By the seventh century B.C., Indian settlements extended in a long uneven
strip of Panjab to Bihar with a heterogeneous type of population but with enough
of a common language and tradition. The common tradition favoured considerable
social intercourse and trade and the society eventually formed their first
settlements. But before they could advance to a higher level, soon they broke
into smaller segments. It is between 520 B.C
(Bimbasara's conquest of Anga) and 360 B.C.
(Destruction of Aryan tribes by the Maha Padma Nanda), the necessary steps were taken to form a new type of society. Magadha
enjoyed a new development, Buddhism was practised as a religion and Magadhan
empire was extended throughout India.
The historical centre of gravity shifted from Panjab to the Gangetic valley by the seventh century B.C. The conquest of Darius in the third quarter of sixth century B.C., had brought him the land of seven rivers, of which Kambujiya, Gandhara and Indus could be mentioned here. Taxila stood between two powerful trading empires of those days, namely Persia and the growing kingdom of Gangetic valley. Rest of the Panjab was ruled by the Purus till Alexandran conquest. The population of Indus valley was armed better that time, with a solid basis of crops production and good trade. The southern peninsula was still in a state of late stone-age savagery ? The pastoral life must have spread down all the way till the Andhra coast. The needy Brahmins from Bihar and the hardy traders penetrated the region by then. The southern region was soon absorbed into the Mauryan empire. Around 600 B.C., in the Gangetic valley there co-existed distinct sets of social groups in various stages of development. Bengal was a dense forest, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh was thinly inhabited by tribals who did not communicate in Aryan language. The developed tribes above them in contact were constantly in conflict. This higher non Aryan groups who spoke their own language were Nagas. The Aryans were divided into caste-classes. The leading frontier city in the north-west was Taxila. The unidentified city Kukkutavati, where a Maha-Kapphina ruled was near Kamboja (or perhaps Kashmir). A Gandharan king is said to have exchanged gifts with Bimbasara of Magadha and travelled on foot to see Gauthama Buddha. The kingdom in the south near Godhavari was Asmaka and adjacent to was the county Alaka. Both of these were Andhras. The important kingdom was Avanti with its well known capital Ujjain. Pradyota seems to have ruled this place with Kosambi to Ujjain as his trade route. Some historians have shown Ajatashatru repairing his forts in anticipation of Prajota's raid. Of the rest, the Surasena kingdom with capital at Mathura was known to Greeks. Three Aryan tribal kingdoms of Kuru, Panchala and Matsya were known to the epic tradition. Following thumbnail takes you further on the history of :
The Rise of Magadha
The Brihadratas
Magadha embeds the districts of Patna and Gaya of the south Bihar. The rivers of Ganges on the north, Son on the west, Champa on the east, the mountain Vindhya on the west embraced Magadha. From the capital city of Girivrija, Haryanka dynasty ruled Magadha, but the history commences with the ascension of Bimbasara. The earlier dynasty, the Brihadratas (founded by Jarasandha's father, the son of Vasu) ended when Pradyota asserted the throne of Avanti. The latter was a contemporary of the Buddha.
The Haryankas
Being ambitious, Bimbasara expanded his territory through policy of matrimonial alliances and annexations. The sister of Prasenjit bought him the land of Kosala, Chetaka's youngest daughter bought him the land of Vaisali. Through his son Bhattiya, the Anga was conquered by killing Brahmadatta. Thus the territory of Bimbasara measured about 300 leagues which in turn equates to approximately 80,000 villages. Bimbisara and the Prince Gautama were friends, Gautama had not attained the enlightenment when Bimbasara had visited him the first time. On the other occasion after the enlightenment of Gautama, it is stated that Buddha was fed with Bimibasara's own hands. Bimbisara was put to death by his son Ajatasattu. There are different accounts on the death of Bimbasara. According to the Jain chronicle, Bimbasara decided to anoint Ajatasattu as his successor in preference to his other sons. But the latter became impatient, imprisoned Bimbasara and ascended the throne in no time. Ajatasattu is stated to have ruled from about 551 to 519 BC, the Haryanka dynasty reached its zenith during Ajatasattu's rule. It was this time, the Vaishali was ruled by the Licchavis and war broke between Vaishali and Magadha due to the dispute of sharing the gems obtained through the mines bordering Vaishali and Magadha. Though Ajatasattu finally won the war, sixteen year had lapsed which disturbed the economy and peace of Magadha. The Mahavamsa states that Ajatasattu's son Udayabhadra succeeded Ajatasattu and ruled for the next sixteen years. He moved his capital to the bank of Ganges which was known as Pataliputra. The succession was followed by Udayabhadra's son Anuruddha and his son Munda in the same family tradition by slaying the father. Munda's son Nagadasaka slew his father and continued reigning through this dynasty of parricides'. The citizens angered by the rule of Haryankas, revolted against Nagadasaka and anointed Shishunaga as the king. Magadha embeds the districts of Patna and Gaya of the south Bihar. The rivers of Ganges on the north, Son on the west, Champa on the east, the mountain Vindhya on the west embraced Magadha. From the capital city of Girivrija, Haryanka dynasty ruled Magadha, but the history commences with the ascension of Bimbasara. The earlier dynasty, the Brihadratas (founded by Jarasandha's father, the son of Vasu) ended when Pradyota asserted the throne of Avanti. The latter was a contemporary of the Buddha.
The Shishunagas
Shishunaga was an Amatya. He destroyed the glory of the Pradyotas of Avanti. After a successful reign of sixteen years, he was succeeded by his son Kalashoka to reign for the next twenty eight years. The dagger thrust into his throat in the neighbourhood of his city. The ten sons succeeded him and ruled from Pataliputra for the next twenty two years simultaneously. By then, century and a half had passed by since the Parinirvana of the Buddha.
The Nandas
The Nandas were the successors of Shishunaga dynasty. The first Nanda, the Mahapadma Nanda has been described as the destroyer of all the Kshatriyas. He defeated Ikshvakus, Panchalas, Kasis, Harhayas, Kalingas, Asmakas, Kurus, Maithilas, Surasenas, Vitihotras, etc.,. He expanded his territory till south of Deccan. The last of the Nandas was Dhana Nanda. Plutarch tells that Chandragupta Maurya had stated that Nanda was hated and despised by his subject on account of the wickedness of his disposition. The bloody fight between the Nandas and the Mauryas overthrew the dynasty of Nandas. The advent of Mauryan dynasty marks the passage from darkness to light to the historians.
The Mauryas
The name Maurya probably a sanskrit word Mayura. The Jain tradition describes Chandragupta Maurya as a grandson of the chief of a village of Peacock tamers. The Mauryas emblem Mayura seen in their coinage and monuments provides further evidence to it. With the discovery of the book on Kautilya's Arthashasthra by Shamasastri in 1909, the Maurya chronology became very definite though the dates are still controversial. Another source of information for the Mauryan period is the Mudrarakshas. This gives us the clear details of the revolution by which Chandragupta Maurya overthrew the Nandas. Chandragupta and Kautilya (his minister) joined together with the Pauravas against Nandas. The enemies of Chandragupta Maurya were thus disposed one by one by Kautilya, and soon Paurava prince got killed too.
Chandragupta
Maurya
The Buddhist
tradition tells us the death of Chandragupta's father left his mother destitute
and she took shelter in Pataliputra. The baby was deposited for safety with a
cowherd, but the latter sold the child to a hunter who employed him to tend
cattle. The boy was always fond of playing the king's role with his
companions. It is stated that during this time
Chanakya was the elected president of the
Dhanasala, a charity school run by the Dhana Nanda. The manners and features of Chanakya made Dhana Nanda to dismiss
Chanakya and the latter took vow to ruin the Nandas. Chanakya encountered this
ambitious kingly character in a boy and used him to take revenge on Dhana
Nanda.
After the death
of Alexander in Babylon (323 BC), the India
could not be held together. It is the same time, Chandragupta
Maurya collected recruits from different places and
organized them into a powerful army with which he played an important part in
the liberation of India from the Greek rule.
Soon he overthrew the Nandas and captured the capital city Pataliputra. On the
other hand, the ambitious Selucus had crossed
Indus with the ambition to recover the lost conquests of Alexander. His
expedition was mutilated by Chandragupta Maurya and Selucus entered a treaty
with Chandragupta Maurya. Kabul, Kandahar and part of Herat and Beluchistan
were absorbed into the Mauryan territory through the treaty. Chandragupta
Maurya eventually pushed his conquests to as far as Saurashtra in the west and
Deccan in the south.
He adopted
Jainism, renounced the worldly affairs, became deciple of Jain
Muni Bhadrabahu Swami and followed him to South India (Karnataka). He spent his
last days, (298 B.C.) in the hill of south India which is called after him as
CHANDRAGIRI, where the tallest statue of Gomateshwara was carved by the Gangas
later during their rule.
Bindusara
Bindusara (299
- 274 BC) succeeded Chandragupta Maurya . It is stated that
Chanakya survived his master and continued to
work as Bindusara's minister. Though there is no evidence of the conquests
which Bindusara achieved, it is well known that the people of Taxila revolted
twice. The first revolt was due to bad administration of
Susima the eldest son. Though the cause for
the second revolution is not known, it could not be suppressed by Bindusara due
to his untimely death.
Ashoka
Ashoka was the
second son of Bindusara and was the viceroy of Ujjain during Bindusara's reign.
Due to untimely death of his father, he had to suppers the rebellion of Taxila,
and by doing so, he ascended the throne taking his ministers into confidence.
The fact that his formal coronation was delayed for some years until 269 BC may
be due to the bloody dispute between his other brothers (100) for the power, but
there is no evidence of such a struggle. In the 13th year of his reign, he
conquered Kalinga. It is said that during
the war of Kalinga 1,00,000 persons were slain, 1,50,000 held captive and many
times that number died in the battle field. The Kalinga war opened a new epoch
in the history of Magadha as well as India. Ashoka could not see the sufferings
of the people who survived in the war, and turned Buddhist. Lord Siva seems to
have been his favourite deity till then. He propagated his new religion by
engraving his Dhamma, Law of Piety through the rock edicts throughout his empire
which spread till Deccan in the south.
The mighty
empire of the Mauryas soon began to decline after the death of Ashoka and
disappeared from the scene by 187 BC when the last ruler
Brihadratha was killed by his commander-in
chief. The successors of Ashoka were not able to rule such a huge empire, and
several disintegrating forces seems to have been active after the death of
Ashoka. Various parts of the empire became independent and soon the Mauryan
empire gave birth to more smaller segments.
The historical centre of gravity shifted from Panjab to the Gangetic valley by the seventh century B.C. The conquest of Darius in the third quarter of sixth century B.C., had brought him the land of seven rivers, of which Kambujiya, Gandhara and Indus could be mentioned here. Taxila stood between two powerful trading empires of those days, namely Persia and the growing kingdom of Gangetic valley. Rest of the Panjab was ruled by the Purus till Alexandran conquest. The population of Indus valley was armed better that time, with a solid basis of crops production and good trade. The southern peninsula was still in a state of late stone-age savagery ? The pastoral life must have spread down all the way till the Andhra coast. The needy Brahmins from Bihar and the hardy traders penetrated the region by then. The southern region was soon absorbed into the Mauryan empire. Around 600 B.C., in the Gangetic valley there co-existed distinct sets of social groups in various stages of development. Bengal was a dense forest, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh was thinly inhabited by tribals who did not communicate in Aryan language. The developed tribes above them in contact were constantly in conflict. This higher non Aryan groups who spoke their own language were Nagas. The Aryans were divided into caste-classes. The leading frontier city in the north-west was Taxila. The unidentified city Kukkutavati, where a Maha-Kapphina ruled was near Kamboja (or perhaps Kashmir). A Gandharan king is said to have exchanged gifts with Bimbasara of Magadha and travelled on foot to see Gauthama Buddha. The kingdom in the south near Godhavari was Asmaka and adjacent to was the county Alaka. Both of these were Andhras. The important kingdom was Avanti with its well known capital Ujjain. Pradyota seems to have ruled this place with Kosambi to Ujjain as his trade route. Some historians have shown Ajatashatru repairing his forts in anticipation of Prajota's raid. Of the rest, the Surasena kingdom with capital at Mathura was known to Greeks. Three Aryan tribal kingdoms of Kuru, Panchala and Matsya were known to the epic tradition. Following thumbnail takes you further on the history of :
The Rise of Magadha
The Brihadratas
Magadha embeds the districts of Patna and Gaya of the south Bihar. The rivers of Ganges on the north, Son on the west, Champa on the east, the mountain Vindhya on the west embraced Magadha. From the capital city of Girivrija, Haryanka dynasty ruled Magadha, but the history commences with the ascension of Bimbasara. The earlier dynasty, the Brihadratas (founded by Jarasandha's father, the son of Vasu) ended when Pradyota asserted the throne of Avanti. The latter was a contemporary of the Buddha.
The Haryankas
Being ambitious, Bimbasara expanded his territory through policy of matrimonial alliances and annexations. The sister of Prasenjit bought him the land of Kosala, Chetaka's youngest daughter bought him the land of Vaisali. Through his son Bhattiya, the Anga was conquered by killing Brahmadatta. Thus the territory of Bimbasara measured about 300 leagues which in turn equates to approximately 80,000 villages. Bimbisara and the Prince Gautama were friends, Gautama had not attained the enlightenment when Bimbasara had visited him the first time. On the other occasion after the enlightenment of Gautama, it is stated that Buddha was fed with Bimibasara's own hands. Bimbisara was put to death by his son Ajatasattu. There are different accounts on the death of Bimbasara. According to the Jain chronicle, Bimbasara decided to anoint Ajatasattu as his successor in preference to his other sons. But the latter became impatient, imprisoned Bimbasara and ascended the throne in no time. Ajatasattu is stated to have ruled from about 551 to 519 BC, the Haryanka dynasty reached its zenith during Ajatasattu's rule. It was this time, the Vaishali was ruled by the Licchavis and war broke between Vaishali and Magadha due to the dispute of sharing the gems obtained through the mines bordering Vaishali and Magadha. Though Ajatasattu finally won the war, sixteen year had lapsed which disturbed the economy and peace of Magadha. The Mahavamsa states that Ajatasattu's son Udayabhadra succeeded Ajatasattu and ruled for the next sixteen years. He moved his capital to the bank of Ganges which was known as Pataliputra. The succession was followed by Udayabhadra's son Anuruddha and his son Munda in the same family tradition by slaying the father. Munda's son Nagadasaka slew his father and continued reigning through this dynasty of parricides'. The citizens angered by the rule of Haryankas, revolted against Nagadasaka and anointed Shishunaga as the king. Magadha embeds the districts of Patna and Gaya of the south Bihar. The rivers of Ganges on the north, Son on the west, Champa on the east, the mountain Vindhya on the west embraced Magadha. From the capital city of Girivrija, Haryanka dynasty ruled Magadha, but the history commences with the ascension of Bimbasara. The earlier dynasty, the Brihadratas (founded by Jarasandha's father, the son of Vasu) ended when Pradyota asserted the throne of Avanti. The latter was a contemporary of the Buddha.
The Shishunagas
Shishunaga was an Amatya. He destroyed the glory of the Pradyotas of Avanti. After a successful reign of sixteen years, he was succeeded by his son Kalashoka to reign for the next twenty eight years. The dagger thrust into his throat in the neighbourhood of his city. The ten sons succeeded him and ruled from Pataliputra for the next twenty two years simultaneously. By then, century and a half had passed by since the Parinirvana of the Buddha.
The Nandas
The Nandas were the successors of Shishunaga dynasty. The first Nanda, the Mahapadma Nanda has been described as the destroyer of all the Kshatriyas. He defeated Ikshvakus, Panchalas, Kasis, Harhayas, Kalingas, Asmakas, Kurus, Maithilas, Surasenas, Vitihotras, etc.,. He expanded his territory till south of Deccan. The last of the Nandas was Dhana Nanda. Plutarch tells that Chandragupta Maurya had stated that Nanda was hated and despised by his subject on account of the wickedness of his disposition. The bloody fight between the Nandas and the Mauryas overthrew the dynasty of Nandas. The advent of Mauryan dynasty marks the passage from darkness to light to the historians.
The Mauryas
The name Maurya probably a sanskrit word Mayura. The Jain tradition describes Chandragupta Maurya as a grandson of the chief of a village of Peacock tamers. The Mauryas emblem Mayura seen in their coinage and monuments provides further evidence to it. With the discovery of the book on Kautilya's Arthashasthra by Shamasastri in 1909, the Maurya chronology became very definite though the dates are still controversial. Another source of information for the Mauryan period is the Mudrarakshas. This gives us the clear details of the revolution by which Chandragupta Maurya overthrew the Nandas. Chandragupta and Kautilya (his minister) joined together with the Pauravas against Nandas. The enemies of Chandragupta Maurya were thus disposed one by one by Kautilya, and soon Paurava prince got killed too.
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