought their national name, Termilai, from Crete, and
the ancient inscriptions of the Lycians tell us that they call
themselves Trimmili, which is the same as the Greek form
used by Herodotus. 1 The method of cist-burials and urn-
burials, the similarity of names, and the identity of certain
pictograms or ideograms discovered in South-western Panjab
and Upper Sindh with the pictograms and the linear script,
of Crete, indicate that the ancient Dravidians were a branch;
of the same race as the ancient Cretans, and they brought:
the picture-writing and the burial customs with them from
South-eastern Europe. The Indian Dravidians discovered ^SSttL
the use of money and were the first people to build dams of tte
across rivers for the purpose of irrigation. The dams built r
by them in rivers which dried up long ago still exist in dif-
ferent parts of Baluchistan. They also improved their pottery
1 S. K. Chattexji, Modern Review, 1994, pp. 675-6-
14
PREHISTORIC INDIA
Eottery.
cuttoms
Burma.
Pami
Round-
uSt
Babylon
and made very fine thin jars and vases like egg-shell china,
some of which were decorated with paintings in many colours.
Most of their pottery is wheel-turned and kiln-burnt. Beauti-
ful vases with magnificent polychrome decorations have been
discovered in Baluchistan and Sindh.
The pottery discovered in the Dravidian tombs of Southern
India is not painted. This pottery is very well made and is in
two colours only, red and black. Some of the tribes of Austric
origin, such as the Mundas and the Oraons of Chota-Nagpur,
adopted the system of burying the bones of the dead in earthen-
ware urns and jars. These jars have round bottoms and
resemble the jars discovered in Sindh. Similar round-bot-
tomed jars have been discovered in Pegu, which was colonized
by the Dravidians long before the birth of Christ.
The Dravidians were driven out of the fertile plains of
Northern India by a round-headed race about whom we know
nothing. They form a belt of round-heads between the
Dravidians of the south and the long-headed Aryans of the
north at the present day. These round-headed people are
supposed to have come from the Pamirs. 1 We do not know
anything about their manners and customs or their language.
Most probably they adopted the language, religion, manners,
and customs of the more civilized Dravidians, and mixed with
them.
The Aryans or Indo-Aryans invaded Persia and Babylonia
more than two thousand years before the birth of Christ.
They were nomads living somewhere to the north-east of
f Babylon, who came to sell horses in Babylon and Asia Minor,
and the oldest inscriptions found at Boghaz-Koi in Northern
Asia Minor gave some words of Indo-Aryan origin, such as
Panz-avartanna> i.e. five rounds, or Satt-avartanna, i.e.
seven rounds, to a horse at the time of breaking. Later on,
the Aryans founded a powerful kingdom in Asia Minor and
1 Babylon. The Aryan kings of Babylon were called the Kash-shu
'or the Kassites, and they ruled over that country for many
centuriesf The Aryan kingdom of Asia Minor was called the
kingdom of Mitanni, and we possess a very interesting series
of documents of the Aryan rulers of Mitanni discovered at
1 Chanda, Indo-Aryan Kacet, Part I, pp. 37-78.
RACES AND LANGUAGES 15
Tell-el-Amarna in Egypt and at Boghaz-Koi in Asia Minor.
From the Boghaz-Koi inscriptions we know that the kings
of the Mitanni worshipped the same gods (Mitra, Indra,
Varuna, and the Nasatyas or Avins) as the early Indo- Aryans
of India, and their names, like Dashratta, Artatama, Yash-
data, Shaush-shattar, also were of the same origin. 1
After 1714 B.C. the Kassites occupied Babylon and de-
stroyed the independence of the early Semitic kings of that
country. The Kassites are supposed to have been a people
of the same origin as the Indo- Aryans, but when they con-
quered Babylon they were certainly barbarians. After settling
down in Babylon they adopted the worship of the local gods
and gradually became united with the Semitic population
of that country. Evidence has been discovered of the exis-
Itence of another Aryan colony on the eastern bank of Lake
Urumiah in Persia. These people are called the l\Ianda in
the inscription of Naram-Sin, one of the kings of Babylon,
who lived two thousand six hundred years before the birth
of Christ, and the Amadai in the inscriptions of the first
millennium B.C. found in Assyria. The Greek writers called
them Mantiane or Matiene. They existed as a separate tribe
even at the time of Alexander 's conquest of the ancient Persian
Empire in 331 B.C., and were called the Matiani. The Manda
were horse-dealers and they came to Asia Minor to sell horses. Aryans
The introduction of horses into Babylonia was due to the the horse
Aryan barbarians who came from the steppes of Central Asia Minor/*
under different names, such as the Kassites or the Kash-shu,
; the Mitanni, the Matiani or the Medes.
The Kassite kings ruled in Babylon for more than six
centuries. Their language was quite different from the language
of Akkad or old Semitic Babylonian. The ancient Babylonians
compiled dictionaries of the Kassite language which now the KM-
enable us to fix the Aryan affinities of the old Kassite language. **"
The name of the Sun-god was Shuriyash (Sanskrit Stiryas),
but the Semitic or Babylonian form is Shamash (Arabic
Shams). Similarly, another god was called Maruttash, which
is a very close approach to the name of the Indian Wind-god
Marut. The Kassites were mountaineers who started plun-
1 Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. I, pp. 311 iz.
16 PREHISTORIC INDIA
daring the rich and fertile land on the banks of the Tigris
and the Euphrates about 2072 B.C. Gandash, the first Kassite
king of Babylonia, conquered Babylon in 1746 B.C. Very little
is known of the Kassite kings, but we get more light about the
| early Indo- Aryan invaders of Asia Minor from the records
! discovered at Boghaz-Koi and Tell-el-Amarna.
From these records we learn that the Mitanni were people
of Aryan descent; their kings were at first independent, but
later on they had to become feudatories of the Egyptian
Empire. The earliest and most interesting of the records is the
correspondence of the kings of the Mitanni with the Pharaohs
, of Egypt of the eighteenth dynasty. Thutmosis III of Egypt
defeated the king of the Mitanni in Asia Minor and recorded
this event in hieroglyphics on the pylons of the great temple at
Karnak in Egypt. Thutmosis III was obliged to invade the
kingdom of the Mitanni, which lay to the east of the River
Euphrates, in order to punish its king for the part he had taken
in encouraging the rebels of Syria. The king of the Mitanni
was heavily punished, and the Egyptian Pharaoh crossed the
Euphrates and set up his boundary pillar. These events
happened in the first half of the fifteenth century before the
of ^^ birth of Christ. After the conquest of the Mitanni, the princes
of that country were not removed but were allowed to remain
as feudatories of the Egyptian Empire. Amenhotep II of this
dynasty received the submission of the princes of the Mitanni
during his Syrian campaign of 1447 B.C. His son, Thutmosis
IV, married a daughter of King Artatama I, named Mute-
tbe Aryan muya. Thutmosis is said to have demanded the daughter of
th Artatama, to which demand the latter acceded and the lady
'Was sent to Egypt. The alliance between the Mitannian royal
house and the Pharaohs strengthened the power of Egypt in
Asia Minor, and was productive of great benefit to the kings
of the Mitanni also. Mutemuya became the mother of the
next Pharaoh, Amenhotep HI. In the Mitannian kingdom
Artatama I was succeeded by his son, Shutarna, who was
the contemporary of Amenhotep III, and married his
daughter Gilukhipa to Amenhotep. Shutarna 's son and sue-
ccssor, Dushratta, continued to be the favourite of Amen-
hotep. Dushratta married his daughter Tadukhipa to Pharaoh
RACES AND LANGUAGES 17
Amenhotep IV, the son of Amenhotep III. The letters from
Dushratta to Amenhotep III reveal the position of the Mitan-
nian kings. They were ambitious enough to desire a daughter
of the royal house of Egypt for their harems, and their de-
mands for Egyptian gold were incessant. During the last
illness of Amenhotep, Dushratta sent the image of the goddess Dushratu
Ishtar to Egypt in the hope that the goddess might drive
away the evil spirits which were causing the illness.
Dushratta reigned for a long time. In his reign the
Mitannian kingdom was invaded by the Hittites. These
were defeated at first, but after the death of Amenhotep
III they returned in large numbers. Dushratta renewed
the alliance with the Pharaoh Akhenaten. At this time
Shubbiluliuma, the young and energetic king of the Hittites,
invaded the territories of Egypt and the Mitanni in Asia invwrton
Minor. King Dushratta was one of the three sons ofmttg.
Shutarna, and had gained the kingdom after the death
of his brother Artashumara. His other brother, Artatama,
remained his rival throughout. Artatama had taken refuge
in Naharin, a place beyond the reach of Dushratta, and here
Artatama II, his son Shutarna II, or Shutatara, and his
grandson Itakama lived as semi-independent kings. They
intrigued with the Hittite kings and remained a thorn in the
side of the kings of the Mitanni. Shubbiluliuma supported
Itakama, and after some time crossed the Euphrates, but
Dushratta somehow or other avoided open war. Shutatara,
or Shutarna II, and Itakama fought with the Hittite king on
account of his neglect of their interests, but both were
defeated and carried off to Khati, the capital of the Hittites.
In 1369 B.C. Shubbiluliuma placed Mattiuaza, the son of
Dushratta, on the throne of his father. The latter is said to
have been murdered by his son. Shutarna II and his son
Itakama now seized the kingdom, and the power of the Mitanni
came to an end. The kingdom was divided between the
Hittites and the Assyrian kings of Nineveh. Shubbiluliuma
married his daughter to Mattiuaza and drove out Shutarna II JJJJJJJJ^
/and his son. Mattiuaza is the last known Aryan king of the * ***"*
| Mitanni. The names of these kings of the Mitanni are dis-
* tinctly Indo-Aryan. Artatama, Shutarna, and Dushratta
i8 PREHISTORIC INDIA
(which stands for Sanskrit Daiaratha) are certainly Sanskritic,
and the names of the gods of the Mitannian kings show that
they worshipped some of the gods whom the Indo-Aryans of
India worshipped. It is therefore evident that the Mitannian
kingdom existed at a time when the Indian Aryans had not
separated from the Aryans living in Persia. Some of these
gods are mentioned in the sacred literature of the ancient
Persians, but there the forms of their names have changed.
The Gods The name Nasatya is common to the Mitanni and the Aryans
Kings of of India, but in ancient Persian literature these two gods,
who are called the A^vins or the ASvinl-kumaras in later
Indian literature, are called the Naonhaithya. It is also quite
possible that the affinity between ancient Mitannians and the
Aryans of India was greater than that with the Aryans of
Persia.
The Aryans invaded India through Afghanistan and the
Khaibar Pass. At one time scholars supposed that they
invaded India on two different occasions. They were sup-
n* Route posed to have come in two waves, the first of which came
ifldo- by the usual route, through Afghanistan and the Khaibar
******* Pass, and the second through the more difficult route along
the Pamirs and Dardistan to the north of Kashmir. This
theory, based on linguistic evidence, has now been abandoned
by the majority of scholars, because the Pamirs are so arid
and barren that it must have been absolutely impossible for
large masses of men to traverse that route.
Some time before the Aryan invasion, the Dravidians of
Northern India had fused with the Pamirians or the round-
headed people who had come through North-eastern Afghani-
stan and the Indus valley to Northern India. Evidently these
*!! people had not colonized the Panjab, which had been left to
dark-skinned, flat-nosed aboriginals. The Indo-Aryans, when
they reached the fertile plains of the Panjab, found these dark-
skinned people in occupation.
The Indo-Aryans had enemies of two different classes, the
Vjitras, i.e. civilized foes, and Dasas or Dasyus, i.e. enemies
of non- Aryan origin. The Italian anthropologist Giuffrida
Vritras Ruggieri agrees with Ramaprasad Chanda in thinking that the
first inhabitants of India whom the Indo-Aryans met in the
RACES AND LANGUAGES 19
basins of the five rivers of the Panjab were aboriginals. Side
by side with these aboriginals appeared the Vritras, who were
civilized. In many cases, in later literature, reference is to
be found to a cultured race called the Asuras. These Asuras
are recognized as having been a civilized people, but were
looked down upon as they did not worship the deities whom
the Indo- Aryans revered. Some scholars thought that the
Asuras were the Medes or the Aryans of Assyria; but one
fact has not been considered by such writers, namely, the
existence of an aboriginal tribe called the Asuras in Chota-
Nagpur, and the repeated mention of the Asuras in Vedic and
post- Vedic literature.
The Asuras are generally represented in the epics as a
cultured race of demons who possessed considerable skill in
building and were formidable enemies even to the gods.
Vedic literature contains numerous references to the Dasas
also, and it appears that after conquering the flat plains of the Their
T* i i T j * j ! j i Forts and
Panjab the Indo-Aryans encountered a more civilized people, cities.
These people are also called Dasas. Indra is said to have
shattered the hundred castles of Sambara. He is also said to
have occupied the seven cities of the enemies of Purukutsa
and plundered the wealth of the Anus. He destroyed the
cities of another non- Aryan chief named Pipru and plundered
3ushna. From this account it is evident that the terms Asura
and Dasa were used indiscriminately. The Nishadas, who
are described as noseless beings, were the first people whom
the Indo-Aryans met in the plains of the Panjab. But in the
fertile country between the Satlej and the Yamuna they came
across a more cultured people who possessed castles, cities,
and considerable wealth. Sambara was a Dasa and a for-
midable enemy of the Indo-Aryah king Divodasa; his father's
name was Kulitara, the structure of which shows that the name
at least was non -Aryan. The name Ami, of the tribe whose
seven cities were conquered by the Aryan chief Purukutsa, also
appears to be of non- Aryan origin. The Danavas or the Asuras
formed a belt around the small Indo-Aryan colony. They The
were probably the descendants of the Pamirians and the *"L* ?*
* f ! j i i Draviouui
Dravidians, who were certainly far more civilized than the Kingdom*
Indo-Aryan invaders. Gradually they were conquered by the *
PREHISTORIC INDIA
newcomers, and mixed with them. Some of them belonged to
the mysterious people whom the Indo-Aryans called N&gas
or snakes, and whose representations are to be seen in paintings
and bas-reliefs of the historical period. Thus Vjitra, the
Asura chief, is called a snake in the Satapatha Brahmana, but
The idan- in Mahabharata he is regarded as a prince among the Daityas.
The Kalakeyas, the Kaleyas, or the Kalakhanjas are another
Dii ava tribe who worshipped the Sun, from whom they were
supposed to be descended. It thus appears that the term Dasa
or Dasyu was indiscriminately applied to all enemies of the
Indo-Aryans and that the latter, after crossing the Panjab,
encountered another race or people called Asuras, Daityas,
or Danavas. The Nagas formed a part of this civilized
race. When the Indo-Aryans had conquered and colonized
the basin of the Indus and its tributaries and that of the Ganges
as far as Benares, the Asuras surrounded them on all sides.
They were certainly in possession of Magadha or South Bihar
and modern Rajputana at the time of the tribal war between
the Panda vas and the Kurus. These Asuras were great builders,
and their building operations were regarded with awe and
reverence by the Aryans. In Vedic literature mention is
made of castles of the Dasas built of stone. Cities belonging
to the Asuras are called Patala, Saubha, Pragjyotisha, Hirapya-
pura, and Taksha&la. In the eastern countries Girivraja, the
capital of the Asura chief Jarasandha, and its defences excited
the admiration of the Pandava chief Bhfma . When Yudhishfhira,
the eldest of the Panda vas, performed the RajasQya ceremony,
the Asura architect Maya was called to design and build the
buildings required for the sacrifice. -The Asuras were thus a
people who gradually succumbed to the virility of the new
invaders and ultimately merged among them. A portion of
them found refuge in the Chota-Nagpur Hills, where they
lapsed into barbarism. Such lapses of a more civilized people
have been recorded, as in the case of the Red Indians of North
America. These Asuras are generally regarded as worshippers
* * c Pk^ 118 ^rth obscene rites. The epic literature refers
to the Asura kings as worshippers of Mahadeva in the majority
of cases, and the prevalence of phallic worship in the south is
a clear indication of the fact that before the Asuras had adopted
RACES AND LANGUAGES 21
the outward form of worship of the Aryans, they were
worshippers of the phallic emblem.
In the extreme north-east the kings of Pragjyotisha or Assam
claim to be descended from an Asura named Naraka. References
in the Vedic literature very clearly indicate that the Indo-
Aryans regarded that part of Northern India only to be fit
for the occupation of Indo- Aryans where their peculiar manners
and customs and mode of worship had obtained prevalence. Theindo-
The Indo- Aryans had brought with them the cult of the
| worship of Fire, a practice which they and the ancient Iranians
had adopted after the downfall of the Mitannian kingdom and
the Hittite conquest of Asia Minor. In the Aitareya Brahmana
it is mentioned that Bharata Dauhshyanti, the king of the
Kaurava clan, performed one hundred and thirty-three horse
sacrifices, out of which seventy-eight were performed on the
banks of the River Yamuna and fifty-five on those of the
Ganges. This indicates that in the middle Vedic period, when
the Brahmanas were being compiled, the land between the
Ganges and the Yamuna was the centre of Indo-Aryan
activities. The Satapatha Brahmana mentions that from the
banks of the River Sarasvati the sacred fire travelled along
the northern bank of the Ganges and crossed the Sarayu, The
Gandak, and Kosi rivers, and reached the western bank of theMigra-
the River Sadanira, i.e. the modern Rapti. There is no mention sacrificial
of the entrance of the sacrificial fire into Magadha or South Flre *
Bihar and Bengal. A number of Indian law-books expressly
mention that such Indo-Aryans as went to the countries of
Bengal, Kalinga, and Sauvlra (Kathiawad-Cutch) had to per-
form a special ceremony of purification. These references
'show that the Indo-Aryans did not colonize any other part of
India except the Panjab and parts of the United Provinces.
Their immigration into the east and the south was barred by
the powerful Asura kingdoms.
The process of fusion of the Indo-Aryans and the earlier
inhabitants of India of Dravidian origin was very slow. The
Aryans never succeeded in conquering or colonizing any part
of India which lay to the south of the Yamuna and to the east of
of N. Bihar. Their settlement in the modem provinces of
Sindh and Rajputana is also problematical, and it is certain
22
PREHISTORIC INDIA
The
Tibeto-
Burntan
Invasion.
Th
Sftno-
that they never succeeded in penetrating the country to the
south of the Vindhyan range and the River Narmada.
The immigrations into India through the more difficult
passes of the north-east are less familiar to us. It is certain
that the Austric people came to India in two different waves
in the Neolithic period, but later waves of immigration through
these passes must be referred to the historical period. The
wild tribes living in Assam and the Indo-Burman frontier
must have entered India long after the Aryan colonization of
the north-west. The earliest of these are the Tibeto-Bur-
mans, represented by the Boda, Koch, Tipra, &c., tribes of
Northern Bengal, the Khyen, and the Chutiyas of Assam.
The Tibeto-Burmans came into the Brahmaputra valley in
several different waves, and it is now impossible to classify
their invasions in any reliable chronological order. The
latest of these newcomers are the Sino- Siamese, such as the
Shans or the Ahoms of Assam and the Khamtis of the border.
These tribes rarely intermarried, and, with the exception of
the Ahoms, they retain their barbaric habits and primitive
forms of worship to the present day.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
H. H. RISLEY, The People of India, chap. i.
E. THURSTON, Castes and Tribes of the Madras Presidency.
Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol II.
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, chaps, ii-iii.
CHAPTER III
The Date
oflndo-
Aryaa
THE EARLIER INDO-ARYANS AND THE
MARITIME EMPIRE OF THE DRAVIDIANS
The date of the Indo-Aryan settfement in India remains
shrouded in mystery. The affinity between the names of the
, Indo-Aryan deities in the tablets of treaties between the
kings of the Mitanni and the Hittites and the forms of the
names of the same deities in the Vedic literature of India
.shows that the Indo-Aryan settlement in India must have
THE EARLIER INDO-ARYANS 23
taken place about the same date as the Aryan invasion of
Asia Minor. Scholars are divided in opinion about the date
of the immigration of the Indo-Aryans into India. The majority
of European scholars hold that they came in the second
millennium B.C., sometime between 1500 and 1200 B.C.
Others, including Jacobi, are inclined to place the date of the
Indo-Aryan conquest or immigration in the fourth millen-
nium B.C. The existence of a powerful Indo-Aryan empire
in Asia Minor from the beginning of the second millennium
B.C., and the long process required for the Aryanization of TheSepa-
Dravidian culture, show that the date of the Indo-Aryan the'indian
conquest must be pushed back into the third millennium B.C., i?^ian
and that the separation of the Indo-Aryans and Indo-Iranians Oroi| P 8
probably took place long after the settlement of the Indo-
Aryans in India.
The Indo-Aryans were divided into a number of small
tribes, each ruled by a king, or tribal chief, when they colonized
Afghanistan and the Panjab. There was no caste system The con-
among the Indo-Aryan tribes at the time of their immigration,
but a priesthood had already grown up. Before the immi-
gration, the functions of the tribal priest and the ruler seem
to have been united, but the long wars which took place
between the Indo-Aryans and the earlier settlers in Afghan-
istan and the Panjab must have forced the members of an
Indo-Aryan tribe to divide themselves into different groups
according to their vocations in life. Magic rites being regarded
as equally important with the conquest of the enemy, the
functions of the tribal magician or priest appear to have
become different from those of the tribal chief or the leader
in war, at a very early date. But even after the settlement of
the Indo-Aryans in India, the priestly functions were not
confined to a particular class, or in other words, division of
labour had not yet degenerated into a rigid caste system.
Opinion is yet divided about the state of culture of the
Indo-Aryans at the time of their irruption into Afghanistan
or the Panjab. Even if agriculture was known to these people,
their skill in it appears to have been of a very low order. QMita
After their settlement in the Panjab their progress seems
to have been very rapid. The fertile plains on the banks
24 PREHISTORIC INDIA
of the five rivers made agricultural operations very easy. At
this time the Indo-Aryans were carrying on a ceaseless war
with the earlier and more civilized inhabitants of the country,
and very often it became impossible for the warriors of a
tribe to return to their villages in time for the sowing of corn.
The adults of the tribe appear to have been divided into two
groups, the tillers of the soil and the warriors. As in the case
of the priests, the functions of the agriculturists and the
warriors appear to have been interchangeable at the beginning.
ka* er on > when more skill was required for the cultivation
of the field, as well as for fighting a more civilized enemy,
Fighter* the division of labour in each tribe became fixed. Gradually
Cvmva- the warriors obtained the upper hand, and the agriculturists
tor- * became the members of a lower stratum of the tribal society.
The Indo-Aryans came to India in very small numbers,
and they did not make any attempt at preserving the purity
oritin ^ ^k 8toc k' From the very beginning they admitted tribes
thefndo- of foreign or mixed origin into their communities, and the
Priest- statements of the present-day Brahmanical writers about the
racial purity of the Indo-Aryans and the rigidity of their
marriage regulations are inaccurate. When the Rigveda
was compiled, the priestly caste had already been separated.
Among the priests, however, two of the warrior clans had
forced their way. The AAgirasas, the Va&shjhas, the Agastyas,
and the Bhargavas are stated to have been of divine origin,
but the ViSvamitras and the Kanvas belonged to the warrior
^e A6g* rasas are called the sons of heaven, or of
the Fire. The Bhargavas claim descent from Varu^ia, the
god of the Sky. The Vagishfhas are called the descendants
of Mitra or the Sun-god. But the Ku&kas or the V&vami-
tras belonged to the Bharata group of the warrior caste.
^ a 5 LVa ^ ^ e 8on ^ Njishad, who according to the Puraria$
was a Kshatriya. According to the Srauta-sQtra pf Ava-
liyana, V&vamitra, Jamadagni, Bharadvaja, Gotama, Atri,
Vagishfha, and Katyapa with Agastya are regarded as pro-
genitors of all Brahma^as. Out of these eight clans four are
regarded as the original sources of the Brahmanic clans
(gotras). In the Mahabharata it is stated that Ailgiras, Ka6-
yapa, Vafishtha, and Bhfigu were -the sages from whom the
THE EARLIER INDO-ARYANS 25
earliest priests of the Indo-Aryans were descended. Vedic
literature shows very clearly that those early priests began to
resent the assumption of the priestly functions by men of
other classes. The quarrel between Vtevamitra and Va3ish$ha
is clearly an indication of the earlier struggles for supremacy
and power between the warrior and the priestly classes of the
Indo- Aryan tribes. The various sections of the priestly
castes appear to have been of different origin. Some of them Adoption
were white-skinned while others were dark. Even in the time of other*"
of the grammarian Patanjali the tradition about the white- among
skinned and yellow-haired priests lingered in India. The rah "
priests or Brahmanas were of two classes, of which the first or
the earliest belonged to the pure Indo-Aryan stock, while
the second, or the adopted priests, appear to have belonged
to some other ethnic stock. 1
Similarly, the warrior caste was also composed of different
ethnic elements. Some of them belonged to the Indo-Aryan
stock, like the first group of priests or Brahmanas, while others
were adopted into the Indo-Aryan tribes or clans from the
earlier settlers in the country. Vedic literature shows that the
Indo-Aryans were obliged to admit certain tribes into their The Mix-
community from the very beginning. Indra, the god of Thun- Races
der, is said to have crossed the sea and brought the Turvasas
and the Yadus with him. Chanda's view about the original ya '
habitat of these two tribes is generally accepted. They are
supposed to have emigrated from Mesopotamia, where they
had mixed with the Semitic inhabitants, into Saurashjra, or
Kathiawad, whence they spread towards the north-east as far Warrior
as Mathura. The idea generally accepted in India about the
ethnic purity of the earlier Indo-Aryan settlers is thus proved
to be fallacious.
The earliest Indo-Aryan settlers in Afghanistan and the
Panjab were divided into a number of small tribes and clans.
The earliest event in the history of these settlers known to us
is the war between the Bharatas and ten other tribes. At this
time the Bharatas were ruled over by a king or chief named JJJJ
Sudas, who belonged to the Tjitsu clan. ViSvamitra was the
priest of this tribe. Later on, he was superseded in the
1 Chanda, Indo-Aryan Races, Pt. I, pp. 24-5.
26
PREHISTORIC INDIA
The War
with the
Drari-
The
Pnrua.
The Con-
stitution
of the
Tribe.
The Patri-
archate.
riagee.
priestly ofEce by the sage Va^ishtha. Vi^vamitra was a man
of revengeful disposition, and he led a confederacy of ten
tribes against the Bharatas. The sage was also a general and
had led the Bharatas to victory against their enemies on the
banks of the rivers Beas and Satlej. The ten tribes allied
against the Bharatas were the Anus, who dwelt on the River
Parushm (modern Ravi), the Druhyus, the Yadus, the Tur-
vasas, the Purus, the Allnas, who most probably lived in
Kafiristan, the Sivas, who lived on the Indus, the Vishanins,
the Pakthas, and the Bhalanases. Sudas defeated the ten tribes,
whose warriors were swallowed by the waters of the River
Parushm, while the chiefs of the Anus and the Druhyus were
killed. Immediately after the battle Sudas had to return to
the eastern frontier to meet three other tribes called the Ajas
or the goats, the Sigrus or the horse radishes, and the Yakshus
or dwarfs. These three tribes appear to have been of non-
Aryan origin.
Among these earlier tribes the Purus were a great people.
We possess the names of a large number of their chiefs. One,
Trasadasyu, had often led them to victory against the Dravi-
dians or the Dasyus. The Purus in part continued to exist
as a separate tribe till the end of the fourth century B.C., when
two of their chiefs met Alexander the Great. But quite early
they mixed with their enemies, the Bharatas, and thus became
the most powerful tribe in the Panjab. The united tribe
became known as Kurus. A section of them, known as the
Northern Kurus, dwelt in Afghanistan or Kashmir.
The Indo-Aryan tribes consisted of loosely grouped families
or clans. The father was the head of the family, and his
descendants, both male and female, lived under his authority.
The patriarchate was the earliest form of tribal government.
There are clear indications of the survival of matriarchy, and
the institution of marriage appears to have been very recent.
The Indo-Aryan was a monogamist, though polygamy was not
unknown. The husband was the master of the household, and
the wife, though the mistress, was dependent on the husband.
The standard of female morality was very high. The existence
of polyandry cannot be proved, though it is known to have
existed among the earlier Dravidian settlers. The later re-
THE EARLIER INDO-ARYANS 27
strictions placed on marriage were almost entirely unknown to
the early Indo-Aryans, but marriage between father and
daughter and between brother and sister, so very common in
Egypt and the Near East, was not allowed. Child marriage
was unknown, and great latitude was allowed in the choice of
mates. Women enjoyed considerable independence and were The Posi-
fairly well educated. Before their marriage they lived under women.
the protection of their fathers, and if they remained unmarried
at the time of their father's death, they passed on to the pro-
tection of their brothers. Dowries and bride-prices had to be
paid, and ugly men had to purchase their wives at a high
price. Divorces were practically unknown, and the Vedic
marriage was indissoluble. The marriage of widows was
permitted, and generally a widow was expected to marry her
late husband's younger brother.
The rights of the father or paterfamilias were very extensive.
He had a certain amount of control over the marriage of his
sons and daughters, and the son lived with his parents or grand-
parents in a joint family. The head of the family was regarded
as the owner of the joint-family property, though individual
members of the clan were allowed to possess separate movable
property. The fields were divided into two classes, the culti-
vated area and the pasture land. The groups of huts or
dwellings of the early Indo-Aryans formed the nucleus of the
grama or village. Several villages were combined into one
Vii or district, and a group of districts was called janapada
or tribal territory.
Originally the Indo-Aryans were divided into three classes
or castes. The Brahmana or priest, the Kshatriya or
warrior, and the Vai^ya, i.e. the trader or cultivator, all claimed The^ Early
Indo-Aryan origin. The growth of the fourth caste belongs Aryan
to a later stage of the history of the Indo-Aryan settlements in
India. The Indo-Aryans made a large number of captives
during their wars with the aboriginal Nishadas and the Dravi-
dian Dasyus. These captives were enslaved, and with the
increase in their numbers a rank had to be provided for them
in the tribal constitution. But even after their manumission,
they were regarded as serfs whose principal function was to
minister to the wants of the three higher castes.
PREHISTORIC INDIA
The
Principal
Officers
of the
The political constitution of the Indo-Aryan communities
The King, was monarchical. The king was the head of the state, and his
power* appears to have been uncontrolled. The office was
normally hereditary, but in some cases elections took place.
The king is called alternately Rajan or Vtipati, " the leader
of the district ". He was expected to maintain a large number
of priests to perform sacrifices and magical rites. His income
consisted of tribute paid by the conquered tribes and gifts
from his people. It is not known whether he was regarded as
the owner of the soil.
The principal officers mentioned in the Vedic literature are:
(i) the Senarft, " the leader of the army ", who was appointed
by the king to command minor expeditions; (2) the Grdmanl,
or " the head of the village "; (3) the Vrajapati, " the leader
of the pastoral population "; and (4) the Purohita or " the
priest ", who was not merely the tribal priest or magician,
but also a diplomat, and accompanied the tribe during wars,
and was expected to aid the tribal army by spells or incan-
tations at the time of battle. The power of the king was
limited by the expression of the will of the people at the
assembly which was called the Sabha or the Samiti. Some
scholars think that these two terms denote two different
assemblies. The king was often present at these meetings.
The election of a new king, after the deposition of a tyrant,
or upon the failure of issue of the hereditary dynasty, was
made by this tribal assembly.
The king was the fountain of justice and administered civil
as well as criminal law. The system of wergild, or blood-
money, was very well known. Blood-money was paid in cattle,
and ransom, called Vatra-deya, is mentioned. The principal
crimes were cattle-lifting, burglary, house-breaking, and
highway robbery. The punishment of the thief rested with
the aggrieved persons, and the custom of tying up the culprit
in stocks was well known.
Our knowledge of civil law is confined to barter and transfer
of property. Movable property was bartered openly in the
market, and any metallic currency or medium of exchange was
probably unknown. The Dravidians, whom the Indo-Aryans
Cnrrenc *' displaced in Northern India, had introduced the use of coins
Assembly.
Justice
THE EARLIER INDO-ARYANS 29
in trade relations, but the Indo- Aryans had not advanced
beyond fixing heads of cattle as the recognized standard of
value. The term nishka was used to denote a certain weight
of gold. Property passed by inheritance, and could be acquired
by a man's personal exertion. The legal remedy for the re- usury.
co very of debts was very well known. Rates of interest were
unknown, but the debtor had to pay a fixed amount at the
time of repayment as the price of the use of the money. The
debtor was liable to be imprisoned for non-payment and to
be reduced to slavery. Arbitration was very usual.
The Aryans had introduced the horse into Babylonia, The Army
and in war the Indo-Aryans relied principally on their war-
chariots drawn by horses. The king and the principal nobles Chariots.
used chariots, while the army consisted of two other arms,
infantry and cavalry. The principal weapons were bows
and arrows, lances, spears, swords, and axes.
The chief occupations of the people were agriculture and occnpa-
cattle-rearing. The land was ploughed, and the plough was p2opi! thi
drawn by oxen instead of horses. Irrigation was known, and,
as at present, the fields were watered either from canals or
from wells. The unit for the measurement of corn was called
Khari. Lotus ponds and fruit gardens are often mentioned.
Cattle consisted mostly of kine and sheep. The cattle were kept
in stables and pens. Milking was done by the members of the
household as well as by professional milkers. Dogs were used Meat-eat-*
for guarding cattle and houses. Meat was freely used by all Drinking.
classes of Indo-Aryans, and the use of strong drink was not
prohibited. A special kind of liquor, called Soma, was offered
in the form of libations to the gods. Weaving in cotton and weaving.
wool was done by both sexes. Chariot -making was one of the
principal industries. Images were made from wood. Boats Indus -
and ships are also mentioned, though we do not know whether trtes *
the Indo-Aryans were able to navigate the open seas. The
blacksmiths used a metal called ay as, a term applied both
to copper and iron. The term used by the early Indo-Aryans
for a blacksmith (karmard) appears to have been derived from
a Dravidian word. The use of gold was very well known but
silver was rare, though it was known to the earlier settlers,
the Dravidians. Mixed metal, bell-metal, tin, and lead were
30 PREHISTORIC INDIA
also used, and articles made of leather are often mentioned.
The practice of medicine was yet mixed with magic, but we
find that even at that early date the Indo-Aryans were able to
Medicine, recognize a number of diseases, such as jaundice, fever,
phthisis, rheumatism, scrofula, dysentery, venereal diseases,
heart diseases, elephantiasis, and smallpox. The purchase
of drugs from the people of the Himalayan regions, which
has developed into an extensive trade at the present day, is
also mentioned. The ancient Hindu surgeons had a better
knowledge of anatomy than their successors of the present
day, and they used ligatures for stopping haemorrhage. Other
professions mentioned are those of the barber, the spy, the
dancer, the vintner, the currier, the fisher, the potter, the
dyer, and the tanner.
While the Indo-Aryans were settling in increasing numbers
in the Panjab, the Dravidians were divided into a number of
small and large kingdoms. The principal Dravidian kingdoms
were those of Magadha and Kamarupa in the north, and
Kalinga, Kerala, Chola, and Pandya in the south. The
Drartdian Dravidians had developed their navy very early, and had spread
their colonies over Southern India, Ceylon, and the Indian
Archipelago. They had spread their civilization over South-
eastern Asia. In Pegu and Arakan they mixed with the local
people of Austric origin, and this mixed tribe, now speaking the
Austric Mon language, is now known as the Takings, " the
people from the country of the Three Kalingas ". In other
places in the Malay Peninsula they are called KKngs, which is a
contracted form of the Dravidian term " Kalifiga ". The local
chronicles of the Talaings claim that the capital of Upper
Burma, Tagaung or Davaka, was founded as early as 2600 B.C.
For a long time it was a fashion of scholars to sneer at these
local histories, but opinion is gradually veering round. It is
now recognized that Northern India played but a small part in
the colonization of the Indian Archipelago. Kern recognized
long ago that the earliest Indian colonists in Sumatra were of
Dravidian origin. Before the spread of the Malays in different
parts of the archipelago, the Dravidian element was supreme.
Cambodia. The Austric people of Cambodia mixed with the Dravidians
and founded a powerful kingdom long before the birth of
THE EARLIER INDO-ARYANS 31
Christ. The Dravidians spread to the neighbouring island
of Ceylon and occupied the northern half of it. Everywhere ceyion.
they carried their distinctive culture, and after they became
Hinduized, they maintained the Hindu or Aryo-Dravidian
culture until recent times. It was long after the first coloni-
zation that these Dravidian colonists accepted Brahmanism
and Buddhism and abandoned or modified their original
national faith. After they had been settled for a long time
In Indo-China and Insulindia, or the Indian Archipelago
(Sumatra, Java, Bali, &c.), the Indian colonists were assimilated
by the original Austric peoples, and gradually merged among
them; but for a long time they retained the Sanskrit language,
and the South Indian alphabets, which they brought from
India, are the source of the Mon and Burmese, Siamese and
Cambodian, Javanese, Bugese, and other alphabets of Indo-
China and Malaya still current from Arakan to the Celebes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, chaps, iii-iv.
CHILDE, Aryans.
Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. II, chaps, i-iii.
CHAPTER IV
THE SPREAD OF INDO-ARYAN CIVILIZATION
AND THE CONVERSION OF THE DRAVIDIAN
PEOPLE TO HINDUISM
Long after the period when the hymns of the Rigveda
were composed, the Indo- Aryans spread towards the east
and the south. The centre of culture also shifted towards
the east, and when the Brahmanas were being compiled, of Aryan
Kurukshetra had already become the most important centre.
The tribes of the Panjab were rarely mentioned. The regions
to the east of the Kuru kingdom became more prominent.
Ko&la or Oudh, Magadha or South Bihar, and Afiga or
South-eastern Bihar began to be mentioned. We now hear
for the first time of the Andhras, and of the tribes living
32 PREHISTORIC INDIA
to the east and the south of AAga, such as the Pui^dras of
Bengal, the Sabaras of Orissa and the Central Provinces, and
the Pulindas of South-western India. The country to the
south of the Yamuna was gradually becoming known. The
kingdom of Berar, the ancient Vidarbha, is mentioned in the
Aitareya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas. The northern part of Raj-
putana became known, and the Indo-Aryans learned that the
River SarasvatI lost itself in the Indian Desert. The tribe of
Ka&s founded the city of Benares in the east. The Bharatas
disappeared from the field; their place was taken by the Kurus,
who combined with the Panchalas and obtained supremacy
over the Indo- Aryan tribes for some time. The Matsyas, a
tribe of Inda- Aryans who adopted the fish as their totem,
colonized Northern Rajputana. To the north of the Ganges,
Ko&da or Oudh and Videha or North Bihar became indepen-
dent centres of Indo- Aryan civilization.
To the south of the Ganges, Magadha or South Bihar
resisted all attempts of the Indo-Aryans to conquer it, and the
flat plains of Bihar and Bengal remained independent under
local kings. The country was still unknown to the Indo-Aryans.
Minstrels from this country spread throughout Indo-Aryan
colonies, and the word Magadha came to be used as a synonym
for a minstrel or bard by the Indo-Aryans. The latter did
Magadha. not like Magadha because the manners and the customs of
the inhabitants of that country were strange to them. The
civilization of Magadha was utterly different from their own.
The gods were foreign to the Indo-Aryans; the Indo-Aryan
priests and gods were not tolerated by the people of Magadha.
The Magadhas and the Andhras were at first regarded as
outcasts, but later on, when the Indo-Aryan priests came to
realize that it was not possible for them to conquer or convert
these people, they accepted some of the gods of the Dravidians,
gave them Indo-Aryan names, and began to worship them.
This common worship aroused the sympathy of the Dravi-
dians and gradually brought them within the pale of the trans-
formed religion of the Indo-Aryans. The conversion of
Magadha took place long before the birth of Buddha, but even
at that time the Brahmanas had not attained there the supre-
macy which they possessed in the Indo-Aryan territories.
INDO-ARYAN CIVILIZATION 33
The later Vedic literature recognizes the position of the
Madras as a distinct order of society, though it denies them the
right of taking part in the sacrifices. Sadras were allowed The
to exercise any trade. Some of them appear to have com-
bined themselves in tribes, such tribal names as the Baindas,
Parnakas, and the Paulkasas having been preserved in the
later Vedic literature.
During this period, the power of the Indo-Aryan tribal
chief, or king, increased, and we hear very seldom of the
tribal assembly or samiti. The king had obtained the power The King
of depriving any commoner of his private property. The
nobles obtained the position of landlords, or intermediaries
between the cultivator and the king. Slaves and serfs be-
came very common. The Vaishyas were divided into various The Lower
sub-castes according to profession. The cultivator regarded
himself as belonging to a higher caste than the carpenter, the
smith, and the tanner. The Sudras also were increasing in
power and wealth, and with their increase in number they
approached the position of the Vaishyas of the lowest orders.
In later Vedic literature the superior position of the Brah-
mana was assured, and he was given a distinct preference
in law, both criminal and civil. A father had the right of
dividing property among his sons according to his will. The
position of women deteriorated and they were denied the The post-
right of inheriting property. On the death of her husband
a widow passed on to his family like his property. Her earn
ings belonged either to her father or her husband. With the
increase in the royal power the Indo-Aryan chiefs became
polygamous.
The occupation of the fertile plains of the regions of the
seven rivers of the Panjab and the Ganges and the Yamuna
increased the material prosperity of the Indo-Aryan tribes.
Society was divided into a large number of castes or classes.
Among the servile castes we hear of several classes, such as Artisan*.
fishermen, shepherds, fire-rangers, charioteers, workers in
jewels, basket-makers, washermen, rope-makers, dyers, chariot-
makers, weavers, slaughterers, cooks, sellers of dried fish,
gatherers of wood, professional acrobats and musicians. The
boatman was assisted by oarsmen and polemen. The Brah-
(B558) C
- women! 1
34 PREHISTORIC INDIA
manas were subdivided into several classes and the life of the
priest came to be more rigidly regulated. In the first stage of
his life, he was to be apprenticed to another priest, and at this
stage he used to be called the Brahmacharin. He was taught
by his master, for whom he begged and did all sorts of
The Four menial work. In the next stage of his life (garhastha), the
apprentice married and became a full-fledged priest. In
the third stage of his life, when he grew old, he used
to leave his home and retire with his wife or alone
to some holy place for meditation. The third stage
is called Vdnaprastha and the fourth that of a Yati.
In the former, however, he was not to give up Vedic
sacrifices completely, which he used to perform in his
home-life. But even this ceased in the latest stage
when, freed from all ties, he gave himself up entirely to
meditation.
It was about this time that increasing commerce compelled
the Indo-Aryans to adopt a currency. In its earlier stage the
Goinft*e Indo-Aryan currency consisted simply of certain weights of
gold, silver, and copper. The red and black seed of the Krish-
nala or the Gunjd berry was adopted as the unit of weight. In
the Brahmanas we hear of the Satamdna, or gold weighing a
hundred Krishnalas. The cow was superseded by coins as the
standard of value. The methods of weighing gold, silver, and
copper were different. In weighing gold, five Gunjd seeds
were taken to be equal to one Mdsaka, while only two seeds
were required to form a Mdsaka in the case of silver. Eighty
Gunjd seeds weight of gold formed the standard of gold cur-
rency, the earliest name for which is Suvarna, i.e. gold. This
simple name shows that the Aryans had not yet started minting
coins, but, like all primitive communities, used a certain weight
of unminted gold for exchange. Similarly, in the case of silver,
thirty-two Gunjd berries formed a Dharana, which is the
oldest name of a silver coin in India. In fact, this weight of
silver, which later on became the standard weight of silver
coins, is called " antique " or " old " (purana) by later writers.
The standard weight of copper was quite different from that
of gold or silver, and eighty Gunjd berries or one hundred and
forty grains of copper became the unit of copper coinage,
INDO-ARYAN CIVILIZATION 35
which was called the Karshapana in Sanskrit and Kahdpana in
Pali. ' '
The Indo-Aryans remained confined to the basins of the
Indus and the Ganges and do not appear to have colonized any
;part of India which lay to the south of the River Narmada and
j to the east of Mithila. The great non-Aryan kingdoms of the
East, e.g. those of Magadha and KamarUpa (Pragjyotisha),
never submitted to the Indo-Aryan invaders and kept them
Jat bay for centuries. The Indo-Aryan conquest of North- dome.
feastern and Southern India was cultural, not physical.
We do not know what the religious ideas and cults of the
Dravidians were in the days of their greatest glory, but can
make a very near approach to the actual facts by comparing the
deities of modern Hinduism with the deities of the earlier Indo-
Aryans. The Indo-Aryans worshipped the powers of nature.
We have seen earlier that the Aryans of Asia Minor worshipped The G*ds
the Sun, which they called Mitra or Shuriyash, the Wind, Primitive
called Maruttash y the Sky, called Varuna, and the Nasatyas Aryan
or the Asvins, who were regarded as divine magicians. To this Re "* lon '
group of gods they added the Moon and Fire later on. Com-
pared with this simple pantheon, the multitude of gods and
goddesses worshipped by the Hindus at the present day seems
bewildering. The original Vedic gods have now been thrust
into the background. Indra, Varuna, the Nasatyas, and even
the Sun, are seldom worshipped. Their place was once
taken by the divine trinity, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva. But
at the present day Brahma possesses only a very few followers.
The majority of Hindus belong to three different groups, the
followers of Vishnu, the followers of Siva, and the worshippers The
of the Sakti or Female Energy. Vishnu and Siva are seldom Modern
mentioned in the Vedic literature. Some scholars think that Hlndlli8m<
Vishnu has been evolved out of the Sun-god, while Siva is a
development of the minor Vedic deity, Rudra. The Vedic
literature contains no reference to any female deity to which
the Durga or the Devi of the present day might even approxi-
mate. Even Siva and Vishnu, as they are represented in
worship at the present day, contain certain elements of non-
Aryan origin. Siva, with his emblem the phallus, is evidently
a non- Aryan deity whose admission into the Indo-Aryan of liva?* 1 *
36 PREHISTORIC INDIA
pantheon caused bitter strife. The story of the sacrifice which
Daksha, the son of Brahma, wanted to celebrate by excluding
Siva and who was destroyed by Siva, is only an allegorical way
,of representing the final triumph of the phallic god and the
formal inclusion of Siva and his emblem in the Indo-Aryan
pantheon. A similar allegorical representation hides the true
story of the worship of the snake goddess Manasa by the
Dravidians of Bengal.
Numerous references in post-Vedic literature clearly indi-
diva-wor- cate that the earlier Dravidian settlers were worshippers of
Aiuras. * Siva. Durga was originally the goddess of vegetation, and
her worship was celebrated at the end of the winter, when
the melting of the snows brought down floods in the rivers
The and fertilized the land. The earliest legend about her wor-
of Burgs, ship in post-Vedic literature is to be found in connexion
motion* of ^k t ' ie s l au ghter of the buffalo-demon. In many cases this *
primitive goddess retained her original shape even after her
glorification by the Indo- Aryans. The images of Yogamaya
at Vindhyachala, of Kirite^van near Murshidabad, and of
Kamakhya near Gauhati still retain their original primitive
forms.
Gradually the Dravidian priests obtained a place in the
Indo-Aryan caste system. The old gods and goddesses of the
The i C * n "f ^ rav idian p e pl e underwent slight changes, but their wor-
the Priest- shippers accepted these. In Rajputana and Gujarat the old
00 " goddesses were worshipped alike by the aboriginal Minas,
Mairs, Bhils, and the Aryanized Gujars. Even after the con-
version of the kings and the richer people to Jainism, the wor-
ship of Durga, which required bloodshed every day, survived
in all parts of Gujarat. The shrines of the Mother on a peak
of Girnar Hill close to one of the holiest places of the Jains
in Kathiawad, at Khodiarmata and at Pavagadh in Northern
Gujarat, testify to the popularity which this non-Aryan god-
dess had attained in Western India. In Sindh the worship of
the Mother is still carried on, at Hinglaj, more than one hun-
dred miles to the west of Karachi, and a form of suppressed
Mother-worship is practised by the Musalmans at Satyan-
jo-than near Sukkur.
When Siva and the Female Energy, Durga, Devi, or Sakti,
INDO-ARYAN CIVILIZATION 37
i found a place among the older gods of the Indo- Aryans, many
Dravidian priests of this sect became Brahmanas. Very few
Brahmanas of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa are really of Indo-
Aryan origin. South Indian tradition records numerous origin of
instances of their Brahmanas taking wives from the lower oSSST*
castes. In many cases non-Brahmanas were admitted into the Southern
Brahmana caste as sufficient Brahmanas were not available,
when the reformed Indo- Aryan religion obtained preference. 1
The Brahmanas of the post-Vedic period became more
liberal, and some of them became the priests of the Sodras,
for which they lost their rank among the more orthodox
conservative Brahmanas. These priests worshipped the older
gods and goddesses of the Dravidian settlers, as the village
gods (Grama-devata), the goddess of fecundity (Shashthi),
the^ snake goddess (Manasa), and a host of others who now
claim to Be members of the Indo- Aryan pantheon. South
of the Narmada, the Brahmana declines to worship certain SJL * th
_ * jsr&ti"
non-Aryan deities who are worshipped by the Sudra priests, manas.
called Guravas in the Maratha country. Some shrines of
such gods are celebrated all over the country, and the chief
of them is that of Khandoba, the hereditary deity of the
Holkars of Indore. In the Madras Presidency, the worship
of non- Aryan deities is still continued in various forms. gjj
Chief among such deities are the seven sisters, whose worship Priests,
still prevails in the north also, where they are called the oieties.
seven mothers (Saptamdtrika).
The Siva-worship of India had one element in common
with the primitive worship of the early Dravidian people,
which is the worship of the phallus and the dedication of The Dedi-
virgins to the worship of the god. The second element was, r
probably, brought by the Dravidians from their original home
in South-western Asia. Some scholars have found references i
to the worship of the phallus in the Vedic age in a particular worship,
passage of the Rig-Veda; but the word on which this theory
is based may mean something else.
With the change in the form of the religion of the early
Dravidian settlers and the Indo-Aryan invaders, the fusion
of the different races became easy. The Dravidian deities
1 . Thuriton, Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Vol. I, p. 54*
38 PREHISTORIC INDIA
now obtained worship both from the Indo-Aryan and the
Dravidian, but the ritual changed. The lower orders of
Fusion of soc i e ty retained their primitive form of worship and their
* Race*. own priests, who gradually began to claim Indo-Aryan origin
and became low-caste Brahmanas in the long run. People of
non-Aryan origin gradually began to claim descent from one or
other of the Indo-Aryan castes. The non- Aryan magicians
and the Dravidian priests became Brahmanas. Indo-Aryan
Brahmanas married aboriginal and Dravidian women, and
their children came to be regarded as pure-born Indo- Aryans.
Warriors of all classes, aboriginals, pre-Dravidians, Dravi-
dians, and Indo-Aryans claimed to be Kshatriyas, while
traders, artisans, and cultivators, irrespective of their racial
origin, became Vateyas. The fusion of races and claims of
Indo-Aryan descent were encouraged by the Brahmanas as
they were sure means of eradicating primary racial differences.
Gradually the Dravidians forgot that they could claim a
civilization much older than that of the new invaders and that
their ancestors did not worship the rude primitive gods of
the Aryans.
The Dravidian hatred for the Indo-Aryan is still preserved
in the earliest Tamil poetry. Even after their Aryanization,
the Dravidians preserved their independence, and while the
Kingdoms. Indo-Aryans of Northern India remained divided into small
principalities, four great kingdoms sprang up in the south.
They are the kingdoms of Kalinga, Chera or Sera, Chola or
Sola, and Pandya. The Dravidian kingdoms formed a cluster
along the edge of the peninsula, while the earlier inhabi-
tants of the western coast fell under the steady advance of
the Indo-Aryans of the north and of the barbarians from
across the sea. The western coast of the Indian Peninsula
is very rich in ports, and the natives of this coast-land have
k een expert sailors from the earliest times. These ports
obtained independence on account of their great wealth, and
remained independent even in modern times. Such were the
ports of Cutch and Southern Sindh, which region the Indians
called Sauvlra and the Greeks Ophir; Saurashtra, now called
Verawal, in Kathiawad; Cambay or Khambayat; Bhjigu-
kachchha or Bharukachchha, which the Greeks called Bary-
INDO-ARYAN CIVILIZATION 39
gaza and which is now called Broach by the English; and
Muziris or Muyiri, which lay south of Mangalore, The west-
ern coast of India is rich in large and small creeks and lagoons
which formed schools of navigation for the sailor boys of the
locality and made them better sailors than the people of the The Port*
eastern coast. On the eastern coast of the peninsula, on the Eastern
other hand, the sea is shallow and its bed slopes gently, which Coart -
makes it difficult for ships to ride at anchor or to find a safe
harbourage. The ships of the eastern coast are therefore far
less seaworthy, while the coast itself is liable to violent storms.
In spite of these disadvantages, the sailors of Kalinga became
the pioneers of Indian colonization. But while Kalinga grew
into a powerful empire, the ports on the western coast de-
veloped into small city-states. They were entirely devoted Jhe^
to the trade with western lands. Later, on the downfall western
of Kalinga, they started trading with China and the eastern
archipelago. But up to the historical period they were divided
into small states, seldom acknowledging the supremacy of
the great empires of the Deccan plateau. The plateau remained
for the most part very sparsely inhabited and the last resort
of the aborigines, who refused to come under the domination
of the Dravidian or the Indo- Aryan. Such were the Kunbis The state
and the Marathas of Western India, the Kolis and the Bhils of Deccan
Gujarat and Rajputana, and the Gonds, the Mundas, and p|ateftu *
other minor aboriginal tribes, who lived in the secluded
valleys of the Vindhya range.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, chap. v.
CHAPTER V
VEDIC LITERATURE
The sacred literature of the old Indo-Aryans is the Veda.
For a long time it was not reduced to writing. The Vedas The
consist of odes and hymns addressed to the various gods,
uch as Agni (Fire), Varuna (the Sky), Mitra (the Sun),
40 PREHISTORIC INDIA
Indra (the Thunder), &c. Each collection of verses was
composed by a particular priest or a particular clan of priests,
who are now regarded as sages (Rishts). The Hindus of
India now think that Rishis were not the actual composers
of these verses; but that the verses were of divine origin and
revealed to these priests. The Kshattriya priest Vtevamitra
Thepre- composed a good many verses of the Vedas. The earlier
Element, hymns of the Vedas contain a pre-Indian element, and it is
quite possible that some of them were composed long before
the Indo- Aryans settled in India proper. At a much later
date, the verses of the Vedas were divided into four different
classes. These four divisions are called the Four Vedas:
Rik, Saman, Yajus, and Atharvan. 1
Thej&ia- The Rigveda contains ten mandalas or great divisions,
which are arranged either according to the names of the
Rishis or according to subject-matter. The literature con-
tains a good deal of material for the history of the period
which has already been considered in Chapter III. Most of
'the hymns of the Rigveda, as it stands at present, are
intended for the use of that division of the Indo-Aryan
priesthood which recited these verses or formulae at the
time of throwing oblations into the Fire. This particular
division of the Indo-Aryan priesthood is termed the Hofri-
Tfce priests. The Samaveda consists of hymns which were
veda. chanted or sung. The particular class of priests who used
to chant, played a part of secondary importance at the sacri-
fices and were regarded as the assistants of the Hotris. They
were called the singers (Udgatris). A third division of the
Vedas is called the Yajurveda and contains the earliest
''prose in the Indo-Aryan languages, or perhaps in the Indo-
Germanic languages. This division is devoted to the details
of the ritual to be followed in the sacrifices and contains the
prayers and formulae of the Adhvaryu priest, whose duty it
was to arrange the offerings (charu) and the sacrifices (baK),
with the small and large oblations (ahUtt) in proper position
and order, on and around the altar of the sacrificial Fire.
The Yajurveda is divided into two different schools, the
Black and the White. The position of the fourth group is
1 In combination with Veda, Rik and Yajus become Rigveda and Yajurveda.
VEDIC LITERATURE 41
difficult to determine. Scholars used to think that the Atharva-
veda was a later compilation, but this supposition has now
been proved entirely false. This group contains some of the The
oldest verses of the Rigveda. Technically the hymns in this
Veda are regarded as being the verses for the fourth priest,
the Brahman, who in the later stage of the evolution of the
Vedic ritual was appointed to superintend and harmonize
the functions of the three groups mentioned above. The
Atharvaveda contains much earlier matter for which Vyasa,
the classifier, could find no place in the first three Vedas.
It is a repository of the magical charms and incantations
which were used by the Indo-Aryan people before they
became civilized by contact with the Dravidians and which,
in a later stage of culture, they were ashamed to recognize
as a part of their holy ritual. The late Bal Gangadhar Tilak
traced some Sumerian names in the Atharvaveda; such as sume-
Taimata, who is a black serpent in Indian literature and a Elements
snake-goddess in the Sumerian religion, and Urugtda, the in ll '
word for a great city in the non-Semitic Sumerian language
of Babylon. 1
Scholars are of opinion that the redaction of the Sarhhita
of the Rigveda took place long before the compilation of
other Sarhhitas. The Samhitd of the Samaveda depends a
good deal on the Sarhhita of the Rigveda. The Black Yajur-
veda contains at least three different texts the Sarhhitas
of the Maitrayanlya, the Taittiriya, and the Kajhaka schools.
There exists a large number of fragments of another Samhitd,
called the Kdpishfhala, which is closely allied to the Kathaka
school. The white school of the Yajurveda possesses the
Vajasaneyl Samhitd , and the Atharvaveda has only one
Samhitd. The Yajurveda contains more prose than verse.
Thus in the Black Yajurveda verses or formulae for recita-
tion are followed by prose explanations and commentaries
combined into a single whole.
Each Veda is again divided into four parts: (i) the Samhitd
or the texts for recitation, (ii) the Brdhmana, (iii) the Ara$- Vedic
yaka, and (iv) the Upanishad. The Brdhmana is a prose ut * r * ture '
commentary on the Samhitd. The Aranyakas are a class of
l Bhandarkar Commemoration Volume, pp. 39-92.
(B558) C2
42 PREHISTORIC INDIA
expositions which were so novel and important that know-
ledge of them had to be imparted in the Aranya or the forest.
The Upanishads are philosophical doctrines which were to be
kept very secret and to be imparted to students in secrecy.
Among the Brdhmanas of the Rigveda, the Aitareya and
Kau&taki are the only ones known. The Panchavim^a Brdh-
mana of the Samaveda is regarded as earlier than the Brdh-
manas of the Rigveda. The Satapatha Brdhmana of the White
Yajurveda is one of the most important works of the Vedic
literature. Of the Black Yajurveda, the Taittiriya Brdhmana
is really a supplementary work which contains details not taken
up in the Samhita. The Gopatha Brdhmana appertains to the
Atharvaveda. It contains portions of other texts, such as
{; the Satapatha Brdhmana. Special portions from the Brdh-
manas have been called Aranyakas, or texts which had to be
The Anup- studied in forests where other students could not overhear.
y a " The texts of the Aranyakas which we know, are the Aitareya
and Kau&takl of the Rigveda and the Taittiriya of the
Black Yajurveda.
The Upanishads, or the esoteric portions, consist entirely
of philosophical writings. They are of later origin than the
texts of the Brdhmanas and the Aranyakas, and their composi-
tion was carried on till the historical period. The secrecy
Uoani- maintained in teaching these philosophical doctrines was
'necessary; because, at first, these pure innovations in the
primitive faith of the Aryans must have excited popular
; opposition. Each of the three Aranyakas has an Upanishad,
'but the most important among this class of literature are
the Brihad-aranyaka, which is attached to the Satapatha
Brdhmana, and the Chhdndogya, attached to the Sama-
veda. These two are regarded as the oldest of the Upanishad
class of literature. The Jaiminlya Brahmana of the Sama-
veda contains one chapter which is an Upanishad of the same
name, but in reality is an Aranyaka and contains the brief
Kena Upanishad. Many of the Upanishads date from a
JJpi- period not much more remote than the time of Buddha.
The Sutras are brief rules giving directions for the per-
formances of various duties and fall into three great classes.
The Grihya-Sntras deal with small domestic sacrifices, and
VEDIC LITERATURE 43
the Srauta-Sntras describe great sacrifices at which it was
necessary to employ a large number of priests. A third class
of Sutras, called Dharma-SUtras, enunciate ordinary law and
practice. The Sfttras throw a great deal of light upon
certain practices which are expressed in doubtful terms in
the Brahmanas.
With the increase in literature referring solely to religion,
the Indo-Aryans progressed in other directions of thought.
'In the Brahmana period, which is the name given by scholars
to the latter part of the Vedic period, the Indo-Aryans made
a distinct advance in astronomy. In the Rigveda we come
to know the year of three hundred and sixty days, divided Astro-
into twelve months, which is six days longer than the synodic
lunar and nearly six days short of the solar year. To bring
this imaginary year to the level of the solar year, the inter-
calation of one month was begun early. The Samhitds show
knowledge of the lunar mansions, roughly corresponding to
the position of the Moon in the different regions of the
horizon, during the lunar month. The number of these
lunar mansions or Nakshatras is given as twenty-seven in the
Taittiriya Samhita and twenty-eight in the Atharvaveda.
The names of twelve of the Nakshatras were selected as names
of the months.
The ritual was developed a great deal. Animal sacrifices be-
came much more elaborate. In addition to the simple sacrifice,
with an oblation of the Soma juice, elaborate performances
lasting months or even years came to be celebrated. Some of
the well-known sacrifices were associated with popular customs. Sacrifices.
Thus, the RajasUya was the sacrifice for the anointing of the
king; the Vajapeya was the sacrifice in which a popular
chariot-race was the most important feature; the Gavamayana
sacrifice, lasting a whole year, was a celebration of the -winter
solstice.
During the Brahmana period we notice the beginning of
the regular worship of Siva. Rudra becomes a popular god,
and we find verses addressed to him in the Samhita of the
Yajurveda. In this period, Siva or Rudra gradually came to
be one of the most important figures of the reformed Indo-
Aryan pantheon. Though Siva had obtained a place in the
44
PREHISTORIC INDIA
The Posi-
tion of
Vtehnu. .
The Date
of the
Vedlc
Period.
The Date
of Parlk-
hit.
pantheon, Vishnu had not in this period; but the constant
association of Vishnu with the sacrifices shows that he held,
probably, a very strong position among the lower classes, who
were mostly descended from the Dravidians and the aborigines,
and consequently the Indo-Aryan priests found it very diffi-
cult to ignore him.
The date of the Vedic literature cannot be fixed with accuracy.
An attempt has been made to fix this date from the position of
the equinoxes; but the view of Jacobi has not been universally
accepted. Tilak and Jacobi held that the year began with the
summer solstice, but Keith holds that the verses do not state
that at that time the year really began with the summer solstice.
There is another assumption which does not seem to be based
on reliable evidence. Its chief factor is the date of the death of
Buddha. Scholars assume that Buddha died c. 486 B.C., and,
calculating backward, think that the Brahmana period began
a little earlier than 800 B.C., and that therefore the oldest hymns
of the Rigveda cannot be earlier than 1200 B.C.
There is another traditional date, which has not been pro-
perly discussed by scholars. According to the Pur anas, the
Kuru king Parikshit was born 1050 years before Mahapadma,
the first king of Magadha. According to the Vayu Purana,
Mahapadma began to reign forty years before the accession
of Chandragupta the Maurya. If Chandragupta's accession
is placed in 322 B.C., then the accession of Parikshit has to be
placed in 1412 B.C. There may be very slight discrepancies in
this, but the evidence of the Puranas shows clearly that in the
middle of the fifth century A.D. it was believed in India that
Parikshit lived at the end of the fifteenth century before
Christ. Now Parikshit is a king of the Vedic period. One
of his descendants, Janmejaya, is stated to have performed
a horse -sacrifice. According to the Puranas, this king per-
formed two horse-sacrifices. One of these sacrifices was per-
formed by the priest Indrota Daivapi Saunaka. According to
the Aitareya Brahmana, the other horse-sacrifice was per-
formed by Tura Kavasheya. The Vedic literature does not
mention the later hero-god Krishna nor any of the hundred
Kuru brothers, nor again the Pandavas. But Parikshit is known
and so is Dhritarashjra Vaichitravlrya. There is ample evidence
VEDIC LITERATURE 45
for believing that Parikshit was a real king and not the mere
shadowy creation of a poet. The traditional date of this king,
which was accepted by Indian scholars at the time when the
earliest Puranas were composed, can therefore be accepted
as a basis for the approximate calculation of the date of the
Rigveda. If a king mentioned in the Satapatha and the
Aitareya Brahmanas was living in the last decade of the
fifteenth century before the birth of Christ, then the com-
position of the Indian verses of the IJigveda cannot be
placed at a date later than 2000 B.C. In other words, it is very
i likely that the irruptions of the Aryan barbarians took place
I simultaneously into the valleys of the Euphrates and the Indus.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, chaps, iv, v, ix, and x.
WINTERNITZ, History of Indian Literature, Vol. I.
H. C. RAYCHANDHURI, Political History of Ancient India,
PP- 5-24.
CHAPTER VI
THE EPIC LITERATURE OF INDIA
The Mahabharata is the earliest epic of the Indo- Aryans.
It is mentioned in the Sutra literature of the later Vedic period.
Indian epic poetry is divided into the two parts: (a) Itihasas
and Puranas and (b) Kavyas. The Mahabharata is a com- JJJ* ta of
bination of both the classes. The Itihasas and Puranas are the
,.,. r ,. * i * i " i Mahbh-
mentioned in literature from the time of the Atharvaveda. rata.
Originally the great epic must have been a popular ballad
about the war between the Kurus and the Pandus. It is closely
connected with the White Yajurveda and its Brahmana, the
Satapatha. The heroes of the epic are mentioned in that
Brahmana, and Janamejaya is mentioned as a recent personage.
Though the Kurus are known to the later Vedic literature, the
Pandus are entirely unknown. They are sons of the wife of ong
one of the Kuru princes. Some scholars think that the Pandus
were immigrants into India who were entirely unconnected
with the Kurus. It is quite possible that Kunti, a daughter
46 PREHISTORIC INDIA
of the Yadava clan, was carried away by a barbarian named
Pandu and the five Pandava brothers were born of this illicit
connexion. The mythical origin of the five Pandava brothers
and the story of the birth of Dhritarashtra and Pandu indicate
possible illegitimacy. Dhfitarashtra is recognized in Vedic
literature as the son of Vichitravirya, but Pandu is not men-
tioned, and the epics seek to justify the birth of these two
princes according to the law of niyoga. Amba and Ambika,
the wives of a Kuru prince, are mentioned in the Satapatha
Brahmana. The Pandus are called a mountain clan in Buddhist
literature. They are generally regarded as a polyandrous tribe
on account of the marriage of the five brothers with one
daughter of Drupada. The Mahabharata describes them as
being unmannerly and unruly and not polished courtiers like
the Kurus. These facts indicate that the Pandus had very
little in common with the Kurus.
Three different texts of the Mahabharata are known: (a) the
northern or the Kashmlrian, (6) the southern, and (c) the
- Javanese. The northern text differs from the southern text
Texts of a good deal. A study of the interpolations in the so-called
Mahabhft- southern text shows that thousands of verses of narrative and
"* a " didactic material have been added to the epic text, and that
the redaction comprises an incorporation of materials drawn
southern fr m ^ Puranas and the Harivamga (a sort of appendix,
version, which was added to the Mahabharata), as well as elaborations
of the original text, sometimes by the insertion of a dozen
or so of verses, or by the addition to a section of half-dozen
new chapters narrating feats of the heroes or insisting on the
Sie lirity Divine character of some demi-god. The Javanese version,
Javanese however, shows a much purer text of this epic.
The epics are supposed to have originated from " gdthas "
or verses, sung in honour of great men at certain ceremonies.
The G|ihya-SQtras mention another kind of "hero-lauds".
These Gdthas and Ndrdfamsis are generally supposed to have
developed into epic poems like the Mahabharata. At the year-
long celebration, preparatory to the horse-sacrifices, ten days
were devoted to the singing of a series of lauds of gods and
heroes wherein the great and noble deeds of kings were sung
by priests and warrior musicians in gdthas of an extern-
THE EPIC LITERATURE OF INDIA 47
poraneous character; while the recitation of legends in verse
accompanied other events of life.
The Mahabharata could not have been the work of any
single person, and in order to be brought up to its present
size the process of interpolation must have gone on for several
centuries. It cannot therefore be said that the Mahabharata
depicts the state of India at any particular period. The verses
of the Mahabharata are less polished than those of the Rama- The
yana. There are many tales in both the epics which depict rata an
similar economic conditions, and the social usages recorded p^m than
are identical; but the Ramayana betrays a later or a more
advanced stage of civilization. The Ramayana is therefore
regarded as a much later poem than the Mahabharata. The
Ramayana is the outcome of a hero-laud describing the
triumph of a chief of the Kosala clan, whose wife was carried
away by a Dravidian chief. Later on, the Kos'ala chief, Rama,
and the shepherd chief, Krishna, were deified and considered
to be the incarnations of Vishnu. The outlines of the Ramayana Earlier
and the Mahabharata are mentioned among the Buddhist the
stories, where we can recognize the normal forms of these to e8 "
heroes, because there we see them without their divine attri-
butes. The Ramayana is also the product of ages and was not
the composition of any single author. The identity of Rama
with the rival chief of the Kosalas was a later thought. 1
The majority of writers on the history of India have been
obsessed with the idea of an epic age following the later Vedic ^Jf e J "
age. It is now quite clear that there was no epic age proper Epic Age
in India. The Mahabharata is a story or a hero-laud belonging
to the later Vedic period. Janamejaya and Parikshit were real
kings who belong to the Brahmana period and whose ancestry
was probably non- Aryan. While the Ramayana is solely the
1 " But the Ramayana differs essentially from the Mahabharata not only in time
but in spirit. Its most spirited scenes occur before the epic plot begins. After
the introduction in the history of Sit a, Rama, and Havana, turgidity replaces tragedy
and the descnption of scenery and sentimentality take the place of genuine passion.
The didactic overload is indeed lacking, and the Ramayana gams thereby; but in this
epic the note of savage lust and passion, which is the charm of the Mahabharata.
as it reveals genuine feeling of real men, is replaced by the childish laments ana
pious reflections of Rama, whose foes are demoniac spirits, while his allies and
confidants are apes. It is a polished fantasia, the finest example of the Kfivya or
artificial poetry, which appeals to Hindu taste much more than does the rough
genuineness of the great epic. The Ramayana is in truth artificial in both senses,
for one cannot possibly believe the tale; whereas the Mahabharata makes its tales
real." (Cambr&ge History of India, Vol. I , p. 264.)
48 PREHISTORIC INDIA
production of a poet's brain, the Mahabharata possesses a
solid substratum of historical truth. Most of its heroes were
real men, and much of the framework of the story is histori-
cally correct. In the Mahabharata we find that the king had
not yet become an autocrat. If he was born defective then he
was not allowed to succeed, even though the next heir to the
The state throne. He was controlled by his clansmen and ministers.
in the At times he was elected to be the leader of his tribe in battle.
Mahibhi- rpj^ ^gg^jy j s mentioned, but it had already become
merely a body for military consultation. The king's city, or
the capital, was defended by battlemented towers and moats,
and had squares and streets which were watered and were
lighted by lamps ; The king's palace contained a hall of justice,
a hall of gambling, and a place for the contests of wild
animals. The royal army included the nobles as well as the
common Aryan soldiers, and consisted of archers, slingers,
rock-throwers, chariot-men, elephants, and cavalry. The king
pensioned the widows of his fallen soldiers, and his captives
became slaves. Dancing girls and prostitutes formed a part of
the royal retinue. Meat-eating and the drinking of strong liquor
were common, and in the epics we read of a crowd standing
around the meat shops. A large part of the population was
pastoral, and cattle-raiding was one of the principal occupa-
tions of the kings and the nobles. Cattle-branding, too, was
well understood, as was the use of ear-marks, for identifying
The the cattle of different proprietors. The people were settled in
eope ' small villages around the fort, in which they took refuge in
time of war, and in time some of these forts expanded into
towns. The villages were largely autonomous and managed
their own affairs, though the king frequently administered
justice and gathered the taxes. The taxes were paid in kind,
but people in towns paid their fines in copper coins. Merchants
bringing goods from a distance paid customs duties. They
were addicted to the use of false weights, and a supervision of
the market place was considered necessary. The guilds of
merchants and artisans were very powerful, and heads of
guilds are mentioned as objects of special solicitude on the
part of the kings.
The eighteen Pura^as, with a similar number of Upa-Purarias,
THE EPIC LITERATURE OF INDIA 49
contain the traditional history of the Indo-Aryan kings so far
as they were handed down from bard to bard and recorded in
the gathas and naraiamsis. The term Purana ought in strict-
ness to be applied to any work which contained the following
five sections:
" (i) Sarga, the evolution of the universe from its material
cause; (2) Pratisarga, the re-creation of the universe from the
constituent elements into which it is merged at the close f
each aeon (kalpa) or day in the life of the creator, Brahma;
(3) Varhfa, the genealogies of gods and rishis; (4) Manvantara,
the groups of " great ages " (mahayuga) included in an aeon,
in each of which mankind is supposed to be produced anew
from a first father, Manu; (5) Varhfdnucharita, the history of
the royal families who rule over the earth during the four ages
(yuga) which make up one great age." x
None of the existing Puranas, however, has been written
in accordance with this scheme, but they profess generally to
conform to this definition. Only seven Puranas retain the fifth
division , which contains an account of kings . All of these works
are regarded by orthodox Hindus as of divine origin. Each
purports to be spoken by Vyasa, who heard it from the creator.
At first the Puranas were narrated by a class of bards, the
Stltas. Gradually these Sntas of Kshatriya origin were sup-
planted by the Brahmanas. The records of the lineage of the
princes gradually disappeared, and their place was taken by
legends about holy places or hymns to deities. Thus, like the
Mahabharata, all the Puranas have undergone a radical change.
The Mahabharata, originally the story of a local feud between
two clans of the Kurus, or between one Kuru clan and some
foreigners, has now developed into a manual of religious exer-
cises and civil law. So also each Purana, originally a dynastic
list and a religious manual, has become an elaborate treatise
for the glorification of the new Indo-Aryan gods, Vishnu or
Siva.
Each Purana consists of two parts, old and new. The old
part contains portions of ancient historical tradition and
genealogy of kings, while the new part, which varies in date,
contains various Tlrtha-mahatmyas or descriptions of Hindu
1 ibid., P , 296
So PREHISTORIC INDIA
holy places. The majority of them have been tampered with
Develo-
Brahmanas at various periods of their ascendancy. The
earliest additions and alterations are generally supposed to
have taken place during the rule of the Sunga and Kanva
kings, who were Brahmanas by descent. The majority of the
Puranas, which contain genealogies of kings, were compiled
in their present form during the rule or after the fall of the
Gupta dynasty, which subsisted in India from 319 to 525 A.D.
In addition to the eighteen Puranas there are eighteen
other works called the Upa-Puranas. These are very narrow
sectarian works dilating upon the merit of worshipping a
particular deity and are of purely local interest. The majority
of these appendages are based on local traditions, while the
Puranas are based on genuine records which in many cases
were misunderstood by the Brahmanas when they redacted the
entire work. These records carry us back to the period of the
Brahmanas, and they contain materials which no longer exist
tance r <>f * n ^ e ^ r original form. They have preserved, though in a very
the Purft- distorted form, an independent tradition of the Kshatriyas,
which supplements the later traditions of the priests. Con-
temporary dynasties which ruled in different parts of India
have been taken by the misguided Brahmana compilers as
successive. In many cases the lists of the same dynasties given
by the Puranas do not agree, but such mistakes may be due to
tionsVf copyists. The Puranas ignore non-Hindu kings, and the
geAge of foreigners are generally mentioned by their tribal names, while
dactions." the names of the Hindu kings are given in detail.
The majority of the genealogical lists start from the great
war between the Kurus and the Pandus, and after that event
three royal lines come into prominence. These are the Purus,
the Ikshvakus, and the kings of Magadha. The kings of
other countries are mentioned in vague terms. In the Puranas,
the Kurus and the Bharatas of the Vedic literature have
become merged with the Purus. Twenty-nine Puru kings
lived after the great war and reigned at Hastinapura. The
ancient capital of the Purus, called Asandivanta in the Vedic
literature, is seldom mentioned. During the reign of Nl-
chakshu, Hastinapura was destroyed, and the Puru capital
was removed to Kaugambl, modern Kosam, in the Allahabad
THE EPIC LITERATURE OF INDIA 51
District. The Ikshvakus were originally a branch of the The
Solar Race and ruled over KoSala, which lay to the west of the
Videha or Mithila and to the east of Oudh, the chief cities
of which were Ayodhya or Saketa and Sravastl. In historic
times, i.e. when Buddha was born, Kos'ala became the para-
mount power in Northern India, and its position was being
contested by the semi-Aryanized kingdom of Magadha. The
name Magadha was not known to the Indo- Aryans in the
age of the Rigveda, and even in later times they regarded that
province with scorn. The inhabitants of Magadha, i.e. of the
modern districts of Patna and Gaya, and of Anga, i.e. of the
modern districts of Munger and Bhagalpur, are mentioned in
the Atharvaveda as living on the borders of the Indo-Aryan
kingdoms. Though their kings claimed to be Purus, they
were most probably of mixed origin. During the period of
the great war between the Kurus and the Pandavas, Magadha
was ruled by the Asura (Dravidian) chief Jarasandha. Even
in later times the Aryanization of this province was of doubtful
completeness. The earliest opposition to the reformed
religion of the Indo- Aryans arose in Magadha. Both Buddhism
and Jainism were first promulgated in this province, and a
king of Magadha, Asoka, gave prominence to Buddhism by
making it his state religion. The development of Buddhism
and its widespread acceptance in Asia gave a very severe
blow to the religion of the Indo- Aryans.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, chaps, xi and xiii.
PARGJTER, Ancient Indian Historical Tradition,
CHAPTER VII
JAINISM: ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT
The religious literatures of the Jains and Buddhists, as far
as they are known at present, reveal quite a different state of
society from that depicted in the epics or the later Vedic
literature. From these we learn that a large number of different
PREHISTORIC INDIA
Existence
of various
Religious
Sects.
Origin of
the New
Religions.
MahBvIra
Varddha-
PreTions
Patri
archs.
Pftrsra.
sects which did not recognize the orthodox tenets of the Indo-
Aryan religion existed in Northern India in the seventh and
sixth centuries before the birth of Christ. All of them gradually
died out or were merged in other sects, except the Jains and
Buddhists. We know the names of some which exercised an
influence on the political history of the country; among them
were the Ajivikas, who were powerful at the time of the birth
of Gautama Buddha and who existed up to, at least, the third
century B.C.
Sixty-three different philosophical schools, most of which
were unorthodox in nature, existed in the sixth century
B.C., proving thereby that the revolt against the orthodox
Indo-Aryan religion began long before that date. Magadha,
or South-western Bihar, which had long resisted the advance
of the Indo- Aryans, was the home of these religious move-
ments, which orthodox Hindus still regard as heretical.
Many of these schools of thought appear to have been in-
fluenced by the religious tenets of the earlier inhabitants of
Magadha. It seems now, that though the priests of the
Indo-Aryans made the admission of non-Aryan races into
Indo-Aryan society easier by regarding them as of Indo-
Aryan origin but fallen from the status of purity demanded by
strict Brahmanas, yet a large number of people of Dravidian
origin clung to the older religions. Their priests and their
trend of thought influenced or even brought into existence
many of these heterodox schools.
Mahavira Varddhamana is now recognized to have been
the founder of the Jain religion. The Jains regard him as
the twenty-fourth and last patriarch or prophet. His pre-
decessor Pargva is said to have died two hundred and fifty
years before the death of Mahavira, and therefore he appears
to have lived in the eighth century B.C. Twenty-two other
patriarchs (called Tirthafikaras) are said to have lived and
preached the Jain religion before these two.
There are reasons to believe that Pargva was a historical
personage and not a mythical being like the earlier twenty-
two Tirthaiikaras. Like all of them, Par&va belonged to the
Kshatriya caste. His father Avasena was King of Benares,
and he lived for thirty years in royal style with his family.
JAINISM: ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 53
Then he quitted his regal state and became a mendicant.
After eighty-four days of meditation ParSva obtained supreme
knowledge and lived for seventy years more. He taught his
followers the four supreme commands: (i) not to injure life,
MahSvlra Varddhamana, the founder of Jamism (izth century A.D.),
from Tnpurl, the ancient Chedl capital; Tewar, near Jubbulpur
(2) not to tell lies, (3) not to steal, and (4) not to possess any
property. To these four rules Mahavlra added a fifth which
insists upon chastity. Par^va allowed his disciples to wear the
ascetic's robes, but Mahavlra enjoined complete nudity.
Many scholars think that the division of the modern Jains
54 PREHISTORIC INDIA
into two sects, the white-clothed one (Svetambard) and sky-
clothed or naked one (Digambara\ is due to the difference
of opinion between Mahavira and the followers of Pargva.
This, however, is denied by others, who believe that the
Religion. m ain points of difference between the two sects originated
after the return of the Jains from Southern India. A Life
of Pargva was compiled by the Jain saint Bhadrabahu, who
lived in the time of the Maurya emperor Chandragupta.
We do not know how far the tenets of the Jain religion were
accepted by the people of India at the time of Parsva's death
or afterwards; but it is certain that the religion was placed
on a firm basis by the next patriarch, Mahavira.
Varddhamana was born at Vaiali, the capital of the Vajji
tribe, a place now situated in the Muzaffarpur District of
Bihar. His parents belonged to the wealthier classes. His
father Siddhartha was the head of the Jfiatrika clan of
Kshatriyas and his mother Tri&la was the sister of Chetaka,
of one of the foremost men in the oligarchical government of the
Lichchhavi tribe. King Bimbisara Srenika of Magadha had
married Chellana, the daughter of Mahavira's maternal uncle
and the mother of the next king of Magadha, Ajata&tru
Kunika. The Life of Mahavira, as told by the Jains, bears a
considerable resemblance to that told by the Buddhists about
about MS *ke conce pti n an d the birth of Buddha. In due time Mahavira
Birth. W as married to a lady named Yagoda, by whom he had a
daughter, who married Jamali, who became a disciple of his
father-in-law. In his thirtieth year Mahavira left his home
with the permission of his elder brother Nandivardhana, after
the death of his parents, and became a homeless mendicant.
During the succeeding thirteen months Mahavira did not
change his robes; on the expiry of that period he discarded
clothing entirely. He succeeded in subduing his senses by
continual meditation, chastity, and a very strict observance of
Scan? Life ^ e ^^ concerning food. He wandered over a large area and
dhamtoa v ^ tec ^ Rajagriha, modern Rajgir, on several occasions. After
twelve years spent in meditation and penance, he attained
supreme knowledge and became free from the bonds of
pleasure and pain. It was at this time, when forty-two years
0)d, that he ceased to be called Varddhamana and became
JAINISM: ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 55
known as Mahavlra. As head of the Nirgranthas (" free from
fetters ") or Jains (" the followers of the Jina ") he then
began to teach his new knowledge. Buddhists refer to him
as Niggantho Nataputto in Pali or Nirgranthah Jnatriputrah
in Sanskrit.
During the next thirty years Mahavlra travelled over
Northern and Southern Bihar and spent most of his time in varddha-
the provinces of Magadha and Anga. In the rainy season he Teacher*. *
spent his time at Champa, the capital of Anga, Mithila in Videha,
Sravasti, the capital of Ko^ala, and Vaisall, his native place. Sexion 11 "
From Buddhist literature we learn that Mahavlra met Gautama
Buddha frequently and that he was worsted at each encounter.
The relations between the Jains and the Buddhists were by
no means cordial. The Jains represent in their fundamental
tenets the oldest modes of thought. In their system even the
inanimate objects of nature are regarded as endowed with life.
There is no resemblance between their system of thought and
the Buddhist faith, though the partial similarity of the views
of each on monachism has often given rise to incorrect con-
. . ,. . . ^ r- t i andBud-
clusions regarding a common origin. Gautama at first thought
that freedom from the bondage of work (Kormari) would lie
in self-torture, but afterwards gave up this idea and did not
enforce penance upon his followers. He enjoined them to
follow a middle course. Mahavlra, on the other hand, had
found that the road to deliverance lay in severe self-torture
and advised death by starvation. Buddha always warned his
disciples not to hurt any living thing, but Mahavlra exaggerated
this idea to an impracticable extent.
Go&lla, a former disciple of Mahavlra, was a more dangerous
rival, as many of his tenets were borrowed from his former
spiritual guide. He had many followers in the city of Sravasti,
and the two leaders fought bitterly till the sixteenth year of
Mahavlra 's career as a prophet, when GoSala died. The death
of Gogala took place shortly after the accession of Ajata&tru
as the king of Magadha. In the fourteenth year of Mahavlra's
career as a prophet his son-in-law Jamall founded a rival sect,
and two years later another member of Mahavira's community the
raised further opposition. Mahavlra survived Goala by and the
sixteen years and died at the age of seventy-two in the house JataMI *
56 PREHISTORIC INDIA
of a scribe employed by King Hastipala at Apapapuri, near
Rajagfiha.
After the death of Mahavira, his principal disciple Su-
dharman became pontiff of the new religion. On the extinction
of the aiunaga dynasty the empire of Magadha fell to the
Nan das, who were probably Jains. One of the kings of this
dynasty removed an image of a Jina, or Tmhatikara^ from
of Kalinga, and this was taken back by Kharavela when he con-
Jalnism. q uerec [ Magadha. Udayin, the last king of the Saisunaga
dynasty, was also a staunch Jain. It is therefore evident that
Buddhism failed to become a popular religion in Northern India
till its advocacy by the Emperor Asoka. The emperors of the
Maurya family appear to have been Jains before the accession
of Agoka, and even ASoka's descendants were not faithful
followers of Buddhism. It may now be accepted that side by
side with the orthodox Indo-Aryan faith the religion of Maha-
vira prevailed in Northern India up to the fourth century B.C.
The great schism among the Jains took place in the beginning
of the third century B.C. During a great famine in Bihar,
Cause of Bhadrabahu, one of the two high priests, headed an exodus of
Schism, the monks of the community to Southern India. He took up
his abode in the province of Karnata. Returning later to
Magadha, he appears to have gone to Nepal after an interval,
though the Digambaras say that he was murdered by his
disciples. When his companions returned from Karnata, they
found that their brethren who had remained in Magadha under
the guidance of the second pontiff, Sthulabhadra, had become
lax in discipline. A great council was convened at Pajaliputra,
the modern Patna, in order to collect and revise their sacred
writings. As the Pfirvas, or the older works, were known only
to Bhadrabahu, Sthulabhadra was sent to Nepal to learn
them, but though he learnt fourteen of them he was forbidden
to teach more than ten. The monks who had gone to Karnata
took no part in this council. They became the predecessors of
The the Digambaras, who hold that the canonical texts of the
Svetambaras are unorthodox and that the real canon was los*.
In their opinion the Svetambara texts were compiled by a
monk named Jinachandra at Valabhi at a much later date.
From this time, i.e. the beginning of the third century B.C.,
JAINISM: ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 57
Jainism lost ground in Magadha. Samprati, one of the grand-
sons of Agoka, is regarded as a patron of the Jain religion; but
later on, the revival of Brahmanism and the adoption of the
Buddhist faith by the majority of the Scythians led to the
gradual decline of the religion of Mahavira. The Svetambaras The
flourished in Mathura during the Scythian period, but the bar as.
Digambaras also were not absent. The Svetambara sect
remained confined to Rajputana and Western India, while
Bengal, South Bihar, Chota - Nagpur, and the whole of
Central India, Maharashtra, and Southern India, con-
tained thousands of followers of the Digambara sect, and in
these countries the followers of the Svetambaras are very rare.
Numerous Svetambara images have been found in different
parts of the United Provinces and the Panjab, but in Bengal
and Central India they are rare. The Jain caves of Maha-
rashtra, such as those at Ellora and Maungya Tungiya, belong
to the Digambara sect. In Southern India, i.e. the country to
the south of the River Godavari, the Jains and their temples
and monuments belong entirely to the Digambara sect. In
the countries to the north of the Narmada, Jainism has almost
disappeared except in Malava and Rajputana. A degraded
variety is prevalent in Orissa, where members are called
Sarakas, a corruption of the Sanskrit term Sravaka. Jain
ruins and images abound in Western Bengal, South Bihar,
and the states of Rewa, Maihar, Panna, Nagod, Bijawar, and
the whole of Bundelkhand as far as the eastern part of Malava.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, chap. vi.
BttHLER, The Indian Sect of the Jains.
MRS. STEVENSON, The Heart of Jainism.
PREHISTORIC INDIA
Gautama .
CHAPTER VIII
BUDDHISM: EARLIER PHASE OF ITS DEVELOP-
MENT, AND THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA
Gautama Siddhartha, the founder of the Buddhist religion,
was born at Kapilavastu, a village now lying near the
southern frontier of Nepal. He came of a clan of
mountaineers who, in the sixth century B.C., ruled over the
Family^ of western part of the jungle area lying at the foot of the Hima-
layas and now called the Nepal Tarai. His father, whose name
was Suddhodana, was king of the Sakyas, as they are called
in the Pali literature. Buddha's mother is called Maya.
Gautama Siddhartha was born in a park or garden attached to
the village of Lumbini or Lummini, which lay close to the
capital of the Sakyas, when his mother was journeying from
her father's house to Kapilavastu. Suddenly seized with the
pains of childbirth, Maya stood under a Sala tree in the park
of Lumbini, and there the child was born.
Buddhism of a later age has surrounded the birth of the
divine child with romance and mystery. We are now told
that before the birth of Gautama, his mother, Maya, dreamt
that a white elephant had entered her womb. When the
child was born, the gods from Heaven came down and Brahma
held the new-born child on a cloth of gold. Immediately after
his birth, the child was bathed in the water of a s'pring which
suddenly gushed forth from the earth attended by serpents
or Nagas, and the infant took seven steps and recited seven
verses. These are stories which, though believed by the
Buddhists for more than two thousand years, have no place
in history. Maya's dream, the bathing of the child in the
water of the mysterious spring, and the wonderful seven steps
taken by the new-born child, have been the subjects of bas-
reliefs and paintings in India from the second century B.C. to
the twelfth century A.D. The great Buddhist emperor, Agoka,
went on a pilgrimage after his conversion to Buddhism. He
set up a pillar on the she where Buddha was born, and in
the inscription on that pillar he states " here JJuddh^ wa
Legends
about the
Mysteri-
ous Birth
BUDDHISM 59
born, the sage of the Sakya race ". The name of the village Birthplace
is given as Lummini and it was made revenue free. From this tama.""
pillar we learn that the modern village of Rumin-dei was
believed to be the site of ancient Lummini Grama, in the
twentieth year of the reign of Agoka, when the pillar was set
up '
Buddhist tradition has introduced a good deal of romance
into the early life of Gautama Siddhartha. It is said that he
learnt the sixty-four letters of the alphabet in a single day,
and that, when he learnt shooting, his arrow went to a mira-
culous distance, stories which have found no credence out-
side Buddhist countries. It is said that he was married early, Early Life
but we do not know how many wives he had. We are told ?ama. u "
of three different ladies who were married to him, but it
is surmised that the three names may have belonged to one
and the same person. These names are Gopa, Yagodhara,
and Mfigaja.
Suddhodana became afraid that Gautama Siddhartha
might leave his home, and therefore he is said to have kept
his son virtually a prisoner in a pleasure garden, where he
was surrounded by musicians, beautiful dancing girls, and
all sorts of pleasures. The gods then conspired against the
king, and soon after, when the young prince went out in his
chariot, he saw certain things which affected him very greatly.
First of all he saw an old man who was walking with great
difficulty with the aid of his stick. The prince's charioteer,
on being questioned, told him in reply that the man had
been forsaken by his relations on account of his infirmity,
and that all men grow old. On another day he saw a sick man
who had been abandoned on the roadside. The charioteer
told the prince that the man was very sick and about to depart
this life, and that all men would become ill when the term of
their lives came to an end. On another day the prince saw a
dead body surrounded by weeping relatives, and in answer causes of
i 1 iti ir i i Gautama's
to the prince s question the charioteer replied that life had Departure
departed from this body; that this man would never see his
father, mother, or wife any more, and that it was the common
fate of all living beings. On another day the prince was power-
fully moved by seeing a mendicant, and when he was told
60 PREHISTORIC INDIA
that he had abandoned the pleasures of life, the prince himself
determined to do so. It is said that the prince, on seeing a
man ploughing his field, asked his charioteer the reason of
this great labour, and was told in reply that all men had to
keep themselves alive, for which food was needed, and that
food could only be produced by hard labour. The Lives of
Gautama Siddhartha depict these scenes as due to the con-
spiracy of the gods Indra and Brahma to divert the attention
of the young prince from the pleasures of life. But the real
truth is that the prince was moved by these scenes of distress,
and determined to find a way for the removal of all human
affliction. One day the prince left his home at midnight and,
mounting his favourite horse Kanthaka, and accompanied by
his favourite groom Chhandaka, left the city of his birth when
everybody was asleep. Buddhist writers, sculptors, and
painters have magnified this event in poetry, bas-reliefs, and
painting. It is rightly called the " great renunciation "
(Mahabhinishkramana) .
After journeying for some time the prince left his horse and
bade his groom return. He then changed his costly robes
and cut his long hair. The prince exchanged raiment with a
hunter and journeyed to the city of Vai^all in North Bihar.
There he became the disciple of a sage named Alada Kalama,
but he was not satisfied with the course prescribed by his
first spiritual guide and left for Magadha or South Bihar.
Period" of From Rajagriha he journeyed to Gaya, and practised austeri-
ties on the banks of the River Nairanjana, now called the
Mendicant Phalgu. In the Lives of Buddha this part of the narrative is
dealt with more fully than any other part, because Buddha's
conquest of temptations, which appear personified in Buddhist
sacred literature as Mara (Satan) and his daughters, is regarded
as the supreme moment of his life. On the banks of the
Nairanjana, Gautama Siddhartha became emaciated by con-
tinual fasting, and when his body became very thin he found
that mortification of the body is not the proper road to perfect
knowledge. He is said to have journeyed to the foot of a
Buddhist P*P a * tree (Afuattha), and when he had seated himself in
meditation under the branches of that tree, which became
noted afterwards as the tree of knowledge (Bodhidruma),
BUDDHISM 61
Mra came with his thousand sons and thousand daughters
to tempt the mendicant prince. At this point of the narrative
romance once more takes the place of sober fact, and the story
told is impossible to believe. Mara is said to have attacked HI Fight
the prince with his demoniacal army, but is vanquished. Prince.
When he had failed in his attack, he returned home. There
his daughters, named Rati, Tjishna, and Arati, comforted
him and undertook to seduce Gautama from the true path Te
of perfect enlightenment (Samyak-sambodhi). Their blandish- Dauh y -
ments also failed to move Gautama. terl *
After the defeat of Mara, Gautama obtained perfect
knowledge by constant meditation, and became known as the
Buddha. The theory promulgated by him is that the root Principles
cause of all human affliction is ignorance and desire. Ignor- Faith. * w
ance leads men ultimately to rebirth, and birth brings in its
train all the afflictions of human kind. The Bodhisattva thus
determined that ignorance lies at the root of all our afflictions,
and he set himself to remove it and effect the stoppage of
rebirth.
He went to Benares and met five of his former disciples
outside that city in the Deer park (Mrigaddvd). At one time
King Suddhodana had sent five noble Sakya youths to his
son to bear him company. When Buddha gave up the aus-
terities enjoined by the rules of orthodox mendicants, these
five Sakya youths left him in disgust and went to Benares. First
Buddha preached his first sermon in the Deer park, to these Ben?res. at
five men. This first sermon, which was the beginning of
Buddha's preaching of his religion or " Law ", became known
as the " Turning of the wheel of Law " (Dharmma-chakra-
pravartand). The event, together with the birth of Buddha
at Kapilavastu, his perfect enlightenment at Bodh-Gaya, and
his death at Ku&nara, are regarded by the Buddhists as the
four principal events of the Master's career. The places Buddhist
where these events took place are regarded as the holiest
places of pilgrimage.
The rest of Buddha's life was spent in preaching his faith
He had a rival in his own cousin Devadatta, who became the
favourite of Ajata&tru Kunika, the son of Bimbisara, King of Attempt
Magadha, and who tried to kill Buddha on two different
62 PREHISTORIC INDIA
occasions in the streets of Rajagriha, but Buddha escaped
miraculously. The rest of the history of Buddha's life is also
full of miracles. At Sr avast! , Buddha appeared simultaneously
at ten points in order to vanquish his opponents in a discus-
sion, because they held that such a thing was impossible in
Miracle of nature. This event is known as the miracle of ^ravasti. The
Buddhists believe thai Buddha went to Heaven to preach
his religion to his mother, who had died shortly after giving
him birth. When Buddha started on the return journey,
three ladders leading from Heaven to the Earth appeared.
Buddha descended by the central ladder, attended by Indra
and Brahma. The accepted gods of Indo-Aryan faith are
always shown as attending Buddha in some menial capacity.
On this occasion Indra is said to have held an umbrella
over Buddha's head, while Brahma fanned the Master with
sankisa, a fly-whisk. Buddha made his descent on the Earth at San-
kagya, a place in the Allahabad district now called Sankisa.
On another occasion, when the Master was seated by the side
andVai- of a tank at Vaigall, modern Besarh in the Muzaffurpur
**"' District of North Bihar, a monkey came and presented a bowl
of honey to him. Afterwards the monkey danced with joy
and committed suicide by drowning itself in a well. The
monkey was reborn as a god, and the tank became known as
the tank of the monkey. This event became known as the
incident of Vaiall. The incidents of Rajagriha, Sravastl,
Sanka^ya, and Vaigali are known as the four minor great events
of the life of Buddha. The places at which the four major and
the four minor great events happened became known as the
eight great places (Ashfa-mahasthana).
Buddha's teaching was much simpler than that of the Jains,
and his religion was more acceptable to the lower classes.
The sage Gautama, the author of the Dharmas&tra, had
promulgated five general rules for the conduct of orthodox
Rules of mendicants in India: (i) they were not to covet others'
t e r er. p rO p ert y. ( 2 ) they were not to intoxicate themselves with
wines or drugs; (3) they were not to destroy life; (4) they
were not to associate with women; and (5) they were not to
tell lies. To these rules the Buddha added five more. He
ordered that: (6) the monks of his order were not to eat at
Stele with the principal events of the life of Buddha: birth, conception,
enlightenment, first sermon at Benares, descent from heaven and the miracle of
Sravastl; from Samath near Benares (sth century A.D.).
64 PREHISTORIC INDIA
forbidden times; (7) they were not to dance, sing, or take
part in theatricals; (8) they were not to use flowers, scents,
or ornaments; (9) they were not to sleep on high spacious
beds; and (10) they were not to retain or accept gold or
silver. Buddha preached that in order to obtain salvation
men should follow the eightfold path: (i) right belief, (2)
Th right thought, (3) right speech, (4) right action, (5) right means
Path. of livelihood, (6) right exertion, (7) right remembrance, and
(8) right meditation. This path was described as the middle
path, because it lay between gross sensualism and strict
asceticism. Ordinary men and women could obtain success
by following the middle path, but success was assured by
Nona. joining the community of monks. Women were also admitted
into the order. Buddha founded a moral system based on
certain abstruse doctrines of metaphysics. He always avoided
discussions about God or the nature of the soul. His system
ignores the existence of God. Though he denied the authority
of the Vedas, he did not interfere with the popular beliefs,
and therefore his followers always made the accepted gods of
the Indo-Aryan religion appear in a menial capacity in his
presence. The new religion became more acceptable to the
masses than the intricate religion of the orthodox Indo- Aryans.
The religion of Buddha does not appear to have made much
impression on the educated people or the powerful nobles
during his lifetime. Kings, like Bimbisara of Magadha or
state of Prasenajit of Koala, paid reverence to mendicants of all
- sects, and their reverence to Buddha is no sign of their accept-
ance f his religion. Many powerful merchants, like Ana-
thapindika of Sravasti, patronized the new order, but Buddhism
remained a minor faith till the rise of Asoka. The principal
disciples of Buddha were Brahmanas like Mahakaiyapa or
his kinsmen like Ananda. Among others, Sariputra and
Moggallayana were distinguished by their zeal for the Master.
Buddha died at the age of eighty at Kulnara. His body was
burned and his ashes divided into eight parts by his principal
disciple Mahakatyapa, who became the head of the order.
Mahakafyapa convened the first great assembly of monks at
Rajagjiha in order to collect the sayings of Buddha. The
kingdom of Kapilavastu and the clan of Sakyas were de-
BUDDHISM 65
stroyed by Vidudabha, the son of Prasenajit, during the life-
time of Buddha. Some relics of these Sakyas were found in a Relict of
crystal casket in a mound at Piprahwa in the Basti District,
BIBLIOGRAPHY
KERN, Manual of Buddhism.
OLDENBERG, Buddha.
RHYS DAVIDS, Buddhist India.
(E668)
BOOK II
Ancient India
CHAPTER I
THE SIXTEEN KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH
The rise of Buddhism marks the beginning of the historical
period in India. We obtain for the first time a generally reliable
chronology of events and a glimpse into the social and
economic life of ancient India. Kings and dynasties become
more real, and in spite of short gaps in the sequence of events,
the history of the country can be treated as a continuous nar-
rative. It is a mistake to call this age the Buddhist period,
So-caiied merely on the ground that most of the material on which the
Period.* history of this period is based is taken from Buddhist birth
stories (Jatakas) or from story books connected with Buddhism.
We ought to bear in mind that the entire country never
accepted Buddhism, and society remained unchanged till
the irruption of the Greeks and of Scythian barbarians from
the north-west. The reformed Indo-Aryan religion remained
strong until the reign of A3oka. It was revived again by the
Sungas and did not lose its hold on the educated middle
classes till the period of Kushan domination in Northern
India. Buddhism, at the height of its glory, never succeeded
in stamping out Hinduism, or the orthodox Indo-Aryan
faith as it is now known. Jainism existed side by side with
numerous other religions. Even under the Kushans, Bud-
dhism did not remain the state religion for long. Vasudeva I
gave up Buddhism and accepted Hinduism. Buddhism
never again succeeded in becoming the state religion after
the time of Huvishka, except for a quarter of a century under
Harshavardhana of Thanesar.
In the beginning of the sixth century before the birth of
66
SIXTEEN KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH 67
Christ we find that Northern India was divided into the
following sixteen kingdoms:
1. Anga (the Bhagalpur and Munger (?) Districts of Bihar
and Orissa). dome
2. Magadha (the Patna and Gaya Districts of the same
provinces).
3. Vajji (the Muzaffarpur, Saran, and Champaran Dis-
tricts of North Bihar).
4. Ka& (the Benares, Ghazipur, and Mirzapur Districts).
5. Ko^ala (? the Lucknow and Fyzabad Districts).
6. Malla (? the Gorakhpur District).
7. Varh^a (the Allahabad and Banda Districts).
8. Chetl (? the Cawnpur and Unao Districts).
9. Panchala (modern Rohilkhand).
10. Kuru (the Aligarh, Meerut, Delhi and Thaneswar
Districts).
1 1 . Machchha or Matsya (? the Rewari and Gurgaon Dis-
tricts, with portions of Alwar and Jaipur States).
12. Surasena (? the Mathura District, Bharatpur State, and
the northern part of the Jaipur State).
13. A&naka on the Godaviri (Sutta nipata).
14. Avanti (? Malava or Malwa).
15. Gandhara (? the north-western frontier districts of the
Panjab as far as Peshawar and adjoining districts).
1 6. Kamboja (? the modern districts of Kabul and Jalala-
bad).
Authorities, however, are not strictly in accord regarding
those areas before which a mark of interrogation appears.
In the lifetime of Buddha Northern India was divided
into a number of small kingdoms and republics. The more
notable of these kingdoms were Magadha, with its capital
at Rajagriha, Ko&la, with its capital at SravastI, and Vatsa
or Varhga, with its capital at KauSambl. Among the republics
and the smaller kingdoms the following names are prominent:
1. The Sakyas of Kapilavastu.
2. The Bulis of Allakappa.
f *
3. The Kalamas of Kesaputta.
4. The Bhaggas of Sumsumara.
68
ANCIENT INDIA
Supre-
macy of
Magadha,
Early
King*
Bimbi-
Ira.
5. The Koliyas of Ramagama.
6. The Mallas of Pava.
7. The Mallas of Ku&nara.
8. The Moriyas of Pipphalivana,
9. The Videhas of Mithila.
10. The Lichchhavls of Vai&li.
During the lifetime of Buddha, the kingdom of Magadha
rose to be the paramount power in Northern India and
triumphed over its rival of Ko&la. It had already absorbed
the neighbouring kingdom of Anga. In the Vedic literature
the people of Magadha are always spoken of with contempt.
They are called Vratyas, i.e. Indians who were still living
outside the pale of Indo-Aryan civilization. During the
period of the Sutras the Vratyas were admitted into Indo-
Aryan society. The Brahmanas of Magadha are spoken of
with open contempt, and this is a clear indication that the
people of Magadha were not entirely Aryanized. 1 The earliest
dynasty of Magadha is mentioned in the Mahabharata as
a dynasty of Asuras. We hear of Bjdhadratha, the son of
Vasu and the father of Jarasandha, the reputed conqueror
of the hero-god Krishna. The Puranas contain the names of
Jarasandha's son and grandson. The race of Jarasandha
became extinct in the time of Buddha.
The second dynasty of Magadha was founded by a king
named Si^unaga. Bimbisara, a contemporary of Buddha,
belonged to this dynasty, according to Puranas, but the
Ceylonese chronicle, MahavamSa, makes SiSunaga the suc-
cessor of Bimbisara's dynasty. There are two different views
about the iunaga dynasty and that of Bimbisara. One
group of scholars regards Si&maga as the founder of the
dynasty which followed that of Bimbisara, while the second
group follows the Puranas in thinking that Bimbisara was a
descendant of Si&maga. Bimbisara conquered AAga and
occupied Benares after defeating the King of Ko&da. He
married three wives, one of whom was the daughter of the King
Ko&la and sister of Prasenajit; the second was Chellana,
the daughter of the Lichchhavi prince Chetaka and first
1 Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 123.
SIXTEEN KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH 69
cousin of Mahavira Varddhamana. The third was a daughter
of the chief of the Madra clan of the Panjab. At this time
Rajagjiha (modern Rajgir in the Patna District) was the capital
of the kingdom. It is also called the Girivraja or " the fort
surrounded by hills ". Old Rajagnha was situated in a well-
watered valley surrounded by a chain of hills. It was defended raj a .
by a high stone wall which ran along the top of the hills
and was protected by stone towers at regular intervals. In
the valley there were other stone walls, built of very heavy
stones, which remind one of the Cyclopean walls of My-
cenae and Tiryns in Greece. These walls exist at the present
day, and the masonry is the oldest known in India. The city
was approached by two ways, one on the south, which led
to the southern part of Magadha, i.e. the Gaya District, and
one on the north, which led to northern Magadha and the
Lichchhavi country. Both passes were protected by heavy
stone walls with towers. After some time, evidently during
the period of the Steunagas, the old city was abandoned and
a new one built outside the northern gate. The new city was
protected by a square fort with brick walls and towers. This
city was visited by Buddha, but the holy places inside the old NW ^^
city continued to be visited by pilgrims, both Jain and Bud-
dhist, up to the twelfth century A.D. Mahakatyapa, the
principal disciple of Buddha, held the first great assembly
of Buddhist monks under the Vaibhara Hill, close to the
rampart of the old city, at a place which became known as
the Sattapanni Hall. The site of the first great council is satta-
now marked by a stone platform reached by a sloping cause-
way of stone. In the centre of the old city the shrine of the
Nga Ma$ibhadra was rebuilt on several occasions, the
latest being in the sixth century A.D. In the new city Bimbi-
sara gave a grove of bamboos for the use of Buddha, and
this became famous in Buddhist literature as the Karanda-
venu-vana. Bimbisara was murdered by his son Ajata&tru,
who succeeded him in the Empire. *
Ajatafetru was distinctly hostile to Buddha. He invaded
the kingdom of Ko&la, and as the first step of the conquest A i ltosmtni
of Videha, he built a strong fort at the village of Pafali, situated traiut>
at the junction of the rivers 0$ and Ganges, and which Fort/
70 ANCIENT INDIA
became celebrated in later history as Pataliputra, the capital
of the Maurya and Gupta empires of Magadha. Ajata&tru
defeated his aged uncle, King Prasenajit of Ko&la, and forced
him to fall back upon his capital, Sravastl. But Ajatagatru
was led into an ambush and captured by Prasenajit. The
War with king of Kos*ala liberated his nephew and gave him his daughter
Ko * aU ' Vajira in marriage. During the absence of Prasenajit from his
capital his son Vidudabha captured the throne. Prasenajit
sought refuge in Magadha, but died outside the city of
War with Rajagriha. Ajata&tru invaded the republic of the Lich-
chhavis of Vai&li on account of a breach of faith by the
latter. The Lichchhavls were the allies of the kings of Kosala,
and AjataSatru's wars with these two powers were probably
due to an effort on the part of the former to curb the growing
power of the kingdom of Magadha. The war was protracted
ofVaisui more than sixteen years, and finally Vaisall was conquered
by Ajatasatru and remained a part of the Magadhan Empire
for centuries. Ajatasatru had another rival in King Pradyota
of Avantl or Malava, and at one time he was afraid of an
attack on his capital, Rajagriha. He was succeeded by his
son Udayibhadra, who is mentioned in the lists of the Puranas
as well as in the canonical literature of the Jains and the
Buddhists.
The successors of Ajatasatru are shadowy figures. Geiger
Udaya. holds, on the authority of Buddhist Chronicles, that Udaya or
Udayibhadra was the successor of Ajatasatru, but Smith and
others, relying on the Puranas, make a king named Daraka
(who is probably the same as Nagadasaka of the Ceylonese
Chronicle and who is mentioned in a play of Bhasa called
the Svapna-Vdsavadatta) the successor of AjataSatru. Udaya
j 8 credited with the building of the city of Pafaliputra, which
was a ' 80 ^ted Kusumapura. He was the viceroy of his
father in the province of AAga. The kings of Avanti or Malava
were the rivals of the later kings of the Sisunaga dynasty.
Palaka, the successor of Pradyota, conquered the kingdom of
Kau&mbf , and the two great kingdoms of Magadha and Malava
were brought into contact. According to the Purarias, Udaya
was succeeded by Nandivarddhana and Mahananda, but the
Ceylonese Chronicles state that Munda and Anuruddha
SIXTEEN KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH 71
succeeded Udaya. The same Chronicles make Si&inaga, a
minister of Magadha, succeed the dynasty of Bimbisara.
Si&maga is credited with the destruction of the kingdom of
Bas-relief from Mungcr district- Penance of Arjuna, a scene from the
Mah<3bh<3rata, Patahputra school (sth century A.D.)
AvantI or Malava. The capital was transferred from Raja-
gfiha to Pa^aliputra by Steunaga, according to the Buddhist Capital .
authorities, after the fall of the dynasty of Bimbisara. Accord-
ing to the Puranas, the transfer was made by the Nandas in
order to avoid the hatred of the Brahmapas of Rajagfiha o
72 ANCIENT INDIA
account of their humble origin. The Nandas were born of
the union of a Sddra woman with one of the Si&m&ga kings.
They therefore form a separate branch of the iungas and
not a separate dynasty.
The dynasty x>f Bimbisara made Magadha great in Eastern
India. A&ga was incorporated into the kingdom, Benares
Effect of was conquered, and the republic of Vai&li destroyed . Ajata&tru
gMjtoie of con q uere( j t h e kingdom of KauSambl, and Malava soon
**** also succumbed. The conquest of Kaliftga is attributed to
Nandivarddhana by Mr. K. P. Jayaswal. In the Puranas
Mahapadma is stated to have been born of a 0dra woman,
but in Jain literature he is called the son of a courtesan by a
Origin barber. According to Q. Curtius, the King of Magadha,
contemporary with Alexander the Great, was the son of a
barber who had become the paramour of the queen of the
last king and who afterwards murdered the king. The murder
of one of the kings named Kakavarna is mentioned in the
Harshacharita of Bana-bhafta. According to the Ceylonese
Chronicles, the name of the first king of the Nanda dynasty
was Ugrasena. The conquest of Kaliftga by one of the Nandas
Reference is referred to in the Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela.
Nando* la From this inscription we learn that a canal was excavated by
one of the Nanda kings in the year one hundred and three of
the era of the Nandas, and that this king had brought away
image of a Jain patriarch from the country of Kaliftga.
According to the Puranas, the first Nanda king was the de-
stroyer of all Kshatriyas and the sole monarch of the earth.
This term most probably means that all small kingdoms in
Northern India had at that time been absorbed in the Empire
of Magadha. Mahapadma Nanda was succeeded by eight
other kings of his family, the last of whom was overthrown by
Chandragupta the Maurya. The Nanda kings were regarded
as the possessors of great wealth. The historians of Alexander
state that they maintained 80,000 cavalry, 200,000 infantry,
and 8000 four-horsed chariots, with 6000 war elephants.
The enormous wealth of the Nandas is mentioned in a Tamil
poem, by the Chinese traveller Yuan Chwang, and in a passage
of the Kathfoarit-sdgara. According to PSnini, the Nanda
kings invented a peculiar system of weights. The fa}) of the
THE PERSIAN CONQUEST 73
Nandas took place after the invasion of India by Alexander Fail of tb
the Great, some time between 321 and 312 B.C. Nanda.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
D. R. BHANDARLEAR, The Carmichael Lectures, 1918, chap. ii.
H. C. RAYCHAUDHURI, Political History of India, 3rd edition
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, chap. xiii.
CHAPTER II
THE PERSIAN CONQUEST OF NORTH-WESTERN
INDIA AND THE INVASION OF ALEXANDER
THE GREAT
Long after the separation of the Indo-Aryans and the
Aryo-Iranians the connexion between the two branches
remained very intimate. The Indo-Iranians possessed an
intimate knowledge of the province of Afghanistan, and
there are reasons for believing that no definite line of demar-
cation existed between the two branches. It has been noticed
in the previous chapters that the Kambojas were included in inter
the sixteen great nations of Northern India and that they
lived to the west of Gandhara, i.e. Peshawar. They spoke
a language which is allied more to the Iranian group of Ian-
guages than to the Indian. The country which lies on both
banks of the River Oxus (Sanskrit Vakshu) is regarded as a
part of India in Sanskrit literature and as a part of Iran in
Old Persian literature. Bactria was probably Iranian in speech
even in the sixth and seventh centuries B.C., but it is called
Bahlika, and the people are regarded as Kshatriyas in Indo-
Aryan literature. No boundary line between India and Iran
was known in Afghanistan, but to the south of that country
the borderland which divided the Indo-Aryan from the
remnants of the Dravidians in Baluchistan is called Zranka
in Persian and Dranga in Sanskrit, both of which mean a
boundary. The Indian term Dranganl, which means " fron-
tiers " or " boundaries ", was corrupted by the Greeks into
(668) D2
74 ANCIENT INDIA
The Bonn* Drangiana and applied to the hilly country which separates
Dnm- the fertile basin of the River Indus from the deserts of Balu-
giana. c histan lying to the south of the valley of Kandahar.
In the middle of the sixth century B.C. the Indo-Iranian
Hakhamanishiya dynasty of Persia, called the Achaemenian
or the Achaemenidae by the Greeks, became supreme in the
near east. Cyrus or Kurush of this dynasty conquered
Afghanistan, Bactria, and Gandhara some time between
The 558 and 530 B.C. The dynasty to which Kurush belonged
manishiya was founded by Chishpish (Greek Teispes), the son of
Hakhamanish (or Achaimenes). Chishpish appears to have
been reigning in the last quarter of the seventh century B.C.
and was the first king to conquer Babylon. Kurush ex-
tended the empire of Persia towards the west as far as the
Mediterranean. The Ionian Greeks were subdued, and the
kingdom of Babylon was finally overthrown. The city was
stormed in the month of March in 538 B.C., and the whole
of the Babylonian Empire fell under the Persians. We do not
know how the Indian provinces were conquered. The earliest
allusions to the Indian provinces of the Persian Empire are
to be found in the historical work of Herodotus, which refers
their conquest to the reigns of Darayavaush (Darius) and
Conquest Kshayarsha (Xerxes). But it is certain that the conquest of
western Bactria, Drangiana, and Gandhara was the work of Kurush I.
According to Ktesias, Kurush I died of a wound inflicted by
an Indian in a battle, when the Indians were fighting for the
Darbikes, a people of unknown origin, whom they had sup-
plied with elephants. According to Xenophon, Kurush
brought under his rule the Bactrians and the Indians, and he
records the arrival of an embassy from an Indian king to the
court of Kurush I.
When the Greeks came into direct contact with India, the
Persian conquest of the North-western Frontier Provinces
had become traditional and hazy, and therefore the account
of Nearchos differed from that of Megasthenes. According
to Pliny, Kurush destroyed the city of Kaptea near modern
Kabul. There cannot be any doubt about the fact that
Kurush I conquered those provinces of India which lay
between the western bank of the River Indus and the Persian
THE PERSIAN CONQUEST 75
frontier. We do not possess any evidence from Persian s
sources about Persian domination in India during the reigns KifAwh i
of Kambujlya I (Cambyses), Kurush II, and Kambujiya II.
With the accession of Darayavaush, or Darius I, we obtain
fresh light. It appears that before the accession of Darayavaush
in 522 B.C., the Indian provinces of the Persian Empire had
shaken off the yoke of Persia. The Bahistan or Bisitun in-
scription of Darayavaush I does not mention India among the Recon-
i i ' 1 1 111- i i Quest of
twenty-three provinces which obeyed that king, and from this the Indian
fact scholars infer that the Indus region did not form a part of byDai* 8
the Persian Empire at that time (520-518 B.C.). Later on, India yavaush *
is specially mentioned in the Old Persian block tablets on the
platform of the palace at Persepolis and in the inscriptions on
the tomb of Darayavaush at Naqsh-i-Rustam. Both of these
inscriptions mention India, i.e. the Panjab, as part of the
Persian Empire. The term employed in these inscriptions is
Hidu, a corruption of Hindu, which is the Old Persian form of
the name Sindhu. The older Persian dominion most probably Extent oi
did not include the whole of the Panjab and was restricted Persian
to the Indus region, i.e. as far as the western bank of the River
Chenab. Indla -
Herodotus places India in the twentieth satrapy or province
of the empire of Darayavaush. India paid the enormous
tribute of three hundred and sixty talents of gold into the
Persian treasury, an amount which is equivalent to one million
pounds sterling. Upper and Lower Sindh formed a part
of the Persian Empire, and in 517 B.C. Darayavaush sent
Skylax, a native of Karyanda in Karia, to explore the River Expedi-
Indus. This squadron started from some place in the Gandhara Hindus
country, sailed down the Indus, and finally reached the Indian skyfax.
Ocean.
The Persian Empire in India was bounded on the east by
the Thar or the Indian Desert, as Herodotus states that to the
east of India the country is sandy. Herodotus never refers to
the Ganges valley or to the kingdom of Magadha, which
strongly suggests that the knowledge of the Persians about
India was limited to the provinces of the Persian Empire. Indian
The inscriptions on the platform at Persepolis and the tomb ^Persia
at Naksh-i-Ru$tam mention the following three provinces: Bm * lr *'
76 ANCIENT INDIA
(i) Bakhtri (Bactria), (2) Haraiva (Herat), and (3) Zaranka
or Zranka (Drangiana). These three provinces together con-
stitute modern Afghanistan and Baluchistan. To the east of
them lay the provinces of India proper, consisting of (i) Gan-
dara (Gandhara), the Kabul valley as far as Peshawar; l (2)
Thatagu; (3) Harahuvati (the Kandahar district); (4) Sakd
(Seistan); and (5) Maka (Mekran).
During the reign of Kshayarsha (Xerxes) an Indian con-
tingent went with the Persian army to invade Greece. Hero-
dotus describes the equipment of the Indians in the following
Soldier* wor ^ s - " The Indian foot soldiers were clad in garments of
}?2? cotton and carried bows and arrows of cane, the latter tipped
Army. with iron. The cavalry was armed in the same manner but
they brought riding horses and chariots, the latter drawn by
horses and 'wild asses'." The decadence of the Persian
Empire began after the defeat of Kshayarsha in Greece.
Even in the time of the last Persian emperor of the Hakha-
manishiya dynasty an Indian contingent formed a part of the
Persian army with which Darayavaush III met Alexander the
Great for the last time on the battlefield of Arbela.
After Alexander's victory at Arbela (331 B.C.), the small
states in Afghanistan and the Western Panjab, which had so
long obeyed the commands of the Persian emperors, became
North? 1 helpless because they were suddenly confronted by the Greeks.
western The Indian princes of the North-western Frontier had no
the battle time to organize themselves. They were divided in opinion,
Arbela * and some of them, instead of resisting Alexander, actually
invited him and thus turned traitors to their country. After
the destruction of the Persian army at Arbela and the death
of Darayavaush III, Alexander moved towards Afghanistan.
In the winter of 330 B.C. the Greek army was camped in
Seistan, and in the same year it moved eastwards towards
modern Kandahar. Many scholars think that the city of
Kandahar was founded by Alexander the Great. In the
Alexander summer of 329 B.C., the Greek army was camped in the Kan-
Afghaai- dahar valley, and in the winter of the same year it crossed the
mountains and reached the valley of the Kabul River in the
winter of 329-328 B.C. Alexander passed that winter in Kabul
* Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 338*
THE PERSIAN CONQU
preparing for the invasion of Bactria, ^fcrlfjrjmnce of the
Persian imperial family was still holding j
satrap and a Macedonian general to
Alexander crossed the Hindu-Rush and
bank of the River Jaxartes in Easte
absent in Bactria up to the summer of ;
At this time there were two rival kil
Panjab, the king of Taxila or TakshaSila
ancient Puru tribe. The king of Taxila posse ___
from the eastern bank of the River Indus to the western bank Jjj *
of the River Jhelum, but the king of the Purus had extended
his kingdom towards Kashmir and the east. He was the most
formidable monarch in the whole of the Panjab, and the king
of Taksha&la was afraid of him. Long before the advance of
Alexander towards the banks of the River Indus, jealousy
and fear of his rival made the king of Takshasila send envoys
to the former in Bactria. The king of Takshasila was growing Treachery
old and at first hesitated to adopt the Greek side, but his son m
Ambhi was a thorough traitor, and even in his father's life-
time this prince sent messengers to Alexander on his own
account, informing him that he was ready to march with the
Greek army against his own countrymen.
The Greek army, formed into two divisions, descended to
the plains of the Panjab by two different roads. Alexander
himself marched to the north and reached the banks of the
Indus through the country now called the Indus Kohistan;
while the second Greek army, under the command of the thc Indus '
proudest noble of the Macedonian king, named Perdikkas,
marched upon Peshawar by the direct route, which probably
lay through the Khaibar Pass. The hillmen of what is still
the north-western frontier fought stubbornly as they do even
now. They were, however, punished very heavily for their
resistance to the advance of the Macedonian king. Entire
towns were destroyed and thousands of people massacred.
The king of Takshasila accompanied the second Greek army
commanded by Perdikkas, and they reached Peshawar in 326
B.C. In this region the Greeks were opposed by a small chief Conquest
whose capital was Pushkalavati, but he was shut up in his own
town and his principality was given to an adherent of the king
78 ANCIENT INDIA
of Takshagila. The Lower Kabul valley was constituted a
separate province, which was placed under the rule of a Greek
named Nikanor, while the Upper Kabul valley was ruled by
a Persian named Turyaspa (Tyriespes). During the winter
Capture of of 326 the Greeks captured the strong fort of Aornos (? modern
Aornos. which stood on a high mountain on the banks
of the River Indus. This fort was placed in the charge of a
garrison under an Indian traitor named Sas'igupta. A bridge
was built over the River Indus at Ohind, about sixteen miles
above Attock, and the entire army crossed into the Panjab.
Ambhi had by this time succeeded his father in the kingdom
of Taxila. He sent a message of homage to Alexander and
informed him that he wanted to take his kingdom back from
the Macedonian king as his vassal. At the head of his army
aoder's Alexander marched into the city of Taxila and was received
Entry into with royal honours by his new Indian vassal. He held a grand
Durbar in that city, when there were Greek sacrifices and
games. A crowd of chiefs of Eastern Afghanistan and the
Panjab were present. The gold and silver vessels of the Persian
emperors, the embroideries of Babylonia and Persia, had come
to Taksha&la with Alexander who now distributed them to
the Indian chiefs. Indians who had turned traitor and sub-
mitted to the European invader had their territories increased,
and those who had not submitted lost most of their possessions.
Thus, without fighting, Alexander became the master of the
Western Panjab.
The king of the Purus watched the progress of events
anxiously. He heard of the alliance between the foreigners
and his hereditary enemies, the kings of Taksha&la, and that
the princes of other provinces were submitting without fighting.
King of the One of his kinsmen also submitted. The innate pride of the
Purus and the tradition of centuries compelled him to resist
the invasion of his own country by a foreign army. The
Greek historians have preserved his tribal designation, but
his name they have not recorded for us. In India we have
forgotten the name of almost every defender of faith and mother-
land. The Greek historians call the chief of the Purus
" Poros ", which is equivalent to Paurava in Sanskrit, and
from this fact we learn that even in the fourth century B.C.
THE PERSIAN CONQUEST 79
kings were yet known by their tribal designations, as we see
in the epics.
An open defiance was sent by the Paurava king to Alexander
the Great. Somewhere near the modern town of Jhelum, in
the spring of 326 B.C., the Paurava king mustered his army
to oppose the foreigners. Alexander marched with the main
army, which was supplemented by five thousand men under
Ambhi. A small part of the Greek army crossed in boats and
a skirmish was fought, but the main army eluded the vigilance skirmish
of the Indians and crossed the Jhelum elsewhere unopposed, jheium.
In the battle which followed the Indian army was ranged to
receive the attack of the Greeks. The Indian cavalry could
not resist the Greek cavalry, and the elephants of the Indian Battle of
king fled in terror. All the great captains of the Indian side, jheium.
and thousands of soldiers, laid down their lives in the first
battle. The Paurava king was wounded and captured.
Alexander came galloping to meet him and asked him, through
an interpreter, to indicate what treatment he wished to re-
ceive. " Act as a king," said the proud Paurava king, but
when the interpreter explained that the Greek king wanted a
more definite statement, the Paurava replied, " When I said
' as a king ', everything was contained in that." The romantic
vein in Alexander was touched. He reinstated the Paurava
king in his kingdom. A city was built on the field of battle Founda-
and was named " Bukephala ", after the favourite horse of Buice"
Alexander the Great which had fallen in the fight. phaia.
After the battle of the Jhelum no power which could oppose
Alexander was left in North-western India. The Raja of
Abhisara (the Punch valley) sent presents with his brother.
Alexander then moved to the banks of the Chenab, beyond
which lay the territories of the King of Abhisara, who was also
a Paurava. He fled at the approach of the Greek army.
Alexander crossed the Ravi and marched along the foot of the
Southern Kashmir Hills, through a district ruled by a number
of small chieftains who were called Kshatriyas. The town of
Sangala was sacked and the other Kshatriyas submitted.
Among them was a king named SaubhQti, who entertained the
Macedonian king with great splendour, and later on struck
coins with his name written in Greek as " Sophytes ", The
8o ANCIENT INDIA
Greek army marched to the banks of the River Beas, and
here Alexander heard of the power and riches of the empire
of Magadha. But on the banks of the Beas the great conqueror
received a check from his own army. The Macedonians re-
fused to advance any farther, and the proud world-conqueror
was obliged to pass orders for return. On the banks of the
river the Greek army built twelve gigantic altars and then
Grek turned back. The return march began in July, 326 B.C. Alex-
R * tre * t - ander returned by the route over which he had advanced, and
reached the Jhelum. Here a fleet was built by a Cretan named
Nearchos, and in November, 326, the main portion of the army
embarked for the south. Two divisions, under Hephaestion
and Krateros, marched along the banks of the river. The
The site. Sibae offered their submission. They were the same as the
Siva Kshatriyas of the Vedic period. But two tribes called
Maiiot uiii the Malloi and Oxydrakoi by the Greeks, who are the Malavas
and the Kshudrakas of Indian literature, resisted the Greeks
at the junction of the Jhelum and the Chenab. The Malavas
lived on the borders of the Indian Desert, and their city was
surprised and sacked. Alexander very nearly lost his life at
the sack of the Malava capital, but the Malavas and the
Kshudrakas submitted at last. Other tribes, whose names we
cannot recognize, were defeated, and Alexander reached the
junction of the Indus and the Chenab. At this time Oxyartes,
an Iranian noble who had given his daughter to Alexander,
was made governor of the Kabul valley.
The most powerful tribe in the basin of the Indus was the
Mushikas (called Mousikanos by the Greeks). The Samba
Kshatriyas, belonging to the Yadava tribe, were at war with
fat Mushikas, and they allied themselves with Alexander
against the latter. The king of the Mushikas submitted, as he
was surprised by Alexander's rapid movements. The Sambas
next opposed Alexander but were defeated. The people of
Middle Sindh now opposed him. Their capital was called the
city of the Brahmanas, and is very probably the same as the
Brahmagiabad of the Arab geographers and historians, the
site of which now lies eight miles east of Shahdadpur station
in the Nawab Shah District of Sindh. The king of the Mushi-
kas rebelled once more, and a national movement against the
THE PERSIAN CONQUEST 81
aggression of the Greeks was begun by the Brahmanas of
Sindh. Pithon, the Greek governor of Sindh, defeated the
Mushikas and brought their king as prisoner to Alexander.
The Brahmanas of Sindh were massacred and their bodies
exposed on the roadside without cremation.
In Lower Sindh the city of Pattala lay at the point where the
delta of the Indus began. Greek historians state that, like
Sparta, it was ruled by two kings and a council of elders. One
of these kings came to pay homage to Alexander; but when the Pattai* or
Greeks approached the city the kings and the people fled. ft ene *
Before that city was reached the elephants and one division
of the Macedonian army began to march towards Babylon
under the command of Krateros. Alexander continued his
advance down-stream and reached Pattala in July, 325 B.C.
Near the great port of Deval, which has now disappeared, the
Greek fleet reached the sea. Alexander then marched with
the rest of his army along the southern coast of Baluchistan.
The fleet returned to Pattala and remained there till the end of
October. The inhabitants of Makran, the Arava, who were
of Dravidian stock and were called Arabitae by the Greeks,
deserted their villages in terror. Alexander crossed the River ****,
Hab and passed on to the country of another Dravidian people march
called the Oritae. Their principal city, Rhambacia, was occu-
pied, and Alexander passed on, leaving Apollophanes as
Satrap in the country of the Oritae. He then marched to
Gedrosia and, keeping near the wells, reached the desert.
Sixty days after his departure from the country of the Oritae,
Alexander passed out of India after enduring great privations.
The fleet under Nearchos left India from a place near Karachi, Narcho.
which the Greeks called " the wooden town ". It reached the
good harbour at the mouth of the River Hab, where it obtained
fresh stores deposited by the order of Alexander at a place
called Kokala near the coast. At the mouth of the River
Hingol the Greeks saw the aboriginal inhabitants of Makran,
and then the fleet sailed on past the promontory of Malan,
which was the limit of India.
At the time of Alexander's departure from India his Indian
dominions were divided into three provinces. The first
province was placed under Philip, son of Machatas, who
82 ANCIENT INDIA
remained at Taxila; the second province, consisting of the
province of Sindh, was placed in the charge of Pithon, son of
Agenor; the third province was the easternmost division
Empire, of Alexander's empire and extended from the River Jhelum
to the River Beas. It was placed under a Paurava prince.
Afghanistan was placed under the rule of Alexander's father-
in-law, the Persian Oxyartes. A number of Macedonian
soldiers, with Grecian and Thracian auxiliaries, remained as
the army of occupation. Within a few months after Alexander's
departure the Greek mercenaries under Philip mutinied.
Philip was killed, and Alexander ordered that his province
was to be ruled jointly by the king of Taxila and Eudamos,
the commander of the Thracian contingent. This provisional
arrangement continued till the death of Alexander, in the
summer of 323 B.C., at Babylon.
Many Greek coins, bearing Alexander's name, are found
in India. The coins of Athens, bearing an owl, are found in
India. the Panjab and were imitated there, most probably during the
occupation of the Macedonian army. It is now supposed that
a squarish bronze coin of Alexander was minted in India.
On a group of silver coins Alexander's name is to be found in
full, but none of these pieces bears the king's title. In the
district in which Alexander's coins are found, the coins of the
Hakhamanishiya emperors are also met with in small numbers.
The gold dark, which was the standard coin of Persia, and a
gold coin of Crcessus have been found in the Kohat district.
Persian silver coins called Sigloi or Shekels have been found
in small numbers in Western Panjab and Afghanistan. They
bear small punch-marks like the oldest Indian coins, but
some scholars are of opinion that these punch-marked Sigloi
were current in Lycia, Cilicia, and other parts of Asia Minor
and the Island of Cyprus, but not in India.
While Alexander's invasion left very little impression on
India, the long occupation of the north-western provinces by
the Persians left a permanent mark. Persian clerks introduced
tt- the use of the Aramaic script, and an inscription in that script
has been discovered at Taxila. The Aramaic script was partly
" c k an S C( * an( ^ adapted for the writing of Indian dialects, and
Script. this new script is called Kharoshfhl. It is derived entirely from
THE PERSIAN CONQUEST 83
the Aramaic prototype and contains aspirated consonants,
which are required in Indian languages. The Kharoshfhi
script became the principal script of Turkistan, Bactria,
Afghanistan, the Panjab, and Sindh. It remained in use in
these countries till the third century A.D., when it was finally
driven out by the Indian Brahml. Persian architecture was Persian
introduced by the Persian governors, and was used by the ture.
Indian emperors of the Maurya dynasty. The pillars of A3oka,
with round bell-shaped abaci and bull or lion capitals, are of
pure Persian origin. The use of winged animals as capitals of
pillars and pilasters was introduced by Persian architects and
remained in use till the end of the first century B.C. Persian
noblemen were employed by the Mauryan emperors, and one
of them, Tushaspha, was the governor of Kathiawad, and is
called a Yav ana or Greek in the Junagadh rock inscription of
the Scythian king Rudradaman I.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. VI, chap, viii, xii, xiii.
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, chap, xiv, xv.
SIR AUREL STEIN, On Alexander's Track to the Indus.
V. A. SMITH, Early History of India (4th ed.), chaps, iii-iv.
CHAPTER III
THE MAURYA EMPIRE
At the time of Alexander's invasion of India, the Greek
writers speak of a king named Agrammes or Xandrames as
ruling in Eastern India. This king has been identified with
Dhanananda of the Puranas. He was overthrown by Chandra-
gupta, who is represented as a relation of that king. Chandra-
gupta appears to have been the commander-in-chief of the
last Nanda king, and he is said to have attempted to over-
throw his master with the help of the Brahmana Vishnu-
gupta or Chajiakya. The attempt failed and the principal
conspirators were forced to flee the country. The events of the
period are narrated in a drama called Mudrarakshasa by \ -
ANCIENT INDIA
gnpt*.
Invasion
ofSeleu-
Trety
drmgapu.
Empire of
Chandra-
gupu.
Vteakhadatta, which is probably based on reliable contem-
porary accounts. With the help of a king of the Himalayan
regions, named Parvataka, Chandragupta invaded Magadha
and overthrew Dhanananda. Most probably Chandragupta
obtained possession of Magadha in 321 B.C., two years after
the death of Alexander the Great. After the overthrow of the
Nandas, Chanakya contrived to kill Parvataka, the chief ally of
Chandragupta. Parvataka 's son, Malayaketu, withdrew to a dis-
tance with the remaining allies. Rakshasa, the faithful minister
of the Nandas, joined Malayaketu against Chandragupta, but
Chanakya contrived to make Malayaketu suspicious of his
allies, who were put to death. Malayaketu now accepted an
offer of peace from Chandragupta and retired.
In 305 B.C. Seleukos, who had succeeded in occupying the
eastern provinces of Alexander's empire, invaded India. He
found that Chandragupta, now master of all Hindustan, was
ready to confront him with an immense army. Seleukos was
overawed by the power of the Indian emperor. He was either
defeated or compelled to purchase peace by cession of the
easternmost provinces of Alexander's empire. He received five
hundred elephants in exchange for Aria, Arachosia, Gedrosia,
and Paropanisadae. The Greek historians mention a matri-
monial alliance, but we do not know whether a Greek princess
was given to Chandragupta or an Indian princess was sent to
Seleukos. After the departure of Seleukos from India he sent
an envoy named Megasthenes, who arrived at Pajaliputra, the
capital of Northern India, some time between 305 and 297 B.C.
The empire of Chandragupta, at the time of his death,
extended over almost the whole of India. But his authority
could not have been exercised everywhere in the same manner
or the same measure. After the defeat of Seleukos, the empire
of Magadha included the provinces of Aria, Arachosia, Gedrosia,
and the Paropanisadse, i.e. Herat, Kandahar, Baluchistan, and
the Kabul valley. Kathiawad was conquered at some later
date and was ruled by the viceroy Pushyagupta of the Vaishya
caste. Pushyagupta was called a Rashfriya, or viceroy, and
became famous as the originator of the Sudarana Lake near
Mount Girnar. South Indian tradition has preserved the
record of the Mauryan invasion of the far south. According
THE MAURYA EMPIRE 85
to an ancient Tamil poet named Mamulanar, the Mauryas
advanced as far as Podiyil Hill in the Tinnevelly District.
The statements of Mamulanar are supported by Paranar and
other Tamil authors. The Mauryas conquered Southern conquest
India through Konkan, or the coastal region to the west, and southern
not from Pataliputra along the eastern coast. The Maurya
conquest of Southern India was fresh in the memory of men
in Mysore in mediaeval times, and one Mysore inscription
records that Nagakhanda in the Shikarpur Taluka was included
in the kingdom of Chandragupta. The conquest of Kalihga
by A^oka proves that the eastern coast of the Peninsula was
not included in the kingdom of his grandfather.
The most valuable account of India in the third century
B.C. was written by Megasthenes, the ambassador sent by
Seleukos of Asia Minor and Babylonia to the court of the
Emperor Chandragupta. The original work of Megasthenes
is missing, but fragments survive in quotations made by later
authors, such as Strabo, Arrian, &c. Megasthenes appears to
have possessed very little critical acumen and was often misled
by his informants. He describes Pataliputra, which he calls
Palimbothra, as the largest city in India, and states that it was of
situated in the land of the Prasii, i.e. the easterners (Prachyas), PU **"
at the confluence of the Ganges and the Erannoboas (Hiran-
yavahu, i.e. the Son). The city was surrounded by a ditch
six hundred feet wide and thirty cubits deep. There were
five hundred and seventy towers and sixty-four gates in the
wall of the city. The most important cities in the empire
after Pataliputra were Taxila and Ujjain.
An account of the palace of Chandragupta is to be found in
the work of ^Elian: " In the Indian Royal Palace where the
greatest of all the kings of the country resides, besides much
else which is calculated to excite admiration, and with which
neither Susa nor Ekbatana can vie, there are other wonders
besides. In the Parks tame Peacocks are kept, and Pheasants
which have been domesticated; there are shady groves and
pasture grounds planted with trees, and branches of trees which
the art of the woodsman has deftly interwoven; while some
trees are native to the soil, others are brought from other pans,
and with their beauty enhance the charms of the landscape.
86 ANCIENT INDIA
Parrots are natives of the country, and keep hovering about the
king and wheeling round him, and vast though their numbers
be, no Indian ever eats a parrot. The Brachmanes honour them
highly above all other birds because the parrot alone can
imitate human speech. Within the palace grounds are artificial
ponds in which they keep fish of enormous size but quite tame.
No one has permission to fish for these except the king's sons
while yet in their boyhood. These youngsters amuse them-
selves by fishing in the unruffled sheet of water and learning
how to sail their boats." l
The ancient Mauryan palace discovered by Dr. D. B.
Spooner at Kumarhar near Patna appears to belong to the
its Ruins, period of Chandragupta. The ruins indicate that there was a
large hall supported by tall columns of stone, the foundations
of which were laid on large platforms of wood closely packed
together. According to Dr. Spooner, the general outlines of
the ground indicate that the plan of the palace at Pataliputra
agreed in many details with that of the Hakhamanishiya palace
at Persepolis, " but," as V. A. Smith observes, " the resem-
blance is not yet definitely established." 2
"The most interesting part of Megasthenes' account is
that relating to contemporary India, so far as he could learn
about it at Pataliputra. . . . The first class of Megasthenes
consisted of ' philosophers ', under which term, as has just
been said, Brahmans and ascetics were confused. It was
numerically the smallest class, but the highest in honour,
immune from labour and taxation. Its only business was to
perform public sacrifice, to direct the sacrifice of private
individuals, and to divine. . . . The second class consisted
of the cultivators, and included the majority of the Indian
Mcgas- people. They never took any part in war, their whole business
todftiw OB being to cultivate the soil and pay taxes to the kings or to the
c ** tes * free cities, as the case might be. ... All the land belonged
to the King, and the cultivators paid one-fourth of the produce
in addition to rent. The third class Megasthenes described as
herdsmen and hunters. . . . The fourth class consisted of the
traders, artisans, and boatmen. They paid a tax on the produce
1 The Political History of Ancient India, Second Edition, pp. 172-3.
Oxford Hittory of India, p. 77.
THE MAURYA EMPIRE 87
of their industry, except those who manufactured implements
of war and built ships. . . . The fifth class was that of the
fighters, the most numerous class after the cultivators. They
performed no work in the community except that of fighting.
Members of the other classes supplied them with weapons
and waited upon them and kept their horses and elephants.
They received regular pay even in times of peace, so that when
not fighting they could live a life of ease and maintain numbers
of dependents. . . . The sixth consisted of the government
secret inspectors, whose business it was to report to the king,
or, among the free tribes, to the headmen, what went on among
the people, and the seventh of those constituting the Council
of the King or the tribal authorities/' x
Megasthenes travelled through the country and saw it for
himself. The Indian towns, built on the banks of the rivers,
contained houses made of wood, but other towns, built on
elevations, were made of brick and clay. Nearchos describes
the arms of the Indians. The foot-soldiers carried bows as
long as the body. To shoot, they rested one end of the bow on
the ground and set their left foot against it. They had to draw
the string far back, since the arrows in use were six feet long.
In their left hands they carried long narrow shields of raw
hide, nearly coextensive with the body. Some had javelins
instead of bows. All carried long two-handed swords with
broad blades. The horsemen had two javelins and a shield
smaller than the foot-soldiers'. 2 According to the same writer,
the laws were preserved by oral tradition and not in books.
According to Megasthenes, many of the laws were sufficiently
severe. The latter observed that the Indians were polygamous
and that brides were purchased from their parents. According
to the same writer, officials were divided into three classes:
(i) the Agronomoi or the district officials, (2) the Astynomoi
or town officials 3 , and (3) the members of the War Office.
1 Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, pp. 409-1 1
The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 412.
The town officials were divided into six Boards of Five. " Their respective
functions were* (i) supervision of factories; (2) care of strangers, including control
of the inns, provision of assistance, taking charge of sick persons, burying the dead;
(3) the registration of births and deaths; (4) the control of the market, inspection
of weights and measures; (5) the inspection of manufactured goods, provision for
their sale with accurate distinction of new and second-hand articles; (6) collection
88 ANCIENT INDIA
The district officials supervised the irrigation and land measure-
ments, the various industries connected with agriculture, the
maintenance of the roads, and hunting.
An accurate idea of Chandragupta's administration of the
vast empire founded by him can be gleaned from the Artha-
fafr a o f Kaujilya and the account of Megasthenes. The
Emperor. Emperor was the supreme head of the government. He
exercised military, judicial, and legislative as well as executive
functions. He left his palace on military expeditions and con-
sidered plans of campaigns with his commander-in-chief.
He sat in court to administer justice and receive petitions.
Kaujilya states that he was the fountain-head of legislation.
His highest ministers were the Mantrins. They received the
largest salaries, and all administrative measures were prepared
in consultation with three or four of them. The Executive
Covncu Council, called the Mantri-parishad, included ministers of all
classes. It contained many inferior officers who were consulted
on occasions of emergency. Besides the chief ministers and the
assembly of ministers, there was a third kind of officials, called
the Amatyas y who held high administrative and judicial appoint-
ments. They were appointed to superintend the pleasure gar-
dens, mines, timber, and elephant forests. More experienced
Amatyas were employed as diplomatic agents or ambassadors,
ministers of correspondence, and superintendents. The Magis-
trates in charge of the civil administration of the cities were
called Superintendents of cities (Nagarddhyakshas). The
officers in charge of the military affairs were called Baladhyak-
shas. Neither the Arthaidstra of Kaufalya nor the account of
Megasthenes mentions the Viceroys, who are called Rashfrlyas
in the Junagadh inscription of the Scythian king Rudradaman
I. They were probably the same as the Rashfrapdlas, who
were equal in rank with the Kumdras or the princes of the
blood royal, and who received a salary of 12,000 panas per
annum. Inspection and espionage were regarded as the
of the tax of to per cent, charged on sales. The six Boards acting together exercised
a general superintendence over public works, prices, harbours, and temples. The
third kind of officials constituted the War Office, and were also divided into six Boards
of Five. The departments of the six were: (i) the admiralty, (a) transport and com-
missariat, (3) the infantry, (4) the cavalry, (5) the chariots, (6) the elephants. Con-
nected with the army were the royal stables for horses and elephants, and the royal
aracnal " Tfu Cambridge History oj India Vol. I, pp. 417-8.)
THE MAURYA EMPIRE
REFERENCE
Empire of Chsndragupta.
principal methods of government. It is probable that the
villages were administered by Gramikos with the aid of the QJ|? lict
village elders or Gramavridhas, who were not paid officers.
A chief of five or ten villages was called the Gopa\ over him
was the "Sthanika*\ who ruled over one-fourth of a district
90 ANCIENT INDIA
According to the Jain tradition, Chandragupta was a Jain,
and died, after a reign of twenty-four years, c. 297 B.C. He
was succeeded by his son Bindusara, whom the Greeks call
Amitrokhates (Amitraghata), " the slayer of foes ". Bindusara
was in communication with Seleukos Nikator, the Greek
emperor of South-western Asia. Bindusara sent an envoy to
purchase sweet wine, figs, and a philosopher. Seleukos sent
an envoy named Daimachus to Bindusara, who also received an
ambassador named Dionysios from Ptolemy Philadelphus, the
second Greek king of Egypt. According to the Jain historian
Hemachandra and the Tibetan historian Taranatha, the great
minister of Chandragupta, Chanakya-Vishnnugupta, continued
to be the prime minister of the empire. We do not know any-
thing about the reign of Bindusara except from tradition.
donin According to the Divyavaddna, Takshasila or Taxila revolted
during the reign of Bindusara on account of the high-handed-
ness of the officials, and Asoka had to be dispatched as gover-
nor to control North-western India. Bindusara had at least
three sons. A^oka succeeded him. According to the Divya-
vadana, their names were Suslma, Asoka, and Vigata^oka, but
the Ceylonese Chronicles call the second and third Sumana
and Tishya. Suslma is held to have been the step-brother of
art's A&>ka and the eldest son of Bindusara. The Chinese traveller
Sons. Yuan Chwang mentions another brother of Asoka named
Mahendra. Bindusara died after a reign of twenty-five years,
according to the Puranas, and twenty-eight years, according
to the Ceylonese Chronicles. His death took place at some
time between c. 273 and 270 B.C.
A war of succession followed the death of Bindusara, and
Atofca. Agoka gained the throne with the help of the Prime Minister
Radhagupta. The formal consecration of A3oka was delayed
for three or four years, and this period is generally regarded
by scholars as the period of the civil war. A&>ka is said to
Slaughter h ave slaughtered all his male relations. Many scholars, how-
Brother*. ever, do not believe this story, told by the Ceylonese Chronicles,
and think that his brothers were alive in the seventeenth or
eighteenth year of his reign. The fifth rock edict mentions
the female establishments of his brothers, but the existence of
{he female establishments does not necessarily indicate that
THE MAURYA EMPIRE 91
his brothers were alive. Aioka assumed the title of " Devanam-
piya Piyadasi ", " the favourite of the gods, the beautiful
one ". His real name, ASoka, has been used in addition to his
titles in the Maski rock edict. In the Junagadh rock inscrip-
tions of Rudradaman I and in the Sarnath inscription (twelfth
century A.D.) of the Queen Kumaradevi, Asoka is called by his
personal name. During the first thirteen years of his reign
Asoka seems to have carried on the traditional policy of the
empire. At the time of his accession the Maurya Empire con- Extant
sisted of the whole of Northern India, from the hills which Empire at
separate Bengal from Burma to Herat in the west, and from of e A*oka'a
Kashmir to the River Pennar near Nellore in the south. The AcceMion -
Konkan and a portion of the Deccan plateau were also added
to it, but the eastern coast, beginning with Orissa, was entirely
unsubdued.
Aoka's attention was turned in the first instance to the
powerful kingdom of Kalinga, which lay between his empire
and the great Dravidian kingdoms of the south. Kalinga itself
was a Dravidian kingdom, where the Jain religion flourished.
Its people had grown enormously rich by the overseas trade,
and its colonies extended over the whole of Farther India and
the northern islands of the Indian Archipelago. Some time
after the fall of the Steunagas or the Nandas, Kalinga had
regained its independence. If Pliny is to be believed, Kalinga
was an independent kingdom during the reign of Chandra-
gupta. It maintained sixty thousand infantry, one thousand
cavalry, and seven hundred elephants as its peace strength.
The Maurya invasion of this kingdom and its conquest con- its con-
stitute a landmark in the political history of India. The war
with Kalinga was carried on with exceptional severity. Aoka
himself records that nearly one hundred thousand men were
slain and many times that number died, evidently of privation.
One hundred and fifty thousand souls from Kalinga were
carried away as captives. The country was placed under a
viceroy of the royal family stationed at Tosali, and two
subordinate governors were placed in charge of the northern
and southern divisions of the country.
The conquest of Kalinga marks the beginning of the
decline of the political power of the Mauryas. The change
92 ANCIENT INDIA
produced in the mind of Agoka by the slaughter and blood-
Sob- shed of the KaliAga war led to a revolution in the policy of
Chang* in the Maurya Empire. Like all other kings who abandoned
statecraft for religion, As*oka paved the way for the conquest
state. O f j nc ii a by foreigners. Outwardly the empire remained as
great as ever. The great viceroys ruled over the provinces and
the ministers controlled the revenue, the army, and trade,
but a change had come imperceptibly over all of them.
The changes came in quick succession. Agoka joined the
Buddhist Church soon after the conquest of Kalinga. He next
Aaoka be- entered the order of monks and began missionary work for the
Monk. propagation of Buddhism. The minor rock edict was issued
c. 259 B.C. Thirteen years after his coronation Asoka
Religious appointed a new class of officers called Dharma-Mahamatras,
whose duty it was to inculcate piety, to overcome misfortune,
to redress wrong, and to organize charitable endowments.
In the previous year he had instituted a quinquennial circuit
by his leading officials for the purpose of proclaiming moral
law. We can imagine stern viceroys and old generals going
about the country and preaching the latest fad of the emperor.
Buddhism was yet a faith of minor importance, and its adoption
as a state religion must have given great offence to the Jains
as well as to the Brahmanas. The regulations introduced by
Popular Aoka in his edicts gave great offence to the votaries of the
faction " orthodox Indo- Aryan religion. The cessation of popular
the change processions and festivals must have offended the common
Bute* people, who were used to much pomp and circumstance
Religion, 'jh suc h functions. In these respects Asoka resembled the
bigoted Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who forbade singing
and who persecuted Musalmans of other sects as well as
Hindus. 1 Agoka's adoption of the Buddhist faith and his in-
Atoka and tolerance of the orthodox Indo- Aryan religious practices must
eb. have produced great disaffection throughout the entire empire,
'just as the bigotry of Aurangzeb caused the Rajput war and
subsequently paralysed the Mughals.
The peace which ensued after the conquest of Kaliriga caused
* A directly contrary opinion of Aioka's character has been expressed by Dr. D. R.
Bhandarkar in his Atoka, and' by Dr. H. C. Raychandhun, Political Hillary of
Ancunt India.
THE MAURYA EMPIRE 93
a change in the foreign policy of the empire. The great
Dravidian kingdoms of the south: the Chojas, the Pandyas,
and the Cheras, across the River Tamraparm, escaped de-
struction. In the internal policy, an improvement was visible
for a short time. Wells were dug at regular intervals along the A*oka*>
Pnhlif*
highways, trees were planted to provide shade for travellers, work*.
Hospitals were built for men as well as animals. Medicinal
herbs were cultivated, but the adoption of the administrative
machine for the propagation of the new faith must have caused
a severe dislocation. The emperor himself went about
preaching the religion and on pilgrimage to the new Holy
Places. We know that he went to Bodh Gaya and com-
menced what are called the tours of piety. We know from
the position of the uninscribed pillars that he went to
Vai&li and to Kaugambi. The position of the inscribed
pillar at Rumin-dei indicates the actual place of Buddha's
birth, and another pillar in the same neighbourhood records
the repairs to the reputed stUpa of the previous Buddha
Kanaka-muni. The other edict-inscribed pillars mark other
holy places of Buddhism. These are the pillars of Sarnath
and Sanchi.
A^oka was reputed to be the builder of eighty-four thousand
religious edifices. In the thirteenth as well as the twentieth
year after his coronation he excavated cave dwellings in the
Barabar Hills of the Gaya District for the use of the monks of
the Ajivika sect. In the nineteenth year after his coronation,
according to the Buddhist Chronicle, Mahavamsa, A&>ka con-
vened the third Council of Buddhist monks at Pafaliputra.
The first of these Councils was convened by Mahakafyapa,
the eldest disciple of Buddha at Rajagriha. The second Council
was convened at some later date in the city of Vai&li, because
the monks of the Lichchhavi country had started unorthodox
practices, such as the acceptance of money. The Council
had to be assembled for the third time by Aoka to settle the The Third
differences between the different sects of Buddhism, of which Buddhist
as many as eighteen are mentioned. Buddhist monks from the Coim *
different countries met in the A^okSrama at P$aliputra, under
the presidency of a famous monk called Moggaliputta Tissa
according to the Ceylonese Chronicles, and Upagupta according
94
ANCIENT INDIA
Its
President.
tion ofthe
Bvddhtet
Religion.
Facade of Lomas-nshi Cave, Barabar hills, Gaya district (3rd century B c.)
to Sanskrit Buddhist literature. They deliberated for nine
months and finally decided in favour of the Sthaviras, which
school afterwards prevailed in Ceylon. For this reason this
Council is ignored by the northern Buddhists.
At the close of the Council, A^oka began to send missionaries
to countries outside of India. The names of these Buddhist
missionaries have been carefully preserved. Madhyantika
was sent to Kashmir and Gandhara; Maharakshita was sent
to the Greek countries, i.e. the Greek kingdom of the Seleu-
cidae in South-western Asia. Mahadeva was sent to the
THE MAURYA EMPIRE 95
Mahishamandala or the country lying to the immediate south
of the River Narmada; a Greek named Dharmarakshita was
sent to Gujarat, Mahadharmarakshita to the Maharashtra A6oka's
country or the north-western Deccan, and Rakshita to Vanavasi sionaries.
or the north Kanara District. Majjhima was sent to the Hima-
layan regions, and the brothers Sona and Uttara went to Burma.
Two of A^oka's own children, his son Mahendra and his
daughter Sanghamitra, 1 embraced monastic life and, accom-
panied by the Buddhist elders Rishtriya, Utriya, Sambala, Mission to
and Bhadrasara, went to preach the Buddhist religion in
Ceylon. Tissa, the King of Ceylon, welcomed them, and the
king was converted with his people.
According to the concurrent testimony of the Puranas and
the Buddhist histories, A^oka reigned for thirty-six or thirty-
seven years, and he died as a Buddhist monk near Rajagriha
c. 231 B.C. His empire consisted of the whole of Northern
India, beginning with Afghanistan in the west. We are not
in a position to judge whether any of the provinces ceded
by Seleukos Nikator to Chandragupta had been lost during
the reign of his son or grandson. The north-western pro-
vinces of the empire included the vassal states of Kamboja
and Gandhara. The country of the Greeks, i.e. the Seleucid
empire, lay to the west and is referred to in the inscriptions as
the Yona country. The Kamboja country lay in approximately
the north-central part of modern Afghanistan, while the Gan-
dharas lived to the east of them. The capital of the north- Extent of
western provinces was Taxila. There is no direct contemporary Empire,
evidence of the inclusion of Kashmir in the empire of Agoka,
but Kalhana in his Rajatarafiginl, and the Chinese traveller
Yuan Chwang, mention that Ka^mira formed a part of the
Maurya Empire. Agoka is said to have built the town of
Srinagar and numerous Buddhist edifices. Among these may
be mentioned a stUpa inside the Vihara of Dharmaranya, and
the temple of Vijayegvara. In the east, Bengal formed the
easternmost province, and there is no direct evidence to prove
that Assam was ever included in the empire of Agoka. In
the south, Central India was ruled by the Viceroy of Ujjain.
There were many vassal tribes, among whom may be men-
1 Some writers consider that Mahendra was Aioka't brother, SaAghamitrft hit sitter.
9 6 ANCIENT INDIA
tioned the Andhras of the eastern coast, the Pulindas of
the Central Provinces, and the Bhojas and the Rashjrikas of
the northern Deccan. In the south-west, Aparanta was
included in the empire of Agoka, and Surashtra or Kathiawad
was ruled by the Yavani viceroy Tushaspha.
The principal officers of Aoka's empire were: (i) The
Kumar as or Aryaputras^ who acted as viceroys. (2) The
Mahamatras, who are mentioned in the Arthatastra of Kautflya
and existed even in the twelfth century, when one of them
dedicated an image in South Bihar or Magadha. (3) The
Rajukas, executive officers, whose duty it was to survey
land and collect revenue. (4) The Prade&kas, who are generally
taken to be provincial governors. Scholars, however, differ
in opinion about the translation of this term. Senart, Kern,
and Biihler translate it as " local governors or chiefs "; Smith
takes it to mean District officers, while Thomas translates it
as " Reporters or News Agents ", identifying them with the
Pradeshtris of the Arthatastra. Their principal functions
appear to have been the collection of taxes and the adminis-
tratidn of criminal justice. They are also supposed to have
acted as intermediaries between the divisional commissioners
or Samahatris and village, pargana, and district officials (Gopa,
Sthanika, and Adhyakshas). (5) The Yutas appear to be the
same as the Yuktas of the Arthaiastra. They are mentioned
in the third rock edict of Atoka along with the Rdjukas.
According to Manu they were police officers, whose duty it
was to trace lost property. Three other classes of officers, the
Putisas or the Purushas, the Prativedakas, and the Vacha-
bhumkas, were evidently officials of the lowest orders. (6) The
Dharma-mahamatras, a class of officers created to act as super-
intendents of morality.
The northern Sanskrit texts mention Radhagupta as the
chief minister of Bindusara and Atoka, and a Khotanese
legend mentions another minister named Ya&s who is also
mentioned in the SUtrdlaitkara of Avaghosha.
Aloka is famous for his religious activities and the propa-
gation of Buddhism. The Kalinga war awoke humanitarian
instincts in his mind, and he was gradually drawn towards
Buddhism. Three years later he became active in the propa-
THE MAURYA EMPIRE 97
gation of his new faith. He directed his energy to the spread
of Buddhism, and he engaged the entire force of the empire Ch * P * cttr '
for the attainment of this single object. It has been generally
held by scholars that he tolerated all creeds. The dedication His Treat-
of caves in the Barabar Hills for the use of the monks of the other
Ajivika sect, and the mention of the Brahmanas, conjointly
with the Sramanas, in his inscriptions, are generally taken to
be indications of his religious toleration, but we must take into
account the hindrance to the religious practices of orthodox
Hinduism caused by his prohibition of sacrifices and of con-
vivial assemblies. The introduction of the new religion must Acts of in-
have diverted to its propagation a good deal of revenue which,
before that date, appears to have been spent on the Jain and
Brahmanical religions. Later on, when he became a monk
and nominally renounced the world, offence must have been
given to other sects, while their members must have suffered
considerably from the preference shown to Buddhists. In
spite of these facts Agoka was a great king and a great man.
Like Aurangzeb, he was a man of tireless energy. He made
himself accessible at all hours and was ready to transact busi-
ness with his officers even in private seclusion. He restricted
the extravagances of the palace and at the same time infused
a great deal of his personal energy into the officers of the
empire, both high and low. He was one of the great monarchs
of the world who came to realize that they had moral and
religious responsibilities in addition to the ordinary cares of
a ruler; but religious fervour always produces evil results
in a kingdom where different sects prevail, and Agoka's
religious activities, though highly beneficial to the Buddhist
sect, produced evil results.
The inscriptions of Aoka fall into three principal groups:
I. The group of fourteen rock edicts found at Girnar near
Junagadh in Kathiawad, Shahbazgadhi and Mansera
in the North-western Frontier Provinces, Kalsi near
Mussouri, Dhauli near Cuttack, and Jaugada near
Berhampur-Ganjam.
II. The minor rock edicts of Rupnath, Sassaram, Bairat,
Brahmagiri, Siddhapur, and Maski. These minor
(1668) B
9 8 ANCIENT INDIA
edicts have been found in Central India and the Deccan.
Atok*. Sassaram is in Bihar, Rupnath near Jubbulpur in the
Central Provinces, and Bairat in the Jaipur State.
Brahmagiri and Siddhapur lie in the Mysore State, while
Maski is in the territories of the Nizam of Haidarabad.
III. The pillar edicts in two subdivisions: (i) the general
edicts and (2) the minor edicts. The general edicts
consist of moral exhortations and are divided into
seven parts; hence they are known as the Seven Pillar
Edicts. Such edicts have been found on the pillars
discovered at Meerut and Sivalik, both of which are
now at Delhi, the pillar inside the fort at Allahabad,
and the three pillars standing in situ at Araraj, Nan-
dangarh, and Rampurwa in North Bihar. The minor
pillar edicts are five in number and have been found
at Sarnath and Sanchi and on the Allahabad pillar.
Besides these there are two other pillar edicts, one
marking the birthplace of Buddha at Lunibini-grama
or Rumin-dei, and the stupa of the mythical Buddha
Kanaka-muni, both of which have been found in Nepal
Terai. In addition to these inscriptions there are three
votive inscriptions of Asoka in the caves at Barabar.
The rock edicts and the seven pillar edicts contain moral
exhortations and recommendations about the practice of simple
virtues, viz. proper treatment of slaves and servants, obedience
<Mct. to parents, generosity and respect to friends, companions,
relations, ascetics, and Brahmanas, as well as abstention from
cruelty to living beings. All the edicts insistently refer their
readers to Dharma, a word very difficult to translate, but which
may generally be taken to mean " the sacred law " or " the
law of piety ". With the advance of age the religious feeling
grew stronger in Aoka, and in the later edicts we find exhorta-
tions to a special self-examination and to adherence to one's
faith. Scholars have remarked, " in a country where, during
later ages, the ecstatic, metaphysical, and fanciful aspects of
religion have predominated, the sober Buddhist piety revealed
in the edicts deserves remark ". l
1 Tht Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p 508.
THE MAURYA EMPIRE 99
Evidently there was a good deal of difference of opinion
between the different Buddhist sects during the lifetime of
Aoka. The Sarnath pillar edict refers to a schism in the schism
Buddhist Church, a schism which the emperor was anxious Budcfwst
to terminate. This edict is repeated on the Allahabad pillar Churcb '
and on that at Sanchi. ASoka succeeded in transforming
Buddhism from a minor sect to a world-wide religion. The
movement set on foot by him continued for centuries, and w ?/?. d "
. religion*
the disciples of the monks sent out by him as missionaries
succeeded in converting entire nations to the religion of
Buddha. Two hundred years after his death this movement
succeeded in Indianizing a large number of Greeks, Scythians,
and Turks, and thus saved Indian civilization from total
extinction.
Agoka had many children. His sons by his queens repre-
sented the Imperial authority at Taxila, Ujjain, and Kalinga.
Kunala or Suyagas, Jalauka, and Mahendra are mentioned in
literature. Ttvara, the son of the queen Karuvaki, does not
appear to have ascended the throne. We do not know who
succeeded Agoka or the events which immediately followed
his death.
Indian art of the Mauryan period was generally regarded Muryn
by older writers, like Fergusson, as being the nearest approach
to perfection, but the latest authorities differ from this view.
Instead of regarding the history of Indian art as a narrative
of general decay, the best authorities are now of opinion that
it is a record of continual progress. Sir John Marshall says:
" In reality, as we shall presently see, its history is one of
continuous forward progress, and, when the works of ex-
traneous schools have been recognized and eliminated, it is
found to follow a clear and logical sequence, in obedience to
the fixed and immutable principles which govern the artistic
efforts of all primitive peoples." * The same authority con-
siders that the dignified and massive simplicity of the pillars its MM*
of A^oka is common to all other architectural remains of the pJcity.
Maurya epoch. The Monolithic rail at Sarnath and the
throne under the Bodhi tree at Bodh-Gaya are " devoid of
ornament, but each is cut with exquisite precision from a
1 Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 618.
TOO
ANCIENT INDIA
Its
Peculiar
Polish.
Primitive
Art: the
Parkham
Image.
single block of stone ". The dwellings and chapels excavated
for the Ajlvika ascetics in the Barabar Hills of the Gaya
District are equally chaste and severe. The ornamental fa9ade
of the Lomas Rishi cave at Barabar is an accurate replica of
a wooden building. This particular cave is not inscribed and
may not belong to the reign of A&>ka. The skill with which
these monuments were chiselled is hardly less striking than the
brilliancy with which they were polished. Sir John Marshall
is of opinion that two different classes of sculpture are met
with during the Mauryan period. The first of these is the
older school of Indian sculpture, of which the statue from
Parkham in the Mathura Museum can be regarded as the
" type specimen ". " The second class of Indian sculpture is
represented by the Sarnath capital, which evinces a striking
disparity in the style of sculptural ornamentation. This dis-
parity is well exemplified by comparing the primitive treat-
ment of the statue from Parkham in the Mathura Museum
with the highly developed modelling of the Sarnath capital.
The former represents a stage of art not yet emancipated from
the binding law of frontality or from the trammels imposed by
the prepossessions of the artist. The head and torso are so
posed that, were they bisected vertically, the two halves would
be found to be almost symmetrical; while the flattened sides and
back of the figure, connected only by a slight chamfering of the
edges, are conclusive proof that the sculptor failed to grasp
more than one aspect of his subject at a time, or to co-ordinate
its parts harmoniously together as an organic whole. These
features are not mere superficial details of technique, due to
the caprice of the artist. They are the fundamental character-
istics of the nascent sculpture of all countries, and the primi-
tiveness of the art which they signify is borne out in this par-
ticular statue by other traits, namely, by the subordination of
the side and back to the front aspect, by the inorganic attach-
ment of the ear, by the uncouth proportions of the neck, by
the intentional rotundity of the abdomen, and the absence of
modelling in the feet.
"The Sarnath capital, on the other hand, though by no
means a masterpiece, is the product of the most developed
art of which the world was cognizant in the third century B.C.
THE MAURYA EMPIRE 101
the handiwork of one who had generations of artistic effort j
and experience behind him. In the masterful strength of the Art; th
crowning lions, with their swelling veins and tense muscular Lion-
development, and in the spirited realism of the reliefs below, c '
there is no trace whatever of the limitations of primitive art.
So far as naturalism was his aim, the sculptor has modelled
his figures from nature, and has delineated their forms with
bold faithful touch; but he has done more than this; he has
consciously and of set purpose infused a tectonic conventional
spirit into the four lions, so as to bring them into harmony
with the architectural character of the monument, and in the
case of the horse on the abacus he has availed himself of a
type well known and approved in western art. Equally matured
is the technique of his relief work." l
According to the same authority, the difference between the
artists of the two schools is due to the training of ASoka's
men under Persian artists. At this time Greek influence alone J^jjjj^ e
could have influenced the modelling of the Sarnath capital, on Maur-
The artists of Agoka learnt to impart the wonderful polish yan
from the artists of the Achsemenide Empire, but they learnt
modelling from the Greek artists of Bactria. "While the
Sarnath capital is thus an exotic alien to Indian ideas in
expression and in execution, the statue of Parkham falls
naturally into line with other products of indigenous art and
affords a valuable starting point for the study of its evolution.
These two works represent the alpha and omega of early
Indian art, between which all the sculptures known to us take
their place, approximating to the one or the other extreme
according as the Indian or the Perso-Hellenic spirit prevailed
in them." 2
The same authority holds that this difference in style is
noticeable in the indigenous punch-marked coins, which are
very ugly and crude, and the beautiful coins struck by the JJJJJJ^* 11
Indian king Saubhuti, who adopted the Greek model. The and
Mauryan craftsmen had attained a good deal of proficiency
in the jeweller's and lapidary's art. Their special aptitude
lay " not in the plastic treatment of form, but in the high tech-
nical skill with which they cut and polished refractory stones or
1 The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, pp. 620-1. Ibid , p. 6aa.
loa ANCIENT INDIA
applied delicate filigree or granular designs to metal objects ". l
The same authority attributes the rock-crystal bowl from
Piprahwa and the beryl relic caskets found in the Bhattiprolu
stnpa to the Mauryan period.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I.
D. R. BHANDARKAR, Asoka, 2nd ed.
E. HULTZSCH, Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol. I, 2nd
edition.
H. C. RAYCHANDHURI, Political History of Ancient India, 3rd ed.
CHAPTER IV
THE DECLINE OF THE POWER OF MAGADHA
AND THE GREEK INVASIONS
I. The Later Mauryas
Authorities differ about the history of the successors of
A&>ka. According to the Puranas and the Buddhist literature,
Agoka was succeeded by Kunala, to whom the former assign
a reign of eight years. The Puranas interpose three kings
between Kunala and Samprati, who was the next king, ac-
cording to the Buddhists, and whose name is found in both
the Pauranic and the Buddhistic lists. These kings are:
Bandhupalita, the son of Kunala, who reigned for eight years;
Indrapalita, and the latter 's son Dagona, who reigned for seven
years. This DaSona's son was Samprati or Sangata, who
reigned for eight years. Da&ratha is, however, known, from
three contemporary records, as one of the Maurya emperors
who succeeded A&>ka, because, after his coronation, he dedi-
cated three caves in the Nagarjuni Hill, close to the Barabar
Hills, for the residence of the monks of the Ajivika sect. We
are therefore obliged to accept the Puranas as more authori-
tative than the Divydvadana, which makes Samprati the son
and successor of Kunala. Samprati was the son and successor
/Wtf.,p. 623.
DECLINE OF THE POWER OF MAGADHA 103
of Da&ratha. Both these kings were inimical to Buddhism,
and Samprati is famous in Jain tradition as a Jain and the
dedicator of thousands of Jain images. After Samprati the
lists of Maurya kings given in the Puranas and the Divya-
vadana do not agree. Even the lists of different Puranas vary,
and the attempts made by different scholars to evolve a reliable
sequence of reigns have failed utterly. Samprati was suc-
ceeded, according to the Puranas, by his son Sali&ika, who is Difference
said to have reigned for thirteen years. Salteuka's son Deva- portals. *
varman or Devadharman or Soma^arman is said to have reigned
for seven years, and his grandson Satadhanvan or $aadharman
for eight years. The last Maurya king was named Brihadratha,
and he is mentioned in the Harsha-charita of Banabhatta.
After a reign of seven years Brihadratha was assassinated,
during a military review, by his general Pushyamitra. Ac-
cording to the Puranas, the successors of A^oka reigned for
seventy-five years, but some of the later Maurya kings are not
mentioned in all of the Puranas. These are: (i) Bandhupalita,
who reigned for eight years; (2) Indrapalita; (3) Da&ma,
who reigned for seven years; and (4) Salisuka, who reigned
for thirteen years. After deducting twenty-eight years for the
doubtful reigns of the Maurya dynasty, the majority of scholars
have fixed the year 184 B.C. as the date of the death of the last
Maurya emperor, Brihadratha, and the accession of the first
Sufiga emperor, Pushyamitra.
The later Maurya emperors came one by one to the throne condition
in rapid succession. Eight generations are stated by the Maury2i? r
Puranas to have occupied the throne for about half a century.
We do not know anything about their reigns, but the ease
with which the last king, Brihadratha, was slain, shows that,
like the later Mughals, the later Mauryas had become mere
puppets in the hands of their ministers and generals.
The Mauryan Empire reached the zenith of its glory when
ASoka annexed KaliAga, extending as it did then from the
foot-hills of the Hindu-Kush to the borders of the Tamil
country in the extreme south. But there are good reasons to
believe that soon after the death of ASoka disintegration set
in. The great emperor himself cannot be completely exon-
$rat$d from the charge that he himself was one of the
104
ANCIENT INDIA
Why the
Bmpirc
feu;
of this downfall. His idealism and religious fervouf must
have considerably damped the morale of his army. When
he propounded the theory that the chief conquest was that by
dhamma, and told his subjects that in his time bherighoso had
become dhammaghoso, he sounded the death-knell of the
Mauryan Empire. To this must be added the fact that the
provincial officers were oppressive. We find ample evidence
of it in literature and ASokan edicts. But the main cause
seems to be that none of A^oka's successors was worthy to
bear the great burden. While one by one the provinces fell
off, and through the unguarded passes of the north-west the
Yavanas fell upon the hapless provinces, the descendants of
Chandragupta and Aoka were either thinking of dhammavtjaya
or indulging in shameful debauchery. It is therefore quite
probable that when Pushyamitra drew the final curtain over
these rois faineants the people breathed a deep sigh of relief.
Origin of
the
Snagas.
Indepen-
dence of
Kalinfta
andtfie
Deccan.
Greek
Invasions,
II. The Sunga Dynasty
Pushyamitra, the successful general of the last Maurya
emperor, was a Brahmana of the family of Bharadvaja. The
SuAga Brahmanas are well known as teachers in the Srauta-
sUtra of A^valayana.
The rise of the Suftgas and the weakness of the later Mauryas
gave a fitting opportunity to the Greeks of Bactria and the
Dravidian kingdoms of Kalitiga and southern India to
reassert their power. Kaliiiga regained its independence
shortly after the death of Aoka. " In the coastal region
of the Madras Presidency, between the rivers Godavari and
Krishna," 1 arose a new power the Satavahanas, who are
generally called Andhras. Kharavela of Kalinga conquered
Magadha and overran practically the whole of Northern
India during the lifetime of Pushyamitra, and the Satava-
hanas very soon deprived the descendants of Pushyamitra
of the province of Malava. The invasion of the Greeks of
Bactria was far more serious. Diodotos I, a Seleucid governor
of Bactria, asserted his independence. Under Euthydemos
1 Qembri&e History of India, Vol. I, p. 29.
DECLINE OF THE POWER OF MAGADHA 105
the Greeks overran Afghanistan. Under Demetrios and Men-
andef they conquered the whole of the Panjab, and the latter
fixed his capital at Sangala or Sialkot. The Greek kings led
regular forays into Northern India. The Yuga Pur ana of the
Gargl Sarnhita records the invasion of Saketa or Ayodhya, {jJJ| ra "
Panchala or Rohilkhand, Mathura, and finally Kusumapura
or the capital, Pataliputra, by powerful Greek kings, and
records that the different districts of the empire became dis-
organized. It is more probable that the occupation of Afghan-
istan and the Western Panjab by the Greeks took place during
the rule of the later Mauryas; but the Greek kingdom in the
Panjab was founded during the lifetime of Pushyamitra.
According to the majority of scholars, the Yavana or Greek J|JJ |re to
invasion of the midland countries must have taken place after which
the foundation of the Greek kingdom of the Panjab. We may mitra uc-
conclude safely that the empire of Magadha, which Pushya- ceeded *
mitra secured after the murder of Bfihadratha, included the
modern provinces of Bengal, Bihar, United Provinces, Rajpu-
tana, Malava, and the eastern portion of the Panjab. Out of
these provinces the Panjab and Northern Rajputana were soon
lost. The grammarian Patanjali, who was a contemporary of
Pushyamitra, has recorded the invasion of Southern Rajputana
by a Greek king. The city of Madhyamika, near Chitor, was
invaded by the Greeks at this time.
We do not know how the southern provinces of the Maurya
Empire were lost, but the first king of the Satavahana dynasty,
Simuka, founded a kingdom in the Bellary district, which is simuka.
called the Satavahari-hara in a later Satavahana inscription,
and in the time of his son Krishna this kingdom included
the whole of the Deccan between the Godavari and the
Krishna. Some of the events of Pushyamitra's reign are
recorded in the historical drama of Kalidasa, called the
Mdlavikagnimitra. From it we learn that during the reign Th MI-
of Pushyamitra, his son Agnimitra was the viceroy at Ujjain. "
Pushyamitra performed the Aivamedha sacrifice twice, after
defeating the king of Vidarbha and repelling the Greeks from
the United Provinces. His grandson Vasumitra fought with
the Greeks on the banks of the River Sindhu. Some scholars
are of opinion that this Sindhu is the River Kali Sindh of
B558) 2
io6
ANCIENT INDIA
vela'a In-
vasion of
Magadna.
Battle of
Goratha-
glri.
Second
Invasion
of Nor-
tbern
mltra.
ntttni.
Malava (a tributary of the River Yamuna), and not the Indus.
Though Pushyamitra repelled the Greeks from the midland
countries he suffered serious reverses at their hands. The
Greeks were fighting among themselves at this time, and
their withdrawal from the middle countries was due more to
their internal dissensions than to the prowess of the army of
Magadha.
More serious results were effected by Kharavela, king of
KaliAga. In the eighth year of his reign Kharavela invaded the
southern frontier of the province of Magadha. He defeated
the army of Pushyamitra at Gorathagiri or Barabar Hill, in the
Gaya District, and raided the old capital, Rajagriha. At this
time a Greek king, whose name is not clearly legible, but
who was probably the same as Demetrios, invaded Pushy a-
mitra's dominions from the west, and Kharavela's advance
from the south-east compelled the former to fall back upon
Mathura. For the next two years the empire of Magadha
enjoyed peace on its south-east frontier. In the tenth year
of his reign Kharavela invaded Northern India or Bharata-
varsha. In the twelfth year Kharavela invaded Magadha once
more and caused the King of Magadha, Bahasatimitra, to
acknowledge defeat. Mr. K. P. Jayaswal identifies this
Bahasatimitra with Pushyamitra, but most probably he was
a governor of the province of Magadha, with the title of
Raj an. At this time Kharavela brought away the image of
a Jain patriarch which had been taken away by one of the
Nanda kings from Kalihga. The repeated incursions of the
army of Kaliftga into the metropolitan district of the empire
caused very great panic, and Pushyamitra seems to have
withdrawn permanently from Magadha. These incursions
of Kharavela in Magadha weakened the hold of the Sungas
over the middle country, and they ceased to be a power in
Magadha or the eastern country.
Pushyamitra died at a very great age after a chequered reign
of thirty-six years and was succeeded by his son Agnimitra,
who was also an old man at the time of his accession. He must
not be confused with Agnimitra, the King of Panchala, whose
coins have been discovered in Rohilkhand. Agnimitra was
succeeded, after a reign of eight years, by his son Vasujyeshjha.
DECLINE OF THE POWER OF MAGADHA 107
Vasujyeshtha, in turn, was succeeded by his brother Vasu- vn-
mitra, after a reign of seven years. This Vasumitra reigned for mltr *'
ten years, and is probably the Vasumitra who escorted the
sacrificial horse of Pushyamitra and fought with the Greeks
on the banks of the Sindhu. His successor was Odraka or
Bhadraka, who is assigned a reign of two years or seven years
in the Pur anas. Odraka is mentioned in an inscription in the o0raka.
cave at Pabhosa, near the ruins of Kau&mbi, in which it is
stated that this king ruled for at least ten years.
At this time the kingdom of the Sungas had become divided
into a number of semi-independent states, the rulers of which
merely acknowledged the suzerainty of the Sunga emperor.
The principal feudatories of the Sunga Empire were the rulers Feuda-
of Dahala. A king named Dhanabhuti ruled over Northern pahaia.
Dahala (the western part of the Rewa State), and during his
reign the stnpa of Bharhut was erected. Three generations of 5?*! *?
the kings of Dahala are enumerated in the inscription on two
of the gates of the Bharhut stUpa. In this inscription the
Suftgas are mentioned as overlords. Dhanabhuti 's father
Agaraju and his grandfather Visadeva are mentioned in the
same inscription, while we learn the name of DhanabhQti's
son Vadhapala from a Mathura inscription.
In the tenth year of Odraka, the cave at Pabhosa was
excavated by Ashadhasena, the maternal uncle of King
Bahasatimitra. This Bahasatimitra may be the same governor
of Magadha who was defeated by Kharavela in the twelfth
year of the latter 's reign. Ashadhasena appears to have been
a contemporary of Odraka, but he must have been a very
old man when the cave was dedicated by him at Pabhosa.
Bahasatimitra is also known from his coins. From this time
Indian kings started to use their names on their coins, in
imitation of the coinage of the Greek kings of India. Many
scholars think that in the second century B.C. the feudatory
chiefs of Ahichchhatra and Kau^ambi belonged to the Sunga
family. In Mathura there was another line of subordinate kings JfoJJJ*^^
who, like the feudatory kings of Ahichchhatra, issued coins.
The eastern part of Oudh contained another feudatory king-
dom. The kings of this country also issued coins, from which
we know their names, such as Aryamitra and Mttladeva.
io8 ANCIENT INDIA
Henceforth Magadha becomes an obscure province and the
centre of political activities is transferred to the west.
According to the Puranas, five kings of the SuAga dynasty
followed Odraka and reigned for fifty-seven years. The last
||tm - but one king is called Bhagavata, and he is said to have reigned
for thirty-two years. An inscription, incised in the twelfth
year of his reign, has been discovered at Besnagar in Malava.
Bhagavata was succeeded by the last king, DevabhQti, who
reigned for ten years and was murdered by his Brahmana
minister Vasudeva, of the Kanva family. DevabhQti was a
dissolute prince and was done to death by his chief minister
with the aid of his slave-woman's daughter. According to
the computation of scholars, Sunga rule came to an end in
Magadha in 72 B.C., but there is warrant for believing that the
Surigas continued to rule over a small kingdom till the con-
oJUoda quest of Northern India by the Andhras or Satavahanas. A
standard y n g namec j Bhagabhadra is mentioned in the inscription on
Ambaaaa- a P^ ar discovered at Besnagar near Sanchi in Central India.
dor Hello- This pillar was really a standard of Vishnu, surmounted by a
Beanagar. figure of the mythical bird Garuda. It was dedicated by a
Greek named Heliodora (Heliodoros), son of Diya (Dion), a
native of Taxila, who came as an ambassador from King
Amtalikita (Antialkidas II) of Taxila to King Bhagabhadra
Ka&putra (i.e. the son of a princess of Benares). This Bhaga-
bhadra is taken by some scholars to be the same as the Suriga
king Bhagavata of th6 second pillar inscription at Besnagar.
III. The Greek Kings of Bactria and India
When Afghanistan and Baluchistan were ceded by Seleukos
Nikator, Bactria remained a province of the Greek empire
of Western Asia. During the reigns of Seleukos and his son
Antiokhos I, Bactria remained quiet. But under Antiokhos
II the Greeks of Bactria became independent under their
governor Diodotos. The inhabitants of the hilly regions of
Parthia revolted at the same time. Under Seleukos II (246-
226 B.C.) and Seleukos III (226-223), the successors of
Antiokhos II, the Seleucid emperors lost their hold on their
DECLINE OF THE POWER OF MAGADHA 109
eastern provinces. The creation of an independent buffer
state in Parthia between him and the empire of the Seleucidae
emboldened Diodotos to revolt. Seleukos II led an expedition
to the East after the battle of Ancyra in 240 B.C. At this time
Diodotos I had been succeeded by Diodotos II. Later on,
Antiokhos III invaded Bactria about 212 B.C., but at that time
Diodotos II had been defeated and killed by another Greek Antiokhot
in
named Euthydemos. We do not know who this king was, and
the only glimpse which we obtain of the state of affairs in
Bactria is during the campaign of Antiokhos III surnamed
Magnus or " the Great ". He invaded the kingdom of Parthia
and compelled its king, Arsakes III, to come to terms. In
208 B.C. Antiokhos invaded Bactria. He crossed the River
Arius (Hari Rud) by outmanoeuvring Euthydemos. A fierce
battle was fought between the Bactrian and the other Greeks
in which Antiokhos displayed great personal courage. Euthy-
demos was frightened by the defeat and at once retreated to
his capital, Zariaspa or Balkh. Antiokhos III besieged Balkh | ! *j|* of
for nearly two years, but at last he was obliged to raise the
siege owing to a threatened Scythian invasion of his dominions.
A treaty was concluded, and Antiokhos III appears to have
given one of his daughters in marriage to Demetrios, the son
and successor of Euthydemos. Antiokhos received provisions
for his army and war elephants from Euthydemos, and crossed
the Hindu-Rush to invade India. At this time the valley of the
Kabul River was ruled by a petty chief named Sophagasenos
(Saubhagyasena), who submitted to Antiokhos and gave him saubha-
some war elephants. The latter now returned hastily to Meso- yMn *'
potamia through Arachosia, Drangiana, and Karmania.
Under Euthydemos, Afghanistan was very soon conquered.
His son Demetrios conquered a portion of Chinese Turkistan
in the north, and also the Western Panjab. He was the first
Greek king who used the Indian language, written in KharoshthI
characters, along with the Greek language, on his coins. From
this time onwards Greek coins usually bore inscriptions in two
languages, Greek and Indian Prakrit. Demetrios is said to Deme-
have founded a new city, or renamed the city of Saogala,
Euthydemia, in honour of his father. During his absence in
India, the Greeks in Bactria revolted under an able genera]
110
ANCIENT INDIA
Bactrian
Rebellion
Bukra-
tides.
Buthy-
demos II.
Later
King, of
demos I.
Scythians
and
Parthlana
invade
Bactria.
Scythian
Tribes in
Bactria.
The
Greeks
retire
from
Bactria.
named Eukratides. The Greeks of Eastern Asia thus became
divided, and Eukratides remained in possession of Bactria
while Demetrios became king of the Panjab. There was a
good deal of fighting between Demetrios and Eukratides, and
after the former's death Eukratides conquered the Panjab.
Demetrios was succeeded by his son Euthy demos II. From
this time the Western historians of the period do not mention
much about the history of the eastern Greeks. Parthia became
a powerful rival of the Seleucidae, and the eastern Greeks of
Asia lost all touch with the western Greeks. This division led
to the final downfall of the Greek power in Bactria and India.
Three other Greek kings, who are known from their coins
only, are associated by their coin-types with the dynasty
founded by Euthy demos I. These are Agathocles and Panta-
leon. Both of these kings used Brahml or the pure Indian
alphabet on their coins, instead of Kharoshthi. The third
king is named Antimakhos, who used Greek only. Another
king named Demetrios II is also known from his coins.
Euthydemos II and Demetrios II are regarded as the sons of
Antimakhos I.
Some time during the reign of Eukratides barbarian tribes
invaded Bactria. They conquered the country lying to the
north of the River Oxus. Soon afterwards they occupied the
whole of Bactria. Eukratides was murdered by his son, who
is said to have driven his chariot through his father's blood.
At this time the Parthians also invaded Bactria and defeated
Eukratides. The provinces of Aria and Arachosia were ceded
to them. The invasions of the barbarians from the north and
of the Parthians from the west obliged the Greeks of Bactria
to ask for help from the Seleucid king Demetrios II (146-140
B.C.). Tribe after tribe of barbarians now invaded Northern
Bactria. Some of them, such as the Sakse and the Sogdiani,
were driven to the south of the Oxus by the Asii, the Pasiani,
the Tokhari, and the Sakarauli, according to Strabo. The
Chinese historians have recorded that about the year 165
B.C. the Hiungnu or the Huns drove the Yueh-chi westward,
and they displaced the Sse or the Sakas. The latter, driven
out from the northern bank of the Jaxartes, fell upon the Greek
cities of Bactria and conquered the whole of Sogdiana. Bactria
DECLINE OF THE POWER OF MAGADHA in
was abandoned by the Greeks, who fell back upon Afghanistan
and the Panjab.
Eukratides was succeeded by his son Heliokles, who is
regarded by all scholars as the last Greek king of Bactria;
at least he is the last ruler whose coins have been found
to the north of the Hindu-Kush. He is also the last Greek
king who struck coins on the Attic standard like Apollodotos
and Antialkidas. The bronze coins of Heliokles and the
silver coins of Euthydemos were copied in large number by Scythian*
the Scythian barbarians, who had no coinage of their own.
Heliokles was succeeded by Apollodotos, who is mentioned *'
on two occasions, jointly with Menander, by Western historians
For this reason some scholars think that they belong to the
same family, i.e. the family of Euthydemos. The coins of
Apollodotos have been carried over long distances, and when Apoiio-
the Greek author of the Periplus of the Red Sea came to
India, he found them in circulation in the bazaars of Broach
in the first century A.D. The province of Sindh and the SjJ 6 ^
peninsula of Kathiawad were conquered by the Greeks early of sindh
in the second century B.C. Kathia-
Menander was a king of the Western Panjab, and his coins *** "
are not found in Ghazni, Kandahar, and Seistan, where the
coins of Apollodotos are found in large numbers. After the
conquest of the Western Panjab by the kings of the house of
Eukratides, the kings of the dynasty of Euthydemos ruled over
the Eastern Panjab. They are known from their coins only, the
Strato I, Dionysios, Zoilos, Hippostratos, Apollophanes belong
to this dynasty. Among these coins some bear the name of
a Greek queen named Agathokleia, from which it is evident
that she was a princess by birth and was the mother of Strato
I. The coins of Strato I at first bore his name jointly with that
of his mother Agathokleia; but later on he struck coins for
himself, and finally he issued coins jointly with his grandson,
Strato II Philopator. To the same period belong the coins
of Apollodotos II Philopator, Dionysios, and Zoilos.
Eukratides was to some extent the contemporary of Apollo-
dotos I, because the former restruck the coins of the latter,
thus proving that the territory once occupied by Apollodotos I
was later on conquered by Eukratides. In the conquered
na ANCIENT INDIA
territory was the city of Kapi&, which lay between Kabul
and Peshawar. By far the greatest king of the house of Euthy-
. demos was Menander, who left a deeper mark on Indian
tradition than any other Greek king. He overran the whole
of Northern and Western India, and, according to some, carried
his raids as far east as P&taliputra. The Indian conquests of
Greek kings are attributed by Apollodorus to Demetrios and
Menander, but they are ascribed to Apollodotos and Menander
by Trogus Pompeius. It was Menander who carried the
Greek arms as far south as Pattala near Karachi in the south-
west and Pataliputra in the south-east. He has been identified
with the " Milinda " mentioned in the Milinda-panho as a
contemporary of the Buddhist sage Nagasena. The coins of
Menander belong to various types and are to be found all
over North-western and Central India.
The Milinda-panho, " the questions of Milinda ", is a Pali
work dealing with the fundamental principles of Buddhist
philosophy. It is written in the form of a dialogue between
the king Milinda and the Buddhist teacher Nagasena. King
Th* Milinda is represented as harassing the Buddhist monks by
pafiho. putting religious puzzles to them. But Nagasena solves those
puzzles. Milinda is said to have been attended by five hundred
Greek (Yonaka) courtiers, the names of some of whom can
still be recognized. Thus Devamantrlya is Demetrios and
Anantakaya is Antiokhos. Milinda is said to have been born
in the village of Kalasi, in the dvipa of Alasanda. The site
of Kalasi is unknown, but Alasanda is one of the towns
founded by Alexander and named " Alexandria " after him.
This Alasanda was two hundred Yojanas distant from Sakala.
25J5J* Plutarch says that Menander was a just and great king, and
that after his death the cities of his kingdom contended with
each other for the honour of preserving his ashes.
In the kingdom founded by Eukratides, Pushkalavatl
(Gr. Peukelaotis) was an important city. The coins of Dio-
medes, Epander, Philoxenos, Artemidoros, and Peukelaos
were struck in this city. The Greek dynasties of India very
shortly divided their kingdom into a number of city states,
in imitation of the city states of Greece proper, and this
{iivisipn shortly led to downfall. The barbarians, called
DECLINE OF THE POWER OF MAGADHA 113
by the Greeks and Sakas by the Indians, soon conquered
Afghanistan. The cities of Kapi^a and PushkalSvati were
occupied by them, but the descendants of Euthydemos con-
tinued to rule over the Eastern Panjab, and those of Eukratides
in the Upper Kabul valley. Of the latter dynasty Heliokles
was succeeded by Antialkidas, Amyntas, and Hermeus.
Hermeus was the last Greek king who ruled over Afghanistan.
In some of his silver coins this king is associated with his
queen Calliope, who, like Agathokleia, appears to have been
a princess by birth. Hermeus was hemmed in on all sides by
barbarians. The akas occupied Southern Afghanistan;
Western Afghanistan was in the possession of the Pahlavas,
while the northern frontier was threatened by the Yueh-chi.
The coins of this king were imitated by the first Yueh-chi
king, Kujula Kadaphisa. For this reason some scholars sup-
posed at one time that Hermeus was the contemporary of
Kujula Kadaphisa, but it is now recognized that Hermeus
ceased to rule about forty years before the birth of Christ.
IV. The Kanvas or the Kanvayanas
According to the Puranas, the ten ^unga kings were suc-
ceeded by four Brahmana kings of the Kanva gotra. These
four kings ruled for forty-five years, when the last of them,
Su^arman, was overthrown by the first Satavahana king,
Simuka, after a reign of ten years. The Kanvas are spoken of The Ser-
as " the servants of the Surigas ", and their first king, Vasu- thc^luA-
deva, is said to have ruled for nine years, his son BhOmimitra * as *
for fourteen years, his grandson Narayana for twelve years.
The Puranas distinctly state that the entire Sunga Empire did Remain*
not pass into the hands of the Kanvas. Some of the SuAgas sU^a
continued to rule over portions of Northern India till the En| P lre '
final conquest of Northern India by the Satavahanas. The
Scholars think that the Kariva dynasty came to an end about
28 B.C., when portions of Northern India were included in the
empire of the Satavahanas,
1 1 4 ANCIENT INDIA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
K. P. JAYASWAL, " Revised note on the Brahmin Empire " in the
Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society , Vol. IV
(1918), pp. 257-65.
F. E. PARGITER, Dynasties of the Kali Age.
V. A. SMITH, Early History of India (4th ed.), chaps, viii-ix.
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, chaps, xvii-xxii.
CHAPTER V
THE DRAVIDIAN DYNASTIES OF THE SOUTH
I. The Chetis of Kalinga
Some time after Asoka's death Kalinga regained its indepen-
dence. The only reliable account of Kalinga which we possess
is derived from the Hathigumpha inscription of the great
con queror Kharavela, of the Cheti dynasty. The boundary
of Kalinga varied at different times. At the time of its greatest
extent it included the whole of the province of Orissa and the
northern Sarkars, as well as the district of Midnapur in Bengal.
Ordinarily it included the low land below the Eastern Ghats,
between the mouths of the rivers Mahanadi and GodavarL
The Hathigumpha inscription is a record of the first thirteen
iQBcriD- years of Kharavela's reign, and appears to have been incised
a. in the fourteenth year. Some scholars believe, and others
deny, that the sixteenth line of this inscription contains a date
m t ne Maurya era. The accession of Kharavela, according
to Mr. K. P. Jayaswal, took place in 183 B.C. As Kharavela
ascended the throne when he was twenty-four years old, he
appears to have been born in 207 B.C.
The record supplies us with many important facts about
the history of India. In the first place we get a glimpse into
the life and training of Indian princes in the second century
B.C., or, as others hold, in the first century B.C. Kharavela was
installed as heir-apparent in his fifteenth year. After nine
years he ascended the throne. While heir-apparent he was
DRAVIDIAN DYNASTIES OF THE SOUTH 115
trained in writing, mathematics, law, and finance. In the Khira-
second year of his reign Kharavela sent an army consisting Training.
of infantry, cavalry, chariots, and elephants to the west.
This army reached the Western Deccan, where the River invasion
Krishna rises, and attacked the town of Mushika. The third
year was spent in rejoicings, and in the fourth he caused
the Rafhikas and Bhojakas of the Central and Northern
Deccan to submit to him. In the fifth year of his reign he
re-excavated a canal excavated by a king of the Nanda dynasty Public
one hundred and three years earlier, and extended it as far Works *
as his capital city. He is also said to have performed the
RajasUya ceremony in the same year. During the eighth year
of his reign King Kharavela began his series of campaigns in
Northern India. In that year, he crossed the jungle country
lying between Orissa and South Bihar and defeated the army
of Magadha in the battle of Gorathagiri, or the Barabar Hills,
in the Gaya District, and harassed Rajagjiha, the old capital
of Magadha. Demetrios had advanced as far as Pataliputra First
after occupying Madhyamika (near Chitor) and Saketa (or ampaign
Ayodhya), but Kharavela's invasion compelled him to retire Ma fc a iha.
to Mathura. After the campaign of the ninth year Kharavela
became rich enough to give away horses, elephants, and
chariots, and to build a palace called Mahavijaya, " the great
conquest ". Three million eight hundred thousand coins,
evidently of copper, were required for the building of this
palace. In the tenth year Kharavela invaded Northern India, Jj j
or Bharatavarsha, once more and obtained great wealth, them
The next year saw the army of Kalihga in the north-eastern
provinces of India under the command of Kharavela. He
terrorized the inhabitants of Magadha. The governor of
Magadha, who is called Bahasatimita, was obliged to sue for
peace, and Kharavela carried away in triumph the image of a
Jain Tfrthatikara which had been removed by a Nanda king
from Kalinga to Magadha. In the thirteenth year of his reign Fail of
Kharavela subdued the king of the Pandyas of the south and P utr."
obtained great wealth from him. In the same year he built
caves for the residence of Jain ascetics on the Kumdrl Parvata,
i.e. Udayagiri Hill. The dwelling-place of the Jain ascetics
excavated by Kharavela is the biggest excavation on Udayagiri
DRAVIDIAN DYNASTIES OF THE SOUTH 117
Hill and is now popularly known as " the cave of the Queen's
Light ", " Ranl-nur-gumpha ". Kharavela was a Jain and a
great patron of Jainism. He was a man of Kalinga, of pure
Dravidian origin, who succeeded in destroying the remnants
of the power left to the Sungas in Magadha, and who com-
pelled Pushyamitra to seek refuge in the middle country.
We do not know anything about Kalinga after the death
of Kharavela. Magadha most probably remained unmolested
for more than a century after that event, and continued to be
ruled by the viceroys of the Sungas and, later on, by the
Kanvas. Kalinga itself fell under the power of the Satavahanas,
and the southern part of it, near the mouth of the Godavan,
became a part of the Satavahana Empire.
II. The Satavahanas of the Kanarese Country
Some time in the beginning of the second century before
the birth of Christ, Simuka, an inhabitant of the modern
district of Bellary, in the Madras Presidency, founded a king-
dom which was destined to become one of the most important
empires of India. The chronologies given in the Puranas state
that Simuka was the contemporary of the last Kanva king,
Susarman. But the script of the inscriptions of his brother hanas.
Krishna and his nephew SrI-SatakarnI at Nanaghat prove
beyond doubt that Simuka could not have dethroned the last
Kanva king in the last quarter of the first century before the
birth of Christ. The kingdom of Simuka lay in the district of
Bellary, but very soon he conquered the wild Maratha tribes
of the Western Deccan. During the reign of Simuka 's brother
Krishna, the Nasik district formed a part of the Satavahana
kingdom, and during the next reign the kings had occupied
the fertile western coast land, called the Konkan, and were
regarded as lords of the entire Deccan plateau.
In their inscriptions the Satavahanas claim to be Brahmanas,
but evidently they were of Dravidian origin, and later on they
intermarried with the non-Indian satraps of Kathiawad and
Gujarat. In spite of the adherence of the Satavahana kings to
the orthodox Indo-Aryan faith, the account of them given in
n8
ANCIENT INDIA
The Site-
vUianas
and the
Kshatriya
Kings.
The
Nanaghat
Records.
Original
HomTof
tfeaSata-
the Puranas is very unreliable, and during the earlier period
the Satavahanas or the Andhras, as they are called in the
Puranas, could not have ruled over Magadha or any part of
Northern India. The Satavahana occupation of Northern
India could not have lasted for more than three-quarters of
a century, and must have ended with the Scythian conquest
of Northern India. Chronologies which accept 28 B.C. as the
date of the conquest of Magadha by Simuka go directly
against the evidence of the Nanaghat and Nasik inscriptions.
The period of rule assigned in the Puranas to the Satavahanas
(three or four centuries) includes all the kings of this dynasty,
even those who reigned in the Kuntala country, i.e. the
Vanavasi District of Northern Mysore. One of the later
Satavahana kings, Gautamlputra Satakarm, claims to be " the
unique Brahmana " and the destroyer of the pride of the
Kshatriyas. This dynasty of the Dravidian kings was there-
fore regarded as hostile to such kings as claimed Kshatriya
descent.
Nothing is known about the first king, Simuka. He was
succeeded by his brother Kanha or Krishna, in whose reign
one of the caves of the Pandu-Lena group (near Nasik) was
excavated. Kanha was succeeded by his nephew Srl-Sata-
karnl, the son of Simuka. SrI-SatakarnI was a follower of the
orthodox Indo- Aryan faith. His queen, Nayanika, performed
many sacrifices and gave away large sums of money and many
cattle. She inscribed a record of her deeds in a cave at the
top of the Nana Pass, which was one of the principal passes of
the Western Ghats, and led to the more fertile coast lands of
the Konkan. In this cave statues of the three kings, Queen
Nayanika, her father the Mara^ha chief Tranakayira, the
princes Hakusiri and Satavahana were carved out of the solid
rock. These statues disappeared long ago, but the inscriptions,
which served as labels, have survived to our times. The
names in these inscriptions and those given in the Puranas
serve to identify the dynasty to which Simuka and Kanha
belonged. In the Puranas these kings are called Andhras,
and as the Andhra country lies on the eastern coast, for a
long time it was supposed that the Satavahanas conquered
India from the eastern coast, The discovery of two
DRAVIDIAN DYNASTIES OF THE SOUTH 119
inscriptions in the Bellary District has proved that there was
in that district a province called the Satavahanl-hara, which
must have been the original home of the Satavahanas. The
inscriptions of the earliest kings also prove that the centre
of Satavahana power was confined to the Western Deccan
and Eastern Malava up to the birth of Christ. The Puranas
called the Satavahana kings Andhras because they conquered
Magadha marching from the Andhra or Telugu country.
Sri-Satakarm, the third king of the dynasty, was the real
founder of the greatness of his line. He was the contemporary,
to some extent, of Pushyamitra of the Suriga dynasty and of
Kharavela of KaliAga. He performed the horse-sacrifice twice
and defeated the Sungas. He conquered a portion of Malava conquests
and issued coins in his own name. It appears that from this Sat
time Western Malava, with its capital UjjayinI or Ujain, passed
away from the hands of the Sungas. Upon the downfall of the
Sungas, Eastern Malava, with its capital Vidia or Bhilsa, was
also conquered by the Satavahanas. Half a century later the
Satavahanas occupied some parts of Northern India by over-
throwing the last Kanva king, Su^arman.
At this time the Satavahanas were at the apex of their
power. But their northern dominions were soon to be con-
quered by an alien race. Early in the first century B.C. the
Sakas drove them out of Malava, and in the latter part of that
century out of Maharashtra. A Scythian governor ruled over
Rajputana and Malava, while a second governor was placed of the
in charge of Northern Konkan and the Western Deccan. Deccan.
The Satavahanas were driven to the south of the Bhlma and
became once more rulers of a southern kingdom, which,
however, extended from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal.
The revival of their power in the first century A.D. and their
long wars with the western satraps belong to a later period
of Indian history.
III. The Tamil Kingdom
In the dawn of history, the Tamil kingdom extended over
the greater part of the Madras Presidency. On the north
it extended as far as Tirupati, and on the south as far as Cape
X20 ANCIENT INDIA
Comorin. Towards the west it extended as far as Make*, near
Cannanore. The Malayalam language had not yet become
separate. This country was divided into three kingdoms.
* The Pandyas ruled over the greater part of the modern dis-
tricts of Madura and Tinnevelly. Their first capital was
Kolkai, on the Tamraparnl River; later on it was removed to
Madura. The Chola kingdom lay on the eastern coast, to the
gfr north of the Pandya kingdom, and contained the districts
from Trichinopoly to Tanjore. Its capital was Uraiyur or
old Trichinopoly, and the great port of the kingdom lay at
the mouth of the Kaveri. Another of its principal towns was
Tfc* Kanchi or Conjeeveram. The Chera or Kerala kingdom
Kingdom, consisted of the modern district of Malabar, and the states
of Cochin and Travancore. Its capital was at Vanji near
Cochin, and the principal ports were Tondi near Quilon,
Muchiri or Muziris, Palaiyur near Chowghat, and Vaikkarai
near Kottayam. The different races of people living in this
country were a mixture of the descendants of Negrito fisher-
men, the Austric bowmen, and the Dravidians. The Pandya
king claimed to be descended from a tribe called the Marar;
the Chola kings are said to have belonged to the tribe called
" the men of the sea " (Tiraiyar). In the time of the Chola king
Karikala, another Tiraiyan dynasty was ruling at Conjeeve-
ram. The Chera kings claimed to be descended from the
Vanavar tribe. Nothing is known about these tribes. Later
on Indo-Aryan genealogies were provided for the kings of
all three provinces.
Even in the first century B.C. very little Indo-Aryan influence
cSSJSlJ?* had penetrated to the extreme south. Some Brahmar^a colonists
settled in the Dravidian countries and intermarried with the
priest-caste of the natives, but on the whole they made very
little impression on the masses. Their teachings were counter-
balanced by the influence of the Jains and the Buddhists, who
gained more devotees on account of the resemblance of their
tenets to the now lost Dravidian religion.
TfctDra- Dravidian society was well organized and was divided
Monarchy, according to intelligence and wealth. The system of govern-
ment was monarchical, but the kings were very greatly in-
fluenced by the '' Five Great Assemblies, bodies representa-
DRAVIDIAN DYNASTIES OF THE SOUTH 121
tive of the five classes of society ". The unit of the state MM-MOW
was the village community, and representatives of villages Acttvlty
met in a district assembly which possessed considerable power
over the management of local affairs. The Pandyas and the
Chojas were maritime peoples, and the first Roman emperor,
Augustus Caesar, is said to have received an embassy from a
Pandya king. In the beginning of the Christian era we find
Peru-nar-killi as the king of the Cheras and Nedun-j^ral-ddan
as the ruler of the Cholas. They fought with each other and
were killed. Peru-nar-killi was succeeded by his son Ilari-
jef-genni, and Nedun-jeral-ddan by his son Karikala. At
this time the Cholas became the leading power in the south,
and Karikala defeated an allied army of the Cheras and the
Pandyas. He made his capital at Kaveri-pattana and pro- j
tected it from the floods by a high embankment. After his '
death the Chola power declined; but after some time Kari-
kala's grandson, I^edu-mudu-killi, gained victory over the
Pandyas and the Cheras. In his time the capital, Kaveri-
pattana, was destroyed by a flood, and the great Chola land-
lords rose in rebellion. The Chera king Adan II had married
a daughter of Karikala, and their son Senguttuvan came to the
aid of his kinsmen, with the result that the Chola rebels were j
twice defeated in battle. Under Senguttuvan, the Cheras 3jJfc OIII
became the supreme power in the south. His successor, Sey,
was defeated by the Pandya king Nedufi-geliyan II, and the
Pandyas became the premier power in Southern India and
remained so until the rise of the Pallava foreigners in the
third or fourth century A.D.
The western part of the Indian Peninsula, which is now
known by the name of Deccan, remained inhabited by un-
civilized Dravidian tribes and aboriginals. The modern
Marathas are the product of this racial interfusion and still thLT
retain many Dravidian characteristics in their social system
and their primitive worship. The Brahmanas of this country
as well as the western coast-land incorporated the priestly
classes of many foreigners. The Gujarati Brahmanas, according $^
to some scholars, contain a very large Mesopotamian element, w*tm
while the Konkanastha or Chittapavana Brahma$as of the i
southerp {Conkan appear to be an aljeri race. Whatever to
122 ANCIENT INDIA
the truth of these theories, there cannot be any doubt about
the fact that colonies of northern Brahmanas assimilated into
their caste the magicians and priests of the local inhabitants.
The Marathas appear to be the same as the Bhojakas and the
Rafhikas of the inscriptions, and were very much behind the
pure Dravidians of the extreme south in civilization and
The Mart- culture. They fell an easy prey to the invasion of the Dravi-
Dntvidian dians under the Satavahanas and remained subject to them
for several centuries.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
" The Hathigumpha Inscription of Kharavela " in the
Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XX.
D. R. BHANDARKAR, " The Dekkan of the Satavahanas " in
the Indian Antiquary, Vols. XLVII and XLVIII, 1918 and
1919.
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, chaps, xxi and xxiv.
R. D. BANERJI, History of Orissa, Vol. I, chap. vi.
CHAPTER VI
THE IRRUPTION OF THE BARBARIANS INTO
NORTHERN INDIA
I. The Sakas
The Sakas, whom the Greek writers call Sakai or Sakarauli,
were perhaps the same people as the Soghdi or the original
inhabitants of Trans-Oxiana in the second century B.C. Some
time after 165 B.C. the country to the north of the Oxus was
conquered by the Yueh-chi. The Sakas thus dislodged
gradually migrated to the south of the Oxus and settled down
in the Greek provinces of Aria (Herat), Arachosia (Kabul),
Gedrosia (Kandahar), and Drangiana (Seistan). The last two,
together with Sindh, gradually became known as the Saka-
stana to the Iranians and the Sakadvipa to the Aryans. The
, who are called Sse by the Chinese historians, gradually
IRRUPTION OF THE BARBARIANS 123
acquired a veneer of polish by closer contact with the Indo-
Aryans and Indo-Greeks of Afghanistan. Their kings assumed
the Indian title of Maharaja and the corresponding Greek
title " Basileus ".
One of the earliest Saka kings, Maues or Moa, struck coins Maues.
in exact imitation of Demetrius a Greek king of Bactria and
India. His coins are found all over Afghanistan and the
Western Panjab. In his time the Western Panjab was governed
by a governor or satrap. Western India was conquered early
in his reign and was governed by a separate satrap. Four other
Saka kings are known from their coins. They are named Azes
I, Azilises, Azes II, and Aspavarman the Strategos. Liaka-
KuSulaka was the satrap of Moa at Taxila. From the fact that The
he was succeeded by his son Patika, it appears that the rule
of the Scythian emperors in India was neither lasting nor very
effective. At the same time another family of satraps was
ruling over Mathura and the adjoining districts. Ranjubula,
the great satrap of Mathura, was succeeded by his son The
Sodasa, who was a contemporary of Patika. Ranjubula of
Mathura, and Nahapana, the satrap of Maharashtra, assumed
royal titles along with the title of satrap, and were therefore
independent monarchs. Certain other satraps of Taxila, such
as Zeionises, struck coins and most probably became indepen-
dent. The rule of the early Scythian monarchs came to an
end shortly after their conquest of the Panjab. Their do-
minions in India proper were divided among the satraps or
governors of the provinces, and in Afghanistan proper they
were dispossessed by a Parthian dynasty. Maues reigned in
the last quarter of the second century B.C. One of his
successors, Azes I, founded an era, probably beginning with Axes i.
the date of his coronation, in the beginning of the first
century B.C. The coins of Azilises are the finest ever struck
by Saka monarchs. Azes II was associated in his coins with a
general (strategos) named Aspavarman and a king named Sasas.
These two princes were the last independent kings of the Saka
tribe. The era of Azes was current in the Western Panjab in The Era of
the third quarter of the first century A.D., when the chiefs of j
the Kushan tribe of the Yueh-chi had already conquered the
whole of Afghanistan and the Panjab.
4 ANCIENT INDIA
The Sakas were overthrown by the combined pressure of
the Yueh-chi from the north and the Parthians from the west.
1 tf 16 middle of the second century B.C. the Parthian kings
Phraates II (138-128 B.C.) and Artabanus I (128-123 B.C.)
were defeated by the Scythians, but the Persians succeeded
in defeating the Saka invasions of Persia proper under Mithra-
dates II (123-88 B.C.). In the middle of the first century
B * c> ^ e P* 1 *^ 21118 under Vonones succeeded in driving the
Saka kings out of Afghanistan and the Western Panjab, but
the Saka satraps of Mathura and Western India continued to
rule uninterruptedly till their overthrow by the Kushans in
the north and the Satavahanas in the south. The narrative of
the events of their rule belongs properly to the chapter on the
Kushans and the revival of Satavahana power.
II. The Indo- Parthians
The earlier kings of the Indo-Parthian dynasty are known
from their coins only. Modern writers call them Indo-
of Parthians on account of the Iranian form of their names and
the Term , ........
indo- the Iranian appearance of their kings in their com portraits.
It is also possible that the Indo-Parthians were really Sakas
who had been Persianized by long contact with the Iranians.
The history of the Indo-Parthian kings is still imperfectly
known. They are usually divided into two groups. The
fi rs t group begins with Vonones, whom some regard as a king
of pure Parthian extraction. Vonones assumed the title of
" The great king of kings ", which remained in abeyance in
Parthia itself. The dynasty of Vonones consisted of two of
his brothers and a nephew. The brothers, Spalahores and
Spalyrises,and the nephew, Spalagadames, were associated with
him in the coinage of his dynasty. While the name Vonones
is Persian, the other names have a Scythian sound. The most
important coins of this dynasty are those which bear the name
of the suzerain on one side and the subordinate chief on the
other side. One of the coins of Spalyrises is struck with
A*MII the name of a king named Azes. Some scholars think
that this Azes is a king of the Parthian dynasty, but it is more
IRRUPTION OF THE BARBARIANS 125
probable that the last king of the dynasty of Maues was
obliged to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Indo-Parthian
king. Azes II is thought by certain scholars to have been
ruling towards the close of the first century B.C.
The kings of the second Indo-Parthian group are believed to
have succeeded the satraps of the first dynasty. The first of
their number was Gondopharnes or Vindapharna. It is now
generally recognized that this king ruled from A.D. 19 to 45.
One of his inscriptions is dated in the year 103 of an unknown
era which corresponded with the year 26 of his reign. Gondo-
pharnes succeeded to the dominions of the Sakas and Indo-
Parthians in Eastern Persia and in North-western India. From
his coins we know that he was also associated with the same
strategos or general, Aspavarman, as Azes II. Gondopharnes
was at one time the subordinate of a king named Orthagnes,
and he was associated with another king named Gudana.
The name Orthagnes is Persian, its real form being " Vere-
thragna ", " the victorious " or " the slayer of enemies ".
Gondopharnes struck coins either alone or with his nephew His coin
Abdagases, and with his general Aspavarman and his nephew
Sasas. He is associated in Christian legends with the Apostle
St. Thomas. According to this story, St. Thomas was sold by
Jesus Christ to a merchant named Habban and travelled with India
him to the court of King Gondopharnes, who ordered him to
build a palace. Instead of spending the king's money on the
palace, St. Thomas spent it on acts of charity, for which he
and the merchant Habban were cast into prison. While they Thom.
were in prison, the king's brother Gad died, and was shown
the heavenly palace by the angels. Gad was restored to life,
and finally both King Gondopharnes and his brother Gad
were converted to Christianity. Gondopharnes was succeeded
by Pakores, and then the dynasty was overthrown by the
Kushans or the Yueh-chi.
III. The Great Kushans
In or about the year 165 B.C. a war broke out between two
nomad tribes living on the borders of the Chinese Empire,
126
ANCIENT INDIA
Migration
of the
Yueh-chl.
The Five
Yueh-chi
Tribes.
Union of
the Yueh-
chi.
Knjula
Kada-
phiM.
VimaKa-
daphtoa.
of India
the Yueh-chi and the Hiung-nu (Huns). In this war the
Yueh-chi were defeated and forced to march westward. On
the way they met another nomad tribe named the Wu-sun.
In the fight which followed, the Wu-sun were defeated and
their chief Nan-teou-mi was killed. The Yueh-chi, marching
westwards, defeated the Sakas or the Sok of Trans-Oxiana
and drove them into Bactria. But in the meantime Kwen-mo,
the son of Nan-teou-mi, had grown up, and under him the
Wu-sun defeated the Yueh-chi and drove them out of Ta-hia
or Bactria. This account of the migrations of the Yueh-chi
is derived from the writings of the Chinese ambassador,
Chang-kien, who visited Bactria in or about 125 B.C.
The next mention of the Yueh-chi is to be found in Pan-ku's
history of the first Han dynasty of China. At this time the
Yueh-chi had given up their nomadic habits and settled down
in Bactria. They had become divided into five tribes: (i)
the Hieu-mi, (2) the Chouang-mo, (3) the Kouei-chouang,
(4) the Hi-thun, and (5) the Kao-fu. We find in the history
of the second Han dynasty of China, that nearly a century
after the division of the Yueh-chi into the five tribes, the chief
of the Kouei-chouang tribe, Kiu-tsiou-kio, attacked and
subjugated the four other tribes and made himself the master
of the kingdom, which was called Kouei-chouang, after his
tribal designation. We know now from coins that the real
name of the Kouei-chouang was Khushana or Kushan, and
that the chief who united the five tribes was named Kujula
Kadaphisa, which was written Kozoulo Kadphises in Greek.
The tribes of the Yueh-chi are called Yavuga (Jabgou) on
their coins.
Kujula Kadaphisa died at the age of eighty and was suc-
ceeded by his son Yen-kao-ching, also called Vima Kadaphisa,
who conquered India. From the accounts preserved by the
Chinese historians, we learn that the Yueh-chi tribes were
united into a single kingdom in the last decades of the first
century B.C. Kujula Kadaphisa was to some extent the con-
temporary of Gondopharnes and his successor. The Kushan
power appears to have been extended into Afghanistan and
Baluchistan in the first half of the first century A.D., and
into the Panjab in the third quarter of that century. At first
IRRUPTION OF THE BARBARIANS 127
the Kushans remained unknown to the Indian peoples. Their
names and titles were not understood in India proper, and
consequently, even after their conquest of Northern India, the
Indians could not mention their names and titles in their
inscriptions. In a Kharoshthi inscription discovered at
Panjtar, in the North-western Frontier Provinces, the name
of the king is omitted, but he is called " the great king of the
Kushana family ". Similarly, in the year 136 of the era
founded by Azes, an inscription was incised on a silver plate
at Taxila, in which also the reigning king is not named, but
is simply mentioned as " the great king, king of kings, the
son of the gods, of the Kushana family ".
The Kushans or Khushanas are mentioned in later inscrip-
tions as well as on the coins of a group of kings who are now
known as " the great Kushan " emperors. They begin with
Vima Kadaphisa and end with Vasudeva I. The coins of Vima
Kadaphisa are found all over Northern India, and it is certain
that his kingdom extended as far as the United Provinces.
Most probably he ruled India by his generals and viceroys.
The coins of this king were struck in gold and copper. He
had most probably become a Hindu, as on his coins we find
a figure of Siva standing by the side of his bull. Vima Kadaphisa vima
used the title " The great king, king of kings, the Lord of all a Hindu.*"
people, the Great Lord ". He used the Greek language and
script on one side and the Indian language and script on the HI Title*
other side of his coins. His father or predecessor did not use
any royal title. In his coins he is called simply " Kozoulo
Kadphises of the Kushanas ", or " Kujula Kasa of the Kushana
tribe ". The assumption of imperial titles by Vima Kadaphisa
indicates that after his accession he made an end of the Saka
and Parthian kingdoms in Afghanistan and the Panjab.
The most important person among the great Kushans
was the Emperor Kanishka I, who was the successor of Vima
Kadaphisa. We do not know the relationship between these
two kings, but most probably Kanishka was not the son of
Vima Kadaphisa. Kanishka I was the founder of the greatness
of the Kushan empire in Asia. He defeated the Parthian kings
and also occupied the whole of Central Asia by defeating the
Chinese. An era was counted from the day of his coronation
128
ANCIENT INDIA
Satrap*.
The
Fourth
Great
Bvddhiat
Council.
ka'a
War. of
K
in A.D. 78, which subsequently became known as the Saka
oftiM era. During his reign the whole of Northern India as far
as Pataliputra and Bodh-Gaya was included in the Kushan
Empire. A great satrap or viceroy (Mahakshatrapa) ruled over
Northern India from Mathura. We know the name of one
such satrap who ruled in the year A.D. 81. He was Khara-
pallana. Together with his subordinate, the satrap Vanaspara,
he dedicated an image of the Bodhisattva Gautama at Benares
in the third year of the reign of Kanishka. We do not know
as yet who ruled over Malava as the satrap of Kanishka I, but
it is quite possible that one of the satraps of that country was
Chashfana, whom the Greeks called Tiastanes, and who was
a contemporary of the Satavahana king Pulumavi.
Kanishka I is regarded by the northern Buddhists as one
of the greatest patrons of Buddhism. He is said to have con-
vened the fourth or last great council of the Buddhist theo-
logians, to settle the disputed points of their religion. This
conference is said to have met in Kashmir or Jullundur.
The Buddhist elder who presided over this congregation is
called Pargva in the books of the Northern Buddhists. The
decrees of the council were written on sheets of copper and
placed in a stone chest inside a Buddhist stUpa. These writings
have not been discovered as yet. Though Kanishka I is claimed
as a great patron of Buddhism, it has been proved by modern
research that he venerated the gods of many religions. On
his coins we find images of Greek gods, Zoroastrian deities,
and some of the Babylonian gods. Images of Buddha and
Siva appear very rarely on them. It is quite possible that
Kanishka I adopted Buddhism late in life; but it is certain
that he did not succeed in making it the state religion per-
manently, because Zoroastrian deities also appear on the coins
of Huvishka, one of his successors.
Kanishka was a great warrior. He had to fight hard to keep
together the dominions to which he had succeeded. His
principal struggles were with the Chinese. The Chinese con-
quered Kashgar and Khotan in the middle of the second
century B.C. Later on, when the Yueh-chi became power-
ful, they lost their western dominions. In the beginning
of the Christian era, in A.D. 8, Chinese communication
IRRUPTION OF THE BARBARIANS 129
with Central Asia had ceased. In A.D. 23 Chinese influence
in Kashgar and Khotan had been reduced to nothing, and * central
for the next fifty years China was deprived of her newly
conquered territories in Central Asia. In A.D. 73, five years
before the accession of Kanishka I, the Chinese viceroy Pan-
chao attacked Central Asia once more and fought with the
Kushans up to A.D. 102. He carried the Chinese flag right up
to the borders of Persia. In A.D. 87 the great Kushan emperor
assumed the title of "The son of Heaven " (Devaputra), which
the Chinese emperors regarded as their exclusive monopoly.
Kanishka I demanded a Chinese princess in marriage. This
proposal was regarded as an insult, and Pan-chao arrested the
Kushan envoy. After the year 22 of the Saka era, i.e. A.D. 100,
Kanishka I made Vasishka king of India in his stead, and
crossed the Pamirs to fight the Chinese. The result of Ka-
nishka 's expedition against China was disastrous. He was
completely defeated and purchased peace by agreeing to pay
tribute to " The Son of Heaven ".
Vasishka did not issue any coins in his own name, but he
was regarded by the Indians as the reigning emperor. In the
year 24 of the Kushan era a stone post of the horse-sacrifice
(Atvamedha) was dedicated in Mathura. On this stone post v&siahka.
Vasishka is mentioned as the reigning emperor. In the year
28 of the Kushan era, i.e. A.D. 106, Vasishka is mentioned as
the reigning emperor in an inscription on a Buddhist image
dedicated in that year at Sanchi in Northern Malava. In the
year 41 of the Kushan era, i.e. A.D. 119, Kanishka I returned J[|J5han
to India, and is mentioned as the reigning emperor in an JjJJJJrJJ ta
inscription discovered in the Peshawar District. After Vasishka, India.
Huvishka was made the Viceroy of India, but on the return Huvishka
of Kanishka I he seems to have resigned his position. After viceroy,
the year 41, and up to the year 60 of the Kushan era, Huvishka
ruled alone, and appears to have succeeded Kanishka I after
his death.
Some scholars regard Vima Kadaphisa as the founder of the
Kushan era and as the Kushan king who was defeated by the
Chinese. Others consider that Kar^ishka's reign ended in the 5ri5J
year 28 of the Kushan era, and regard the Kanishka men- *>",,
tioned in the inscription of the year 41 as Kanishka II. Ac-
(S668) P
13
ANCIENT INDIA
Final Con
quest of
Central
Asia by
the
Kushans.
Extent of
Kanish-
ka's
Empire.
Kanish-
ka's
Public
Works.
Buddha's
Relics.
The
Mathurl,
and the
Glndhflra
School of
Art.
Kanish-
Patronage
of Bud-
dhism,
Ac.
cording to this theory, Kanishka I came to the throne in
A.D. 1 20 and the Kushan empire in Central Asia was re-
established in A.D. 124. Kanishka I was succeeded, according
to this theory, by Vasishka, Huvishka, Kanishka II, and
again by Huvishka. There is, however, no valid reason for
supposing that the Kanishka of the inscription of the year 41
is a different king from Kanishka I.
Some time after his return from Central Asia, Kanishka
found it necessary to engage in a further expedition to that
district, and this time he defeated Pan-Yang, the son of Pan-
chao. The campaign was carried on by Huvishka, and Central
Asia was finally lost to the Chinese Empire. According to
tradition, Kanishka I was murdered by one of his generals
or ministers during his second campaign in Central Asia.
Kanishka 's empire included the whole of Northern India
from Persia to the borders of Bengal. It included the northern
part of Western India, such as Malava and Sindh. Outside
India his empire included Kashgar, Khotan, and Yarkand, and
he spent the best years of his life in the conquest and reconquest
of these regions. After the final conquest of Central Asia he
kept some hostages of the kings of these countries in Afghani-
stan and the Panjab. He was finally succeeded by Huvishka,
who is generally regarded as his son.
Kanishka I founded the city of Kanishkapura near Baramula
in Kashmir, and this town is still called Kanispor. He built
outside the gate of the city of Peshawar a huge stUpa and
monastery in which he placed the relics of Buddha. The
ruins of this stUpa were excavated in 1910, when fragments
of Buddha's bones and a relic casket of bronze were discovered.
In Mathura the Jain religion flourished during the reign of
Kanishka I, and many Buddhist and Jain images were made
by the local artists. Kanishka employed Indian Greeks as
architects, and his stUpa at Peshawar was built by a Greek
named Agesilaos. Like Vima Kadaphisa, Kanishka I used
the Greek and Persian language in the Greek script on his
coins.
Kanishka *s claim to be remembered by posterity rests not
so much on his military expeditions and conquests as on his
patronage of learning and of Buddhism. The stories told
IRRUPTION OF THE BARBARIANS 131
about the king's conversion and his subsequent zeal for
Buddhism have so much resemblance to the Aoka legends
that it is difficult to decide how far they are records of actual
fact. 1 Whatever may be the value of these stories, the testi-
mony of coins and epigraphs undoubtedly shows that at some
time during his long career Kanishka was converted to Bud-
dhism, and that he soon showed the zeal of a convert. He built
at Purushpura (modern Peshawar) the celebrated vihara which
in succeeding centuries inspired the awe and admiration of all.
He convoked the last great council of the Buddhist ecclesiastics.
The council met in Kashmir, about 500 delegates attending.
The great barbarian king was a patron of learning also. His
Imperial court was adorned by Parsva, Asvaghosha, Vasumitra,
Charaka, and various other distinguished scholars.
Huvishka is known from his inscriptions to have ruled, with Huvishka.
interruptions, from the year 33 to the year 60 of the Kushan
era (A.D. in to 138). Within this period he appears to have
retired to the background for three or four years, when
Kanishka I returned to India. His empire included North
India from Afghanistan in the west to Bodh-Gaya in the east.
We do not know anything about the history of Central Asia
during his reign, but from the silence of the Chinese historians
about the provinces of Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan after
the year A.D. 124, we can easily infer that the Chinese armies
had been driven out of Central Asia. Similarly, in India Empire.
proper, we do not know whether Malava formed a part of his
dominion. In A.D. 130 Cutch was being ruled by an indepen-
dent king, Rudradaman I, the grandson of Chashtana.
Rudradaman I had conquered the whole of Malava and
Western India before the year 72 of the Kushan era, i.e.
A.D. 150. From this fact it can be gleaned that during the last
years of Huvishka 's reign the Kushan empire in India was m
convulsed by civil wars and revolution. After A.D. 138 we
do not know anything about the successors of Huvishka till
A.D. 1 55, when we find a king named Vasudeva I on the throne.
Huvishka was a great patron of Buddhism, and he built a
Buddhist monastery and temple at Mathura. In Kashmir he
built a city called, after himself, Huvishkapura, which still
1 V. A. Smith, Early History of India, (4th ed.), p. 280.
13*
ANCIENT INDIA
His Coins
The Gap.
VBsudeva
I.
Vlsudeva
m Hindu.
Division
of the
Knshan
Empire.
The later
Great
Knshans.
The later
Koshan
Kingdoms
of the
North.
Kvshano-
exists as Hushkur or Ushkur. His coins are known in two
metals only, and on them he used the Persian language and the
Greek script exclusively. On his coins we find the images of
a large number of gods, among whom may be mentioned
Babylonian, Greek, Zoroastrian, and Indian deities.
Huvishka was succeeded by Vasudeva I after an interval
of nearly fourteen years. Nothing is known of this period.
Most probably there was a war of succession, which ended in
the triumph of Vasudeva I. In the year 74 of the Kushan
era Vasudeva I was reigning in Mathura, over which he seems
to have ruled continuously for at least twenty-two years. The
last known date of Vasudeva I is the year 99 of the Kushan
era, or A.D. 177. During the reign of Vasudeva the Kushans
appear to have lost their northern dominions and Western
India. His coins have been discovered in large numbers in the
Panjab and Northern Sindh as well as in the United Provinces.
No inscriptions of Vasudeva I have been found outside Mathura,
and that city appears to have become the capital of the Kushans
from this time. Vasudeva I appears to have abjured Buddhism
and reverted to the Saiva faith, of which Vima Kadaphisa had
been a devout follower.
After Vasudeva 's death the Kushan Empire seems to have
been divided into small principalities. Afghanistan and Central
Asia continued under local chiefs of the Kushan family for
some time. In India proper the empire of Kanishka was
divided into two parts, the kingdom of the Kushans and the
kingdom of the Western Satraps. The later Great Kushans
ruled over small fragments of the kingdom left to them by
Vasudeva I, for several generations. They are known solely
from their coins. We know that Kanishka II, Vasudeva
II, and Vasudeva III ruled over the Indian kingdom after
Vasudeva I. In India proper these later Great Kushans con-
tinued to issue gold coins of the type introduced by Vima
Kadaphisa, but only the first syllable of their names is given
on their coins. These chieftains were defeated by Samudra-
gupta and finally overthrown by Chandragupta II. A king
named Vasudeva ruled in the third century A.D. in Seistan,
and his successors acknowledged the suzerainty of the Sas-
sanian kings Hormazd II and Varahran I. In Afghanistan
GENERAL CULTURE OF INDIA 133
the Kidara Kushans ruled for nearly two centuries after the
downfall of the Great Kushans, and were overthrown by the
HQnas.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. D. BANERJI, " The Scythian Period of Indian History "
in the Indian Antiquary, Vol. XXXVII.
" The Date of Kanishka ", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,
1913 and 1914.
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, chap, xxiii.
H. C. RAYCHANDHURI, Political History of Ancient India (2nd
ed.), pp. 272-303.
V. A. SMITH, Early History of India (4th ed.), chap. x.
CHAPTER VII
GENERAL CULTURE OF NORTHERN INDIA
(235 B.C.-A.D. 280)
I. Indian Literature of the post-Mauryan Period
The fifty years of decadence which followed the death of
A3oka are not remarkable for activity in any direction. The
overthrow of the Mauryan Empire and the foundation of the
Brahmana kingdom by Pushyamitra mark the beginning of Brah-
the revival of the orthodox Indo-Aryan religion and Sanskrit Revival.
literature. The Sungas were Brahmanas by caste and revived
many Vedic practices.' Pushyamitra performed the A^vamedha
ceremony twice, though he continued to use the modest title
of " Senapati " throughout his life. Under the Sungas and
even the Kanvas, royal patronage was once more extended to
the Brahmanas, and the priestly caste once more turned their
attention to their own literature and ritual. The majority of
the works on philosophy were re-cast during the supremacy JJjHi"
of the Sungas. The Gathas and Naratamsis were rewritten in ^^
verse and included as Itihasas in the Purdnas. Foundations miogy.
were laid of the later elaborate grammatical system by Katya-
yana and Patanjali, who wrote extensive glosses on the grammar i rmm "
I 3 4 ANCIENT INDIA
of Panini. These glosses formed the bases of later provincial
Law. grammatical literature. Many of the old law books (Smritis)
were recast and the older writers gradually abandoned in
favour of the Manava-Maitrayanlya school. Rhetoric and
prosody also revived.
Shortly afterwards this literary revival received a rude shock
in Northern India. Harassed by repeated Greek and Scythian
invasions, the Sungas and Kanvas became very weak, and the
Transfer centre of Brahmanical activity was transferred to the south.
manicai The Southern Pratishthana (Paithan on the Godavari) became
to C South- the refuge of Brahmanical lore. The Satavahanas claimed to
em India. ^ G Brahmanas and were great patrons of the Indo-Aryan
The sata- religion. The Nanaghat inscription records immense donations
patroniL to Brahmanas and the performance of many Vedic sacrifices
nuf^cai by the Satavahana kings and nobles. Upon the destruction
Religion of the Sunga and Kanva monarchies in Northern India, the
Literature, capital of the Satavahanas became the sole refuge of the
Brahmanical religion. In Northern India the irruption of the
Greeks and the Scythians caused a great upheaval which
changed the character of the old Indo-Aryan religion. To
Drama, this period belong the older dramas of Bhasa, which betray
more antique characteristics than the dramas of Kalidasa.
II. Religion and Society
The influx of the barbarians into Afghanistan and the
Panjab in the last centuries before the birth of Christ caused
a social and religious upheaval, traces of which are only too
apparent in contemporary lithic records. The Brahmanical
religion of the period appears to have become slightly con-
servative in comparison with Buddhism, while Jainism does
not appear to have succeeded in making any fresh converts.
Earlier Greek settlers are known to have adopted the Hindu
religion. But in the first century B.C. or A.D. Buddhism suc-
aton V of " cee ded in making a larger number of converts among the
Bar- barbarian invaders than Hinduism or Jainism. Inscriptions
mention Greek and Scythian converts to Buddhism, but con-
verts to the Hindu or Brahmanical religion were very few in
GENERAL CULTURE OF INDIA 135
number. The large number of Jain records discovered in
Mathura during this period contain hardly any names of
Scythian or Greek converts. It is true that the Great Kushan
emperors Vima Kadaphisa (Wema Kadphises) and Vasudeva I Great
used the image of Siva exclusively on their coins, but there Emperors
is no reason to suppose that the Hindu religion had become
the state religion even in their time, while Kanishka I and
Huvishka were eclectic worshippers of gods of many different
faiths. Buddhism thus gained a great impetus during the
Scythian period, while the Hindu and Jain religions declined dhism.
on account of their conservatism.
Gradually a great change had come over the simple religion schism in
of Gautama Buddha. Early in the first century A.D. we find
that the Indian Buddhists were divided into two great parties,
who are now known as the followers of the Mahay ana (northern Mahayana
Buddhism) and of the Hmayana (southern Buddhism) re- ern Bud-
spectively. With the beginning of the worship of the image dhl8m '
of Buddha, numerous minor deities had crept in, and gradu-
ally Mahayana had become an elaborate religion with a
separate ritual and a pantheon of its own. The followers of
the Hmayana differed widely from the followers of the Maha- Hinaysna
ySna, and the fourth Great Council of Buddhists convened Southern
RiiH
by Kanishka was not recognized by them. It is not known dhism.
how far the two sects of Buddhists were distributed, but this
much is certain, that the followers of the Mahayana system P"J d of
preponderated in Northern and Central India. This schism Doctrine
in the Buddhist Church gradually spread to the Indian ther India
colonies in Farther India and the Indian Archipelago. The
Brahmanical religion and Hmayana went on declining, and
their place was taken by Mahayana everywhere except in
Southern India and Ceylon. In Burma, Siam, Cambodia,
Java, and Sumatra the half-breed Indian kings gradually
adopted and became great patrons of the Mahayana system,
while Hmayana was confined to the extreme south of the
Indian Peninsula, where it existed side by side with Jainism.
The period of the Scythian irruptions gave a very
severe blow to the Brahmanical caste system. During this Change in
period the original divisions of Indo-Aryan society became System.*
largely merged into each otl^er. New castes and sub-castes
136
ANCIENT INDIA
Dis-
ppear-
oftbe
Three
Lower
Castes.
Rise of
Classical
Sanskrit.
Decline of
Prakrits.
Language
of North-
ern Bud-
arose. With the help of Buddhism, the great leveller, the three
lower castes practically became merged into one another,
while only some families of Brahmanas succeeded in seclud-
ing themselves. These new castes and sub-castes were for-
mally recognized upon the reconstruction of Hindu society
during the domination of the Guptas.
In place of the language of Magadha and other local dialects,
classical Sanskrit gradually came to be recognized as the
literary language of Northern and Central India. The canonical
texts of the northern Buddhists were composed in this lan-
guage, as also were many of the lithic records. The use of the
local dialects or Prakrits gradually died out, and they survived
only in certain portions of dramas. The great leaders of
northern Buddhism, such as A^vaghosha, Nagarjuna, and
Pargva mostly contemporaries of Kanishka I wrote in
classical Sanskrit. Only a few of their works survive in their
original form; but the majority of them, as preserved in
Tibetan or Chinese translations, prove definitely that they
were written originally in classical Sanskrit and not in the
Prakrits.
Initial
Coinage
of India.
Punch-
marked
Silver,
The Die-
struck
the North
HI. The Coinage
The establishment of Greek kingdoms in Afghanistan and
the Panjab led to important changes in the coinage. The
older Indian coins, both silver and copper, were of two
different types, both of which were uninscribed. The
silver coins called Puranas were made by cutting sheets of
silver into round or square discs. Each province or city
through which a coin passed for circulation punched its
distinctive mark on one side of it in token of its genuineness.
Such silver coins were used from Afghanistan in the west to
Bengal in the east, and from the sub-Himalayan tracts in the
north to the south of the Vindhyas. The older copper coins
can be divided into three different varieties, the first of which
was in all respects similar to the silver pur ana. The second
variety consisted of the required weight of copper molten
and cast in a special mould bearing particular devices. These
two varieties are the oldest specimens of copper coins in India t
GENERAL CULTURE OF INDIA 137
The third variety was current in the Panjab and Sindh, and
was a die-struck oblong or square coin bearing a single device.
Long contact with the Greeks gradually led to a change in
the form of the coinage. Some Indian kings issued coins in
imitation of Greek coins, e.g. SaubhQti of the Panjab, who
used the Greek script to write his name. The feudatories of
the Sungas at KausambI, Ahichchhatra, and Mathura issued
copper coins bearing their names. These are the oldest The King's
T j i_ i_ r i j i_ Name on
Indian coins bearing the name of a king, and the majority coins.
of these coins are of copper.
The Indo-Greeks first of all struck coins in gold, silver, {j^^* 1 " 1
and copper, the weight of which corresponded to the Greek standards.
or Attic standard. Later on they also adopted the Indian
standard. Greek coins in gold are very rare, but their silver
and copper coins are still very common all over Northern and
Western India. To the period of the Scythian occupation
belong the majority of silver and copper coins based on Greek
types, but the earlier Scythian monarchs do not appear to
have coined gold at all. To the same period belong the earliest
tribal coins issued by the Rajanya, Kuninda, Audumbara, coins.
Malava, Yaudheya, and Arjunayana tribes, who used both
silver and copper, and employed KharoshthI and Brahml
characters in the legends of their coins.
The Great Kushans coined very largely in gold. Vima
Kadaphisa issued double staters of heavy gold, as well as gold
staters, on the model of the Roman coinage. Kanishka I, * *
Huvishka, and Vasudeva I issued gold and copper coins only.
The majority of the Great Kushans struck abundantly in gold
and copper, but they do not appear to have used silver for
currency purposes. The later Kushans struck exclusively
in gold. Sporadic copper issues prove that tribal copper coins coins.
had become current all over Northern India in the second and
the third century A.D. Among the latter should be mentioned
the long series of tribal coins of the Malavas and the Yau-
dheyas, who struck coins from the first century B.C. to the
beginning of the fourth century A.D.
(B&68) F2
I 3 8 ANCIENT INDIA
IV. Sculpture
The later Mauryan sculpture shows a blending of the best
practice of early Mauryan sculpture with the primitive sculpture
of Northern India. The retention of the Mauryan polish is
Barabar evident in the Barabar caves of Dasaratha and the Patna
statues, supposed to be either Saisunaga statues or Yaksha
fiaisunfiga ^ n-M T i i-
statues, figures, i he Parkham image does not bear any polish, but
the same characteristic is observed in the female statue
from Dedarganj near Patna. In the Sunga period we find
the introduction of bas-reliefs in Buddhist structures. The
Sanchiand great stftpas of Sanchi and Bharhut belong to this period,
and their ornamentations are purely Indian. To the same
period belongs the ancient railing around the great mediaeval
temple at Bodh-Gaya. Sir John Marshall, the greatest
authority on the subject, is of opinion that the Bharhut stnpa
is the oldest monument of the Suriga period. It was built at
position of the junction of the roads from Magadha and Allahabad to
Malava and the Deccan. It was constructed of brick and
stone, but the cost of the elaborately carved circular railing
buiu'fr around it, with its four gateways, was met from private sub-
Donations, scriptions. Each pious Buddhist lay worshipper or monk or
nun contributed to the cost of a pillar, a cross-bar, or a portion
of the great architrave. The stupa was dismantled by the
neighbouring villagers after the disappearance of Buddhism.
The remains were found by Cunningham, when portions of
the eastern gateway and of the railings were removed to the
Museum at Calcutta. The eastern gateway was twenty-three
feet in height, and the pillars, cross-bars, and the architrave
^ t ^ ie *Wp a are decorated with numerous bas-reliefs repre-
senting scenes from the life of Buddha or those illustrative
of his previous births (Jdtakas).
"The style of the carvings on the ground rail is by no
means uniform. Some show little advance on the indigenous
work of the previous century, the defects of rudimentary
technique being almost as striking in these reliefs as they were
in indigenous sculpture in the round." 1
1 Cambridge History oj India Vol. I, pp. 624-5-
Part of Corner Pillar of Railing, Bharnut stupa, Naod State,
now in tHe Indian Museum. Calcutta (and century B.C.)
140
ANCIENT INDIA
TheBodh
Raffing.
Great
StOpaof
Sanchi.
Gateways
of the
St&pa.
The San-
chl Ba-
The same authority is of opinion that the oblong railing
around the great temple of Bodh-Gaya comes next in chrono-
logical order. " This railing was disposed in a quadrangle
measuring 145 feet by 108 feet, but in other respects was
designed and adorned much in the same way as the rail at
Bharhut. On the outside of the coping was a continuous band
of flowers; on the inside, a frieze of animal or mythical mon-
sters; on the cross-bars, lotus medallions centred with busts
or other devices; and on the upright pillars, standing figures
in high relief or medallions and panels containing a variety
of miscellaneous scenes." l
The great stupa at Sanchi near Bhilsa in Northern
Malava was originally a brick structure erected by Asoka;
the present stone-built one belongs to a much later
date. The great railings around this stupa were con-
structed long after the death of Asoka. According to
Sir John Marshall,, the earliest of the gateways of the
stupa at Sanchi was erected on the south side, the
northern, the eastern, and the western being erected
later. " Each gateway was composed of two square pillars
surmounted by capitals, \\hich in their turn supported a
superstructure of three architraves with volute ends, ranged
one above the other at intervals slightly in excess of their own
height. The capitals were adorned with standing dwarfs or
with the fore-fronts of lions or elephants set back to back in
the Persepolitan fashion; and, springing from the same abacus
and acting as supports to the projecting ends of the lowest
architrave, were Caryatid figures of graceful and pleasing
outline. Other images of men and women, horsemen, elephants,
and lions were disposed between and above the architraves,
while crowning and dominating all was the sacred wheel,
so inseparably connected with Buddhism, flanked on either
side by attendants and Triiula emblems. For the rest, both
pillars and superstructure were elaborately enriched with
bas-reliefs illustrative of the Jdtaka legends or scenes from
the life of the Buddha or important events in the subsequent
history of the Buddhist religion. Besides which, there were
representations of the sacred trees and stnpas symbolical of
1 Ibtd , p. 626,
GENERAL CULTURE OF INDIA
141
Sakyamuni and the preceding Buddhas; of real or fabulous
beasts and birds; and many heraldic and floral devices of rich
and varied conception." *
To the same school belong the oldest bas-reliefs from
Mathura, which can be divided into three groups. The
earliest of them belongs to the middle of the second century
B.C., the second to the first century B.C., and the third to the
first century A.D. Of these three groups the first two are very
closely related to the sculptures of Sanchi and Bharhut. The
style of the third group is that of the first and second, but in
a late and more decadent stage. " In all works of the Mathura
school of this period the same tendency towards schematic
treatment is apparent, but it appears to have affected the Jain
sculpture more than the Buddhist. The dramatic vigour and
warmth of feeling, which characterized the reliefs of the Sanchi
1 Ibid. pp. 628-9.
The old
School of
Sculpture
at
Mathura.
The
School in
theSaka
Period,
c.AJ>.50.
Ancient Railing around the great temple of Mahabodhi, Bodh-Gaya, Gaya district
(and century B.C.)
1 4 2 ANCIENT INDIA
gateways, is now vanishing; the composition is becoming weak
and mechanical, the postures formal and stilted." 1
With the rise of a Greek kingdom in Bactria and the con-
quest of Afghanistan by the Indo- Greeks, a new school of
art, which derived its inspiration solely from Hellenistic ideals,
rose in the North-western provinces of India. Greek sculptors
were employed in carving scenes from the life of Buddha
and in the production of statues generally. This school of art
held sway for nearly five centuries, and gradually influenced
Greek" 10 " a ^ other schools of India proper and the countries within its
Gfrndhfira zone ^ influence. The relics of Indian art found in Central
Asia and the Buddhist relics at Amaravati in the Krishna
District all betray the far-reaching influence of the Indo-
Greek school of art.
The most important contribution of this school to Indian
Buddha sculpture is the fashioning of images of the Buddha and the
image. Bodhisattvas. The idea of depth was introduced by them into
bas-reliefs. The Scythian monarchs continued these ideals
and motifs, and the Buddhist structures of Central Asia and
North-western India were all decorated with sculptures,
painting, and terra-cotta, \\hich prove the very deep hold \\hich
this school of art had obtained over Northern India. The
The School style introduced by the Indo-G reeks in bas-reliefs, depicting
hBra under scenes from the life of Buddha, persisted in Northern India
Scythians, till the twelfth century A.D. The pure Indo-Greek style
deteriorated with the irruption of the Scythian barbarians,
infl n ce but the school lingered on in Gandhara and in Eastern Tur-
Gftndhflra kistan till the fifth or sixth century A.D.
Indian Kanishka I was a great patron of art, and during his reign
sculpture. tne scnoo j s o f sculpture in Gandhara and the middle country
received lavish support. The relic casket made for him and
discovered in the stUpa at Peshawar shows that Indo-Greek
art was on the decline, but the support given by him and his
officers to Buddhism, coupled with the great prosperity of
Mathura, caused a revival of plastic art and architecture in
Xe V Ma- 0< that city. The Mathura school received fresh impetus from
thuri the Gandhara school and changed its technique soon after
the fourth year of the reign of Kanishka I. Subsequently it
1 Ibid., p. 633
GENERAL CULTURE OF INDIA 143
became famous throughout Northern India. Images made in
Mathura were carried to distant countries. Early in the reign
of Kanishka, a monastery full of images made in Mathura
was dedicated at Sarnath near Benares. Images in the red
sandstone for which Mathura is famous were carried as far
as Sanchi in Malava, Rajagriha in Eastern Magadha, SravastI
in the north, and Sindh in the extreme west. The Mathura
school flourished exceedingly during the reigns of the Kushans.
It showed a mixture of Indian and Greek ideas, which could
be recognized separately in their motifs. The remains dis-
covered at Mathura indicate a period of feverish building
activity and the production of new features both in bas-reliefs
and images. A large number of statues of important historical
persons were carved by the local sculptors; such as those of
Kanishka I, Chashtana, the satrap of Ujjain, and several other
Kushan emperors. Numerous Jain images and Jain stupas the
were dedicated and built. The inscriptions on them enable School.
students of art to fix their chronology with greater precision
than in the case of the products of any other school.
No complete building of the Mathura school has survived
to our time, but we can judge of their nature and size from
the fragments that have been discovered at Mathura. The "
great Huvishka Vihara, or the Buddhist temple and monastery MathurJL
built by that great Kushan emperor, was surrounded by a
colonnade of massive redstone columns. The Kankall Tila
Mound at Mathura yielded the remains of an immense Jain
stupa. Jain stupas are rather uncommon in mediaeval and
modern shrines, but from the remains at Kaftkall Tila and
certain older bas-reliefs discovered at Mathura we know that Form.
they were very common in Northern India in the first century
B.C. In form they were exactly like the great Buddhist
stupas of Sanchi, Mankiala, or Bharhut, being huge hemi-
spheres decorated on the exterior and surrounded by railings
with lofty gateways on the cardinal points. The Buddhist and
Jain remains at Mathura were destroyed by Sultan Mahmud 0?"
of Ghazni in 1018 A.D., and the great iconoclast was very Buildings
forcibly struck by the beauty of the sacred and profane Matimr*.
edifices,
11
g
^s
e c
o
I
7
GENERAL CULTURE OF INDIA 145
V. Trade and Commerce
The rise of the Greek power in Egypt and Asia Minor
was a great hindrance to the commercial enterprise of the
inhabitants of the western coast of India. Like the European
traders of the sixteenth century, the early Greek navigators
of the Indian Ocean were more or less pirates, and their
nefarious activities on the western coast of India, combined
with the apathy and lack of protection of Indian commerce on
the part of the Indian monarchs, very nearly destroyed that
commerce. Up to the end of the first century B.C. there were
very few Greek merchant ships in the Indian Ocean, and
Strabo has recorded that Indian merchandise reached Europe
by way of the Red Sea and Alexandria. The overland route The over-
being long and hazardous, only a very small quantity of mer- Route.
chandise from India and China reached European markets
through Persia and Asia Minor. The Indian and Chinese
overseas trade with Europe revived with the foundation of the
Roman and Kushan Empires. Under the great Kushans,
Northern and Central India enjoyed a much-needed respite
from foreign invasions and internal turmoil. Merchandise
could be sent with comparative safety from the distant parts
of the Kushan Empire to the great ports on the western coast,
and after the conquest of Egypt by the Romans, and the
discovery of the monsoon winds by Greek and Roman Monsoon*
sailors, the sea-borne commerce of India increased very rapidly, erce.
Ships could come from the Egyptian ports on the Red Sea
to the Indian ports on the western coast in July and August
in forty days, and return, after the completion of the com-
mercial transactions, in December or January. Before the
discovery of the course of the monsoons, Greek and Roman
ships were obliged to follow the outline of the southern coasts
of Arabia, Persia, and Baluchistan, which were even then impetm to
infested with pirates. The course of the monsoons was known
to Indian navigators, who imparted the knowledge to Arab
sailors, who in their turn informed the Greeks and thus
enabled the European vessels to sail directly across the Indian
Ocean* The discovery of the monsoons gave a very great
I4 6
ANCIENT INDIA
Roman
Coins la
India.
Trade
Goods.
impetus to European trade, which is indicated by the very
large number of Roman coins of all metals discovered in
different parts of India. It is also believed that Roman mer-
chants lived in many of the ports on our western coast. The
goods exported from India consisted of pearls, precious
stones and spices, such as pepper, cinnamon, &c., along with
sandal- wood and fine cotton cloth. The effect of this trade
was very marked on the Indian gold currency of the period,
Kushan and Gupta coins being close copies of the Roman
gold coinage of the time.
Scanty
Traces of
Greek
Occupa-
tion.
Greeks
Inter-
marry
with
Indians.
Greek
Influence
on Indian
Astro*
nomy and
Mathe-
matics.
VI. Greek and Roman Influence on Indian Civilization
Considering the length and extent of the Greek occupation
of India, traces of Hellenic influence on Indian civilization are
very scanty. No inscription in the Greek language has been
discovered in India or Afghanistan, and even in the time of
the Great Kushans the use of the Greek language had become
obsolete, though the use of the script continued. Inscriptions
prove that the Greeks readily intermarried with the natives
of the country, and even as early as the fourth century A.D.
all traces of the Greek settlers in India had vanished. The
influence of Greek civilization and culture is, however, more
marked on the plastic art and literature of the period. The
influence of Greek writers on astronomy can still be traced
in the works of Indian authors, who still quote Yavanesvara
or Yavanacharya with respect. Greek influence can also be
traced to some extent in Indian works on mathematics, but
with the exception of Indo-Greek sculpture in Afghanistan
and the Western Panjab, and the coinage of the Greek kings
of India, all traces of Hellenic rule in India have vanished
completely. During the rule of Greek kings in India and
Afghanistan, many Indians must have learnt Greek and be-
come familiar with Greek literature and thought. But with
the exception of Greek influence on Indian philosophy and
drama, subjects which are still matters of controversy, little
else in India can be traced to Hellenic influence. On the
other hand, traces of Greek intercourse with India can be
DRAVIDIAN AND SCYTHIAN KINGDOMS 147
readily traced in modern and mediaeval fables of Europe.
The influence of Roman civilization on contemporary Indian
culture was still more slight. The Romans never occupied
any part of India, and during the Roman rule in Egypt and
Asia Minor their merchant vessels were mostly manned by
Asiatic Greek and Arab sailors. The Roman influence on
Indian culture can be traced to some extent in certain works
on mathematics and astronomy, such as the Romaka-Sid- Sculpture,
dhanta and in certain classes of later Indian sculpture which currency.
are still imperfectly known to us, such as those of the Telugu
country. The Roman influence on Indian coinage was more
lasting. Roman gold coins influenced the gold issues of Indian
princes from the first century A.D. to the end of the fourth.
It is supposed by some writers that Roman gold coins were
current in Western and Southern India, but no definite evi-
dence has yet been discovered to support this view. With the
rise of the Arabs and the decline of the Eastern Roman Empire,
direct connexion between Europe and India ceased.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WINTERNITZ, History of Sanskrit Literature.
A. B. KEITH, History of Sanskrit Literature.
V. A. SMITH, Catalogue of Coins in the Indian Museum, Calcutta,
Vol. I.
CUNNINGHAM, Coins of Ancient India.
COOMARASWAMY, A History of Art in India and Indonesia.
V. A. SMITH, A History of Art in India and Ceylon.
MARSHALL, A Guide to Taxila.
L. BACHHOFER, Early Indian Sculptures, 2 Vols.
CHAPTER VIII
THE DRAVIDIAN AND SCYTHIAN KINGDOMS
OF SOUTHERN AND WESTERN INDIA
I. Early Satraps, Western India
The downfall of the first Satavahana Empire was caused
by the invasion of the Scythians. Soon after their conquest
148 ANCIENT INDIA
of Northern India, the Sakas conquered Malava and then
of western poured into Western India from two different points, namely
the delta of the Indus and the banks of the Narmada. Early
in the first century B.C., we find that the whole of the Northern
Deccan had passed into the hands of the Sakas. These Sakas
did not long recognize the suzerainty of their overlords in
Northern India. The Scythian or Saka satraps became inde-
pendent in Taxila, Mathura, and Western India at the same
time. The earliest known satrap of Western India who struck
coins in his own name was Bhumaka. Another independent
Scythian satrap, Nahapana or Nambanos, was contemporary
with the great satrap Sodasa of Mathura, and the inscriptions
of his son-in-law Ushavadata, discovered at Nasik and Karla
in the Northern Deccan, show the use either of regnal years
or of some era, which may be the same as that to be found in
the Mathura inscriptions of Sodasa. This era is quite different
from that used by Liaka Ku&ilaka in the Taxila copper-plate
inscription.
Hit coins. Nahapana struck silver coins in imitation of the small silver
coins of Menander. On his coins he uses the title Rajan,
which is written in Greek characters. The Kharoshthi script
is also used by him, proving his northern origin. The type of
coins issued by him was continued by his successors in Malava
and Western India till the conquest of these two provinces
by the Guptas at the end of the fourth century A.D. The
successors of Nahapana also struck coins in his name and
were most probably known as Nahapanas, just as the suc-
cessors of the first Ptolemy of Egypt adopted that monarch's
name.
Nahapana belonged to the Khakharata family, which
originally hailed from Mathura. He is known from his coins
as well as from the inscriptions of his son-in-law, Ushavadata,
at Nasik and Karla, and those of his minister Aryaman, in the
Temple of cave at J unnar * Ushavadata 's inscriptions in the caves near
the city of Nasik (Pandu-Lena) are dated, Cave No. 10 bearing
the year 42 of an unspecified era, during the reign of Nahapana.
It is a chaitya-hall, like those at Karla and Ajanta.
From these inscriptions we learn that the kingdom of
Nahapana extended over the whole of Malava, because they
DRAVIDIAN AND SCYTHIAN KINGDOMS 149
state that Ushavadata had gone with an army to Malava to
help the chief of the Uttamabhadras, who was besieged by the
chief of the Malayas, i.e. the Malavas of the coins and the
" Malloi " of the Greek historians. After defeating the
Malayas, Ushavadata went on pilgrimage to Poshkara, i.e.
modern Pushkara near Ajmer, which lies immediately to the
north of the province of Malava. Most of the places mentioned
in these inscriptions lie between Bombay and Ajmer, and were
included in the kingdom of Nahapana. Ushavadata paid the
marriage expenses of eight Brahmanas at Prabhasa, i.e.
Verawal in Kathiawad, Bharukachha, i.e. modern Bharochh
(Broach), Da&pura (modern Mandasor in Central Malava),
Govardhana (a town of the same name in the North Kanara
District of the Bombay Presidency), and Sorparaga (modern
Sopara, north of Bassein island). The rivers mentioned by
him over which he established ferries are the Damana, the
Tap! (Tapti), the Dahanuka (Dahanu), the Iba (Reva or
Narmada), the Parada (the Wardha), and the Karabena
(Krishna).
The caves at Junnar are situated in the northern part of the J^SjJJJ
.Poona District and have been excavated out of four hills which and Karia.
surround the central rock fort at Junnar. On the Manmodi
Hill, Ayama or Aryaman, the minister of Nahapana, excavated
a shelter and a chaitya hall in the year 46 of the same era as
that used in the Nasik cave. At Karla, in the western part of
the Poona District, Ushavadata gave the village of Karajika
for the expenses of the monks living in the caves of Valuraka,
which was the old name of Karla.
Nahapana lived to a great age, but his son-in-law Usha- Dynasty of
vadata survived him. The coins issued in the name of Naha- a ap
pana bear the face of that king in his youth, middle age, and
old age, as well as the portraits of many of his successors.
II. The Satavahanas
With the rise of the Kushan power in Northern India the Revival of
different Saka kingdoms became weak, and at this time the hana
power of the Satavahanas revived under Gautamlputra wwr
150 ANCIENT INDIA
Satakarm. In the eighteenth year of the reign of that
king the Northern Deccan passed away from the family of
Nahapana. In the inscription of his son it is stated that
Gautamlputra SatakarnI destroyed the power of the Kha-
kharata family and re-established the power of the Satavahana
conquest dynasty. From the same inscription we learn that Gauta-
miputra miputra Satakarni's kingdom included the provinces of
6atakarni. ^smaka (Maharashtra), Malaka (the district round Paithan),
Suratha (Kathiawad), Kukura (West Rajputana), Aparanta
(North Konkan), Vidabha (Berar), Anupa (Central Gujarat)
and Akaravanti (Eastern and Western Malava). The list of these
Kingdom, provinces shows clearly that Gautamlputra Satakarm conquered
all the provinces which had once formed the kingdom of
Nahapana. He reigned for at least twenty-four years, and in
The Cave the eighteenth year of his reign dedicated a small cave at
miputra* Pandu-Lena near Nasik. From this inscription we learn
Satakarni t k at ^ g ave awa y to SO me ascetics a field which was previously
. enjoyed by Ushavadata. Another inscription, incised below
the first, records that the same king, in the twenty-fourth year
of his reign, gave another field to the ascetics living in the cave
dedicated by him, because the first one could not be culti-
vated.
He was succeeded by his son VaSishthiputra Pulumavi.
In the nineteenth year of Pulumavi 's reign, his grandmother
Balasr! enlarged the cave dedicated by her son Gautamlputra
T*m ie Satakarnl. This cave is Cave No. 3 in the Pandu-Lena group.
NO. near We can gather from these inscriptions that Northern Deccan
mple
. 3 net
or Maharashtra, consisting of the modern districts of Nasik
and Poona, had passed out of the hands of the Khakharatas
before the eighteenth year of the reign of Gautamlputra
Satakarm.
When this king and his son re-established the power of the
Satavahanas to the north of the Krishna, the Kushan emperors
were gradually reducing the whole of Northern and Central
India to obedience. Nothing is known definitely about the
successor of Va^ish^hlputra Pulumavi; but a king named
Yajfia Srl-Satakarnl ruled some time afterwards over the
whole of the Deccan and a portion of the Northern Konkan.
One of his inscriptions has been found in the caves of Kanheri
DRAVIDIAN AND SCYTHIAN KINGDOMS 151
in the Thana District of Bombay, and is dated in the sixteenth
year of his reign; another in one of the Pandu-Leria caves
near Nasik; and a third at Chinna in the Krishna District of
Madras Presidency, on the eastern coast of the Indian Penin-
sula. The last inscription was incised on a pillar in the twenty-
seventh year of his reign, and proves that the Satavahana
dominions extended west to east from the Arabian Sea to the
Bay of Bengal, and north to south from the Godavari to the
Tufigabhadra, and at times as far north as the Narmada.
There is no evidence to prove that Va&shthiputra Pulumavi
or Yajfia Sri-Satakarni ruled over Malava, which was certainly
in the possession of the Great Kushans as early as the year 28 conquest
of the Kushan era (106 A.D.). Pulumavi was the undisputed ofMaiava.
master of the whole of the Deccan, as his inscriptions have
been found at Karla in the Poona District, at Pandu-Lena in
the Nasik District, and at Amaravati in the Krishna district.
It may therefore be supposed that Pulumavi and Yajna Sri
ruled over the whole of the Indian Peninsula, between the
rivers Narmada and Krishna; but the provinces to the
north of the Narmada had passed into the hands of the Great
Kushans. Shortly after the death of Yajfia Sri-Satakarnl a new
power arose in Western India under Rudradaman and very
soon reduced the Satavahanas to the position of petty chiefs. Minor
Minor branches of this dynasty continued to rule at Vanavasi nana
in the North Kanara District and at other places in the Deccan Dyna8tlel -
till the beginning of the third century A.D.
III. The Later Western Satraps * The Dynasty of
Chashtana
Chashfana or Tiastanes was satrap of Malava under the
Great Kushans. Chashtana attempted to found an independent
kingdom in Malava, but appears to have been defeated either
by the Satavahanas or the Kushans. In imitation of the coins
of Nahapana, he struck coins on which we find his bust and
his name in Greek, Kharosh^hl, and Brahml characters. His
father's name was Zamotika. Chashtana 's son, Jayadaman,
probably succeeded his father, as he also struck coins in silver.
Seep 307.
i$2 ANCIENT INDIA
The coins of Chashtana and Jayadaman are very rare and are
only found in Kathiawad and Gujarat. Chashtana was a
person of sufficient importance in the Kushan Empire to have
his statue placed in the Imperial gallery, where it has been
discovered in recent times.
Empire of Rudradaman I, the son of Jayadaman, founded a new
kingdom in Kathiawad and Cutch. As early as A.D. 130
Rudradaman I was in possession of Cutch, and within twenty
years of that date he had mastered the whole of Western India,
including Malava. His empire included Eastern and Western
Malava, Anarta and Anupa (Central Gujarat), Saurashtra
(Kathiawad), Maru (Marwar), Kachchha (Cutch), Sindhu-
sauvira (Upper and Lower Sindh), Kukura (West Rajpu-
tana) and Nishada, and Aparanta (North Konkan). Before
the yea* 72 of the Saka-Kushan era, the dam of the Sudar&ma
tana Lake. Lake gave way during a storm. This lake had been constructed
during the reign of the Emperor Chandragupta of the Maurya
dynasty, when Pushyagupta was the governor of Kathiawad.
During the reign of ASoka the Persian governor Tushaspha
led out irrigation canals from this lake. During the reign of
Rudradaman I the damage to the embankment of this lake
was repaired by Suvi&kha, son of Kulaipa, a Pahlava by
descent, governor of Anarta and Saurashtra. The inscrip-
tion recording these repairs was incised at the mouth of the
pass through which the waters of the lake flowed into the
level country to the north of Mount Girnar, by the side of
the rock edicts of the Maurya emperor Aoka. In this inscrip-
tion, Rudradaman I claims to have defeated the Satavahana
ft ftvi
and the king, who was the lord of the south (Dakshinapatha-pati-
*** tb - Satahartft), on two different occasions, but to have spared him
on account of the close relationship which existed between
them. He also claims to have defeated the Yaudheyas, who
were living in South-western Panjab and Northern Sindh at
this time. Rudradaman I struck coins in imitation of the
silver coins of Nahapana. In a damaged inscription in the
caves at Kanheri it is stated that a great satrap, whose name
begins with the word Rudra, married his daughter to a Satava-
hana king.
Rudradaman I was succeeded by two of his sons and two of
DRAVIDIAN AND SCYTHIAN KINGDOMS 153
his grandsons. His immediate successor was Damaysada, i.e.
Damazada I (A.D. 150-178), who is known from his silver coins
only. We do not know anything about the dates of the death of
Rudradaman I or his son Damazada I. With Jivadaman I, the the**
son and successor of Damazada I, begins the series of dated satraps.
coins for which the dynasty of Chashfana is remarkable. The jivada-
date is usually found in the silver coins on the obverse, mttn *
behind the head of the king. Jivadaman I struck coins in silver
as well as in the compound metal called potin. He ruled
from A.D. 178 to 198 with interruptions; during his reign his
uncle Rudrasimha I, the second son of Rudradaman I, appears
to have made several attempts to dethrone him.
After the death of Rudrasimha I three of his sons ascended
the throne in succession. Rudrasimha I is also known from an
inscription discovered inside a well at Gunda in the Halar I he d
District of Northern Kathiawad. It records the excavation of inscrip-
a well in the village of Rasopadra by the general RudrabhUti, Rudra-
son of the general Bapaka of the Abhlra clan, in the year 181,
during the reign of Rudrasimha I.
The immediate successor of Rudrasimha I was his son
Rudrasena I, who struck coins in silver and potin. The potin
coins do not bear any name, but they are dated and are to be
found in the province of Malava. Rudrasena I reigned from
198 to 222. In 199 an inscription was incised at Mulwasar,
near Dwarka in Kathiawad, in which Rudrasena I is mentioned incrip-
,. . T ...... . tlon.
as a ruling sovereign. In another inscription discovered at
Gadha, near Jasdan in Kathiawad, it is stated that during the
reign of Rudrasena I a refectory was erected in 205 by a man
named Kharapattha. Rudrasena I was succeeded by his
brother Sanghadaman I, who ruled for two years only (222-
223) and was succeeded by his brother Damasena, who was
the third son of Rudrasimha I to ascend the throne. Damasena sena. "
ruled for fourteen years (223-236).
After Damasena the kings of the dynasty of Chashjana
appear to have been driven from Kathiawad and their kingdom
usurped by another king named Igvaradatta. This king did not
use the Saka era on his coins; but the dates are given in his
regnal years in words, while the dates on the coins of the kings
pf the family of Chashfana are always given in numera}.
ANCIENT INDIA
YasodS-
il.
Vijaya-
Damaja-
daarl III.
Rudra.
aeaa II.
Bhatfidfi-
man.
Svftml
Jlvadfi-
man II in
Mftlava.
The
Sanchlln
acfiption
of 179.
Svftml
Rudra-
iffehall,
Yaao-
dftman II.
Rvdra-
iIII.
Igvaradatta appears to have reigned for two years only, and
during his reign Viradaman, the eldest son of Damasena, ruled
and struck coins as a subordinate chief, from 234 to 238.
The independence of the dynasty was restored by Yagodaman
I, another son of Damasena, who ruled for two years only
(238-239). After Ya^odaman I, two other sons of Damasena
occupied the throne in succession. Vijayasena ruled for
twelve years (238-250), and his brother Damajadari III from
251 to 254. The last named prince was succeeded by his
nephew Rudrasena II, son of Viradaman, who ruled from 256
to 274. Rudrasena II was succeeded by two of his sons,
Vi^vasimha and Bhartridaman. The former ruled for two
years only (277-278), and the latter for sixteen years (279-295).
During the last years of the reign of Bhartridaman, his son
Vi^vasena ruled as a subordinate chief. He was the last king
of the dynasty of Rudrasimha I, and he struck coins as a sub-
ordinate chief till 304.
With the death of Visvasena I the family of Rudrasimha I
appears to have become extinct. The succession then devolved
upon Rudrasimha II, the son of Svami Jivadaman II, who
was King of Malava in 279. An inscription of Svami Jivadaman
II was discovered at Sanchi in Northern Malava, from which
we learn that this prince ascended the throne of Malava in
265, and that the thirteenth year of his reign fell in the Saka
year 201, i.e. 279, when a well was excavated at Sanchi by the
general or magistrate Sridharavarman, of the Scythian family,
who was the son of a Scythian named Nanda. The Sanchi
inscription proves that some time in the beginning of the second
half of the third century the Scythian kingdom of Western
India had become divided. The division most probably began
during the reign of Vijayasena, when we find the beginning of
the deterioration of the Western Kshatrapa coinage. The
descendants of Svami Jivadaman II ruled in Kathiawad for
two generations only. Svami Rudrasimha II, the son of Svami
Jivadaman II, ruled for about eight or ten years and was
succeeded by his son Ya&>daman II, who ruled from 317 to
322. Ya&>daman II was succeeded by a king named Svami
Rudrasena HI after a gap of nearly sixteen years. On his
cojns he calk himself the son of a Mahqkshatrapa nam^d
CIVILIZATION OF SOUTHERN INDIA 155
Rudradaman II, but this prince is not known to us from any
other source. Rudrasena III revived the title of Mahaksha-
trapa, which had remained in abeyance after 295. He reigned
from 348 to 378. His coins were struck both in silver and in
lead. He was succeeded by his sister's son SvamI Sirhhasena,
who ruled from 382 to 384. Sirhhasena was succeeded by his ena.
son Rudrasena IV, who struck coins in the lifetime of his
father and ruled up to 388. The succession then devolved
upon SvamI Satyasimha, whose coins have not yet been dis-
covered. He was succeeded by his son SvamI Rudrasimha III,
who is the last known prince to have ruled in Kathiawad. Rudra-
His rule began in 388, and he appears to have ruled over
Kathiawad till the conquest of that province by Chandragupta
II of the Gupta dynasty of Northern India.
The dynasty of Chashtana is the earliest Indian dynasty
whose entire genealogy can be reconstructed from coins and
inscriptions, and in this sense it resembles the mediaeval
dynasties of Northern and Southern India, whose history and
chronology have been reconstructed from similar materials
discovered in recent times.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
JOUVEAU DUBREUIL, A History of the Deccan.
JOUVEAU DUBREUIL, Pallavas.
D. R. BHANDARKAR, " The Dekkan of the Satavahanas " in the
Indian Antiquary, Vols. XLVII and XLVIII, 1918 and 1919.
E. J. RAPSON, Catalogue of Coins in the British Museum,
Andhras and W. Ksatrapas, &c.
CHAPTER IX
THE CIVILIZATION OF SOUTHERN INDIA UP TO
THE END OF THE SIXTH CENTURY
I. Sculpture and Architecture cave
Temple
of the
The earliest examples of southern art and architecture are Jain Royal
the caves excavated by Kharavela, King of Kalinga, and by Kaluga.
156 ANCIENT INDIA
his relations, in the Udayagiri Hill in the Puri District of
Orissa, which are also the earliest known examples of Jain
temple architecture. The biggest cave at Udayagiri was
excavated in the middle of the second century B.C. for the
residence of Jain monks. It consists of a big central courtyard
with buildings on three sides. The central wing is two storeyed
and contains a veranda with a row of cells behind it. Another
two-storeyed cave, now called the Svargapuri and the Man-
chapurl, belongs to the same period, and was excavated by
Kharavela's principal queen and a prince named Vadukha.
Most of the caves in Udayagiri Hill belong to the second and
the first centuries B.C.
jfenhaii Sir John Marshall says of the sculptured reliefs of the cave
gj^* of Kharavela: " In the upper the composition is relatively free,
Caves. each group forming a coherent whole, in which the relation
of the various figures to one another is well expressed; the
figures themselves are posed in natural attitudes; their move-
ment is vigorous and convincing; and from a plastic and
anatomical point of view the modelling is tolerably correct.
In the lower, on the other hand, the reliefs are distinctly
elementary and crude. ... At first sight it might appear
that in proportion as these carvings are more primitive-looking,
so they are anterior to those of the upper storey; but examined
more closely they betray traces here and there of comparatively
mature art, which suggest that their defects are due rather to
the clumsiness and inexperience of the particular sculptors
responsible for them than to the primitive character of plastic
art at the time when they were produced. Accordingly, it
seems probable that in this case, as in the Marichapuri, the
upper of the two floors was the first to be excavated, though
the interval of time between the two was not necessarily a long
one. . . ."*
Sir John Marshall is of opinion that the Svargapuri and the
Marichapuri are the oldest caves in the Udayagiri Hill; next
to them comes the Ananta cave in the neighbouring hill,
Khandagiri. The same authority takes the Ananta cave to be
the prototype of all the more important caves excavated on
this site. The third in order is the biggest cave, the Rani-
1 Th* Cambridgt Hittory oj India, Vol. 1, p. 641 .
CIVILIZATION OF SOUTHERN INDIA 137
gumpha, and after it comes the Gariega cave on the Udaya-
giri, which lies close to the Ramgumpha. The Jayavijaya, the **
Alakapuri, and the other caves come last in chronological order,
Sir John Marshall says: " the truth appears to be that the
art of Orissa, unlike the art of Central and Western India,
possessed little independent vitality, and flourished only so
long as it was stimulated by other schools, but became retro- gy of
grade the moment that that inspiration was withdrawn." l
In Western India the artists followed the custom common
in Egypt and Persia of hollowing out buildings from the
living rock. From Persia the idea was taken by Aoka and
Dasaratha when they excavated the plain cells in the hills of JJJ cve "
Barabar and Nagarjuni near Gaya. In Western India the Temples
. fo J . . . . J . r . of Western
artists became more ambitious in the first century B.C., when India,
they carved out large and high halls with Chaityas, two- or
three-storeyed dormitories for the use of the monks during
the rainy season, and separate chapels and dormitories com-
bined for the use of the monks of a higher order. Among the
earliest establishments of this kind are the caves at Bhaja,
Kondane, Pitalkhora, Ajanta, Bedsa, Nasik, and Karla. Sir
John Marshall says about them:
" The plan and general design of these halls is approxi-
mately the same, and the description of one will suffice for all.
The finest example, undoubtedly, is the hall at Karla, which
is at once the largest, the best preserved, and most perfect of
its type. It measures 124 feet 3 inches long by 45 feet 6 inches
wide and is of the same apsidal plan as the contemporary
structural Chaityas. . . . Between the nave and the aisles is SJjSSist*
a single row of thirty-seven columns, of which those round cathedral
the apse are of plain octagonal form, while the remainder,
to the number of fifteen on either side of the nave, are pro-
vided with heavy bases and capitals of the bell-shaped type
surmounted by kneeling elephants, horses, and tigers, with
riders or attendants standing between. Above these figures,
and rising to a height of 45 feet at its apex, springs the
vaulted roof, beneath the soffit of which is a series of projecting
ribs, not carved out of the stone itself, but constructed of
wood and attached to the roof. At the apsidal end of the hall
1 ibid., p. 642.
158 ANCIENT INDIA
the vault terminates in a semi-dome, beneath which, and
hewn, like the rest of the hall, out of the solid rock, is a stUpa
of familiar shape with a crowning umbrella of wood above.
At the entrance to the hall is a screen pierced by three doorways,
one leading to the nave, the others to the side aisles; this
screen rose no higher than the tops of the pillars within the
hall, and the whole of the open space above it was occupied
by a great horse-shoe window, within which there still remains
wooden P art ^ * ts original wooden centring. It was through this
Si tte tures ^^ow tnat a ^ light was admitted into the hall, the nave and
Cathedral, the stUpa being thus effectively illuminated, but the side aisles
left in comparative darkness. In front of the entrance to the
hall was a porch 15 feet deep by about 58 feet high, and as
wide as it was high, closed in turn by a second screen consisting
of two tiers of octagonal columns, with a solid mass of rock
between, once apparently decorated with wooden carvings
attached to its faade." 1
the*Karta The Nasik cave should be referred to the middle of the
secon d century B.C., and the caves of Bhaja and Karla to the
opening decades of the first century B.C. Cave No. 3 at Kanherl
The Kan- was excavated during the reign of the Satavahana king Yajfia
Caves. Sri-Satakarm, and the rest of the caves are later in date.
Some of the caves were excavated in the mediaeval period in
the ninth century, and the Buddhist monks inhabited them
till the sixteenth century, \\hen they \\ere forcibly converted
by the Portuguese. The caves of Ajanta fall into two broad
The Early groups, the earlier of which belongs to the same date as the
Aja?tfi. caves at Karla and Bhaja, but the paintings in the later group
belong to a much later time.
II. The Coinage
Thejjota- fhe earliest Satavahana coins can be divided into many
Co*"***- varieties. The coins of the Andhra or the Telugu country
bear figures of horses, lions, and elephants, and the symbol of
Mount Meru, which is called the Chattya-symbol by numis-
Potin. matists. The metal used is what is known as potin. The
Ibid., pp. 635-6.
CIVILIZATION OF SOUTHERN INDIA 159
Satavahanas also used lead for coining, and on such coins we
find a ship, which comes from the Coromandel coast. Large
lead coins are found in Mysore and the N. Kanara district in
the southern part of the western coast. The Satavahanas also
coined in silver and copper, and Gautamiputra Satakarm Gautami-
restruck his own name on a large number of the silver coins s&takarni
of Nahapana and his descendants. Yajfia Sri-Satakarnl
imitated the silver coins of the satraps, but these silver coins
are very rare. The Satavahanas struck coins both in lead and
in potin in Malava. The Satavahana coinage was quite dis- Jgj va
tinct in standard and type from the southern coinage, and the Coins of
r j i j i t_ i_ n j theSata-
issue of potin and lead coins appears to have been influenced v&hanas.
solely by the demands of the overseas trade.
The earliest coins of Southern India were simple weights of sjjj}2n?
gold and silver. Instead of cutting out thin sheets of gold, coinage.
silver, and copper, the Dravidian races of the south used
pellets of gold or other metals, of a certain weight. Later
on these pellets were flattened, and in order to prevent dis-
honesty they were stamped with a granular surface. The
southern coinage thus remained quite distinct from the
northern coinage. The Pur ana and the Karshapana were cut
out from sheets of silver and copper, and the latter were at
times cast in moulds, but the southern coins were simply
round flattish pellets resembling the seeds of certain berries. |y thern
Later on symbols used to be struck on these pellets, the coins,
oldest of which are the ship coins of the Cholas or the bow-
and-arrow coins of the western coast.
III. Literature
Very little is known of the literature, manners, and customs
of the so$th during this period. A king named Hala composed
a book of verses called the Sapta-Sati, but scholars are
divided in opinion about the true date of the present form of Sapta-fiati
this work. The western Kshatrapas have left no literary
monuments, and nothing is known of the state of culture in
Western India under their rule.
The earliest poems in Ancient Tamil belong to this period.
160 ANCIENT INDIA
They contain many references to Chola, Pandya and Chera
utera- kings, and whatever knowledge we possess of the Dravidian
kings of the first and second centuries before and after the
birth of Christ, is derived from the writings of the early
Tamil poets. The earliest Tamil literature is preserved in a
class of work, partly fragmentary and partly in quotations,
which was approved by an assembly of literary men, princi-
pally in the Pandya country. In Tamil this assembly is called
Safigam (from Sanskrit SaAgha). According to certain
authorities this class of Tamil literature, which was approved
by these assemblies, is called " Sangam works ", and are
assigned to the period before the rise of the Pal lavas in
Southern India, but others differ with regard to their date.
Tradition in Southern India regards three different periods in
the life of this literary assembly as being the most glorious.
The works approved by this assembly contain references to
many Pandya kings and their contemporary rulers in the Chola
and Chera kingdoms. Many of the works approved by this
assembly are hero-lauds, but the majority of them are poems
about a particular emotion. Many of them are of the type of
Sanskrit Mahdkavyas, and all of them betray the stamp of
classical Sanskrit literature and rhetoric on them, and there-
fore, even if they are as old as certain writers make them
to be, they must have been compiled and re-classified at a
very late date.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, chap. xxvi.
COOMARASWAMY, A History of Art in India and Indonesia.
E. J. RAPSON, Catalogue of Coins in the British Museum,
Andhras, W. Ksatrapas, &c.
ELLIOTT, South Indian Coins.
S. K. AIYANGAB, Some Contributions of South India to Indian
Culture, Calcutta, 1923, chap. i.
S. K. AIYANGAR, The Beginnings of South Indian History,
Madras, 1918, chap. ii.
S. K. AIYANGAR, Mani-Mekhalai in its Historical Setting,
London, Luzac & Co.
BOOK III
History of Mediaeval India
CHAPTER I
THE GUPTA EMPIRE OF NORTHERN INDIA
I. Chandragupta I*
Early in the fourth century Chandragupta I, the son of a
petty landholder of Bihar, succeeded in founding an inde- The inde-
pendent kingdom, and threw off the authority of the Scythian Sf *Mag a e -
kings. He was the son of Ghatotkachagupta and the grandson dha *
of Srigupta. The names of his father and grandfather are
unknown in history, and most probably they were men of very
little importance. Chandragupta I married KumaradevI, the
daughter of a Lichchhavi noble. This marriage enabled him
to combine the people of Magadha, i.e. Southern Bihar,
against the Scythian foreigners and to make Magadha inde-
pendent once more. The new king was a Hindu and a Vaish- gupu i "
nava, and the struggle between the people of Magadha and
the Scythian kings was one between the followers of Hinduism
and Buddhism. Chandragupta I died after a short reign,
having established the independence of Magadha; but the
real foundation of the empire of the Guptas was laid by his
son and successor, Samudragupta.
For the next two hundred years dates are given in a new
era, called the Gupta era, which was founded in 320.
first scholars used to think that the Gupta era began from the Er **
See p. 308.
(1658) 161 G
162 HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
its Origin, date of the coronation of Chandragupta I; but some scholars
now think that this era was founded by the Lichchhavis and
adopted by the Gupta emperors. The earliest dates in it
are found in the inscriptions of Chandragupta II, the son
Use of the an d successor of Samudragupta. Most of the dates in the
inscriptions and the coins of the Gupta emperors are given
Conquest m tn * s era anc * a ^ ter tne Decline an( * fall of tne Gupta Empire
it was used in Assam till 829 and in Kathiawad till 1264.
The Gupta Empire was dismembered in the beginning of
the sixth century of the Christian era, but the dynasty founded
its Use in by Bhatarka in Kathiawad continued to use this era till the
wad. " reign of their last king, Siladitya VII, in 766. The capital of
this dynasty was at Valabhi, modern Wala near Bhavnagar.
From their capital this dynasty came to be known as the
kings of Valabhi and the era of the Guptas as the era of
Change in Valabhi. Hence the name given to it by modern scholars,
its Name. yiz Gupta-Valabhi era.
II. Samudragupta*
Samudragupta, the second king of the Gupta dynasty, was
one of the many sons of Chandragupta I. He had an elder
Kficha. brother, named Kacha, who was most probably killed during
the war of independence. We do not know much about the
reign of Samudragupta except the summarized record which
was prepared according to his order by one of his principal
Samudra- officers, named Harishena. It was inscribed on Agoka's pillar
Conquest, at Allahabad. From this inscription we learn that the capital
remained at Pushpapura or Pataliputra, and that Samudra-
gupta defeated two kings named Achyuta and Nagasena of
Northern India, as well as the kings of the Kota family.
Achyuta is known from his coins as probably being a king of
Central India, and the Kota kings probably belonged to
Northern Rajputana. This summary further informs us that
in Aryavartta, or Northern India, Samudragupta defeated
The Kings &&$ named Rudradeva, Matila, Nagadatta, Chandravarman,
Ganapatinaga, Nagasena, Achyuta, Nandi, and Balavarman.
Of these kings, only three, besides Achyuta already mentioned,
are known to us from other sources. Matila was probably a
See p. 308.
Inscribed Iron Pillar of King Chandra courtyard of the Masjid of Qutbuddin
Aibak, old Delhi (4th century A.D.)
163
164
HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL INDIA
cbandra-
crticm
o& the
BUI.
to"
Brother
var "
Samatata.
pavika.
The con-
Republics!
king of the United Provinces, and one of his clay seals was dis-
covered in the Bulandshahr District. Chandravarman was the
king of Pushkarana, probably modern Pokaran in the Jodhpur
State. He is also known from two other records. Before the rise
of Samudragupta, this Chandravarman invaded Western Bengal
anc * ' e ^ a recorc ^ f his conquest there on the Susunia Hill in
the Bankura District. From this inscription we know that he
was a king of Pushkarana and that his father's name was Sim-
havarman. Chandravarman was a Vaishnava; he carved the
wheel or discus of Vishnu on the Susunia Hill, and calls him-
self " the foremost of the slaves of the wielder of the discus "
in that inscription. Subsequently Chandravarman set up an
iron standard of Vishnu we do not know where, which is now
placed in the courtyard of the Masjid attached to the Qutb-
Minar. In the inscription on this iron pillar he claims to
have defeated the people of Bengal and overrun the whole
of the Panjab and Afghanistan, as far as Balkh. Chandra-
varman was defeated by Samudragupta after his campaigns
j n Bengal, the Panjab, and Afghanistan. His brother Nara-
varman retired to Northern Malava and was reigning there in
4<H Ganapatinaga was the king of Narwar, near Gwalior,
where several kings of the Naga family ruled. He issued coins
in copper, and his dynasty appears to have been exterminated
by Samudragupta. In the summary of the conquests of Samu-
dragupta, he claims to have subjugated the forest countries and
made the kings of Samatata or South-eastern Bengal, Davaka,
KamarQpa, Nepal, and Kartripura his feudatories. Pavaka
is generally regarded as the old name of North-eastern Bengal,
but it is more probable that this is the name of a Hindu kingdom
of Northern Burma, the capital of which was at Tagaung.
Kamarttpa is the name of South-western Assam. Kartripura
is the ancient name of the Kangra valley. In Northern India
Samudragupta claims to have also subjugated the Malava,
Arjunayana, Yaudheya, Madraka, Abhira, Prarjuna, Sanaka-
nlka, Kaka, and Kharaparika tribes. Among these tribes the
Malavas are the same as the Malloi of the historians of Alex-
ander the Great and the Malayas of the time of Nahapana.
These tribes lived in the Panjab and in Rajputana. They
issued coins in copper. Later on, some of them settled in the
165
i66
HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL INDIA
The Arju-
nlyanas.
Defeat of
the Later
Kushans.
Southern
Campaign
of Samu-
dragupta.
Defeat of
the Kings
of the
Eastern
Coast.
Coalition
of South-
ern Kings.
fertile plains watered by the Narmada and its tributaries, and
that province became known as Malava, from the tribe of
Malavas. The Arjunayanas were a Panjabi tribe who issued
coins in silver and copper. The Yaudheyas were a tribe of
Northern Rajputana, where they were found living in 371.
A district of the Bahawalpur State is called Johiyawar after
them. Portions ol the tribe still live in the delta of the Indus
near Karachi. Not much is known of the other tribes except
that a chief of the Sanakanlka tribe served under Chandra-
gupta II in Malava. Samudragupta specially mentions the
Scythian king as being defeated by him, as also were two other
tribes, viz. the Sakas and the Murundas. The Kushan king
is called " Devaputra-Shahi-Shahanushahl ". All of these
titles were used by the Great Kushans. The Sakas were no
doubt the western satraps of Kathiawad, but the Murundas
are unknown. Some scholars have thought, however, that
!aka- Murundas should be regarded as one word, and that it
meant " Lords of the akas ".
After conquering the whole of Northern India, Samudra-
gupta turned his attention to the south. He defeated a king
named Mahendra of Mahakosala (Raipur and Bilaspur Dis-
tricts in the valley of the Mahanadi) and then entered Maha-
kantara (probably the Gondwana forests), where he defeated
a chief named Vyaghraraja. Emerging from the forests, he
defeated Mantaraja of Korala (the region near the Colair
Lake), and thereafter the kings of Pishtapura (Pittapuram),
Mahendragiri (Ganjam District), and Kottura. Another
authority translates this passage in a different way. Accord-
ing to Professor Jouveau - Dubreuil, Samudragupta, after
crossing the forest, defeated Mantaraja, king of Korala,
Mahendra of Pish^apura, and Svamidatta of Kottura, a citadel
on the top of a hill. When the kings of Southern India saw
him advancing to the south of the Godavari, they formed a
coalition to stop him. Damana of Erandapalla (Erandapali
near Chicacole), Vishnugopa, the Pallava king of KanchI,
Nilaraja of Avamukta, Hastivarman of VengI, Ugrasena of
Palakka, Kuvera of Devarashjra (Vizagapatam District), and
Dhananjaya of Kosthalapura joined this coalition. Samu-
dragupta claims to have defeated all of them, but most prob-
GUPTA EMPIRE OF NORTHERN INDIA 167
ably he felt that it would be much safer not to go farther Mistaken
south. The current view about the route of Samudragupta
in the south and his conquest of the Palghat, the Maharashtra,
and Khandesh is quite wrong. He penetrated to the south
as far as the country between the mouth of the rivers Krishna
and Godavari, but never went to any part of Western India
or even as far south as VengI or Kanchl.
After his return from the southern campaign he revived the
Agvamedha sacrifice, which he performed with great splendour. The
He issued special gold coins, with the horse of the sacrifice on
one side and the figure of his queen DattadevT, with a sacrificial
ladle, on the other side. This coin was used for distribution coins
to the Brahmanas who attended or took part in the sacrifice, it.
At the conclusion of the sacrifice Samudragupta became
the recognized emperor of Northern India. He issued coins
of various types. First of all he issued a series of gold coins in samudra-
memory of his father and mother, and another in memory of
his eldest brother, Kacha. The A^vamedha gold coins are
very rare. Among the other types may be mentioned the
" standard " type, in which the emperor is seen standing in ,T
front of an altar, wearing trousers, a coat, and a close-fitting dard
cap. In front of the emperor is the celebrated standard of
the Gupta Empire, Garuda-dhvaja, " the standard surmounted
by Garuda ", the vehicle of the God Vishnu, who was the
tutelary deity of the Guptas. Among other types may be other
mentioned the " archer " and " battle-axe " types, in which samudra-
the king's dress resembles that of the figure in the " standard " fiSE?'*
type. The special types of Samudragupta's gold coinage are the Golna a c '
" lyrist " and the " tiger-slayer " types. The " lyrist " type
represents the king as seated on a high-backed couch, playing
on a lyre. The " tiger " type shows the king wearing the
ordinary waist-cloth and slaying a tiger with bow and arrows.
Samudragupta was one of the greatest kings of India. He
united the eastern portion of Northern India under his rule,
and gave peace and prosperity to the country. He reformed
the currency and stopped the issue of the base gold coins of the
later Kushana kings. Large numbers of his coins are dis-
covered every year, and this proves that under him the material
prosperity of the people had increased very much. During the
168
HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
Chandra-
Romantic
Chandra-
gupta.
in the
ciia?ita.~
reign of Samudragupta a king of Ceylon named Meghavarna
sent an embassy to him for permission to build a monastery at
Bodh-Gaya. Such embassies were sent from time to time to
many kings of Magadha by other kings who desired to build
temples in the holy land of Buddhism.
III. Ramagupta *
Samudragupta was probably succeeded by his son Rama-
gupta. This king is known to us from the fragments of a now
lost drama by the poet Vteakhadatta, preserved in a recently
discovered work on dramaturgy, entitled the Natya-darpana.
The name of the drama is Devi-Chandragupta. According to
this drama, the Scythian king, evidently of Mathura, demanded
that DhruvadevI, the wife of Ramagupta, should be sent to his
court. The people of Pataliputra were panic-stricken and
asked the king to send his queen to the Scythian monarch.
The craven Ramagupta agreed, but the queen was saved from
the disgrace by his brother, Prince Chandragupta, who decided
to go to the Scythian capital in the guise of DhruvadevI.
Surrounded by a band of faithful attendants, all disguised as
women > Chandragupta went to the Scythian king. The
story ends there. Evidently Chandragupta succeeded in
defeating the Scythians and on his return was hailed as the
king. This statement of the drama by ViSakhadatta is sup-
ported by the Harsha-charita of Banabhatta, according to
which Chandragupta killed the king of the Scythians in the
guise of a woman. The reference in the Harsha-charita is made
more explicit in the commentary on that work, according to
which " Chandragupta in the guise of DhruvadevI killed in
privacy the king of the Scythians, who wanted his brother's
wife ". Later on Chandragupta married his brother's widow
DhruvadevI, this being the first recorded instance of a widow-
marriage among kings of the mediaeval period. Ramagupta is
not known to us from any other source and does not appear
to have struck any coins. The actual dates of his succession
and death are not known to us, but the discovery of his name
fills up a long gap between the reigns of Samudragupta and
Chandragupta II.
GUPTA EMPIRE OF NORTHERN INDIA 169
IV. Ghandragupta II (380-414)*
According to Indian tradition as current in the ninth cen-
tury, Chandragupta II is said to have killed his brother
(Ramagupta) and married his wife. This statement is to be
found in a grant of the RashtrakQta king Amoghavarsha I
dated A.D. 871, discovered at Sanjan in the Thana District
of Bombay.
Chandragupta II seems to have enjoyed a long reign, as is
testified by the long range of his coins in all metals. It is
therefore probable that he ascended the throne some time
before 380 A.D. Most of his inscriptions have been
discovered in Malava, and the only inscriptions of this king
discovered in Northern India are two fragmentary records
found in Mathura and one at Gadhwa in the Allahabad Dis-
trict. An inscription newly discovered at Mathura proves that
Chandragupta II was already on the throne in A.D. 380.
Early in the fifth century we find Chandragupta II in pos-
session of the province of Malava. In a cave at Udayagiri
in Northern Malava, a place very close to the railway station The Uda _
of Bhilsa in the Gwalior State, there is an inscription which yagiriin-
^i YT i i "crlptlon
mentions Chandragupta II as the reigning sovereign and of the year
records the excavation of the cave by a chief of the Sana-
kanlka clan, in the year 82 of the Gupta era. This inscrip-
tion proves that in 401 Northern Malava had passed out of
the control of the Scythian kings. The last known date of
the Scythian satraps of Kathiawad is the year 388 on the
coins of Svami Rudrasiriiha III. The stoppage of the coins
of the Scythian satraps indicates that either Kathiawad also
was conquered or that the satraps had ceased to be independent
kings. The Gupta hold over Malava was continuous, and an
inscription found on the ancient railing of StUpa No. i at The
Sanchi, near Bhilsa, records the gift of a village by one Am- f c *$J* m
rakardava for the feeding of five Buddhist monks and the of the year
lighting of a lamp. In this inscription Chandragupta II is
called Devaraja, a name by which he is also known in the
inscriptions of his relations, the Vakafakas. This record is
dated 412 and is the last known inscription of this emperor.
* See p. 308.
(B668) G2
170
HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL INDIA
The annexation of Malava and Kathiawad brought the
empire of the Guptas to the western coast. There is direct
Cave-temple of Vishnu excavated an the time of the emperor Chandragupta 1 1
near Bhilsa in Northern Malava (Gwahor State)
tian ev ^ ence to prove that the ports of Kathiawad were included
and in the Gupta Empire and that trade with the western world
brought vast wealth to it. The merchants who landed their
gO()( j s at Verawal or Porbandar could easily transport them
Northern
GUPTA EMPIRE OF NORTHERN INDIA 171
by the land route from Saurashtra, which would go straight
to Ujjain and thence to Mathura and Pataliputra, while the
silks and muslins of Eastern India could be brought straight
from Bengal to the ports of Kathiawad without paying internal
customs duties. Previously, each petty chief through whose
territory the goods of the merchants passed levied a contri-
bution on them, thus raising the price and diminishing the
profits of manufacturers, merchants, caravan leaders, and
importers of the goods at the ports. The unification of
Northern India under one ruler gave a very great impetus to
inland trade as well as to overseas commerce. We do not
know whether the great western ports of Surat, Broach,
Cambay, and Sopara were included in the Gupta Empire.
Even if they remained under independent rulers their trade
must have been drawn off to the Kathiawad ports in coasting
schooners, and thereby evaded the vexatious customs duties.
The coins of Chandragupta II are not so varied in type as
those of his father, but they are found in very large numbers
all over Northern India, the principal types being the " archer "
type, which resembles that of his father; the " couch " type,
in which the king is seated on a couch; and the " umbrella "
type, which is rather rare. Much rarer are the " lion-slayer "
and the " horseman " types of Chandragupta II's gold
coinage. After the conquest of Malava and Kathiawad he
issued a silver coinage in imitation of the coins of the
Western Satraps. Many of these coins are dated, and their
dates have enabled scholars to fix 409 as the year of the
final conquest of Kathiawad. Unlike his father, Chandra-
. TT * i r J-JT /x His Silver
gupta 11 struck copper coins of many different types: (i) and
with the bust of the king, as on the silver coins; (2) with the coins"
standing figure of the king, as on many of the gold coins;
(3) without any figure. On his coins Chandragupta II assumed
many titles, such as Vikramdditya, VikramaAka, and Sim- dity<f. ma "
havikrama. For this reason writers on the literary history of
India consider him to be the same as the mythical king
Vikramaditya of Ujjain, who was a great patron of literature.
Chandragupta II married his brother's widow, DhruvadevI
or Dhruvasvamini, who is mentioned as the empress-consort
in the inscriptions. Her seal, discovered at Vaisali, shows a
i?2 HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
lion-couchant as her emblem. She bore at least two sons,
Kumaragupta and Govindagupta. Kumaragupta succeeded
Chandragupta II, and Govindagupta remained the viceroy of
the Western Provinces, By another queen named Kuberanaga,
Chandragupta II had a daughter named Prabhavati, who
married the Vakafaka king Rudrasena II. The date of the
death of Chandragupta II is not exactly known, but that event
must have happened some time between the years 93 and 96
of the Gupta era (413 and 415).
Fa-Hsien. The Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hsien spent fifteen years on his
journey (399-414) from China to India and back. He came
by the land route from China, across the Gobi Desert and
Khotan. He then crossed the Pamirs into the Swat valley
rotriMuid and passed on to Taxila. He spent three years at Pataliputra,
Tamink. ^ e ca pft a i o f the empire, and two years more at Tamralipti,
modern Tamluk in the Midnapur District of Bengal, which was
then one of the most important ports on the eastern coast. The
sea has now receded more than sixty miles from its site. Fa-
Hsien spent nine years in India proper. He described the
Charitable Indian towns as large and prosperous. They possessed
numerous charitable institutions as well as rest houses for
travellers. Inns were provided for travellers on the great
highways, and the larger towns contained hospitals. There
P wtra i " was a very big free hospital in the city of Pajaliputra. The
capital of the Mauryas was still fairly prosperous, though two
Mathura. centuries later Yuan Chwang found it deserted. Mathura
and its big Buddhist monasteries amazed the simple Chinese
pilgrim. The great temples and monasteries built by the
Great Kushan emperors were still standing, and Mathura
seemed to Fa-Hsien the most beautiful city in India. He
ofthe Uo11 states tnat ^e people were free to go about without passports.
People. Offences were punished by fines only, and capital punish-
ment was never inflicted. Persistent political offenders were
mutilated for rebellion. The revenue of the crown was derived
mostly from the produce of the royal demesne lands. The
officers and the soldiers were paid regular salaries. Throughout
the country the people did not kill any living beings; they
did not eat onion or garlic, nor did they drink wine. The
outcastes were obliged to live apart in towns and villages,
GUPTA EMPIRE OF NORTHERN INDIA 173
Fa-Hsien notes that the Gupta Empire was well governed.
The ^government was very moderate and tolerant. The
pilgrim returned to China with many manuscripts, images,
and paintings.
V. Kumaragupta I (414-455)*
Kumaragupta I, the eldest son of Chandragupta II by the
empress DhruvadevI, succeeded to an empire which extended Extent of
from Eastern .Bengal to the borders of the Western Panjab Empire*.**
and from the Himalayas to the banks of the River Narmada.
During the earlier part of his reign the empire was at peace
and the country fairly prosperous. The emperor resided for
the most part at the capital, Pafaliputra. The government of
the Scythian provinces of the western frontier was entrusted
to the emperor's younger brother Govindagupta, whose We8t<
descendants ruled as the local kings of Malava and Magadha
after the decline and fall of the Gupta Empire. The last years
of the reign of Kumaragupta I were disturbed by the inroads
of northern barbarians, called the Hdnas, who were the same
people as the Huns of Roman history and the Hiung-nu of
Chinese history. The first invasion of the Hdnas was driven
back by the valour of the crown-prince, Skandagupta. This
prince was born of an unknown consort of Kumaragupta I. In
his old age Kumaragupta I married another lady, Ananta or
Anantadevi, who bore him a second son, called Puragupta. of Kuma-
Under Kumaragupta, Bengal was governed by the viceroy ra * up a
Chiratadatta. Another viceroy named Ghatotkachagupta ruled
over Northern Malava. In Western Malava, Bandhuvarman,
the grandson of Naravarman of Pushkarana, acknowledged his
suzerainty. A chief named Pjithivlshena was the minister of Principal
Kumaragupta I and afterwards became his commander-in- S? cer8 *
chief. After the defeat of the first Hdna army, Kumaragupta I Em P Ir
celebrated the horse-sacrifice and struck a special type of gold
coins for distribution among the priests and the Brahmajias
who officiated or were present on the occasion.
The age of Kumaragupta I is the golden age of Indian
literature and art. Sculpture flourished in all the principal
cities. Kumaragupta I assumed the title of MahendracUtya, m Titles.
* See p. 308.
174 HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL INDIA
and several others, such as rl-Mahendra, rt-A$vamedha-
Mahendra, Ajita-Mahendra, Srl-Mahendra-Simha, Simha-
The Mdhendra. and Mahendrakumara. During the Huna wars
Debased . "
Currency, he was obliged to debase the currency. Some of his heavier
gold coins contain a very large amount of alloy, while some
of his silver coins are really silver-plated copper. The
coinage of Kumar agupta I falls into two groups. The first
group is only an imitation of the coins of his grandfather
and father. These are the " archer ", the " horseman ", the
" Asvamedha ", the " lion-slayer " type, and the " tiger-
slayer " types. The new types introduced by this emperor
are the " swordsman " type, the " elephant-rider " type, the
" peacock " type, and the peculiar coin on which the figures of
Coins. VCr both of his principal queens appear. His silver coins can be
divided into three general classes. The first class is the earliest,
in which corrupt Greek letters still survived, and they bear a
striking resemblance to the silver coins of the later Western
Satraps. These coins were struck for use in Kathiawad only.
The coins of the second class are smaller than the first and
thicker. The bust of the king and the figure of Garuda are very
rudely executed. These coins appear to have been in use in the
hilly districts which separate Malava from Northern Gujarat.
The corrupt Greek letters appear again. Kumaragupta I
struck a new type of silver coins for use in Northern and
Central India. These coins bear the true portrait of the king
on one side, and on the other side we find a peacock. This
coinage was imitated by the Maukharis of the United Provinces
and the Varddhanas of Thaneswar in the sixth and seventh
centuries. The silver-plated copper coins of Kumaragupta I
have been found in large numbers in Kathiawad and were
issued during a time of great financial pressure. His copper
coins are very rare.
During the reign of Kumaragupta I, Indian sculpture attained
the height of its excellence. The Jain image from Mathura of
Sculpture. IX 4 G E '> *- e ' 433> tne Buddha Image discovered at Mankuwar
dedicated in 449, the copper images of Buddha discovered at
Nalanda and Sultanganj in the Bhagalpur District, together
with images discovered at Sarnath near Benares, are the best
known examples of this period.
GUPTA EMPIRE OF NORTHERN INDIA 175
Kumaragupta I was succeeded, during the second Hflna
war, by his eldest son Skandagupta, in the year 455.
VI. Skandagupta (455-468) *
Skandagupta, the eldest son of Kumaragupta I, by his
first empress-consort, whose name we do not know, is one of
the most important persons in Indian history. His very name
was forgotten during the troublous times which followed his
death and the subsequent dissolution of the vast fabric of the
Gupta Empire. He alone seems to have realized the peril character
which hung over India in the shape of clouds of barbarian gupta.
Hunas, and like a true patriot he devoted himself solely to the
task of securing the safety of his country. During the old age
of Kumaragupta I, this prince stemmed the tide of the first
Huna onslaught, and the victories obtained by the Gupta
armies were due solely to his personal bravery. The Gupta
panegyrist records with wonder that the prince-imperial had
to sleep on the ground for a whole night during the first war.
When internal dissensions had weakened the people of
Magadha, when they had forgotten their sacred duty of de-
fending the gates of India and become immersed in their petty
jealousies, at a time when the last great Indian Empire was in
its death agony, Skandagupta alone remained faithful to the
old tradition of the ancient people of Magadha.
The thirteen years of Skandagupta 's reign were spent in
incessant warfare. At first he drove out the Hunas from the H is vie-
empire and secured the safety of his subjects. He reformed
the debased coinage of the last years of Kumaragupta I by
issuing coins of pure gold, silver, and copper. But later on
a rival emperor was set up in Magadha, in the person of his
stepbrother Puragupta. The forces of the empire became
divided, and the last great Gupta emperor fell fighting, with TheRlval
his enemies in front and in the rear, about 468. Skandagupta Emperor.
left no issue. After his death the Huna barbarians swamped the gupta.
Indian civilization of centuries and destroyed the empire of
Samudragupta and Chandragupta II within a few years,
They came in great waves and settled down in the Panjab j
and Rajputana. Gradually they became Indianized and merged
176 HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL INDIA
in the population, but their descendants continued to rule over
the North-western Provinces of India for centuries.
Skandagupta issued coins of the " archer " type like his pre-
i decessors. After his accession he issued a special type of gold
skand*- coins called the " King and Lakshmi " type. He claimed to
gup ' have steadied the throne of the Goddess of Fortune of his
family, who was ready to depart as her throne had become
insecure, and therefore he claimed to have become wedded to
that goddess. Skandagupta restored the gold coinage to the
type and the weight of the ancient Indian Suvarna of 146
grains. Some of his coins were debased during the Huna
His silver wars an< ^ contain a large amount of base metal. His silver
coinage. coms f a n mto ^y O distinct classes, the western and the northern.
Three types of the western coinage are known, the " Garuda ",
the " bull ", and the " altar " types. In his northern coinage
he imitated the northern silver coinage of his father, Kuma-
ragupta I.
Besides the Hftna wars the only important event of the reign
of Skandagupta was the restoration of the great dam of the
Sudarana Lake, which had been built during the reign of
the Maurya emperor Chandragupta, turned into an irrigation
tank by A3oka, and repaired by the Scythian king Rudra-
daman I in 151. This dam was breached in the Gupta year
Destruc- *3^ (45**) At this time Parnadatta was the Gupta viceroy of
Uonand Kathiawad. He rebuilt this dam and made it 68 cubits in
tionof the height. In the Gupta year 138 (458) a temple of Vishnu was
SvdviMui built on this dam by Parnadatta's son Chakrapalita. The
L * ke * subsequent history of the Sudar&na Lake is not known.
The fertile valleys which surround the base of the Girnar
Mountain and the dense forest, still inhabited by lions and
known to sportsmen as the Gir Forest, are now supposed to
be the ancient bed of that lake.
VII. The Shadow Emperors (468-473)
A. PURAGUPTA (c. 468)
Puragupta was the son of Kumaragupta I by his second
wife, Anantadevl. He was the rival of Skandagupta and was
GUPTA EMPIRE OF NORTHERN INDIA 177
the real cause of the destruction of the last Magadhan Empire.
He issued coins of gold only, of which only one or two speci-
mens are known. His reign must have been very short, but
we know nothing about the events which immediately followed
the death of Skandagupta. The withdrawal of the strong arm
of the last great emperor of the Gupta dynasty brought about
the inevitable result, for the prevention of which Skanda-
gupta had sacrificed his life. Afghanistan, Panjab, and Rajpu- invasion
tana were wiped out, as it were, from the map of India of the
fifth century. We do not know anything of the history of
these countries for six hundred years. The history of India
henceforth is the history of the middle country and of Southern
India.
B. NARASIMHAGUPTA (c. 469-472)
Puragupta was succeeded by his son Narasimhagupta, born
of his wife Srivatsadevl. Narasimhagupta must have been a
young man when he came to the throne. After the irruption
of the barbarians, Bhatarka, governor of Kathiawad, virtually LOSS of
became independent, as that province was cut off from the
rest of the Indian Empire. Narasiriihagupta issued a few
gold coins which are found in the United Provinces, Bihar,
and Bengal. Henceforth the " archer " type is the only known
type of later Gupta coinage. Narasimhagupta assumed the title
of Bdladitya and reigned for a few years only, as we find that
his son, Kumaragupta II, was on the throne in 473.
C. KUMARAGUPTA II (473-476)
There are good reasons for believing that Kumaragupta II
was an infant in arms when he succeeded to the tottering The cwid
throne of Samudragupta. Three generations of kings had n **
ascended the throne within five years: Puragupta, his son
Narasimhagupta, and his grandson Kumaragupta II all
reigned between 468 and 473. The Imperial seal of Kuma- His Seal,
ragupta II was discovered at Bhitari in the Ghazipur District,
and some of his gold coins have been discovered in the United
Provinces and Bihar. These coins are very rare, which indi-
cates that the reign of Kumaragupta II was a very short one,
ITS
HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
Origin of
Budha-
gupta.
The Sar-
nath In-
scriptions
of Budha-
fcupta.
The Eran
Coin of
Budha-
gupta.
Prakflsfi-
ditya.
VIII. Budhagupta (476-495)
After the death or deposition of the child emperor Kumara-
gupta II, the throne passed on to Budhagupta, who appears
from his name to have been a descendant of Samudragupta.
The Chinese traveller Yuan Chwang has recorded that Budha-
gupta was the son of Sakraditya. In Sanskrit both the words
Sakra and Mahendra mean Indra, the king of the Gods, and
therefore Budhagupta may have been the son of Mdhendra-
ditya, i.e. Kumaragupta I. Two inscriptions discovered at
Sarnath, near Benares, prove that Budhagupta was in possession
of Benares in 477. In 483 he was in possession of Northern
Bengal, where Maharaja Brahmadatta was his viceroy.
Brahmadatta was succeeded by Jayadatta later on. In 484
Budhagupta was in possession of Malava. At this time Maha-
raja Sura&nichandra was the viceroy of the country between
the Rivers Yamuna and Narmada, and another Maharaja
named Matrivishnu w r as the governor of Malava under the
former. We do not know what happened in Malava during
the reign of Budhagupta. But under his successor the HQnas,
led by Toramana, invaded that province and drove out the
viceroys of the Guptas. The last known date of Budhagupta
is the year 494, which has been found on a coin discovered at
Eran in Eastern Malava. No gold coins of this emperor have
been discovered, but most probably the coins bearing the name
of Prakasaditya were issued by him. Allan is inclined to
assign the Prakasaditya issues to Puragupta, but the reigns of
Puragupta, his son Narasimhagupta, and his grandson Kumara-
gupta II together came to an end within eight years, a period
much too short for the comparatively numerous issues bearing
the name of Prakasaditya.
gnpta.
IX. The Later Emperors
A. BHANUGUPTA (c. 495~54S)
We ^ not ' ulow when and how the reign of Budhagupta
came to an end. One of his successors, named Bhanugupta,
reigned over Northern India from Northern Bengal to Eastern
179
i8o HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
quest of n " Malava. During his reign the HOnas invaded Malava through
MUava. Rajputana. Goparaja, a noble of Magadha, accompanied the
emperor in the last expedition dispatched from Magadha
against the Hanas. The last battle with the barbarians was
fought near the modern village of Eran in Eastern Malava,
where Goparaja was killed. A pillar marks the spot where
the people of Magadha made their last stand against the
HQnas; it was erected to commemorate the self-immolation
of Goparaja's wife in the Gupta year 191, or 510-511. During
the reign of Bhanugupta, in the year 543, Rajaputradeva was
the governor of Pundravardhana or N. Bengal. The emperor
Bhanugupta is known from two inscriptions only, and the
latest epigraphical date for this sovereign of the Gupta dynasty
is the year 224, or 543 on the Damodarpur plate.
B. THE LATER IMPERIAL GUPTAS
We do not know much about the successors of Bhanugupta
except their names. Three kings seem to have succeeded to
the throne; but their dominions seem to have become restricted
to Bengal and Bihar. They are known from their coins only,
which have been discovered exclusively in Eastern India. A
large number of coins of Chandragupta III, surnamed Dvada-
aditya, were discovered at Kalighat near Calcutta in 1774.
Another sovereign, named Vishnugupta, held the surname of
Chandraditya,and a few of his coins have been found in Western
Bengal. A third king, Jayagupta, is known from two coins only.
Gradually the provincial governors and the officials of the
Gupta Empire asserted their independence. The descendants
of Govindagupta became independent in Magadha or Bihar
and founded a separate dynasty known in history as the later
Guptas of Magadha.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
FLEET, Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol. III.
J. ALLAN, Catalogue of Coins in the British Museum, Gupta
Dynasties.
R. D. BANERJI, The Age of the Imperial Guptas, chap. i.
V. A. SMITH, Early History of India (4th ed.), chaps, xi-xii.
H. C. RAYCHANDHURI, Political History of Ancient India (srd ed.).
FIRST INDIAN RENAISSANCE 181
CHAPTER II
THE FIRST INDIAN RENAISSANCE AND THE
CULTURE OF THE GUPTA AGE
The age of the early Imperial Guptas is generally regarded
as the Augustan Age of Indian culture in the mediaeval period.
The reunion of the whole of Northern India under one rule Im
gave a great impetus to trade both internal and external, mcntin
Traders carried the products of India to far distant lands and
brought back foreign gold in abundance. The material pros-
perity of the people increased by leaps and bounds, and their
affluence found expression in marked improvement in all
branches of culture.
The emperors of the Gupta dynasty were Vaishnavas and
strong supporters of Hinduism. It is quite evident that Bud-
dhism, which had become the predominant religion of India Decline of
during the rule of the Scythians, declined for want of material dhism.
support. There is no evidence of any persecution of Buddhists
during the rule of the Imperial Guptas, but there cannot be
any doubt that the state support went principally to the
Brahmanas. This royal patronage led to a revival of Sanskrit
literature. The legendary stories about the mythical king vikrama-
Vikramaditya of Ujjain had their origin in the munificence and dit y a -
liberal patronage of Chandragupta II, who assumed the sur-
name of Vikramaditya. The Brahmanas gave their attention
to the reform of the orthodox Brahmanical religion. Modern
Hinduism was evolved out of the older Aryo-Dravidian re-
ligion. The widespread worship of Vishnu and Siva and Religion.
the delegation of sacrifices to the learned classes began in
this age. The worship of images, with its gorgeous ritual,
began during this period. With the reform of the Brahmanical
religion came the inevitable recasting of the sacred literature.
The principal Puranas were rewritten in this period, and
in their historical portions the name of the Gupta dynasty
is given last of all, thus proving that the final redaction of this
class of literature took place in the fifth and sixth centuries, daction of
Indian speculative philosophy apparently obtained a strong
182
HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
Supre-
macy
of the
Vedfinta
School.
Litera-
ture.
The
Calendar.
Influence
of Roman
Astro-
nomy.
The
Currency.
The
Roman
Standard.
Reversion
to the
Indian
Standard
The First
Indian
Renais-
foothold in our theology during this period, and finally ob-
tained supremacy for the Vedanta school all over India.
There are strong reasons to believe that the dramas and poems
of Kalidasa were written in Ujjain in Malava during the rule
of the later Imperial Guptas, and a large number of works on
grammar and rhetoric were composed at the same time.
Increased intercourse with the western world brought about
a complete reformation of the Indian almanac and Indian
astrology. Roman works on astronomy and astrology were
very largely adopted by Indian writers on these subjects, and
the agreement arrived at is still to be seen in the correspondence
of the Indian and European names of weekdays and of the
signs of the zodiac. While the works of earlier Greek and
Roman astronomers were incorporated, the Julian reforms are
not mentioned by Indian astronomers, proving thereby that
this reconstitution of Indian astronomy took place before the
decline and fall of the early Gupta Empire.
One of the remarkable achievements of the Guptas was the
reform of the Indian currency. The earliest Gupta coins,
those of Samudragupta, are based on the standard of the later
Kushan coins, i.e. the Roman standard. These coins weigh 1 18
to 122 grains. The Guptas also adopted the name Denarius
from Latin numismatics and converted it into the Indian
Dinar a. The standard was slightly changed during the reign
of Chandragupta II, when the Roman standard of 121 grains
was given up in favour of a new standard of 126 and 132
grains. The Roman standard was finally abandoned during
the reign of Skandagupta, who reverted to the ancient Indian
standard of the Suvarna of 146 grains. This standard re-
mained permanent till the overthrow of Sa^anka by Harsha-
varddhana after 619. The silver coins minted in Western
India at first followed the weight of the Scythian standard
of 32 grains, but during the reign of Skandagupta gradually
rose to the Indian standard of the Karshapana.
Much better known than the renaissance of Indian litera-
ture and currency is the renaissance of Indian art. The
increase in the material prosperity of the nations united under
one rule has left an indelible mark on the history of the plastic
art of the country. Indian sculpture shook off its subservience
FIRST INDIAN RENAISSANCE
183
to foreign traditions and motifs and asserted its personality.
The stereotyped copying of the Indo-Greek school of Gand-
hara, which characterized the intervening school of Mathura,
was abandoned in favour of a fresh naturalism. The new
schools of art characterized their schools of
production by the introduction Scul P ture *
of symmetry, perspective, and
natural proportion. The tradi-
tions of the Gandhara school
were partly preserved in the
representation of stories from
the life of Buddha, but the
artists of the new school intro-
duced fresh ideas while repre-
senting incidents of Puranic
mythology. The great school of
sculpture at Mathura gradually
declined and finally ceased to
exist in the beginning of the
sixth century. Its place in
Northern India was taken by
the schools of Benares and
Pataliputra. These two northern
schools became the parents of
three other mediaeval schools in
later years; namely, the Eastern
school of mediaeval sculpture
in Bengal and Bihar, the Chedl-
Chandella school of East-central
India, and the school of Dhara
in Malava.
The reorganization of the In-
dian Empire under the Guptas
led to the formation of a bureaucracy as efficient and as well
organized as the official system of Chanakya and Chandra- officials of
gupta Maurya. The gradations of these officials have not
been recorded in Indian literature, and we have to rely entirely
on epigraphical evidence. The names of the majority of the
officials are to be found in the seals discovered by Bloch
A Buddha Late Mathura School ot
Sculpture Gupta period (6~7th
century A.D )
l&t
HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL INDIA
and Spooner among the ruins of Vaiali and NSlanda. The
highest class of officials were the Mantrins and the Sachivas,
but the majority of them held the title of Kumar amatya.
The official system seems to have been inaugurated early in
the reign of the Emperor Samudragupta. The Allahabad
inscription of Samudragupta was composed by the Minister
The
Imperial
Council.
Seal of a Kum&rimfltya used in the 8th century by a descendant of a Gupta
official in Eastern Bengal
of Peace and War (Sandhi-vigrahikd), and the Judge (Maha-
dandanayaka), the Kumaramatya Harishena. The name of
Chandragupta IFs minister was Sikharasvamin, who was
also a Kumaramatya. His son Pjithivishena, too, was a
Kumaramatya. It appears now that the rank of the Kuma-
ramatya was held by almost all officers at the beginning of
their careers. Formerly scholars used to translate this term
as " the Prince's councillor ", but now it appears that the
title or the rank was held by all members of the Imperial
Council. Most probably all of them were ministers of the
second class. Prithivlshena was the minister (Mantriii) of
FIRST INDIAN RENAISSANCE 185
the Emperor KumSragupta I, but afterwards he became the
Commander-in-chief (Mahdbaladhikritd). There were several Grada-
gradations among the ministers who held the rank of Kuma-
ramatya. To the highest grade belonged those who were
equal in rank to the Emperor himself ($rl-Paramabhattaraka-
pddiya-kumdrdmdtya). Evidently all princes of the imperial
family were called Yuvardjas, and the heir-apparent was
called Yuvardja-bhaftdraka, because there are two classes of
Kumaramatyas who were regarded as Princes of the Empire.
To the second class of Kumaramatyas belonged those who
were held to be equal in rank to the heir-apparent (Yuvaraja-
bhaftdraka-pddtya-kumdrdmdtya). Those who were held to
be equal in rank to the younger princes appear to have be-
longed to the third class ( Yuvardja-pddtya-kumdramdtyas). To
the fourth class belonged ordinary Kumaramatyas. We have
here a gradation of officers corresponding to some extent to
the nobility of the early Roman Empire. The Kumaramatyas
were thus a class of high officials some of whom were equal in
rank to the Emperor himself, others to the heir-apparent,
while the third class held the same rank as the Princes of the
blood-royal. Other officers besides the Kumdrdmatya were Generals.
admitted to the rank of the Princes. The Commander-in-
chief of the army was equal in rank to the heir-apparent
(Yuvardja-bhatfdraka-pddtya). The next class of officials of
importance were the Uparikas, who were employed as pro- Uparikas,
vincial Governors. An Uparika named Chiratadatta was the
governor of Northern Bengal in the Gupta year 124 = 443,
during the reign of Kumaragupta I. Two Uparikas named
Brahmadatta and Jayadatta ruled the same province in 482
and at some later date during the reign of the Emperor Budha- J} 1 ^^*"
gupta. Both of them held the title of Maharaja in addition to Bengal.
the rank of Uparika. An officer of the rank of Kumdrdmatya
was appointed to rule over the Suwunga District in Eastern
Bengal, and later on, when his descendants became indepen-
dent, they continued for nearly five hundred years to use the
seal of the Kumdrdmatya received from the Imperial Secre-
tariat at Pataliputra in the fifth century. The minor officials Th
are also known from their seals discovered at Basarh (Vaiall) of the
Nalanda, The most important among them is the Master
i86 HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
General of Military Stores (Ranabhandagaradhtkarana), the
officer in charge of the moral conduct of the people of Tlra-
bhukti (Tlrdbhuktau Vinayasthiti-sthapaka). The existence
of such an official during the reign of the early Gupta emperors
is remarkable in Northern India. Most probably this class of
important official had succeeded the Dharmma-mahamatras of the Maurya
period.
With the rise of the Guptas, Brahmanism once more re-
asserted its supremacy. Seals of temples which are noted
even now for their sanctity have been discovered at Vaigall.
The most important among them is the seal of the Great
Temple of the Vishnupada at Gaya. This shrine appears to
have come into existence early in the fourth century, and
bears on it the emblems of Vishnu, viz. the mace, the wheel
and the symbols for the Sun (wheel) and the Moon (lotus).
Another important religious establishment which grew up
during the Gupta period was the temple of Siva, called
Religious Amratake^vara, at Benares. The most important Buddhist
1 " establishments of this period were great monasteries at Benares,
Bodh-Gaya,and Nalanda. The recent archaeological discoveries
at Nalanda show that the abbots of the monastery carried on
an extensive correspondence with kings all over India. Seals
of a sister of the Mahakshatrapa Rudrasena I of Saurashtra,
of King Bhaskaravarman of Assam and of the Emperor
Harshavardhana of Thane^vara have been found.
The emperors of the Gupta dynasty may also be credited
with the reorganization of Hindu society. Henceforth we no
longer hear of Buddhist Greeks or Hinduized Scythians; all
were incorporated in orthodox Hindu society. With the re-
ligious revival came a missionary zeal which converted the
Indian and the foreigner without any distinction to Vaishna-
vism. The incorporation of the Hinduized barbarians into the
different castes and sub-castes was regulated by the Gupta
monarchs. This gave rise to the modern caste system of
North-eastern India, which is essentially different from that
of Central, Southern, Western, or North-western India. In
Kashmir, Panjab, Sindh, Rajputana, and Malwa this earlier
reorganization of the caste system was dissolved by the influx
of the HQnas and Gurjaras, and therefore the caste systems of
NORTHERN DYNASTIES 187
these countries are totally different from that of Bengal,
Bihar, the United Provinces, and the eastern part of the
Central Provinces. In North-eastern India the new sub-
castes, which arose on account of the admission of the
Hinduized barbarians into Hindu society, were generally
grouped under the two lowest castes of the original Indo-
Aryan society, viz. the Vaisyas and the Sudras.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. E. PARGITER, The Dynasties of the Kali Age.
R. D. BANERJI, The Age of the Imperial Guptas.
CHAPTER III
THE NORTHERN DYNASTIES OF THE EARLY
MEDIAEVAL PERIOD
I. The Vakatakas
The most important dynasty of -India contemporaneous
with the early Guptas was that of the Vakatakas of Central
India and the Northern Deccan. Their inscriptions are found
over a wide area extending from Nachna Kuthara in the Extent of
Ajaygadh State, near Sutna, to Poona. The Vakatakas were
a powerful race of kings, and they ruled over Central India,
the Central Provinces, and the Northern Deccan for at least
eight generations. The dynasty was founded by a man named
Vindhyas'akti. His son Pravarasena I was the first king of note
and performed the horse-sacrifice. He was succeeded by his
grandson Rudrasena I, who married the daughter of Bhavanaga,
the king of the Bharasivas, a tribe of the Gangetic plains.
According to an inscription discovered in the Ajanta caves,
Prithivishena I, son of Rudrasena I, defeated the king of the
Kuntala country, i.e. the modern districts of Dharwar and* ***
North Kanara. His son Rudrasena II married Prabhavatl- n,th
gupta, the daughter of the emperor Chandragupta II, in the law of "
last quarter of the fourth century. This date proves that the
i88 HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL INDIA
Vakafaka kingdom must have been founded before the founda-
tion of *he empire of the early Guptas by Chandragupta I.
Rudrasena II must have died early, because we find the
Gupta princess ruling over the Vakafaka kingdom as the
regent for her minor son, the Yuvaraja Divakarasena. Prabha-
vatlgupta visited Srl^ailam, the famous shrine of Mahadeva
or oiva in the Karnul District of the Madras Presidency. She
reigned as regent for about thirteen years and was succeeded
by her second son Pravarasena II. During the latter 's reign
the Vakataka kingdom extended from Jubbulpur in the north
to the banks of the Bhlma in the south, and from Raipur in
the east to the Western Ghats in the west.
Pravarasena II was succeeded by his son Narendrasena,
who claims to have subdued the kings of Ko&la, Malava, and
Mekala. He was succeeded by his son Ppthivlshena II, whose
mother was the daughter of a king of the Kuntala country,
^ke success i n then seems to have passed on to a brother of
Narendrasena, whose son Devasena handed over the kingdom
to his son Harisena. The latter reigned in the beginning of the
sixth century, when the Hanas were wresting Malava from
the Guptas. He is said to have defeated the kings of Kuntala
(Northern Kanarese Districts), Avanti (Malwa), Kalinga
(Southern Orissa), Koala (Eastern Central Province), TrikUta
(Bundelkhand), Lata (Gujarat), and Andhra (the Northern
Telugu Districts). In the middle of the sixth century the
power of the Vakatakas was broken by the Kalatsuris or
Kalachuris, a southern people who founded a powerful state
in the Nasik and Aurangabad Districts.
II. The Hanas
Very little is known about the history of the Indian branch
of the Hanas. The earliest princes of this dynasty are no
doubt mentioned as the chiefs of the Ye-tha or the Epthalites,
who are called " white Huns " by Roman historians. The
history of the Hanas is to some extent preserved in Chinese
records, but that of the Indian branch is to be gleaned from
their inscriptions and coins. The first known Hana prince
of India is KhiAkhila. This king and his successors, Tora-
mana and Mihiragula, are mentioned in the histories of
NORTHERN DYNASTIES 189
Kashmir, and their coins have been found in that province
as well as in the Panjab. The inscriptions of the last two
chiefs have also been discovered at Gwalior and Eran.
The real date of the HUiia kings can be determined from the
inscriptions of the brothers Matjivishnu and Dhanyavishnu
discovered at Eran in Eastern Malava. In the Gupta year 165
= 484-485, a Garuda-dhvaja or Staff of Vishnu was dedicated
by both of these brothers. But later on, in the first year of the
reign of Toramana, Matrivishnu had passed away, and his
younger brother dedicated an image of the Boar Incarnation of
Vishnu, thus proving that the conquest of Malava by Toramarta
occurred probably a few years after 484. It is therefore quite
probable that the first year of Toramana corresponds with the
year 191 of the Gupta era, i.e. 510^-51 1. The first and second
Huna wars can therefore be relegated to the reign of Khinkhila,
who can be taken to have been a contemporary of the emperor wars of
Skandagupta. Earlier writers on this subject used to think
that Toramana was a contemporary of Skandagupta, but
recent discoveries have proved beyond doubt that Skandagupta
died soon after the second HQna war, and it is possible that
Toramana did not conquer Malava before 511, or more than
forty years after the death of Skandagupta. The first two HQna Pe3a? r
wars were events contemporaneous with the Huna invasion of
Persia. The Persian king Firoz was killed in a battle with
the Httnas in 484. The collapse of the Persian opposition
enabled the HQnas to devote their entire energy to the sub-
version of the Gupta Empire. The Scythian feudatories of
the Guptas in Afghanistan and the Panjab were very easily
overthrown. The rich monasteries of the province of Gan-
dhara and the great university of Taksha&la were destroyed,
never to recover their ancient glory. Toramaria issued copper Jjf Jjjjf
coins which bear the first two syllables of his name. The JJJj} m f ttd "
majority of these coins are found in the Western Panjab and Temples
Kashmir. He was succeeded by his son Mihirakula or dhira."
Mihiragula, a name distinctly Persian in sound.
Indian tradition represents Mihirakula as a tyrant. At last,
his cruelty having become unbearable, the Indian princes
combined against him under Baladitya, King of Magadha, and
* This is merely a theory.
190
HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL INDIA
Hunas
over-
thrown in
Central
India.
Inscrip-
tions of
Mihira-
kula.
Absorp-
tion of
HCknas in
India.
Ya^odharman, King of Malava. They obtained a complete
victory over the Huna king and compelled him to retire to
Kashmir. It is said that Mihirakula was taken prisoner but
was set at liberty by Baladitya. This battle was fought some
time before 533, and destroyed the influence of the Hunas in
Central India. Mihirakula continued to rule over some parts
of India in 547, as he is mentioned by the Christian monk Cos-
mas Indicopleustes as Gollas, a white Hun king, who was the
lord of India and exacted tribute by oppression. 1 The provinces
of North-western India and Afghanistan remained permanently
in the occupation of the Hunas till these barbarian tribes inter-
married extensively with the older inhabitants and finally
produced the Rajput tribes of the later mediaeval period.
Mihirakula is known from two inscriptions. One of these
was discovered inside the fort at Gwalior, and from it we
learn that he was the son of Toramana and ruled over Northern
India for at least fifteen years. The second inscription was
discovered at Kura in the Salt Range of the Panjab, and records
the construction of a Buddhist monastery for the monks of
the MahlSasaka school.
The later history of the Huna chiefs and their Indianization
is very obscure. The Panjab was in the occupation of the Hunas
even at the time of the accession of Harshavardhana in 606.
Kama, son of Gangeya, the celebrated conqueror of Northern
and Southern India, of the Kalachuri or Haihaya family of
Dahala, married a Huna princess named Avalladevi. After
the eleventh century the Hunas disappeared from Indian
history as a separate race or tribe.
III. The Maitrakas of Valabhi *
After the death of Skandagupta nothing is known of the
history of Kathiawad or Gujarat for some time. Towards the
end of the fifth century Bhatarka, a general of the Gupta
Empire, obtained possession of the peninsula of Kathiawad
and founded an independent kingdom which lasted till the
end of the eighth century.
1 1 nis is merely a matter of conjecture, and historians do not agree as to the dates.
The following books should be consulted for opposite views: V. A. Smith's Early
History of India (4th edition), pp. 335-7.
* See p. 308.
NORTHERN DYNASTIES 191
Bhatarka and his eldest son Dharasena I were content with
the modest title of Senapati, or general, but three other sons
of Bha$arka assumed the title Maharaja. Dharapafta, the
youngest son, was succeeded by his son Guhasena, who Earlier
ascended the throne in the middle of the sixth century. Guha- vaiatfh?.
sena, his son Dharasena II, and his grandson Siladitya I
were content to call themselves Samantas or Maha-samantas.
Imperial titles were assumed for the first time by Dharasena
IV some time before 645, i.e. during the reign of Harshavard-
dhana of ThanesVar.
After Siladitya I the succession passed to Dharasena III,
his younger brother's son, and then to Dhruvasena II, younger
brother of the former. This prince was hard pressed by Har-
shavarddhana. At this time the Maitraka kings had conquered
Malava, and after the war with Harsha, Dhruvasena was
married to the daughter of that emperor. During the wars
with the kings of Thanesvar, the Maitraka king Dhruvasena
II received great help from the Gurjara king Dadda II (sur-
named Prasantaraga) of Broach. After the death of Harsha-
varddhana, the Maitrakas became powerless, and though they
continued to assume the Imperial titles, they became de-
pendent on their feudatories. Dharasena IV, son of Dhruva-
sena II, conquered Broach before 649. His kingdom in-
cluded both Kathiawad and Central Gujarat. After his death
the crown passed on to Dhruvasena III, a grandson of
Siladitya I. This prince held Kapadvanj in Central Gujarat,
and was succeeded by his elder brother Kharagraha II.
The next kings were Siladitya III, a nephew of Dhruva-
sena III and Kharagraha II, in the middle of the seventh
century. The four successors of Siladitya III were all named
Siladitya, whose kingdom was confined to a portion of Kathia-
wad and Northern Gujarat. Siladitya IV is known to have
reigned from 691 to 701; his grandson Siladitya V was reign-
ing in 722, and his great-grandson Siladitya VI in 760. The
last known king of this dynasty is Siladitya VII, who was
alive and reigning in 766. Shortly afterwards the kingdom of JJJ^SiK
Valabhi was overthrown and its capital destroyed by Arab
raiders from Sindh.
The Maitraka kings of Valabhi issued a silver coinage in
192
HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
imitation of the silver coins of Chandragupta II, but the
legends on these coins have not been read as yet. The type
was adopted by the Rashtrakutas of Malkhed, and one Krishna-
raja of that dynasty issued silver coins of this type on which
his name is perfectly legible.
Ruins of Siva Temple at Bhumra, Nagod State (6th century A.D.)
The
Copper
Plate
Grants.
IV. The Kings of Uchchakalpa
Uchchakalpa is the old name of the northern part of the
district of Jubbulpore including the states of Maihar and Nagod
of the Baghelkhand Political Agency of Central India. The
kings who ruled over this province were originally feudatories
of the Vakajakas. Two kings of this dynasty issued grants of
land inscribed on copper plates which are dated, but there is
some difference of opinion among scholars about the era used
in these dates. The dates of Jayanatha, the earlier king, are
174 and 177; if referred to the Gupta era these dates are
NORTHERN DYNASTIES 193
equivalent to 493 and 496, but the late Dr. Kielhorn was of Thelr
opinion that they should be referred to the Kalachurl-Chedi i>ate.
era, which began in 248, or seventy-one years earlier. Kielhorn
therefore regarded the Uchchakalpa dynasty as not belonging to
the group of the feudatories of the Gupta Empire. Jayanatha fi
was succeeded by his son Sarvanatha, whose dates range from tha.
the year 193 to 214, perhaps equivalent to 508 to 533. The
majority of inscriptions of this dynasty are on copper plates
discovered in the deserted city of Khoh, six miles to the west
of Unchehra, the chief town of the small state of Nagod in
Central India. The village of Bhumra, on the top of a plateau
thirteen miles to the north-west of Unchehra, was the dividing Boundary
line between the kingdom of Uchchakalpa and that of the SJJJmrii.
Parivrajakas. From a boundary pillar set up during the reign
of Maharaja Hastin we learn that the Parivrajaka king of that
name was the contemporary of Sarvanatha of Uchchakalpa.
The kingdom of Uchchakalpa came very suddenly to an end
about 550.
V. The Parivrajaka Maharajas
The Parivrajaka chiefs were feudatories of the early Gupta
Empire, and in their inscriptions they used the Gupta era
and referred to it as such. Five generations of chiefs of this
family are known, of whom the last two only issued grants of
land. Hastin reigned for nearly half a century (475-511) and Maharaja
was a contemporary of the Uchchakalpa Maharaja Sarvanatha,
who rei'gned during the years 508-533. He practically asserted
his independence though he did not assume Imperial titles.
He issued small gold coins of the type of the South Indian His Coin*.
" Fanam ". No other feudatories of the Gupta Empire,
except the later chiefs of Valabhi, dared to assume the Imperial
right of issuing coins in their own name.
Sankshobha, the son of Hastin, issued a grant of land in
528. The fall of the Parivrajaka chiefs as well as of the kings of
Uchchakalpa was probably due to the sudden rise of Ya&>-
dharman of Malava.
(E658) H
i 9 4 HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL INDIA
VI. Yasodharman
This chief is known from three inscriptions discovered in
the vicinity of the city of Mandasor, the ancient Das'apura,
which was the capital of Western Malava in the early mediaeval
Ya*od- period. Nothing is known about his antecedents. He claims
defeats' to have crushed Mihirakula and overrun the entire country
from the banks of the River Lauhitya (Brahmaputra) and the
hill called Mahendra (Ganjam District) in the east to the
Western Ocean, and from the Himalayas in the north to the
His Date. Vindhya Mountains. Yasodharman is known, from one inscrip-
tion, to have been reigning in the Vikrama year 589 = 533.
An earlier generation of writers supposed that Yasodharman
formed a coalition with the emperor Narasimhagupta Bala-
ditya and defeated Mihirakula at Kahror in Western Panjab
ThecT oi a b ut: 5 2 ^' This theory was based on Indian tradition as
the Defeat recorded by Yuan Chwang more than a century afterwards.
lianas, But the recent discoveries of the inscriptions of Kumaragupta
II and Budhagupta at Sarnath have proved beyond doubt that
the emperor Narasimhagupta Baladitya ceased to reign in
by 8 Jaraatii 473. The theory is therefore no longer tenable, but it is quite
tim. rip " possible that Yasodharman allied himself with the chief named
Baladitya who is mentioned in the Sarnath inscription of
Prakataditya. The same chief is probably mentioned in the
Deo-Banarak inscription of Jivitagupta II. We do not know
anything about his successors. Probably some of them
succeeded to the kingdom of Malava, but his empire passed
into the hands of other people. In the north the Guptas
of Magadha, the Maukharis of Kanauj, and the Varddhanas
of Thanes'ar occupied the country between the Satlej and the
Brahmaputra, and the vast empire of Yasodharman melted
away as quickly as it had been formed.
VII. The Guptas of Magadha *
Govindagupta, the younger brother of Emperor Kumara-
gupta I, was the ruler of the western provinces of the Gupta
Empire under the latter. An inscription referring to him has
See p. 309.
NORTHERN DYNASTIES 195
been discovered in Malava, from which we know that this
prince was alive in the Malava- Vikrama year 524 = 467.
His descendants selected Magadha, the home province of the
ancient Guptas, as the sphere of their activities. His son
Harshagupta and his grandson Jivitagupta I most probably
served under Skandagupta and Budhagupta. His great-
grandson Kumaragupta III is said to have fought with the
Maukhari king I^anavarman. At this time the Maukharis
were at the height of their power. Iganavarman was reigning
in the Vikrama year 611 = 554. This date is one of the fixed
points in the chronology of the later Guptas of Magadha.
Damodaragupta, the son and successor of Kumaragupta Damo-
III, also fell in a battle with the Maukharis. He was succeeded
by his son Mahasenagupta, who turned the tide of victory in war. kbarl
favour of his own dynasty and reconquered the whole of
Northern Bengal. He defeated Susthitavarman of KamarGpa,
or Assam, on the banks of the Brahmaputra, and re-established
the former glory of the Gupta Empire. His sister Mahasena-
gupta was married to Adityavarddhana of Thane^var, and her
son Prabhakaravarddhana obtained supreme power in Northern war.
India during the closing years of the sixth century.
Most probably Sasarika was the eldest son of Mahasena-
gupta. This prince started issuing gold coins of a new type
in his own name and tried to restore the glory of the empire
of the early Guptas. He combined with Devagupta of Malava,
and advanced upon the Maukhari stronghold of Kanauj.
The ruling Maukhari chief, Grahavarman, who had married
Rajyasri, the daughter of Prabhakaravarddhana, was defeated
and killed by Devagupta, and Kanauj was occupied. At this Kanauj.
time Prabhakaravarddhana died and was succeeded by his
eldest son Rajyavarddhana. Before $aanka could join
Devagupta, the latter had been defeated by Rajyavarddhana, 8? of" 1
who in turn was defeated and killed by Sa^anka. Rajyavard-
dhana was succeeded by his younger brother Harshavarddhana. n.
This young prince succeeded in winning over Madhava-
gupta, the younger brother of Sa^anka (?), and in forming Coalltlon
a coalition with King Bhaskaravarman of Assam. 2aanka against
was defeated and expelled from North-eastern India. The
current accounts about his death heard by Yuan Chwang in
HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL INDIA
allies him-
self with
Pulikesin
II.
MBdhava-
gupta.
Aditya-
VaishQava
Monastery
at Aphsad.
Konade-
vl's Tank
at Man-
dfira.
The Last
Kings.
Magadha are incorrect. aanka was reigning over Orissa in
619, i.e. thirteen years after the accession of Harsha, and the
latter 's attempts to destroy ^a^anka's power ended in failure.
Saganka was helped by Pulikes'm II of the Chalukya dynasty
of Badami, and Harsha was defeated in the southern part of
Orissa.
After the expulsion of Saganka from Eastern India, the king-
dom of Magadha fell to the lot of Madhavagupta, who reigned
as a feudatory of the kings of Thane^var. His son Adityasena
assumed Imperial titles and became independent after the
death of Harsha in 647. Adityasena was alive in the year
66 of the Harsha era, i.e. 672. Like his ancestors he was a
Vaishnava. His mother, Queen Srlmatl, erected a monastery
at Aphsad in the Gaya District, close to a temple of Vishnu
built by Adityasena. His wife, Queen Konadevi, excavated
another tank on top of the Mandara Hill in the Bhagalpur
District of Bihar and Orissa. This tank is to be found at the
foot of the steps leading to the top of the hill and is now
called Papaharinl.
The subsequent history of the Guptas of Magadha is very
obscure. Adityasena was succeeded by his son Devagupta
and his grandson Vishnugupta. His great-grandson Jlvita-
gupta II was the last king of the Gupta dynasty, and after
his death Eastern India became a prey to anarchy. Jivita-
gupta II made a grant of land to the temple of the god
Varunasvamin at Deo-Banarak in the Shahabad District of
Bihar. Eastern India was overrun by the neighbouring
princes after the death of Jivitagupta II.
Conquest
ofHvsra-
VIII. The Maukharis of Kanauj
The Maukharis are a people of great antiquity and existed
as a clan or tribe in the second century B.C. The founder of
the dynasty was a chief named Harivarman. His son Aditya-
varman was born of his queen named Jayasvaminl. Aditya-
varman married Harshagupta, who was evidently the daughter
or sister of Harshagupta of Magadha. The latter was suc-
ceeded by his son I^varavarman, who defeated the king of the
Andhras and advanced towards the south-west as far as
NORTHERN DYNASTIES 197
Dhara in Malava and Raivataka Hill (Girnar). A reference to
the Andhras is also to be found in the Haraha inscription of
I^anavarman of 554. These Andhras appear to be the people
of the Telugu country who lived on the borders of the Mauk-
hari kingdom.
I^anavarman, the son and successor of I^varavarman, de-
feated Kumaragupta III of Magadha and advanced in the ofE?ana- s
east as far as the sea coast of Bengal. In the south he defeated v man '
the Sulikas of Northern Orissa and the Andhras of the war with
Telugu country. On the west the Maukharis carried on a j. Gup "
long war with the Huna chiefs of the Panjab. Sarvavarman,
the son and successor of lLna varman, defeated and killed
King Damodaragupta of Magadha in the east and also de-
feated the Hunas on the west.
There is a gap in the chronology of the Maukhari dynasty
after Sarvavarman and Anantavarman. A king named AvantI-
varman ruled over the country to the west of the Son, but
his exact relationship to the last two kings cannot be de-
termined. Avantlvarman's son Grahavannan married Raj- Graha-
l, the daughter of Prabhakaravarddhana of ThaneSvar. He
was killed by King Devagupta of Malava during the reign
of his brother-in-law Rajyavarddhana. The Maukharis
disappeared as a local dynasty of Northern India with the
rise of Harshavarddhana.
IX. The Kings of Kamarupa
Very few records of the kings of KamarQpa have come
down to us, and the earliest mention of them is found in the
Nidhanpur plates of Bhaskaravarman. This Bhaskaravarman
was the contemporary of Harshavardhana, and at the time
of the latter's accession he was only a Kumara. His grant
enumerates a dynasty consisting of eleven kings, beginning
with Pushyavarman Of these eleven kings Bhaskaravarman Ancestor*.
himself, and his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather
are mentioned in the Harsha-charita of Bariabhatta. In the
inscription of Adityasena, Bhaskara 's father Susthitavarman
is mentioned as the contemporary of Mahasenagupta of
Magadha.
198 HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
Nothing is known about the remaining rulers of this
dynasty. They claimed descent from the Asura king Naraka
through his son Bhagadatta, who was a contemporary of
Duryodhana of the Mahabharata. The part which Bhaskara-
varman played in Harsha's campaign in Eastern India will be
His Con- narrate d m tne next chapter. The plates which inform us of
quest of these particulars were issued from Karnasuvarna (in Western
Bengal. Bengal), and according to Yuan Chwang that town was the
capital of Sasanka. The grant referred to on the plates was
made, apparently, in the reign of Harsha (606-649). Of King
Bhaskara's successors we know nothing.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
JOUVEAU DUBREUIL, History of the Deccan.
F. KIELHORN, " List of Inscriptions of Northern India ",
Epigr aphia Indica y Vol. V, Appendix, and Vol. VII,
Appendix i.
V. A. SMITH, Early History of India (4th ed.), chap. xii.
D. R. BHANDARKAR, " List of Inscriptions of Northern India "
Epigraphia Indica, XXI, XXII.
CHAPTER IV
NORTHERN INDIA IN THE BEGINNING OF THE
SEVENTH CENTURY
Harshavarddhana
In the closing decades of the sixth century the chiefs of
ThanesVar or SthanvIsVara, near Kurukshetra, became very
powerful. They succeeded in curbing the power of the Mauk-
haris and interposing a powerful buffer state between the
The Kings kingdom of Kanauj and the territories of the Hflnas to the
" west. Adityavarddhana of this family married the princess
NORTHERN INDIA IN SEVENTH CENTURY 199
Mahasenagupta of Magadha, whose father Damodaragupta
had been killed in battle while contending with the Maukhari
king Sarvavarman. His son Prabhakaravarddhana assumed
Imperial titles and succeeded in imposing his suzerainty upon
the whole of Northern India. He had two sons and a daughter.
The last was married to Grahavarman, son of King Avanti-
varman of Kanauj, of the Maukhari dynasty.
Early in the beginning of the seventh century we find
Prabhakaravarddhana sending an army to the northern regions
in order to chastise the Hunas. This army was placed under
the command of his eldest son Rajyavarddhana. A second
army, under the king's younger son Harsha, followed as a
reserve. When the princes were absent, Prabhakaravarddhana
fell ill, and Harsha, receiving this news, returned hastily to
court. Prabhakaravarddhana died shortly afterwards and was
succeeded by his eldest son Rajyavarddhana, on the latter 's
return from the Huna campaign. The death of Prabhakara-
varddhana acted as a signal to subordinate princes on all sides
to assume independence. The princes of the Imperial Gupta
dynasty were still ruling in different parts of the country.
The king of Malava, Devagupta, hastily formed an alliance Devaaupta
with King aanka of Bengal and fell upon the kingdom of
Kanauj, then under the rule of Grahavarman, who was killed,
while his wife Rajyasri was imprisoned. The capture of Kanauj
was probably due to a surprise, as Devagupta attacked it while
Sasanka was still at a distance. As soon as news of the murder
of Grahavarman and the imprisonment of Rajyasri was re- campaign
ceived at Thanesvar, Rajyavarddhana advanced with a mobile Gangetic
column of ten thousand horse, leaving the infantry and the Doab *
elephants in the charge of Harsha. The former easily succeeded
in driving out Devagupta, but was in turn defeated by Saganka
of Bengal, who had arrived in the interval. In a duel between
Sa^afika and Rajyavarddhana, the latter was killed. Banabhatta,
the paid historiographer of the court of Thanesvar, denounces
this duel in very strong terms, and modern historians have
followed him in calling the slaying of Rajyavarddhana a
treacherous murder. But in the two grants of Harshavard- Defeat and
dhana the event is correctly described as a duel. Rajyavard- R&jya-
dhar^a }s said in these two inscriptions to have given up his van * n *
200 HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL INDIA
life in the house or the camp of the enemy, according to dictates
of law (Dharm-anurodhena). Harsha did not assume the
crown immediately after the death of Rajyavarddhana.
According to the Chinese historical work named Fang-chth,
Harsha administered the kingdom jointly with his widowed
sister Rajyas'rl till 611. Subsequently when Harsha assumed
Imperial titles an era was reckoned from the date of Rajya-
varddhana 's death, and denominated the era of Sri-Harsha.
This era is so called by the Musalman traveller Al-Blruni.
Immediately after assuming kingship Harsha advanced towards
Campaign Kanauj and succeeded in rescuing his sister, who had escaped
to the Vindhya Hills where she was in hiding. The details of
his campaign against Sasanka have not been recorded. Evi-
dently it was of long duration, and at first Harsha could make
very little headway against his powerful opponent.
The true history of the eastern war of Harsha can be gleaned
only from contemporary records. Before beginning his cam-
paign in Eastern India, Harsha took the precaution of allying
himself with the kings of Kamarupa, the hereditary enemies
of the Guptas of Magadha. Susthitavarman, who had been
defeated by Mahasenagupta, was succeeded by his eldest
Kin ^ of e son Supratishthitavarman, but the real power fell to the
Kama- prince Bhaskaravarman, a younger brother of the king. The
kings of KamarQpa cherished a deep-rooted hatred of the
Guptas of Magadha, and Bhaskaravarman sent an embassy to
Thanesvar under a reliable officer named Hamsavega. Harsha
allied himself with the king of Kamarupa and received
valuable presents. Sa^anka was thus attacked from both
flanks and compelled to retire from Magadha. At this time
another traitor appeared in his camp. Madhavagupta, who
ofMagad- was most probably his younger brother, joined Harsha, and
Bengal, his defection compelled Sa^anka to leave Bengal and Bihar
for Orissa. The kingdom of Sa^anka extended from the banks
of the River Son to Southern Orissa. We find that thirteen
years after the death of Rajyavarddhana, SaSanka was still
ruling on the eastern coast and was recognized as suzerain
by Madhavavarman II of the Sailodbhava family of the
Kongoda District (Ganjam).
Throughout his reign Sa&nka continued to be a thorn in the
NORTHERN INDIA IN SEVENTH CENTURY 201
side of Harsha. He was never completely subjugated. After gaWnkft , s
his defeat in Bengal, Sas'anka allied himself with the Chalukya Alliance
king Pulikes'in II of Badami, who defeated Harsha on the ketin 11. "
eastern coast some time before 634. Harsha was repeatedly
compelled to invade the Ganjam District, which in the seventh
century was called the Kongoda mandala. In 642 he had just campaign
returned home after a long campaign there. Yuan Chwang * j^
records this when telling us of his own invitation to Assam,
as guest of Bhaskaravarman, on the eve of his departure for
China.
Harsha tried to penetrate into Southern India by another
road. He advanced as far as the banks of the River Narmada, Har8ha t s
but on the Khandesh side of that river the fords were strongly campaign
guarded by the Chalukyas under Pulikesin II, and Harsha 's western
attempts to conquer Southern India were once more foiled. India '
On the western coast he invaded the kingdom of Valabhi in the
peninsula of Kathiawad, and Dhruvasena II, the king, was com-
pelled to fly to Broach. The Gurjara king Dadda II (Prasanta-
raga) of Broach allied himself with Pulikesin II and reinstated
Dhruvasena II. Harsha gave one of his daughters in marriage
to the latter and retired. Malava and Kathiawad were thus not Extent of
included in his kingdom. The whole of Bengal was temporarily
occupied by King Bhaskaravarman of Assam, and Madhava-
gupta of Magadha ruled over Bihar. The actual kingdom of
Harsha therefore extended from the banks of the River Son to
the Eastern Panjab.
In 641 Harsha sent to China an ambassador who returned
in 643 with a Chinese mission. This mission remained in
India till 645. Harsha died in 647, leaving no heir to inherit
his kingdom. After his death the kingdom of Kanauj fell to
his cousin Bhandl, the son of his mother's brother. Taking Death of
advantage of the anarchy which followed the great king's
death, Arjuna, one of Harsha 's ministers, attacked the Chinese
embassy and plundered it. Wang-hiuen-tse, the head of the pl h|
Chinese mission, fled to Nepal and brought back a Tibetan g n
army with which he captured Arjuna and took him a prisoner Mission
to China.
Harsha spent the whole of his youth in constant warfare.
No special praise is devoted to him in any Indian work except
(E558) H
202
HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL INDIA
Materials
for the
History
of the
Period.
Harsha'8
Character,
The Quin-
Qoennial
Afsem-
bliea
his incomplete life by his court poet Banabhatta. In his later
days he turned religious and, like all Indian kings, spent huge
sums of money on religious charities. For this munificence
he is praised very lavishly by Yuan Chwang. A good deal of
light is thrown on the state of India in the seventh century
by the records of the Chinese traveller Yuan Chwang. Yuan
Chwang wrote an account of India, called the Si-yu-ki, and
his friend Hwui Li wrote his biography after his death. Both
of these works contain detailed and interesting remarks about
the state of India, its geography, history, condition of the
people, trade routes, and the foreign relations of its kings.
A certain amount of information regarding the early history
of Harsha and his period is also available from the incomplete
prose-poem of Banabhatta, entitled the Harsha-charita. The
genealogy of the dynasty can be obtained from the seals
of Harsha discovered at Sonpat and Nalanda. Two grants
of Harsha have been discovered, which supply the name of
that king of Malava who killed Grahavarman.
Harsha himself was a man of tireless energy. He moved
quickly from place to place, and stayed at his capital during
the rainy season only. Like Asoka, Harsha became a Buddhist
monk in his old age. He led the life of a devout Buddhist,
and enforced the prohibitions of the Buddhist law with very
great strictness. He tried to copy As*oka to a very large extent.
Rest-houses were built on the roads, and physicians were
stationed in them. In spite of Harsha 's patronage the Bud-
dhist religion was then on the decline. He himself wor-
shipped Siva, Surya, and Buddha with equal devotion.
Harsha held quinquennial assemblies at Prayaga or Alla-
habad, and Yuan Chwang was present at one of these held
in 643. They were attended by all feudatory chiefs and nearly
half a million people, and lasted for nearly three months. On
the opening day an image of Buddha was worshipped. On
the second and third days Siva and SQrya were worshipped.
On the fourth day ten thousand Buddhists received costly
gifts, and during the following twenty days gifts were dis-
tributed among the Brahmanas. The next ten days were
devoted to the distribution of similar gifts to the Jains.
Yuan Chwang records that with the exception of Harsha 's
NORTHERN INDIA IN SEVENTH CENTURY zo 3
elephants and military accoutrements, which were necessary
for maintaining order and protecting the royal estate, nothing
was retained. The king gave away his ornaments and jewellery
and even his clothes. Finally he begged second-hand garments
from his sister Rajya^ri and, having donned them, worshipped
Buddha.
Yuan Chwang left India shortly after the assembly of 643,
and the sources of the history of the period are thereafter
very scanty. The empire founded by Harsha was not con-
solidated even at the time of his death. The great feudatory
chiefs assumed independence immediately after his decease.
Northern India became divided into a number of petty states
and relapsed into that state into which it had fallen after the
decline of the early Gupta Empire. Harsha was a great patron Harsha '
of literature and a poet of no mean order. He composed Attain^
three dramas called the Nagdnandam, the Prtyadartika, and ment8<
the Ratnavall. The poet Rajasekhara states that a poet called
Bhasa wrote the Priyadarsika and sold it to Harsha. The
commentary of Nagoji Bhatta on the Kavya-prakasa contains
a similar account. The poet Dhavaka also is said to have
sold the authorship of his work to Harsha. Both statements are
unreliable. Harsha was a patron of Bana, whose great works,
the Kadambarl and the Harsha- charita, hold high places in
Sanskrit literature. Harsha was also the patron of the poet HIS Pat-
Bhartrihari, and Bana's brother-in-law, the poet Mayura, is JJ^| e of
also said to have lived at his court Very few monuments ture.
built by Harsha or belonging to his reign have been dis-
covered, and we do not know anything of the state of sculp-
ture, painting, and art in general in the seventh century.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WAITERS, On Yuan Chwang, Vols. I and II.
Harshacharita, translated by Cowell and Thomas.
R. K. MOOKERJI, Harsha (Rulers of India Series).
*V. A. SMITH, Early History of India (4th ed.), chap. xiii.
204 HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
CHAPTER V
THE SOUTHERN DYNASTIES OF THE
EARLY MEDIEVAL PERIOD
In the beginning of the sixth century the history of Southern
India assumed a definite form. Just as the mediaeval history
of Northern India begins with the rise of the early Guptas in
the fourth century, so the mediaeval history of Southern
India begins with the decline of the Pallavas and the rise of
the Chalukyas of Badami.
I. The Pallavas
According to some scholars, the Pallavas of Southern India
were a people of northern origin and were most probably
the same as the Pahlavas of the inscriptions of Rudradaman I .
Origin of Very little is known about their migrations from the north
YM. 1Ia ~ t tne south, where they established a powerful kingdom on
the eastern coast. They are mentioned in the Pandu-Lena cave
inscription of the nineteenth year of the Satavahana king
Vasishthiputra Pujumavi. It is now generally accepted that
the power of the Satavahanas came to an end in the first half
of the third century, and Professor Jouveau-Dubreuil is
inclined to place that event in 236. The same scholar is also
inclined to think that the Pallavas obtained their kingdom in
6itava- Southern India by intermarriages with the Satavahana kings,
and that they reigned at Amaravati, in the Krishna district
on the eastern coast, in the first half of the third century.
The earliest known Pallava kings are known to have reigned
at Kanchi, modern Conjeeveram, to the south of the Krishna.
Am A king named Sivaskandavarman was reigning at Kanchi, and
Sivatkan- ..... . . . . r i r i i
davarman his kingdom extended over nearly the whole of the Southern
Deccan. It included the province of Satahani, i.e. the home
province of the Satavahanas. This proves that the Pallava
kingdom extended from Amaravati, on the eastern coast, to
Bellary, near Bijapur. Another inscription discovered in the
Guntur district mentions a king named Vijayaskandavarman,
SOUTHERN DYNASTIES 205
his son Vijayabuddhavarman, and his wife Charudevi, who vijaya-
made a gift to the temple of Narayana at Dalura. Sivaskanda-
varman and Vijayaskandavarman appear to have been ruling in
the third century.
Early in the fourth century we find Vishnugopa as the King
of Kafichi. He fought with Samudragupta. Very little is
known about the Pallava kings of Kaiichi, but from Sanskrit The Pai-
inscriptions we know that a Pallava dynasty ruled in the Telugu
country over the district of Karmma, which, later on, was
included in the kingdom of the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengl.
Six generations of kings of this dynasty are known to have ruled
in the fifth century.
In the sixth century we find, reigning at Kafichi, a new
dynasty which begins with a king named Simhavishnu, who
conquered the Chola country and invaded South-eastern and Kaflchl
South-western India. He was succeeded by his son Mahen-
dravarman I, who was defeated by the early Chalukya king J
of Badami. This king appears to have been a Jain at first and
to have been converted to the Saiva cult by the saint Appar. His Con-
When the northern provinces of his kingdom were conquered Appar. y
by Pulikegin II, Mahendravarman I retired to the Tamil
districts. He was succeeded by Narasimha I, who de-
feated Pulikesln II of Badami in three pitched battles and
destroyed the Chalukya capital at Badami. This king is also n *
said to have conquered the island of Ceylon and defeated the
kings of the Pandya, Kerala, and the Chola countries. At this
time Mahavalipuram became the base of the Pallava navy, south
i i i n i i j i IP India and
and a second expedition was sent to Ceylon in the second half Ceylon,
of the seventh century. Narasimha I was succeeded by his
son Mahendra II, about whom we know nothing. He was
succeeded by his son ParamesVaravarman I, who assumed vmvar-~
the title of Vikramaditya after defeating Vikramaditya I of m<ml -
the Chalukya dynasty, in the battle of Peruvalanallur in the
Trichinopoly District. Vikramaditya I had invaded the Chola
country and camped on the banks of the River Kaveri. The
southern kingdoms combined against him and the king of
Ceylon joined them. He retired discomfited. ParamesVara-
varman was succeeded by his son Narasimha II, also named
Rajasirhha, who married a lady named Rangapataka. Some of
206 HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL INDIA
the temples at Kanchi were built during the reign of this king.
Narasirhha II was succeeded by two of his sons, Para-
mesVara II and Mahendra III. Paramesvara II most probably
varan, built the temple of Vaikunfha-Perumal at Kanchi, and the
building of the Kailasanatha temple at the same place is
Nandivar- ^^ attributed to him. He was succeeded by Nandivarman,
who defeated the eastern Chalukyan king, Vishnuvarddhana
III of VengI, and subdued the kings of the Savaras and the
Nishadas. This king reigned for at least fifty years. The
Pallava kings who followed Nandivarman are known as the
Ganga-Pallavas. Hultzsch and Venkayya take them to belong
to a separate family altogether, but Professor Jouveau-Dubreuil
holds that the first Ganga-Pallava king, Dantivarman, was a
direct descendant of Simhavarman.
II. Early Chalukyas of Badami l *
Before the rise of the early Chalukyas, Western India was
divided among the Kadambas, the Nalas, and the Mauryas.
Pulikes'in I became the king of a small tract of country to
the south of the River Krishna. He belonged originally to a
place called Indukanti and migrated to Badami, a place in
the southern part of the modern district of Bijapur. This
Badami. district most probably belonged to the Kadambas, from whom
it was wrested in the middle of the sixth century. Accord-
ing to the inscription of his son, Pulikes'in I performed the
Genea- horse-sacrifice. Like the early Guptas of Northern India, the
theChfi- early Chalukyas were orthodox Hindus, and had as their
lukyas. crest the image of the Boar (Vardha) incarnation of Vishnu.
In later times, when they had spread all over the Deccan,
the Brahmanas invented a special genealogy for them.
Puiike- Pulikes'in I married DurlabhadevI of the Batpura family,
* l0 * and his power was confined to the surrounding country be-
Kirtivar- tw ^^ n tne Krishna and the Malaprabha. He was succeeded
man i. by n j s eldest son Klrtivarman I in 566. This prince laid the
foundations of the subsequent greatness of the Chalukyas.
He overran the whole of the eastern coast as far as Bengal
in the north and the Pandya and Chola countries in the
1 Also called the Western Chalukyas of Badami See p. 316
SOUTHERN DYNASTIES 207
extreme south. In these regions he claims to have conquered
the Magadha, Vafiga, Anga, Kalinga, Ganga, Dravida,
Chola, and Pandya countries. On the western coast he
conquered Banavase (northern part of the Mysore State),
Mushika (southern part of the Travancore State), Kerala
(the Malabar coast), and destroyed the kingdoms of the
Nalas (Bellary and Karnul), the Mauryas of Northern Konkan,
and the Kadambas (Belgaum and Dharwar Districts). Kirti-
varman I married a princess of the Sendraka family. The
date of his accession is fixed by the statements in the long
inscription of his younger brother Mangalesa in cave No. IV
Badami. This inscription was incised in 578, which corre-
sponded to the twelfth year of his reign.
Klrtivarman I left two sons, but he was succeeded by his
younger brother Mangalesa in 596. The principal event of
Mangalesa 's reign was the conquest of the northern part of lesa.
the Deccan plateau, which was being ruled by the Kalatsuris
or Kalachurls. During the lifetime of his elder brother,
Mangalesa excavated a large hall and temple for the family
deity, Vishnu, on the hillside below the citadel of Badami.
Mangalesa was killed during a war with his nephew Pulike&n his e y
II, while trying to secure the succession for his own son. In
his old age he set up a marble pillar at Mahakuta near Badami n *
and inscribed the principal events of his reign on that pillar.
Mangalesa died in 608 and was succeeded by his nephew
Pulikesin II, the greatest king of this dynasty. During the
civil war between uncle and nephew, the conquered provinces
had rebelled. The earlier part of the reign of Pulikesln II was
spent in suppressing that rebellion. He laid siege to Banavase
and to Elephanta, the capital of the Konkan. He subdued the , of
Gangas, the Latas, the Gurjaras of Broach, and the whole of PuiTkesin
the Deccan plateau. In the north-east the kings of Ko^ala
and Kalinga submitted to him, and the country thus conquered
brought Pulikesin II into contact with Harshavardhana,
emperor of Northern India. On the eastern coast Pulikesin
II besieged and stormed Kafichl. These events took place
before 634. In 636 Harsha invaded Kathiawad, and Pulikesin
II allied himself with Saganka of Bengal and his feudatory, Coalition
Sainyabhlta-Madhavavarman II of Kongoda, and with the E&rsha.
308
SOUTHERN DYNASTIES 209
kings of Valabhi and Broach on the west. With this com-
bination he was able to defeat Harsha with very great ease in
637 and 638. On the eastern coast Pulikes'in II installed his
younger brother Vishnuvardhana as the viceroy of the newly
conquered territory, with his capital at Vengl, and the latter
founded the independent dynasty of the Eastern Chalukyas.
Pulikes'in II obtained great influence in India and outside Exchan ^ e
by thwarting the designs of Harshavardhana over Southern of
T t- -rn TT r -n i t if Embassies
India. Khusru II of Persia exchanged presents and letters with
with him and sent an embassy which is supposed to have Pers
arrived in 635.
The end of Pulikes'in II was disastrous. The Pallavas of
KanchI rallied under Narasimhavarman I and defeated Puli-
kes'in II at the battles of Pariyala, Manimangala, Suramara, Defeat of
and other places, finally sacking Badami or Batapipura, the n^Mh?
Chalukyan capital. Pulikes'in II died during these wars. These Pallava8
events took place some time after the visit of Yuan Chwang
to the Deccan in 640 and the accession of Vikramaditya I in
655. One of the most important events of the reign of Puli-
kesin II was the foundation of a collateral branch of the The chg _
Chalukyas in Gujarat. The splendid temples at Aihole and
Pattadkal in the Bijapur District, especially the beautiful
Meguti temple, were built during his reign.
The supremacy of the early Chalukyas was re-established
by Vikramaditya I, a son of Pulikesin II, who inflicted a crush-
ing defeat upon the Pallavas and captured their capital,
KanchI . According to one of his inscriptions, this king de- vikrama-
feated the Pallava kings Narasimhavarman I, Mahendra-
varman II, and ParamesVaravarman II. During these long
struggles, extending from 642 to 670, the country between
Badami and Conjeeveram (KanchI) was sacked and pillaged
by the contending armies. After destroying the supremacy
of the Pallavas, Vikramaditya I went to the extreme south
and humbled the pride of the Cholas, Pandyas, and Keralas.
In his wars he was assisted by his son Vinayaditya and his
grandson Vijayaditya. The Pallava war was actually over
before 671, according to the Naosari grant of Sryas'raya-
Siladitya of the Gujarat branch. Vikramaditya I was suc-
ceeded by his son Vinayaditya in 680.
210 HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
Vinayaditya had fought under his father in the extreme
south as well as in Gujarat. He was succeeded in 696 by his
son Vijayaditya, who also had been engaged in the extensive
campaigns of his grandfather. Vijayaditya assisted his father
in his northern campaign and is said to have acquired for him
the emblems of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers. He built
tne g reat temple of VijayesVara at Pattadkal in the Bijapur
Early District. That building is now called the temple of Sanga-
mesVara. In 730 Vijayaditya granted a village called Kardama
to a Jain teacher named Niravadya-Udayadeva, who belonged
to the Devagana of the Mulasangha and was a pupil of Pujya-
vijaya- pada. The latter was probably the author of the Jainendra-
vyakarana. Vijayaditya was succeeded by his son Vikra-
maditya II in 734. This prince married two princesses of the
vikrama- Haihaya family. One of these princesses, Loka-mahadevi,
dityaii. bui j t ^ great tem pi e O f gj va at p a ttadkal called the temple
of Virupaksha. Her sister Trailokya-mahadevi built another
temple called Trailokyesvara in the same place. The out-
standing exploit of Vikramaditya II was his conquest of
Kanchi. He defeated the Pallava king Narasimhavarman II
Defeats the and gave great wealth to the temple of RajasimhesVara at
Kanchi. A defaced inscription of Vikramaditya II has
actua My been discovered in the temple of RajasimhesVara
at Kanchi, thus proving that the statement in the Aihole
inscription about his conquest of the Pallavas is no empty
boast.' During this period Gujarat was invaded constantly
Arabs by the Arabs of Sindh. Sindh had been conquered by
Gujarat. Muhammad bin Qasim in 712, but the power of the kings
of Valabhi was not destroyed till 770. Before 739 a Musal-
man army had invaded Gujarat. Vikramaditya II had already
invaded Sindh, Cutch, Sorath, and Broach. The Arabs, who
were known in India as Tajikas, advanced as far as Naosari,
where they were defeated by Vikramaditya's kinsman and
feudatory, Avanljanas'raya-Pulikes'in.
Vikramaditya II was succeeded in 747 by his favourite son
Kirtivarman II, who was the last king of this dynasty. Another
vikrama- son f Vikramaditya II was the ancestor of Taila II, who
dityaii. revived the Chalukya dynasty in 973. The inscriptions of
Kirtivarman II are to be found only south of the Bhlma,
SOUTHERN DYNASTIES 211
thus proving that he had already lost the Chalukya dominions
in the Northern and Eastern Deccan to the Rashtrakutas. He
was defeated by the Rashtrakuta king Dantidurga some time
after 757.
The early Chalukyas of Badami were orthodox Hindus,
and under their fostering care the Brahmanical religion revived
as it had done under the Guptas in the north. Sacrifices
mentioned in the Vedas were performed by many of the ma ' ism '
earlier kings, and magnificent temples were erected at Badami
Aihole, and Pattadkal in the Metropolitan District. This state
patronage led to a gradual decline of Buddhism in the Deccan. Decline of
The Digambara Jainism, however, became in the meantime ^^" mt
the favourite faith of the masses. The early Chalukyas were
great patrons of art, and the most magnificent fresco paintings Earl
of Ajanta, and the famous cave temples of Elephanta and lukya Art.
Badami, were executed in their time. Their political relations
extended as far as Persia in the west, and for nearly two cen-
turies they were the absolute masters of the foreign trade of
i i 11 r i * i n r Western
the western coast, because all ports of the Arabian bea, from Trade.
Cambay in the north to Mushika in the south, belonged to
them.
III. The Kadambas
The Kadamba dynasty of Banavase was founded by Mayura-
sarman, who took advantage of the internal disorder of the
Pallava kingdom caused by the invasion of Samudragupta.
The kingdom was therefore founded in the middle of the Barman."
fourth century, and its capital, Banavase, was an important
centre of the Kanarese country. One of the kings defeated
by the Vakataka king Rudrasena II was that of the Kuntala
country, which is another name of the Banavase District. It
is generally believed that Kangavarman, the son of Mayura-
garman, was defeated by Rudrasena II.
Eight generations of kings of this dynasty ruled over the
Kanarese country till they were overthrown by the early
Chalukya king Pulike&n I in the middle of the sixth century.
Harivarman, the last of the line, is probably the Kadamba
chief mentioned in the inscription of Pulikesln I. The Kadam-
212 HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
has survived as petty chiefs throughout the supremacy of the
eastern Chalukyas of Badami, the Rashtrakutas of Malkhed,
and the western Chalukyas of Kalyanl. In the eleventh and
twelfth centuries they established independent kingdoms at
Goa and Hangal.
IV. The Kalatsuris or the Kalachuris
Immediately before the rise of the early Chalukyas of
Badami, a dynast} of kings who called themselves the Kalat-
suris or Kalachuris ruled over Malava and the Northern Deccan.
We do not know anything about the origin of this line of
kings except that they used the era of the TraikQtakas. From
inscriptions of the Kalatsuri king Sankaragana and his son
Buddharaja, we learn that they ruled over a very large area.
Sankaragana had his capital at Ujjain in Western Malava,
but his kingdom extended over the Northern Deccan as far
as the Nasik District. His feudatory Nirihullaka ruled over
the lower Narmada valley in 580. Northern Deccan was
conquered from Sankaragana's son Buddharaja by the early
Chalukya king Mangales'a some time before 60 1. Even in
609 Buddharaja was ruling over Malava, and Vidis*a (Bhilsa)
was included in his kingdom. In 610 Anandapura (Anand in
the Kaira District) was included in it, and he possessed
complete control over the Bharukachchha Vishaya, i.e. the
Broach District, The Kalatsuri power in Gujarat was de-
stroyed by Pulikesln II of Badami.
V. The Rashtrakutas of Malkhed *
The Rashtrakutas existed as a subordinate dynasty during
the height of the power of the early Chalukyas of Badami.
Govindaraja I, the grandson of Dantivarman I, was probably
a contemporary of Pulikesln II, and attempted to secure inde-
pendence at the time of the struggle between Pulikesln and
his uncle Marigales'a. Dantivarman II or Dantidurga secured
the country between the Godavari and Bhlma during the reign
of Vikramaditya II of the early Chalukya dynasty of Badami.
Some time before 753 practically the whole of the Deccan
See p. 317.
SOUTHERN DYNASTIES 313
came into the possession of the Rashtraknjas. The earliest
royal grant issued by Dantivarman II is dated A.D. 753. The
latest date of Kirtivarman II is 757. After 757 the Chalukya
sovereignty was wiped out even in the Kanarese country.
Simultaneously with the conquest of the Deccan, Southern
Gujarat was conquered by Kakkaraja II, and we find Surat
in his occupation as early as 757. In an inscription discovered
in the caves of Ellora, Dantivarman or Dantidurga is credited the
with the conquest of the Kanchi, Kalinga, Kos'ala, and the Coast.
Srisaila country, i.e. the Karnul District. He was succeeded
by his uncle Krishnaraja I. He must have been an old man
when he ascended the throne, because during his lifetime his
son and heir-apparent, Govindaraja II, issued a grant of
land in his own name in 770. He excavated the celebrated
rock-cut temple of Siva called Kailasa at Ellora. Ellora.
Krishnaraja I was succeeded by his son Govindaraja II,
after a short reign. Govindaraja II was reigning in 779, and Govinda
his feudatory Karkaraja was ruling over the Northern Deccan n -
in that year. This king was deposed by his younger brother
Dhruvaraja. Dhruva was a powerful prince, and during his Dhruva.
reign the Rashfrakutas came into conflict with the Gurjaras
of the Indian Desert. After the fall of the Chalukyas of TheGur-
Gujarat, the Arabs had been driven back to the delta of the
Indus, and upon the foundation of a separate RashtrakUta
principality in Southern Gujarat the Gurjaras came into con-
flict with the former. Vatsaraja of the Gurjara dynasty of
Bhinmal (in the Jodhpur State) overran the whole of Northern
India. From a statement in the Jain Harivamia Pur ana we
learn that in 783, a king named Indrayudha was ruling in the
north, Srivallabha, son of Krishnaraja (I) in the south, and
Vatsaraja in the west. Vatsaraja became so powerful that he
defeated the king of Bengal and carried away the double
white royal umbrellas of that king. He possessed a third
umbrella, which had been taken from the king of Kos'ala.
This powerful king was defeated by Dhruva, who captured
the double white royal umbrellas of Bengal and compelled Vataaraja.
the Gurjara king to retire into the desert. Dhruvaraja's
reign was short, and he was succeeded, some time before
794, by his son Govinda III.
214
HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL INDIA
Govinda
War with
and a "
Paiiavas.
The Gur-
tederacy.
Campaiign
or Govinda
Defeat of
Hand
Kingdom
Amogha-
var * *
Gurjara
Gujarat" *
gy defeating his brother and rival Stambha or Khambayya,
Govinda became the most powerful king in the Deccan. In the
south he destroyed the western Ganga king Maras'alba and
defeated Dantivarman of Kanchi. At this time his aid was
mvo k e( j fry Dharmapala of Bengal and his protege Chakra-
yudha. Nagabhata II, the son of Vatasaraja, had combined the
petty Gujara tribes. Dharmapala was defeated and Indrayudha
was replaced on the throne of Kanauj (see p. 232). At this junc-
ture Chakrayudha and Dharmapala appealed to Govinda III,
an d the latter invaded Northern India. Nagabhata II suffered
a crushing defeat at the hands of the allies and was forced to
retire to his desert fastness. Govinda directed his nephew
Karkaraja-Suvarnavarsha, the viceroy of Gujarat, to prevent
the recurrence of a similar feat by the Gurjara king. The
northern campaign of Govinda III took place before 808.
Govinda III raised the Rashtrakutas from the position of a
mere local dynasty to that of the paramount power in India
The Eastern Chalukyas of Verigl had submitted to him, and
n * s dominions extended as far as the southern bank of the
River Narmada in the north and the Tungabhadra in the
south. Govinda was succeeded by his son Amoghavarsha I
in 814.
Amoghavarsha I was undoubtedly the greatest king of the
dynasty, and though he was not so fortunate in war as his
father, he repeatedly humbled the Eastern Chalukya kings of
Vengi. He was a great patron of learning, and spent the riches
amassed by his ancestors in improving his kingdom. He
founded the city of Manyakheta, now a small village called
Malkhed in the eastern part of the Nizam's dominions. The
northern part of the Konkan was then under the rule of the
Silara chief Pullagakti. The celebrated port of Bharukachchha
or Broach, on the Narmada, came into the possession of the
Rashtrakutas. In the north the Gurjara power revived under
Bhoja I. Dhruvaraja II, the viceroy of Gujarat in 867, claimed
to have defeated Bhoja I; but most probably he merely pre-
vented an incursion of the Gurjara army to the south of the
Narmada. Amoghavarsha I could not prevent the conquest
of Northern India by the Gurjaras under Bhoja I, who trans-
ferred his capital from Bhinmal to Kanauj.
SOUTHERN DYNASTIES 215
Amoghavarsha turned Jain and became one of the most
liberal patrons of the Digambara sect. According to a Jain 5j e ft
work called the Uttara-Purana, he was the disciple of a Jain
ascetic named Jinasena, the author of the Pariv-abhyudaya^
which was composed during the reign of Amoghavarsha I.
A Jain philosophical work entitled Jayadhavala was com-
posed in 837. In a Jain mathematical work called the
Sarasamgraha, by Viracharya, Amoghavarsha I is called a
follower of the Syddvdda doctrine of the Jains. He himself
composed a small religious tract, called the Ratnamalika^
which exists in a Tibetan translation. He reigned for at least
sixty-three years and was succeeded by his son Krishnaraja
II.
Krishna II married a daughter of Kokalla I, the founder of
the Haihaya or Chedi kingdom of Central India. Evidently the
death of Amoghavarsha I was followed by civil war between The civil
his sons, and during this period Krishnaraja II was sup-
ported by his father-in-law. It appears, therefore, that for
nearly a quarter of a century after the death of Amoghavarsha
I the succession to the throne was disputed. During this
period Krishna II was mentioned only once, in an inscription
discovered in Gujarat. Krishna was on very good terms with
the Chedls or Haihayas, but during the earlier part of his reign wars with
his capital was burnt by the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi, with lukyas of
whom he was constantly at war. In the northern part of his
dominions, Kpshna II suffered a reverse at the hands of the
Gurjaras, who were most probably helped by his relations, The War
the Rashtrakutas of Gujarat. He came to the throne in 878, in G J arat
and was still ruling in 911. He died at some time between
911 and 914, and was succeeded by his grandson Indra III.
Indra III revived the power and glory of the Rashtrakutas,
which had suffered a temporary eclipse during the reign of his Inva8loll
grandfather. He invaded Malava, the southernmost province JJ M
of the Gurjara Empire of Kanauj, and sacked Ujjain. He
then attacked the centre of the Gurjara Empire and destroyed conquest
its capital, Mahodaya or Kanauj. Mahlpala I, the grandson of
Bhoja I, fled towards the east and was pursued by Indra 's Plight of
general, the Chalukya chief Narasimha, as far as Prayaga or Jf a pUa
Allahabad. This was the first serious reverse suffered by the
2i6 HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
Gurjaras of Kanauj, and the destruction of their capital cost
them loss of prestige.
Indra returned to the Deccan and was shortly followed on
the throne by his son Amoghavarsha II, who reigned for a
Govinda y ear ^ an( j t j ien j^ j^g y Oun g er brother Govinda IV, who
reigned till 933. Govinda IV took to a vicious life, which
ruined his constitution and weakened the government.
After the death of Govinda IV, Amoghavarsha III was raised
to the throne. He was a younger brother of Indra III, and
th ere f re the unc l e f Govinda IV. Amoghavarsha III had
married Kundakadevi, a daughter of the Chedl king Yuvaraja
I. While residing at Tripuri he married his eldest daughter
Revakanimmadi, the eldest sister of Krishna III, to the Wes-
tern Gahga chief Butuga II. He died after a very short reign
and was succeeded by his son Krishna III.
Krishna III was the last of the Rashtrakuta emperors of
Southern India. He ascended the throne some time between
933 and 940. One of his first acts was to depose the Western
Ganga King Rachamalla I and to place his younger brother
Butuga II on the throne. Marasimha II, one of the younger
sons of Butuga II, conquered Northern India for Krishna III.
Northern In the north the latter extended his kingdom as far as the centre
of Krishna of the Chandella and Chedl kingdoms. He set up a pillar of
victory at Maihar, between Allahabad and Jubbulpur. In the
Southern south Krishna III defeated the Pallava king Anniga and the
conquest. Cho j a kmg Rajaditya-Muvadi-Chola at the battle of Takkola.
In the south-east he advanced as far as Kanchi and Tanjore.
Krishna III reigned for more than a quarter of a century and
Khott*ft. was succeeded by his younger brother Khoftiga. This prince
was alive in 971, and was succeeded in the next year by his
ne phew Kakkaraja II or Amoghavarsha IV. Within a few
years Indraraja IV, the son of Krishna III, was placed on the
throne by the Western Ganga chief Marasimha II. Three
kings had succeeded Krishna III within twenty years, and in
_ the troublous times which followed, Taila II, the son of
Orer*
throw Vikramaditya IV, destroyed the power of the Rash^rakajas in
the Deccan. The last Rashjrakata king, Indra IV, died seven
years after the victory of Taila II, in 982.
The defeat of the Rashfrakatas was followed by a division
SOUTHERN DYNASTIES 217
of the Deccan plateau and the Konkan into a number of petty
states. Taila II belonged to the western branch of the Chalukya
dynasty, and his successors did not succeed in imposing their
suzerainty upon all the powerful feudatory chiefs of the Rash-
trakOfa Empire. In Northern Gujarat another Chalukya
family founded an independent kingdom at Anahilapa^aka.
The Konkan, or the flat country at the base of the Deccan
plateau, was divided by the Sllaharas into two parts. The
northern Silaharas had their capital at Thana or Sthanaka;
the southern Silaharas ruled over Ratnagiri, and a third
branch established itself at Karhad in the Satara District and
in the Kolhapur State. The interior of the northern Kanarese
District contained the powerful kingdom of the Rattas of
Saundatti. The Kadambas founded two kingdoms in the
southern Kanarese country with their capitals at Hangal, in
the Dharwar District, and at Goa. Some of these feudatories
later on acknowledged the suzerainty of the Western Chalukyas
of Kalyani, but most of them remained semi-independent.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SIR R. G. BHANDARKAR, Early History of the Deccan.
JOUVEAU DUBREUIL, History of the Deccan.
JOUVEAU DUBREUIL, The Pallavas.
R. GOPALAN, Pallavas of Kanchi.
R. D. BANERJI, " The Northern Conquests of Krishna III ",
Journal , Bihar and Orissa Research Society , Vol. XIV, 1928.
CHAPTER VI
THE EARLY MEDIEVAL CULTURE OF
SOUTHERN INDIA
The long rule of the Pallavas formed a link between the
early and the mediaeval art of Southern India. The Pallava
art connects the Mathura school of sculpture with that of
AmaravatJ, in which northern influence is undeniable. Very
2i8 HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
Northern few remains of the early Pallava period have come to light;
on^aua* a the majority of the specimens of Pallava architecture at Kanchl
Art * and Mamallapuram belong to the later mediaeval period.
Fragments of sculpture discovered between the mouths of
the Godavari and the Krishna on the eastern coast are the
only known specimens of this period.
The mediaeval examples of Pallava architecture are the
Pallava earliest known examples of southern architecture. They were
ture. the models on which Javanese temple architecture was based.
The temples at Kanchl are still used for public worship, and
Temples the way in which they have been modernized makes it very
of Kfidchi. Difficult for a student of art to imagine their pristine condition.
The best examples of Pallava architecture of Kanchl are the
temples of Tripurantakesvara and Airavate^vara. Of the other
temples at the same place those of Kailasanatha and Muktes-
vara bear striking resemblance to the earlier group of the
monolithic temples at Mamallapuram. The two temples by
the sea-shore at Mamallapuram, though later in date than the
monolithic temples excavated out of the rock, belong to the
same type as the Rajasimhesvara and Muktesvara temples of
Kanchl. We therefore possess a complete series of illustra-
tions of early and late mediaeval architecture of the Pallava
period in the temples on the rock and sea-shore at Mamalla-
puram. Mamallapuram, or Mahabalipuram, is the name of
Mfimalla- r . , , , , ~r -i r
puram. a small island on the eastern coast nearly fifteen miles east of
Chingleput and more than fifty miles to the south of Madras
city. The island is divided from the mainland by a narrow
creek navigable at all seasons of the year. On account of its
natural harbour, this creek appears to have been one of the
principal ports and dockyards for the Pallava navy. The
ruins on the island consist of structures of two different
classes, monolithic temples and cave temples. The earliest
The of the monolithic temples are small structures carved out of
iu~ small boulders, such as Draupadl's ratha, which has a roof
Temples. j^ e t j lat o f a thatched hut. From this simple design grew up
the more elaborate Gopuram-shaped roof, Arjuna's ratha,
which is also a square structure like Draupadfs ratha. More
ambitious structures like Bhlma's ratha and Dharmaraja's
ratha grew out of this simple design. Bhlma's ratha is perhaps
EARLY MEDIEVAL CULTURE 219
the largest monolithic temple on this island. It is oblong
in shape, and its outline shows that it is the precursor of the
ambitious Gopurams of the gigantic temples at Tanjore, the?Go-
Madura, and Srirangam. The cave temples at Mamallapuram puram -"
resemble the group of early caves on the Trichinopoly rock.
The chef-d'ceuvre of Pallava art is the magnificent bas-relief
near the Krishnamandapam at Mamallapuram. The entire
rock-surface available has been covered with representations Has -relief
of men and animals, among which the most striking figures Tapuranf.
are those of two elephants inside a large cave. The figures
are realistic and show great vigour of execution.
At Mamallapuram and Kanchi we see the beginnings of Prototypes
South Indian temple architecture, which developed later on Javanese
into a special type on lines quite different from those of the
northern architecture. What the early Guptas did for Nor-
thern India, was done for Western India by the early Kalat-
suris and the early Chalukyas of Badami. The early mediaeval The Cave
monuments of Western India fall into three isolated groups. ofwSSm
The earliest group includes the mediaeval caves of Ajanta; Indla '
the second group the cave temples of Konkan, such as those
at Elephanta, Mandapesvara or Montpezir, and those of the Eiephanta.
second group at Kanheri. The third group consists of the
caves of Badami and Aihole, and the celebrated temples of
Pattadkal and Aihole in the Bijapur District of the Bombay
Presidency. The temples and caves of the third group belong
entirely to the period of the early Chalukyas of Badami, and Badami.
form the second best group of examples of South Indian art.
The best examples of early Chalukyan architecture are the
caves and temples of Aihole, Pattadkal, and Badami. Cave
No. IV at Badami is perhaps the best example of the Vaishnava
cave-temple in the whole of India. This magnificent work
was carved out of the rock some time before 578 by Man-
galena, the younger brother of Klrtivarman L Cave No. I
of this group is a Siva temple, and all caves of this group bear
bas-reliefs of the western type which culminated in the bas-
reliefs of the Kailasa cave at Ellora. The beginnings of early Early
mediaeval South Indian painting are to be found in the Cave fnd^n
No. IV at Badami. All bas-reliefs of this cave were painted, Paintln 4-
and its ceiling was decorated with elaborate Tantric figures
220
HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL INDIA
Early
Painting
at AJanta.
Mediaeval
Painted
Inscrip-
tions.
Painting
intheKai
Ifisa Gave,
and at
Kfinherl.
Art of
AJanta.
Subjects.
Character
of the
PaStfngt
South
(Yantras) used in the worship of Vishnu. These paintings
betray an undeniable connexion with the decorative art found
in the ceilings of the Ajanta caves.
The paintings in the Ajanta caves fall into three distinct
groups. The paintings in the earliest groups have for the most
part disappeared. They are to be found on the walls and the
ceilings of caves with Brahml inscriptions. The fragments
of votive inscriptions in painting of the second class indicate
that they were executed during the reigns of the early
Chalukya monarchs of Badami. These inscriptions are
painted on the frescoes as labels. To the third class belongs
the latest painting in the cave at the end of the horseshoe-
shaped ravine in which the Ajanta caves were excavated.
Painting exists on the ceilings of the front porch on the higher
level or the second storey of the great Kailasa cave at Ellora,
and similar paintings are to be found in several of the Kanheri
caves which were excavated along the great ravine to the
south, or left, of Cave No. III. Such paintings on Deccan
trap involved a special preparation of the ground. In the
majority of the caves at Ajanta the rock-surface was smoothed.
It was then plastered thinly with some adhesive substance
which clung tenaciously to the rock.
The art of Ajanta reveals a finished product after centuries
of culture and cultivation. The lines of the drawing are very
vigorous, the knowledge of the pigments and of the standard
of the mixture betray very great skill. The subjects treated
are various. Every available bit of space has been made use of.
The art is mainly decorative; but mixed with dados, panels,
arabesque works, and other details, there are long frescoes
covering entire lengths of wall-space and devoted to the
representation of Buddha's life. The subjects of the Ajanta
paintings have not been scientifically analysed until recently,
and reliable identifications were made by M. Foucher only in
the present century. Eminent artists are of opinion that the
line work of the majority of the Ajan^a paintings is very
vigorous and decisive, and this characteristic denotes a great
advance in India over the contemporary art of Italy and
Southern Europe. The human figures and the scenery de-
picted in the frescoes at Ajanfa are typically southern. The
EARLY MEDIAEVAL CULTURE
221
dress of the men and women, their forms and features, have
no connexion with Northern India; the architecture, too, is
southern, and possesses very little connexion with northern
architecture of any period.
Belonging to the same period as the second group of the
Buddha the Teacher Fresco from later caves, Aja^Z. circa 6th century A.D.
Ajanta caves are the temples on the hill of Badami and those
at Aihole and Pattadkal. The temples on the fort-rock at
Badami appear to be the earliest examples of early Chalukyan
temple architecture. They are simply enlarged replicas of
Arjuna's ratha at Mamallapuram. The temples at Aihole and
Pattadkal are, however, adorned with magnificent sculptures,
bas-reliefs, and decorative carvings. Of this group the temples
The
and Pat-
The
222
HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL INDIA
Khan's
Temple,
The Jain
emp e.
Apsidai
The Kai-
The Brfih-
map cai
at Aihole are better known. The Meguti temple is perhaps
the second dated temple of the early Chalukya period. It is
slightly later in date than Cave No. IV at Badami, as it was
erecte ^ m 634 during the reign of Pulikesin II. The old
temple, which is now called Lad Khan's temple, consists of
pillars with thin slabs between them, and is built on the same
plan as the early Gupta temples at Nachna-kuthara and Bhumra,
i.e. it is partly two-storied, and the central part is surrounded
by a closed veranda. The Jain temple near the temple of
Vjrypaksha anc j t he Meguti temple resemble Dharmaraja's
ratha at Mamallapuram. Others show the beginning of a
iikhara or spire, like the later temple at Nachna-kuthara. The
most remarkable temple of the entire group is the Durga
temple, which is built on the plan of the earlier Buddhist
Chaitya-halls or Cathedrals. Sir John Marshall discovered
similar ones at Sanchi and Taxila.
The design of the excavations at Ellora divided them into
three separate groups, each belonging to a separate religion.
^ e T1 %^ s ^ e ^ tne ent i re facade was given to the Buddhists,
and here we find Chaitya-halls like those at Karla or Kanherl;
but in these Chaitya-halls we find that the great horseshoe-
shaped opening in the centre has been reduced in size. The
centre of the hill is occupied by the great Kailasa temple,
excavated by the Rashtrakuta king Krishnaraja I. The Kailasa
is a unique Hindu temple. It is perhaps the largest excavation
in the world and consists of a single-storied Mandapa, a
double-storied Sabha-mandapa with three side porches, in the
centre of a huge courtyard surrounded by long halls or corri-
dors on all three sides, full of bas-reliefs and images, while
the fourth side is occupied by an artificially built porch.
From its bold design and magnificent execution this stupen-
dous monolithic temple is rightly an object of wonder. It is
remarkable not only for its vast size, but also for the delicacy
of its bas-reliefs, at the base of the double-storied Sabha-
mandapa. The Hindu or Brahmanical group contains many
other magnificent temples which would have been regarded as
stupendous in any other place, but at Ellora they are dwarfed
by the massive proportions of the Kailasa. Many of those
magnificent cave -temples, such as the Daavatara cave, the
EARLY MEDIAEVAL CULTURE 223
Rame^vara cave, and the Dhumarlena cave, contain large and
important bas-reliefs. The extreme left of the Ellora Hill is and the
occupied by Jain caves. These are full of decorative details Jain cavet
i f 1 111 r i i at Ellora.
which tire the eye and though some of them are very large,
yet they are neither so attractive nor so elegant in outline as
those just described.
During this period the Hindu religion revived in Southern
India also. The leader of Hindu reform in South-western
India was Sankaracharya, a Brahmana of the Malabar country,
the founder of the Advaita school of Vedanta philosophy. His
disciples spread all over India and founded four great monas-
teries called Sankara-mathas, at Puri in the east, at Joshi-
math, north of Haridwar in the Himalayas, at Sringeri in the
south, and at Dwarka in the west. The abbots of these
monasteries are called Sankarachdryas. Another great scholar
and reformer was Kumarila-bhatta.
In the extreme south of the Indian Peninsula the Hindu
religion became divided, very early, into two warring factions,
the Saivas and Vaishnavas, but both sects were hostile to the
Jains and Buddhists. The Saiva missionaries are called
Adiyars and the Vaishnava ones Alvars. Buddhism was driven
out of the Indian Peninsula by the activities of these mis-
sionaries, who preached to the masses, wrote, very often in
the vernaculars, and ultimately became more powerful than
the Brahmanas, who followed the Vedic religion very strictly.
These Alvars and Adiyars are now regarded as saints.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. FERGUSSON and J. BURGESS, The Cave Temples of India, Lon-
don, 1880.
E. B. HAVELL, Indian Sculpture and Painting, London, 1908.
V. A. SMITH, History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon (and ed.)
edited by K. de B. Codrington.
224
HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
CHAPTER VII
Yuan-
Chwang.
His jour-
ney to
India.
His
INDIA OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY, AS DESCRIBED
BY YUAN CHWANG (HIUEN-TSANG)
After the establishment of the Kushan Empire a continuous
stream of pilgrims started from China in the hope of reaching
the Buddhist Holy Land. They continued to come till the
conquest of Western China by the Tibetans in the eighth
century. Beginning from Sung-yun and ending with I-tsing,
many of these Chinese travellers have left excellent accounts
of the countries through which they passed, and of India.
Yuan Chwang is the best known among them on account
of his long stay in India, his piety and learning, and the valuable
collection of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts which he carried
away from India to China. Yuan Chwang quitted China at
the age of twenty-eight or twenty-nine, in September, 629,
crossed the Central Asian desert, and reached India through
Tashkend and Samarkand. He then passed through Balkh
and crossed the Hindu-Kush, arriving at Kapia near Kabul,
where for the first time he saw Indians. In 631 and 632 Yuan
Chwang resided in Kashmir. In 634 we find him residing at
Chinabhukti in the Eastern Panjab. The next two years he
spent in the United Provinces, residing for the most part at
Kanauj, the capital of King Harshavardhana. In 637 he
reached Magadha, the Buddhist Holy Land, and visited all
of the Buddhist Tirthas then known. In 639 Yuan Chwang
passed along the eastern coast to Kalinga and finally reached
Jn KaiichL In 641 he reached Badami and, after visiting some of
the cave -temples, returned to Nalanda in 643. The remaining
months of the year 643 were spent in the company of King
Harshavardhana, whom he quitted in April, arriving at Khotan
in September, 644. After a long and arduous journey across the
Hindu-Kush, the River Oxus, and the Central Asian desert,
Yuan Chwang reached China in 645, after a total absence of
more than fifteen years.
The general description of India is to be found in the second
INDIA OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY 225
Chuan of the Si-yu-ki. From this description we learn that
the southern part of Afghanistan, consisting of the valleys of
Kabul, Ghazni, and Kandahar, which lay to the south of the
Hindu-Kush range, was included in India. Indian cities were
surrounded by a quadrangular wall, " broad and high, while
the thoroughfares are narrow tortuous passages. The shops
are on the highways and booths (or inns) line the roads. Indian
TI / i 11- r j Townsand
Butchers, fishermen, public performers, executioners, and villages,
scavengers have their habitations marked by distinguish-
ing signs. They are forced to live outside the city and they
sneak along on the left when going about in the hamlets.
As to the construction of houses and enclosing walls, the
country being low and moist most of the city walls are built
of bricks, while walls of houses and enclosures are wattled
bamboo or wood. Their halls and terraced belvederes have
wooden flat-roofed rooms, and are coated with chunam, and
covered with tiles burnt or unburnt. They are of extraordinary
height, and in style like those of China. The (houses) thatched
with coarse or common grass are of bricks or boards, their
walls are ornamented with chunam; the floor is purified with
cow-dung and strewn with flowers of the season; in these
matters they differ from us. But the Buddhist monasteries Buddhist
are of most remarkable architecture. They have a tower at teries?"
each of the four corners of the quadrangle and three high halls
in a tier. The rafters and roof -beams are carved with strange
figures, and the doors, windows and walls are painted in
various colours. The houses of the laity are sumptuous inside
and economical outside." l
Yuan Chwang found Buddhism on the decline. Buddhists
were divided into eighteen schools. " Wherever there is a
community of Brethren it makes its own rule of gradation.
The Brother who expounds orally one treatise (or class of state of
scripture) in the Buddhist Canon, whether Vinaya, Abhi-
dharma, or Stitra, is exempted from serving under the Prior;
he who expounds two is invested with the outfit of a superior;
he who expounds three has Brethren deputed to assist him;
he who expounds four has lay servants assigned to him; he
who expounds five rides an elephant; he who expounds six
1 Watten, On Yuan Chtvang.
(B 658) I
226
HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL INDIA
teries.
rides an elephant and has surrounding retinue. Where the
spiritual attainments are high, the distinctions conferred are
extraordinary." l
The eighteen schools always differed in opinion, and there
were frequent controversies among them. "For offences
- a g a i nst th e Vinaya the Community of Brethren has a gradation
o f penalties. If the offence is slight a reprimand is ordered.
For an offence next above this in gravity there is added a
The seven past Buddhas and Maitreya, dedicated by a Chinese pilgrim, with a Chinese
inscription, at Bod h- Gay a, now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta (loth century A D.)
cessation of oral intercourse with the Brethren. When the
offence is serious the punishment is that the Community will
not live with the offender, and this involves expulsion and
excommunication. Expelled from a Community, the monk
has no home; he then becomes a miserable vagrant, or he
returns to his first estate.'* 2
Yuan Chwang notices the four great castes, and says that
intermarriage between the castes and between relations by
the father's or the mother's side was prohibited. Widow-
marriages were not known, but mixed castes were already in
existence. Even at that time the kingship was already re-
* Ibid., p. 162. Ibid., pp. 163-3.
INDIA OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY 227
stricted to the Kshatriyas, but men of other castes had re-
belled and assumed the distinction of kingship. " The national
Guard (lit. warriors) are heroes of choice valour, and, as the
profession is hereditary, they become adepts in military
tactics. In peace they guard the sovereign's residence, and in
war they become the intrepid vanguard.
" The army is composed of Foot, Horse, Chariot, and
Elephant soldiers. The war-elephant is covered with a coat-
of-mail, and his tusks are provided with sharp barbs. On
him rides the Commander-in-chief, who has a soldier on
each side to manage the elephant. The chariot in which an
officer sits is drawn by four horses, whilst infantry guard it The Army,
on both sides. The infantry go lightly into action and are
choice men of valour; they bear a large shield and carry a long
spear; some are armed with a sword or sabre and dash to the
front of the advancing line of battle. They are perfect experts
with all the implements of war such as spear, shield, bow and
arrow, sword, sabre, &c., having being drilled in them for
generations." l
The criminal class was small. Offences against social Trials and
morality, disloyal conduct, and unfilial offences were punished Ordeal8
by the cutting off of noses, ears, or a foot. Fines were imposed
for other offences. Ordeals were practised in place of trial in
certain cases. The principal ordeals were by water, by fire, by
weighing, and by poison. " As the Government is generous,
official requirements are few. Families are not registered, and
individuals are not subject to forced labour contributions. Of
the royal land there is a four-fold division; one part is for the
expenses of government and state worship, one for the en-
dowment of great public servants, one to reward high intel-
lectual eminence, and one for acquiring religious merit by mcnt -
gifts to the various sects. Taxation being light, and forced
service being sparingly used, everyone keeps to his hereditary
occupation and attends to his patrimony. The king's tenants
pay one-sixth of the produce as rent. Tradesmen go to and
fro bartering their merchandise after paying light duties at
ferries and barrier stations. Those who are employed in
government service are paid according to their work. They
>/&</, p. 171.
228
HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
Descrip-
tion of
Harsha.
go abroad on military service or they guard the palace; the
summonses are issued according to circumstances and after
proclamation of the reward the enrolment is awaited. Ministers
of state and common officials all have their portion of land,
and are maintained by the cities assigned to them." 1
Yuan Chwang visited the courts of two of the greatest
monarchs of India of the seventh century. He was very
favourably received by the Emperor Harshavardhana of
Kanauj; he was loaded with favours and treated with marked
honours, and in his description of the city of Kanauj the
Chinese pilgrim repeats the story which is known from
Banabhatta's Harsha-charita about the king's ancestry and his
wars with Sasanka, the king of Eastern India. Yuan Chwang
speaks very highly of Harsha and his government. " He
forgot sleep and food in his devotion to good works. He
caused the use of animal food to cease throughout the Five
Indias, and he prohibited the taking of life under severe
penalties. He erected thousands of topes on the banks of the
Ganges, established Traveller's Rest-houses through all his
o dominions, and erected Buddhist monasteries at sacred
quenniai places of the Buddhists. He regularly held the Quinquennial
biles. " Convocation; and gave away in religious alms everything
except the materials of war. Once a year he summoned all
the Buddhist monks together, and for twenty-one days sup-
plied them with regulation requisites. He furnished the
chapels and liberally adorned the common halls of the
monasteries. He brought the Brethren together for exami-
nations according to merit and demerit. Those Brethren who
kept the rules of their order strictly and were thoroughly
sound in theory and practice he advanced to the Lion's
Throne (that is, promoted to the highest place) and from these
he received religious instruction; those who, though perfect
in observance of the ceremonial code, were not learned in the
past, he merely honoured with formal reverence; those who
neglected the ceremonial observances of the Order, and whose
immoral conduct was notorious, were banished from his
presence and from the country. The neighbouring princes,
and the statesmen, who were zealous in good works and
1 Ibid., pp. 176-7
INDIA OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY 229
unwearied in the search for moral excellence, he led to his
own seat, and called ' good friends ', and he would not
converse with those who were of a different character. The
king also made visits of inspection throughout his dominion,
not residing long at any place but having temporary build-
ings erected for his residence at each place of sojourn, and he
did not go abroad during the three months of the Rain-season
Retreat. At the royal lodges every day viands were provided
for 1000 Buddhist monks and 500 Brahmins. The king's day
was divided into three periods of which one was given up to
affairs of government, and two were devoted to religious works.
He was indefatigable, and the day was too short for him." 1
In the extreme south Yuan Chwang visited the capital of
Pulikesin II, king of the Deccan, and the caves of Ajanta. P
He mentions in this connexion that Harshavardhana had
failed to conquer Maharashtra. Yuan Chwang spent nearly
two years at Nalanda, now called Bargaon, in the Patna Dis- Naianda.
trict of Bihar and Orissa. He found that many foreign
students came to study there in the university and were
examined before they were admitted. He mentioned some
celebrated Buddhist teachers of the university, such as
Gunamati, Dharmapala, and Silabhadra. On his arrival at
Nalanda, Yuan Chwang was presented to Silabhadra, who
made him over to his nephew Buddhabhadra. Yuan Chwang The
resided with Buddhabhadra and describes the system of the ya em *
great monastery of Nalanda. Students came to the university students,
not only to learn Buddhism, but also to study the Vedas,
grammar, logic, and medicine, ^ilabhadra was the most
learned teacher at Nalanda at the time of Yuan Chwang 's
visit. One hundred villages supported the university and the
monastery.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WAITERS, On Yuan Chwang.
BEAL, Buddhist Records of the Western World.
BEAL, Life of Hinen Thsang.
1 Ibid., p. 344.
230 HISTORY OF MEDIAEVAL INDIA
CHAPTER VIII
THE ORIGIN OF THE RAJPUTS AND THE RISE
OF THE GURJARA EMPIRE
The origin of the Rajput tribes is still shrouded in mystery,
Origin of hut there cannot be any doubt that the Rajputs are a mixed
t! " race - They include many tribes which cannot be of Indo-
uts
Aryan origin. The Pratiharas or the Parihars are really de-
scended from Gurjaras or Gujars, a low-caste tribe, many of
whom are regarded with contempt in the Panjab even at the
present day. The Gujars followed the Hunas and invaded
India through the north-western passes. Some of their tribes
settled in Afghanistan, and a portion of that country is still
called Guzaristan. A district in the Panjab is still called Gujarat.
The ancient country of Ldfa y consisting of the Ahmedabad,
Kaira, Broach, Surat, and the Baroda District of the Bombay
Presidency, received its modern name of Gujarat after the
settlement of the Gujars in it. Gujarat still contains a very
large racial element who are still called Gujars. In the north
the Gujar kings of Bhinmal, who later assumed the clan name
proves that they cannot be of pure Kshatriya origin. More-
over, Tod mentions certain tribes who are decidedly of
southern origin; these are the. Chalukyas or Solankls and the
Sllaharas. Inclusion of all these among the Rajputs proves
that the modern caste was composed of converted Huna and
Mixture of Gurjara tribes, with a small admixture of Dravidians. There
Blood. might have been a substratum of true Aryan Kshatriyas among
them, but it is rather doubtful. The better class Rajputs of the
present day claim to have originated from the sacrificial fire of
Brahman on the Aravalli Mountains or from the heroes
of the Mdhabharata. The Yadavas, the Sammas, and the
imaaina Rashfrakutas claim to be descended from Krishija. The
Account of claim of the SiSodlyas or Guhilots of Mewad to be the direct
of Rajput descendants of Rama, and that of the Rathors of Jodhpur to
* be descended from the Gahadavalas of Kanauj has been
proved to be doubtful. The ten tribes, such as the Chauhans
THE ORIGIN OF THE RAJPUTS 231
and the Pratiharas, who claim to be descended from the
sacrificial fire of Brahman, are really Hinduized Gujar and
Hana tribes, for whom Brahmana priests discovered a mythical fabricated
origin after having converted them. A similar divine origin ma^as. "
has been provided by Brahmanas in modern times for the
Mughal emperor Akbar I, the Mongolian Koch rajas of
Coochbihar, and the beef-eating Shans or Ahoms of Assam.
The earliest Rajput princes known to us are the Gurjara
kings of Broach who occupied that country shortly after the
fall of the Gupta Empire. They were most probably feuda-
tories of the Gurjaras of Rajputana. We know very little about JU
them except that Dadda I was a subordinate chief. His *
grandson Dadda II protected Dhruvasena II of Valabhi
against Harsha of Kanauj . He ruled from 628 to 640. His great-
grandson Jayabhata III is the last known chief of the dynasty
and was ruling in 736. The Gurjara kingdom of Broach was
probably overthrown in the second half of the eighth century
by the early Arab invaders.
I. The Pratiharas of Bhinmal and Kanauj *
The Pratiharas or the Gurjara-Pratiharas of Southern
Rajputana most probably founded a kingdom at the beginning
of the seventh century. Their relations with the early Gurjara
kings of Broach are not yet definitely known. The history of
the dynasty is now chiefly known from the records of the later
kings who ruled at Kanauj. The earliest king of the Gurjara
dynasty of the Indian Desert was Nagabhata I. He is said to Nfi
have defeated the Arabs of Sindh. He was succeeded by
his brother's son Kakustha, who was succeeded by his
brother Devagakti, who appears to be the first important king
of this dynasty. Vatsaraja, the son and successor of Deva&kti, vatsarija.
united the Gurjara tribes of the desert and made a vehement
attack on the princelings of Northern India. From Bhinmal,
in the southern part of the Jodhpur State, he conquered j* 18
Kanauj and defeated the kings of Bengal and Koala. His Cam-
pretentioris to the Imperial rank received a severe check at the p gn **
hands of the Rashjrakdta king Dhruva, who defeated him and
compelled him to retire to the confines of the Indian desert, p
See p. 309.
232 HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
Dhruva instructed his nephew Karkaraja, the feudatory chief
of Gujarat, to keep an eye on the Gurjara king. This Vatsaraja
M in was ve m 7^3' anc * * s ment i nec ' m tne Joina-HarivaiMa-
the Jaina- Purdna as the contemporary of King Vallabha, the son of King
vaihsa. Krishna, and Indrayudha of Kanauj (see p. 260). Vatsaraja's son
and successor, Nagabhata II, also played an important role
Nagabhata m ^ p O ij t j ca j history of Northern India. In the last quarter
of the eighth century Dharmapala of Bengal invaded Kanauj
anc ^ deposed Indrayudha, the reigning monarch, whom he
replaced by his own nominee Chakrayudha. Indrayudha fled
for shelter to Nagabhata II, who once more organized a
confederacy of the Gurjara tribes of the Panjab and Rajputana
quers and drove out Dharmapala and Chakrayudha from Kanauj.
but is d'e- Govinda III, son of Dhruva, joined Dharmapala and Chak-
Govlnda y rayudha and, like his father, once more drove the Gurjaras
m * out. Nagabhata was alive in 815 and was succeeded by his
dra? 861111 " son Ramabhadra, who was probably kept confined to the
desert.
In the middle of the ninth century the Gurjara power
revived once more under the leadership of Bhoja I, the grand-
Bhoja i. son of Nagabhata II. Bhoja removed his capital from Bhinmal
in the Indian Desert to Kanauj, the capital of Northern India
in the Middle Ages. His kingdom extended from Karnal in
Gurjara ^ Eastern Panjab to Northern Bengal in the east, and from
Empire, the Himalayas to the banks of the Narmada. The whole of
this territory was acquired by Bhoja himself, as his ancestral
dominions consisted of a few hundred miles of barren land in
the present State of Jodhpur. Bhoja I was the pioneer of Rajput
influence in Northern India, and from this time onwards
Rajputs ruled over the whole of Northern India with the ex-
Rise of the
Rajputs, ception of Bengal and Bihar. Rajput chiefs were given large
tracts of lands in the newly conquered dominions and settled
down in their new homes. By the rise of Bhoja the power of
the RashtrakOtas of the Deccan was humbled, and the suc-
cessors of Amoghavarsha I were compelled to seek the aid of
jaras to-" the Arabs of Sindh, the hereditary enemies of the Gurjaras of
Seni Nor " ^e Indian Desert. During the reign of Bhoja I the Gurjaras
Gujarat, invaded Gujarat, some time before 867, but were repulsed by
Dhruva-Dharavarsha, the Rash^rakQ^a viceroy of Gujarat.
THE ORIGIN OF THE RAJPUTS 233
On the frontiers of the Pala kingdom in the east, a long struggle The war
went on between the Gurjaras and the Palas, the latter suffering ln Ben * al *
a crushing defeat in the battle of Mudgagiri or Munger. The Battle
Bhoja I ruled over Northern India for a long period, more Munger.
than half a century, and was succeeded by his son Mahen-
drapala I.
During the reign of Mahendrapala, the Pratihara Empire Mahen-
extended as far as the peninsula of Kathiawad, and Mahen- rap
drapala thus succeeded in separating two hereditary enemies
of his family, the Arabs of Sindh and the RashtrakQtas of
Malkhed. In Eastern India, Southern Bihar and Northern The Gur-
Bengal acknowledged the rule of Mahendrapala. The death of
Mahendrapala I, in the first quarter of the tenth century,
was the signal for a scramble among his sons for the throne.
Mahendrapala I was succeeded in the first instance by his
son Bhoja II, with the aid of the Chedl or Haihaya chief Bhoja n.
Kokalla I; but he was very soon dethroned by his half-
brother Mahlpala I, who, with the aid of the Chandella chief Mahipsia
Harsha, succeeded in conquering the whole of the empire.
During this struggle most of the feudatories assumed inde-
pendence, the Chalukyas of Gujarat and the Paramaras of
Malava being among the first to do so. The Chandellas
continued to recognize the Pratlharas as their suzerains
for some time longer. During the rule of Mahlpala I, the
Rashtrakata power in the south revived under Indra III, JfijJ 1 * 1 "*"
a great-grandson of Amoghavarsha I. The internal dissen- Revival.
sions and the rebellions of the feudatories enabled the Rash-
frakatas to overrun Malava with ease. Indra III rushed
straight upon Kanauj, the capital of the empire, and Mahlpala
I was forced to fly for safety towards Allahabad, but neverthe- invades
less the Rajput Empire suffered a severe loss of prestige. 2IS avft
Even after this campaign, Kathiawad continued to be ruled
by Gurjara viceroys. A Chapa chief named Dharanivaraha
ruled over Wadhwan in 914. In 915-16 the Musalman
traveller Al-Masa'udi, an inhabitant of Baghdad came to
India. He describes the extent of the Pratihara empire, the
vast standing army, maintained by the Emperors, and their
hereditary feud with the Rashtrakttfas of the Deccan. Mahl-
pala I was ruling over the empire in 931, and was succeeded
(E668) 12
HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL INDIA
Mahen-
drapfilall
Devapala.
MahlpJUa
Vijaya-
pBla.
Feudatory
Chief*
aetume
Indepen-
SutUn
Mahmftd
andRIJym-
pllm.
shortly afterwards by his sons. According to some scholars,
Vinayakapala was a quite different person from Mahlpala
and was his successor. Mahlpala I was succeeded, according
to this view, by his brother Vinayakapala or Herambapala,
who was in possession of the capital, Kanauj, in 931. He was
succeeded by his son Mahendrapala II. This prince is only
known from a single inscription discovered at Partabgarh
in Southern Rajputana, and was living in 948. Two years
later Kanauj fell to the lot of Devapala, a son of Mahlpala I,
who was recognized as the ruling king by Nishkalanka, the
governor of the Jhansi District. This Devapala is mentioned
in an inscription of the Chandella king Yaovarman dated
954. Two years later Devapala was succeeded by another
king named Mahlpala II, who was recognized as suzerain
by the Yadava chiefs of Northern Rajputana, and is known
from a single inscription discovered at Bayana in the Bharat-
pur State. Four years later we find another son of Mahl-
pala I, named Vijayapala, on the throne, All of these four
princes appear to have been sons of Mahlpala I and to have
succeeded him within a short period of twenty or twenty-five
years. Vijayapala is also known from one inscription only,
which is a land grant issued by a subordinate chief named
Mathana for the maintenance of a god installed by him in
memory of his mother. This assumption of the royal functions
indicates that the Gurjara feudatories had practically become
independent. In this inscription Vijayapala is only recog-
nized as his suzerain by the Gurjara-Pratlhara chief of Raj-
yapura (Rajor in Alwar) in 960.
The vast fabric of the Gurjara-Pratlhara Empire was reduced
to the small local kingdom of Kanauj during the reign of this
king. In Gujarat the Chalukya Molaraja assumed Imperial
titles in 974, and was followed shortly by the Paramara Vakpa-
tiraja in Malava. The Chandellas of Jejakabhukti assumed
royal titles from the time of Yafovarman. The Chedfe or
Haihayas of Pahala had thrown off their allegiance long ago.
Only the minor Gurjara chiefs continued to recognize Vijaya-
pala and his son Rajyapala. Vijayapala appears to have reigned
for a long time, as we find his son Rajyapala on the throne
of Kanauj in 1018. In that year Sultan MahmOd of Ghazni
THE ORIGIN OF THE RAJPUTS 235
invaded India and came to Kanauj after destroying Mathura.
Rajyapala, evidently, was not supported by the feudatory chiefs
and was compelled to submit to the conqueror. The tern- Destruc-
ples were destroyed and the inhabitants killed or reduced to
slavery. Ganda, the Chandella king, now organized an attack
on the helpless Rajyapala on account of his tame submission
to the Musalmans. By his order the Kachchhapaghata
Arjuna of Gwalior killed Rajyapala in battle.
After the destruction of Kanauj, Rajyapala had removed
the capital to the south of the Ganges. At this time the country
to the south of the Ganges had passed into the possession
of the Chedis of Dahala. In 1019 Mahrndd started from
Ghazni to take revenge on the Hindu chiefs for the murder
of Rajyapala. But Trilochanapala, the son of Rajyapala,
was compelled by Ganda to fight on the side of the Hindus,
and the new capital, Bari, was destroyed in 1020. Pratishthana,
on the opposite side of Prayaga or Allahabad, was sacked, but
remained in the possession of Trilochanapala till 1027. After
this the remnants of the once magnificent empire of the ^araiumi-
Pratiharas were wrested from them by the Chedi king Gange- dom.
yadeva of Dahala.
The Pratlhara Empire became divided among the following
Rajput powers: (i) the Chalukyas of Gujarat, (2) the Para- of the n8
maras of Malava, (3) the Chahamanas or Chauhans of Ajmer, Empire.
(4) the Kachchhapaghatas of Gwalior, (5) the Yadavas of
Mathura, (6) the Chedis or Haihayas of Dahala, and (7) the
Tomaras of Delhi.
As the leaders of the New Hindus or Rajputs, the Prati-
haras saved Northern India from the ravages of a Musalman
conquest, and thus prevented the conversion of the entire
population to the Musalman faith. Even when they were
unimportant chiefs in the Rajputana desert they fought re-
peatedly with the Arabs of Sindh; it is true, with varying
fortunes, but they always succeeded in keeping them at bay,
till decline set in among the Arabs. In this fashion the Prati-
haras saved Indian religion and civilization from total ex-
tinction. The Pratlhara Empire extended very nearly over the
same area as that of the Guptas, and its duration from the
time of Bhoja I to that of MahlpaU I was also very nearly
236 HISTORY OF MEDLEVAL INDIA
the same, but from the cultural point of view the Pratlhara
period is far less interesting to students on account of the
comparative rudeness of the age.
The Pratlhara Government was more or less feudal in
nature, and its rapid dissolution was due to the " centrifugal
tendency " which is still observable among the Rajputs. The
succession of governors was most probably hereditary, and
unless the emperor or the head of the great tribal organization
was very strong, his authority was nominal in the distant pro-
Nature of vinces. The fall of the Gupta Empire was probably followed
Govern-" 1 by a declaration of independence by pro 
