History of India - Forgotten Books

PREFACE BY THE EDITOR

Thi s volume covers the-in teresting peri od from the

century in whi ch Buddh a appeared down to the fir st cen

turi es after the Mohamm edans entered In di a, or, roughly

speaking,from 600 B . c . to 1200 A . D . During thi s long

era Indi a, now Aryani zed, was brought into closer con

tact with the outer world . The invasion of Alexander

the Great gave her at least a touch of the West ; the

spread of Buddhi sm and the growth of trade created

new relations with Chin a and Central Asia ; and, toward

the close of the peri od, the great movements whi ch had

their origin in Ar abia brought her un der the influences

whi ch affected the East hi stori cally after the ri se of

Islam .

In no previ ous work wi ll the reader find so thor

ough and so comprehensive a description as Mr. Vincent

Smith has given of Al exander ’s in road into India and

of h i s exploits whi ch stirred,even if they d id not deeply

move,the soul of Indi a ; nor has there exi sted hitherto

so full an account of the great rulers,Chandragupta,

Asoka,and Harsha, each of whom made famous the age

in whi ch he lived . The value of the book i s further

ii PREFACE

enhanced by a hi stori cal sketch of the mediaeval king

dom s of the North and the Deccan and by a bri ef outline

of the hi story of Southern Hindustan , a section to whi ch

attention should be devoted by the hi storian who wi shes

fully to understand Indi a ’s present condi tion as well

as her past. Throughout the work the author has taken

advantage of every available source , whether literary,tradi tional , archaeologi cal, monumental, epigraphi c , or

numi smatic , includin g also the narratives of the early

Chinese pilgrim s who vi sited Indi a and whose narra

tives yi eld important hi stori c resul ts .

The plan of the series has necessitated certain

changes from the original edi tion of the author ’s work

so as to bring the volume into closer accord wi th the

others of thi s Hi story ; to these alterations Mr. Smi th ,

like the other wri ters,has courteously consented

,a con

cession whi ch I,as edi tor, desire to acknowledge wi th

appreciation . It was necessary, for example , to omi t

the foot—notes and margin al references , one or two maps ,and some of the longer appendi ces that were of a stri ctly

techni cal character, in order to bring the volume wi thi n

the compass requir ed . In no case,I beli eve

,has any

thi ng been eliminated that was essential to the main

theme , namely, the continuous story of Indi a’s develop

ment during the peri od indicated. The reader who may

desire to pursue the subj ect fur ther and devote attention

more specifically to minute detail s wi ll consult Mr.

Sm i th ’s larger volume , whi ch abounds in references .

In choosing the illustrations for the hi story of thi s

peri od, as of the others , much care has been taken and

PREFACE i i i

an endeavour has been made to add to the exi sting

materi al by includin g photographs from my own col

lection made in India . Other persons also have kin dly

aided in carryin g out thi s part of the plan as designed,

by granting permi ssion to reproduce pi ctures whi ch

were their special property .

Am ong the obligations whi ch both the publi shers

and myself most cordially recogni ze is an indebtedness

to Mr. Holland Thompson , A. M . , Instructor in Hi story

in the College of the City of New York , who rendered

generous assi stance in connection with the preparation

of the text to conform wi th the needs of the series,and

for aid in making the index .

With these words I present the volume , recalli ng

the reader once more from the present to the past,to

th e early ages of Indi a before and after the Chri stian

era.A. V . WILLIAMS JACKSON .

CONTENTS

CHAPTERI. INTRODUCTIONII. THE DYNASTIES B EFORE ALEXANDER .

ALEXANDER’

S INDIAN CAMPA IGN : THE ADVANCEIV . ALEXANDER ’

S INDIAN CAM PAI GN : THE RETREATV . CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA AND B INDUSAEA

VI. ASOKA MAUETAV II. ASOKA MAUEYA AND HI S SUCCESSORS

THE SUNGA , KANVA, AND ANDHEA DYNASTIESIX. THE INDO - GREEK AND INDO -PARTHIAN DYNASTIESX. THE KUSHAN OR INDO -SCYTHIAN DYNASTYXI . THE GUPTA EMPIR E AND THE WESTERN SATEAPS : CHANDRA

GUPTA I To KUMARAGUPTA I

THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WHITE HUNSTHE REIGN OF HAESHA

THE MEDIE VAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTHXV. THE KINGDOMS OF THE DEOOAN

XVI. THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

LI ST OF I LLU STRAT I ONS

PAOEBenares, the Sacred City Of IndiaFrieze from a Buddhist stupa

India’s sacred lotus

Statue Of Buddha at San chiPip rawa inscribed vase containing relics Of BuddhaThe Jain temple , Moun t Abu ,

D ilwaraBuddhist tope and Jain tem p le at Sarnath near BenaresTem ple Of the sacred B O-tree at Bodh GayaGreat chaitya or tom of Sanch iKing Ajatasatru comes to con fession to BuddhaPort ion Of rail at B harahat , as first un covered .

LOW caste Hindu woman , Bh il typ ePilgrims and beggars at the Well Of Knowledge , BenaresThe Indus near AttockAn Old Hindu fortRope b ridge across the flooded Jihlam .

Indian shieldsBurial Of Alexander’s favourite horse BucephalusDetail from an Ajan ta cave pain tingAn cient Hindu ship

Indian archerFrieze from a Buddh ist stupa

Ind ian foot-sold iersAn Ind ian charger fully caparisonedOld astronomical Observatory at Uj jainBirthplace Of BuddhaTope at Sam ath , near BenaresPillar of Asoka at Allahabad .

B harahat sculpture of a Buddhist stupa

B aa-relief on left-hand p illar, n orthern gateway of the rail at

Assyrian honeysuckle ornam ent from cap ital Of Lat , at Allahabad

vi i

vi i i LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Buddhist wheel of the law of p iety, Dharma-ChakraExte rior Oi Ajan ta caveIn terior view Of Ajan ta cave

En tran ce to Karli caveBuddhist sculpturesTower Of Victory , Chi torHorse-sacrificeRiver Sip ra at Unain

Coin of the Indo-G reek king, MenanderCopper coin of Kadphises , Kushan DynastyFort Jamrud , PeshawarNaga people worshipp ing the trisul emblem Of Buddha , on a fiery p illarExternal elevation Of great rail at AmaravatiInd ian PalmsView Of Botan ical Gardens , CalcuttaTemple at Bodh Gaya with BO-treeIron pillar Of DelhiHilltop pagodaBuddhist sculp ture on theBharahat stupa, showmg the erecti on of the Jeta

vana monasteryThe god BrahmaScene near Bodh GayaBuddh ist sculptureBath ing-p lace at UnainBrahman Priests at Secundra , India

Gwalior, from MorarEmpire of Harsha

, King Of Northern India

Great Temple , MaduraK ing Harsha’

s autograph on the Banskhera InscriptionThe sacred B O-treeSurya, the sun

An Ind ian Scen eSas Bahu Tem ple , GwaliorThe Fort , GwaliorTem ple Of Mahadeva , KajurahoRu ins of the Tem ple Of BhojpurView Of Saswar , in the Deccan ,

southeast Of PoonaGlimpse Of Hyderab adPulikesin II rece ives the envoys from the Persian king, Khusru IIThe god KrishnaTemple Of Kailasa , ElloraSiva Puja , or worship Of Siva

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Detail from an Ajan ta cave paintingSpecim en Of Southern Ind ian tem p le sculp tureWater-lili es in Botanic Garden ,

Mad rasView Of Great Tem p le , B huvaneswarThe Gan esa-Ra tha at Mamallaipuram

Pavilion , Little Conjevaram

FR IEZ E FROM A BUDDHIST STUPA .

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Tresearches of a mul titude of scholars work

ing in vari ous fields have di sclosed an unexpected

wealth of materi als for the reconstruction Of ancient

Indi an hi story, and the necessary prelimi nary studi es

of a techni cal kind have been carri ed SO far that the

moment seems to have arrived for taking Stock Of the

accumulated stores of knowledge . It now appears to be

practi cable to exhibi t the results of antiquarian studi es

in the shape Of a connected relation not less in

telli gible to the ordinary educated reader than Elphin

stone ’s narrative Of the transactions Of the Moham

medan period.

The fir st attempt to present such a narrative Of the

leading events in Indian political h i story for eighteen

centuri es i s made in thi s book , whi ch i s designedly con

fined almost exclusively to the relation of poli tical vi ci s

situdes. A soun d framework of dynasti c annals must

be provided before the story Of Indian literature and

art can be told aright . Although literary and arti stic

2 INTRODUCTION

problems are touched on very li ghtly in thi s volume,

the references made will sufiice, perhaps, to convince, the

reader that the key is Often to be foun d in the accurate

chronologi cal presentation Of dynasti c facts .

European students,whose attention has been di

rected almost exclusively to the GraecO-Roman f oun da

tion of modern civi li zation, may be di sposed to agree

wi th the German phi losopher in the beli ef that Chi

nese,Indi an

,and Egyptian antiquities are never more

than curi osities ; but,however well founded that

Opinion may have been in Goethe ’s day,it can no longer

command assent . The researches of Ori entali sts during

the last hundred years have establi shed many points

of contact between the anci ent East and the modern

West , and no Helleni st can now afiord to profess com

p lete ignorance Of the Babyloni an and Egyptian cul ture

whi ch forms the bed-rock Of European institution s .

Even China has been brought into touch wi th Europe ,while the languages

,literatur e , art , and phi losophy Of

the West have been proved to be connected by innu

merab le bonds with those of Indi a . Al though the

names Of even the greatest monarchs of anci ent Indi a

are at present unfami li ar to the general reader,and

awaken few echoes in the minds Of any save Speciali sts,it i s not unreasonable to hope that an orderly presenta

tion Of the ascertained facts of anci ent Indi an hi story

may be Of interest to a larger cir cle than that Of pro

fessed Ori entali sts , and that , as the subject becomes

more fam iliar to the reading publi c,i t will be foun d no

less worthy Of attention than more famili ar departments

THE AUTHOR ’S AIM 3

Of hi stori cal study. A recent Indian author justly

Observes that Indi a suflers to-day in the estimati on

Of the world more through the world ’s ignorance Of

the achi evements Of the heroes Of Indi an hi story than

through the absence or in significan ce of such achi eve

ments . The foll owing pages may serve to prove that

the men Of Old tim c in Indi a di d deeds worthy of re

membranes and deserving Of rescue from the Obli vion

in whi ch they have been buri ed for so many centuries .

The section Of thi s work whi ch deals wi th the in

vasion of Al exander the Great may claim to make a

special appeal to the interest Of readers trained in the

ordinary course Of classi cal studi es,and the subject

has been treated accordingly wi th much fulness Of

detail . The exi sting Engli sh accoun ts of Al exander ’s

marvellous campaign treat the story rather as an ap

p endi x to the hi story Of Greece than as part Of that

of Indi a, and fail to make full use Of the resul ts Of the

labours of modern geographers and archaeologi sts. In

thi s volum e the campaign i s di scussed as a memorable

epi sode in the hi story of India , and an endeavour has

been made to collect all the rays Of light from recent

investigation and to focus them upon the narratives Of

ancient authors .

The author ’s aim is to present the story Of ancient

India,so far as practicable

,in the form Of a connected

narrative,based upon the most authentic evidence

available ; to relate facts , however establi shed, wi th

impartiality ; and to di scuss the problems Of hi story

in a judicial Spiri t . He has striven to reali ze, h‘owever

INTRODUCTION

imperfectly, the ideal expressed in the words Of

Goethe :

The hi storian ’s duty is to separate the true from

th e false , the certain from the uncertain , and the doubt

f ul from that whi ch cannot be accepted. Every

investigator must before all things look upon himself

as one who is summoned to serve on a jury. He has

only to consider how far the statement Of the case i s

complete and clearly set forth by the evidence . Then he

dr aws hi s conclusion and gives hi s vote, whether i t

be that hi s Opinion coincides with that Of the foreman

or not .

The appli cation Of these principles necessarily in

volves the wholesale rej ection Of mere legend as di s

tingui sh ed from tradition, and the omi ssion Of many

pi ctur esque anecdotes,mostly folk-lore

,whi ch have

clustered round the names Of the mi ghty men Of Old

in India.

The hi storian Of the remote past of any nation must

be content to rely much upon tradi tion as embodi ed in

literature,and to acknowledge that the results of hi s

researches,when based upon tradi tionary materials ,

are inferi or in certainty to those obtainable for peri ods

Of whi ch the facts are attested by contemporary evi

dence . In Indi a,with very few exceptions

,contem

p orary evidence Of any kin d i s not avai lable before

the time Of Al exander ; but cri ti cal examin ation of

records dated much later than the events referred to

can extract from them testimony whi ch may be re

garded wi th a hi gh degree of probabi lity as tradi tion

UNITY OF IND IA 5

ally transmi tted from the sixth or perhaps the seventh

century B . 0 .

Even contemporary evidence,when it is available

for later peri ods,cann ot be accepted without cri tici sm.

The flattery Of cour ti ers,the vani ty Of kings , and many

other clouds whi ch Obscure the absolute truth,must

be recogni zed and allowed for. Nor is it possible for the

writer of a hi story,however great may be hi s respect

for the Objective fact,to elimin ate altogether h is own

personali ty. Every kind Of evidence , even the most

direct,must reach th e reader

,when in narrative form

,

as a reflection from the mi rror of the writer ’s mind,with the liabili ty to unconsci ous di stortion. In the fol

lowing pages the author has endeavoured to exclude the

subjective element so far as possible,and to make no

statement Of fact wi thout authori ty.

But no Obligation to foll ow authori ty in the other

sense Of the word has been recogni zed,and the narrative

often assumes a form whi ch appears to be justified by

the evidence,although opposed to the vi ews stated in

well-known books by authors of repute . Indi an hi s

tory has been too much the sport Of creduli ty and hy

p othesi s, inadequately checked by critical judgment of

evidence or verification Of fact,and “ the Opini on Of

the foreman,

” to use Goethe ’s phr ase, cannot be im

p li citly followed .

Although thi s work purports to relate the early

hi story Of India , the title must be un derstood with cer

tain limi tations . Indi a, encircled as she is by seas and

moun tain s, is indi sputably a geographi cal unit , and , as

6 INTRODUCTION

such,is rightly designated by one name . Her type Of

civili zation,too

,has many features whi ch di fferentiate

it from that Of all other regions Of the world, while they

are common to the whole country, or rather continent,in a degree sufii cient to justify i ts treatment as a uni t

INDIA ’S SACRED LOTUS.

From stereograph , copyright 1903, by Underwood Underwood , New York .

in the hi story Of human,social

,and intellectual develop

ment.

But the complete poli ti cal uni ty Of Indi a un der the

control Of a paramount power,wielding unquestioned

authori ty, is a thin g Of yesterday, barely a century Old .

The most notable Of her rulers in the Olden time cher

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INTRODUCTION

of the Peninsula . Other princes , although their con

quests were less extensive,yet succeeded ih establi sh

ing, and for a time maintaining, empires whi ch mi ght

fairly claim to rank as paramoun t powers . With the

hi story of such princes the following narrative i s

chi efly concerned, and the afiairs Of the mi nor states are

either slightly noticed or altogether ignored .

The paramoun t power in early times,when it exi sted,

invariably had its seat in Northern Indi a the regi on

Of the Ganges plain lying to the north Of the great

barri er Of jungle-clad hi lls whi ch shut Of f the Deccan

from Hindustan . That barrier may be defined con

veni en tly as consisting Of the Vindhya ranges,or may

be identified, still more compendi ously, wi th the river

Narmada, or Nerbudda, whi ch falls in to the Gulf Of

Cambay.

The ancient kingdoms Of the south,although ri ch and

populous,inh abited by Dravidi an

'

nation s not inferi or in

cultur e to their Aryan rivals in the north,were ordi

nari ly SO secluded from the rest Of the civili zed world,includin g Northern Indi a, that their afiair s remained

hi dden from the eyes of other nations , and, native

ann ali sts bein g lackin g,their hi story

,previ ous to the

year 1000 of the Chri stian era,has almost wholly

peri shed. Except on the rare occasions when an un

usually enterpri sing sovereign Of the north either pene

trated or turned th e forest barri er, and for a moment

lifted the vei l Of secrecy in which the southern poten

tates lived enwrapped,very little i s known concerning

politi cal events in the south during the long‘

peri od

SOURCES OF IND IAN HISTORY

extending from 600 B . O. to 1000 A. D . TO use the words

Of Elphinstone , no conn ected relation Of the nati onal

transactions ”Of Southern Indi a in early times can

be wri tten, and an early hi story Of Indi a must,per

force, be concerned mainly with the north.

The time dealt wi th i s that extendin g from the begin

nin g Of the hi stori cal period in 600 B . c . to the Moham

medan conquest, whi ch may be dated in round numbers

as having occurred in 1200 A. D . in the north,and a cen

tury later in the south. The earli est poli tical event in

India to whi ch an approximately correct date can be

assign ed is the establi shm ent Of the Sai sunaga dynasty

Of Magadha about 600 B . C.

Th e sources Of , or ori ginal authori ties for, the early

hi story Of India may be arranged in four classes . The

first Of these is tradi tion, chi efly as recorded in native

li terature ; the second consi sts Of those writings Of

foreign travellers and hi storians whi ch contain Ob ser

vation s on Indi an subjects ; the third is the evidence

Of archaeology, whi ch may be subdivided into the monu

mental,the epigraphi c

,and the num i smati c ; and the

fourth compri ses the few works Of native contempo

rary literature whi ch deal expressly with hi stori cal

subjects .

For the peri od anteri or to Al exander the Great, ex

tendin g from 600 B . C. to 326 B . C. , dependence must be

placed almost wholly upon li terary tradi tion, communi

cated through works composed in many d ifieren t ages ,and frequently recorded in scattered, incidental notices .

The purely Indi an tradi tions are supplemented by the

10 INTRODUCTION

notes Of the Greek authors, K tesias, Herodotus , the

hi storians Of Alexander, and Megasthenes.

The Kashmir chr oni cle,composed in the twelfth cen

tury,whi ch is in form the nearest approach to a work

Of regular hi story in extant Sanskri t li terature, contains

a lar ge body Of conf used ancient tradi tions,whi ch can

be used only wi th much caution . It i s also Of hi gh

value as a trustworthy record Of local events for the

peri od contemporary wi th,or sli ghtly precedin g, the

author ’s lifetime .

The great Sanskri t epi cs,the Mahabharata and the

Ramayana,whil e Of value as tradi tional pi ctures Of

social life in the heroi c age,do not seem to contain

matter illustrating the poli tical relations Of states dur

ing the hi stori cal period.

Sanskri t Speciali sts have extracted from the works

Of grammari ans and other authors many incidental

references to ancient tradition,whi ch collectively

amount to a considerable addi tion to hi stori cal knowl

edge . These passages from San skri t li teratur e,so far

as they have come to my notice,have been utili zed in

thi s work, but some references may have escaped

attention.

The sacred books Of the Jain sect, whi ch are still

very imperfectly known,also contain numerous bi stori

cal statements and allusions Of considerable value .

The Jatakas,or Birth stori es , and other books Of the

Buddhi st canon include many incidental references to

the poli ti cal condi tion Of Indi a in the fif th and Sixth

centuri es B . C.,whi ch

,although not exactly contempo

THE PURANAS 11

rary wi th the events alluded to,certainly transmi t

genuine hi stori cal tradi tion.

The chroni cles Of Ceylon in the Pali language,Of

whi ch the D ip avamsa , dating probably from the fourth

century A. D . , and the Muham mad are the best known,

Ofier several di screpant versions Of ear ly Indian tradi

tions, chi efly concernin g the Maurya dynasty . These

Sinh alese stories , the value Of whi ch has been sometimes

overestimated, demand cautious criticism at least as

much as do other records of popular and ecclesiasti cal

tradi ti on.

The most systematic record Of Indian hi stori cal tradi

tion is that preserved in the dyn asti c li sts of the Pura

nas . Five out of the eighteen works Of thi s class ,namely

,the Vayu

,Matsya

,Vi shnu

,Brahmanda

,and

Bhagavata,contain such li sts . The Brahmanda and

Bhagavata Puranas bein g comparatively late works , the

li sts in them are corrupt,im perfect

,and Of slight value .

But those in the Oldest documents, the Vayu , Matsya,and Vi shnu

,are full

,and evidently based upon good

authori ties . The latest Of these three works , the Vi shnu,is the best known, having been completely translated

into Engli sh ; but in some cases i ts evidence is not so

good as that of the Vayu and Matsya . It was composed,probably

,in the fifth or sixth century A. D.

, and cor

responds most closely wi th the theoretical definition that

a Purana Should deal -wi th the five topics Of primary

creation,secondary creation, genealogies Of gods and

patriarchs , reigns Of various Manus , and the hi stories

Of the Old dynasties Of kin gs . The Vayu seems to go

12 INTRODUCTION

back to the mi ddl e Of the fourth century A. D.,and the

Matsya is probably intermediate in date between i t and

the Vi shnu. The principal Puranas seem to have been

edi ted in their present form before 500 A. D .

Modern European wri ters have been inclin ed to di s

parage unduly the authori ty Of the Purani c li sts,but

closer study finds in them much

genui ne and valuable hi stori cal

t r a d i t i o n . For instance,the

Vi shn u Purana gives the outline

Of the hi story Of the Maurya dynasty wi th a near approach to

accuracy,and the Radcli f fe manu

script Of the Matsya i s equally

trustworthy for Andhra hi story .

Pr oof of the surpri sin g extent to

whi ch coin s and inscriptions con

firm the Matsya li st of the Andhra

kings has recently been publi shed.

The earli est forei gn noti ce Of

Indi a is that in the inscripti ons

Of the Persian kin g Dari us,son of Hystasp es, at Perse

poli s and Nak sh - i -Rustam,the latter Of whi ch may be

referred to the year 486 B . C. Herodotus,who wrote

late in the fifth century,contributes valuable in f or

mation concerning the relati on between Indi a and the

Persian empir e,whi ch supplements the less detail ed

statements of the inscripti ons . The fragments of the

works of K tesias Of Kn i dos, who was physi cian to

Artaxerxes Mnemon in 401 B . C., and amused himself by

STATUE OF BUDDHA AT SANCHI .From a p hotograph .

GREEK AND CHINESE SOURCES 13

collectin g travellers ’ tales about the wonders Of the

East, are Of very slight value .

Europe was practically ignorant Of Indi a until the

vei l was lif ted by Al exander ’s operations and the re

ports Of hi s Officers . Some twenty years after hi s death

the Greek ambassadors,sent by the Ki ngs Of Syria and

Egypt to the cour t Of the Maurya emperors,recorded

careful Observations on the country to whi ch they

were accredi ted, whi ch have been partially preserved

in the works Of many Greek and Roman authors . The

fragments Of Megasthenes are especially valuable .

Arr ian,a GraecO-Roman Official of the second century

A. D. ,wrote a capital description of India

,as well as an

admi rable cri ti cal hi story Of Al exander ’s invasion.

Both these works,being based upon the reports Of

Ptolemy,son Of Lagos, and other Officers Of Al exander,

and the wri tin gs Of the Greek ambassadors, are entitled

to a large extent to the credi t Of contemporary docu

ments, SO far as the Indi an hi story Of the fourth cen

tury B . C. is concerned. The works Of Qui ntus Curtius

and other authors who essayed to tell the story Of Alex

ander ’s Indi an campaign are far inferior in value , but

each has merits Of i ts own .

Th e Chinese Father Of Hi story, Ssu-ma-ch ’i en ,

who completed hi s work about 100 B . C.,is the fir st Of a

long seri es Of Chinese hi stori ans whose writings thr ow

much light upon the early annals Of Indi a . The accu

rate chr onology Of the Chinese authors gives their state

ments peculi ar value .

The long series of Chinese Buddhi st pilgrims who

14 INTRODUCTION

continued for several centuri es to vi sit Indi a ,'

whi ch

they regarded as their Holy Land, begins wi th Fa

hi en (Fa-hsien) , who started on hi s travels in 399

A. D . and returned to Chin a fif teen years later. The

book in whi ch he recorded his j ourneys has been pre

served complete,and has been translated once into

French and four tim es into Engli sh. It includes a very

interesting and valuable description of the governm ent

and social condi tion of the Ganges provinces during the

reign Of Chandr agupta II , V ikram ad itya. Several other

pilgrims left behi nd them works whi ch contribute some

thing to the elucidation of Indian hi story,and their

testimony will be cited in due course .

But the pri nce Of pilgrims,the illustri ous Hiuen

Tsang,whose fame as Master of the Law still resounds

through all Buddhi st lands,deserves more particular

notice . Hi s travels,described in a work entitled Rec

ords of the Western World , whi ch has been translated

in to French,Engli sh

,and German

,extended from

629 A. D. to 645 or 646,and covered an enormous area

,

including almost every part Of Indi a,except the ex

treme south . His book i s a treasur e-house Of accurate

information, indi spensable to every student Of Indi an

antiqui ty,and has done more than any archaeologi cal

di scovery to render possible the remarkable resusci

tation Of lost Indi an hi story which has recently been

effected. Al though the chi ef hi storical value Of Hi uen

Tsang’s work consi sts in i ts contemporary description

Of political and social institutions , the pilgrim has

increased the debt of grati tude due to hi s memory by

16 INTRODUCTION

source Of early Indi an hi story i s the epigraphi c , and

the accurate knowledge Of many periods Of the long

forgotten past whi ch has now been attained i s derived

mainly from the patient study Of inscriptions during

the last seventy years . Inscriptions are Of many kinds .

Asoka ’s edi cts,or sermons on stone

,form a class by

themselves,no other sovereign having imi tated hi s

practi ce Of engraving ethi cal exhortations on the rocks .

Equally peculiar i s the record Of two Sanskri t plays on

tables Of Stone at Ajmi r . But the great majori ty Of

inscriptions are commemorative,dedi catory

,or dona

tive . The former two classes compri se a vast vari ety

Of records, extendi ng from the mere signatur e Of a

pilgrim ’s name to an elaborate panegyri cal poem in

the most artificial style Of Sanskri t verse,and are for

the most part inci sed on stone . The donative in scr iptions , or grants, on the other hand, are mostly engraved

on plates Of Copper,the favourite material used for per

manent records Of conveyances .

The south of. Indi a is peculiarly ri ch in in scr ip

tions of almost all kinds,both on stone and copper,

some Of whi ch attain extraordinary length. The known

southern inscriptions are believed to number several

thousands, and many must remain for future di scovery .

But these records,notwi thstandi ng their abundance ,

are inferi or in interest to the rarer northern documents

by reason of their comparatively recent date . NO south

ern inscription earli er than the Chri stian era is known ,except the Mysore edi tion Of Asoka ’s Minor Rock

Edi cts and the brief dedi cations Of the Bhattiprolu

INSCRIPTIONS AND COINS 17

caskets ; and the records pri or to the seventh century

A. D . are very few.

The Oldest northern document is probably the Sakya

dedi cation Of the reli cs Of Buddh a at Pip rawa, whi ch

may date back to about 450 B . C., and the number Of

inscriptions anterior to the

Chri stian era i s considera

ble . Records of the second

and third centuri es A. D . ,

however,are rare .

The num ismati c evi

dence i s more accessible as

a whole than the ep i

graphi c . Many classes Of

Indian coins have been d is

cussed in special treatises ,and compelled to yield their

contributions to hi story .

From the time Of Alexan

der ’s invasion coins afiord

invaluable aid to the re

searches Of the hi storian in

every peri od, and for the Bactrian, Indo-Greek , and

Indo-Parthian dynasties thev constitute almost the sole

evidence .

The fourth class Of materials for,or sources Of

,

early Indi an hi story, namely, contemporary native

literature Of a hi storical kind, is Of very limi ted extent ,compri sing only two works in Sanskrit and a few

poems in Tamil . None of these works is pure hi story :

P IPR AWA INSCR IBED VASE CONTA INING B ELICS OF BUDDHA.

Supfiiosed to b e th e O ldest m emorial ofud d h a , p robably about 460 B. o .

18 INTRODUCTION

they are all of a romanti c ch aracter, and present the

facts wi th much embelli shment.

The best known composi tion of thi s class is that

entitled the Deeds Of Harsha (Harsha-Chari ta) ,wri tten by Bana

,about 620 A. D. ,

in prai se of hi s master

and patron, King Harsha Of Thanesar and Kanauj ,whi ch i s Of hi gh value

,both as a depository Of anci ent

tradi tion, and as a record Of contemporary hi story , in

Spite Of Obvious faul ts . A similar work called The

Deeds Of V ikram ank a, by B ilh ana,a poet Of the

twelfth century, i s devoted to the eulogy Of a powerf ul

kin g who ruled a large terri tory in the south and west

between 1076 and 1126 A. D . The earliest of the Tamil

poems alluded to is believed to date from the sixth

or seventh century A. D. These compositions,whi ch

are panegyri cs on famous kin gs Of the south, appear

to contain a good deal Of hi stori cal matter.

The Obstacles whi ch have hi therto prevented the

construction Of a contin uous narrative Of early Indi an

hi story are due not so much to the deficiency Of mate

rial as to the lack Of defin ite chronology. The rough

material i s not so scanty as has been supposed. The

data for the reconstruction Of the early hi story Of all

nations are very meagre,largely consi sting Of bare li sts

Of names , supplemented by vague and Often con tradi c

tory tradi tions whi ch pass insensibly into popular

mythology. The hi storian of anci ent Indi a i s fairly well

provided with a supply Of such li sts,tradi tions

,and

mythology,whi ch , Of course , require to be treated on

the stri ct cri ti cal principles appli ed by modern students

INDIAN ERAS 19

to the early hi stori es Of both Western and Eastern

nations . The appli cation Of those principles is not more

di fficult in the case Of Indi a than i t i s in that Of Baby

loni a,Egypt, Greece , or Rome . The real di fficulty i s

the determination Of fixed chronological points. A body

Of hi story must be supported upon a skeleton Of chro

nology , and wi thout chronology hi story is impossible .

The Indi an nations,in SO far as they maintained a

record Of politi cal events, kept it by methods of their

own , whi ch are di fficult to understand,and until

recently were not at all understood. The eras used

to date events not only difi er from those used by

other nations,but are very numerous and Obscur e in

their origin and appli cation . Cunningham ’s B ook ofInd ian Eras enum erates more than a score of systems

whi ch have been employed at difieren t times and places

in Indi a for the computation of dates, and hi s li st

m ight be considerably extended. The successful ef forts

Of several generations Of scholars to recover the for

gotten hi story Of ancient India have been largely

devoted to a study of the local modes Of chr onological

computation,and have resulted in the attainment Of

accurate knowledge concerning most Of the eras used

in inscriptions and other docum ents . Armed wi th these

results , i t is now possible for a wri ter on Indi an hi story

to compile a narrative arranged in orderly chronologi cal

sequence,whi ch could not have been thought Of forty

years ago.

At that tim e the only approximately certain date

in the early hi story Of India was that Of the accession

20 INTRODUCTION

of Chandragupta Maurya, as determined by his iden ti

fication with Sandrakottos, the contemporary Of Selen

kos Nikator , according to Greek authors . By the sub

sequent establi shm ent Of the synchr oni sm Of Chandra

gupta ’s grandson,Asoka, wi th An tiochos Theos , grand

son Of Seleukos, and four other Helleni stic princes , the

chronology Of the Maurya dynasty was placed upon a

firm basi s,and i t is no longer Open to doubt in i ts main

outlines .

A great step in advance was gained by Doctor

Fleet ’s determ in ation Of the Gupta era,whi ch had

been the subject Of much wi ld conj ecture . Hi s demon

stration that the year 1 Of that era is 319—20 A. D . fixed

the chronological position Of a most important dynasty,

and reduced chaos to order. Fa-hi en ’s account Of the

civil admini stration of the Ganges provinces at the

beginnin g of the fourth centur y thus became an impor

tant hi stori cal document il lustrating the reign of

Chandr agupta II,Vikram adi tya, one Of the greatest

Of In di an kings . Most Of the di fficulties which con

tinued to embarrass the chronology of the Gupta peri od,even after the announ cement of Doctor Fleet ’s di s

covery in 1887, have been removed by M . Sylvain Levi ’s

publi cation Of the synchroni sm of Samudragup ta with

King Meghavarn a Of Ceylon (304 to 332 A.

A connected hi story Of the Andh ra dynasty has been

rendered possible by the establi shment Of synchron i sms

between the Andhra kings and the western satraps .

In short,the labours Of many scholars have suc

ceeded in tracing in firm lines the outline Of the hi story

SOUTHERN IND IAN CHRONOLOGY 21

Of Northern Indi a from the beginni ng of the hi stori cal

peri od to the Mohammedan conquest,wi th one impor

tant exception, that of the Kushan, or Indo-Scythi an,period

,the date Of whi ch is still open to di scussion.

The system Of Kushan chronology adopted in thi s

volume has much to recommend i t,and is sufficiently

supported to serve as a good working hypothesi s . If

it should ul timately commend i tself to general accept

a nce , the whole scheme Of North In dian chronology

may be considered as settled,although many details

wi ll remain to be filled in .

Much progress has been made in the determi nation

Of the chronology Of the southern dynasties , and the

dates of the Pallavas, a dynasty the very exi stence

Of whi ch was unknown until 1840, have been worked

out wi th special success .

CHAPTER H

THE DYNASTIES BEFORE ALEXANDER

600 B . C. TO 326 B . C.

HE political hi story Of India begin s for an orthodox

Hindu more than three thousand years before the

Chr i stian era wi th the famous war waged on the banks

Of the Jumn a, between the sons of Kuru and the sons

Of Pandu,as related in the vast epi c known as the

Mahabharata . But the modern cri ti c fai ls to fin d

sober hi story in bardi c tales,and is constrained to

travel much farther before he comes to an anchorage Of

solid fact .

That line which separates the dated from the un

dated,in the case Of India, may be drawn through the

middle Of the seventh century B . C. , a period Of prog

ress , marked by the development Of mari time com

merce and the diffusion Of a knowledge Of the art Of

wri ting. Up to about that time the inhabi tants Of

In di a,even the most intellectual races, seem to have

been generally ignorant of the art Of wr i tin g, and to

have been obli ged to trust to hi ghly trained memory

for the transmi ssion Of knowledge .22

24 THE DYNASTIES BEFORE ALEXANDER

its capital Ujjain, whi ch still retains i ts ancient name

unchanged.

The works of ancient Indi an wri ters from whi ch

our hi stori cal data are extracted do not profess to be

hi stori es, and are mostly religious treati ses of various

kinds . In such compositions the religi ous element

necessarily takes the foremost place,and the secular

BUDDHIS’

I‘ TOPE AND JA IN TEMPLE AT SARNATH NEAR BENARES.

From a photograph .

affairs Of the world occupy a very Subordinate positi on .

The particulars of politi cal hi story incidentally recorded

refer in consequence chi efly to the countri es most

prominent in the development Of Indi an religi on .

The systems whi ch we call Jaini sm and Buddhi sm

had their roots in the forgotten phi losoph i es Of the

prehi stori c past,but

,as we know them, were founded

respectively by Vardhamana Mahavira and Gautama

The Jain Temple, Mount Abu, Dilwara

At D i lwara on Moun t Abu in Western Ind ia there are two of the oldestand finest specim ens of temples consecrated to the Join religion that are

to be f ound anywhere in Hindustan . They date f rom the eleven th and

twelf th cen turies of our era,and fabulous sums of money wer e spen t in

erec ting and adorn ing them . They are remarkable not only for the irbeau ty and wond erful carving , bu t also for the p icturesque scen ery am id

wh ich th ey stand on a moun tain- top five thousand f eet above the levelof the sea.

THE REALM OF KOSALA 25

Buddha . Both these phi losophers,who were for m anv

years contemporary,were born

,lived

,and di ed in or

near the kingdom Of Magadha, the modern Bihar.

Mahavira,the son Of a nobleman Of V aisali , the famous

ci ty north Of the Ganges,was nearly related to the

royal fami ly Of Magadh a, and di ed at Pawa, in the

modern di stri ct Of Patna,wi thin the terri tory Of that

kingdom.

Gautama Buddh a,although born farther north

,in

the Sakya territory at the foot Of the Nepal hi lls ,underwent hi s most memorable spiritual experiences

at Bodh Gaya in Magadha, and spent many years Of

h is mini stry withi n the limi ts Of that state . The Bud

dhi st and Jain books,therefore

,tell us much about the

V ri j j ian confederacy, Of whi ch V ai sali was the capital,and about Magadh a, wi th i ts subordinate kingdom

Of Anga .

The neighbour ing realm Of Kosala , the modern

kingdom Of Oudh, was closely connected with Magadh a

by many ties,and its capital Sravasti (Savatthi ) ,

situated on the upper course Of the Rapti at the foot

of the hi lls,was the reputed scene Of many Of Buddha ’s

most striking di scourses .

In the sixth century B . O. Kosala appears to have

occupi ed the rank afterward attain ed by Magadha,

and to have enjoyed precedence as the premi er state

Of Upper India . It is therefore as Often mentioned as

the rival power. At the beginning Of the hi stori cal

period,the smaller kin gdom Of Kasi , or Benares , had

lost its independence and had been annexed by Kosala,


wi th whi ch i ts fortunes were indi ssolubly bound up .

Thi s little kingdom owes its fame in the ancient books

not only to its connection with i ts powerful neighbour,

but also to i ts being one Of the most sacred spots in

Buddhi st church hi story, the scene Of Buddha ’s carli

est publi c preachi ng,w h e r e h e f i r s t

turned the wheel Of

the Law .

T h e reputation

for Special sanctity

enjoyed by both B e

nares and Gaya in

Magadha among or

thodox Brahm anical

Hindus adds li ttle to

the detailed informa

tion avai lable , whi ch

is mainly derived

from the wri tings Of

Jaim and Buddhi sts ,

TEMPLE OF THE SACRED B O TREE AT BODH GAYA Who were esteem edWHERE REVELATION. as hereti cs by the

worshippers Of the

Old gods . But the Brahmani cal Pur anas, compiled cen

tur ies later in honour Of the orthodox deities , happily

include li sts Of the Kings Of Magadh a, whi ch had

become, before the time of their compilation, the recog

ni zed centre , both religious and poli tical, of Indi a ; and

so it happens that the Jain , Buddh i st , and Brahm ani cal


the mother Of Ajatasatru, also called Kunika, or

Kuniya, the son who was selected as heir apparent and

crown prince . If tradi tion may be beli eved, the reign

of Bimbi sara lasted for twenty- eight years, and it is

said that,toward its close, he resigned the royal power

in to the hands Of thi s favouri te son, and retired into

GREAT CHA ITYA OR TOPE OF SANCHI .

pri vate lif e. But the young prince was impati ent, and

could not bear to awai t the Slow process Of nature .

Well-attested tradi tion brands him as a parri cide and

accuses him Of having done hi s father to death by the

agoni es Of starvation.

Orthodox Buddhi st tradi ti on affirms that thi s

hi deous crime was instigated by Devadatta, Buddh a’s

cousin,who figures in the legends as a malignant

JAINISM AND BUDDHISM 29

plotter and wi cked schi smatic,but ecclesiastical ran

cour may be suspected Of the responsibili ty for th i s

accusation. Devadatta certainly refused to accept the

teaching Of Gautama,and

,preferring that of “ the

former Buddh as ,” became the foun der and head Of a

rival sect, whi ch still survived in the seventh cen

turyA. D .

Schi sm has always been esteemed by the orthodox

a deadly sin,and in all ages the unsuccessful hereti c

has been branded as a Villain by the winning sect .

Such,probably

,i s the origin Of the numerous tales

concerni ng the villaini es of the Devadatta,includin g the

supposed incitement of hi s princely patron to commi t

the cr im c Of parri cide .

There seems to be no doubt that both Vardh amana

Mahavir a,the foun der Of the system known as Jain i sm,

and Gautama,the last Buddh a

,the foun der of B ll d '

.

dhi sm as known to later ages,were preaching in

Magadh a during the reign Of Bimbi sara .

The Jain saint,who was a near relative Of Bimbi

sara ’s queen,the mother Of Ajatasatru

,probably passed

away very soon after the close of Bimbisara ’s reign ,and early in that Of Ajatasatru, while the death Of

Gautama Buddh a occurred not much later. There i s

reason to believe that the latter event took place in or

about the year 487 B . C.

Gautama Buddha was certainly an Old man when

Ajatasatru , or Kunika, as the Jains call h im , came

to the throne about 495 or 490 B . C. , and he had at least

one interview wi th that kin g.


One Of the earli est Buddhi st docum ents narrates in

detai l the story Of a vi sit paid to Buddha by Aj atasatru,

who is alleged to have expressed remorse for hi s crime,and to have professed hi s faith in Buddh a

,who accepted

hi s confession of Sin . The concludin g passage Of the

tale may be quoted as

an i llustration of'

an

ancient Buddh i st V i ew

Of the relations b e

tween Church a n d

State .

And when he had

thus spoken,Ajata

satru the king said to

t h e B l e s s e d One :‘Most excellent, Lord,most excellent" Just

as i f a man were to set

up that whi ch has been

K ING AJATASATRU COMES TO CONFESSION TO thrown down, 0 1‘ were

BUDDHA .

From th e B h ara‘r

figStupa , p rob ab ly about ZOO B , o.

to reveal that Wt h IS

‘ m nmghm ’ hi dden away, or were

to point out the right road to h im who has gone astray,or were to bring a lamp into the darkness SO that those

who have eyes could see external forms just even so ,Lord , has the truth been made known to me , in many

a figur e,by the Blessed One . An d now I betake myself,

Lord, to the Blessed One as my refuge , to the Truth ,and to the Order. May the Blessed One accept me as

a di sciple , as one who, from thi s day forth , as long as

KING AJATASATRU AND BUDDHA 31

life endures, has taken hi s refuge in them. Sin has

overcome me, Lord, weak and foolish and wrong that

I am,in that for the sake Of sovereignty

,I put to death

my father, that righteous man, that righteous king "

May the Blessed One accept i t Of me,Lord

,that I

do SO acknowledge i t as a sin , to the end that in future

I may restrain myself. ’

Verily, 0 king, it was sin that overcame you in

acting thus . But inasmuch as you look upon i t as sin ,

and confess it according to what is right,we accept your

confession as to that . For that, 0 king, i s custom in the

discipline Of the noble ones , that whosoever looks upon

hi s faul t as a fault , and rightful ly conf esses it , Shall

attain to self-restraint in future . ’

When he had thus spoken,Ajatasatru the king

said to the Blessed One , Now, Lord, we would fain go .

We are busy,and there i s much to do .

’

DO, 0 king, whatever seemeth to thee fit . ’

Then Ajatasatru the king,pleased and deli ghted

with the words Of the Blessed One,arose from h is

seat,and bowed to the Blessed One

,and , keepin g

h im on the right hand as he passed him , departed

thence .

Now the Blessed One,not long after Ajatasatru the

king had gone , addressed the brethren , and said : Thi s

king,brethren

,was deeply aff ected , he was touched in

heart . If,brethren, the king had not put to death hi s

father,that righteous man , and righteous kin g, then

would the clear and spotless eye for the truth have

ari sen in him , even as he sat here .’


Thus spake the Blessed One . The brethren were

pleased and deli ghted at hi s words .

PORTION OF RA IL AT BHARAHAT , AS F IRST UNCOVERED.

It is di fficult to sympathi ze with the pleasur e and

delight of the brethr en . The stern and fearless repro

bation Of a deed Of exceptional atroci ty whi ch we should

AJATASATRU’S WAR WITH KOSALA 33

expect from a great moral teacher is wholly wanting in

Buddh a ’s words,and is poorly compensated for by the

poli teness Of a courtier. Whatever be the reader ’s

judgment concerning the sincerity of the royal penitent

or the moral courage Of hi s father conf essor,i t i s clear

from the un animi ty Of tradi tion that the crime on whi ch

the story is based really occur red,and that Ajatasatru

Slew hi s father to gain a thr one . But when the Cey

lonese chron icler asks us to believe that he was followed

in due course by four other parri cide kings,Of whom

the last was dethr oned by hi s mini ster,with the approval

of a justly indi gnant people,too great a demand is made

upon the reader ’s creduli ty.

The crime by whi ch he gained the throne naturally

involved Ajatasatru in war wi th the aged King Of

Kosala,whose si ster, the queen Of the murdered B im

bi sara,is alleged to have di ed from gri ef. Fortun e in

the contest inclin ed now to One Side and now to an

other,and on One occasion, i t i s said , Ajatasatru was

carri ed away as a pri soner in chains to hi s opponent ’s

capital . Ultimately peace was concluded, and a princess

Of Kosala was given in marriage to the King of Ma

gadha . The facts Of the struggle are Obscure, being

wrapped up in legendary matter from whi ch it is

impossible to di sentangle them, but the probabi li ty i s

that Ajatasatru won for Magadh a a decided p repon

derance over its neighbour Of Kosala. It i s certain that

the latter kingdom is not again mentioned as an inde

pendent power,and that in the fourth century B . C. i t

formed an integral part Of the Magadha empire .


The ambition Of Ajatasatru , not sati sfied wi th the

humi liation of Kosala, next induced him to undertake

the conquest Of the country to the north Of the Ganges ,now known as Tirhut, in whi ch the Li ch chh avi clan,famous in Buddhi st legend

,then occupied a promi nent

position. The in vasi on was successful ; the Lich chhavi

capi tal,Vaisali , was occupied, and Ajatasatru became

master Of hi s maternal grandf ather ’s terri tory. It

i s probable that the invader carri ed hi s vi ctorious arms

to their natural limi t,the foot Of the moun tains

,and

that from thi s time the whole regi on between theGanges and the Himalaya became subj ect

,more or less

dir ectly, to the suzerainty Of Magadha.

The vi ctor erected a fortress at the vil lage Of Patali

on the bank Of the Ganges to curb hi s Li ch chh avi Oppo

neuts . The foun dations Of a city nestlin g under the

shelter Of the fortress were laid by hi s grandson Udaya .

The city so foun ded was known vari ously as Kusuma

pur a,Pushp apura, or Pataliputra, and rapidly devel

Oped in si ze and magnificence,until

,under the Maurya

dynasty, it became the capital, n ot only Of Magadh a,

but Of Indi a

Buddha,as has been mentioned above

,died early

in the reign Of Aj atasatru . Shortly before hi s death ,Kap i lavastu ,

hi s ancestral home,was captur ed by

V ir udhaka, King Of Kosala , who i s alleged to have

perpetrated a ferocious massacre Of the Sakya clan to

whi ch Buddha belonged . Th e Story i s so thi ckly en

crusted with miraculous legend that the details Of the

event cannot be ascertained, but the coating of mi racle


bullion revenue Of the Asiati c provinces . Al though

the exact limi ts Of the Indi an satrapy cannot be deter

mi ned,we know that i t was di stinct from Ari a (Herat) ,

Arachosia (Kandahar) , and Gandaria (Northwestern

Panjab) . It must have compri sed,therefore

,the

course Of the Indus from Kalabagh to the sea,including

the whole Of Sind, and perhaps included a considerable

portion Of the Panjab east Of the Indus . But when

Al exander invaded the country, nearly two centuri es

later,the Indus was the boundary between the Persian

empire and Indi a,and both the Panjab and Sind were

governed by numerous native princes . In ancient

times the courses Of the rivers were quite di fieren t from

what they now are,and vast tracts in Sind and the

Panjab,now desolate , were then ri ch and prosperous .

Thi s fact largely explains the surpri sing value of the

tribute paid by the twentieth satrapy.

When Ajatasatru ’s blood-stained life ended (cir .

459 B . he was succeeded,according to the Puranas

,

by a son named Darsaka or Harshaka,who was in turn

succeeded by hi s son Udaya . The Buddhi st books omit

the intermedi ate name , and represent Udaya as the son

and immediate successor Of Ajatasatru . It i s di fficult

to decide whi ch version i s correct,but on the whole the

authori ty of the Puranas seems to be preferable in

thi s case . If Darsaka, or Harshaka, was a reali ty, noth

ing is known about him .

The reign of Udaya may be assumed to have begun

about 434 B . C. The tradi tion that he built Patali putra

i s all that is known about h im . Hi s successors,Nandi

Low Caste Hindu Woman Bhil Typ e .From a Photograph.

DAB BAKA AND UDAYA 37

vardhana and Mahanandin ,according to the Purani c

li sts,are still more shadowy

,mere nom in is um brw.

Mah anandin , the last of the dynasty, i s said to have

had by a Sudra, or low- caste,woman a son named Maha

padma Nanda, who usurped the throne, and SO estab

li sh ed the Nanda family or dynasty. Thi s event may be

dated in or about 361 B . C.

At thi s point all our authoriti es become unintelli gible

and incredible . The Puranas treat the Nanda dynasty

as consi sting of two generati ons only, Mahap adm a and

hi s eight sons, Of whom one was named Sum alya .

These two generations are supposed to have reigned

for a century, whi ch cann ot possibly be true . The

Jains,doing still greater vi olence to reason, extend the

duration of the dynasty to 155 years,whi le the Buddhi st

Mahavam sa, Dipavam sa, and Asokavadana deepen the

confusi on by hopelessly muddled and contradi ctory

stori es not worth repeating. Some powerful motive

must have exi sted for the di stortion Of the hi story of the

so- call ed Nine Nandas in all forms Of the tradi tion,but it is not easy to make even a plausible guess at the

natur e of that motive .

The Greek and Roman hi storians,who derived their

information either from Megasthenes or the compani ons

of Alexander, and thus rank as contemporary wi tnesses

reported at second hand,throw a li ttle light on the real

hi story. When Al exander was stepped in hi s advance

at the Hyph asis in 326 B . C., he was informed by a native

Chieftain named B hagala or Bhagela, whose statements

were confirmed by Pores, that the King Of the Gan


garidai and Prasu nations on the banks Of the Ganges

was named,as nearly as the Greeks could catch the

unfami liar sounds, Xan drames or Agramm es. Thi s

monar ch was said to command a force of twenty thou

sand horse,two hundred thousand foot

,two thousand

chariots,and three or four thousand elephants . Inas

much as the capi tal Of the Prasii nati on was undoubt

edly Pataliputra, the reports made to Al exander can

have referred only to the King Of Magadh a, who must

have been one Of the Nandas mentioned in native

tradi tion . The reigning king was alleged to be ex

tremely unpopular, owing to hi s wi ckedness and base

origin . He was,it is said

,the son Of a barber, who ,

having become the paramour Of the queen Of the last

legitimfle sovereign, contrived the king’s death , and,

under pretence Of acting as guardian to hi s sons , got

them into his power and exterminated the royal fami ly .

After their extermination he b eget the son who was

reigning at the time Of Al exander ’s campaign and who ,more worthy Of hi s father ’s condi tion than his own,was odi ous and contemptible to hi s subj ects . ”

Thi s story confirms the statements Of the Pur anas

that the Nanda dynasty was Of ambiguous origin and

compri sed only two generations . The Vi shnu Purana

brands the fir st Nanda, Mahap adma

,as an avari cious

person,whose reign marked the end Of the Kshatriya,

or hi gh-born,princes , and the beginning of the rule Of

those Of low degree,ranking as Sudras . The Maha

vam sa, when it dubs the last Nanda by the name of

Dhana, or Riches,” seems to hi nt at the imputation

THE NANDA DYNASTY 39

Of avari ciousness made against the first Nanda by the

Purani c wri ter, and the Chinese pilgrim Hi uen Tsang

also refers to the Nanda raja as the reputed possessor

Of great wealth.

By putting all the hints together we may conclude

wi th tolerable certain ty that the Nanda family was

PILGB IMB AND BEGGARS AT THE WELL or KNOWLEDGE , BENARES .

From a photograph .

really Of base origin,that it acquir ed power by the

assassination of the legi timate king, and that it retained

possession Of the throne for two generations only . The

great mi litary power Of the usurpers , as attested by

Greek testimony, was the result Of the conquests

effected by Bimbi sara and Ajatasatru,and presum ably

continued by their successors ; but the limi ts of the

Nanda domini ons cannot be defined, nor can the dates


of the dynasty be determined wi th accur acy. It is

qui te certain that the two generations di d not last for

a hundr ed and fif ty-five

, or even for a hundr ed, years ;but it i s impossible to determine the actual duration,and the period Of forty years has been assumed as

reasonable and probably not far from the truth .

However mysteri ous the Nine Nandas may be

i f,indeed

,there really were nin e there i s no doubt

that the last Of them was deposed and slain by Chandr a

gupta Maurya, who seems to have been an ill egi timate

scion Of the family. There i s no di fficulty in beli eving

the tradi tion that the revolution involved the extermina

tion Of all related to the fallen monarch,for revolutions

in the East are not efiected wi thout much Sheddin g of

blood . Nor i s there any reason to di scredi t the state

ments that the usurper was attacked by a conf ederacy

Of the northern powers,includi ng Kashmir

,and that

the attack failed owing to the Machi avelli an intrigues

of Chandragup ta’s Brahman advi ser

,who i s variously

named Chanakya, Kautilya, and V i shn ugup ta.

Hi s accession to the thr one Of Magadh a may be

dated with practi cal certainty in 321 B . C. The domi n

ions Of the Magadh a crown were then extensive , cer

tainly includin g the terri tori es of the nati ons called

Prasii and Gangaridai by the Greeks , and probably

compri sing at least the kingdoms Of Kosala and

Benares,as well as An ga and Magadh a proper. Four

years before the revolution at Pataliputra, Al exander

had swept lik e a hur ri cane through the Panjab and

Sind, and i t is said that Chandragupta, then a youth,

CHAPTER III

ALEXANDER’

S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

The Advance

LEXANDER THE GREAT, having completed the

subjugation Of Bactria , resolved to execute hi s

cheri shed purpose Of emulating and surpassing the

mythi cal exploits Of Dionysos,Herakles

,and Semir a

mi s by effecting the conquest Of Indi a . Toward the

close Of spring in the year 327 B . C. ,when the sun had

sufficiently melted the snows,he led hi s army, including

perhaps fif ty or sixty thousand Europeans,across the

lofty Khawak and Kaoshan passes Of the Hin du Kush ,or Indi an Caucasus

,and after ten days ’ toil amidst

the mountains emerged in the ri ch valley now known

as the KOh -i -Daman .

Here,two years earli er, before the Bactri an cam

paign ,he had founded a town, named as usual, Al exan

dria,as a strategi cal outpost to secure hi s intended

advance . The governor Of thi s town,whose admini stra

tion had been a failure , was replaced by Nikanor, son Of

Parmen ion ,the king ’s intimate fri end ; the population

was recrui ted by fresh settlers from the surrounding42

AD VANCE TO THE INDUS 43

di stri cts ; and the garri son was strengthened by a rein

forcement Of veterans di scharged fr om the ranks Of the

expedi tionary force as bein g unequal to the arduous

labours Of the coming campaign.

The important position Of Al exandria,whi ch com

manded the roads over three passes,having been thus

secur ed, in accordance with Alexander ’s customary

caution,the civi l admini stration Of the coun try be

tween the passes and the Kophen ,or Kabul

,River was

provided for by the appointment Of Tyr iaspes as satrap .

Al exander,when assured that hi s communi cations were

safe,advanced wi th hi s army to a city named Nikaia

,

situated to the west Of the modern Jalalabad , on the

road from Kabul to Indi a .

Here the king di vided hi s forces . Generals Hephais

tion and Perdikkas were ordered to proceed in advance

wi th three brigades Of infantry,half Of the horse

guards,and the whole Of the mercenary cavalry by the

di rect road to Indi a through the valley Of the Kabul

River,and to occupy Peukelaotis, now the Yusuf zi

coun try,up to the Indus . Their instructions were

couched in the spiri t Of the Roman maxim,Parcere

subiectis et debellare sup erbos.

”

Most Of the tribal chi efs preferred the alternative Of

submi ssion , but one named Hasti (Astes) ventur ed to

resi st . Hi s stronghold, whi ch held out for thi rty days ,was taken and destroyed. Dur ing thi s march eastward,

Hephaistion and Perdikkas were accompani ed by the

King Of Taxila, a great city beyond the Indus , who had

lost no time in obeying Al exander ’s summons and in

44 ALEXANDER’S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

placing hi s servi ces at the di sposal of the invader.

Other chi efs on the western Side Of the Indus adopted

the same course, an d , wi th the help Of these native

potentates,the Macedoni an generals were enabled to

make sati sfactory progress in the task Of bridging the

Indus, whi ch had been comm i tted to them by their

sovereign.

Al exander in person assumed the command Of the

Second corps, or di vi sion, consi sting Of the infantry

known as hyp asp ists, the foot-guards, the Agrianian or

Thracian light infantry, the archers, the mounted

lancers, and the rest of the horse-guards . Wi th thi s

force he undertook a flankin g movement through the

di fficul t hi ll country north Of the Kabul River,in order

to subdue the fierce tribes whi ch inhabi ted,as they still

inhabi t,that region

,and thus to secur e hi s communi

cations, and protect hi s army from attacks on the flank

and rear. The difficulties Of the operation due to the

ruggedness Of the country, the fierce heat Of summ er,

the bi tter cold Of win ter,and the martial spiri t of the

hill -men, were enormous, but no di fficul ti es could daunt

the cour age or defeat the skill Of Alexander.

Although i t i s absolutely impossible to trace hi s

movements wi th preci sion,or to identify wi th even

approxim ate certainty the tribes whi ch he encoun tered,or the strongholds whi ch he captur ed and destroyed

in the course Of some five months ’ labori ous marchi ng,i t is certain that he ascended the valley Of the Kunar

River for a considerable di stance . At a nameless town

in the hills, Al exander was wounded in the shoulder

NYSA SURRENDERS 45

by a dart , and the incident SO enraged hi s troops that

all the pri soners taken there were massacred, and the

town was razed to the ground.

Soon after thi s tragedy,Al exander again divided

hi s forces , leaving Krateros,the man most faithful

to him , and whom he valued equally with himself , to

complete the reduction Of the tri besmen Of the Kunar

valley, wh ile the king in person led a body Of picked

troops against the Aspasian s, who were defeated wi th

great Slaughter.

He then crossed the mountains and entered the

valley now called B aj aur , where he foun d a town named

Ar igaion , whi ch had been burnt and abandoned by the

inhabitants . Krateros,having completely executed hi s

task in the Kunar valley,now rejoined hi s master,

and measures were concerted for the reducti on Of the

tribes farther east,whose subjugation was indi spen

sable before an advance into Indi a could be made wi th

safety.

The Asp asian s were finally routed in a.

second great

battle,losing

,i t is said, more than forty thousand pri s

oners and oxen . The perfecti on Of the arrange

ments by whi ch Al exander maintained communi cati on

with hi s remote European base is strikingly illustrated

by the fact that he selected the best and handsomest

of the captur ed cattle , and sent them to Macedoni a for

use in agri culture .

A fanci ed connection wi th Dionysos and the sacred

Mount Nysa Of Greek legend gave special interest to

the town and hill -state call ed Nysa , whi ch was among


th e places next attacked. An attempt to take the town

by assaul t having fail ed by reason Of the depth Of the

protecting river, Alexander was preparing to reduce

i t by blockade when the Speedy submi ssion Of the in

habitants rendered further operations un necessary .

They are alleged to have craved his clemency on the

ground that they were akin to Dionysos and the Greeks,because the ivy and V ine grew in their country, and the

tri ple-peaked moun tain whi ch overshadowed their

town was no other than Mount Meros . Alexander, who

found such fanci es useful as a stimulant to hi s home

sick troops,did not examine the evidence for the

kinship wi th Di onysos in too cri ti cal a spiri t, but was

glad to accept the Nysaian appeals and to exerci se a

gracious clemency.

In order to gratif y hi s own curi osity, and to give

some of hi s best troops a pleasant holiday, he paid a

vi sit to the mountain,now kn own as the KOh -i -Mor,

accompani ed by an adequate escort of the compani on

cavalry and foot- guards . The chants and dances Of the

natives,the ancestors Of the Kafir s Of the present day,

bore sufficient resemblance to the Bacchanali an ri tes

Of Hellas to justify the claims made by the Nysaian s,and to encourage the soldi ers in their beli ef that ,although far from home

,they had at last found a people

who shared their reli gi on and mi ght be regarded as

kin smen . Alexander humour ed the conveni ent delusion

and allowed h is troops to enjoy wi th the help Of their

native fri ends a ten days ’ revel in the jungles . The

Nysaian s, on their part , showed their gratitude for the

THE FORTRESS MASSAGA 47

clemency whi ch they had experi enced,by contributing

a contin gent of three hundr ed horsemen,who remained

with Al exander thr oughout the whole peri od Of hi s

advance,and were not sent home until October

,326 B . C. ,

when he was about to start on his voyage down the

rivers to the sea .

Al exander now undertook in person the reducti on

Of the formidable nation called the Assakenoi , who

were reported to await him wi th an army of twenty

thousand cavalry, more than thirty thousand inf antry ,and thir ty elephants . Qui tting the B ajaur terri tory,Al exander crossed the Gouraios (Panjkora) River, wi th

a body Of pi cked regiments,including

,as usual

,a large

proportion of mounted troops,and entered the Assa

kenian terri tory,in order to attack Massaga, the great

est city Of those parts and the seat Of the sovereign

power.

Thi s formi dable fortress, probably to be iden ti

fied wi th Minglaur , or Manglawar , the ancient capital

Of Suwat, was strongly fortified both by nature and

art . On the east , an impetuous mountain stream ,

the Suwat River,flowing between steep banks , barred

access,while on the south and west giganti c rocks ,

deep chasms,and treacherous morasses impeded the

approach Of an assailing force . Wh ere nature failed to

give adequate protection , art had stepped in , and had

girdled the city with a mi ghty rampart , bui lt Of bri ck ,stone

,and timber, about four miles (35 stad ia) in cir

cum f eren ce, and guarded by a deep moat . Wh ile re

connoitring these formidable defences , and considering


h is plan Of attack, Alexan der was again wounded by an

arrow. The wound was not very serious, and did not

prevent him from continuing the active supervi sion Of

the siege operations, whi ch were designed and controlled

throughout by hi s master min d.

Comm anded by such a general the meanest soldi er

becomes a hero . The troops labour ed with such zeal

that wi thin ni ne days they had rai sed a mole level wi th

the ground suffici ent to bri dge the moat,and to allow

the movable towers and other engines to approach the

walls . The garri son was di sheartened by the death

Of their chi ef, who was killed by a blow from a mi ssile

di scharged by an engine,and the place was taken by

storm. Kleophi s, the consort Of the slain chi eftain ,

and her infant son were captured,and i t i s said that

She subsequently bore a son to Alexander.

The garri son of Massaga had included a body Of

seven thousand mercenary troops from the plains Of

Indi a . Al exander,by a special agreement

,had granted

these men their lives on condi tion that they should

change Sides and take servi ce in hi s ranks . In pur

suan ce Of thi s agreement,they were allowed to retire

and encamp on a small hil l facing,and about nine miles

(80 stadia) di stant from,the Macedonian camp . Th e

mercenari es being unwi lling tO aid the foreigner in‘

the subjugation Of their countrymen,desir ed to evade

the unwelcome Obligation whi ch they had incurred, and

proposed to slip away by ni ght and return to their

homes . Al exander,having received informa tion Of

their design,suddenly attacked the Indi ans while they


inh abitants Of whi ch, wi th those Of other towns , had

retired to the stronghold Of Aornos near the Indus ,the great mountain now known as Mahaban. The

desire Of Al exander to capture thi s position, beli eved

to be impregnable, was based upon mi li tary exigenci es ,and fired by a legend that the demigod Herakles

,

whom he claimed as an ancestor,had been baffled by the

defences .

The mountain, whi ch is at least twelve mi les in

circumference,and ri ses to a height Of more than seven

thousand feet above the sea,or five thousand above the

Indus, i s washed on its southern face by that river,whi ch at thi s point is Of great depth

,and enclosed by

rugged and precipitous rocks,forbiddin g approach from

that side . On the other Sides,as at Massaga, ravin es ,

clifis,and swamps presented Obstacles sufficient to

daunt the bravest assailant. A single path gave access

to the summ i t,whi ch was well suppli ed with water,

and compri sed arable land requiring the labour Of a

thousand men for its cul tivation . The summi t was

crowned by a steeply scarped mass Of rock,whi ch

formed a natural citadel, and was doubtless further

protected by art .

Before un dertaking the si ege Of thi s formidable

stronghold,Al exander

,wi th h is habitual foresight ,

secur ed hi s rear by placing garri sons in the town s Of

Ora, Massaga, B azira , and Orob atis, in the hill s of

Suwat and Buner.

He fur ther i solated the fortress by personally march

ing down into the plains , probably through the Shahkot

THE STRONGHOLD OF AORNOS 51

pass , and receiving the submi ssion Of the important

city Of Peukelaotis (Charsadda) and the surrounding

territory, now known as the Yusuf zi country. During

thi s operation he was assi sted by two local chi efs .

He then made hi s way somehow to Embolima,the

modern Am b , a small town on the Indus, at the foot

of Aorn os, and there establi shed a depot un der the

command Of Krateros. In case the assault should fail,and the si ege be converted into a blockade

,thi s depot

was intended to serve as a base for protracted opera

tions , should such prove to be necessary.

Having thus deliberately made hi s di spositions for

the si ege,Al exander spent two days in careful personal

reconnai ssance Of the position with the aid Of a small

force, chi efly consi sting of light-armed troops . Assi sted

by local guides,whose servi ces were secured by liberal

reward, Ptolemy, the son of Lagos , secured a valuable

foothold on the eastern spur of the mountain, where

he entrenched hi s men . An attempt made by the kin g

to support him having been frustrated, thi s failure

led to a vigorous attack by the Indians on Ptol

emy ’s entrenchments,whi ch was repul sed after a hard

fight .

A second ef fort made by Alexander to effect a

junction wi th h is lieutenant, although stoutly opposed

by the besieged,was successful , and the Macedoni ans

were now in secure possession Of the vantage-ground

from whi ch an assault on the natural citadel could be

delivered.

The task before the assai lants was a formi dable one ,

52 ALEXANDER’S IND IAN CAMPAIGN

for the crowning mass Of rock did not, lik e most emi

nen ces,slope gradually tO the summi t, but rose abruptly

in the form Of a steep cone . Examination of the

ground showed that a di rect attack was impossible

unti l some Of the surroundi ng ravines should be filled

up . Plenty Of timber was available in the adjoining

forests,and Al exander resolved to use thi s material to

form a pathway. He himself threw the fir st trunk into

the ravine,and his act was greeted wi th a loud cheer

signi fying the keenness of the troops,who could not

Shrink f rom any labour,however severe

,to whi ch their

king was the first to put hi s hand.

Wi thi n the bri ef s pace Of four days Al exander suc

ceeded in gain ing possession of a small hill on a level

with the rock,and in thus securing a dom inant position.

The success Of thi s Operation convin ced the garri son

that the capture Of the citadel was merely a question

Of tim e,and the negotiations for capitulation on terms

were begun.

The besieged,being more anxi ous to gain time for

escape than to conclude a treaty,evacuated the rock

during the ni ght,and attempted to slip away un ob

served in the darkness . But the unsleeping V igi lance

Of Alexander detected the movement,and partially

defeated their plans . Placing himself at the head Of

seven hundred pi cked men,he clambered up the clifi

the moment the garri son began to retir e,and slew

In thi s way the Virgin fortress , whi ch even Herakles

had failed to win,became the pri ze of Al exander. The

CAPTURE OF AORNOS 53

king, justly proud Of hi s success,Of fered sacrifice and

worship to the gods, dedi cated altars to Athene and

Nike, and built a fort for the accommodation Of the

garri son whi ch he quartered on the mountain . The

command of thi s important post was entrusted to Si si

THE INDUS NEAR ATTOCK .

kottos (Sasigup ta) , a Hin du, who long before had

deserted from the In di an contingent attached to the

army Of B essus, the rebel satrap Of Bactria, and had

Since proved himself a faithful Officer in the Macedonian

servi ce .

Alexander then proceeded to complete the subjuga

tion Of the Assaken ian s by another raid into their

coun try,and occupied a tOwn named Dyrta, whi ch


probably lay to the north Of Aornos. Thi s town and the

sur roun din g di stri ct were abandoned by the inh abitants,

who had crossed the Indus , and taken refuge in the

Abhi sara country, in the hill s between the Hydaspes

(Jihlam ) and Akesines (Chin ab) Rivers . He then

slowly forced hi s way through the forests down to the

bridge-head at Ohin d . Al though the direct di stance is

not great, the work of clearing a road passable for an

army was SO arduous that fifteen or sixteen marches

were required to reach Hephaistion’s camp .

Opini ons have diflered concerning the location of

the bridge over the Indus,and most wri ters have been

inclined tO place i t at Attock (Atak) , where the river

is narrowest . But the recent investigations of M .

Foucher have clearly establi shed the fact that the

bri dge,probably constructed Of boats

,must have been

at Chin d, or Und , sixteen miles above Attock . Having

arrived at the bridge—head,Alexander sacrificed to the

gods on a magnifi cent scale,and gave h is army thi rty

days Of much needed rest, amusing them with games

and gymnasti c contests .

At Ohin d Alexander was met by an embassy from

Ambhi (Omphi s) , who had recently succeeded to the

throne Of Taxila , the great city thr ee marches beyond

the Indus . The lately deceased king had met the

invader in the previ ous year at Nikaia and tendered

the submi ssi on Of hi s kingdom. Thi s tender was now

renewed on behalf of hi s son by the embassy,and was

supported by a contingent Of seven hundred horse

and the gift Of valuable suppli es , compri sing thirty

CROSSING THE INDUS 55

elephants, three thousand fat oxen, more than ten

thousand sheep, and two hundred talents Of silver.

The ready submi ssion Of the rulers Of Taxila is ex

plained by the fact that they desired Alexander ’s help

against their enemi es in the neighbouring states .

Taxila was then at war both wi th the hil l kin gdom Of

Abhi sara and with the more powerful state governed

by the king whom the Greeks called Pores, whi ch

corresponded with the modern di stricts Of Jihlam,

Gujarat,and Shahpur .

Spring had now begun, and as the omens were f a

vourable, the refreshed army began the passage Of the

river one morning at daybreak,and

,with the help of

the Taxilan king, safely ef fected entrance on the soil Of

Indi a , whi ch no European traveller or invader had ever

before trodden.

A curi ous incident marked the last day ’s march to

Taxila. When four or five mi les from the city Al ex

ander was startled to see a complete army in order Of

battle advancing to meet him . He supposed that

treacherous opposition was about to be Offered, and had

begun to make arrangements to attack the Indi ans ,when Am bhi galloped forward with a few attendants

and explained that the di splay Of force was intended

as an honour, and that hi s entire army was at Alex

ander ’s di sposal . When the mi sunderstanding had been

removed,the Macedonian force continued i ts advance

and was entertained at the city with royal m agn ifi

cence .

Taxila,now represented by miles Of ruins to the

56 ALEXANDER ’S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

northwest Of Rawalpindi and the southeast Of Hasan

Abdal,was then one of the greatest cities Of the East

,

and was especially famous as the principal seat Of

Hi ndu learning in Northern Indi a, to whi ch scholars

of all classes flocked f or instruction .

Ambhi recogni zed Al exander as hi s lord,and re

ceived from h im investi ture as lawful successor of hi s

deceased father, the King of Taxila . In return for

the favour Shown to him by the invader,he provided

AN OLD HINDU FORT.

the Macedonian army with liberal suppli es , and pre

sented Alexander with eighty talents of coined silver

and golden crowns for himself and all hi s fri ends .

Alexander,not to be outdone in generosi ty, returned

the presents,and bestowed on the donor a thousand

talents from the spoils Of war, along wi th many ban

queting vessels Of gold and silver, a vast quantity of

Persian drapery,and thir ty chargers capari soned as

when ridden by himself. Thi s lavi sh generosi ty, al

though di spleasing to Alexander ’s Macedoni an Ofi‘icers,

was probably prompted more by poli cy than by senti

58 ALEXANDER ’S IND IAN CAMPAIGN

The boats whi ch had served for the passage Of the

Indus were cut into sections and transported on wagons

to be rebui lt on the bank of the Hydasp es, where they

were aga in utili zed for the crossing of that river.

In spite of the most elaborate preparations,the

ROPE BR IDGE ACROSS THE FLOODED J IHLAM .

From stereograp h , copyrigh t 1903, b y Underwood Un derwood ,New York .

problem Of the passage Of the Hydasp es in the face Of

a superior force could not be solved wi thout minute

local knowledge,and Al exander was compelled to defer

hi s deci sion as to the best feasible solution until he

should have acquired the necessary acquaintance with

all the local condi tions . On hi s arrival, he found the

CROSSING THE HYDASPES 59

army Of Poros, fif ty thousand strong,drawn up on the

Opposite bank . It was Obvious that the horses Of the

cavalry, the“

arm upon whi ch the Macedoni an com

mander placed hi s reliance,could not be induced to

clamber up the bank Of a flooded river in the face of

a host of elephants , and that some devi ce for evading

thi s difficulty must be sought .

Al exander,therefore

,resolved

,in the words Of

Arrian ,to steal a passage .

” The easiest plan woul d

have been for the invader to wait pati ently in h is lines

until October or November, when the waters would

subside and the river mi ght become fordable . Al though

such di latory tactics di d not commend themselves to the

impetuous spiri t Of Alexander, he endeavoured to lull

the vigilance of the enemy by the publi c announcement

that he intended to await the change Of season,and gave

a colour Of truth to the declaration by employing hi s

troops in foraging expedi tions and the coll ection of a

great store Of provi sions . At the same tirne his flotilla

Of boats continually moved up and down the river, and

frequent reconnai ssances were made in search of a

ford. All thi s,

” as Ar r ian Observes , prevented

Pores from resting and concentrating liis preparations

at any one point selected in preference to any other as

the best for defending the passage .

”

Rafts,galleys

,and smaller boats were secretly pre

pared and hidden away among the woods and i slands

in the upper reaches Of the river where it escapes from

the mountains . These preliminari es occupied Six or

seven weeks,during whi ch tirne the rains had broken ,


and the vi olence Of the flood had increased. Careful

study of the ground had convinced Al exander that the

best chance Of crossing in safety was to be foun d near

a sharp bend in the river about sixteen miles marching

di stance above hi s camp, at a point where hi s embarka

tion would be concealed by a b lufi and an i sland

covered wi th forest. Havi ng arrived at thi s deci sion,Al exander acted upon it , not only, as Ar r ian justly

remarks , wi th marvellous audacity,

” but wi th con

summate prudence and precaution.

He left Krateros wi th a considerable force,includ

ing the Taxilan contingent Of five thousand men,to

guard the camp near Jihlam,and suppli ed him with

preci se instructions as to the manner in whi ch he should

use thi s reserve force to support the main attack . Half

way between the standin g camp and the chosen cross

in g-place three general s were stationed wi th the mer

cenary cavalry and infantry, and had orders to cross

the river as soon as they should perceive the Indi ans

to be fair ly engaged in action. All sections Of the army

were kept in touch by a chain of sentri es posted along

the bank .

When all these precauti onary arrangements had

been completed,Al exander in person took command

Of a pi cked force Of about eleven or twelve thou

sand men,including the foot-guards, hypaspi st in f an

try,mounted archers

,and five thousand cavalry Of va

ri ons kinds,wi th whi ch to effect the passage . In order

to escape Observation, he marched by ni ght at some

di stance from the bank,and hi s movements were

PASSAGE OF THE RIVER 61

further concealed by a violent storm Of rain and thun

der whi ch broke during the march He arrived unper

ceived at the appointed place,and found the fleet Of

galleys,boats

,and rafts in readiiIess.

The enemy had no Suspi cion Of what was happen ing

until the fleet appeared in the open river beyond the

wooded i sland, and Alexander di sembarked his force

at daybreak without opposition. But when he had

landed, he was di sappointed to find that yet another

deep channel lay in front,whi ch must be crossed . With

much difficulty a ford was found,and the infantry

struggled thr ough, breast-deep in the stream, while the

horses swam wi th only their heads above water. The

sole'

p racticab le road from the camp Of Pores involved

a wide detour, whi ch rendered prompt oppositi on im

possible,and Al exander was able to deploy hi s dripping

troops on the mainland before any attempt could be

made to stop him .

Then,when it was too late, the son Of the Indian

king came hur rying up wi th two thousand horse and

120 chari ots . Thi s inadequate force was speedi ly

routed with the loss Of four hundr ed killed and Of all

the chari ots . Fugi tives carried the di sastrous news to

the camp of Pores, who moved out wi th the bulk of

hi s army to give battle , leaving a guard to protect hi s

baggage again st Krateros, who lay in wai t on the oppo

site bank. The Indian army deployed on the only

ground available , the plain now known as Karri , girdled

on the north and east by low hill s, and about five mi les

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


sandy soil,well adapted for mi li tary movements even

in the rainy season.

A stately force i t was wi th whi ch the Indi an men

arch moved forth to defend hi s country against the

audacious invader from the west. Two hundred huge

elephants,stationed at interval s of not less than a

hundred feet from one another, and probably in eight

ranks,formed the front in the centre. The chief

IND IAN SHIELD I .

From th eAjanta Cave Pain t ings. (Af ter Gri ffiths.)

ance of Pores was on these monsters,who would, it

was calculated,terrify the foreign soldi ers and render

the dreaded cavalry unmanageable . Behind the ele

phan ts stood a compact force Of thi rty thousand in f an

try wi th projections On the wings , and files of the

infantry were pushed forward in the intervals between

the elephants, SO that the Indi an army presented very

much the appearance of a city, the elephants as they

stood resembling i ts towers , and the men-at-arms

BATTLE OF THE HYDASPES 63

placed between them resembling the lines Of wall inter

veni ng between tower and tower.” Both flank s were

protected by cavalry with chariots in front . The cav

alry numbered four thousan d and the chari ots three

hun dred. Each chariot was drawn by four horses, and

carri ed Six men, two Of whom were archers,stationed

one on each Side Of the vehi cle,two were shi eld-bearers ,

and two were chari oteers, who in the stress Of battle

were wont to drop the reins and ply the enemy wi th

darts.

The infantry were all armed with a broad and heavytwo-handed sword, and a long buckler Of undressed

ex-hi de . In addi tion to these arms each man carri ed

either javelins or a bow . The bow is described by

Arrian as being made Of equal length with the man

who bears it . Thi s they rest upon the ground,and

,

pressing against i t with their left foot , thus di scharge

the arrow, having drawn the string backwards ; for the

shaft they use i s little short Of being three yards long,and there is nothi ng which can resi st an Indi an archer ’s

shot — neither shi eld nor breastplate,nor any stronger

defence , i f such there be .”

But great as was the power Of the In dian bow,it

was too cumbrous to meet the attack Of the mobi le

Macedoni an cavalry. The slippery state of the surface

prevented the archers from resting the end Of their

weapons firmly on the ground,and Alexander ’s horse

were able to deliver their charge before the bowmen had

completed their adjustments . The Indian horsemen ,each Of whom carri ed two javelins and a buckler, were


far inferior in personal strength and military disciplin e

to Al exander ’s men. With such force and such equip

ment Poros awaited the attack of the greatest mili tary

genius whom the world has seen.

Alexander clearly perceived that his small force

would have no chance of success in a direct attack upon

the enemy ’s centre,and resolved to rely on the effect

of a vigorous cavalry charge against the Indi an left

wing. The generals in command of the six thousand

infantry at hi s di sposal were ordered to play a waiting

game,and to take no part in the action unti l they should

see the Indi an foot and horse thrown into conf usion

by the charge of cavalry under Alexander ’s personal

command.

He opened the action by sending hi s mounted

archers,a thousand strong

,against the left wing of

the Indi an army, whi ch must have extended close to the

bank of the river. The archers di scharged a storm of

arrows and made furi ous charges . They were qui ckly

followed by the Guards led by Alexander himself.

The Indi an cavalry on the right wing hurri ed round by

the rear to support their hard-pressed comr ades on the

left. But meantime two regiments of horse commanded

by Koinos, whi ch had been detached by Alexander for

the purpose, swept past the front of the immobile host

of Poros, galloped round its right wing, and thr eatened

the rear of the Indi an cavalry and chari ots . While the

Indi an squadrons were endeavouring to efiect a partial

change of front to meet the impending onset from the

rear, th ey necessari ly fell into a certain amount of con


fri ends than to their foes, trampling them under their

feet as they wheeled an d pushed about . There resulted

in consequence a great slaughter of the cavalry, cooped

up as it was within a narrow space around the ele

phan ts. Many of the elephant drivers, moreover, had

been shot down,and of th e elephants themselves some

had been wounded,whi le others , both fr om exhaustion

and the loss of their mah outs,no longer kept to their

own side of the confli ct,but

,as if driven frantic by

their sufierings, attacked fri end and foe qui te indi s

crim inately, pushed them,trampled them down , and

ki lled them in all manner of ways . But the Mace

doni an s, who had a wide and open field,and could

therefore operate as they thought best,gave way when

the elephants charged, and when they retreated followed

at their heels and plied them wi th darts,whereas the

Indi ans, who were in the mids t of the animals , suflered

far more from the efiects of their rage .

When the elephants,however

,became qui te ex

hansted, and their attacks were no longer made wi th

vi gour, they fell back like ships backing water, and

merely kept trumpeting as they retreated wi th their

faces to the enemy. Then d id Al exander surround wi th

hi s cavalry the whole of the enemy ’s line,and signal

that the infantry, wi th their shi elds link ed together so

as to give the utmost compactness to their ranks,should

advance in phalanx . By thi s means the cavalry of the

Indians was , with a few excepti ons, cut to pieces in the

acti on . Such also was the fate of the infantry,since

the Macedoni ans were now pressing them from every

POROS DEFEATED 67

side . Upon thi s, all turned to fli ght wherever a gap

could be found in the cordon of Al exander ’s cavalry.

Meanwhi le, Krateros and the other officers left on

the opposite bank of the river had crossed over,and

with their fresh troops fell upon the fugi tives,and

wrought terrible slaughter. Th e Indi an army was

ann i hi lated, all the elephants were either ki lled or

captured, and the chariots destroyed . Three thousand

horsemen, and not less than twelve thousand foot-sol

di ers were kill ed, and nine thousand taken pri soners .

The Macedoni an loss , according to the hi ghest estima e,

did not exceed a thousand.

Poros himself,a magnificent gian t, six and a half

feet in height, fought to the end, but at last succumbed

to nine wounds,and was taken pri soner in a fainting

condi tion .

Alexander had the magnanimi ty to respect hi s

gallant adversary,and willingly responded to hi s proud

request to be treated as a king.

” The vi ctor not only

confirm cd the vanqui shed prince in the government of

hi s ancestral terri tory, but added to i t other lands of

sti ll greater extent,and by thi s politi c generosity

secured for the bri ef period of h is stay in the country

a grateful and faithful fri end .

The vi ctory was commemorated by the foundati on

of two towns,one named Nikaia, situated on the battle

field,and the other

,named Boukephala , situated at the

point whence Al exander had started to cross the Hydas

pes. The latter was dedicated to the memory of

Al exander ’s famous charger, which had carried him


safely through so many peri ls, and had now at last

succum bed to weariness and old age . Bouk ephala , by

reason of its position at a ferry on the hi gh road from

the west to the Indi an interi or, became a place of such

fame and importance as to be reckoned by Plutarch

among the greatest of Al exander ’s foundations . It

was practically identical wi th the modern town of

J ihlam (Jh elum) , and i ts position i s more closely

marked by the extensive elevated mound to the west

of the existing town.

The position of Nikaia , whi ch never attained fame,is less certain, but should probably be sought at the

village of Sukhchainpur to the south of the Karri plain ,the scene of the battle .

Al exander,after performing with fitting splendour

the obsequies of the slain, ofiered the customary sacri

fices, celebrated games , and left Krateros behind with

a portion of the army and orders to fortify posts and

maintain communi cations . The king himself, taking

a force of picked tr0 0ps , largely composed of cavalry ,

invaded the country of a nation called Glausai or Glau

kan ikoi , adjacent to the domini ons of Poros . Thirty

seven considerable towns and a multitude of villages ,having readily submi tted

,were added to the extensive

terri tory admini stered by Poros . The king of the lowerhills, who i s called Ab isares by the Greek writers , find

ing resi stance hopeless , again tendered hi s submi ssion .

’

Another Poros , nephew of the defeated monarch , who

ruled a tract called Gandaris,probably that between the

Chinab and Ravi Rivers now known as Gondal Bar,

ALEXANDER ADVANCES EASTWARD 69

sent envoys promi sing allegiance to the invincible

invader, and sundry in dependent tribes followed the

example of these princes .

Al exander, moving in a direction more easterly than

before, crossed the Ak esin es (Chinab) at a point not

specified, but certainly near the foot of the hills . The

passage of the river, although unopposed, was difficult

by reason of the rapid current of the flooded stream,

which was thr ee thousand yards (15 stadia) in width ,and of the large and jagged rocks with whi ch the chan

nel was bestrewn, and on whi ch many of the boats were

wrecked .

Th e king, having made adequate arrangements for

supplies , reinf orcements , and the maintenance of com

mun ication s, continued hi s advance eastwards , probably passing close to the anci ent fortress of Sialkot .

The Hydraotes (Ravi ) River was crossed wi thout di f

ficulty and Hephai stion was sent back in order to

reduce to obedi ence the youn ger Poros,who had re

volted owing to feelings of resentm ent at the excessive

favour shown to hi s uncle and enemy.

Al exander selected as the adversari es worthy of hi s

steel the more important confederacy of independent

tribes whi ch was headed by the Kath aioi , who dwelt

upon the left or eastern side of the Hydraotes, and

enjoyed the hi ghest reputation for skill in the art of

war. Their neighbours , the Oxydrakai , who occupi ed

the basin of the Hyp hasis, and the Malloi , who were

settled along the lower course of the Hydraotes below

Lahore and were also famous as brave warri ors ,


intended to join the tribal league , but had not actually

done so at thi s time . The Kathaioi were now supported

only by minor clans , their immediate neighbour s, and

the terrible fate whi ch awaited the Malloi was post

poned for a brief space .

On the second day after the passage of the B ydraotes, Al exander received the capitulati on of a town

named Pimp rama,belonging to a clan called Adrai stai

by Arr ian ,and

,after a day ’s rest , proceeded to invest

Sangala,whi ch the Kathaioi and the alli ed tribes had

selected as their ma in stronghold. The tribes pro

tected their camp , whi ch lay under the shelter of a low

hi ll,by a triple row of wagons, and ofiered a determined

resi stance .

Meantime , the elder Poros arrived with a reinf orce

ment for the besiegers of five thousand troops,ele

phan ts, and a siege-train , but before any breach in the

city wall had been eflected, the Macedoni ans stormed

the place by escalade, and routed the alli es, who lost

many thousands killed. Al exander ’s loss in kill ed was

less than a hundred, but twelve hun dred of hi s men

were wounded an un usually large proportion. San

gala was razed to the ground, as a puni shment for the

stout resi stance of its defenders .

Yet another river, the Hyphasis (Bias) , lay in the

path of the royal adventurer, who advanced to its bank

and prepared to cross, being determined to subdue the

nati ons beyond. These were reputed to be clans of

brave agri culturi sts, enjoying an adm irable system of

ari stocrati c governm ent, and occupying a ferti le terri


foes,yet the vi sitations of the Deity cannot be foreseen

or guarded against by man .

”

The words of Koinos were greeted with loud ap

plause, whi ch left no doubt about the temper of the

men. Al exander, deeply mortified and unwi llin g to

yi eld,retired within h is tent , but emerged on the thir d

day,convinced that farther advance was impracticable .

The soothsayers judiciously di scovered that the omens

were unfavour able for the passage of the river, and

Al exander, with a heavy heart, gave orders for retreat,in September, 326 B . 0 .

To mark the farthest poin t of h is advance,he erected

twelve huge altars,bui lt of squared stone

,and each

fifty cubits in height,dedicated to the twelve great

gods . Al though the army had not passed the river,

these massive memorials were erected on the farther

bank, where they long remained to excite the wonder

and veneration of both natives and foreigners . Traces

of them may still exi st,and shoul d be looked for along

the oldest bed of the Bias , near the hi lls, in one or other

of the three di stri cts Gurdaspur,Hoshyarpur , or

Kangra where nobody has yet sought them.

The judi cious Ar r ian simply records :Al exander divided the army into brigades

,whi ch

he ordered to prepare twelve altars equal in height

to the loftiest m ili tary towers,while exceedin g them

in breadth , to serve both as thank- ofierings to the gods

who had led him so far on the path of conquest,and as

a memorial of h i s achi evements . When the altars had

been constructed, he offered sacrifice upon them with

MEMORIAL ALTARS 73

the customary ri tes, and celebrated gymnasti c and

equestrian games . ”

The structures thus solemnly dedi cated were well

designed to serve their double purpose,and consti tuted

a dignified and worthy monument of the piety and

labours of the world ’s greatest general . Their signifi

cance was fully appreciated by the Indi an powers

whi ch had been compelled to bend before the Mace

doni an storm . We are told that Chandr agupta Maurya ,the fir st Emperor of Indi a who succeeded to the lord

shi p of Al exander ’s conquests,and hi s successors for

centuri es afterward,continued to venerate the altars ,

and were in the habit of crossing the river to of fer

sacrifice upon them .

But, if Curti us and Diodorus are to be beli eved, the

noble simpli city of the monumental altars was marred

by a ridi culous addi ti on designed to gratify the king ’s

childi sh vanity. The tale is given in i ts fullest form by

D iodorus, who gravely informs us that, after the com

pletion of the altars , Al exander caused an encampment

to be made thri ce the si ze of that actually occupied by

h is army, encir cled by a trench fifty feet wide and forty

feet deep, as well as by a rampart . of extraordi nary

dimensions . He further,

” the story continues,

or

dered quarters to be constructed as for foot- soldi ers ,each containing two beds four cubits in length for

each man,and besides thi s, two stalls of twi ce the

ordinary si ze for each horseman . Whatever else was to

be left behind was directed to be likewi se proportion

ately increased in size . ” We are asked to believe that


these silly proceedings were intended to convince the

country people that the invaders had been men of more

than ordinary strength and stature .

It is incredible that Alexander could have been guil ty

of such senseless folly, and the legend may be rej ected

wi thout hesitation as probably based on di storted ver

si ons of tales told by travellers who had seen the altars.

FROM AN M ANTA CAVE PAINTING.

CHAPTER IV

ALEXANDER’S INDIAN CAMPAIGN

The Retreat

HE retreating army retraced its steps, and arrived

again wi thout further adventure on the bank of

the Akesines (Chinab) , where Hephaistion had com

p leted the building of a fortified town . Voluntary

sett lers from the neighbouring country and such of the

mercenary troops as seemed un fit for active service

were left to occupy and garri son thi s post, and Al exan

der began to prepare for hi s voyage down the rivers to

the Great Sea .

Envoys bearing tribute from the kings of the lower

hi lls,now known as the chi eftainships of Rajauri and

B him bhar and the Bri ti sh Di stri ct of Hazara , were

received at thi s time . Al exander, who regarded h is

Indi an conquests as permanent addi ti ons to the empire ,and evidently cheri shed hopes of a return to the coun

try,havin g accepted the tenders of submi ssion, solemnly

appointed the King of Abhi sara (B him bhar and Ra

jauri ) to the office of satrap, and invested h im with75


authori ty over the King of Urasa (Hazara) , who is

called Arsakes by Arrian .

About the sam e time a welcome reinforcement of

five thousand cavalry from Thr ace , and seven thou

sand inf antry, sent by the kin g’s cousin , Harpalos,

Satrap of Babylon,arrived

,bringing no less than

twenty-five thousand sui ts of armour inlaid wi th gold

an d silver. The new accoutrements were at once di s

tributed to the ragged tr0 0ps, and the old sui ts were

burned.

Al exander then advanced to the Hydasp es (Jihlam ) ,and encamped on the bank

,probably on the site of the

camp formerly occupied by Poros . Several weeks were

now devoted to the fin al preparations for the voyage

down the rivers . All available country boats plying on

the river were impressed for the servi ce,and deficien

cies were suppli ed by the construction of new vessels ,for whi ch the forests at the base of the hill s afiorded

ample facili ties . ‘ Crews were provided from the con

tingen ts of seafaring nations , Phoeni cians, Cyprians ,Karian s

, and Egyptians , who accompani ed the army,and by the end of October

, 326 B . C.,all was ready.

The fleet , whi ch included eighty gall eys of thir ty oars

each, and a multitude of horse transports and small

craft of all kinds,probably numbered nearly two thou

sand vessels .

Before the voyage began, Al exander convoked an

assembly of hi s officers and the ambassadors of the

Indi an powers, and in their presence appointed Poros

to be king of all the conquered terri tori es lyin g between

VOYAGE DOWN THE HYDASPES 77

the Hydaspes and the Hyp hasis. These territori es are

said to have been occupied by seven nati ons, the Glau

sai , Kathaioi , and others, and to have comprised no less

than two thousand towns . The opportuni ty was sei zed

to effect a reconciliation between Poros and hi s old

enemy,the Ki ng of Taxi la

,and the fri endship between

the two monarchs was cemented by a matrimonial

alli ance . The King of Taxila , who had vied wi th hi s

rival in zealous servi ce to the invader,was formally

confirmed in hi s sovereignty of the coun try between the

Indus and the Hydasp es.

Alexander, who never neglected to make provi sion

for the protection of hi s flank and rear,and for the

uninterrupted maintenance of communi cations with hi s

di stant base in Europe , instructed Generals Hephaistion

and Krateros to march with all possible speed to secure

the capital of King Saubhuti (SOphytes, or Sopeithes) ,lord of the fastnesses of the Salt Range stretching from

Jihlam to the Indus,who submi tted without resi stance .

The fleet was to be protected by an army of

men marchi ng along the banks,under the generals

above named. Krateros had the command on the

right,or western

,bank of the river, while the larger

portion of the army, accompani ed by two hundred

elephants,was led by Hephaistion along the left , or east

ern,bank . Phili pp os, satrap of the countri es west of

the Indus,had orders to follow three days later with

the rear-guard.

Thus escorted the vast fleet began its memorable

voyage . At daybreak one morning toward the end of


October,Alexander, having offered libati ons fr om a

golden .bowl to the river gods , hi s ancestor Herakles,

Ammon, and any other god whom he was accustomed

to reverence,gave the signal for starting by sound of

trumpet. In stately procession, wi thout confusion or

di sorder, the shi ps qui tted their anchorage and moved

down-stream to the astoni shm ent of the crowds of

ANC IENT H IND U SHIP .

From an Ajan ta.Cave Pai nt ing. (After Griffi ths )

natives lin ing the banks,who had never before seen

horses on board ship . The plash of thousands of oars,

the words of command, and the chants of the rowers

wakened the echoes,whi ch reverberated from bank to

bank , and enhanced the amazement of the gaping

throngs of spectators . On the third day the fleet

reached the place,perhaps Bhi ra

,where Heph ai stion

and Kr ateros had been ordered to pitch their camps

facing each other on opposite sides of the river. Here a


years subsequent to the expedition of Al exander. Con

cerning the changes whi ch happened during that mi llen

nium absolutely nothing is known . But during the

twelve hundr ed years that have elapsed since the Arab

conquests changes on a stupendous scale are known to

have occurred,and i t i s certain that similar efiects must

have been produced by the ever operating causes dur

ing the thousand years whi ch intervened between Al ex

ander and Muhammad b in Kasim . During the known

peri od,earthquakes, floods , changes of level, denuda

tion,accretion

,and alterations of climMe have all con

tributed to transform the face of the country. The

delta of the In dus has advanced more than fifty mi les ,and has thus lengthened the courses of the rivers

,whi le

dimini shi ng their gradi ents and velocity. One huge

river,the Hakra or Wahindah

,whi ch formerly gave li fe

and wealth to the desert wastes of B ikan ir , Bahawal

pur , an‘d Sind, has ceased to exi st ; the Bias (Hyph asis)

has forsaken i ts anci ent independent bed and become

a tributary of the Sutlaj ; and the other rivers, the

Indus, Jihlam (Hydasp es) , Chin ab (Akesines) , and

Ravi (Hydr aotes) , have all repeatedly changed their

cour ses and points of junction.

These facts, although indi sputably true , have been

ignored generally in practi ce by the hi storians of Al ex

ander, who have pretended to trace the line of hi s

river voyage on modern maps,and to identify town

after town on the banks of the several rivers . All such

identifications are vain . No man can tell in whi ch of

the anci ent beds the Chin ab or any of the other rivers

CHANGES IN RIVERS 81

named flowed in the time of Alexander,and

,when the

positions of the rivers are not ascertainable , i t is clear

that we cannot reasonably expect to identify places on

their banks . The most that i s possible is to give general

indi cations of the course of the voyage and of the

location of the prin cipal nations encountered by Alex

ander. The sites of the towns and the preci se positions

of the confluen ces and crossin g-places mentioned by the

anci ent hi storians cannot be preci sely determined.

Inasmuch as the courses of all the rivers were then

much shorter than they now are,all the confluen ces

must have been situated considerably farther north than

at present,and thi s a p riori inference appears to be

fully supported by observation of the most ancient

beds of the streams . The confluence of the Akesines and

Hydasp es, the first of the four confluen ces described by

Arr ian ,was probably situated not very far from the

modern town of Jh ang, and approximately in N. lat .

Al exander here landed h is tr0 0ps in order to sub

jugate the adjoining tribes , called Siboi and Agalassoi

by Curtius,and to prevent them from joining the

powerful nation of the Malloi (Sanskri t Malava or

Malaya) , who dwelt lower down the river, and were

known to be preparing for strenuous resi stance . The

Siboi,who are described as rude folk clad in the skins

of wi ld beasts and armed wi th clubs , submi tted, and

were allowed to retain their freedom . Their neighbours ,the Agalassoi , who were able to muster a force esti

mated at forty thousand foot and three thousand horse ,ventured to resi st , and met wi th a terrible fate . Multi


tudes were put to the sword, and multitudes sold into

slavery. Al exander advanced some thirty m iles into

their country, and captured their principal town . At a

second town he met with an obstinate defence, whi ch

cost the lives of many Macedoni ans . The inhabi tants ,said to number twenty thousand, despairing of ultim ate

success,set fire to the town and cast themselves with

their wives and children into the flames . The citadel

escaped the fire,and was garri soned by a detachment

left behind for the purpose . The lives of three thousand

of its gallant defenders were spared.

Information was received that a confederacy of

the Malloi , Oxydrakai , and other independent tribes

occupying the“ river valleys was being formed with

the intention of oflering strenuous resi stance to the

invasion. Al exander hastened the movements of hi s

fleet and army with the object of attacking the con

federates severally in detail,before they could mature

their plans and combine their forces . The fleet and the

bulk of the army received orders to assemble at the next

confluence,that of the Hydraotes (Ravi ) wi th the

Ak esines (Chinab , includi ng the Hydasp es, or J ih lam ) .

Al exander in person landed wi th a pi cked force ,largely composed

,as usual

,of mounted troops

,to Oper

ate against the Malloi , the most formi dable of the allied

tribes , who occupi ed the fertil e valley of the Hydraotes,on both banks of the river. Their neighbours

,the

Oxydrakai , who dwelt on the bank s of the upper course

of the Hyph asis, although ordinarily at war wi th the

Malloi , had resolved to forget old enm i ti es and to make


turning to off er resistance, and those who escaped the

sword were shut up in the fortified towns .

One of these towns , wi th a citadel situated on a

commandin g height, was stormed un der Al exander ’s

personal direction, and two thousand of the garri son

were slain. Another town,against whi ch Perdik kas

had been sent,was found to be deserted. The inhabit

ants fled to the marshes in the river valley, but, even

among the reeds and rushes,theycould not escape the

weapons of the Macedoni an cavalry. Al exander then

pushed on to the Hydraotes, and overtook the retreat

ing Malloi at the ford, infli cting severe loss upon them.

He pursued them to the east of the river into the coun

try now known as the Montgomery Di stri ct, and took

by mining and escalade a town inh abited by Brahmans .

The king, wi th hi s customary di sregard of danger, was

the fir st man to scale the wall . The place was gallantly

defended,but in vain.

“About five thousand in all

were ki lled,and as they were men of spirit, very few

were taken pri soners . ”

The Malloi , being hard pressed, recrossed the Hydraotes, the passage of which they attempted to defend

with fifty thousand men ; but they were no match for

the Europeans,and fled with headlong speed to the

strongest fortified town in the neighbourhood . Thi s

small town,whi ch cann ot be identified preci sely, and

was situated somewhere near the boundary of the Jhang

and Montgomery Di stri cts , eighty or ninety mi les to the

northeast of Multan,was the scene of one of the most

memorable incidents in Al exander ’s adventurous career,

ALEXANDER WOUNDED 85

admirably described by Arrian from material s suppli ed

by Ptolemy,who did not, however, himself take part

in Al exander ’s defence, as has been erroneously asserted

by some authors .

The Macedonians , already masters of the town, were

endeavouring to scale the walls of the citadel, when

INDIAN ARCHER .

From th e Aj an ta. Cave Pai n t ings. (Af ter Griffi ths.)

Al exander,thin king that the men bearing the ladders

loitered too long,snatched one from the man car rying

it , and mounted the wall , followed by only three com

pani ons, Peukestas, Leonn atos, and Abreas. Standing

on the wall in h i s gleaming armour, the king was a

mark for every mi ssile , and, feeling that he could ef f ect

nothi ng where he was without support,boldly leaped

down into the citadel,followed by hi s three comrades .

Abreas soon fell dead . Al exander,standing with hi s

back to a tree that grew near the wall,slew the In dian

governor and defended himself against all comers unti l

hi s breast was pierced by an arrow,and he fell . Peu

kestas bestrode him as he lay, covering him with the


sacred shield brought from Ili on, while Leonnatos,

although severely wounded like his surviving comrade,

protected h im from side attacks . The ladders having

broken,the maddened Macedoni ans were for a time

powerless to help their king, but at last a few managed

to scramble up the earthen wall, whi le others broke in

a gate,and so saved Al exander, who had fainted.

The barbed arrow was wi thdr awn by a bold opera

tion whi ch involved much bleeding and thr eatened

immwi ate death, but gradually Al exander ’s strong

constituti on triumphed,and the dangerous woun d was

healed. The inf uriated troops fell upon the unfortunate

inh abitants,and slew them all sparing nei ther man

,

woman,nor chi ld . When convalescent

,Al exander was

carried to the Hydraotes, and conveyed by boat to the

jun ction wi th the Ak esines, where he met h is fleet and

army,under the command respectively of Nearchos and

Hephaistion .

The survivors of the Malloi , whose nation had felt

the full weight of Al exander ’s hand,now tendered their

humble submi ssion,and the Oxydrakai , whom for

tun ate procrastin ati on had saved,feelin g that resi st

ance would be hopeless,pur chased the conqueror ’s

clemency by off ers of tribute and the delivery of valu

able gifts . Al exander,stern and even cruel to those

who opposed h im , but always courteous and generous

to the submi ssive,readily accepted the p r 0 posals,

presents , and excuses of the tribal envoys . The pres

ents are said to have included 1030 four-horse chari ots ,one thousand bucklers of native manuf acture , one hun


The confluence of the combined Panjab rivers wi th

the Indus,

” wherever it may have been situated, was

appointed to be the southern boundary of the satrapy

of Ph ili ppos, to whom all the Thracians were made

over together with an adequate force of infantry to form

the garri son of hi s province . At about the same time

the Bactrian nobleman, Oxyartes, father of Al exander’s

wif e,Roxana

,was deputed to the Parop ani sadai , or the

Kabul province,as satrap in succession to Tyr iasp es,

whose admini stration had been unsati sfactory . A city

was foun ded at the confluence of the rivers wi th the“ Indus

,

” whi ch Al exander hoped would become pros

perons and famous . Dockyards also were constructed .

Certain independent tr ibes,whom Arr ian call s Abasta

noi, Xathroi or Oxathroi , and Ossadioi , submi tted or

were subjugated, and it i s noted that gall eys of thirty

oars and transport vessels were buil t and suppli ed by

the Xath roi . Although i t i s impossible to determine

accurately either the correct names or the true positions

of the tribes in Northern Sind mentioned by the vari ous

ancient authoriti es,the regi on occupi ed by the tribes

referred to seems to be that lying to the north and

south of N . lat . 28 ° and between E . long. 69° and

70° During thi s stage of the campaign, Krateros,

who hi therto,from the beginnin g, had always marched

on the right,or western

,bank of each successive river

,

was transferred to the left, or eastern, bank, whi ch

ofiered greater faci li ties for movement and was occu

pi ed by tribes less hostile than those on the other bank .

Al exander now hurri ed on in order to surpri se the

FATE OF KING MOUSIKANOS 89

powerful monarch called Mousikanos by Arrian , who

had proudly abstained from sendin g envoys or presents

to the invader. The capital of thi s stiff-necked king

may be probably, although not certainly, identified wi

th

Alor, or Aror, the ancient capital of Sind, now included

in the Shikarpur Di stri ct, and situated in N. lat .

27° E . long. 68

° The peculi arities of the

people of thi s kingdom excited the surpri se and

admiration of the Macedonians . The inhabitants

were beli eved to attain the age of a hun dr ed and

thi rty years, their longevity being the result of good

health secured by temperance in di et . Al though

their country possessed mines of both gold and silver,they refused to make use of either metal . Unlik e

the other Indi ans,they kept no slaves , employing

in their stead young men in the flower of their

age,as the Cretans employ the Apham iotai , and the

Lacedwmoni an s the Helots . They also resembled the

Lacedaemoni ans in observin g the custom of a publi c

meal,at whi ch the food served was the produce of the

chase . They declined to study any sci ence save that

of medi cine , and were reputed to have no system of civil

law,the juri sdi ction of the cour ts being confined to

cases of murder and other vi olent crime .

King Mousikanos, like the Malloi,being completely

surp ri sed by the rapidity of the movements of Al exan

der,who had reached the frontier before hi s departure

from hi s last cam p had been reported , hastened to meet

the conqueror,bringing wi th h im all hi s elephants and

the choicest presents which Indi a could ofler . Al exan


der,with hi s habitual readiness to accept submission,

received the king courteously, expressed much admira

tion of hi s capital and realm, and confirmed him in h i s

sovereignty. But Mousikanos, acting under the advi ce

of Brahm an counsellors, qui ckly repented of hi s ready

submi ssion, and revolted. Peithon,the son of Agenor,

who had been appointed satrap of the country to the

south of the territory entrusted to Phi lip pos, was sent

in pur suit of the rebel , while Al exander in person

operated against the towns,some of whi ch were

destroyed, while others were occupied by garri sons .

Mousikanos, having been captur ed by Peithon , was

crucified along with the Brahmans who had instigated

his defection.

Al exander next marched with a flying column

against a chi ef named Oxykanos, who was taken pri s

oner. Hi s two principal cities were sacked, and the

other towns in the neighbourhood sur rendered wi thout

attempting resi stance ; so much were the minds of

all the Indi ans paralyzed with abj ect terror by Al ex

ander and the success of h is arms . Another chi eftain,

named Sambos , whose capital was Sindim ana, and who

had fled in terror,surrendered, and more Brahm ans,

who had instigated the revolt of an unnamed town,were executed. It i s said that during thi s campaign

on the Lower Indus eighty thousand of the natives were

killed, and mul ti tudes were sold as slaves .

After the execution of Mousikanos, the rul er of the

Delta, whi ch was known to the Greeks as Patalene,fr om its capital Patala , arrived in camp and prof f ered


struct a citadel there an d to dig wells in the adjoining

regi on. He proposed to make a great naval station at

the point where the river divided, and rem ained suffi

cien tly long on the spot to see some progress made in

the construction of a roadstead and dockyard . He then

resolved to explore personally both arms of the river

down to the sea,and fir st sailed down the western

,or

right,branch

,whi ch probably debouched near or below

Debal,the ancient port of Sind

,di stant about fifteen

mi les from Th athah (Tatta) . Hi s sailors , accustomed

to the tideless waters of the Medi terranean, were

thrown into a state of great alarm and conf usion by

the ebb an d flow of the tide,but ultimately Al exander

succeeded in pushing on wi th some of the fastest vessels

and reaching the open sea . He sailed out a few mi les

into the deep, sacrificed bulls to Poseidon, and foll owed

up the sacrifice by a libation, casting the golden vessels

used in the ceremony into the ocean as a thank -ofier

ing.

He then returned to Patala, where he found the

works of the new naval station well advanced,and pro

ceeded to explore the eastern , or left, branch of the

river. Near its mouth he passed thr ough a large lake,

apparently that now known as the Samarah lake to

the west of Am arkot and again reached the seashore

in about latitude 25 Having spent thr ee days in

reconnoitrin g the coast and arranging for the con

struction of wells,he returned to Patala . Harbour s and

docks were bui lt on the shores of the lake,and f urni shed

wi th garri sons . Provi sions to supply the forces for

THE SEA VOYAGE 93

four months were coll ected,and all other necessary

preparations were made for the two bold enterpri ses

whi ch he had planned : the voyage of the fleet along the

coast to the Persian Gulf, and hi s own march with the

army through Gedrosia in a di rection,so far as mi ght

be practicable,parallel to the cour se of the fleet.

His plans were conceived upon a comprehensive

scale . Nearchos,the admi ral who had successfully

comm anded the flotilla during the ten months ’ voyage

from Jihlam to the sea,was instructed to bring the

fleet round the coast into the Persian Gulf as far as the

mouth of the Euphr ates,and to record careful observa

tions of the strange lands and seas whi ch he should

vi sit . Al exander himself proposed to conduct the army

back to Persia thr ough the wilds of the country then

called Gedrosia, and now known as Mukran, hi therto

untrodden save by the legendary hosts of Semi ram i s

and Cyrus . The king,who was independent of the

winds, started on hi s march about the beginning of

October,325 B . c . Nearchos

,being obli ged to watch for

the change of the monsoon, di d not leave hi s anchorage

in the river until two or three weeks later.

Al though Gedrosia has usually remained outside theIndi an poli tical system, the province , or par t of it , has

been included from time to time wi thin the domini ons

of the sovereigns of Hi nd, and its hi story cannot be

regarded as altogether foreign to the hi story of Indi a .

But the satrapy of Gedrosia undoubtedly lay beyond the

limi ts of Indi a proper,and a summary narrative of

the adventures met with by Nearchos on i ts coasts and


hi s sovereign in its deserts wi ll be sufficient to complete

the story of Al exander ’s Indi an campaign .

Near chos was detained for several days in the river,and

,after much di fficul ty in making a passage for the

ships round a bar , whi ch obstructed the mouth of the

western branch, ultimately got out to sea . Contrary

winds detained him for twenty-four days in a secure

harbour , to whi ch he gave the name of Al exander’s

Haven . The coast- line has been changed so much by

both accretion and denudation,that attempts at de

tailed identifications of places near the mouth of the

river are a waste of time , but it is safe to affirm that

the haven where Nearchos foun d shelter was not

very far from the modern Karachi (Kurrachee) . The

admiral then crept cautiously along the inh ospitable

coast, hi s crews often suff erin g severely from lack of

provi si ons and fresh water. After travellin g a hun dr ed

m iles or so (850 stad ia) , the fleet reached the mouth of

the river Arabi s (the Purali ) , whi ch formed the bound

ary between the Ar ab ioi,the last a people of Indi an

descent settled in thi s regi on,and the Oreitai , who

occupi ed an extensive terri tory to the west of the river.

Havin g traversed an estimated di stance of eight hun

dred stadia more , the fleet reached a place called Kokala,where the weari ed crews were allowed to di sembark

and enjoy much-needed rest . Whi le the sail ors were

reposing here in a fortified camp, Nearchos came into

touch wi th Leonn atos, whom Al exander had detached

wi th a field force to subdue the Oreitai . News arrived

that a great battle had been fought, in whi ch Leonn atos


people were known as Gedrosioi , and no longer as

Oreitai . The inhabi tants of the coast continued to

astoni sh the voyagers by their strange manners and

customs.

These poor wretches,

” we are told, had

nothi ng but fish to live on,” and so they were dubbed

Ich thyophagoi , or Fi sh-eaters ,” by the Greeks

what the real name of the race may have been is not

known . Whales, whi ch were numerous along thi s coast,although very alarming to the sailors of the fleet, were

extremely useful to the natives on shore, and suppli ed

the materials for the better houses, whi ch were built

of whales ’ bones , the huge jaws servin g as doorways .

The seamen on board the ships -of Nearchos, being

superstitious , like the sailors of all ages and countri es ,were much frightened at the weird tales told about an

un inhabited i sland, whi ch Arrian call s Nosala, and is

now known as Astola or Astalu . It li es nearly mi dway

between Urm era and Pasni headlands, and i s to thi s

day as much an obj ect of dr ead to the Med fisherman

as i t was long ago to the Greek sai lors .

Thus thr eading their way thr ough all dangers , real

or imaginary, the explorers made their way to a port

called Badi s , near Cape Jask at the entrance to the

Straits of Ormuz,and so came into touch wi th the

more civili zed provin ce of Karmania. Proceeding

through the straits,the delighted mariners found them

selves at Harmozeia (Ormuz) , a charmi ng place, pro

ducing everything that they wanted, except oli ves .

Here the men came ashore and were gratef ully enjoying

their rest, when some of the more adventurous spiri ts

FLEET AND ARMY UNITE 97

strolled inland, and were astounded to meet a stranger

wearing Greek clothes and speaking Greek. Tears

came to their eyes as they heard the fami liar sounds

of home in that strange and di stant land . Explanations

having been exchanged, the stranger proved to be a

straggler from Al exander ’s army,and gave the welcome

information that the king was only five days ’ march

di stant .

Nearchos and Archias at once arranged to go inland

to meet their sovereign,and, after many di fficul ti es ,

made their way to hi s presence , but so ragged and un

kempt were they,that Alexander at first could not

recogni ze them. When at last he was convinced of h is

fri ends ’ identity, he assumed hastily that they must be

the sole mi serable survivors from h is lost fleet, and was

in despair at the imagined di saster. But he was soon

reassur ed by Nearchos, who told h im that the ships

were safe and sound,hauled up at the mouth of the

An am is River for repairs .

The admir al , after volunteering to conduct the fleet

up the gulf to Susa, returned to the coast , to whi ch hewas obliged to fight hi s way, and thence sailed on , wi th

li ttle adventure , to the mouth of the Euphrates . He

then heard of Alexander ’s approach to Susa , and, turn

ing back , entered the Tigri s to meet h im , and it was

thus that the expedition whi ch had started from the

mouths of the Indus was brought in safety to Alex

ander. ”

The difficulties encountered by the army under the

command of Al exander were even greater than those


met and overcome by the fleet under Nearchos. The

king seems to hav e been ignorant of the exi stence of

the Hala range of mountains , whi ch terminates in Cape

Malin .Thi s great obstacle , whi ch he was obliged to

turn,deranged h i s plans , and compelled h im to pene

trate far into the interi or, and for a time to lose touch

with the fleet . Th e army suffered agoni es from thi rst,and the unfortunate followers peri shed by thousands .“ The blazing heat and want of water, Arr ian tells

us,destroyed a great part of the army

,and especially

the beasts of burden,whi ch peri shed from the great

depth of the sand, and the heat whi ch scorched like fire ,whi le a great many di ed of thir st. Ultimately, the

remn ant of the force worked its way back to the coast,emerging near the harbour of Pasni , almost on the lin e

where the telegraph-wire now runs,and its sufierin gs

were at an end. But the soldi ers had been obliged to

burn the rich spoils taken from their enemi es, for the

sake of whi ch they had marched to the utmost extrem

ities of the East. ” The success of the general was the

ruin of the private .

Whil e the army was sti ll in Karman ia, a report was

received that Phi li pp os, satrap of the Indi an provinces

north of the confluence of the Akesines with the Indus,

had been treacherously murdered by h is mercenary

troops . Although thi s di squi etin g comm uni cation was

accompani ed by the information that the murderers had

been slain by the satrap ’s Macedoni an body- guard,

Al exander was not then in a position to make perma

nent arrangements , and was obliged to content himself


are marvellous and incomparable . The strategy, tac

tics,and organi zation of the operations give the reader

of the story the impression that in all these matters

perfection was attained. The professional military

cri ti c may justly blame Al exander, as hi s own officers

blamed him ,for excessive di splay of personal heroi sm,

and needless exposure to danger of the precious lif e

upon whi ch the safety of the whole army depended,but cri tici sm is silenced by admiration , and by the

reflecti on that the example set by the king ’s reckless

daring was of incalculable value as a stimulus and en

couragement to troops often ready to despair of success .

The descent of the rivers to the ocean thr ough the

territori es of civili zed and well -armed nations,admit

tedly the best soldi ers in the East, and the voyage of

Nearchos from the Indus to the Ti gri s, may fairly be

described as un qualified successes . The third great

enterpri se,the retirement of the army led by Al exander

in person through Gedrosia, would have been equally

prosperous but for the occurrence of physi cal di fficul

ti es , whi ch could not be foreseen, owing to the imper

f ection of the information at the king ’s command . But

even thi s operation was not a failure . Notwithstanding

the terrible privations endur ed and the heavy losses

sufiered , the army emerged from the deserts as an

organi zed and di sciplined force,and its commander ’s

purpose was attained .

On the whole,Al exander ’s Indi an campaign was

a success . It was not really marred by the mutiny at

the Hyphasis. If hi s soldi ers had permi tted him to

EFFECTS OF THE INVASION

plunge more deeply into the interior,he would probably

have been unable to maintain the communi cation wi th

hi s European base, on wh i ch hi s safety depended, and

h is small , i solated force might have been overwhelmed

by the mere numbers of his adversari es . Koinos and

hi s fell ow remonstrants may be credi ted with having

prevented the annihilation of the Macedoni an army.

The triumphant progress of Alexander from the

Him alaya to the sea demonstrated the inh erent weak

ness of the greatest Asiati c armi es when confronted

wi th European skill and di scipline . The dreaded ele

phants lost their terrors , and proved to be a poor de

fence against the Macedonian cavalry. The unopposed

march of Krateros from Sind to Persia through Si stan

opened up an alternative land route and solved the

problem of easy overland communi cation with Europe .

The circumnavigation of the coast by Nearchos gave

Alexander a thi rd line of communi cation by sea , and,if he had li ved, there is no reason to suppose that he

would have experi enced seri ous difficulty in retaining

hi s hold upon the Panjab and Sin d .

All h is proceedings prove conclusively that he in

tended the permanent annexation of those provinces to

hi s empire , and the measures whi ch he took for the

purpose were apparently adequate to ensure success .

But Al exander ’s premature death destroyed the frui ts

of hi s well-planned and successful enterpri se . Within

three years of hi s departure , hi s officers had been ousted,hi s garri sons destroyed , and all trace of h is rule had

di sappeared. The colon ies whi ch he foun ded in Indi a ,


unlike those establi shed in the other Asiati c provinces ,took no root . The campaign, although carefully de

signed to secure a permanent conquest , was in actual

eff ect no more than a bri lliantly successful raid on a

gi gantic scale , whi ch left upon Indi a no mark save the

horrid scars of bloody war.

India remained unchanged. The wounds of battle

were quickly healed ; the ravaged fields smil ed again as

the pati ent oxen and no less pati ent husbandmen re

sumed their interrupted labour s ; and the places of

the slain myriads were filled by the teeming swarms of

a population whi ch knows no limi ts save those imposed

by the cruelty of man or the still more pitiless opera

tions of nature . Indi a was not Helleni zed. She con

tinued to live her life of splendi d i solation,

” and

soon forgot the passing of the Macedoni an storm .

The East bowed low bef ore the blastIn patient , deep disdain ;

She let the legions th under past,And plunged in though t again.

104 CHANDRAGUPTA AND B INDUSARA

The province of Sind, on the Lower Indus, below the

great confluence of the rivers, whi ch had been entrusted

by Alexander to Peithon , son of Agenor, remained under

Greek influence for a still shorter period. At the time

of the second partition of the Macedonian empire in

321 B . C. at Triparadeisos, Antipater was avowedly un

able to exerci se any effective control over the Indi an

rajas,and Peithon had been obliged already to retire

to the west of the Indus . The Indi an provinces to the

east of the river were consequently ignored in the par

tition,and Peithon was content to accept the govern

ment of the regions bordering on the Parop an isadai , or

Kabul coun try. That country probably continued to

be admini stered by Roxana ’s father Oxyartes, whom

Al exander had appointed satrap . Sibyrtios was con

firmed in the government of Arachosia and Gedrosia ;Stasandros, the Cypri an, was given Ar i a and D rangian a

°

and hi s coun tryman Stasanor was appointed governor

of Bactria and Sogdi ana . These arrangements clearly

prove that in 321 B . C.,within two years of Al exander ’s

death, the Greek power to the east of the Indus had

been extin gui shed,with the slight exception of the small

territory, wherever it may have been, whi ch Eudamos

managed to hold for some four years longer .

The insecur i ty of the Macedonian authori ty in the

newly annexed Indian provinces had been proved by

the assassinati on of Phi lipp os, the report of whi ch was

received whil e Al exander was in Karman ia, and might

be expected to return some day to the scene of hi s

vi ctori es . Hi s death in June, 323 B . C.,di spelled all

EARLY LIFE OF CHANDRAGUPTA

fears of hi s return, and the native princes undoubtedly

took the earliest possible opportuni ty to assert their

independence and exterminate the weak foreign gar

ri sons . The news of Al exander ’s decease was known

in India probably as early as August, but no seri ous

fighting would have been un dertaken by ordin ary com

manders until the beginning of the cold season in Oc

tober ; for Alexander’s indi fierence to climatic condi

tions was not shared by Indi an chi efs,who were accus

tom ed to regulate their mi li tary movements stri ctly in

accordance wi th precedent . We may feel assured that

as soon as the news of the conqueror ’s death had been

confirmed beyond doubt, and the season permi tted the

execution of mili tary operations with facility,a general

ri sing took place , and that Macedoni an authori ty in

Indi a was at an end early in 322 B . C. ,except for the

small remnant to whi ch Eudamos continued to clin g.

The leader of the revolt against the foreigners was

an able adventurer,Chandragupta by name , at that

time a young man, probably not more than twenty-five

years of age . Al though he was on hi s father ’s side a

scion of the royal house of Magadh a,— the principal

State in Northern Indi a , — hi s mother was of lowly ori

gin ,and

,in accordance with Hi ndu law, he belonged to

her caste and had to bear the reproach of inferi or social

rank . Th e family name Maurya, assumed by the mem

bers of the dynasty founded by Chandragupta , is said

to be a derivative from Mura , h is mother’s name . In

some way or other, young Chandragupta incurred the

di spleasure of hi s kin sman , Mahap adm a Nanda, the

106 CHANDRAGUPTA AND B INDUSARA.

reignin g King of Magadh a, and was obliged to go into

exile . Durin g h is bani shment he had the good fortune

to see Alexander, and is said to have expressed the

opini on that the Macedoni an king, i f he had advanced,would have made an easy conquest of the great kingdom

on the Ganges,by reason of the extreme unpopulari ty

of the reigning monarch . Mahap adma Nanda was re

puted to be the son of a barber, who had secured the

af f ections of the late queen. The guilty pair had then

murdered the king,whose thr one was sei zed by the

barber-paramour. Hi s son,the now reigning monarch ,

was avari cious and p rofli gate, and naturally possessed

few fri ends .

Chandragupta,having collected

,during hi s exile ,

a formi dable force of the warlik e and predatory clans

on the northwestern frontier, attacked the Macedon ian

garri sons immediately after Al exander ’s death,and con

quered the Panjab . He then turned hi s vi ctorious arms

against hi s enemy, the King of Magadh a, and, taking

advantage of that monarch ’s unpopularity,dethr oned

and slew him , utterly exterminating every member of

hi s family . His advi ser in thi s revolution was a subtle

Brahm an named Chanakya , by whose aid he succeeded

in seizing the vacant thr one . But the people d i d not

gain much by the change of masters , because Chan

dragupta, after h is vi ctory, forfeited by hi s tyranny

all title to the name of liberator, oppressing wi th servi

tude the very people whom he had emancipated from

foreign thraldom.

” He inheri ted from hi s Nanda prede

cessor a huge army, whi ch he increased un til it num

108 CHANDRAGUPTA AND BINDUSARA

to determine how far the invading army penetrated into

the Ganges valley,i f at

'

all,but the result of the war

is certain .

When the shock of battle came, the hosts of Chan

dragup ta were too strong for the invader, and Seleukos

was obliged to retir e and conclude a humili ating peace .

Not only was he compelled to abandon all thought of

conquest in Indi a, but he was constrained to surrender

a large part of Ariana to the west of the Indus. In

exchange for the comparatively trifling equivalent of

five hun dred elephants,Chandragupta received the sa

trap ies of the ParOp an isadai , Aria, and Arachosia, the

capitals of whi ch were respectively the cities now

known as Kabul,Herat

,and Kandahar . The satrapy

of Gedrosia, or at least the eastern portion of it, seems

also to have been included in the cession, and the high

contracting powers ratified the peace by a matrimonial

alli ance,

” whi ch phr ase .probably means that Seleukos

gave a daughter to h is Indian rival . Thi s treaty may

be dated in 303B . 0 . As soon as it was concluded, Seleu

kos started on hi s long march westward to conf ront

An tigonos, whom he defeated and slew at Ipsos in

Phrygi a in 301 B . 0 . As Ipsos was at least 2500 mil es

di stant from the Indus,the march to it must have occu

pied a year or more .

Th e range of the Hin du Kush Moun tains, known to

the Greeks as the Parop an isos or Indian Caucasus,in thi s way became the frontier between Chan dr agup t

’

a’s

provinces of Herat and Kabul on the south,and the Se

leukidan province of Bactri a on the north. The first In

MEGASTHENES VISITS PATALIPUTRA 109

di an emperor, more than two thousand years ago , thus

entered into possession of that scientific frontier ”

sighed for in vain by hi s Engli sh successors,and never

held in its entirety even by the Mogul monarchs of the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries .

In the course of some eighteen years Chandragupta

had expelled the Macedoni an garri sons from the Panjab

and Sind, repul sed and humbled Seleukos the Con

queror , and establi shed himself as un di sputed supreme

lord of at least all Northern India and a large part of

Ar iana . These achi evements fairly entitle him to rank

among the greatest and most successful kings known

to hi story. A realm so vast and vari ous as that of

Chandragupta was not to be governed by weakness .

The strong hand whi ch won the empire was needed to

keep it,and the government was admini stered wi th

stern severi ty. About six years after the withdrawal

of Seleukos, Chandragupta died (297 B . and handed

on the imperial succession to hi s son B in dusara.

Soon after the conclusion of peace in 303 B . C. , Seleu

kos had sent as hi s envoy to the cour t of Chandragupta

an officer named Megasthenes, who had been employed

under Sibyrtios, Satrap of Arachosia . The envoy resided

for a considerable time at Pataliputra (now Patna) ,the capital of the Indian empire , and employed hi s lei

sure in compi ling an excellent account of the geography,products

,and institutions of Indi a , which continued

to be the prin cipal authority on the subject until mod

ern times . Although often misled by erroneous in

formation received from others, Megasthenes is a vera


cious and trustworthy wi tness concerning matters whi ch

cam e under hi s personal observation, and hi s vivid

account of Chandr agupta’s civil and mil itary admini s

tration may be accepted wi thout hesitation as true and

accurate . That account , al though preserved in a frag

mentary form,i s so full and detail ed that the modern

reader i s more minutely inf ormed in many respects

concerning the institutions of Chandragupta than he

is about those of any Indi an sovereign unti l the days of

Akbar, the contemporary of Queen Elizabeth .

Pataliputra, the imperi al capital, whi ch had been

founded in the fifth century B . C., stood in the tongue of

land formed by the confluence of the Son with the

Ganges,on the northern bank of the former

,and a

few miles di stant from the latter. The site i s now occu

pied by the large native city of Patna and the Engli sh

civi l station of Bankipur,but the ri vers changed their

courses many centuri es ago , and the confluence is at

present near the cantonment of Dinapur, about twelve

miles above Patna . The anci ent city,whi ch lies buried

below its modern successor, was , like i t, a long, narrow

parallelogram,measuring about nine miles in length

and a mi le and a half in breadth . It was defended by

a massive timber pali sade,pierced by sixty- four gates

,

crowned by five hundr ed and seventy towers,and pro

tected externally by a broad and deep moat, filled from

the waters of the Son .

The royal palace , although chi efly constructed of tim

ber,was considered to excel in splendour and m agn ifi

cence the palaces of Susa and Ekbatana, i ts gi lded p il


each side . Trotting oxen are stil l largely used for

drawing travelling-carriages in many parts of Indi a ,but th e breed of racers seems to be extinct .

The prin cipal royal amusement was the chase , whi ch

was conducted with great ceremony,the game in an

enclosed preserve being driven up to a platform occu

pied by the king, who shot the animals wi th arrows ;but

,if the hunt took place in the open country

,he used

to ride an elephant . Wh en hunting, he was closely

attended by armed female guards,who were obtained

by purchase from foreign coun tri es,and formed an

indi spensable element in the courts of the ancient In

di an monarchs . The road for the sovereign ’s p roces

sion was marked ofl with ropes,whi ch i t was death

for any one,even a woman, to pass . The institution

of the royal hunt was aboli shed by Chandragup ta’s

grandson,Asoka, in 259 B . 0 .

As a rule,the king remained wi thi n the precincts

of the inn er palace,under the protection of hi s Ama

zoni an body-guard,and appeared in publi c only to hear

cases,ofler sacrifice

,and to go on m i litary or hunting

expeditions . Probably he was expected to show himself

to hi s subj ects at least once a day, and then to receive

petitions and decide di sputes in person. Like the mod

ern Indi ans,Chandragupta took pleasure in massage

or fri ction of the limbs , and custom required that he

should indulge in thi s luxury while giving public audi

ence ; four attendants used to massage him with ebony

rollers dur ing the time that he was engaged in di sposing

of cases . In accordance wi th Persian custom,whi ch had

THE ARMY

much influence upon the Indian court and admini stra

tion, the king ceremonially washed hi s hair on hi s birth

day, which was celebrated by a splendi d festival,at

whi ch the nobles were expected to make ri ch presents

to their sovereign.

In the midst of all the gold and glitter,and in spite

of the most elaborate precautions,uneasy lay the head

that'

wore the crown . The king ’s life was so constantly

threatened by plots that he dared not incur the ri sk

either of sleeping in the daytime , or of occupying the

same bedroom two nights in succession. The dramati st

brings vividly before us the astuteness of the Brahman

counsellor who detected the plots both of the poi soners

and of

The brave menwho were concealedIn the subter rene avenue that led

To Chand ragup ta’s sleep ing chamber thence

To steal by n ight, and k ill h im as he slept.”

The army,to which Chandragupta owed hi s throne

and empir e , was maintained at enormous numerical

strength, and so organized , equipped, and admin istered

as to attain a high degree of efficiency, as measured

by an Ori ental standard . It was not a mili tia, but a

standing army,drawing liberal and regular pay , and

suppli ed by the government wi th horses , arms , equip

ment,and stores . The force at the command of Ma

hap adma Nanda is said to have num bered eighty thou

sand horse,two hundred thousand foot , eight thousand

chari ots,and six thousand fighting elephants . This

huge force was greatly augmented by Chandragupta,


who raised the numbers of the inf antry to six hundred

th ousand , and also had thi rty thousand horse , and nine

thousand elephants,besides chariots

,all ' permanently

enrolled in a regularly paid establi shment .

Each horseman carri ed two lances,resembling the

kind called saum’

a by the Greeks,and a buckler. All

the in fantry carri ed the broadsword as their principal

weapon,and as addi tional arms , either javelin s, or bow

and arrows . The arrow was discharged wi th the aid

of pressure from the left foot on the extremi ty of the

bow resting upon the ground,and wi th such force that

neither shi eld nor breastplate could withstand i t.

Each chari ot, whi ch might be drawn by either four

or two horses,accommodated two figh ting

-men besides

the driver ; and an elephant , in addi tion to the mahout,or driver, carri ed three archers . The nine thousand ele

phan ts therefore impli ed a force of thirty- six thousand

men,and the eight thousand chari ots

,supposing them

to be no more numerous than those kept by Mahapadm a

Nanda, required twenty-four thousand men to work

them . The total number of soldi ers in the army would

thus have been six hundred thousand infantry,thirty

thousand horsemen,thir ty—six thousand men wi th the

elephants,and twenty-four thousand wi th the chari ots,

or in al l,excluding followers and attendants .

These hi gh figures may seem incredi ble at fir st sight,but are justified by our knowledge of the unwieldy hosts

used in war by Indian kings in later ages . For instance,

Nui'

i ez, the Portuguese chron i cler, who was contempo

rary with Kri shna Deva , the Raja of Vi jayanagar, in


on paper, for i t enabled him not only, in the words ofPlutarch

,to overrim and subdue all In di a,

” but also

to expel th e Macedoni an garri sons, and to repel the

invasion of Seleukos.

The detai ls recorded concerning the civil admi ni s

tration of Chan dragup ta’s empir e , i f not so copious as

we mi ght desire, are yet suffici ent to enable us to reali ze

the system of government, whi ch, although of course

based upon the personal autocracy of the sovereign ,was something better than a merely arbi trary tyranny.

The admi ni stration of the capital city, Patali putra,was regarded as a matter of the hi ghest importance

,

and was provided for by the formation of a Muni cipal

Commi ssi on, consi sting of thi rty members , divided, like

the War Office Comm i ssion of equal num bers , into six

boards or comm i ttees of five members each . These

boards may be regarded as an official development of

the ordinary non-official p anchayat, or commi ttee of five

members,by whi ch every caste and trade in Indi a has

been accustomed to regulate i ts internal af fairs from

time immemori al .

The fir st Mun icipal Board,whi ch was entrusted wi th

the superintendence of everything relating to the in

dustri al arts , was doubtless responsible for fixing the

rates of wages,and must have been prepared to enf orce

the use of pure and sound materials , as well as the per

f orman ce of a fair day ’s work for fair wages,as deter

mined by the authori ti es . Ar ti sans were regarded as

being in a special manner devoted to the royal servi ce,

and capital puni shment was infli cted on any person who

CIVIL ADMINISTRATION

impaired the efficiency of a craftsman by causing the

loss of a hand or an eye .

The second Board devoted i ts energi es to the case

of foreign residents and vi sitors,and performed duti es

whi ch in modern Europe are entrusted to the consul s

representing foreign powers . All foreigners were closely

watched by officials, who provided sui table lodgings ,escorts

,and, in case of need, medi cal attendance . De

ceased strangers were decently bur i ed, and their estates

were admini stered by the commi ssioners,who forwarded

the assets to. the persons entitled . The exi stence of

these elaborate regulations i s conclusive proof that the

Maurya empire in the thi rd century B . c . was in con

stant intercour se wi th foreign states,and that large

numbers of strangers vi sited the capital on business .

The thir d Board was responsible for the systematic

regi stration of births and deaths , and we are expressly

informed that the system of regi stration was enforced

for the information of the governm ent,as well as for

facili ty in levying the taxes . The taxation referred to

was probably a poll-tax,at the rate of so much a head

annually. Nothi ng in the legi slation of Chandragupta

is more astoni sh in g to the observer famili ar with the

lax methods of ordinary Ori ental governments than thi s

regi stration of births and deaths . The spontaneous

adoption of such a measur e by an Indi an native state

in modern tim es is unheard-of , and i t is impossible to

imagine an old-fashi oned raja feeling anxious “ that

births and deaths among both high and low might not

be concealed .

” Even the An glo-Indian admini stration.


with its complex organization and European notions of

the value of statistical information, did not attempt the

collection of vital stati stics until very recent times,and

has always experi enced great difficul ty in securing rea

sonable accuracy in the figures .

Th e important domain of trade and commerce was

the province of the four th Board,whi ch regulated sales ,

and enforced the use of duly stamped weights and meas

ures .'

Merchants paid a li cense tax, and the trader who

dealt in more than one class of commodi ty paid double .

The fifth Board was responsible for the supervi sion

of manuf actures on similar lines . A curious and not

easily intelli gible regulation prescribed the separation

of new from old goods,and imposed a fine for vi olation

of the rul e .

The collection of a tithe of the value of the goods

sold was the business of the sixth and last Board, and

evasion of thi s tax was puni shable wi th death. Simi lar

taxation on sales has always been common in India , but

rarely,i f ever

,has i ts collection been enforced by a

penalty so formidable as that exacted by Chandragupta .

Our detailed inf ormation relates only to the muni ci

p al adm in i stration of Patali putra, the capital, but it

i s reasonable to infer that Taxi la,Uj jain , and the other

great cities of the empire were governed on the same

principles and by similar methods . The Provincials ’

Edi ct of Asoka i s addr essed to the officers in charge of

the city of Tosali in Kalinga .

In addi tion to the special departmental duti es above

detailed the Muni cipal Commi ssioners in their collective


it i s certainly the fact that the people of ancient Indi a

enjoyed a widespread and enviable reputation for

straightforwardness and honesty.

The general honesty of the people and the effici ent

admi ni stration of the criminal law are both attested by

the observation recorded by Megasthen es, that whi le

he resided in Chan dragup ta’s camp, containing four

hundred thousand persons,the total of the thefts re

ported in any one day di d not exceed two hundred

d rachmai,or about eight pounds sterling. Wh en crime

di d occur , i t was repressed wi th terrible severi ty. Or

dinary woun ding by mutilation was puni shed by the

corresponding mutilation of the ofiender , in addi tion to

the amputation of hi s hand. If the injured person happened to be an arti san devoted to the royal servi ce , the

penalty was death. The crime of givin g false evidence

was vi sited wi th mutilation of the extremi ti es,and in

certain unspecified cases seri ous ofien ces were pun i shed

by the shaving of the ofien der ’s hair, a penalty regarded

as specially inf amous . Injury to a sacred tree , evasion

of the muni cipal tithe on goods sold, and intrusion on

the royal procession going to the hunt were all alike

capitally pun i shable . These recorded instances of

severi ty are sufficient to prove that the code of crim

inal law,as a whole

,must have been characteri zed by

un compromi sing sternness and slight regard for human

The native law of Indi a has always recogni zed agri

cultural land as being Crown property, and has admi tted

the undoubted right of the ruling power to levy a Crown

LAND REGULATIONS AND REVENUE 121

rent, or land revenue, amountin g to a considerable

portion, ei ther of the gross produce or of i ts cash value .

Even the Engli sh laws , whi ch, contrary to ancient cus

tom,recogni ze private property in cul turable land, in

si st that the land revenue i s the first charge on the soil ,and permi t the enforcement of the charge by sale of

the land free of all incumbrances,in the event of default .

The land revenue i s still the mainstay of Indi an fin ance .

So i t must have been in the days of Chandragupta . The

details of hi s system of settlement,or valuation and

assessment of the land, have not been preserved, and

it i s not known whether a fresh valuation was made

annually, or at longer intervals . The normal share of

the gross produce taken by the Crown is said to have

been one-fourth ; but in practi ce , no doubt , the propor

tion taken vari ed largely,as i t does to thi s day, and

all provinces could not be treated alike . Certain other

un Sp ecified dues were also levi ed. Since the army was

a professional force,recrui ted from the fightin g castes ,

the agri cultural population was exempt from mi li tary

servi ce,and Megasthenes noted with surpri se and ad

m iration that the husbandmen could pursue their calling

in peace whi le the professional soldi ers of hostile kings

engaged in battle .

Th e proper regulation of irrigation is a matter of

prime importance in Indi a , and it is much to the credit

of Chandragupta that he maintained a special Irri ga

ti on Department , charged with the duty of measuring

the lands and of so regulatin g the slui ces that every one

should receive hi s fair share of the life-giving water.


The allusion to the measurement of lands as part of the

duty of the Irrigation Department seems to indi cate

that a water-rate was levi ed, and the reference to slui ces

impli es a regular system of canals .

The inscription of the Satrap Rudradaman , engraved

about the year 150 A. D . on the famous rock at Girnar

in Kathi awar, on whi ch Asoka , four centuri es earli er,had recorded a version of h is immortal edi cts

,bears di

rect testimony to the care bestowed by the central gov

ernment upon the questi on of irri gation, even in the

most remote provinces . Al though G irnar is situated

close to the Ar abian Sea , at a di stance of at least a thou

sand mi les from the Maurya capital , the needs of the

local farmers did not escape the imperial noti ce . Chan

dragup ta’s brother-in -law Pushyagup ta, who was vi ce

roy of the western provinces , saw that by damming up

a small stream a reservoir of great value for irri gation

could be provided . He accordi ngly formed a lake called

Sudarsana, the Beautiful ,” between the citadel on the

east side of the hill and the inscription rock farther

to the cast, but failed to complete the necessary supple

mental channels . These were constructed in the reign

of Chan dragup ta’s grandson Asoka , under the sup erin

tendence of hi s representative Tush asp a, the Persian ,who was then governor. These beneficent works con

structed under the patronage of the Maurya emperors

endured for four hun dred years,but in the year 150 A. D .

a storm of exceptional vi olence destroyed the embank

ment , and wi th it the lake .

The embankment was rebui lt “ three times stronger


Among the arti sans , ship-builders and armour-makers

were salari ed publi c servants , and were not permi tted,i t is said, to work for any private person. The wood

cutters,carpenters , blacksmi ths , and mi ners were sub

ject to special supervi sion, of wh i ch the nature is not

defined.

According to Strabo,no private person was per

mi tted to keep either a horse or an elephant,the pos

session of either an imal being a royal privilege . But

thi s assertion is undoubtedly inaccurate, and is contra

di ct ed by the reasonable and detailed observations of

Arrian . That author tells us that the moun ts used com

monly were horses, camels, and asses, elephants bein g

used only by the wealthy,and considered specially ap

p rop riate for the servi ce of royalty. Except as regards

asses, whi ch are now looked upon wi th contempt and

restri cted to the humblest servi ces as beasts of burden

for potters and washermen, the statement of Ar rian

appli es accur ately to modern In di a . To ride an elephant

or camel,or to travel in a four-horse chari ot

,was, he

says, a mark of di stinction, but anybody mi ght ride or

drive a single horse .

The roads were maintained in order by the officers

of the proper department,and pill ars , serving as mi le

stones and sign-posts , were set up at intervals of ten

stadia,equivalent to half a kos, accordi ng to the Indi an

reckoning,or Engli sh yards . The provi sion of

these useful marks was made more liberally than i t was

afterward by the Mogul emperors,who were content

wi th one pillar to each kos. A royal road, or grand


leukos the Conqueror, the subjugation of all Northern

India from sea to sea, the formation of a gigantic army,and the thorough organi zation of the civi l government

of a vast empire were no mean achi evements . Th e

power of Chandragupta was so firmly established that

it passed peaceably into the hands of hi s son and grand

son,and hi s alliance was courted by the potentates of

the Hell eni sti c world . The Greek princes made no at

tempt to renew the aggressi ons of Al exander and Seleu

kos upon secluded Indi a, and were content to maintain

fri endly di plomati c and commercial relations with her

rulers for three generations .

The Maurya empire‘ was not, as some recent wri ters

fancy that it was, in any way the resul t of Al exander’s

splendid but transitory raid. The nineteen months

which he spent in Indi a were consumed in devastating

warfare,and his death rendered frui tless all hi s grand

constructive plans . Chandragupta did not need Alex

ander ’s example to teach h im what empire meant . He

and hi s countrymen had had before their eyes for ages

the stately fabri c of the Persian monarchy, and it was

that empire whi ch impressed their imagination and

served as the model for their institutions,in so far as

they were not indigenous . The li ttle touches of foreign

manners in the court and institutions of Chandragupta,whi ch chance to have been noted by our f ragm en tarv

authori ties , are Persian, not Greek ; and the Persian

ti tle of satrap continued to be used by Indian provincial

governors for centuri es,down to the close of the fourth

century A. D.

B INDUSARA AND HIS POLICY 127

The mi litary organi zation of Chandragupta shows

no trace of Helleni c influence . It is based upon the

ancient Indi an model,and hi s vast host was merely a

development of the considerable army maintained by the

kingdom of Magadha. The Indi an kings relied upon

their elephants, chari ots, and huge masses of infantry,the cavalry being few in compari son

,and inefficient .

Al exander, on the contrary,made no use of elephants

or chari ots , and put hi s trust in small bodies of hi ghly

trained cavalry, handled wi th consummate skill and

calculated audacity . In the art of war he had no

successor . Th e Seleuk id kings were content to

follow the Ori ental system and put their trust in ele

phan ts.

When Chandragupta di ed, in the year 297 B . C.,he

was succeeded by h is son B indusara. The Greek wri

ters,however

,do not know thi s name, and call the suc

cessor of Chandragupta by appellations whi ch seem to

be attempts to transcribe the Sanskri t epithet Am itra

ghata,Slayer of foes . ” The fri endly relations b e

tween Indi a and the Helleni sti c powers , whi ch had been

initiated by Chandragupta and Seleukos, continued un

broken throughout the reign of B in dusara, at whose

court Megasthenes was replaced by Dei'

m achos,as am

bassador . The new envoy followed hi s predecessor ’s

example by recording notes on the country to whi ch

he was accredi ted, but, unfortunately, very few of hi s

observations have been preserved. When the aged

foun der of the Seleuk id monarchy was assassinated

in 280 B . C.,hi s place was taken by hi s son and colleague ,


An tiochos Soter, who continued to follow hi s father ’s

poli cy in regard to India .

The anecdote concerning the correspondence between

An tiochos and B indusara, although trivi al in i tself,is

worth quoting as a tangible proof of the famili ar inter

course between the sovereign of India and hi s ally in

Western Asia . Nothin g,we are told

,being sweeter than

figs,B indusara begged An tiochos to send him some figs

and rai sin wine , and added that he would like h im also

to buy and send a professor. An tiochos repli ed that he

had much pleasure in forwarding the figs and rai sin

wine,but regretted that he could not oblige h i s corre

sponden t with the last-named article, because it was

not lawful for Greeks to sell a professor .

Nothing is recorded concernin g the internal poli cy

of B indusara, whose reign lasted for twenty-five years,nor is any monument or inscri ption of hi s time known .

But it is probable that he continued h is father ’s career

of annexation and conquest within the borders of Indi a .

The lim i ts of the empire ruled by Asoka,son and suc

cessor of B indusara, are known wi th suffici ent accur acy,and it is certain that hi s domini ons extended as far

south as Madras . The country south of the Narmada

was not conquered by Asoka, whose only annexation was

that of the kingdom of Kalinga,on the coast of the

Bay of Bengal .

The Deccan, or pen insular Indi a, down to ap p roxi

mately the latitude of Madras,must have been sub ju

gated by either Chandragupta or B indusara, because

i t was inheri ted from the latter by Asoka ; and i t is

CHAPTER VI

ASOKA MAURYA

CCORDING to credi ble tradi tion, Asoka-vardhana,or Asoka

,as he i s generally called

,served hi s ap

prenti ceshi p to the art of government during the life

time of hi s father,B in dusara, as viceroy successively of

the northwestern frontier province and of Western

Indi a . He was one of several sons,and was no

doubt selected by hi s father, in accordance with the

usual practi ce,as Yuvam j a, or crown prince , on

accoun t of hi s abili ty and fitness for the im peri al suc

cession .

Taxila,the capital of the northwestern vi ceroyalty,

which probably included Kashm ir,the Panjab

,and the

provin ces to the west of the Indus , was in those days

one of the greatest and most splendi d of the cities of

the East,and enjoyed a special reputation as the head

quarters of Hindu learning. The sons of people of all

the upper classes , chi efs , Brahmans, and merchants ,flocked to Taxila , as to a un iversity town

,in order to

study the circle of Indi an arts and sci ences . The terri

tory surrounding the capital was ri ch and populous,

and,two generations earli er, had formed a small inde

130

ASOKA MAURYA 131

pendent state , weak enough to be in terror of its neigh

bours, and yet strong enough to render Al exander val

uable assi stance .

The Greeks , who considered the li ttle state to be

well g o v e r n e d ,

noted wi th inter

e s t and without

di sapprobation,the

local c u s t o m s ,whi ch included p o

lygamy, the expo

sure of the dead to

be devoured by vul

tures , and the saleo r. " Asr nos ou xc u . OBSERVATORY AT UJJAN

in open market of.

From a p hotograp h .

H

maidens who had failed to secure husbands in the ordi

nary course .

The position of the city on the hi ghr oad from Central

Asia to the interior of India fitted it to be the capital

of the northwestern viceroy,and its strategi cal advan

tages are still recogni zed. Hasan Abdal , close to its

ruins , is a favouri te ground for the manoeuvres of the

Indi an army,and at Rawalpindi , a few miles to the

southeast,a huge cantonment guards the road to India

against possible Al exanders advancing from the north

vvest .

Ujjain,the capital of Western India, was equally

famous,and equally suitable as the seat of a vi ceregal

government . Reckoned to be one of the seven sacred

citi es,and standing on the road leadin g from the busy

132 ASOKA MAURYA

ports of the western coast to the markets of the interi or,i t combined the advantages of a favouri te place of p il

grimage with those of a great commercial depot. The

city was recogni zed as the headquarters of Indi an as

tronomy, and lati tudes were computed from its me

rid ian .

The Ceylonese tradi tion that Asoka was residi ng at

Ujjain when he was summoned to the capital by the

news of hi s father ’s mortal illness may well be believed,but no credence can be given to the tales whi ch relate

that Asoka had a hundred brothers,ni nety-ni ne of whom

he slew, and so forth . These idle stori es seem to have

been invented chi efly in order to place a dark back

groun d of early wi ckedn ess behind the bright picture of

hi s mature pi ety. Asoka certainly had brothers and

si sters alive in the seventeenth year of hi s reign , whose

households were obj ects of hi s anxi ous care ; and there

i s nothing to indi cate that he regarded hi s relatives with

j ealousy. Hi s grandfather, Chandragupta, a man of

blood and iron,

” who had fought hi s way from poverty

and exil e to the imperi al throne,naturally was beset by

j ealousies and hatreds,and constrained to live a life of

di strustful suspicion. But Asoka, who was born in the

purple and inh erited an empire firm ly establi shed by

half a century of masterful rule , presumably was free

from the black care whi ch haunted hi s ancestor. Hi s

edi cts di splay no sense of insecuri ty or weakness from

first to last,and the probabil ity is that he succeeded

peaceably in accordance with hi s predecessor ’s nomina

tion.

134 ASOKA MAURYA

orders was not the way to win the favour either of

heaven or their master.

The kingdom of Kalinga had maintained a consider

able mi li tary force , whi ch was estimated by Megasthe

nes as numbering sixty thousand infantry, one thousand

cavalry,and seven hundred war elephants . The oppo

sition ofiered to the invaders was so stubborn that the

conquest involved immeasurable sufi ering. The vi ctor

records with sorrow that persons were carri ed

into captivi ty,one hundred thousand were slain , and

that many times that number peri shed from famine,

pestil ence , and the other calam i ties whi ch foll ow in the

train of armi es .

The sight of all thi s mi sery and the knowledge that

he alone had caused i t smote the conscience of Asoka,and awakened in hi s breast feelin gs of remorse

,pro

foun d sorrow,and regret . ” These feelings crystalli zed

into a steadf ast'

resolve that never again would ambi

tion lead him to infli ct such gri evous wrongs upon hi s

fellow creatures,and four years after the conquest he

was able to declare that the loss of even the hundredth

or the thousandth part of the persons who were then

slain, carri ed away captive , or done to death in Ka

linga would now be a matter of deep regret to hi s

Majesty.

”

The king acted up to the principles whi ch he p ro

fessed,and abstained from aggressive war for the rest

of hi s lif e . About thi s h e he came un der the influence

of Buddhi st teachin g, hi s devotion to whi ch increased

more and more as the years roll ed on. The chiefest

ASOKA FORSWEARS WAR 135

conquest, he declares , i s that won by the Law of Piety,and he begs hi s descendants to r i d themselves of the

popular notion that conquest by arms is the duty of

kings ; and, even if they should find themselves engaged

in warfare,he reminds them that they mi ght still fin d

pleasure in patience and gentleness,and should regard

as the only true conquest that whi ch is effected through

the Law of Pi ety.

Asoka from thi s time forth made it the business of

hi s lif e to employ hi s unl imi ted autocratic power over

a vast empire in the teaching, propagation , and enf orce

ment of the ethi cal system whi ch he called the Law

of Pi ety (dhamma) and had learned chi efly from h is

Buddhi st instructors .

In the sixteenth and seventeenth years of hi s reign ,he defin i tely decided upon hi s line of action, and pro

claimed the principles of h is government to hi s people

in a seri es of fourteen edi cts engraved upon the rocks ,and laid down the general rules whi ch must gui de the

conduct of the li eges . These extraordi nary documents

were followed by others Specially concerning the con

quered province of Kalinga,the purport of which has

been referred to above .

In the year 249 B . C. , when he had occupied the thr one

for twenty-three years , Asoka made a solemn pilgrimage

to the most sacred spots in the Buddhi st Holy Land .

Startin g from Pataliputra, the capital , he advanced

northwards along the royal road,the course of whi ch

is marked by five great monoli thi c pillars,thr ough the

distri cts now known as Muzaflarpur and Champaran ,

136 ASOKA MAURYA

un ti l he approached the base of the outer Himalayan

range .

Probably he then turned westwards , wi thout crossing

the hi lls,and first vi si ted the famous Lumbini Garden ,

the Bethlehem of Buddhi sm,— where

,accordin g to the

legend,the pains

‘

of travai l came upon Maya , and she

gave birth to Buddha as she stood un der a tree . At

thi s spot h i s guide and preceptor,Upagup ta, addressed

Asoka and said : Here , great king"was the Venerable

One born .

” A pi llar inscribed wi th these words , still

as legible as when they were inci sed,was set up by

Asoka to preserve the memory of hi s vi sit, and stands

to thi s day.

In due course Saint Up agup ta led hi s royal di sciple

to Kap ilavastu , the home of Buddha’s chi ldhood ; to

Sarnath,near Benares

,the scene of the Master ’s first

success as a preacher ; to Sravasti , where he lived for

many years ; to the Bodhi tree of Gaya , where he over

came the powers of darkness ; and to Kusinagara , where

he di ed . At all these holy places the king granted li b

eral endowments , and set up memori als , some of whi ch

have come to li ght in these latter days,after long ages

of oblivion.

In the year 242 B . C. ,when h is reign had lasted for

thirty years , Asoka un dertook a formal retrospect of

all the measures adopted by him in fur therance of the

ethical reforms whi ch he had at heart, and took the

opportun i ty of laying down a conci se code of regul ations

concerning the slaughter and mutilation of animals ,practi ces whi ch he regarded with abhorrence .

ASOKA’S PILGRIMAGE

Torn AT SARNATH , NEAR BENARES.

About two years later,Asoka

,recogni zing fully the

validi ty of the Buddhi st doctrine that no layman could

attain n i rvana, determined to ensure hi s final deliver

ance from rebirth so far as possible by entering the

138 ASOKA MAURYA

order of monks, and actually assuming the yellow robe .

He does not appear to have abdi cated at the same time,

for edi cts i ssued six years later were still publi shed

by hi s authori ty and with h is sanction ; it is probable ,however

,that he withdrew from active participation in

secul ar afiairs, and left the adm ini stration in the hands

of hi s mini sters and the heir apparent or crown prince .

But thi s supposition i s not necessary to explain hi s con

duct . His submi ssion to the Ten Precepts,or asceti c

rul es, binding upon ordained monks , di d not inev

itably involve hi s withdrawal from the duties of roy

alty,and he would have found no di fficulty in form

ally complying wi th the obligations of mendi cancy

by a begging tour within the spacious palace pre

cin cts.

The case of Asoka is not uni que . A perfect parallel

is furni shed by Chi nese hi story, whi ch records that

Hsiao Yen, the first emperor of the Liang dynasty, who

was a devout Buddhi st,actually adopted the monasti c

garb on two occasions,in 527 and 529 A. D . A less

completely parall el case is suppli ed by the story of a

Jain king of Western Indi a in the twelf th century , who

assumed the title of Lord of the Order,

” and at vari

ous peri ods of hi s reign bound himself by vows of con

tin en ce and abstinence .

Whatever may have been the exact procedure

adopted, there i s no doubt that Asoka was formally

ordained as a monk , and the fact was so notorious that

a thousand years later hi s statues were still to be seen ,vested in monasti c garb . The latter years of h is reign

140 ASOKA MAURYA

at a date subsequent to their publi cation, and after the

emperor had assumed the monasti c robe .

The one document in the whole seri es of the Asoka

inscripti ons whi ch is avowedly Buddhi st in expli cit

terms — the Bhabra Edi ct— evidently belongs to the

same period as the coun cil , and i s to be interpreted as

the address of the emperor-monk to h is brethren of the

order.

The extent of the enormous empire governed by

Asoka can be ascertained with approximate accur acy.

On the northwest, it extended to the Hindu Kush moun

tains,and included most of the terr itory now under the

rule of the Am eer of Afghan i stan,as well as the whole

,

or a large part , of Baluchi stan , and all of Sind . The

secluded valleys of Suwat and B aj aur were probably

more or less thoroughly controlled by the imperi al offi

cers, and the valleys of Kashmir and Nepal were cer

tain ly integral parts of the empire . Asoka bui l t a new

capital in the vale of Kashmi r, named Srin agar, at a

short di stance from the city whi ch now bears that

name .

In the Nepal valley, he replaced the older capital ,Manju Patan

,by a city named Patan, Lalita Patan, or

Lalitpur,whi ch still exi sts

,two and a half m i les to the

southeast of Kathmandu,the modern capital . Lali ta

Patan subsequently became the seat of a separate prin

cipali ty, and i t retains the special Buddhi st stamp im

pressed upon i t by Asoka . Hi s foundation of thi s city

was undertaken as a memorial of the vi sit whi ch he

pai d to Nepal in 250 or 249 B . C. ,when he undertook the

EMPIRE OF ASOKA 141

tour of the holy places . He was accompani ed bv hi s

daughter Charum ati, who adopted a reli gious life, and

remained in Nepal, when her imperial father returned

to the plains . She foun ded a town called Devapatana,in memory of her husband

,Devapala Kshatriya , and

settled down to the li f e of a nun at a convent built by

her to the north of Pasupatinath , whi ch bears her name

to thi s day. Asoka treated Lalita Patan as a place of

great sanctity, erecting in it five great stup as, one in

the centre of the town,and four others outside the walls

at the cardinal points . Al l these monuments still exi st,and di f f er conspi cuously from more recent edifices .

Some minor buildings are also attributed to Asoka or

hi s daughter.

Eastwards, the empire compri sed the whole of Ben

gal as far as the mouths of the Ganges, where Tamra

li p ti (generally identified with the'

modern Tamluk ) was

the principal port . The strip of coast to the north of

the Godavari River, known as Kalin ga , was ann exed in

261 B . C. Farther south, the Andhra kingdom, between

the Godavari and the Kri shna (Ki stna) , appears to have

been treated as a protected state, admini stered by its

own rajas .

On the southeast,the Palar River, the northern fron

ti er of the Tami l race , may be regarded as the limi t of

the imperial juri sdiction . The Tamil states extending

to the extremi ty of the peninsula , and known as the

Chola and Pandya kingdoms , were certainly independ

ent,as were the Keralaputra and Satiyaputra states

on the southwestern, or Malabar, coast . The southern

142 ASOKA MAURYA

frontier of the empire must nearly have coincided wi th

the thi rteenth degree of north latitude, or i t may be

described approximately as a line drawn from the mouth

of the Pal ar River near Sadras on the eastern coast

(N. lat . 12 °13

’ thr ough Bangalore (N . lat . 12 °

to the river Ch andragiri on the western coast (N.

lat . 13°

The wilder tribes on the northwestern f rontier and

in the jun gle tracts of the Vindhya Mountains separat

ing Northern from Southern In dia seem to have enj oyed

a limi ted autonomy under the suzerainty of the para

mount power. The empire compri sed,therefore

, in mod

ern terminology , Af ghan i stan south of the Hindu Kush,Baluchi stan

,Sind, the valley of Kashmir , Nepal , the

lower Himalaya,and the whole of Indi a proper, except

the southern extremi ty.

The central regions seem to have been governed

di rectly from Patali putra under the king’s personal

supervi sion. The outlying provinces were admini stered

by members of the royal fami ly,holdin g the rank of

vi ceroys , of whom,apparently

,there were four. The

rul er of the northwest was stationed at Taxila, and h i s

juri sdi ction may be assumed to have included the Pan

jab,Sin d

,the countri es beyond the Indus

,and Kashmir .

The eastern territori es , includin g the conquered ki ng

dom of Kal inga , were governed by a vi ceroy stationed

at Tosali , the exact position of whi ch has not been ascer

tained . The western provinces of Malwa,Guzerat

,and

Kathi awar were under the government of a prince,

whose headquarters were at the ancient city of Uj jain,

144 ASOKA MAURYA

whi ch he employed, and whi ch piled up the stones,reared the walls and gates

,and executed the elegant

carving and inlaid sculpture work in a way whi ch no

human hands of thi s world could accomplish.

”

These stately bui ldings have all vani shed,and their

remains lie buri ed for the most part beyond hope of

recovery deep below the silt of the Ganges and Son

Rivers,overlaid by the East Indian rai lway

,the city

of Patna, and the civil station of Bankipur. Sli ght

and desultory excavations have revealed enough to at

test the substantial truth of the pilgrim ’s enthusiasti c

description, and I have myself seen two huge and finely

carved sandstone capi tals — one wi th the acanthus-leaf

ornament — dug. up near Bankipur .

The numerous and magnificent monasteri es founded

by Asoka have shared the fate of his palaces,and are

ruined beyond recognition . The only bui ldings of the

Asokan period whi ch have escaped destruction and

remain in a state of tolerable preservation are those

forming the celebrated group of stup as, or cupolas, at

and near Sanchi , in Central Indi a , not very far from

Uj jain,where Asoka held court as vi ceroy of the west

before hi s accession to the throne . The elaboratelycarved gateways of the railing round the principal mon

um en t, which have been so often described and figured,may have been constructed to the order of the great

Maurya , and are certainly not much later than hi s tim e .

The massive monolithi c sandstone pill ars, inscribed

and uninscribed, whi ch Asoka erected in large num

bers throughout the home provinces of the empire,

PILLARS,B OOKS, AND CAVES 145

some of whi ch are fifty feet in height and about fifty

tons in weight , are not only worthy monuments of

hi s magnificence , but also of the hi gh

est interest as the earli est known exam

ples of the Indian stone- cutter ’s art in

archi tectural forms . The style is Per

sian rather than Greek , and the mechani

cal execution is perfect .

The caves,wi th hi ghly poli shed walls,

excavated in the intensely hard quartzose

gn ei ss of the Barabar hi lls near Gaya

by order of Asoka, for the use of the

Aj ivika asceti cs,a peni tential order

closely connected with the J ains,recall

Egyptian work by the mastery di splayed

over intractable material .

The most interesting monuments of

Asoka are hi s fam ous inscriptions,more

than thi rty in number,in ci sed upon rocks

,

boulders,cave walls

,and pillars , whi ch

supply the only safe foundation for the

hi story of h is reign , and must be bri efly

described before I can enter upon the d is

cussion of hi s doctrine and policy. The

more important documents , whi ch ex

pound fully both hi s principles of govern

ment and h is system of practical ethi cs ,Supply many interesting autob iographi

cal details . The shorter documents in B as-reueron Lewb andP 1 I l a r , Northern

clude dedi cations, brief commemorativeGatawaat Sanelyi

ot t h e Ra i l

146 ASOKA MAURYA

records, and other matter ; but all , even the most con

ci se,have interest and value .

The area covered by the inscriptions compri ses

nearly the whole of India, and extends from the Him

alaya to Mysore, and from the Bay of Bengal to the

Arabian Sea .

The documents are all wri tten in vari ous forms of

Prakrit, that i s to say, vernacular dialects closely allied

both to li terary Sanskrit and to the Pali of the Cey

lonese Buddhi st books,but not identi cal with either.

They were , therefore, obvi ously in tended to be read and

understood by the publi c generally,and their exi stence

presupposes a fairly general knowledge of the art of

wri ting. The inscriptions designed for publi c instruo

tion were placed either in sui table positions on high

roads or at frequented places of pilgrimage where their

contents were ensur ed the greatest possible publi city.

Two recensions of the Fourteen Rock Edi cts, in

scribed on rocks at places near the northwestern fron

tier of India, were executed in the script locally current ,now generally known to scholars as the Kharoshthi ,whi ch is a modified form of an ancient Aramai c alpha

bet,wri tten from right to left

,introduced into the Pan

jab during the peri od of Persian domination in the fif th

and fourth centuri es B . C. All the other inscriptions are

inci sed in one or other vari ety of the early Brahmi

alphabet,from whi ch the Devanagari and other forms

of the modern script in Northern and Western Indi a

have been evolved,and whi ch is read from left to right .

Th e in scriptions readi ly fall into eight classes, whi ch

148 ASOKA MAURYA

the seri es of the Fourteen Rock Edi cts , intended to fix

the principles on whi ch the admini stration of the newly

conquered province and the wild tribes dwelling on i ts

borders should be conducted . They were substituted

for certain edi cts (Nos . 11 , 12 , 13) of the regular seri es ,whi ch were omi tted from the Kalinga recension, as

being un sui table for local promulgation .

The three Cave Inscriptions at Barabar in the Gaya

Di stri ct are merely bri ef dedi cations of costly cave

dwellings for the use of a monasti c sect known as Aj i

vika, the members of whi ch went about naked and were

noted for ascetic practices of the most rigorous kind.

These records are chi efly of interest as a deci sive proof

that Asoka was sincere in hi s solemn declaration that he

honoured all sects , for the Aj ivikas had li ttle or noth

ing in common with'

the Buddhi sts and were intimately

connected with the Jain s .

The two Tarai Pill ar Inscri ptions,although ex

tremely bri ef, are of much interest for many reasons ,one of whi ch i s that they prove beyond question the

truth of the literary tradi tion that Asoka performed

a solemn pilgrimage to the sacred spots of the Buddhi st

Holy Land. The Rumm indei,or Padaria, inscription,

whi ch i s in absolutely perfect preservation, has the great

merit of determi ning, beyond the possibi li ty of doubt ,the exact position of the famous Lumbini Garden,where , according to the legend, Gautama Buddh a first

saw the light. Thi s determination either solves , or sup

pli es the key to , a multitude of problems . The comp an

ion record at Nigliva, whi ch is less perfectly preserved,

BIRTHPLACE OF BUDDHA 149

gives the unexpected and interesting information that

Asoka ’s devotion was not confined to Gautama Buddh a ,

but included in its catholi c embrace hi s predecessors ,the former Buddhas .

The Seven Pi llar Edi cts, i ssued in their complete

form in the year 242 B . C.,when Asoka had reigned for

thirty years and was nearing the close of hi s career of

activi ty in worldly afiair s,must be read along wi th the

Four teen Rock Edi cts , to whi ch they refer, and of whi ch

they may be considered an appendix . The principles

enunciated in the earli er instructions are re- i terated

and emphasi zed in the later ; the regulations enforcing

the sanctity of animal lif e are amplified and codified ;and the seri es closes wi th the most valuable of all the

documents,Pillar Edi ct No . 7

, preserved on one monu

ment only,whi ch recounts in orderly fashi on the meas

ures adopted by the emperor in the course of hi s long

reign to promote the growth of piety.

”

The Supplementary Pillar Edi cts are bri ef dedica

tory records,more curious than important .

The Minor Rock Edi cts , on the other hand, although

of small bulk, are in some respects the most interestin g

of the inscriptions , and until recently presented a puzz

ling eni gma , or seri es of enigmas . It now seems to be

fairly well establi shed that these Min or Rock Edi cts

were publi shed thi rty-eight complete years after

Asoka ’s coronation,or about forty-one years after hi s

accession,and that they must therefore be referred

either to the year 232 or 231 B . C. , the last year of the

aged emperor ’s life . They are dated expressly 256 years

150 ASOKA MAURYA

after the death of Buddha , and thus fix that event as

havin g occur red in or about the year 487 B . C. ,accordin g

to the beli ef current at the court of Pataliputra , only

two centuri es and a half after i ts occurrence . When

thus interpreted,these brief docum ents gain intense

interest as the valedi ctory address of the dying emperor

monk to the people whom he loved to regard as h is

childr en .

The extremely cur ious Bhabra Edi ct,whi ch forms

a class by i tself, should be referred apparently to the

same period as the Minor Rock Edi cts,that i s to say,

to the closing years of Asoka ’s life,when

,although still

retaining hi s imperial dignity,he had assumed the mon

astic robe and rul e , and had abandoned the active di rce

tion of worldly affairs to others . Thi s document,re

corded, close to a recensi on of one of the Minor Rock

Edi cts, at a lonely monastery in the Rajputana hi lls , is

an address by Asoka,as Ki ng of Magadha, to the Bud

dhi st monasti c order generally , di recting the attention

of monk s and nuns , as well as of the laity, male and

female , to seven passages of scripture deemed by the

royal judgment to be specially edi fying. But , whi le

earnestly recommending devout medi tation upon and

profoun d study of these parti cular texts,the princely

preacher i s careful to add the explanation that “ all

that has been said by the Venerable Buddha has been

well said,

” whereas the selection of texts i s merely the

work of , the king ’s individual judgment . The impor

tance of thi s edi ct in the hi story of Buddhism cannot

be easily overrated.

152 ASOKA MAURYA

an d has li ttle claim to be regarded as a fir st-rate au

thori ty.

Th e North Indian legends are at least as old, but ,being recorded in fragments scattered through many

books,Indi an, Nepalese, Chinese , and Tibetan , have

received scant consideration. All legendary materi al

must of course be used wi th extreme caution,and only

as a supplement to authenti c data,but a m omen t

’s con

sideration wi ll show that legends preserved in Northern

India,the seat of Asoka ’s imperi al power

,are more

likely to transmi t genuin e tradi tion than those whi ch

reached the di stant i sland of Ceylon in translations

brought nobody knows how,when

,or whence

,and sub

sequently largely modified by local influences . Thi s

presumption i s verifi ed when the two groups of legends

are compared, and it then clearly appears that , in cer

tain matters of importance in whi ch they di fier , the

Northern version is di stinctly the more credi ble .

ASSYR IAN HONEYSUCKLE ORNAMENT FROMCAP ITAL OF LAT , AT ALLAHABAD .

CHAPTER VII

ASOKA MAURYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

HE edicts are devoted mainly to the exposition,

inculcation, and enf orcement of a scheme of prae

tical ethi cs , or rule of conduct , whi ch Asoka called

D hamma. No Engli sh word or phr ase i s exactly equiva

lent to the Prakr it dhamma (Sanskrit dham na) , but

the expression Law of Pi ety, or sim ply Pi ety, comes

tolerably close to the meaning of the Indi an term . The

validi ty of thi s Law of Piety is assum ed in the edi cts ,and no attempt i s made to found it upon any theolog

ical or metaphysi cal basi s . Theological ideas are sim

ply ignored by Asoka , as they were by hi s master Gau

tama,and the current Hi ndu phi losophy of rebirth ,

inaccurately called metempsychosi s , i s taken for

granted,and forms the background of the ethi cal

teaching.

Th e leadi ng tenet of Asoka ’s Buddhi sm , as of the

cognate Jain system,and some varieties of Brahmani cal

Hindui sm ,was a passionate , uncompromi sing beli ef in

the sanctity of animal life . The doctrine of the absolute ,unconditional right of the meanest animal to retain the

breath of life un til the latest moment permi tted by na153

154 ASOKA MAURYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS

ture,is that of the edi cts , and was based upon the

belief that all living creatures , including men, an imals ,gods

,and demons, form links in an endless chain of

exi stence,or rather of becoming.

”

The being that i s now a god in heaven may be re

born in the cour se of aeons as an insect,and the insect

BUDDHIST WHEE L OF THE LAW 0 13" PIETY

,DHARMA-CHAKRA .

From the B h arahat Scu lp ture . (After Cunn i ngham .)

in its turn, may work up to the rank of a god . Thi s

beli ef,associated wi th the faith that the mode of rebirth

i s condi tioned by the karma, the net ethi cal resul t, or

balance of good or evi l of the li fe of each creature at

the moment of its termin ation , lies deep down at the

roots of Indian thought , and is inseparably bound up

with almost every form of Indian religion. Sometimes

it i s combined wi th theori es whi ch recogni ze the ex

i sten ce of a personal soul , but it is also firmly held


Two years earli er,in 259 B . C. , Asoka had aboli shed

the roy al hunt, whi ch formed such an important ele

ment in th e amusements of hi s grandfather ’s court .“ In times past,

” he observes,“ their Majesti es were

wont to go out on pleasure tours , during whi ch hun ting

and other similar am usements used to be practi sed.

But hi s Sacred and Gracious Majesty no longer cared

for such frivolous outings, and had substituted for them

solemn progresses devoted to inspection of the country

and people,vi sits and largess to holy men, and preach

in g and di scussion of the Law of Pi ety.

As time went on, Asoka’s passionate devotion to

the doctrine of the sanctity of animal life grew in in

tensi ty and,in 243 B . C.

,resulted in the production

of a strin gent code of regulations appli cable to all

classes of the population throughout the empire, wi th

out di stinction of creed . Many kinds of animals were

absolutely protected from slaughter in any circum

stances, and the slaying of animals commonly used

for food by the flesh - eating population,although not

totally prohi bited, was hedged round by severe restri c

tions . On fif ty-six specified days in the year

,killi ng

under any pretext was categori cally forbidden,and in

many ways the li berty of the subj ect was very seriously

contracted. Whi le Asoka lived,these regulations were ,

no doubt, stri ctly enforced by the special officers ap

pointed for the purpose , and it i s not unlikely that

deli berate breach of the more important regulations

was vi sited with the capital penalty.

The second cardin al doctrine incul cated and insi sted

TRUE CHARITY 157

on by Asoka was that of the obli gati on of reverence

to parents , elders, and preceptors . Conversely,supe

riors , whi le receiving their due of reverence, were re

quired to treat their inf eriors,including servants , slaves ,

and all living creatures,with kindness and considera

tion. As a corollary to these obli gations,men were

taught that the spiri t whi ch inspires reverence on the

one side , and kindn ess on the other, should fur ther in

duce them to behave wi th courteous decorum to rela

tives,asceti cs

,and Brahmans

,and lik ewi se to practi se

liberali ty to the same classes , as well as to fri ends and

acquaintances .

The thi rd primary duty laid upon men was that of

truthf ulness . These three guiding principles are most

conci sely formulated in the Second Minor Rock Edi ct

whi ch may be quoted in full :

Thus saith hi s Majesty

Father and mother must be obeyed ; similarly,respect for livin g creatur es must be enforced ; truth

must be spoken . These are the virtues of the Law of

Piety whi ch must be practi sed . Sim i larly, the teacher

must be reverenced by the pupi l, and proper courtesy

must be shown to relatives .

Thi s i s the ancient standard of piety ; thi s leads

to length of days,and according to thi s men must act . ’

Among secondary duties , a high place was given to

that of showing tolerati on for and sympathy wi th the

beli efs and practi ces of others , and a special edi ct, No .

12 of the Rock series , was devoted to the exposition

of thi s topic . The subjects of the imperial moralist were


solemnly warned to abstain from speaking evil of their

neighbours ’ faith,remembering that all forms of reli g

ion alike aim at the attainment of self-contr ol and puri ty

of mind,and are thus in agreement about essentials ,

however much they may difier in externals . In connection with these instructions

,men were admoni shed

that all extravagance and vi olence of language

should be carefully avoided.

Asoka Openly avowed hi s readiness to act upon these

latitudi narian principles by doing reverence to men of

all sects, whether ascetics or householders, by means

of donations and in other ways . The Cave Inscriptions,whi ch record costly gifts bestowed upon the Aj ivikas

,

a sect of self-mortifying asceti cs,more nearly al li ed to

the J ain s than the Buddhi sts , testify that Asoka, like

many other anci ent Ki ngs of Indi a,really adopted the

poli cy of universal toleration and concurrent endow

ment.

But hi s toleration, although perfectly genuine, must

be understood wi th two lim i tations . In the fir st place ,all Indi an reli gi ons, wi th whi ch alone Asoka was con

cerned,had much in comm on, and were all alike merely

vari ant expressions of Hi ndu modes of thought and

feelin g. There was no such gap di vi ding them as that

whi ch yawns between Islam and Purani c Brahm ani sm .

In the second place , the royal toleration, although per~

feet as regarding beli efs, did not necessari ly extend to

all overt practi ces . Sacrifi ces involving the death of

a vi ctim,whi ch are absolutely indi spensable for the

correct worshi p of some of the gods,were categori cally

Cave at Ajanta

The Car e Temples of India are of the h ighes t importance because ofthe ir an tiqu ity and his toric sign ifican ce . The m ost famous are in WesternInd ia a t Aj an ta,

Ellora, Karli, Kanhar i, and Elephan ta . These stupendousm onum en ts , h eron ou t of the solid rock , impress the behold er by their I

grand eur and by the beau ty ‘

of the d ecorations on p illar and wall. The

marvellous f rescoes pain ted on the walls of the Aj an ta caves da te backto the B uddh ist ages ; the pain tings are of great value for the h istoryof ar t and as illustra tions of the lif e of the Hindus during the cen turi esto wh ich they belong.


their outward acts, and besought h is congregation, the

inhabitants of a vast empire , to cultivate the virtues

of “ compassion,liberality, truth, pur ity, gentleness ,

and saintliness . ” He hoped that the growth of piety

would be promoted by the imperial regulations devi sed

for that purpose ; but , whi l e enforcing those regul ations

wi th all the power of an autocrat,he reli ed more upon

the medi tations of indi viduals, stimulated by hi s teach

ing.

“ Of. these two means,’h e says , pious regula

tions are of small account, whereas medi tati on i s of

greater value . ”

Notwithstandi ng h is avowal of the comparative pow

erlessness of regulations,the emperor di d not neglect

to provide official machinery for the promulgation of

hi s doctrine and the enforcement of hi s orders . Al l

the officers of state , whom ,in modern phraseology

,we

may call li eutenant- governors,comm i ssioners

,and di s

tri et magi strates,were commanded to make use of 0 p

p ortun i ties durin g their periodical tours for convoking

assembli es of the lieges and instructing them in the

whole duty of man . Certain days in the year were

parti cularly set apart for thi s duty,and the officials

were dir ected to perform it in addi tion to their ordinary

work .

A special agency of censors was also organi zed for

the purpose of enforcin g the regul ations concernin g the

sanctity of animal life and the observance of fil ial piety,in the most extended sense . These officers were ex

pressly enjoined to concern themselves wi th all sects,

and wi th every class of society,not excluding the royal

STANDARDS OF DUTY 161

family, while separate officials were charged wi th the

deli cate duty of supervi sing female morals . In prae

tice, thi s system must have led to much espi onage and

tyranny, and, i f we may judge from the proceedings

of kings in later ages , who undertook a similar task,the puni shm ents infli cted for breach of the imperial

regulations must have been terribly severe .

It i s recorded by contemporary testimony that in

INTER IOR V IEW OF AJANTA CAVE .

the seventh century King Harsha,who obvi ously aim ed

at copying closely the institutions of Asoka,di d not

shrink from infli ctin g capital puni shm ent, wi thout hope

of pardon, on any person who dared to infringe hi s com

mands by slaying any li ving thing or using flesh as food

in any part of hi s domini ons .

In the twelfth century , Kum arapala, King of Gu

jarat in Western India,after hi s conversion to Jaini sm

in 1159 A. D .,took up the doctrine of the sanctity of


animal life with the most inordinate zeal, and imposed

savage penal ties upon violators of hi s rules . An un

lucky merchant, who had committed the atroci ous crime

of cracking a louse , was brought before the special court

at Anh ilwara, and puni shed by the confiscation of hi s

whole property, the proceeds of whi ch were devoted to

the building of a temple . An other wretch, who had

outraged the sanctity of the capital by bringing in a

di sh of raw meat, was put to death . The special court

constituted by Kum arap ala had functions similar to

those of Asoka ’s censors , and the working of the later

institution sheds much light upon the unrecorded pro

ceedings of the earli er one .

More modern parallels to Asoka ’s censors are not

lacking. In 1876,when a pious Maharaja was in power

in Kashmi r,breaches of the comm andments of the

Hi ndu scriptures were treated by the state as ofien ces,and investigated by a special court composed of five

eminent pandi ts , belonging to fami li es in whi ch the

office was heredi tary, who determi ned appropri ate pen

alties.

Up to the middl e of the nineteenth century, and

possibly until a later date , similar heredi tary Brahm an

officers exerci sed juri sdi ction over oflender s charged

with breaches of caste rul es in Khandesh, the Deccan,and some parts of the Konkan

,and imposed sui table

expiation in the shape of fin e,penance , or excommuni

cation.

These cases,anci ent and modern, are suffici ent to

prove that when Asoka made an innovation by appoint


sion in the extensive provi sion of reli ef for the sick.

Arrangements for the healing of man and beast were

provided, not only throughout all provinces of the em

pire,but also in the fri endly independent kingdoms

of Southern India and Helleni sti c Asia,medi cinal herbs

and drugs,wherever lacking

,being planted, imported,

and suppli ed as needed.

The animal hospitals whi ch existed recently,and

may still exi st , at Bombay and Surat , may be regarded

as either survivals or copi es of the institutions foun ded

by the Maurya monarch . Th e following account of

the Surat hospital, as it was maintained late in the

eighteenth century,would probably have been appli ca

ble with little change to the prototype at Patalip utra .

Th e most remarkable institution in Sur at i s the

Banyan Hospital,of whi ch we have no description more

recent than 1780 . It then consi sted of a large piece of

groun d enclosed by high walls and subdi vided into

several courts or wards for the accomm odation of an i

mals . In sickness they were attended wi th the greatest

care,and here found a peaceful asylum for the infirmi

ties of old age .“When an animal broke a limb

,or was otherwi se

di sabled,h is owner brought him to the hospital

,where

he was received without regard to the caste or nation

of h i s master. In 1772, thi s hospital contained horses ,

mules,oxen

,sheep , goats , monkeys , poul try, pigeons ,

and a vari ety of birds ; also an aged tortoi se, whi ch

was kn own to have been there seventy-five years . The

most extraordi nary ward was that appropriated for

ANIMAL HOSPITALS 165

rats, mi ce, bugs, and other noxi ous vermin, for whom

sui table food was provided.

”

The active official propaganda carri ed on by vari

ous agenci es throughout the empire and protected states

did not sati sfy the zeal of Asoka,who burned wi th a

desire to di f fuse the blessings of both hi s ethi cal system

ANM AL HOSP ITAL .

and di stinctive Buddh i st teaching in all the independent

kin gdoms wi th whi ch he was in touch . For thi s pur

pose he organi zed an effici ent system of foreign mi s

sions un der hi s personal supervi sion , the resul ts of

whi ch are vi sible to thi s day . Hi s conception of the

idea of foreign mi ssions on a grand scale was absolutely

original,and produced a well-considered and successful

scheme,carried out wi th method and thoroughness in


conjunction and harmony wi th hi s measures of domestic

propaganda .

Before the year 256 B . C. ,when the Rock Edi cts were

publi shed collectively, the royal mi ssionari es had been

despatched to all the protected states and tribes on the

fronti ers of the empire,to the independent kingdoms

of Southern Indi a,to Ceylon

,and to the Helleni stic

monarchi es of Syria, Egypt, Cyrene, Macedoni a, and

Epirus, then governed respectively by An tioch os Theos ,Ptolemy Philadelphos, Magas , An tigonos Gonatas, and

Al exander. The mi ssionary organi zation thus embraced

thr ee contin ents, Asia, Afri ca , and Eur ope .

The protected states and tribes brought in thi s way

within the circle of Buddhi st influence included the

Kamboj as of Tibet, with other Himalayan nations ; the

Gandh aras and Yavanas of the Kabul valley and re

gions still farther west ; the Bhojas , Pulindas, and

Pi ten ikas dwell ing among the hi lls of the Vindhya

range and Western Ghats ; and the An dhra kingdom

between the Kri shna and Godavari Rivers .

The Dravidian peoples of the extreme south, below

the thi rteenth degree of latitude,being protected by

their remoteness, had escaped annexation to the north

ern empire . In Asoka ’s time their terri tori es formed

four independent kingdoms,the Chola , Pandya, Kerala

putra,and Satiyaputra. The capital of the Chola king

dom was probably Uraiyur,or Old Tri chi nopoly, and

that of the Pandya realm was doubtless Korkai in the

Tinn evelli Di stri ct . The Keralaputra State compri sed

the Malabar coast south of the Chandragiri River, and


astery in Southern Indi a and then crossed over to

Ceylon wi th hi s four colleagues . Th e teaching of the

preachers,backed as it was by the influence of a mon

ar ch so powerful as Asoka , was speedi ly accepted by

King Ti ssa of Ceylon and the members of hi s court ,and the new religi on soon gained a hold on the afiec

ti ons of the people at large . Mahendra spent the rest

of hi s li fe in Ceylon, and devoted him self to the estab

lishm ent and organi zation of the Buddhi st Church in

the i sland, where he i s revered as a saint . Hi s ashes

rest under a great cupola or stup a at Mihi ntale , one of

the most remarkable among the many notable Buddhi stmonuments whi ch are the glory of Ceylon .

The Mahavam sa chr oni cle , whi ch gives a li st of

Asoka ’s mi ssionari es and the coun tri es to wh ich they

were deputed, makes no mention of the mi ssions to

the Tami l kingdoms of Southern Indi a . Thi s reti cence

i s probably to be explained by the fierce hostili ty b e

tween the Sinhalese and the Tami ls of the mainland,

whi ch lasted for centuri es . If I am right in beli eving

that Mahendra migrated from hi s monastery near Tan

jore to the i sland,thi s fact would h ave been most di s

tasteful to the monks of the Great Vihara , who could

not bear to think that they were indebted to a resident

among the hated Tamil s for instruction in the rudiments

of the fai th , and much preferred that people should

beli eve their religi on to have come dir ect from the Holy

Land of Buddhi sm . Some motive of thi s kind seems

to have originated the Sinh alese legend of Mahendr a ,who is represented as an illegi timate son of Asoka

,and

CONVERSION OF CEYLON 169

is said to have been followed by a si ster named Sangha

mi tra Fri end of the who did for the nuns

of Ceylon all that her brother di d for th e monks .

Thi s legend, whi ch is overlaid by many marvellous

inventions, is fiction . The true version,representing

Mahendr a as the youn ger brother of Asoka, was well

remembered at the imperial capital,Pataliputra, where

Fa-hi en, at the beginning of the fifth century,was

shown the hermi tage of Asoka ’s saintly brother ; and

it was still the only version known to Hiuen Tsang

in the seventh century. Even when the latter pilgrim

took down the Sinhalese legends from the lips of the

i sland monks whom he met at Kanchi,he applied the

stori es to the brother, not to the son of Asoka .

The Mah avam sa seems also to err in attributing

to Asoka the despatch of mi ssionari es to Pegu (Sovana

bhum i ) . No such mi ssion is mentioned in the inscriptions

,and it i s very improbable that Asoka had any

dealings wi th the countries to the east of the Bay of

Bengal . His face was turned westwards toward the

Hell eni sti c kingdoms . The Ceylon form of Buddh i sm

appears to have been in troduced into Burma and Pegu

at a very much later date,and there i s reason to believe

that the earli est Burmese Buddhi sm was of the Tantri c

Mahayana type,imported di rect from Northern Indi a

many centur ies after Asoka ’s time .

Unfortun ately, no defin ite record has been preserved

of the fortunes of the Buddh i st mi ssions in the Hellen

istic kingdoms of Asia , Afri ca , and Europe , nor are

the names of the mi ssionari es known . The influence


of Buddh i st doctrine on the heretical Gnosti c sects

appears to be undoubted, and many writers have sus

p ected that the more orthodox forms of Chri stian teach

ing owe some debt to the lessons of Gautama ; but the

subject is too obscur e for di scussion in these pages .

It is, however, certain that Asoka , by hi s compre

hensive and well-planned measures of evangeli zation,succeeded in transforming the doctrine of a local Indian

sect in to one of the great religions of the world. The

personal mini stry of Gautama Buddha was confin ed to

a comparatively small area , compri sing about four de

grees of latitude and as many of longitude , between

Gaya,Al lahabad, and the Himalaya . Wi thi n these lim

its he was born, lived, and died. When he di ed, about

487 B . C. ,Buddhi sm was merely a sect of Hindui sm

,

unknown beyond very restri cted limi ts , and wi th no

better apparent chance of survival than that enj oyed

by many other contemporary sects now long forgotten .

The efiective organi zation of the monasti c system

by the Buddh i sts was probably the means of keeping

their system alive and in possession of considerable

influence in the Ganges valley for the two centuri es

and a quarter whi ch elapsed between the death of Gau

tama and the conversion of Asoka . His imperi al pat

ronage, gradually increasing as hi s faith grew in in

tensity, made the fortune of Buddhi sm,and raised it

to the position whi ch enables i t still to di spute with

Chr i stiani ty the fir st place among the reli gi ons of the

world, so far as the number of beli evers i s concerned .

Asoka did not attempt to destroy either Brahman


doctri n e beyond the limits of Indi a ; and, i f a Chri s

ti an parallel must be sought, hi s work is comparable

wi th that of Saint Paul, rather than wi th that of Con

stantine.

Upagup ta, to whom the conversion of Asoka is

ascribed, is said to have been the son of Gupta, a per

fumer,and to have been born ei ther at Benares or

Mathur a . Probably he was a native of the latter city,where the monastery bui lt by him still exi sted in the

seventh century. Tradi tion also associated hi s name

with Sind, in whi ch country he i s said to have made

frequent mi ssionary journeys .

Th e vigorous and effective action taken by Asoka

to propagate hi s creed and system of morals is con

elusive proof of hi s absolute honesty of purpose, and

justifies the modern reader in giving full credence to

the devout professions made by him in the edi cts .“Work I must

,

” he observed,

“ for the publi c bene

fit ; an d work he di d . The world still enjoys the frui t

of hi s labour s , and hi s words , long lost, but now re

stored to utterance,ring wi th the sound of sin ceri ty

and truth.

Asoka was a hard-working king, as unweari ed in

business as Philip H of Spain,ready to receive reports

at any hour and any place,

” and yet di ssati sfied wi th

the outcome of hi s industry . I am never,

” he laments,“ fully sati sfied with my exertions and despatch of

business . ” Probably he worked too hard,and would

have effected still more i f he had done less . But hi s

ideal of duty was high , and, like the Stoi c phil osopher,

CHARACTER or ASOKA 173

ENTRANCE TO KARL" CAVE .

he felt bound to obey the law of hi s nature , and to toil

on,be the resul t success or fai lure .

The character of Asoka must be deduced from hi s


words. The edi cts are wri tten in a style far too peculiar

and di stinctive to be th e work of a secretary of state ,and are alive with personal feelin g. No secretary would

have dared to put into hi s master ’s mouth the passion

ate expressions of remorse for the mi sery caused by

the Kalinga war, leadin g up to the resolve to eschew

aggressive warfare for the rest of hi s life , and the

declaration that although a man do h im an injury ,hi s Majesty holds that i t must be pati ently borne , as

far as it possibly can be borne .

The edi cts reveal Asoka as a man who sought to

combine the piety of the monk wi th the wi sdom of the

king,and to make India the kingdom of righteousness

as he conceived i t, a theocracy wi thout a God, in whi ch

the governm ent should act the part of Providence,and

gui de the people in the right way. Every man,he

mai ntained, must work out h is own salvation, and eat

the frui t of hi s deeds . The frui t of exertion is not

to be obtain ed by the great man only,because even

the smal l man by exertion can win f or himself much

heavenly bli ss ; and for thi s purpose was given the

precept Let small and great exert themselves . ’

There could be no progress without indi vidual ef fort ;the government could point out the road

,but each man

must travel it for himself.-Reverence , compassion, truthfulness , and sym pathy

were the virtues whi ch he inculcated ; irreverence, cru

elty, fal sehood , and intolerance were the vices whi ch

he condemned. The preacher was no mere sermon

wri ter. He was a man of aff airs,versed in the arts of


to the worshi p of Siva and the Divine Mothers , in whose

honour he and hi s queen, Isanadevi , erected m any tem

ples at places whi ch can be identified . But the story

of Jalanka,notwi th standing the topographi cal details ,

is essentially legendary, and no independent corrobora

ti on of the Kashm i r tradi tion has been di scovered.

Tivara, the son mentioned in the Queen’s Edi ct, i s

not heard of again,and may have di ed before hi s father.

Dasaratha, the grandson of Asoka , who i s described

in the V ishnu P a rana as the son of Suyasas, or Su

parsva,was certain ly a reali ty

,being known from bri ef

dedicatory inscriptions on the walls of cave-dwellings

at the Nagarj uni hi lls , whi ch he bestowed upon the

Aj ivikas,as hi s grandfather had done in the neighbour

ing Barabar hi lls . The script, language , and style of

Dasaratha’s records prove that hi s date was very close

to that of Asoka, whom probably he di rectly succeeded.

Assum in g thi s to be the fact,the accession of Dasaratha

may be dated in 231 B . C. Hi s reign appears to have

been short,and i s allotted (under other names) eight

years in two of the Pur anas .

The whole duration of the Maurya dynasty accord

ing to Pur ani c authori ty was 137 years, and i f thi s

peri od he accepted and reckoned from the accession

of Chandragupta in 321 B . C. ,the dynasty must have

come to an end in 184: B . C. ,whi ch date i s certainly

approximately correct . Fou r princes who succeeded

Dasaratha , each of whom reigned for a few years, are

mere names . The empire seems to have broken up very

soon after Asoka ’s death,h is descendants, whose names

DECLINE OF THE MAURYA DYNASTY 177

are recorded in the Purani c li sts,retaining only Maga

dha and the neighbour ing home provinces . The An dhra

protected state between the Kr i shna and Godavari

Rivers was among the earli est defections,and rapidly

grew into a powerful kingdom,stretchi ng right across

India , as wi ll be narrated in the next chapter. The

last king of the imperial Maur ya line,a weak prince

named B r ih adratha, was treacherously assassinated by

hi s commander- in -chi ef,Pushyam i tra .

But descendants of the great Asoka continued as

local rajas in Magadh a for many centuri es , the last

of them being Purna-varm an,who was nearly contem

p orary with the Ch inese pi lgrim ,Hin en Tsang, in the

seventh century. Petty Maurya dynasti es,probably

connected in some way with the imperi al line,ruled

in the Konkan, between the Western Ghats and the sea ,and some other part s of Western Indi a , dur ing the

sixth,seventh

,and eighth centuri es

,and are frequently

mentioned in inscriptions .

BUDDHIST SCULPTURE .

CHAPTER VIII

THE SUNGA, KANVA,AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

184 B . C. TO 236 A. D.

THE SUNGA DYNASTY

USHYAMI TRA,the commander-in -chi ef, having

slain hi s master, B rihadratha Maurya, and im

pri soned the mini ster,usurped the vacant thr one, and

establi shed himself as sovereign of the now contracted

Maurya dominions,thus founding a dyn asty known

to hi story as that of the Sungas .

The capital continued to be,as of old

,Patali putra,

and probably all the central or home provinces of the

empire recogni zed the usurp er’s authori ty

,whi ch ex

tended to the south as far as the Narmada River, and

presumably embraced the terri tori es in the Ganges

basin, corresponding with the modern Bih ar, Tirhut ,and the Uni ted Provinces of Agra and Oudh . It i s

unlikely that either the later Mauryas or the Sun gas

exerci sed any juri sdi ction in the Panjab .

Duri ng the latter years of hi s reign,the usurper

17s

180 THE SUNGA, KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

the interior of Indi a . He annexed the Indus delta, the

peninsula of Surashtra (Kathi awar) , and some other

terri tori es on the western coast, occupied Mathura on

the Jumna,besieged Madhyamika (now Nagari near

Chi tor) in Rajputana, invested Saketam in southern

Oudh,and threatened Patalip utra, the capital .

About the same tim e , or a li ttle earli er, Kh aravela

King of Kalinga on the coast of the Bay of Bengal

invaded Magadh a . He claims to have won some suc

cesses,and to have humbled hi s adversary, but what

ever advantage he gained would seem to have been

temporary or to have afiected only the eastern fronti er

of the Magadhan kin gdom.

Th e more formi dable invasion of Menander was

certainly repelled after a severe struggle , and the Greek

king was obliged to retire to h is own country, but prob

ably retained hi s conquests in Western Indi a for a few

years longer.

Thus ended the last attempt by a European general

to conquer Indi a by land. All subsequent invaders from

the western continent have come in shi ps, trusting to

their command of the sea,and using i t as their

base . From the repul se of Menander in 153 B . c .

un til the bombardment of Cali cut by Vasco da Gama

in 1502 A. D . , Indi a enjoyed immuni ty from European

attack .

Duri ng the progress of these wars the outlying

southern provinces extending to the Narmada River

were admini stered by the crown prince,Agn imi tra,

as vi ceroy, who had hi s capital at V idisa, the modern

MENANDER ’S INVASION 181

Bhilsa on the B etwa in Sindhi a’s terri tory. Agn imi t

ra ’s youthful son, V asumi tra, was employed on active

service under the orders of the king,hi s grandfather .

Pushyam i tra , who at thi s time must have been ad

van ced in years , resolved to crown his mili tary suc

c e s s e s by pro

claiming and sub

s t a n t i a t i n g a

formal claim to

the rank of Lord

P a r a m o u n t of

Northern In di a.

H i s pretensions

received c o n f i r

mation b y t h e

success of Agni

rni tra in a local

w a r w i t h hi s

southern n e i g h

bour,the Raja of

V idarbha (B e

rar) , whi ch re

sulted in the 0 0m n onsu - sacm r i cn .

p lete defeat of the raja, who was obliged to cede half

of hi s domini ons to a rival cousin,the river Varada

(Warda) being constituted the dividi ng lin e .

Pushyami tra determined to revive and celebrate

with appropriate magnificence the ancient rite of the

horse-sacr ifice (asvamedha) , whi ch , accordi ng to imme

morial tradi tion,could only be performed by a para


mount sovereign,and in volved as a preliminary a

formal and successful challenge to all rival claimants

to supreme power,delivered after thi s fashi on :

“A horse of a parti cul ar colour was consecrated

by the performance of certain ceremoni es , and was

th en turned loose to wander for a year. The kin g, or

hi s representative, followed the horse with an army,and when the animal entered a foreign country , the

ruler of that coun try was bound either to fight or to

submi t. If the liberator of the horse succeeded in oh

tainin g or enforcing the submi ssion of all the coun tfi es

over whi ch it passed, he returned in triumph with all

the vanqui shed rajas in hi s train ; but i f he failed, he

was di sgraced and hi s pretensi ons ridi culed. Af t er

hi s successful return , a great festival was held, at whi ch

the horse was sacrificed .

” 1

The command, at least nominally, of the guard at

tendant on the consecrated steed liberated by Pushya

m i tra was entrusted to hi s young grandson, Vasumi tra,who is said to have encountered and routed a band of

certain Yavanas,or western foreigners , who took up

the chall enge on the banks of the river Sindh u,whi ch

now forms the boundary between Bundelkhand and the

Rajputana States . These di sputants may have been

part of the di vi sion of Menander’s army whi ch had

undertaken the siege of Madhyami ka in Rajputana .

The Yavanas and all other ri vals having been di s

posed of in due course , Pushyami tra was justified inhi s claim to rank as the paramoun t power of Northern

1 Dowson , Classical Diet , 8 . v. Asvam edha.

184 THE SUNGA, KANVA,AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

isti c legi slati on, had necessari ly involved the p rohi b i

tion of bloody sacr ifices, whi ch are essential to certain

forms of Brahm ani cal worshi p and were beli eved by

the orth odox to possess the hi ghest saving efficacy .

Th e memorable horse- sacrifice of Pushyamitra marked

the beginning of the Brahm ani cal reaction , which was

fully developed five centuri es later in the time of Samu

dragup ta and hi s successors .

But the revival of the practi ce of sacrifice by an

orthodox Hi ndu ruler di d not necessarily involve per

secution of Jains and Buddh i sts who abhorred the ri te .

There i s no evidence that any member of those sects

was ever compelled to sacrifice against h is will , as ,un der Buddhi st and Jain domination

,the orthodox

were forced to abstain from ceremon i es regarded by

them as essential to salvation . Pushyami tra has been

accused of persecution, but the evidence i s merely that

of a legend of no authority.

But, although the alleged proscription of Buddhi sm

by Pushyami tra is not supported by evidence , and it

is true that the gradual extin ction of that religi on in

Indi a was due in the main to causes other than perse

cution,it is also true that from time to time fanati c

kings indulged in savage outbursts of cruelty,and com

mi tted genuine acts of persecution directed against

Jains or Buddhi sts as such . Well-establi shed instances

of such proceedings will be met wi th in the course of

thi s hi story, and others, whi ch do not come wi thin i ts

limits , are on record . That such outbreaks of wrath

should have occurred i s not wonderful,i f we consider

THE LAST SUNGAS 185

the extreme Oppressiveness of'

the Jain and Buddhi st

prohi bitions when ruthl essly enforced,as they certainly

were by some rajas,and probably by Asoka . The won

der rather i s that persecutions were so rare,and that

as a rule the various sects managed to live together in

harmony, and in the enjoyment of fairly impartial offi

cial favour .

When Pushyam i tra , some five years subsequent to

the retreat of Menander, di ed, after a long and event

ful reign , he was succeeded by hi s son , the crown prince

Agnimi tra, who had governed the southern provinces

during hi s father ’s lifetime . He reigned but a few

years, and was succeeded by Sujyesh tha, probably a

brother,who was followed seven years later by Vasu

mi tra , a son of Agn im i tra , who as a youth had guarded

the sacri ficial horse on behalf of hi s aged grandfather.

The next four reigns are said to have been abnormally

short,amoun ting together to only seventeen years .

The inference that the extreme brevi ty of these

reigns indi cates a peri od of confusion , during whi ch

palace revoluti ons were frequent,i s strongly confirmed

by the one incident of the time whi ch has survived in

tradi tion . Sum itra, another son of Agn imi tra, who

was,we are told, in ordi n ately devoted to the stage, was

surpri sed when in the mi dst of hi s favouri te actors by

one Mi tradeva, who severed hi s head wi th a scim i tar,as a lotus is shorn from i ts stalk .

” The ninth king,Bhagavata

,i s credi ted wi th a long reign of twenty

six years , but we know nothing about him . Th e tenth

king,Devabhuti , or Devabhum i , was , we are assur ed,


a man of licentious habits, and lost his lif e while en

gaged in a discredi table intrigue . Th e dynasty thus

came to an unhonoured end after having occupied the

throne for a hun dr ed and twelve years .

THE KANVA OR KANVAYANA DYNASTY

The plot whi ch cost the royal debauchee Deva

bhuti hi s throne and life was contrived by hi s Brahman

mini ster Vasudeva , who seems to have controlled the

state even during the lifetime of hi s nominal master.

Mitradeva, the slayer of Pri nce Sum itra, probably be

longed to the same powerful fami ly, whi ch is known

to hi story as that of the Kanvas, or Kanvayanas. There

is reason to beli eve that the later Sunga kings enj oyed

little real power, and were puppets in the hands of their

Brahman mini sters,lik e the Mahratta rajas in the

hands of the Peshwas . But the di stinct testimony of

both the Puranas and Bana that Devabhuti , the tenth

and last Sunga, was the person slain by Vasudeva, the

first Kanva,forbids the acceptance of Professor Bhan

darkar’s theory that the Kanva dynasty should be re

garded as contemporary wi th the Sun ga.

Vasudeva sei zed the throne rendered vacant by hi s

crime , and was succeeded by thr ee of hi s descendants .

The whole dyn asty, compri sing four reigns , covers a

peri od of only forty-five years . The figur es indi cate ,as in the case of the Sungas

,that the times were di s

turbed, and that succession to the thr one was often

eff ected by violent means . Nothing whatever is known

about the reigns of any of the Kanva kings . The last

188 THE SUNGA,KANVA,

AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

included thirty walled towns , besides numerous vill ages,an d the army consi sted of one hundred thousand in

f an try, two thousand cavalry, and one thousand ele

phan ts. The capital of the state was then Sri Kakulam ,

on the lower cour se of the Kr i shn a .

The nation thus described was evidently in dep end

ent,and it i s not known at what time , in the reign

either of Chandr agupta or B in dusara, the An dhras were

compelled to subm i t to the irresi stible forces at the

command of the Maurya kings and recogni ze the suze

rain ty of Magadh a .

When next heard of in Asoka ’s edi cts (256

they were enr olled among the tribes resident in the

outer circle of the empire,subj ect to the imperial com

mands , but doubtless enj oyi ng a considerable degree

of autonomy under their own raja . The wi thdrawal

of the strong arm of Asoka was the signal for the di s

ruption of hi s vast empire . Whi le the home prov

in ces continued to obey hi s feeble successors upon the

thr one of Pataliputra, the di stant governm ents shook

ofi the imperi al yoke and re-asserted their in dep en d

ence .

The An dhras were not slow to take advantage of

the opportunity given by the death of the great em

p eror , and, very soon after the close of h is reign, set

up as an independent power under the governm ent of

a king named Simuk a . The new dynasty extended i ts

sway with such extraordi nary rapidi ty that,in the

reign of the second king,Kri shna (Kanha) , the town

of Nasik , near the sour ce of the Godavari in the West

KING HALA AND LITERATURE 189

ern Ghats, was in cluded in the An dhra domini ons,whi ch thus stretched across India .

A li ttle later, either the thi rd or fourth king, who

i s described as Lord of the West,was able to send a

force of all arms to the aid of hi s ally,Kharavela, Kin g

of Kalin ga in the east , which kingdom had also recov

ered its independence after the death of Asoka .

Nothin g more i s heard of the An dhra kings un til

one of them, as above related, in 27 B . C.

,slew the last

of the Kanvas, and no doubt annexed the terri tory,whatever it was , whi ch still recogn i zed the authority

of that dyn asty. The An dhra kings all claimed to

belong to the Satavahana fam ily, and most of them

assumed the title of Satakarn i . They are consequently

often referred to by one or other of these designations,

without menti on of the personal name of the monarch ,and i t i s thus sometimes impossible to ascertain which

kin g i s alluded to . As already observed, the real name

of the slayer of Susarm an Kanva i s not known .

The name of Hala,the seventeenth king, by virtue

of i ts association wi th literary tradi tion, possesses Sp e

cial interest as marking a stage in the development of

Indi an literatur e . In hi s time , the learned dialect elab

orated by scholars, in whi ch the works of Kalidasa and

other famous poets are composed, had not come into

general use as the language of polite literatur e , and

even the most courtly authors di d not di sdain to seek

royal patronage for compositions in the vernacular di a

lects . On such li terature the favour of Kin g Hala was

bestowed,and he himself i s credited wi th the compo

190 THE SUNGA,KANVA,

AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

sition of the anthology of eroti c verses , called the

Seven Centuri es,

” wri tten in the ancient Maharashtri

tongue . A collection of tales , entitled the Great

Story-book, wri tten in the Pai sachi di alect, and a

San skri t grammar, arranged wi th special reference to

the needs of students more fami li ar with the vernacular

speech than wi th the so-called classical language,

are attributed to hi s mini sters .

The next kings concerning whom anythi ng is

known are those numbered twenty-one to twenty-three

in the dyn asti c li st, who form a group di stingui shed by

peculiar personal names and a di stinctive coinage, and

are commemorated by a considerable number of in

scrip tion s and coins . Vilivayakura I, the fir st of the

group, whose accession would seem to i ndicate a break

in the continui ty of the dynasty,perhaps due to the

ambition of a juni or branch, obtained power in 84 A. D. ,

and, accordi ng to the Pur anas, enjoyed i t only for half

a year. Some rare coins struck in hi s western domin

i ons are hi s sole memorial .

He was succeeded by Sivalakura, presumably hi s

son, who, after a reign of twenty- eight years,trans

mi tted the sceptre to V ili vayakura H ,who bore hi s

grandfather ’s name,in accordance with Hin du custom.

His reign of about twenty-five years was di stingui shed

by successful warfare against hi s western neighbours ,the Sakas , Pahlavas, and Yavanas of Malwa, Gujarat ,and Kathi awar. The names of these foreign tribes

demand some explanation.

The Sakas, the Sc (Sek) of Chin ese hi stori ans, were


Kan chi,or Conjevaram,

in the Chingleput Di stri ct,

Madras .The word Yavana is etymologi cally the same as

Ionian,

” and ori ginally meant Asiati c Greek,” but

has been used wi th varying connotation at di fferent

peri ods . In the third century B . C. Asoka gave the

word i ts ori ginal meaning, describing An tiochos Theos

and the other contemporary Helleni stic kings as Ya

vanas . In the second century A. D . the term had a

vaguer signification, and was employed as a generi c

term to denote foreigners coming from the old Indo

Greek kingdoms on the northwestern frontier.

These three foreign tribes , Sakas , Pah lavas, and

Yavanas,at that time settled in Western Indi a as the

lords of a conquered native population,were the obj ects

of the hosti li ty of V ili vayakura I I. The fir st foreign

chi eftain in the west whose name has been preserved

is B hum aka the K shaharata,who attained power at

about the beginning of the second century A. D .,and

was followed by Nahap ana, who aggrandi zed hi s domi n

ions at the expense of hi s Andh ra neighbours . The

Ksh aharata clan seems to have been a branch of the

Sakas

In the year 126 A. D. the An dhra king V ili vayakura

H recovered the losses whi ch hi s kingdom had suf f ered

at the hands of the intruding foreigners,and utterly

destroyed the power of Nahap ana. The hostili ty of the

Andhr a monarch was stimulated by the di sgust felt by

all Hi ndus , and especially by the followers of the ortho

dox Brahmani cal system, at the outlandi sh practices

CHASHTANA AT UJJAIN 193

of foreign barbarians, who ignored caste rul es, and

treated wi th contempt the precepts of the holy sastras.

Thi s di sgust is vividly expressed in the long in scr ipti on recorded in 144 A. D. by the queen-mother B alasri ,of the Gautama fami ly, in whi ch she glorifies herself

as the mother of the hero who destroyed the Sakas,

Yavan as, and Pah

lavas properly

expended the taxes

whi ch he levi ed in

accordance with the

sacred law and

prevented the mix

in g of the f 0 u r

castes .

A f t e r the de R IVER S IPRA AT UJJAIN.

struction of Naha r rom a ph otogn pm

pana, the local government of the west was entrusted to

one Chash tana,who seems to have been a Saka, and to

have acted as vi ceroy under the An dhra conqueror.

Chash tana , whose capital was at Ujj ain in Malwa, is

mentioned by hi s contemporary, Ptolemy the geogra

pher,under the slight di sguise of Tiastanes. From him

Sprang a long li ne of satraps,who retained the govern

ment of Western Indi a wi th varyin g fortune, until the

last of them was overthrown at the close of the fourth

century by Chandragupta V ikram adi tya.

In the year 138 A . D . V ilivayakura II was succeeded

on the Andh ra throne by h is son Pulum ayi I I, the Siro

Polemaios of Ptolemy, and about the same time the

194 THE SUNGA,KANVA, AND ANDHRA DYNASTIES

satrap Rudradaman ,grandson of Chash tan a, assumed

the governm ent of the western provinces . Hi s daugh

ter,Daksham itra, was marri ed to Pulum ayi , but thi s

relationship did not deter Rudradaman , who was an

ambitious and energeti c prince, from levying war upon

hi s son- in -law. The satrap was vi ctorious , and when

the confli ct was renewed, success still attended on hi s

arms (145 A. Moved by natural affecti on for hi s

daughter,the vi ctor di d not pursue hi s advantage to

the uttermost, and was content wi th the retrocession

of territory, whi le abstaining from infli cting utter ruin

upon hi s Opponent.

The penin sul a of Kathi awar, or Surashtra, the whole

of Malwa,Kach chh (Cutch) , Sind, and the Konkan,

or territory between the Western Ghats and the sea,besides some adjoining di stri cts , thus passed un der the

sway of the satraps, and were definitely detached fr om

the Andhr a domin i ons.

Al though Pulum ayi H was a son of Vilivayakura II,hi s accession seems to mark a dynasti c epoch

,empha

sized by a transfer of the capital and the abandonment

of the peculiar type of coinage known to numi smati sts

as the bow and arrow,

” favoured by the V ili vayakura

group . The western capital,whi ch in the time of Vili

vayakura H (B aleokouros) had been at a town called

Hi pp okour a by Ptolemy, probably the modern Kol

hapur, was removed by Pulumayi H to Paithan, or

Pai than a, on the upper waters of the Godavari , two

hundred miles farther north . Pulum ayi H enjoyed

a long reign over the terri tori es dimini shed by the


an end about 236 A. D ., are mere names ; but the real

exi stence of Vada Sri is attested by the di scovery of a

few leaden coins bearing hi s name . Research wi ll prob

ably detect coins struck by both hi s next predecessor

and immedi ate successor.

The testimony of the Puranas that the dynasty

endur ed for years, or, in round numbers , four

centuri es and a half, appears to be accurate . The num

ber of the kin gs also appears to be correctly stated as

having been either thir ty or th irty- one .

At present noth ing is known concerning the causes

whi ch brought about the downfall of thi s dynasty ,

whi ch had succeeded in retaini ng power for a period

so unusually prolonged. The fall of the Andhr as hap

pens to coincide very closely wi th the death of Vasu

deva, th e last of the great Kushan kings of Northern

Indi a,as well as wi th the ri se of the Sasanian dyn asty

of Persia (226 A. and it is possible that the co

incidence may not be merely fortui tous . But the thir d

century A. D . i s one of the dark spaces in the spectrum

of Indi an hi story,and almost every event of that time

is concealed from vi ew by an immnetrable veil of

obli vion . Vague specul ation,unchecked by the salutary

lim i tations of verified fact,is, at the best , unprofitable,

and so we must be content to let the An dhr as pass away

in the darkness.

CHAPTER IX

THE INDO GREEK AND INDO -PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

250 B . C. TO 50 A. D.

HE story of the native dynasties in the interi or

must now be interrupted to admi t a bri ef revi ew

of the fortunes of the vari ous foreign rulers who estab

lished themselves in the Indian terri tori es once con

quered by Alexander,after the sun of the Maurya

empire had set, and the northwestern frontier was left

exposed to foreign attack . Th e daring and destructive

raid of the great Macedoni an, as we have seen, had

efiected none of the permanent results intended. The

Indi an provin ces whi ch he had subjugated, and whi ch

Seleukos had failed to recover, passed into the iron

grip of Chandragupta, who transmi tted them to the

keeping of hi s son and grandson . I see no reason to

doubt that the terri tori es west of the Indus ceded by

Seleukos to h is Indi an opponent continued in posses

sion of the successors of the latter, and that con se

quently the Hindu Kush range was the frontier of

the Maurya empire up to the close of Asoka ’s reign.

But it is certain that the unity of the empire di d197

198 INDO -GREEK AND INDO -PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

not survive Asoka, and that when the influence of hi s

dominating personali ty ceased to act, the outlying prov

inces shook off their allegiance and set up as in dep end

ent states . The hi story of some of these has been told

in the preceding chapter. The regions of the north

western frontier, when no longer protected by the arm

of a strong paramount native power in the interior,of f ered a tempting field to the ambition of the Hell en

isti c princes of Bactri a and Parth ia, as well as to the

cupidi ty of the warlike races on the border. Thi s chap

ter wi ll be devoted,so far as the very imperfect mate

rials avai lable permi t,to a sketch of the leading events

in the annals of the Panjab and trans-Indus provinces

from the close of Asoka ’s reign to the establi shm ent

of the Indo-Scythi an,or Kushan

,power.

The spacious As iati c domini on consolidated by the

geni us of Seleukos Nikator passed in the year 262 or

261 B . 0 . into the hands of hi s grandson An tiochos,a

drunk en sensuali st,mi scalled even in hi s li fetime Theos,

or the god,” and

,strange to say

,worshi pped as such .

Thi s worthless prince occupied the thr one for fifteen

or sixteen years , but toward the close of hi s reign hi s

empir e sufi ered two gri evous losses by the revolt of

the Bactrians, under the leadership of Diodotos, and

of the Parthi ans, un der that of Arsakes.

The loss'

of Bactri a was especially gri evous . Thi s

province, the ri ch plain watered by the Oxus (Am u

Darya) after its i ssue from the mountains, had been

occupied by civi li zed men from time immemori al , andits capital , Zari asp a, or Balkh , had been from anci ent


equally skilled in the management of their steeds and

the use of the bow.

These two nations , so widely di ff erent in hi story

and manners — the Bactrians, wi th a thousand cities ,and the Parthi ans

,with myriads of moss- troopers,

were moved at almost the same moment, about the

middl e of the thi rd century B . C., to thr ow ofi their

allegiance to their Seleuk i dan lord, and assert their

independence . The exact dates of these rebelli ons can

not be determined,but the Bactrian revolt seems to

have been the earli er, and there i s reason to beli eve

that the Parthi an struggle continued for several years,and was not ended until after the death of An tiochos

Theos in 246 B . C.,although the declaration of Parthian

autonomy seems to have been made in 248 B . C.

The Bactrian revolt was a rebelli on of the ordinary

Ori ental type , headed by D iodotos, the governor of the

province, who sei zed an Opportun i ty to shake ofi the

authori ty of hi s sovereign and assume the royal state .

The Parthi an movement was rather a national ri sing,

led by a chi ef named Ar sakes, who i s described as being

a man of uncertain origin but undoubted bravery,and

inur ed to a life of rapine . Ar sakes slew Andragoras,

the Seleukidan vi ceroy,declared hi s in dependence , and

so founded the famous Ar sakidan dynasty of Persia,whi ch endured for nearly five centur ies (248 B . C. to

226 A. The success of both the Bactri an and Par

thi an rebels was facili tated by the war of succession

whi ch di sturbed the Seleuki dan monarchy after the

death of An tioch os Theos.

REVOLT OF THE BACTRIANS AND PARTHIAN S 201

The lin e of Bactri an kings ini tiated by D iodotos

was destined to a bri efer and stormi er exi stence than

that enjoyed by the dynasty of the Arsakids. D iodotos

himself wore hi s newly won crown for a bri ef space

only,and after a few years was succeeded (cir . 245 B . c .)

by hi s son of the same name,who entered into an alli

ance wi th the Parthian king.

Diodotos H was followed (ci r . 230 B . c .) by Euthyde

mos, a native of Magnesia , who seems to have belonged

to a difierent family, and to have gained the crown

by successful rebelli on. Thi s monarch became involved

in a long-contested war wi th An tiochos the Great of

Syri a (223 187 B . whi ch was terminated (air .

208 B . c .) by a treaty recogni zing the independence of

the Bactrian kingdom. Shortly afterward An tiochos

crossed the Hi ndu Kush, and compelled an Indi an king

named Subhagasena, who probably rul ed in the Kabul

valley,to surrender a considerable number of elephants

and large treasure . Leaving An drosthenes of Cyzi cus

to collect thi s war indemni ty, An tiochos in person led

hi s main force homeward by the Kandahar route

through Arachosia and Drangiana to Karmani a.

Demetri os,son of Euthydemos and son-in -law of

An tiochos, who had given him a daughter in marriage

when the independence of Bactria was recogni zed ,repeated h is father- in —law ’s exploits with still greater

success,and conquered a considerable portion of North

ern Indi a, presumably including Kabul,the Panjab ,

and Sind (cir . 190 B .

Th e di stant Indi an wars of Demetri os necessari ly

202 INDO GREEK AND INDO PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

weakened h is hold upon Bactria, and afiorded the

opportuni ty for successful rebelli on to one Eukratides,who made himself master of Bactri a about 175 B . C. ,

and becam e involved in many wars with the surround

ing states and tribes, whi ch he carri ed on with varyin g

fortune and unvarying spiri t . Demetri os , although he

had lost Bactria,long retained hi s hold upon hi s east

ern conquests,and was known as “ Ki ng of the In

di ans,” but after a severe struggle the vi ctory rested

with Eukratides, who was an opponent not easily

beaten. It is related that on one occasi on, when shut

up for five months in a fort wi th a garri son of only

three hun dr ed men, he succeeded in repelling the attack

of a host of sixty thousand under the command of

Demetri os .

But the hard-won triumph was short-lived. Whi le

Eukratides was on hi s homeward march from Indi a,attended by hi s son Apollodotos, whom he had made

hi s coll eague in power, he was barbarously murdered

by the unnatural youth, who is said to have glori ed

in hi s monstrous crime , dri ving hi s chariot wheels

through the blood of h is father,to whose corpse he

refused even the poor honour of buri al .

The murder of Euk ratides shattered to fragments

the kingdom for whi ch he had fought so valiantly. An

other son, named Heliokles,who assumed the title of

the Just,” perhaps as the avenger of hi s father ’s cruel

death, enjoyed for a bri ef space a precari ous tenure of

power in Bactria . Strato, who also seems to have

belonged to the fami ly of Eukratides,held a princi


Menander was celebrated as a just ruler, and when

he di ed was honoured wi th magnificent obsequi es. He

a celebrated di alogue entitled The Questions of

Milinda,” whi ch is one of the most notable books in

Buddhi st literature .

Heliokles, the son of Eukratides, who had obtained

Bactria as h is share of hi s father’s extensive dominion,

was the last king of Greek

race to rul e the terri tori es to

the north of the Hindu Kush.

While the Greek princes andcom OF m " princelings were strugglin g

Cen t“? M one wi th the other in obscur e

wars whi ch hi story has not condescended to record, a

deluge was preparing in the steppes of Mongoli a, whi ch

was destined to sweep them all away into nothingness .

A horde of nomads,named the Yueh-chi , whose

movements will be more parti cularly described in the

next chapter,were driven out of northwestern Chi na

in the year 165 B . C.,and compelled to mi grate west

wards by the route to the north of the deserts . Some

years later, about 160 B . C.,they encoun tered another

horde , the Sakas or Se, who seem to have occupi ed the

territori es lying to the north (or, possibly, to the south)of the Al exander Moun tains

,between the Chu and

Jaxartes (Syr Darya) Rivers , as already mentioned.

The Sakas, accompani ed by cognate tribes , were

forced to move in a southerly direction, and in cour se

THE SAKAS 205

of time entered Indi a,possibly by more roads than one .

Thi s flood of barbarian invasion bur st upon Bactria

in the period between 140 and 130 B . C. ,finally extin

gui shing the Helleni sti c monarchy, whi ch must have

been weakened already by the growth of the Parthi an

or Persian power. The last Graeco-Bactrian king was

Heliokles, wi th whom Greek rul e to the north of the

Hin du Kush di sappeared for ever.

The Saka flood, still pouring on, surged into the

valley of the Helmund (Erymandrus) River, and so

filled that region,the modern Si stan, that it became

known as Sakastene, or the Saka country .

Other branches of the barbarian stream whi ch pene

trated the Indi an passes deposited settlements at Tax

ila in the Panjab and at Mathur a on the Jumna, where

Saka princes, with the title of satrap, ruled for more

than a century,seemingly in subordination to the Par

thi an power. An other section of the horde , at a later

date,pushed on southwards and occupied the peninsula

of Surash tra , or Kathi awar, founding a Saka dynasty

whi ch lasted for centuri es .

Strato I,a Greek Kin g of Kabul and the Panjab ,

who was to some extent contemporary wi th Heliokles,

seems to have been succeeded by Strato H , probably

hi s grandson, who , in turn , was apparently di splaced

at Taxila by the Saka satraps . The satraps of Mathura

were closely connected wi th those of Taxila,and belong

to the same peri od, a little before and after 100 B . c .

The movements of the Sakas and alli ed nomad tribes

were closely connected with the development of the


Parthi an or Persian power under the Arsakidan ki ngs .

Mi thradates I, a very able monarch (174 to 136 B .

who was for many years the contemporary of B ukra

ti des, Kin g of Bactri a, succeeded in extendi ng hi s

domini on so widely that hi s power was felt as far as

the Indus, and possibly even to the east of that river.

The Saka chi efs of Taxi la and Mathura would not have

assumed the purely Persian title of satrap, i f they had

not regarded themselves as subordinates of the Persian

or Parthi an sovereign, and the close relations between

the Parthian monar chy and the Indi an borderland at

thi s peri od are demonstrated by the appearance of a

long line of princes of Parthi an origin , who now enter

on the scene .

The earli est of these Indo-Parthi an kings apparently

was Maues, or Mauas, who attained power in the Kabul

valley and. Panjab about 120 B . C., and adopted the

title Of Great King Of Kings (Baa iXe'w? Bac i l e

’wv p efya'

kov),

whi ch had been used for the first time by Mi thra

dates I. His coins are closely related to those of that

monarch, as well as to those of the unmi stakably Par

thian border chi ef,who called himself Ar sakes Theos .

The Ki ng Moga, to whom the Taxila satrap was imme

diately subordin ate,was almost certainly the personage

whose name appears on the coins as Mauou in the

geni tive case .

V onones, or Onones, whose name is unquestionably

Parthi an , was probably the immedi ate successor of

Maues on the throne of Kabul . He was succeeded by

h is brother Sp alyris, who was followed in order by


Persians, who were induced to abandon scandalous

practi ces,forbidden by religi on, although sanctioned by

immemori al usage .

The legend connecting St . Thomas wi th Kin g Gondo

phares appears for the first tim e in the Syrian text of

the Acts of St. Thomas, whi ch was composed at about

the same date as the writings of Ori gen. The substance

of the long story may be set forth bri efly as follows :‘When the twelve apostles di vided the countri es

of the world among them selves by lot, Indi a fell to

the share of Judas,surnamed Thomas

,or the Twin,

who showed unwillingness to start on his mi ssion . At

that time an Indi an merchant named Habban arrived in

the country of the south,charged by hi s master, Gun

daphar,King of India

,to bring back wi th h im a cun

ning artificer able to build a palace meet for the king.

In order to overcome the apostle ’s reluctance to start

for the East, our Lord appeared to the merchant in a

vi sion, sold the apostle to him for twenty pi eces of

silver, and commanded St. Thomas to serve King Gun

daphar and bui ld the palace for him .

In obedi ence to hi s Lord ’s commands,the apostle

sailed next day with Habban the merchant,and during

the voyage assured hi s compan ion concerning h is skill

in archi tectur e and all manner of work in wood and

stone . Wafted by favour ing winds,their ship qui ckly

reached the harbour of San daruk . Landing there , the

voyagers shared in the marri age-feast of the king ’s

daughter, and used their time so well that bride and

bridegroom were converted to the true faith . Thence

LEGEND OF GONDOPHARES AND ST . THOMAS 209

the sai nt and the merchant proceeded on their voyage,and came to the cour t of Gundaphar , King of Indi a.

St. Thomas promi sed to build him the palace within

the space of six months , but expended the moneys

given to him for that purpose in alms-giving,and

,when

called to account, explained that he was bui ldi ng for

the king a’

palace in heaven, not made with hands . He

preached with such zeal and grace that the king,hi s

brother Gad,and multitudes of the people embraced

the faith . Many signs and wonders were wrought by

the holy apostle .

Af ter a time , Sifur, the general of King Mazdai ,

arrived, and besought the apostle to come wi th him

and heal hi s wife and daughter. St . Thomas hearkened

to hi s prayer, and went with Sifur to the ci ty of King

Mazdai , ridi ng in a chariot . He left h is converts in

the country of King Gun daphar , under the care of

Deacon Xan th ip p os. King Mazdai waxed wroth when

h is queen Tertia and a noble lady named Mygdon ia

were convert ed by St . Thomas,who was accordi ngly

sentenced to death and executed by four soldiers,who

pierced him with spears on a mountain without the

city. The apostle was buried in the sepulchre of the

anci ent kings ; but the di sciples secretly removed h is

bones , and carri ed them away to the West.”

Wri ters of later date,subsequent to the seventh

century, profess to know the name of the city where

the apostle sufiered martyrdom,and call it vari ously

Kalamina, Kalam ita, Kalam ena, or Karam ena

,and

much ingenui ty has been expended in futile attempts


to identify this city. But the scene of the martyrdom

is anonymous in the ear li er versions of the tale, and

Kalamina should be regarded as a place in fai ryland,whi ch i t is vain to try to locate on a map . The same

observation appli es to the attempts at the identification

of the port vari ously called Sandaruk , An drap oli s, and

so forth.

The whole story i s pure mythology, and the geog

raphy is as mythi cal as the tale i tself. Its interest in

the eyes of the hi storian of In di a i s confined to the fact

that it proves that the real Indi an king, Gondophares,was remembered two centur i es after hi s death

,and was

associated in popular beli ef with the apostolic mi ssion

to the Parthi ans . Inasmuch as Gondophares was cer

tainly a Parthi an prin ce, i t is reasonable to beli eve that

a Chri stian mi ssion actually vi sited the Indo-Parthi ans

of the northwestern frontier during hi s reign, whether

or not that mi ssion was conducted by St . Thomas in

person. The tradi tional association of the name of the

apostle with that of King Gon dophares is in no way at

vari ance wi th the chronology of the reign of the latter.

The all eged connection of the apostle wi th Southern

Indi a and with the shrine near Madras dubbed San

Thome by the Portuguese stands on a di f ferent footing.

Th e story of the southern mi ssion of St . Thomas first

makes i ts appearance in Marco Polo ’s work in the thi r

teenth century , and has no support in either probabil ity

or ancient tradi ti on. It may be di smi ssed wi thout hesi

tation as a late invention of the local Nestori an Chri s

tians, concocted as a proof of their orthodox descent .

212 lNDO - GREEK AND INDO -PARTHIAN DYNASTIES

emperor, who, wi thout striking a blow, and by the mere

terror of the Roman name , had compelled the Parthi ans

to restore the standards of Crassus (20 B . whi ch had

been captured thi rty-three years earlier.

Still later probably are those coins of Kadphi ses I

whi ch di spense altogether with the royal effigy, and

present on the obverse an Indi an bull , and on the

reverse a Bactrian camel, devi ces fitly symbolizing the

conquest of Indi a by a horde of nomads .

Thus the numi smati c record offers a di stinctly legi

ble abstract of the political hi story of the times , and

tells in outlin e the story of the gradual supersession

of the last outposts of Greek authority by the irresisti

ble advance of the hosts from the steppes of Central

Asia.

When the Eur opean hi stori an, wi th h 1s mm d steeped

in the convi ction of the immeasur able debt owed to

Hellas by modern civi lization, stands by the side of

the grave of Greek rule in India, i t i s inevitable that

he should ask what was the result of the contact be

tween Greece and India . Was Al exander to Indian

eyes nothing more than the irresi stible cavalry leader

before whose onset the greatest armi es were scattered

like chaff, or was he recogni zed, consciously or uncon

sciously, as the pioneer bf Western civili zation and the

parent of model institutions? D id the long-continued

governm ent of Greek rulers in the Panjab vani sh before

the assault of rude barbarians without leaving a trace

of its exi stence save coins,or di d i t impress a Hellenic

stamp upon the ancient fabri c of Indian poli ty?

CONTACT BETWEEN GREECE AND IND IA 213

Questions such as these have received widely di ver

gent answers, but un doubtedly the general tendency of

European scholars has been to exaggerate the Hellen

i zing effects of Al exander ’s invasion and of the Indo

Greek rul e on the northwestern frontier. The most

extreme Hellen i st vi ew is that expressed by Herr

Ni ese,who is convinced that all the later development

of Indi a depends upon the institutions of Al exander,

and that Chandragupta Maurya recogni zed the suze

rainty of Seleukos Nikator . Such extravagant notions

are so plainly opposed to the evidence that they might

be supposed to need no refutation,but they have been

accepted to a certain extent by Engli sh wri ters of

repute,who are

,as alr eady observed

,inclined natur ally

to believe that Indi a, like Eur ope and a large part of

Asia,must have yi elded to the subtle action of Helleni c

ideas .

It is therefore worth whi le to consider impartially

and without prejudi ce the extent of the Helleni c influ

ence upon Indi a from the invasi on of Al exander to the

Kushan or Indo-Scythian conquest at the end of the

fir st century of the Chri stian era , a peri od of four cen

turies in round numbers .

The author ’s opini on that India was not Helleni zed

by the operations of Alexander has been expressed in

the chapter of thi s work dealing wi th his retreat from

Indi a , but it is advi sable to remin d the reader of the

leading facts in connection with the more general ques

tion of Hell eni c influence upon Indian civilization dur

ing four hundred years . In order to form a correct

214 INDO -GREEK AND INDO - PAR THIAN DYNASTIES

judgment in the matter, i t is essential to bear dates

in min d. Alexander stayed only nineteen month s in

Indi a, an d however far-reaching hi s plans may have

been,it is manifestly impossible that during those few

months of incessant confli ct he should have founded

Helleni c institutions on a permanent basi s or materially

affected the structure of Hin du poli ty and society. As

a matter of fact he did nothing of the sort, and wi thin

two years of hi s death, wi th the exception of some small

garri sons under Eudamos in the Indus valley,the whole

apparatus of Macedoni an rul e had been swept away.

After the year 316 B . C. not a trace of it remained.

The only mark of Alexander ’s direct influence on Indi a

is the exi stence of a few coins modelled in imi tation

of Greek types whi ch were struck by Saubhuti (So

phytes) , the chi ef of the Salt Range, whom he subdued

at the beginning of the voyage down the rivers .

Twenty years after Al exander ’s death, Seleukos

Nikator attempted to recover the Macedoni an conquests

east of the Indus,but fai led

,and more than failed

,being

obli ged not only to forego all claims on the provinces

temporari ly occupied by Al exander,but to surrender

a large part of Ari ana , west of the Indus , to Chandra

gupta Maurya . The Indi an admini stration and society

so well described by Megasthenes, the ambassador of

Seleukos, were Hin du in character, wi th some features

borrowed from Persia, but none from Greece . The

assertion that the development of Indi a depended on

the institutions of Al exander is a grotesque travesty

of the truth.


civilization of Indi a . It i s noticeable that the Hindu

astronomer refers to Menan der’s Greeks as the vi

ciously valiant Yavanas.

” The Indi ans were impressed

by both Al exander and Menander as mi ghty captains ,not as mi ssionaries of cul ture, and no doubt regarded

both those sovereigns as impure barbarians, to be

feared,but not imi tated.

The East has seldom shown much readin ess to learn

from the West,and when Indi ans have condescended,

as in the cases of relief sculptur e and the drama, to

borrow ideas from European teachers, the thing bor

rowed has been so cleverly di sgui sed in native trap

pings that the ori ginali ty of the Indi an imi tators i s

stoutly maintained even by acute and learned cri ti cs .

The Panjab,or a considerable part of i t

,wi th some

of the adjoining regions,remained more or less under

Greek rule for nearly two centuries and a half,from

the time of Demetrios (190 B C.) to the overthrow of

Hermaios by the Kushan s (cir . 50 A. and we mi ght

reasonably expect to fin d clear signs of Hell eni zation

in those countri es . But the traces of Helleni c influence

oeven there are surpri singly slight and trivi al. Except

the coins, which retain Greek legends on the obverse ,and are throughout mainly Greek in type

,although

they begin to be bilingual from the time of Demetrios

and Eukratides, scarcely any indi cation of the pro

longed foreign rul e can be specified . The coinage un

doubtedly goes far to prove that the Greek language

was that used in the courts of the frontier princes , but

the introduction of native legends on the reverses

GREEK INFLUENCE SLIGHT 217

demonstrates that it was not un derstood by the people

at large . No inscriptions in that tongue have yet been

di scovered, and the single Greek name , Theodore , met

wi th in a native record, comes from the Suwat vall ey,and i s of late date , probably 56 A. D .

There i s no evidence that Greek archi tecture was

ever in troduced into Indi a . A temple with Ioni c pill ars ,dating from the time of Azes (either Az es I, 50 B . C. ,

or Azes H , some fifty years later) , has been di scovered

at Taxil a ; but the plan of the bui lding is not Greek,and the pi llars of foreign pattern are merely borrowed

ornaments . The earli est known example of Indo-Greek

sculpture belongs to the same period,the reign of Azes,

and not a single specimen can be referred to the times

of Demetrios,Eukratides, and Menander, not to speak

of Al exander. The well-known sculptur es of Gandhara,

the region around Peshawar,are much later in date

,

and are the ofi sp ring of cosmopoli tan Graeco—Roman art .

The conclusion of the matter i s that the invasions

of Al exander, An tiochos the Great, Demetrios, Eukra

tides, and Menander were in fact, whatever their au

thors may have intended,merely m ilitary incursions

,

whi ch left no appreciable mark upon the institutions

of In di a . The prolonged occupation of the Panjab and

neighbouring regi ons by Greek rul ers had extremely

li ttle efiect in Hellen i zing the country . Greek poli tical

institutions and archi tecture were rej ected, although

to a small extent Helleni c example was accepted in the

decorative arts , and the Greek language must have been

famil iar to the officials at the kings ’ courts . The li t


craturs of Greece was probably known more or lessto some of the native officers, who were obliged to learn

their masters ’ language for business purposes,but that

language was not widely di f fused, and the impression

made by Greek authors upon In di an literatur e and

science is not traceable until after the close of the

period under di scussion .

THE KUSHAN on INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

In the course of their westward mi gration in search

of grazing-groun ds adequate for the sustenance of their

vast numbers of horses, cattle, and sheep, the Yueh-chi ,

moving along the route past Kucha (N. lat . 41 ° 38’

E . long. 83° to the north of the desert of Gobi

came into confli ct wi th a smaller horde , named Wu - sun ,whi ch occupied the basin of the 111 River and i ts south

ern tributari es,the Tekes and Konges. The Wu- sun ,

although numbering a force of only ten thousand bow

men,could not submi t patiently to the devastation of

their lands,and sought to defend them. But the supe

ri or numbers of the Yueh—chi assur ed the success of

the invaders,who slew the Wu - sun chi eftain , and then

passed on westwards,beyond Lake Issyk-kul

,the Lake

Tsing of Hi uen Tsang, in search of more spacious pas

tur es . A small section of the immi grants , di verging

to the south,settled on the Tibetan border

,and became

known as the Little Yueh-chi , while the main body,whi ch continued the westward march

,was designated

the Great Yueh-chi .

The next foes encountered by the Yueh-chi were

the Sakas , or Se, who probably included more than one

horde , for, as Herodotus observes , the Persians were

accustomed to use the term Sakai to denote all Scythi an

nomads . The Sakas,who dwelt to the west of the

Wu - sun , probably in the terri tory between the Jaxartes(Syr Darya) and Chu Rivers , also attempted to defend

their lands , but met with even worse success than the

Wu - sun , bein g compelled to vacate their pasture

grounds in favour of the victorious Yueh-chi , who occu

THE YUEH -CHI MIGRATION 221

pied them . The Sakas were forced to migrate in search

of new quarters, and, ultimately, as stated in the last

precedi n g chapter, made their way into India and

Si stan.

For some fifteen or twenty years the Yueh-chi re

mained undi sturbed in their usurped territory. But

meantime their ancient enemi es, the Hi ung-nu

,had

protected the infant son of the slain Wu -sun chi eftain,

who had grown to manhood under their care . Thi s

youth,with Hiung-nu help

,attacked the Yueh—chi

,and

avenged hi s father ’s death by dr iving them from the

lands whi ch they had wrested from the Sakas . Being

thus forced to resume their march,the Yueh-chi moved

into the valley of the Oxus , and reduced to subjection

i ts peaceful inhabitants, known to the Chinese as Ta

hi a. The poli ti cal domin ation of the Yueh-eh1 was

probably extended at once over Bactria,to the south

of the Oxus,but the headquarters of the horde con

tinued for many years to be on the north side of the

river,and the pastur es on that side sufficed for the

wants of the newcomers .

In the cour se of time , whi ch may be estimated at

two or three generations,the Yueh-chi lost their nomad

habits,became a settled

,terri torial nation, in actual

occupation of the Bactrian lands south of the ri ver,as well as of Sogdiana to the north, and were di vided

into five principalities . As a rough approximation to

the truth,thi s poli tical and social development

,wi th i ts

accompanyin g growth of population,may be assumed

to have been completed about 70 B . C.

222 THE KUSHAN OR INDO -SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

For the next century nothing is known about Yueh

chi hi story ; but more than a hundred years after the

divi sion of the nation into five terri torial principali ties

situated to the north of the Hi ndu Kush , the chi ef of

the Kushan section of the horde, who i s conventionally

known to European wri ters as Kadphi ses I, succeeded

in imposing hi s authori ty on hi s colleagues and estab

li shing himself as sole monarch of the Yueh-chi nation.

Hi s accession as such may be dated in th e year 45 A. D . ,

whi ch cannot be very far wrong.

The pressur e of population upon the means of sub

si stence,whi ch had impelled the Yueh-chi horde to

undertake the long and arduous march from the bor

ders of China to the Hindu Kush, now drove i t across

that barri er,and stimulated Kadphi ses I to engage in

the formi dable task of subjugating the provinces to

the south of the mountains .

He made himself master of Ki -p in (Kashmir?) as

well as of the Kabul terri tory,and

,in the course of

a long reign,consoli dated hi s power in Bactria, and

found time to attack the Parthi ans . Hi s empire thus

extended f rom the frontiers of Persia to the Indus,and

included Sogdi ana, now the Khanate of Bukhara , wi th

probably all the terri tori es compri sed in the exi sting

kingdom of Af ghani stan . The complete subjugation

of the hardy mountaineers of the Afghan hi ghl ands ,who have wi th stood so many invaders wi th success,must have occupied many years

,and cannot be assigned

to any parti cul ar year, but 60 A. D . may be taken as

a mean date for the conquest of Kabul .


as far as the confin es of the Roman empire . The King

of Khotan,who had first made h i s submi ssion in 73A. D . ,

was followed by several other princes , including the

King of Kashgar, and the route to the west along the

southern edge of the desert was thus opened to the

arms and commerce of Chi na . The reduction of Kuche

and Kh arachar in 94 A. D. similarly threw open the

northern road.

The steady advance of the vi ctori ous Chinese evi

den tly alarmed Kadphi ses H ,who regarded him self

as the equal of the emperor and had no intention of

accepting the position of a vassal . Accordi ngly, in

90 A. D. ,he boldly asserted hi s equali ty by demanding

a Chinese princess in marri age . General Pan- chao,who

considered the proposal an aff ront to hi s master, ar

rested the envoy and sent him home . Kadphi ses H ,

unable to brook thi s treatment,equi pped a formi dable

force of seventy thousand cavalry under the command

of hi s viceroy Si , whi ch was despatched across the

Tsung- lin g range,or Tagh dumbash Pamir , to attack

the Chi nese . The army of Si probably advanced by the

Tashkurghan pass , some fourteen thousand feet hi gh,and was so shattered by its sufferin gs dur in g the pas

sage of the mountains,that

,when i t emerged into the

plain below, either that of Kashgar or Yarkand, it f ell

an easy prey to Pan-chao,and was totally defeated.

Kadphi ses H was compelled to pay tribute to China,and the Chinese annals record the arrival of several

mi ssions bearing tribute at thi s period.

Thi s serious check di d not crush the ambition of

RELATIONS WITH ROME 225

the Yueh-chi monarch,who now undertook the easi er

task of attacking Indi a . Success in thi s di rection com

p en sated for fai lur e again st the power of Chin a , and

the Yueh-chi domini on was gradually extended (90 to

100 A. D .) all over Northwestern Indi a, wi th the excep

tion of Southern Sind,probably as far east as Benares .

The conquered Indi an provinces were admini stered by

mi li tary vi ceroys , to whom apparently should be attrib

uted the large i ssues of coins known to numi smati sts

as those of the Nameless King. These pieces,mostly

copper,but including a few in base silver

,are certainly

contemporary with Kadphi ses H ,and are extremely

common all over Northern Indi a from the Kabul valley

to Benares and Ghazipur on the Ganges .

The Yueh- ch i conquests Opened up the path of com

merce between the Roman empire and

Indi a . Kadphi ses I, who struck coins

in bronze or copper only, imitated,after h i s conquest of Kabul , the coin

age either of Augustus in h is later

years,or the simi lar coinage of Tibe

rius (14 t o 38 A. When the Roman 0 0

55581513531,ngold of the early emperors began to “ m ‘

pour into Indi a in payment for the silks,spices

,gems

,

arid dye- stuffs of the East , Kadphi ses H perceived the

advantage of a gold currency,and struck an abun dant

i ssue of Ori entali zed aa rei , agreeing in weight with their

prototypes,and not much inf eri or in puri ty . In South

ern Indi a, which , during the same period, maintained an

active maritime trade with the Roman empire,the local


kings di d not attempt to copy the imperial aurei , whi ch,however

,they imported in large quantiti es, and used for

currency purposes,just as Engli sh sovereigns now are

in many parts of the world.

The Indi an embassy, whi ch ofiered its congratula

tions to Trajan after hi s arr ival in Rome in 99 A. D .,

was probably despatched by Kadph ises H to announ ce

hi s conquest of Northwestern Indi a .

Th e temporary annexation of Mesopotami a by Tra

jan in 116 A. D. brought the Roman fronti er wi thin six

hun dr ed miles of the western lim i ts of the Yueh-chi

empire . Al though the province beyond the Euphrates

was retroceded by Hadr i an the year after its annexa

tion, there can be no doubt that at thi s period the rulers

of Northern and Western Indi a were well acquain ted

with the fame and power of the great Western empire ,and were sensibly influenced by its example .

The vi ctori ous reign of Kadphi ses H was undoubt

edly prolonged, and may be supposed to have covered

a space of thirty-five or forty years , from about 85 to

120 or 125 A. D . ,when he was succeeded by Kani shka,

who alone among the Kushan kings has left a name

cheri shed by tradi tion,and famous far beyond the

lim i ts of Indi a. His name , i t i s true, is unknown in

Europe , save to a few students of unfami liar lore , but

it lives in the legends of Tibet,China

,and Mongolia,

and i s scarcely less significant to the Buddhi sts of those

lands than that of Asoka himself.

Notwi thstanding the widespread fame of Kani shka,

hi s authenti c hi story i s scanty, and hi s chronologi cal

228 THE KUSHAN OR INDO - SCYTHIAN DYNASTY

for believing that he was not connected wi th them . The

coins both of Kadphi ses H and Kan ishka fr equently

di splay in the field the same four-pronged symbol, and

agree accurately in weight and fineness,besides exhib

iting a very close relationshi p in the obverse devi ces .

The inevitable inf erence i s that the two kings were verynear in tim e to one another — in fact

,that one imm edi

ately followed the other. Now Kadphi ses H (Yen-kao

ching) was beyond doubt not only the successor, but

the son of Kadphi ses I (Ki eu-tsien who di ed at

the age of eighty after a long reign . It is qui te imp os

sible to bring Kani shka into close association wi th Kad

phi ses H ,except on the generally admi tted assumption

that Kani shka was hi s immedi ate successor. Without

further pursuing in detail a tedious archaeologi cal argu

ment, i t will suffice to say here that ample reason can

be shown for holding that the great maj ori ty of Indi

anists are ri ght in placing the Kan i shka group directly

after that of the Kadph ises kin gs .

Kani shka then may be assumed to have succeeded

Kadph ises H , to whom he was presumably related, in

or about 120 or 125 A. D . Tradition and the monuments

and inscriptions of hi s time prove that hi s sway, like

that of hi s predecessor,extended all

,

over Northwestern

Indi a, probably as far south as the V in dhyas. Hi s coins

are found constantly associated wi th those of Kadphi ses

H from Kabul to Ghazipur on the Ganges,and their

vast num ber and vari ety indi cate a reign of considerable

length. His domini ons included Upper Sind,and h is

h igh reputation as a conqueror suggests the probabili ty

KAN ISHKA’S CAPITAL 229

that he extended hi s power to the mouths of the Indus

and swept away the petty Parthi an princes who still

ruled that regi on at the close of the first century A. D . ,

but are no more heard of afterward .

He probably completed the subjugati on and annexa

tion of the secluded vale of Kashm i r,and certain ly

showed a marked preference for that deli ghtful coun

try,in whi ch he erected numerous monuments

,and

founded a town,whi ch

,although now reduced to a petty

village,still bears hi s honoured name .

Tradi tion affirms that he carri ed hi s arms far into

the interior, and attacked the kin g residin g at the an

ci ent imperi al city of Patali putra . It is said that he

carri ed ofi from that city a Buddh i st saint named

Asvaghosha . But li ttle dependence can be placed upon

ecclesiastical tradi tions which connect the names of

famous saints with those of renowned kings, and all

such tradi tions need confirmation .

Kani shka’s capital was Purushapura, the modern

Peshawar,the city which then guarded, as it now does ,

the main road from the Afghan hi lls to the Indi an

plains . There , in hi s latter days, when he had become

a fervent Buddhi st, he erected a great reli c tower, whi ch

seems to have deserved to rank among the wonders of

the world . The superstru cture of carved wood rose

in thirteen stories to a height of at least four hundred

feet , surmounted by a mighty iron pinn acle . Wh en

Song-yun , a Chinese pilgrim ,vi sited the spot at the

beginning of the sixth century,th is structure had been

thrice destroyed by fir e, and as often rebui lt by pious


kings . A monastery of exceptional magnificence stood

by its side. Fain t traces of the substructures of these

buildin gs may even now be di scerned at the“ King ’s

Mound (Shahj i —ki -Dheri ) outside the Lahore gate of

Peshawar.

The monastery was still flouri shing as a place of

Buddhi st education as late as the ninth or tenth century,when Prince Vira Deva of Magadha was sent there to

r oar JAMRUD,PESHAWAR.

benefit by the instruction of the resident teachers, who

were famous for their pi ety. The final demolition of

thi s celebrated establi shment was undoubtedly due to

the Mohammedan invasions of Mahm ud of Ghazni and

hi s successors . Moslem zeal against idolatry was always

excited to acts of destruction by the spectacle of the

innumerable images with which Buddhi st holy places

were crowded .

The ambition of Kanishka was not confined by the


rainy.During the time of the summer heats , when the

burning plains are not pleasant to live in , they enjoyed

the cool breezes at a monastery in th e hill s of Kapi sa

beyond Kabul,whi ch was erected Specially for their

accommodation. Th e Chinese prince deposited a store

of j ewels as an endowment for thi s establi shment before

hi s return home , and was gratefully remembered for

centuri es . Wh en Hiuen Tsang vi sited the place in the

seventh century,he found the wal ls adorned wi th paint

ings of the prince and hi s compani ons attired in the

garb of Chin a,whil e the resident monks still honour ed

the memory of their benefactor wi th prayers and of fer

ings . The residence of the hostages during the cold

season was at an un i dentified place in the Eastern

Panjab,to whi ch the ‘ name of Chin ap ati was given in

consequence . Th e si tuation of their abode during the

rains is not mentioned. An incidental result of the stay

of the hostages in Kani shka’s dominions was the intro

duction of the pear and peach, both of whi ch had been

previ ously unknown in Indi a.

The biographer of Hinen Tsang tell s a curi ous story

about the treasur e deposited by the Chinese prince as

an endowment for the Chin ap ati shri ne, whi ch was

known to be buri ed un der the feet of the image of

V aisravana, the Great Spiri t King, at the south side

of the eastern gate of the hall of Buddha. An impious

raja who tri ed to appropriate the hoard was frightened

away by portents whi ch seemed to in di cate the di s

pleasure of its guardian spiri t,and when the monks

endeavour ed to make use of it for the purpose of repair

BUDDHISM IN CHINA 233

ing the shrine, in accordance with the donor’s intention

,

they too were terrified by similar man if estations.

While Hiuen Tsang was lodging at the shri n e duri ng

the rainy season, the monks besought him to use hi s

influence wi th the spiri t to obtain permi ssion to expend

the treasure on ur gently needed repairs of the steeple .

The pilgrim compli ed,burned incense

,and duly assured

the guardian spiri t that no waste or mi sappropriation

would be permi tted. The worm en who were set to

di g up the spot then sufiered no molestation,and at

a depth of seven or eight feet found a great copper

vessel containi ng several hundredweights of gold and a

quantity of pearls . The balance of the tr easure left

after the repairs to the steeple has doubtless been

appropriated long since by excavators less scrupul ous

than the pious Master of the Law.

The monks of the Chinap ati monastery were follow

ers of the anci ent form of Buddhi sm known as the

Hi nayana, or Lesser Vehi cle , and the narrative impli es

that the Chi nese prince belonged to the same sect . If

he was really a Buddhi st , it i s of interest to speculate

whether he brought hi s creed with him or learned it

in Indi a . The stori es dating from the seventh century

whi ch narrate the arrival of Buddh i st mi ssionaries in

Ch ina in 217 B . C.

,although favourably regarded by

Professor Terrien de Lacoup er ie, are generally di she

lieved and are hi ghly improbable .

The mi ssionari es despatched by Asoka in the middle

of the third century B . C. were directed to the south and

west,not to the east, and there is little or no evidence


of intercourse between India and China before the time

of the Yueh-chi invasion. The statement that the Em

p eror Min g-ti sent for Buddhi st teachers in or about

64 A. D .,although rej ected by Wassilj ew, has been ac

cep ted by most writers ; but even those authors who

adm i t the fact that Buddhi st mi ssionaries reached China

at that date allow that their influence was very sli ght

and limi ted. The ef fective introduction of Buddhi sm

into China appears not to have taken place until the

reign of Hwan-ti,about the middle of the second cen

tury,when the people of China generally adopted thi s

new reli gion, and i ts followers became numerous . ”

Thi s development of Chinese Buddh i sm was apparently

the direct result of Kani shka’s conquest of Kh otan,

and it i s consequently improbable that the Han prince

brought hi s Buddhi st creed with him . It may be as

sumed that he adopted it dur ing hi s stay in India and

that when he returned home he became an agent for

i ts di f fusion in hi s native land. Wassilj ew’s vi ew that

the Buddhi st religi on di d not become widely known

in Chi na until the fourth century is not inconsi stent

with the beli ef that the Indi an system was efiectivelyintroduced to a lim i ted extent two centuri es earli er.

The stories told about Kan ishka’s conversion and

hi s subsequent zeal for Buddhi sm have so much resem

blance to the Asoka legends that it i s di fficult to decide

how far they are tradi tions of actual fact,and how far

merely echoes of an older tradition . The Yueh-chi

monarch di d not record passages from hi s autob iogra

phy as Asoka di d , and when we are informed in the


Greek both in script and language , with effigies of the

sun and moon personified under their Greek names ,Helios and Selene . On later i ssues the Greek script i s

retained, but the language is a form of old Persian,while the dei ties depicted are a strange medley of the

gods worshipped by Greeks, Persians, and Indi ans.

The rare coins exhi bitin g images of Buddha Sakya

muni with hi s name in Greek letters are usually con

sidered to be among the latest of the reign , but they

are well executed and may be earli er in date than is

generally supposed. It i s impossible to fix the exact

date of Kani shka’s conversion, but the event evidently

di d not occur un til he had been for some years on the

throne .

Th e appearance of the Buddh a among a crowd of

heterogeneous deiti es would have appeared strange, in

fact would have been inconceivable to Asoka,while

it seemed qui te natur al to Kani shka. The newer Bud

dhi sm of hi s day, designated as the Mahayana, or Great

Vehi cle,was largely of foreign origin

,and developed

as the result of the complex interaction of Indi an,Z oroastrian

,Chri stian

,Gnosti c

,and Helleni c elements ,

whi ch was made possible by the conquests of Alexander,

the formation of the Maurya empir e in Indi a, and,above all , by the unification of the Roman world under

the sway of the earlier emperors . In thi s newer Bud

dhi sm the sage Gautama became in practi ce, i f not in

theory, a god, wi th hi s ears open to the prayers of the

faithf ul , and served by a hi erarchy of Bodhi s‘

attvas and

other beings acting as medi ators between h im and sin

KANISHKA’S BUDDHIST COUNCIL 237

f ul men.Such a Buddh a ri ghtly took a place among

the gods of the nations compri sed in Kani shka’

s wide

spread empire, and the monarch, even after hi s‘ ‘

con

The celebrated Gandhara sculptur es , of whi ch the

best examples date from the time of Kani shka and hi s


proximate successors , give vivid expression in classi cal

forms of considerable arti sti c meri t to thi s modified

Buddhi sm,a reli gi on wi th a compli cated mythology

and well-filled pan theon. The florid Corin thi an capitals

and many other characteri stic featur es of the style

prove that the Gandhara school was merely a branch

of the cosmopoli tan Graeco-Roman art of the early

empire .

In Buddhi st ecclesiastical hi story the reign of Ka

ni shk a is specially celebrated for the convocation of

a council, organi zed on the model of that supposed to

have been summoned by Asoka . Kani shka’s council,

whi ch is ignored by the Ceylonese chroni clers , who

probably never heard of it , i s known only from the

tradi tions of Northern India, as preserved by Tibetan,Chi nese

,and Mongolian writers . The accoun ts of thi s

assembly,like those of the earli er councils

,are di s

crepan t, and th e place of meeting i s named variously

as the Kun dalavana Vihara, somewhere in Kashmi r,the Kuvana monastery at Jalandhar in the north of

the Panjab,or Kandahar .

According to some authori ti es,the assembly, like

its predecessors, was concerned wi th the compilation

and expurgation of the scriptures purp orting to be

the very words of Buddha,whi le , according to others,

its business was restri cted to the preparation of elab

orate comm entari es on all the thr ee p i takas, or main

di vi sions,of the pre- exi sting canon . Compari son of the

di fierent authori ti es may be held to justify the conclu

sion that the coun cil was a reali ty ; that it met fir st


bowed before him like herbage un der hai l . The peoples

of three regions came in to make their submi ssion ;under th e hoofs of the horse ridden by Ki n g Kani shka

everything either bent or broke . The king said : I

have subjugated three regi ons ; all men have taken

refuge wi th me ; the regi on of the north alone has not

come in to make i ts submi ssion . If I subjugate it,I

shall never again take advantage of an Opportun ity

against any one , be he who he may ; but I do not yet

know the best way to succeed in thi s undertaking.

’ The

king ’s people , having heard these words , took counsel

together and said : The king i s greedy, cruel , and

unreasonable ; hi s campaigns and continued conquests

have weari ed the mass of hi s servants . He knows not

how to be content,but wants to reign over the four

quarters . The garri sons are stationed on di stant fron

tiers,and our relatives are far from us . Such being

the situation,we must agree among our selves

,and get

r i d of him . Af ter that we may be happy.

’ As he was

ill,they covered h im wi th a quilt, a man sat on top of

him, and the king di ed on the spot .

”

The reign of Kan i shka appears to have lasted some

twenty—five or thirty years , and may be assumed to

have term inated about 150 A. D .

Very little i s known about the successors of Ka

ni shk a . He was imm ediately followed by Huvi shka,or

Hushka, who was probably hi s son, and appears to have

retained undim ini shed the great empire to whi ch he suc

ceeded . Hi s domi ni ons certain ly'

in cluded Kabul,Kash

mir, Gaya, and Mathur a . At the last named ci ty, a

REIGN OF HUVISHKA 241

splendid Buddhi st monastery bore hi s name and no

doubt owed its exi stence to hi s mun ificen ce, for, like

Kani shk a, he was a liberal patron of Buddhi st ecclesias

ti cal instituti ons . But he also resembled hi s more

famous predecessor in an eclecti c taste for a strange

medley of Greek, Indi an, and Persian deiti es . The

types on the coins of Huvi shk a include Heracles, Sa

rap is, Skanda wi th hi s son V isakh a, Pharro, the fire

god, and many others, but the figure an d name of Bud

dh a are wanting. It would seem that the Buddhi st

convictions of these old Turki sh kin gs were not very

deeply seated, and i t is probably j ustifiable to hold that

the royal favour was granted to the powerful monasti c

organi zation of the Buddhi sts as much as to their creed.

No prudent monarch in those days could afford to

neglect the wealthy and influential order,whi ch had

spread its ramifications all over the empire .

The town of Hushkapura, founded by Huvi shka in

Kashmir, occupied a position of exceptional importance

just inside the Baramula Pass , then kn own as the

western gate ” of the valley, and continued for cen

turies to be a place of note . When Hiuen Tsang vi sited

Kashmir about 631 A. D .

,he enjoyed the liberal hospi

tality of the Hushkapura monastery for several days ,and was escorted thence with all honour to the capital ,where he found numerous religi ous institutions

,at

tended by some five thousand monks . Th e town of

Hushkapura is now represented by the small village

of Ushkiir , at whi ch the ruins of an ancient stup a are

vi sible.


The reign of Huvishk a was undoubtedly prolonged,but all memory of its poli ti cal events has peri shed. Hi s

abundant and varied coin age is little inferi or in inter

est or arti stic meri t to that of Kani shk a, wi th whi ch it i s

constantly associated,and, like the contemporary sculp

ture,testifies to the continuance of Helleni sti c influence .

A few specimens of the gold coinage present well exe

outed and characteri sti c portraits of the king, who was

a determined-looking man, wi th strongly marked fea

tures,large

,deep- set eyes , and an aquiline nose . So far

as appears,the Kushan power sufi ered no dim inution

during hi s reign .

Huvi shka was succeeded by Vasudeva , whose thor

oughly Indi an name i s a proof of the rapidi ty wi th

whi ch the foreign invaders had succumbed to the influ

ence of their environment . Testimony to the same fact

is borne by hi s coins,almost all of whi ch exhi bit on

the reverse the figure of the Indi an god Siva, attended

by hi s bul l Nandi,and accompani ed by the noose

, tri

dent , and other insignia of Hindu i conography. The

inscriptions of Vasudeva,found chi efly at Mathura

,cer

tainly range in date from the year 74 to the year 98

of the era used in the Kushan age,and indi cate a reign

of not less than twenty-five years . If the Sanchi in

scription bears the date 68, the reign would have lasted

about thi rty-five years .

It is evident that the Kushan power must have been

decadent during the latter part of the long reign of

Vasudeva, and apparently before its close, or imm edi

ately after that event, the vast empire of Kani shka


tory tribes subject to Irani an influence , rather than a

regular attack by a Persian king.

So much,however

,is clear that Vasudeva was the

last Kushan kin g who continued to hold extensive terri

tori es in Indi a . After hi s death there is no indi cation

of the exi stence of a paramount power in Northern

Indi a. Probably numerous rajas asserted their inde

p endence and formed a number of short- lived states ,such as comm only ari se from the ruins of a great Or i

ental monarchy ; but hi stori cal materi al for the third

century i s so completely lacking that it i s impossible

to say what or how many those states were .

The peri od was evidently one of extreme confusion,associated wi th foreign invasions from the northwest ,which is reflected in the muddled statements of the

V ishnu Parana concerning the Abhir as, Gardabh ilas,Sakas

,Yavanas, B ahlik as, and other outlandi sh dynas

ties named as the successors of the Andhr as . The

dynasties thus enumerated were clearly to a large

extent contemporary, not consecutive, and none of them

could claim paramount rank . It seems to be qui te thope

less to attempt to reduce to order the Purani c accounts

of thi s anarchi cal peri od, and nothin g would be gained

by quoting a long li st of names, the very forms of whi ch

are uncertain .

Coins indi cate that the Kushans held their own in

the Panjab and Kabul for a long time . It i s certain

that the Kushan Kin gs of Kabul continued to be a con

siderab le power un til the fifth century,when they were

overthrown by the Whi te Huns . At the beginni ng of

END OF THE KUSHAN RULE 245

the fourth century one of them gave a daughter in

marriage to Hormazd H ,the Sasani an Kin g of Persia

,

and when Sapor H besieged Am i da,in 360 A. D.

, hi s

vi ctory over the Roman

garri son was won wi th

the aid of Indi an ele

phan ts a n d K u s h a n

troops under the com

mand of their aged king,Grumbates, who occupi ed

the place of honour and

w a s supported by the

Sakas of Si stan .

It i s difficult to judge

how far the foreign chi efs

who ruled the Panjab

during the thir d century

and struck coins similar

to those of Vasudeva, yet

wi th a di fieren ce, were

Kushan s, and how far

they belonged to other

Asiati c tribes . The mar

ginal legends of the coins

of thi s class,whi ch are

w r i t t e n in a modified

Greek scri pt,preserve the

name either of Kani shka

or Vasu [deva] Kushan,King of Kin gs

,and so rec IND IAN PALMS.


ogni ze the Kushan supremacy ; but the name in Indian

letters placed by the side of the spear is frequently

monosyllabic,like a Chinese name , B ha, Ga, V i , and

so forth. These monosyllabi c names seem to belong to

chi efs of vari ous Central Asian tribes who invaded

Indi a and acknowledged the supremacy of the Kushan

or Shahi Kings of Kabul . One coin wi th the modified

Kushan obverse , and the names B ashana, Nu ,Pakal

dhi ( i ) in Indi an Brahm i characters in various parts

of the field,has on the reverse a fir e altar of the type

found on the coins of the earli est Sasani an kings . It

is thus clear that in some way or other, during the

thi rd century, the Panjab renewed its anci ent connec

ti on with Persia .

Nothing defin ite is recorded concerning the dynasti es

of Northern India , excluding the Panjab , during the

thir d century, and the early part of the fourth . The

imperi al city of Patali putra i s known to have contin

ued to be a place of importance as late as the fifth

century,but there i s not even the slightest indication

of the nature of the dyn asty which ruled there during

the third. The only intelli gible dynasti c li st for the

peri od is that of the Saka satraps of Western Indi a,

whose hi story will be more conveni ently noti ced in the

next chapter in connection wi th that of the Gupta em

p erors.

248 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

tion of the fortunes of a dynasty destined to rival the

glori es of the Mauryas.

Kumara Devi evi dently brought to her husband as

her dowry valuable influence , whi ch in the cour se of a

few years secured to him a paramount posi tion in

Magadha and the neighbouring countries . It seems

probable that at the time of thi s fateful uni on the

Lich chhavi s were masters of the anci ent imperi al city,and that Chandragupta by means of hi s matrimoni al

alliance succeeded to the power previously held by hi s

wife ’s relatives . In the olden days the Li ch chh avis

had been the rivals of the Kings of Pataliputra, and

apparently,during the di sturbed times whi ch followed

the reign of Pushyami tra, they paid off old scores by

takin g possession of the city,which had been bui lt and

fortified many centuri es earli er for the express purpose

of curbing their restless spiri t .

Certain it i s that Chandr agupta was rai sed by hi s

Lich chh avi conn ection from the rank of a local chi ef,as enjoyed by hi s father and grandfather

,to such di g

ni ty that he felt justified in assuming the lofty title

of sovereign of Maharajas,

” usually associated with

a claim to the rank of lord paramount. He struck coins

in the joint names of himself,hi s queen, and the Li ch

chh avi s, and h is son and successor habi tually described

himself wi th pride as the son of the daughter of the

Li ch chh avi s.

Chandragupta , designated as the First , to di stin

gui sh him from hi s grandson of the same name,ex

tended h is domini on along the Ganges valley as far

CHANDRAGUPTA I AND SAMUDRAGUPTA 249

as the junction of the Ganges and the Jumna,where

Allahabad now stands,and

.

ruled durin g hi s brief tenure

of the throne a popul ous and fertile terri tory,whi ch

included Tirhut, Bih ar, Oudh, and certain adjoining

di stri cts . Hi s poli tical importance was sufficient to

warrant him in establi shin g,after the Ori ental manner

,

a new era dating from hi s formal consecration,or coro

nation, when he was proclaimed as heir to the imperial

power associated by venerable tradi tion with the pos

session of Pataliputra. The first year of the Gupta era,

whi ch continued in use for several centur i es, ran from

February 26,320 A. D . to March 13, 321 , of whi ch dates

the former may be taken as that of the coronation of

Chandr agupta I.

Before hi s death,whi ch occurred five or six year s

later,Chandr agupta selected as hi s successor the crown

prince, Samudr agup ta, hi s son by the Lich chh avi prin

cess . The paternal preference was abundantly justified

by the youn g king, who di splayed a degree of ski ll in

the arts of both peace and war whi ch entitles h im to

hi gh rank among the most illustri ous sovereigns of

Indi a .

From the moment of his accession , Samudragup ta

assumed the part of an aggressively ambitious monarch

and resolved to increase hi s domini ons at the expense

of hi s neighbours . Wars of aggression have never been

condemned by such public opinion as exi sts in the East ,and no king who cared for h is reputation could venture

to rest contented within hi s own borders . Samudra

gupta had no hesitation in acting on the principle that


kingdom-taking is the business of kings , and imme

d iately after h is succession to the throne plunged into

war,whi ch occupied many years of hi s unusually pro

tracted reign.

When h is fighting days were over,he employed a

learned poet, skilled in the techni cali ties of Sanskrit

verse,to compose a panegyri c of hi s achi evements ,

whi ch he caused to be engraved on one of the stone

pi llars set up six centuri es before by Asoka and inci sed

with hi s edi cts . Samudragup ta, an orthodox Hin du,learned in all the wi sdom of the Brahm ans , and an

ambitious soldi er full of the joy of battle , who cared

nothing for preachin gs of the monk Asoka recorded

in an antique script and an unfam ili ar di alect , made no

scruple about setting h is own ruthl ess boasts of san

guinary wars by the side of the qui etest moralizings

of h im who deemed the chiefest conquest to be the

conquest of piety.

Samudragupta’s anxi ety to provide for the remem

brance of,hi s deeds was not in vain . The record com

posed by hi s poet-laureate survives to thi s day prae

tically complete , and furni shes a detai led contemporary

account of the events of the reign,probably superior

to anything else of the kind in the multitude of Indi an

inscri ptions . Unfortunately the document is not dated,but it may be assigned with a very near approach to

accuracy to the year 360 A. D .,or a li ttle earli er or later,

and it is thus , apart from its value as hi story,of great

interest as an important Sanskri t composition,partly in

verse and partly in prose,of ascertained age and origin .


in the remote south . His treatment of the rajas of th e

north was drastic,for we are told that they were

“ forcibly rooted up,” a process whi ch necessarily in

volved the incorporation of their terri tori es in the

domini ons of the vi ctor. Among the nine names men

tioned , only one can be recogni zed wi th certainty, that

of Ganapati Naga, whose capital was at Padm avati,

or Narwar , a famous city, whi ch still ex18ts in the terri

tori es of the Maharaja Sindi a.

The greater part of these northern conquests must

have been completed,and the subjugated terri tori es

absorbed,before Samudragup ta ventured to un dertake

the invasion of the kingdoms of the south — a task whi ch

demanded uncommon boldness in design and masterly

powers of organi zation and execution.

The invader, marchin g due south from the capital,thr ough Chutia Nagpur

,dir ected hi s first attack against

the kin gdom of South Kosala in the valley of the

Mahanadi , and overthr ew its king, Mahendra . Passing

on, he subdued all the chi efs of the forest countri es ,whi ch still retain their ancient wi ldness

,and constitute

the tributary states of Ori ssa and the more backward

parts of the Central Provinces . The principal of those

chi efs, who bore the appropriate name of Vyaghra Raja,or the Ti ger King, is not otherwi se known to hi story.

At thi s stage of the campaign,the main dif ficul ties must

have been those of transport and supply,for the ill

armed forest tribes could not have offered seri ous mili

tary resistance to a well equipped army .

Still advancing southwards,by the east coast road

,

INVASION OF THE SOUTH 253

Sam udragup ta vanqui shed the chi eftain who held Pi shtapura, now Pi thapuram in the Godavari Di stri ct , as

well as the hi ll-forts of Mahendragi ri and Kottura in

Ganjam ; King Man taraj a, whose territory lay on the

banks of the Kolleru (Colair ) Lake ; the neighbouring

Pallava Kin g of Vengi between the Kri shna and Goda

vari Rivers ; and V i shnugop a, the Pallava King of

Kanchi , or Conj evaram,to the southwest of Madras .

Then turning westwards , he subjugated a thi rd Fallava

chi eftain, named Ugrasena, King of Palakka , the mod

ern Palghatcherry, situated in Malabar at the great gap

in the Western Ghats .

Thi s place , di stant some twelve hun dred mi les in

a di rect line from Pataliputra, seems to have marked

the southern limit of Samudragup ta’s audacious raid .

He returned homewards through the western parts of

the Deccan,subduing on h is way the kingdom of Deva

rash tra, or the modern Mahratta country , and Eranda

palla,or Khandesh.

Thi s wonderful campaign , whi ch involved more than

three thousand mi les of marching thr ough di fficult coun

try, must have occupied about three years at least, and

its conclusion may be dated approximately in 340 A. D .

No attempt was made to efiect the permanent annex

ation of.

these southern states,and the triumphant victor

admi tted that he exacted only temporary submi ssion

and then withdrew . But beyond doubt he despoiled the

rich treasuries of the south , and came back laden wi th

golden booty,like the Mohammedan adventurer who

performed the same mili tary exploit nearly a thousand


years later. Malik Kaf ur, the general of Ala-ud-din ,

Sultan of Delh i,in the years 1309 and 1310 repeated

the performance of Samudragupta, operating, however,chi efly on the eastern side of the peninsula, and

penetrating even farther south than hi s Hin du prede

cessor. He forced hi s way to Ramesvara,or Adam ’s

Bridge, opposi te Ceylon, where he bui lt a mosque, whi ch

was still standing when Firish ta wrote hi s hi story in

the sixteenth century.

The enumeration by the courtly panegyri st of the

fronti er kingdoms and republi cs whose rulers di d hom

age and pai d tribute to the emperor, a ti tle fairly earned

by Samudragup ta, enables the hi stori ans to define the

boundari es of hi s domi nions wi th suffici ent accuracy,and to realize the nature of the poli ti cal divi sions of

Indi a in the fourth century.

On the eastern side of the continent the tributary

kingdoms were Samatata, or the delta of the Ganges

and Brahmaputra,in cluding the site on whi ch Calcutta

now stands ; Kamarupa, or Assam ; and Davaka, whi ch

seems to have corresponded with the Bogra (B agraha) ,Dinajpur, and Rajshahi Di stri cts to the north of the

Ganges, lying between Samatata and Kamarupa . Far

ther west, the mountain kingdom of Nepal, then, as

now, retained its autonomy under the suzerainty of the

paramount power,and the direct juri sdi ction of the

imperial government extended only to the foot of

the mountain s . The kin gdom of Kartri pura occupi ed

the lower ranges of the Western Himalayas , including

probably Kumaon, Almora, Garhwal, and Kangra .


east to the Jumna and Chambal On the west, and from

the foot of the Himalayas on the north to the Narmada

on the south.

Beyond these wide limi ts,the frontier kingdoms of

Assam and the Ganges delta, as well as those on the

southern slopes of the Him alayas , and the free tribes

of Rajputana and Malwa , were attached to the empire

by bonds of subordinate alli ance , wh ile alm ost all the

kingdoms of the south had been overrun by the em

p eror’

s armi es and compelled to ackn owledge hi s ir re

sistible mi ght .

The empire thus defined was by far the greatest

th at had been seen in India since the days of Asoka ,six centuries before , and its possession naturally enti

tled Samudragup ta to the respect of foreign powers .

We are not,therefore

,surpri sed to learn that he main

tained di plomati c relations with the Kushan Kin g of

Gan dh ar and Kabul,and the greater sovereign of the

same race who rul ed on the banks of the Oxus, as well

as wi th Ceylon and other di stant i slands .

Comm uni cation between the King of Ceylon and

Samudragup ta had been established accidentally at a

very early period in the reign of the latter, about

330 A. D . Meghavarna, the Buddhi st King of Ceylon,had sent two monks

,one of whom is said to have been

hi s brother, to do homage to the Diamond Throne and

vi sit the monastery built by Asoka to the east of the

sacred tree at Bodh Gaya . The strangers, perhaps by

reason of sectarian rancour,met with scant hospitality,

and on their return to the i sland complained to the

BUDDHIST ENVOYS FROM CEYLON 257

king that they could not fin d any place in Indi a where

they could stay in comfort . King Meghavarna recog

n ized the justi ce of the complaint , and resolved to

remedy the gri evance by foun di ng a monastery at whi ch

TEMPLE AT BODH GAYA WITH B O - TREE .

hi s subjects, when on pilgrimage to the holy places ,

should fin d adequate and suitable accommodation . He

accordi ngly despatched a mi ssion to Samudragup ta

laden wi th the gems f ol whi ch Ceylon has always been

renowned,and other valuable gifts , and requested per


mi ssion to found a monastery on Indi an soil . Samu

dragup ta, flattered at receiving such attentions fr om a

di stant power, was pleased to consider the gifts as

tribute, and gave the requir ed permi ssion .

The envoy returned home, and, after due deli bera

tion, King Meghavarna decided to bui ld h is monastery

near the holy tree . Hi s purpose was solemnly recorded

on a copper plate and carri ed out by the erection of

a splendi d convent to the north of the tree . Thi s build

ing, whi ch was three stori es in height, included six halls ,was adorned with three towers

,and sur roun ded by a

strong wall thirty or forty feet hi gh . The decorations

were executed in the ri chest colours wi th the hi ghest

arti sti c ski ll,and the statue of Buddha

,cast in gold

and silver, was studded with gems . The subsidi ary

stup as, enshri ni ng relics of Buddha himself, were

worthy of the principal edifice . In the seventh century,when Hiuen Tsang vi sited it , thi s magnificent estab

li shmen t was occupi ed by a thousand monks of the

Sthavir a school of the Mahayana , and afiorded ample

hospitality to pi lgrims from Ceylon . The si te is now

marked by an extensive moun d.

It was presumably after hi s return from the south

that Samudragup ta determined to celebrate hi s mani

fold vi ctori es and proclaim the universality of hi s

domini on by reviving the ancient ri te of the horse

sacrifice (asvamedha) , which had remained long in

abeyance and probably had not been performed in

Northern India since the days of Pushyami tra. The

ceremony was duly carri ed out wi th appropri ate Splen


reader of that of Akbar as depicted by hi s no less par

tial biographer, Abul Fazl.

By a strange ir ony of fate thi s great kin g — warri or,

poet,and musician — who conquered all Indi a, and

whose alli ance extended from the Oxus to Ceylon, i s

unknown even by name to the earli er hi stori an s of

In dia. His lost fame has been slowly recovered by the

minute and laborious study of inscriptions and coins

during the last seventy years, and the fact that it i s

now possible to wri te a long narrative of the events of

hi s memorable reign is perhaps the most conspi cuous

i llustration of the success gained by patient archaeo

logi cal research in piecing together the fragments , from

whi ch al one the chart of the authenti c early hi story of

Indi a can be constructed.

The exact year of Samudragupta’s death is not

known,but he certainly li ved to an advanced age , and

enjoyed a reign of uni nterrupted prosperi ty for about

half a century . Before he passed away, he secur ed the

peaceful transmi ssion of the crown by nominating as

hi s successor,from among many sons

,the off spring of

hi s queen , Datta Devi , whom he rightly deemed worthy

to inheri t a magnificent empire .

The son thus selected,who had probably been asso

ciated as crown prince (yuvaraj a) wi th hi s father in the

cares of governm ent,assumed the name of hi s grand

father, in accordance wi th Hi ndu custom,and i s there

fore di stingui shed in the dynasti c li st as Chandra

gupta H . He also took the title of V ikram adi tya sun

of and has a better claim than any other

The Iron Pillar of Delhi

The Iron Pillar is a solid mass of ma lleable i ron weighing over six tons .

It was not cast, but was cons tructed by a weld ing process and was origi na lly surm oun ted by a statue, which was probably rem oved by the

Mohamm edans . The p illar was set up by Chand ragup ta 11, at the closeof h is reign ,

and was d ed icated in h onour of Vishnu,h is favouri te d ivin

i ty, bu t was not inscribed by the king. An inscrip tion was ad d ed by

Kumaragup ta 1, h is son and successor, about 415 A. O. The column

appears to have stood originally on a m ound known as Vishnupada in

the town of Mathura, but was rem oved to D elh i about 1 050 A . D. by a

prm ce nam ed Anongo Pala ,who founded or refounded the city where

t l now stands .

CHANDRAGUPTA II, OR VIKRAMAD ITYA 261

sovereign to be regarded as the original of the mythi cal

king of that name who figures so largely in Indi an

legends . The preci se date of hi s accession is not re

corded,but i t cannot be far removed from 375 A. D . ,

and,pending the di scovery of some coin or inscription

to settle the matter, that date may be assumed as

approximately correct .

So far as appears, the succession to the throne was

accompli shed peaceful ly wi thout contest,and the new

emperor, who must have been a man of mature age

at the time of hi s accession, found himself in a position

to un dertake the extension of the wide domi ni on b e

queathed to him by hi s ever vi ctorious father. He di d

not renew Sam udragup ta’s southern adventur es

,but

preferred to seek room for expansion toward the east,

northwest,and southwest . Our knowledge of hi s cam

p aign in Bengal i s confin ed to the assertion made in

the elegant poetical inscription on the celebrated Iron

Pillar of Delhi that,when warrin g in the Vanga coun

tries,he breasted and destroyed the enemi es conf ederate

against him ; and the language of the poet may refer

to the suppression of a rebelli on rather than to a war

of aggression . The same document is the only authori ty

for the fact that he crossed the seven mouths of the

Indus and vanqui shed in battle a nation call ed Vah

lika,whi ch has not been identified.

But the great mi l itary achi evement of Chandra

gupta V ikram adi tya was hi s advance to the Arabian

Sea through Malwa and Gujarat, and hi s subjugation

of the peninsula of Surash tra, or Kathi awar, which had


been ruled for centuri es by the Saka dynasty, known

to European scholars as the western satraps . The

campaigns wh ich added these remote provinces to the

empire must have occupi ed several years , and are

known to have taken place between 388 and 401

A B ILL - TOP PAGODA.

The year 395 may be assumed as a mean date for the

completion of the conquest,whi ch involved the incor

p oration in the empire of the terri tory held by the

Malavas and other tribes who had remained outside the

limi ts of Samudragup ta s domini on . The annexation

of Surashtra and Malwa not only added to the empire

provinces of exceptional wealth and ferti lity,but

2 64 THE GUPTA EMPIRE

conquest of the west, had received an embassy from

th e satrap Rudr asena , son of Rudradam an, who was

doubtless deeply iinp ressed by the emperor’s trium

phant march through India . Chandragupta H , strong

in the possession of the territory and treasure acquir ed

by hi s father, resolved to crush h is western rival and

to annex the valuable provinces wh ich owned the

satrap ’s sway. The motives of an ambitious king in

undertaking an aggressive war against a ri ch neigh

bour are not far to seek, but we may feel assur ed that

di fferences of race , creed, and manners suppli ed the

Gupta monarch wi th special reasons for desir ing to

suppress the impure foreign rul ers of the west .

Chandragupta V ik ram adi tya , although tolerant of

Buddhi sm and Jaini sm,was himself an orthodox Hi ndu

,

Specially devoted to the cul t of Vi shnu, and as such

cannot but have experi enced peculi ar sati sfaction in

vi olently uprooting foreign chi eftains who cared

little for caste rules . Whatever hi s motives may have

been, he attacked, dethr oned, and slew the satrap Ru

drasin h a , son of Satyasinh a , and ann exed hi s domini ons .

Scandalous tradi tion affirmed that “ in hi s enemy ’s

city the king of the Sakas,whil e courtin g another man ’s

wife,was butchered by Chandragupta

,concealed in hi s

mi stress ’s dress,

” but the tale does not sound like

genuine hi story . The last notice of the satraps refers

to the year 388 A. D . ,and the incorporation of their

domini ons in the Gupta empire must have been efi ected

soon after that date .

The Gupta kings,excepting the foun der of the

THE GUPTA CAPITAL 265

dynasty, all enjoyed long reigns , like the Moguls in

later times . Chandr agupta V ikramadi tya occupied the

throne for nearly forty years,and sur vived until

413 A. D. Li ttle i s known concerning hi s personal char

acter, but the ascertained facts of hi s career suff ice

to prove that he was a strong and vi gorous rul er, well

qualified to govern and augment an extensive empire .

He loved soundi ng titles whi ch proclaimed hi s martial

prowess, and was fond of depicting himself, after the

Old Persian fashi on, as engaged in successful personal

combat wi th a lion, and he had literary and artisti c

talents lik e hi s father .

There are indi cations that Pataliputra, although it

may have been stil l regarded as the official capital,

ceased to be the ordinary residence of the Gupta sov

ereign s after the completion of the extensive conquests

efiected‘

by Samudragup ta . The Maurya emperors , it

is true,had managed to control a dominion considerably

larger than that of the Guptas from the ancient impe

rial city,but

,even in their time, its remoteness in the

extreme east must have caused inconveni ence , and a

more central position for the court had obvi ous advan

tages . Ajodh ya, the legendary abode of the hero Rama,the ruin s of whi ch have suppli ed materi als for the

building of the modern city of Fyzabad in Southern

Oudh,enjoyed a more favourable situation, and appears

to have been at times the headquarters of the govern

ment of both Samudr agup ta and h is son , the latter of

whom probably had a mint for copper coins there .

The Asoka pillar on whi ch Samudr agup ta recorded

266 THE GUPTA EMP IRE

the history of hi s reign is supposed to have been

erected originally at the celebrated city of Kausamb i ,

whi ch stood on the hi ghr oad between Ujjain and North

ern Indi a and was no doubt at times honour ed by the

residence of the monarch. The real capital of an Ori

ental despoti sm i s the seat of the despot ’s court for the

time bein g.

Pataliputra, however, although necessari ly con sid

erably neglected by warrior kings like Sam udragup ta

and V ikram adi tya, continued to be a magnificent and

populous ci ty thr oughout the reign of the latter, and

was not finally ruin ed until the time of the Hun inva

sion in the sixth century, from whi ch date it practically

di sappeared until i t was rebuilt a thousand years later

by Sher Shah . Since his time the venerable city,under

the names of Patna and Bankipur,has regained much

of i ts ancient importance and has played a part in

many notable events .

We are fortun ate enough to possess in the work

of Fa-hi en, the earliest Chin ese pilgrim ,a contemporary

account of the admini stration of Chandragupta V ikra

m adi tya, as i t appeared to an intelli gent foreigner at

the beginn ing of the fifth century . The worthy pilgrim,

it is true,was so absorbed in hi s search for Buddhi st

books , legends, and mir acles that he had little care for

the thi ngs of thi s world, and did not trouble even to

mention the name of the mi ghty monarch in whose

territori es he spent Six studi ous years . But now and

then he allowed hi s pen to note some of the facts of

ordin ary lif e, and in more than one passage he has


musicians,and notes that similar processions were

common in other parts of the country .

The towns of Magadh a were the largest in the Gan

ges plain,which Fa-hi en calls by the name of Central

India or the Middl e Kingdom ; the people were ri ch

and prosperous,and seemed to h im to emulate each

other in the practi ce of vi rtue . Charitable insti tutions

were numerous,rest-houses for travellers were pro

vi ded on the highways , and the capital possessed an

excellent free hospital endowed by benevolent and edu

cated citi zens .“ Hither come , we are told, all poor or helpless

patients suffering from all kinds of infirmi ties. They

are well taken care of, and a doctor attends them,food

and medi cine being suppli ed accordi ng to their wants .

Thus they are made quite comfortable,and, when they

are well,they may go away.

”

N0 such foundation was to be seen elsewhere in the

world at that date,and its exi stence , anti cipating the

deeds of modern Chri stian chari ty,speaks well both for

the character of the citizens who endowed it,and for

the genius of the great Asoka,whose teaching still

bore such wholesome frui t many centuri es after h is

decease . The earliest hospital in Europe i s said to have

been opened in the tenth century.

In the course of a j ourney of some five hundr ed mi les

from the Indus to Mathur a on the Jumna,Fa-hi en

passed a succession of Buddh i st monasteri es tenanted

by thousands of monk s,and in the neighbourhood of

Mathura found twenty of these bui ldi ngs occupi ed by

CHANDRAGUPTA VIKRAMADITYA’S GOVERNMENT 269

three thousand residents . Buddhi sm was growing in

favour in thi s.part of the country.

The region to the south of Mathura,that is to say

,

Malwa,specially excited the adm iration of the trav

eller,who was delighted alike wi th the natural advan

tages of the country, the di sposition of the people , and

the moderation of the govern

ment . The clim ate seemed to

him very agreeable , being

temperate and free from the

di scomf orts of frost a n d

snow with which he was f a

mil iar at home and in the

course of hi s j ourney. The

large population lived hap

pily under a sensible govern

ment whi ch di d not worry.

With a glance at Chin ese in

stitution s,Fa-hi en congratu

lates the Indi ans that they

have not to regi ster their B um m sr sc um m ox m gm ..

IIAT STUPA , St V lNG THE ERECTIONhouseholds, or attend to any

magi strates and r u l e s (“tef cunnmgb am t

They were not troubled wi th passport regulations , or,as the pi lgrim bluntly puts it : Those who want to go

away, may go ; those who want to stop, may stop .

The admini stration of the criminal law seemed to

him mild in comparison with the Chinese system . Most

crimes were puni shed only by fin es,varying in amount

according to the gravity of the offence , and capital


puni shment would seem to have been unknown . Per

sons guilty of repeated rebelli on, an expression whi ch

probably includes brigandage, suff ered amputation of

the right hand ; but such a penalty was exceptional,and judi cial torture was not practised. The revenue was

mainly derived from the rents of the Crown lands,and

the royal officers, being provided wi th fixed salari es,had no occasion to live on the people.

The Buddhi st rule of life was generally observed .

Throughout the country, we are told, no one kill s

any living thing, or drinks wine, or eats oni ons or

garli c They do not keep pigs or fowls,there are

no dealings in cattle,no butchers ’ shops or di still eri es

in their market-places . ” The Chandala, or outcast

tri bes, who dwelt apart like lepers, and were requi red

when entering a city or bazaar to strike a pi ece of wood

as a warning of their approach,in order that other

folk mi ght not be polluted by contact with them,were

th e only ofienders against the laws of piety (dharma) ,and the only hunters

,fishermen

,and butchers . Cowri e

shells formed the ordinary currency . The Buddhi st

monasteri es were liberally endowed by royal grants ,and the monks received alms wi thout stint, — houses ,beds

,mattresses

,food

,and clothes were never lacking

to them wherever they mi ght go .

These parti culars , as collected and narrated by the

earli est Chinese travell er in Indi a , permi t of no doubt

that the dominions of Chandr agupta V ikram ad itya were

well governed. The authori ties interfered as little as

possible wi th the subj ect , and left h im free to prosper

272 THE GUPTA EMP IRE

government,Hindui sm of the orthodox kind must have

been far more promin ent than hi s account would lead

the reader to suppose, and sacrifices must have been

permi tted. In fact, the Brahmani cal reaction against

Buddhi sm had begun at a time considerably earli er than

that of Fa-hi en ’s travels , and Indian Buddhi sm was

already upon the downward path,although the pilgrim

could not di scern the signs of decadence .

Whi le the general prosperi ty and tranquilli ty of the

empire under the rul e of Ch andragupta V ikram adi tya

are abundantly proved by the express testimony of

Fa-hi en and by hi s unobstructed movements in all

di rections during many years,certain di stri cts di d not

share in the general well-being,and had retrograded

in population and wealth . The ci ty of Gaya,we are

inf ormed,was empty and desolate ; the holy places of

Bodh Gaya,six mi les to the south

,were surrounded by

jungle ; and an extensive tract of coun try near the foot

of the mountains , whi ch had been the seat of a large

population in the fifth century B . C.,was now sparsely

inh abited. The great ci ty of Sravasti , on the upper

cour se of the Rapti,was occupi ed by on ly two hundred

fami lies , and the holy towns of Kap ilavastu and Kusina

gara were waste and deserted,save for a scanty rem

nant of monk s and their lay attendants .

The son of V ik ramadi tya , who ascended the throne

in 413 A. D . , i s kn own to hi story as Kum aragup ta I, in

order to di stingui sh him from hi s great-grandson of the

same name . The events of thi s king ’s reign, whi ch

exceeded forty years, are not known in detail, but the

KUMARAGUPTA I 273

di stribution of the numerous contemporary inscriptions

and coins permits of no doubt that,during the greater

part of hi s unusually prolonged rule,the empir e suf fered

no dimi nution . On the contrary, i t probably gained

certain addi tions, for Kum ara , like hi s grandfather,celebrated the horse- sacr ifice as an assertion of hi s

paramount sovereignty, and it is not likely that he

SCENE NEAR BODB GAYA.

From a photograp h .

would have in dulged in thi s vaunt,unless to some ex

tent justified by successful warfare .

Th e extant records furni sh the information that

at the close of hi s reign, in the mi ddl e of the fif th cen

tury,Kumara ’s dominions suffered severely from the

irruption of the Hun hordes,who had burst through

the northwestern passes,and Spread in a destructive

flood all over Northern Indi a . Before entering upon


the di scussion of the Hun invasion and the consequent

break-up of the Gupta empire , it is desirable to pause,in order to record a few bri ef observations on the sig

nifican ce of the rul e of the great Gupta sovereigns in

the evolution of language, literature, art, and

religi on.

276 THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WHITE HUNS

ship of Siva as practi sed by hi s new subjects,that he

constantly placed the image of that Indian god upon

h is coins and described him self as h is devotee . Many

other facts concur to prove the continued worship of

the old Hindu gods during the period in whi ch Bud

dh i sm was un questionably the most popular and gen

erally received creed.

In some respects , Buddh i sm in i ts Mahayana form

was better fitted than the Brahmani cal system to attract

the reverence of casteless foreign chi eftains,and it

would not be unreasonable to expect that they should

have shown a decided tendency to favour Buddhi sm

rather than Brahmani sm ; but the facts do not indi cate

any clearly marked general preference for the Buddhi st

creed on the part of the foreigners . The only di stinct

ively Buddhi st coins are the few rare pieces of that

kind struck by Kan ishka,who un doubtedly, in hi s later

years,liberally patroni zed the ecclesiasti cs of the Bud

dhi st Church, as di d hi s successor, Huvi shk a ; but the

next king, Vasudeva, reverted to the devotion for Siva ,as di splayed by Kadphi ses I I. So the later Saka

satraps of Surashtra seem to have inclin ed personally

much more to the Brahman i cal than to the Buddhi st

cult,and they certainly bestowed their patronage upon

the Sanskri t of the Brahmans rather than upon the

vernacular li terature .

The development of the Mahayana school of Bud

dh i sm ,whi ch became prominent and fashi onable from the

time of Kani shk a in the second century, was in i tself a

testimony to the rev1vm g power of Brahmani cal Hin du

BUDDHISM AND BRAHMANISM 277

ism . The newer form of Buddh i sm had much in common

wi th the older Hi ndui sm, and the relation i s so close that

even an expert often feels a difficulty in deciding to

whi ch system a particul ar image should be assigned.

Brahmani cal Hi ndui sm was the religion of the pan

di ts, whose sacred language was Sanskri t, a hi ghly

artificial li terary modification of the vernacular speech

of the Panjab . As the influence of the pandi ts upon

prince and peasant waxed greater in matters of religion

and social observance , the use of their special vehi cle

of expression became more widely diflused , and gradu

ally superseded the vernacular in all documents of a

formal or official character. In the thi rd century B . c .

Asoka had been content to address hi s commands to

hi s people in language easy to be understood by the

vulgar,but in the mi ddle of the second century A. D .

the western satrap Rudradaman felt that hi s achi eve

ments could be adequately commemorated only in elab

orate Sanskrit . It is impossible to go more deeply

into the subject in these pages,but it is certain that

the revival of the Brahm ani cal religion was aecom

pan ied by the diflusion and extension of Sanskri t, the

sacred language of the Brahmans .

Whatever may have been the causes, the fact is

abundantly establi shed that the restorati on of the Brah

mani cal religi on to popular favour , and the associated

revival of the Sanskri t language , first became noti ce

able in the second century , were fostered by the western

satraps during the third, and made a success by the

Gupta emperors in the fourth century. These princes ,


although apparently perfectly tolerant both of Bud

dhi sm and Jaini sm, were themselves beyond question

zealous Hi ndus, guided by Brahman advi sers, and

skill ed in Sanskri t, the language of the pandi ts .

An early stage in the reaction against Buddhi st con

demnation of sacrifice had been marked by Pushya

mi tra ’s celebration of the horse-sacrifice toward the

close of the second century. In the fourth,Samudra

gupta revived the same ancient ri te with added splen

dour,and in the fifth

,his grandson repeated the

solemn i ty. Without going further into detail,the mat

ter may be summed up in the remark that coins,in

scr ip tions, and monuments agree in furni shing abundant

evidence of the recrudescence dur ing the Gupta period

of Brahm anical Hindui sm at the expense of Buddhi sm,

and of the favour shown by the ruling powers to

classical Sanskri t at the expense of the more p opu

lar literary dialects,whi ch had enjoyed the patronage

of the An dhra kings .

Good reasons can be adduced for the belief that

Chandragupta II V ikramadi tya, who reigned at the

close of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth cen

tury and conquered Ujjain,should be regarded as the

origin al of the Raja Bikram of Uj jain , famed in p opu

lar legend,at whose court the Nine Gems of Sanskrit

literature are supposed to have flouri shed. Whether

Kalidasa,poet and dramati st

,the most celebrated of

these authors,actually graced the durbar of Chandra

gupta V ikram ad itya at Uj jain, or li ved under the pro

tection of hi s son or grandson, is a question still Open,


poses of Buddhi st ritual dropped out of use,and re

markable developments in the design of the Hindu

temple were elaborated, whi ch ul timately culminated

in the marvellously ornate styles of the mediaeval period,extending from the ninth

to the end of the twelfth

century .

The golden age of the

Guptas,glorious in li ter

ary,as in poli ti cal

,hi s

tory, compri sed a peri od

of a century and a quar

ter (330 - 455 A. and

was covered by three

r e i g n s of exceptional

length. The death of

Kumara,early in 455,

marks the beginning of

the decline and fall of

BRAHMAN PB IES‘

I‘

S AT SECUND B A — INDIA . the empire . EVCII DQIOI'Q

hi s death, he had become

involved,about the year 450 , in seri ous di stress by

a war wi th a ri ch and powerful nation named Push

yami tra, otherwi se unkn own to hi story . The imperial

armi es were defeated,and the shock of mi litary di s

aster had endangered the stabil ity of the dynasty, whi ch

was tottering to i ts fall , when the energy and abil

i ty of Skan dagup ta , the crown prin ce, restored the

fortunes of hi s fami ly by efiecting the overthr ow of

the enemy.

SKANDAGUPTA AND THE HUNS 281

When Skandagup ta came to the throne in the spring

of 455,he encountered a sea of troubles . The Pushya

mi tra danger had been averted,but one more f orm i d

able closely followed it , an irruption of the savage Huns ,who had poured down from the steppes of Central Asia

through the northwestern passes , and carri ed devasta

tion over the smi lin g plains and crowded cities of India .

Skandagup ta, who was probably a man of matur e years

and ripe experi ence , proved equal to the need, and

infli cted upon the barbarians a defeat so deci sive that

Indi a was saved for a time .

It i s evident that thi s great vi ctory over the Huns

must have been gained at the very beginn ing of the

new reign, because another inscription, executed in

the year 457,recites Skandagup ta

’s defeat of the bar

barian s, and recogni zes hi s undi sputed possession of

the peninsula of Surashtra (Kathiawar) , at the extreme

western extremi ty of the empire . The dedi cation,three

years afterward, by a private Jain donor of a sculptured

column at a vi llage in the east of the Gorakhpur D is

tri ct, di stant about ninety miles from Patna , testifies

to the fact that Skandagup ta’s rule at thi s early period

of hi s reign included the eastern as well as the western

provinces,and the record expressly characterizes the

rul e of the reigning sovereign as being tranqui l .

Five years later, in the year 465, a pious Brahman

in the country between the Ganges and Jumn a , whi ch

is now known as the Bulandshahr Distri ct , when endow

ing a temple to the Sun , felt justified in describing the

r ule of hi s kin g in the central parts of the empire as


augmenting and vi ctorious . The conclusion is,there

fore,legitimate that the vi ctory over the barbarian in

vaders was gai ned at the beginn ing of the reign , and

was sufficiently deci sive to secur e the tranqui lli ty of

all parts of the empire for a considerable number of

years .

But, about 465 A. D.,a fr esh swarm of nomads poured

across the frontier, and occupi ed Gandhara , or the

Northwestern Panjab , where a cruel and vindictive

chi eftain usurped the thr one of the Kushan s and“ practi sed the most barbarous atrociti es . ” A li ttle

later, about 470 , the Hun s advanced into the interior

and again attacked Skandagup ta in the heart of hi s

dominions . He was unable to continue the successful

resistance whi ch he had oflered in the earlier days of

hi s rule , and was forced at last to succumb to the re

p eated attacks of the foreigners . The fin ancial di stress

of hi s admi ni stration is very plainly indi cated by the

abrupt debasement of the coinage in hi s later years .

The death of Skandagup ta may be assumed to have

occurr ed in or about the year 480 . When he passed

away, the empire peri shed, but the dynasty remained,and was continued in the eastern provin ces for many

generations . Skanda left no heir male capable of under

taking the cares of government in a tim e of such stress ,and was accordingly succeeded on the throne of Ma

gadha and the adjacent di stri cts by hi s half-brother,Puragup ta, the son of Kum aragup ta I by Queen

Ananda .

The reign of thi s prince was apparently very bri ef,


tion,and was presum ably subordinate to the Hun

chi eftains .

Toward the close of the fifth century, a chi ef named

B hatarka, who belonged to a clan called Maitraka,

probably of foreign origin, establi shed him self at V a

labhi in the east of the peninsula of Sur ash tra (Kathia

war) , and founded a dynasty whi ch lasted un til about

770 A. D .,when i t was overthrown by Arab invaders

from Sind. The earli er Kings of V alabh i do not appear

to have been independent,and were doubtless obli ged

to pay tribute to the Huns ; but, after the destruction

of the Hun domination, the Kings of V alabhi asserted

their independence, and made themselves a consider

able power in the west of India,both on the mainland

and in the peni nsula of Surash tra .

The city was a place of great wealth when vi sited

by Hiuen Tsang in the seventh century,and was famous

in Buddhi st Church hi story as the residence of two

di stingui shed teachers , Gun am ati and Sth iram ati , in

the sixth century. After the overthrow of V alabh i ,its place as the chi ef city of Western India was taken

by Anh ilwara (Nah rwalah , or Patan) , whi ch retained

that honour un til the fifteenth century,when i t was

superseded by Ahm adabad . The above observations

will,perhaps

,give the reader all the information that he

i s likely to want concerning the principal native dynas

ties whi ch inherited the fragments of the Gupta empire .

But the Huns , the foreign savages who shattered

that empire,merit more expli cit noti ce . The nomad

Mongol tribes known as Huns,when they moved west

INVASION OF THE HUNS 285

wards from the steppes of Asia to seek subsi stence for

their growing mul titudes in other climes,divided into

two main streams, one di rected toward the valley of

the Oxus,and the other to that of the Volga.

The latter poured into Eastern Europe in 375 A. D. ,

forcing the Goths to the south of the Danube,and thus

indirectly causin g the sanguinary Gothi c war,whi ch

cost the Emperor Valens hi s life in 378 A. D. The Huns

qui ckly spread over the lands between the Volga and

the Danube,but

,owing to chroni c di suni on and the

lack of a great leader,failed to make full use of their

advantageous position,until Attila appeared and for

a few years welded the savage mass into an instrument

of such power that he was able to send equal defiance

to the courts of Ravenna and Constantinople .

Hi s death in 453 A. D . severed the only bond whi ch

held together the jealous factions of the horde , and

within a space of twenty years after that event the

Hunni c empire in Europe was extingui shed by a fresh

torrent of barbarians from Northern Asia .

The Asiati c domination of the Huns lasted longer.

The section of the horde which settled in the Oxus

valley became known as the Ephthalites , or White Huns ,and gradually overcame the resistance of Persia, whi ch

ceased when King Firoz was kill ed in 484 A. D. Swarms

of these Whi te Huns also assail ed the Kushan kingdom

of Kabul,and thence poured into Indi a . The attack

repelled by Skan dagup ta in 455 A. D. must have been

delivered by a comparatively weak body, whi ch arrived

early and failed to ef fect a lodgment in the interior.


About ten years later the nomads appeared in

greater force and overwhelmed the kin gdom of Gan

dhara, or Peshawar, and starting from that base, as

alr eady related, penetrated into the heart of the Gan

ges provinces,and overthr ew the Gupta empire . Th e

collapse of Persian opposition in 484 must have greatly

facilitated the eastern movement of the horde , and

allowed immense multitudes to cross the Indian fron

ti er. The leader in thi s invasion of Indi a, whi ch , no

doubt,continued for years , was a chi eftain named Tora

mana, who is known to have been establi shed as r uler

of Malwa in Central Indi a prior to 500 A. D . He as

sumed the style and titles of an Indi an sovereign of

maharaj as,” and B hanugup ta, as well as the Kin g

of V alabhi and many other local princes,must have

been hi s tributari es .

When Toram ana di ed, about 510 A. D .,the Indian

domini on whi ch he had acquired was consolidated suf

ficien tly to pass to hi s son Mih iragula, whose capital

in In di a was Sakala in the Panjab,whi ch should be

identified apparently wi th either Chun i ot or Shahkot

in the Jhang Di stri ct.

But India at thi s time was only one province of

the Hun empire . The headquarters of the horde were

at B amyin in B adh agh is near Herat , and the ancient

city of Balkh served as a secondary capital . The Hun

king, whose cour t , whether at B amyin or Herat cannot

be determined,was vi sited by Song-Yun , the Chinese

pilgrim-envoy in 519 A. D . ,was a powerful monarch

levying tribute f rom forty countri es , extendin g from


black eyes,deeply buried in the head ; and, as they

were almost destitute of beards , they never enj oyed

the manly graces of youth or the venerable aspect of

age .

The Indians , like the Goths, experi enced to the full

the mi seri es of savage warfare , and su ff ered an added

horror by reason of the special di sgust felt by fastidi

GWALIOR,FROM MORAB .

ous caste-boun d Hi ndus at the repulsive habits of bar

barian s to whom nothing was sacred .

The cruelty practi sed by Mi h iragula became so un

bearable that the native princes, un der the leadershi p

of B aladi tya, King of Magadha (probably the same as

Narasimh agup ta) , and Yasodh arman,a raja of Central

India , formed a confederacy against the foreign tyrant .

About the year 528 A. D . ,they accompli shed the delivery

of their country from Oppression by infli cting a deci sive

FALL OF THE HUN EMPIRE 289

defeat on Mih iragula, who was taken pri soner and

would have forfei ted his lif e deservedly but for the

magnanimi ty of B aladi tya, who spared the captive and

sent him to h is home in the north with all honour.

But Mihiragula’s youn ger brother had taken advan

tage of the mi sfortun es of the head of the family to

usurp the throne of Sakala , whi ch he was unwill ing to

surrender. Mihiragula, after spending some time in

concealment, took refuge in Kashm ir , where he was

kindly received by the king,who placed him in charge

of a small terri tory. The exi le submi tted to thi s en

forced retir ement for a few years,and then took an

opportuni ty to rebel and sei ze the th rone of his bene

factor.'

Having succeeded in thi s enterpri se,he at

tacked the neighbouring kingdom of Gandh ara . Th e

king, perhaps himself a Hun, was treacherously sur

pri sed and slain, the royal family was exterminated,and multitudes of people were slaughtered on the banks

of the Indus . The savage invader, who worshipped as

hi s patron dei ty Siva , the god of destruction, exhibited

ferocious hostili ty against the peaceful Buddhi st cul t,and remorselessly overthr ew the stupas and monas

teri es, which he plundered of their treasures .

But he di d not long enjoy hi s i ll-gotten gain s . B e

fore the year was out he di ed, and at the tim e of

hi s death there were thunder and hail and a thi ck dark

ness,and the earth shook , and a mighty tempest raged .

An d the holy saints said in pity :‘ For having killed

countless vi ctims and overthrown the law of Buddha ,he has now fallen into the lowest hell , where he shall


pass endless ages of revolution . Thus the tyrant

met the just reward of hi s evi l deeds in another world,

if not in thi s . The date of hi s death is not known

exactly,but the event must have occurred in or about

the year 540 , just a century before Hiuen Tsang was

on hi s travels . The rapidi ty of the growth of the legend

concerning the portents attendi ng the tyrant ’s death

i s good evidence of the depth of the impression made

by h is outlandi sh cruelty,whi ch i s further attested

by the Kashm ir tale of the fiendi sh pleasur e whi ch he

is beli eved to have taken in rolling elephants down a

precipi ce .

Yasodh arm an , the Central Indi an raja, who has been

mentioned as having taken an active part in the con

federacy formed to obtain deliverance from the tyr anny

of Mihiragula, is known from three inscriptions only,and is not mentioned by Hiuen Tsang, who gives the

credi t for the vi ctory over the Huns to B aladi tya, Kin g

of Magadha. Yasodharman took the honour to him

self,and erected two column s of vi ctory inscribed wi th

boasting words to commemorate the defeat of the for

eign invaders . Nothing whatever is known about either

his ancestry or hi s successors ; hi s name stands ab so

lutely alone and unrelated. Th e beli ef i s therefore

warranted that hi s reign was short and of much less

importance than that claimed for i t by his magniloquent

inscriptions .

The domini on of the Whi te Huns in the Oxus valley

di d not long survive the defeat and death of Mihi ragula

in India. The arri val of the Turks in the middl e of


destroyed or absorbed into the surroun di ng p opula

tion .

Th e extinction of the Ephthalite power on the Oxus

necessarily dri ed up the stream of Hun immi gration

into Indi a, whi ch enjoyed immuni ty from foreign attack

for nearly five centuri es after the defeat of Mih iragula.

The following chapters will tell how Indi a made use ,or fai led to make use

,of the Opportuni ty thus aff orded

for internal development unchecked by foreign aggres

sion .

Very li ttle is known about the hi story of India

durin g the second half of the sixth century . It i s cer

tain that no paramount power exi sted, and that all the

states Of the Ganges plain had suf f ered severely from

the ravages of the Huns , but, excepting bare catalogues

of names in certain local dynasti c li sts, no facts of

general interest have been recorded. The king called

Siladi tya of Mo-la-p o by the Chinese traveller, Hiuen

Tsang,has no politi cal conn ection with Harsha-Sila

ditya of Kanauj and Thanesar, as has been commonly

supposed,or with the hi story of Northern India .

CHAPTER XIII

THE REIGN OF HARSHA

FROM 606 TO 648 A. D .

HE deficiency of materi al whi ch embarrasses the

hi storian when dealing wi th the latter half of the

sixth century i s no longer experi enced when he enters

upon the seventh. For thi s peri od he i s fortunate

enough to possess,in addi tion to the ordinary ep i

graphi c and numi smati c sour ces, two contemporary

literary works, whi ch shed much li ght upon the poli tical

condi tion Of Indi a generally,and supply

,in particular,

abundant and trustworthy information concerning the

reign of Harsha,who rul ed the North as paramount

sovereign for more than forty years .

The first of these works i s the invaluable book of

travels compiled by the Chinese pilgrim Hinen Tsang,who vi sited almost every part of Indi a between 630

and 645 A. D . and recorded observati ons more or less

minute about each state and province . The narrative

in the Travels i s supplemented by the pilgrim ’s biog

raphy, wri tten by h is friend, k i -li , whi ch suppli es

many addi tional detai ls . The second work alluded to293

294 THE REIGN OF HARSHA

is the hi stori cal romance entitled the Deeds of

Harsha (Harsha-char i ta) , composed by Bana , a Brah

man author who lived at the court and enj oyed the

patronage of the hero of hi s tale . Fur ther information

of much interest and importance i s given by the official

Chin ese hi stori es, and when all sources are utili zed,our knowledge of the events of the reign of Harsha far

surpasses in preci sion that whi ch we possess respecting

any other early Indi an king,except Chandr agupta

Maurya and Asoka .

From remote ages the coun try surroundin g the city

of Thanesar (Sthanvisvara) has been holy ground,known as the Land of Kuru

,

” and famous as the

battle-field of legendary heroes . In the latter part of

the sixth century,the Raja of Thanesar, Prabhakara

vardh ana ‘ by name, had rai sed himself to considerable

eminence by successful wars against hi s neighbours ,in cluding the Hun settlements in the Northwestern

Panjab,and the clans of Gur jara, or the country of

Gujarat,between the Chinab and Jihlam Rivers .1 The

fact that hi s mother was a princess of Gupta lin eage

no doubt both stimulated hi s ambition and aided i ts

reali zation .

In the year 604, thi s energeti c raja had despatched

hi s elder son,Rajya-vardh ana, a youth just enterin g

upon manhood,wi th a large army to attack the Hun s

on the northwestern frontier,whi le hi s younger and

favouri te son,Harsha , four years juni or to the crown

prince , followed hi s brother wi th a cavalry force at a1 Not to be confounded with the Weste rn p rovi n ce of Gujarat .

DEATH OF HARSHA’S FATHER 297

considerable interval . The elder prince advanced into

the hill s to seek the enemy,whi le the younger lingered

in the forests at the foot of the mountains to enjoy

the sport of all kinds whi ch they Off ered in abundance .

While thus pleasantly employed,Harsha

,who was

then a lad fifteen years of age,received news that hi s

father lay dangerously ill wi th a vi olent fever. He

returned to the capital with all speed,where he found

the king in a hopeless condi tion . The di sease,

qui ckly

ran i ts cour se, an d all was over long before the elder

son, who had been vi ctorious in hi s campaign, could

return to claim hi s bir thri ght . There are indi cations

that a party at cour t inclined to favour the succession

of the younger prince,but all intri gues were frustrated

by the return of Rajya-vardhan a, who ascended the

throne in due course . He had hardly seated himself

when news arrived whi ch compell ed him again to take

the field.

A couri er brought the di stressing intelligence that

Grahavarman , Ki ng of Kanauj , and husband of Raj

yasri , si ster of the princes , had been slain by the Ki ng

of Malwa,who cruelly mi sused the princess

,confin

ing her like a bri gand’s wife

,wi th a pair Of iron fetters

ki ssing her feet . ” The youn g king, resolute to avenge

his si ster ’s wrongs , started at once with a mobile force

of ten thousand cavalry,leaving the elephants and

heavy troops behin d in hi s brother ’s charge . The King

of Malwa was defeated with little eff ort, but the joy

of vi ctory was turned in to sorrow when the victor was

treacherously slain by an ally of the Malwan king ,


Sasanka, Ki ng of Central Bengal, who had inveigled

Rajya-vardhana to a conference by fair promi ses, and

GREAT TEMPLE,MADURA .

had assassinated him when Ofl hi s guard. Har sha was

fur ther informed that hi s widowed sister had escaped


the cost of permi ttin g the assassin ’s escape . The haste

shown was none too great, for the princess , despairing

of rescue,was on the point of burn ing herself alive wi th

her attendants,when her brother, guided by aboriginal

chi efs,succeeded in tracing her in the depths of the

Vindhya jungles . The details of the campaign against

Sasanka have not been recorded, and it seems clear

that he escaped with little loss . He i s known to have

been still in power as late as the year 619, but h is

kingdom probably became subj ect to Harsha at a later

date .

Harsha, having recovered hi s si ster — a young lady

of exceptional attainments,learned in the doctrines of

the Samm i tiya school of Buddh i sm — devoted hi s signal

abili ty and energy to the prosecution of a methodi cal

scheme of conquest,with the deliberate purpose of

bringin g all Indi a under one umbrella . He pos

sessed at thi s stage of h i s career a force of five thousand

elephants, twenty thousand cavalry , and fif ty thousand

infantry. Apparently he di scarded as useless the chari

ots, whi ch constituted, according to anci ent tradi tion,the fourth arm of a regul arly organi zed Indi an host .

With thi s mobi le and formidable force Harsha over

ran Northern India,and

,in the picturesque language

of hi s contemporary, the Chinese pil grim ,he went

from east to west subduin g all who were not obedient ;the elephants were not unharnessed, nor the soldi ers

unhelmeted .

” By the end of five and a half years the

conquest of the northwestern regi ons,and probably al so

of a large portion of Bengal, was completed, and hi s

HARSHA’S CAMPAIGNS 301

mil itary resources were so increased that he was able

to put in the field sixty thousand war elephants and

one hun dred thousand cavalry. But he continued figh t

ing for thi rty years longer, and, as late as 643 A. D .,

was engaged in hi s last c aign ,an attack upon the

sturdy inhabitants of Ganjam on the coast of the Bay

of Bengal.

Hi s long career of victory was broken by one fail

ure . Pul ikesin II, the greatest of the Chalukya dy

nasty, whose achi evements will be noticed more fully

in a later chapter, vied with Harsha in the extent of

hi s conquests , and had rai sed himself to the rank of lordparamount of the south, as Harsha was of the north.

The northern king could not wi llingly endure the ex

isten ce of so powerful a rival, and essayed to overthrow

him , advancing in person to the attack, wi th“ troops

from the five Indi es and the best generals from all

countri es . ” But the eflort failed. The Kin g of the

Deccan guarded the passes on the Narmada so ef fectu

ally that Harsha was constrained to retire di scomfited ,

and to accept that river as hi s frontier. Thi s campaign

may be dated about the year 620 A. D .

In the latter years Of hi s reign the sway of Harsha

over the whole of the basin of the Ganges (including

Nepal) , from the Himalaya to the Narmada, was undi s

puted . Detailed admi ni stration of course remained in

the hands of the local rajas,but even the king of di stant

Assam (Kamarupa) in the east obeyed the orders of

the suzerain,and the King of V alabhi in the extreme

west attended in hi s train .


For the control of hi s extensive empire,Harsha

relied upon hi s personal supervi sion exerci sed wi th

untiri ng energy rather than upon the servi ces of a

trained bureaucracy. Except during the rainy season ,when travelling wi th a huge camp was im practicable ,he was incessantly on the move , pun i shing evi l-doers

and rewarding the meri tori ous . Luxurious tents, such

as were used by the Mogul emperors,and sti ll form

the movable habitations of hi gh Anglo-Indi an official s ,had not then been invented, and Harsha was obliged

to be content with a “ travelling palace made of

boughs and reeds, whi ch was erected at each halting

place and burned at hi s departur e .

Hiuen Tsang, lik e hi s predecessor, Fa-hi en, more

than two centuri es earli er, was favourably impressed

by the character of the civil admini stration,whi ch he

considered to be founded On beni gn principles . The

principal source of revenue was the rent of the Crown

lands , amounting, in theory at all events, to one- sixth

of the produce. The officials were remunerated by

grants of land ; compul sory labour upon publi c works

was paid f or ; taxes were light ; the personal servi ces

exacted from the subj ect were moderate in amount ;and liberal provi sion was made for chari ty to vari ous

reli gious communi ti es .

Violent crim e was rare,but the roads and ri ver

routes were evidently less safe than in Fa-hi en ’s time ,as Hiuen Tsang was stopped and robbed by brigands

more than once . Impri sonment was now the ordinary

penalty, and it was of the cruel Tibetan type ; the


the other dramas,the Ratnavali , or Necklace , and

the P r iyadarsika, or Gracious Lady,” although lack

ing in originality, are prai sed h ighly for their simpli city

both Of thought and expression .

The greatest ornament of the literary circle at

Harsha’s court was the Brahman Bana, author of the

hi stori cal romance devoted to a panegyri cal account

of the deeds of hi s patron,whi ch is an amazingly clever,

but irri tating,performance

,executed in the worst pos

sible taste,and yet containing passages of admirable

and vivid description . The man who attributes to the

commander- in -chi ef, Skandagup ta, a nose as long as

hi s sovereign ’s pedigree,” may fairly be accused of

having perpetrated the most grotesque sim ile in all

li terature . But the same man could do better, and

shows no lack of power when depi cting the death-agony

Of the king. Helplessness had taken h im in hand ;pain had made him i ts province

,wasting i ts domain ,

lassitude i ts lair . He was on the confines of doom,

on the verge of the last gasp,at the outset of the Great

Undertaking, at the portal of the Long Sleep, on the

tip of death’s tongue ; broken in utterance , unhinged

in min d, tortured in body, wanin g in lif e,babbling in

speech, ceaseless in sighs ; vanqui shed by yawning,swayed by suffering

,in the bondage of racking pains . ’

Such wri ting,although not in perfect good taste

,un

mi'

stakably bears the stamp of power .

One campaign sated Asoka ’s thirst for blood ; thirty

seven years of warfare were needed by Harsha before

he could be content to sheathe the sword. Hi s last


In hi s closing years the latter received the chief

share of the royal favour, and numerous monasteri es

were erected,as well as several thousand stup as, each

about a hundr ed feet hi gh, buil t along the banks of

the sacred Ganges . These latter structur es doubtless

were of a flimsy character, bui lt chiefly of timber and

bamboo,and so have left no trace ; but the mere mul

tip li cation of stup as, however peri shable the materi als

might be,was always a work of meri t . Al though Bud

dhi sm was vi sibly waning in the days of Harsha and

Hiuen Tsang,the monk s of the order were still numer

ous,and the occupants of the monasteri es enumerated

by the pilgrims numbered nearly two hundred thousand.

A monasti c popul ation of such magni tude ofiered abun

dant opportuni ti es for the exerci se of princely liberali ty.

The pi cture of the state of reli gi ous beli ef and

practi ce in Indi a dur ing the seventh century, as drawn

by the contemporary authors,i s fill ed with cur i ous and

interestin g details . The members of the royal family

to whi ch Harsha belonged fr eely acted on their indi

vi dual preferences in the matter of reli gion . Hi s re

mote ancestor,Pushyabhuti , i s recorded to have enter

tained from boyhood an ardent devotion toward Siva ,and to have turned away from all other gods . Harsha

’s

father was equally devoted to the worship of the Sun ,

and daily oflered to that luminary a bun ch of red

lotuses set in a pure vessel of ruby, and tinged, like

hi s own heart,wi th the same hue .

” The elder brother

and si ster of Harsha were faithf ul Buddhi sts, whil e

Harsha himself di stributed hi s devotions among the

ROYAL ECLECTICISM 307

thr ee deities of the family,Siva

,the Sun

,and Buddha

,

and erected costly temples for the servi ce of all three .But , in h i s later years, the Buddhi st doctrines held the

chi ef place in his afiection s, and the eloquence of the

Chinese Master of the Law induced him to prefer the

advanced teachin g of the Mahayana sect to the more

primi tive Hi nayana doctrine of the Samm itiya school

with whi ch he had previ ously been familiar .

The religious eclectici sm of the royal fami ly was

the reflection and resul t of the state Of popular religi on

at the tim " Buddhi sm, although i t had certainly lost

the dominant position in the Ganges plain whi ch i t

had once held,was still a powerful force , and largely

influenced the publi c min d. The Jain system,whi ch

had never been very widely spread or aggressive in the

north,retained its hold on certain locali ties, especially

at V aisali and in Eastern Bengal, but could not pretend

to rival the general populari ty of either Buddhi sm or

Purani c Hindui sm .

The last-named modification of the Hindu system

was now firmly establi shed, and the earli er Puranas

were alr eady revered as ancient and sacred writings .

The bulk of the population in most provinces was then

as now,devoted to the servi ce of the Purani c gods ,

each man and woman being, of course , free to select

a particular deity, Siva, the Sun , Vi shnu, or an other,for special adoration according to personal predilecti on .

As a rule , the followers of the various religions lived

peaceably together,and no doubt many people besides

the king sought to make certain of some divine support


by doing honour to all the principal objects of popular

worshi p in turn.

But, while toleration and concord were the rule ,exceptions occurred. The King of Central Bengal

,

Sasank a, who has been mentioned as the treacherous

T IIE SACRED B O - TREE .

From th e B uddhist Stup a at Sanch i .(Af ter Hardy , Asoka .)

murderer of Harsha’s

brother, and who was

probably a scion of the

Gupta dynasty, was a

worshi pper of Siva,and

hated Buddhi sm,whi ch

he di d hi s best to des

troy. He dug up and

burned the holy Bodhi

tree at Bodh Gaya,on

w h i c h,according to

legend,Asoka had lav

ished inordinate devo

tion ; he broke the stone

marked with the foot

prints of Buddha at

Pataliputra ; a n d h e

destroyed the convents,and scattered the monks

,carry

ing hi s persecutions to the foot of the Nepalese hil ls .

These events must have happened about 600 A. D . The

Bodh i tree was replanted after a short time by Purna

varm an,Ki ng of Magadha , who is described as being the

last descendant ofAsoka,and as such was specially bound

to honour the object venerated by hi s great ancestor .

Harsha himself sometimes ofiended against the


A cur ious legend,narrated by Taranath , the Tibetan

hi stori an of Buddhi sm, i f founded on fact, as it may

be, indi cates that Harsha’s toleration did not extend

to foreign reli gi ons . The story run s that the king bui lt

near Mul tan a great monastery constructed of timber

after the foreign fashi on, in whi ch he entertained the

strange teachers hospitably for several months,and

that at the close of the entertainment he set fire to the

bui ldin g, and consumed along with i t twelve thousand

followers Of the outlandi sh system,with all their books .

Thi s drastic measure i s said to have reduced the relig

ion of the Persians and Sakas to very narrow lim i ts

for a century, and it is alleged that their doctrine , pre

sumably Z oroastri ani sm,was kept alive only by a single

weaver in Kh orasan.

King Harsha was so delighted with the di scourse

of Hiuen Tsang,whom he had met whi le in camp in

Bengal,that he resolved to hold a special assembly at

Kanauj , whi ch was then hi s capital , for the purpose

of givi ng the utmost publi city to the Master ’s teaching.

The king marched along the southern bank of the

Ganges,attended by an enormous multitude

,whi le h is

vassal Kumara,King of Kamarupa

,wi th a large but

less numerous following,kept pace wi th him on the

Opposite bank . Advancing slowly in thi s way, Harsha ,Kumara

,and the attendant host reached Kanauj in the

cour se of ninety days , and there encamped, in February

or March,644 A. D . The sovereign was received by

Kumara,the Raja of Kamarupa

,who had accompanied

h im on the march , the Raja of V alabh i in Western

A GREAT RELIGIOUS CEREMONY 311

India, who was conn ected wi th him by marriage, and

eighteen other tributary rajas,as well as by four thou

sand learned Buddhi st monks,includi ng a thousand

from the Nalanda monastery in Bihar,and some three

thousand Jains and orthodox Brahm ans .

The centre of attraction was a great monastery and

shrine specially erected upon the bank of the Ganges,

where a golden image of Buddha,equal to the king

in stature , was kept in a tower a hundred feet hi gh .

A similar but smaller image , three feet in height , was

carried daily in solemn procession,escorted by the

twenty rajas and a train of thr ee hundred elephants .

The canopy was borne by Harsha in person,attired as

the god Sakra,whil e hi s vassal, Raja Kumara , the most

important of the princes in attendance , was clad as

the god Brahma,and had the honour of waving a whi te

fly-whi sk . The sovereign, as he moved along, scattered

on every side pearls,golden flowers , and other precious

substances,in honour of the “Three Jewels ,

”— Buddha ,

the Reli gion , and the Order, — and having with hi s own

hands washed the image at the altar prepared for the

purpose , bore it on h i s shoulder to the western tower,and there Oflered to it thousands of silken robes em

broidered with gems . Dinner was succeeded by a publi c

di sputation Of the one- sided ki nd already described ,

and in the even ing the monarch returned to hi s trav

elling palace ,” a m ile di stant .

These ceremonies,which lasted for many day s , were

terminated by startling incidents . Th e temporary mon

astery,whi ch had been erected at vast cost , suddenlv


took fir e, and was in great part destroyed ; but when

th e king intervened in person, the flames were stayed,and pious hearts recogni zed a mi racle .

Harsha,attended by his princely train

,had ascended

the great stup a to survey the scene, and was coming

down the steps,when a fanatic , armed with a dagger,

rushed upon h im and attempted to stab him . The

assassin,having been captured instantly

,was closely

interrogated by the kin g in person, and confessed that

he had been instigated to commi t the crim e by certain

hereti cs,

” who resented the excessive royal favour

shown to the Buddhi sts . Five hundred Brahmans of

note were then arrested,and

,being straitly ques

tioned ,” were induced to confess that

, in order to

gratify their j ealousy,they had fired the tower bv

means of burni ng arrows , and had hoped to slay the

king duri ng the resulting confusion . Thi s confession,

whi ch was no doubt extorted by torture,was probably

wholly false ; but, whether true or not, it was accepted,and on the strength of i t the alleged principals in the

plot were executed, and some five hundred Brahm ans

were sent into exi le .

Af ter the close of the proceedings at Kanauj,Harsha

invited hi s Chinese guest to accompany him to Pra

yaga (Allahabad) , at the confluence Of the Ganges and

Jumna , to wi tness another imposing ceremonial . The

Master of the Law,although anxious to start on h is

toilsome homeward journey,could not refuse the invi

tation ,and accompani ed hi s royal host to the scene

of the intended di splay. Harsha explained that i t had


besides choice food, drink, flowers,and perfumes . Dur

ing the next following twenty days , the great mul ti tude

of Brahmans were the recipients of the royal bounty.

They were succeeded by the people whom the Chi nese

author cal ls hereti cs ,” that i s to say, Jains and mem

bers of sun dry sects, who received gifts for the space

of ten days . A like period was allotted for the bestowal

of alms upon mendi cants from di stant regi ons , and a

month was occupied in the di stribution of chari table

aid to poor, orphaned, and destitute persons .

By thi s time the accumulation of five years was

exhausted. Except the horses , elephants , and mi li tary

accoutrements,whi ch were necessary for maintaini ng

order and protecting the royal estate,nothi ng remained.

Besides these the king freely gave away hi s gems and

goods,hi s clothing and necklaces

,ear-rings

,bracelets

,

chaplets, neck- j ewel, and bri ght head- j ewel ; all these

he freely gave without stint . All being given away,he begged from hi s si ster [Rajyasri ] an ordinary sec

ond-hand garment,and

,having put it on, he paid

worship to the Buddhas of the ten regions,

’ and

rejoi ced that hi s treasure had been bestowed in the

field of religious meri t . ”

The strange assembly,whi ch in general appearance

must have much resembled the crowded fair still held

annually on the same ground,then broke up

,and, after

a further detention of ten days,Hi uen Tsang was per

m i tted to depart . The king and Kum ara Raja Of fered

him abun dance of gold pieces and other precious thin gs ,none of whi ch he would accept

,save a fur-lined cape

,

DEATH OF HARSHA 315

the gift of Kumara . But although the Master of the

Law uni formly declined gifts intended to serve hi s per

sonal use, he did not di sdain to accept money for the

necessary expenses of hi s arduous j ourney overland to

China. These were provided on a liberal scal e by the

grant of three thousand gold and ten thousand silver

pieces carri ed on an elephant .

A raja named Udhi ta was placed in command of

a moun ted escort, and charged to conduct the pilgrim

in safety to the frontier. In the course of about six

months of lei surely progress,interrupted by frequent

halts, the raja completed hi s task, and brought hi s

sovereign ’s guest in safety to Jalandh ar in the north

of the Panjab , where Hi uen Tsang stayed for a month .

He then started with a fresh escort,and

,penetrating

wi th difficulty the defiles of the Salt Range,crossed

the Indus , and ultim ately reached hi s home in di stant

Chi na by the route over the Pamirs and through Kho

tan,in the spring of 646 A. D.

The pages of Hi uen Tsang and hi s biographer give

the latest information about Kin g Harsha , who di ed

at the end of 647, or the beginning of 648, not long after

hi s di stingui shed guest ’s departure . During h is lif etirne

he maintained di plomati c intercourse wi th the Chinese

empire . A Brahm an envoy, whom he had sent to the

Emperor of China,returned in 643 A. D . , accompani ed

by a Chin ese mi ssion bearing a reply to Harsha’s

despatch . The mi ssion remained for a considerable

time in India , and di d not go back to China until

645 A. D . The next year, Wang-hiuen -tse , who had been


the second in comm and of the earli er embassy, was sent

by hi s sovereign as head of a new Indi an mi ssion, wi th

an escort of thirty horsemen . Before the envoys

reached Magadh a in 648 A. D., King Harsha had di ed,

and the wi thdr awal of hi s strong arm had plunged the

country into di sorder, whi ch was aggravated by famine .

Arjuna, a min i ster of the late king, usurped the

thr one, and gave a hostil e reception to the Chi nese

mi ssion . The members of the escort were massacred,and the property of the mi ssion plundered, but the

envoys,Wang-hi uen -tse and hi s colleague

,were f ortu

nate enough to escape in to Nepal by night .

The reigning King of Tibet, the famous Srong-tsan

Gam p o, who was marri ed to a Chin ese princess, suc

coured the fugitives,and suppli ed them wi th a force

of a thousand horsemen,whi ch co-operated with a Nepa

lese contingent of seven thousand men. With thi s small

army Wan'g-hiuen - tse descended into the plains,and,

after a three days ’ si ege , succeeded in storming the

chi ef ci ty of Tirhut . Thr ee thousand of the garri son

were beheaded,and ten thousand persons were dr owned

in the neighbouring river. Ar juna fled,and

,havin g

collected a fresh force, ofiered battle . He was again

di sastrously defeated and taken pri soner. The vi ctor

promptly beheaded a thousand pri soners , and in a

later action captur ed the entire royal fami ly, took

twelve thousand pri soners,and obtained thir ty thou

sand head of cattle . Five hundred and eighty walled

town s made their submi ssion,and Kumara

,the King

of Eastern India, who had attended Harsh a’s assem


to whi ch the pilgrim gives the name of O-tien-po

chi -lo , was a province of the kingdom of Sind.

The Kings of Ujjain in Central Indi a and of Pun dra

vardhana in Bengal , both of whi ch kingdoms were more

or less subject to Harsha’s control, belonged to the

Brahman caste . The Ujj ain country supported a dense

population, whi ch in

cluded few Buddhi sts.

Most Of the monasteri es

were in ruins , an d only

three or four, occupi ed

by some three hun dred

monks,were in use .

T h e early decay of

Buddhi sm in thi s re

gion , whi ch was sancti

fied by the tradi ti ons of

Asoka, and included the

magnificent buildi ngs at

Sanchi,i s a very curi

ous fact .

Bhaskara varm an ,

or Kumara Raja,the Ki ng of Kamarupa , or Assam

who played such a prom i nent part in Harsha’s ceremo

ni als, was also by caste a Brahm an , and without fai th

in Buddha,although well di sposed toward learned men

of all reli gi ons . He was so far subject to the sovereign

of Northern Indi a that he could not aflord to di sobey

Harsha’s commands .

Kalin ga , the conquest Of whi ch had cost Asoka such

SUBYA, THE SUN .

ANARCHICAL AUTONOMY 319

bitter remorse nine hundr ed year s earli er,was dep op

ulated , and mostly covered with jun gle . The pilgrim

Observes in pi ctur esque language that in old days the

kin gdom of Kalin ga had a very dense population .

Their shoulders rubbed one with the other,and the

axles of their chari ot-wheels grided together,and when

they rai sed their arm- sleeves a perfect tent was

formed.

” Legend sought to explain the change by the

curse of an angry saint.

Harsha was the last native monarch pri or to the

Mohammedan conquest who held the position of para

mount power in the North. Hi s death loosened the

bonds whi ch restrained the di sruptive forces always

ready to Operate in Indi a , and allowed them to produce

their normal result,a medl ey of petty states , wi th ever

varying boundari es,and engaged in unceasing inter

n ecine war. Such was India when first di sclosed to

European observation in the fourth century B . C., and

such it always has been, except during the compara

tively bri ef periods in whi ch a vigorous central gov

ernm en t has compelled the mutually repellent mole

cul es of the bodv politic to check their gyrations , and

submi t to the grasp of a superior controlling force .

Excepting the purely local incursions of the Arabs

in Sind and Gujarat during the eighth century, Indi a

was exempt from foreign aggression for nearly five hun

dred years,from the defeat of Mih iragula in 528 A. D.

until the raids of Mahmud of Ghazni at the beginning

of the eleventh century, and was left free to work out

her destiny in her own fashion. She cannot claim to


have achi eved success . The thr ee following chapters,

whi ch attempt to give an outline of the salient features

in the bewildering annals of Indi an petty states when

left to their own devi ces for several centuri es, may per

haps serve to give the reader a notion of what India

always has been when released from the control of a

supreme authority.

322 THE MEDIE VAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

Ephthali te domini on passed into the hands of the West

ern Turks and Persians ; but the grasp of the latter

power on the provin ces south of the Oxus soon relaxed,and the Turks became the heirs of the Ephthalites in

the whole of their terri tory as far as the Indus . Ac

cordingly, in 630 A. D ., when Hiuen Tsang was on hi s

way to Indi a, hi s safety was assured by passports

granted by Tong-she-hu , the“Kazan, or supreme

chi ef of the Western Turks, whi ch guaranteed him

protection as far as Kapi sa. In the same year the

pilgrim ’s powerful protector was assassinated, and the

Chinese , under the guidance of the Emperor Tai -tsong,the second prince of the Tang dyn asty, infli cted upon

the Northern or Eastern Turks a defeat so decisive that

the vanqui shed became slaves to the Chin ese for fifty

years .

When reli eved f rom fear of the Northern Turks,

th e Chinese were able to turn their arms against the

western tri bes,and in the years 640 - 8 succeeded in

occupyin g Tur fan , Korashar , and Kucha, thus securing

the northern road of communi cation between the East

and West.

At thi s time Tibet was on ami cable terms wi th the

Middle Kingdom . In 641 the Chi nese Princess Wen

cheng had been given in marri age to Srong-tsan

Gam-

p o, King of Tibet , and in the years 643- 5 the

Chi nese envoys to Harsha had been able to reach Indi a

through the fri endly states of Tibet and Nepal,both of

whi ch sent troops to rescue Wang-Hiuen -tse from the

troubles into whi ch he fell after Har sh a’s death .

INDIA , CHINA, AND TURKESTAN 323

The work of subduing th e Turks,begun by the

Emperor Tai -tsong, was continued by hi s successor,Kao-tsong (650 and

,by the year 659

,Chi na was

nominally mi stress of the entire terri tory of th eWestern

Turks, whi ch was then formally ann exed. In 661 - 5

Chin a enjoyed unparalleled prestige,and had reached

a height Of glory never again attained. Kapi sa was a

province of the empire, and the imperial retin ue in

cluded ambassadors from Udyana, or th e Suwat valley,and from all the countri es extending from Persia to

Korea. But thi s magnificent extension of the empire

di d not last long. A terri ble defeat infli cted by the

Tibetans in 670 deprived . China of Kashgaria, or the

Four Garri sons,

” whi ch remained in the hands of the

vi ctors until 692 A. D.,when the province was recovered

by the Chin ese .

Between 682 an d 691 the Northern Turks had re

gained a good deal of the power whi ch had been shat

tered by the defeat Of 630, and even exerci sed a certain

amount of control over the western tribes . But internal

di ssension was at all times the bane of the Central

Asian nations , and the Chinese well knew how to take

advantage of the national failing. They intervened in

the tribal quarrels , wi th the support of the Uigurs and

Karluks,with such eff ect that in 744 the Uigurs estab

li shed themselves on the Orkhon in the eastern part

of the Turki sh terri tory, while on the west the Kar

luks gradually occupied the country of the Ten Tribes ,

and took possession of Tokmak and Talas , the former

residences of the Turki sh chi efs .


Between 665 and 715 the government of Chi na was

unable to interfere efiectually in the affairs of the coun

tri es between the Jaxartes (Syr Darya) and the Indus ,since the southern route to the west through Kashgari a

had been closed by the Tibetans,and the roads over

the Hi ndu Kush were blocked by the conquests of

Kotai ba, the Arab general.

The accession of the Emperor Hiuen -tsong in 713

marks a revival of Chinese activity ; and determined

efiorts weremade by means both of di plomacy and arm sto keep open the Pami r passes and to check the ambi

tion Of the Arabs and Tibetans, who sometimes com

b ined . In 719, Samarkand and other kingdoms invoked

the ai d of China against the armi es of Islam, whil e the

Ar ab leaders sought to obtain the co- operation of the

minor states on'

the Indi an borderland. The chi efs of

Udyan a (Suwat) , Khottal (west of Badakshan) , and

Chi tral, having refused to li sten to Moslem blandi sh

ments, were rewarded by the Emperor of China with

letters patent conferring on each the title of kin g, and

a sim ilar honour was bestowed upon the rulers of Yasin

(Little Po- lu ) , Z abuli stan (Ghazni ) , Kapi sa, and Kashmi r

, received investitur e as kin g from the emperor in

kingdoms, so as to form an efiective barri er against‘

both Arabs and Tibetans . Chandrap ida, King of Kashm i r

, received investiture as king from the emperor in720

, and hi s brother Muk tap i da-Lali tadi tya was sim

ilarly honoured in 733.

A few years later — in 744 and 747 — Chinese influence

had been so far extended that the emperor granted


and other towns are si tuated, although it has remained

generally outside the ordinary range of Indi an politics ,has maintained sufficient connection wi th Indi a to re

quire bri ef mention in a hi story of that coun try . In

Asoka ’s time Nepal was an integral part of the empire ,and was probably adm ini stered di rectly from the capi

tal as one of the home provinces . In the days of

Samudragup ta, in the fourth century A. D . ,when we

next hear of the Nepalese kingdom i t was an autono

mous tributary fronti er state,but

,after the fall of the

Gupta empire in the following century,it became inde

pendent .

Harsha again reduced the kingdom to the position

of a tributary state about 638 A. D. ,and ten years later

,

when he di ed, the Nepalese recovered their indep end

ence,subj ect, perhaps, to some slight control from

China . They were able to give valuable assi stance

to the envoy Wang-Hinen- tse in 648 A. D .

,when he was

expelled from Indi a by Harsha’s usurping successor.

At the beginning of the eighth century,before the

revival of Chi nese activity in the reign of the Emperor

Hi uen -tsong,Nepal was for a time a dependency of

Tibet .

The establi shm ent of the Nepalese era , whi ch dates

from October 20,879 ‘

A. D . , in the reign of Raghava-deva ,probably marks some important event in local hi story ,the exact nature of whi ch is not known . The kingdom

was never subjugated by any of the Mohammedan

dynasties,and has retained i ts autonomy to thi s day.

The conquest of the coun try by the Gurkhas took place

KASHMIR 327

in 1768 . A corrupt and decaying form of Buddhi sm sti llsurvives in the country.

III — KASHMIR

A detai led account of the hi story of Kashmir would

fill a volume ; in thi s place a brief notice of some Of

the leading passages wi ll suffice . The valley had been

in cluded in the Maurya empire in the time of Asoka,

and again in the Kushan domini on in the days of

Kan i shka and Huvi shka. Harsha, although not strong

enough to annex Kashmir,was yet able to compel the

kin g to surrender a cheri shed relic, an alleged tooth

of Buddha,which was carried off to Kanauj . The

authentic chron i cles of the kingdom begin with the

Karkota dyn asty, whi ch was founded by Durlabhavar

dhana during Harsha’s li fetime . Thi s prince and hi s

son Durlabhaka are credi ted with long reigns .

The latter was succeeded by hi s three sons in order,the eldest of whom, Chandrap ida, received investiture

as kin g from the Emperor of China in 720, by whom

the third son, Muktap ida, also known as Lalitadi tya ,was sim ilarly honoured in 733. Thi s prince

,who is said

to have reigned for thirty-six years , extended the power

of Kashmir far beyond its normal moun tain lim its , and

about the year 740 inflicted a crushing defeat upon

Yasovarm an ,King of Kanauj . He also vanqui shed the

Tibetans , Bhutias , and the Turks on the Indus . Hi s

memory has been perpetuated by the famous Martanda

temple,whi ch was built by him , and still exists . The

acts of thi s king, and all that he did , and some

328 THE MED IE VAL KINGDOMS OF THE NORTH

thing more, are set forth at large in Kalhana’s chron

iele.

The reign of Avan tivarm an in the latter part of

the ninth century was notable for h is enlightened pat

ronage of li terature, and for the beneficen t schemes of

drainage and irrigation carri ed out by Suyya, his min

i ster of publi c works . The next king, Sank aravarman ,

di stingui shed himself in war, but i s chi efly remem

bered as the author of an ingenious system of fiscal

Oppression , and the plunderer of temple treasures .

Th e detail s of hi s exactions are worth reading as prov

ing the capacity of an Ori ental despot without a con

science for un lim i ted and ruthl ess extortion. Dur in g

hi s reign , the last of the Turki Shahiya Kin gs of

Kabul , the descendants of Kani shka, was overthrown

by the Brahman Lalli ya, who foun ded a dynasty whi ch

lasted until 1021 , when it was extirpated by the Mo

hamm edan s.

During the latter half of the tenth centur y, power

was in the hands of an unscrupulous queen named

D idda, the granddaughter Of a Shahi ya king, who , first

as queen- consort, then as regent, and ultimately as

sovereign for twenty-three years,mi sgoverned the un

happy state for half a century. In the reign of her

nephew, Sangram a, the kin gdom suf fered an attack

from Mahm ud of Ghazni,and

,although its troops were

defeated by the in vader,preserved i ts independence ,

whi ch was protected by the inaccessibili ty of the moun

tain barri ers .

Durin g the eleventh century,Kashmir

,whi ch has


from the materials of whi ch the Mohammedans after

ward constructed the great mosque .

An angapala, who seems to have come from Kanauj ,ruled a principali ty of modest dimensions, extending

to Agra on the south, Ajm ir on the west, Hansi on the

north,and the Ganges on the east . Hi s dynasty lasted

for just a century,until 1151 A. D . , when i t was sup

planted by the Chauhan chi ef, V isala-deva of Ajmi r .

The grandson of V isala-deva was Prithi vi Raja , or

Rai Pi thora, famous in song and legend as a chi valrous

lover and doughty champion, in whose person the lord

shi ps of Ajmir and Delhi were uni ted. Hi s fame as a

bold lover rests upon hi s daring abduction of the not

unwi lling daughter of Jayach chan dra (Jaichand ) , the

Gaharwar Raja of Kanauj,whi ch occurred in or about

1175. Hi s reputation as a warrior i s securely founded

upon the story of hi s defeat of the Chandella raja and

the capture of Mahoba in 1182, as well as upon gallant

resi stance to the flood of Mohammedan invasion . Rai

Pithora may indeed be fairly described as the popular

hero Of Northern Indi a,and hi s exploits in love and

war are to thi s day the subj ect of rude epics and bardi c

lays .

The dread of the vi ctori ous MussuM an host led by

Shihab-ud —din ,who was now undi sputed master of the

Panjab,constrained the jarring states of Upper Indi a

to lay aside their quarrels and combine for a moment

against the common foe . At fir st fortune favoured the

Hindus,and in 1191 Pri thi vi Raja succeeded in infli ct

ing a severe defeat upon the invaders at Tirauri , be

FALL OF DELHI AND KANAUJ 331

tween Thanesar and Karnal,whi ch forced them to

retire beyond the Indus . Two years later,in 1193

,

Shihab-ud —di n, having returned wi th a fresh force , again

encountered Pri thi vi Raja, who was in command of

an immense host, swollen by contingents from num er

ous conf ederate princes . A vigorous charge by twelve

thousand well-armed Mussulman horsemen repeated the

lesson given by Al exander long ages before,and demon

strated the incapacity of a mob of Indi an mi litia to

stand the onset of trained cavalry . To use the graphi c

language of the Mohammedan hi stori an,thi s pro

digious army, once shaken, like a great building, tot

tered to its fall , and was lost in i ts own ruins . ” Pr i

thi vi Raja, who was taken pri soner, was executed in

cold blood, and the wretched inh abitants of h is capital ,Ajmir , were either put to the sword or sold into slavery.

In the same year,1193 A. D . (A . H . Delhi fell ,

and Shihab-ud -din marched against Kanauj and took

that city, whi ch had been for several centuri es the most

splendi d of the citi es of Northern India . The raja ,Jayach chandra , retired toward Benares, but was over

taken by hi s adversary,routed

,and slain . Th e holy

citadel of Hi ndui sm fell into the hands of the victors ,who could now feel assured that the triumph of Islam

was secure .

The surrender of Gwali or by its Parihar raja in

1196, the capture of Nah rwalah in 1197, and the capit

ulation of Kalinjar in 1203 completed the reduction

of Upper India,and when Shihab-ud-din di ed in 1206 ,

Elphi nstone says he held,in di ff erent degrees of


subj ection, the whole of Hindustan Proper, except

Malwa and some contiguous di stri cts . Sind and Ben

gal were either entirely subdued, or in rapid course of

reduction . On Gujarat he had no hold, except what

i s implied in the possession of the capital (Nahrwalah ,or Anh alwara) . Much of Hindustan was immedi ately

un der hi s officers , and the rest under dependent or at

least tributary princes . Th e desert and some of the

mountains were left independent from neglect . ’

An important consequence of the captur e of Kanauj

was the migration of the bulk of ‘the Gaharwar clan

to the deserts of Marwar in Rajputana,where they

settled, and became known as Rathors. The state so

foun ded, now generally designated by the name of i ts

capital, Jodhpur, i s one of the most important princi

p ali ties of Rajputana . Similar clan movements,neces

sitated by the pressure of Mohammedan armi es, were

frequent at thi s peri od,and to a large extent account

for the exi sting di stribution of the Rajput clans .

V — THE CHANDELLAS OF JEJAKABHUKTI AND THE KALACHURIS

OF CHEDI

The ancient name of the province between the

Jumn a and Narmada , now known as Bundelkhand, was

Jej akabhuk ti , and the extensive region farther to the

south , whi ch i s now un der the adm in i strati on of the

Chi ef Commi ssioner of the Central Provin ces,nearly

corresponds wi th the old kingdom of Chedi . In the

mediaeval hi story of these countri es two dynasti es, theChandellas and the Kalachuri s

,whi ch occasionally were


Indi a,Dhanga

’s son, Ganda (999 j oined the

new conf ederacy of Hindu princes organi zed by An anga

Pala of Lahore in 1008,whi ch also failed to stay the

hand of the invader. Twelve years later Ganda at

tacked Kanauj and killed the raja,who had made terms

with the Mohammedans,but in 1022 or 1023 he was

M self compelled to surrender the strong fortress of

Kalinjar to Mahmud.

Gangeyadeva Kalachuri of Chedi (air . 1015

the contemporary of Ganda and h i s successors,was an

able and ambitious prince , who seems to have aimed

at attainin g the position Of paramount power in Upper

Indi a . In 1019 h is suzerainty was recogni zed in di stant

Tirhut , and h is proj ects Of aggrandi zement were taken

up and proceeded with by h is son Karnadeva (air .

1040 who joined Bhima,King of Gujarat

,in crush

ing Bhoja, the learned King of Malwa, about 1053 A. D .

But some years,

later,Karnadeva was taught the

lesson of the mutability of fortun e by suffering a severe

defeat at the hands of K irttivarman Chan della (1049

who widely extended the dominion of hi s house .

Ki rttivarman is also memorable in li terary hi story as

the patron of the curi ous allegori cal play entitled the

P rabodhachcm drodaya, or Ri se of the Moon of Intel

lect,” whi ch was performed at h is court, and gives in

dramati c form a very clever exposition of the Vedanta

system of phil osophy.

The last Chandella king to play any considerable

part upon the stage Of hi story was Paramardi , or Par

mal (1165 whose reign i s memorable for hi s

TEM PLE O F MAHADEVA . KAJ URAHO .


and abodes of goodn ess,and the ejaculation s of the

bead-counters and the voices of the summoners to

prayer ascended to the hi ghest heaven, and the very

name of idolatry was annihi lated . Fifty thousand

men cam e under the collar of slavery , and the plain

becam e black as pitch with Hin dus . ’ Elephants and

cattle,and countless arms also , became the spoil of the

vi ctors .

Th e reins of vi ctory were then di rected toward

Mahoba,and the government of Kalinjar was conferred

on Hazabb ar —ud -di n Hasan Ar nal . When Kutb -ud -din

was sati sfied wi th all the arrangements made in that

quarter,he went toward Badaun , whi ch i s one of the

mothers of cities,and one of the chi efest of the country

of Hind. ’

Chan della rajas lin gered on as purely local chi efs

until the sixteenth century,but their afiairs are of no

general interest . The Chan della clan was scattered,and its most notable modern representative i s the Raja

of Gidhaur , near Mungir (Monghyr) in Bengal .

The Kalachur i or Haih aya Rajas of Chedi are last

mentioned in an inscription of the year 1181 A. D . ,

and the mann er of their di sappearance i s not exactly

known,but there i s reason to believe that they were

supplanted by the B aghels of Rewa . The Hayob an s

Rajputs of the B aliya Di stri ct in the Un ited Provinces

claim descent from the Rajas of Ratanpur in the Cen

tral Provin ces,and are probably really an Of f SIIOOt of

the ancient Haih aya race . The Kings of Chedi used

a special era,accordin g to whi ch the year 1 was equi v

KING BHOJA OF MALWA 341

alen t to 249 50 A. D ., and i t is possible that the dynasty

may have been establi shed at that early date,but noth

ing substantial is known about it before the ninthcentury.

V I — PARAMARAS OF MALWA

The Paramara dynasty of Malwa,the region north

of the Narm ada, anciently known as the kingdom of

Uj jain , i s specially memorable by reason of i ts associa

tion with many eminent names in the hi story of later

Sanskri t li terature . The dynasty was founded by a

chi ef named Upendra, or Kr i shnaraja, at the beginning

of the ninth centur y,when so many rulin g famili es

attract noti ce for the first time,and lasted for about

four centuri es .

The seventh raja,named Munja

,who was famous

for hi s learning and eloquence,was not only a patron

of poets,but was himself a poet of no small reputation ,

and the anthologi es include vari ous compositions attrib

uted to hi s pen . The authors Dh anam jaya, Dhanik a,and Halayudh a were among the di stingui shed scholars

who graced hi s court . Hi s energies were not solely

devoted to the peaceful pursui t of li terature , however,as the Chalukya King Taila II was defeated by him

sixteen times . The seventeenth attack failed, and

Munja,who had crossed the Godavari , Taila

’s northern

boundary,was defeated

,captur ed , and executed about

995 A. D .

The nephew of Munja , the famous Bhoja , ascended

the throne of Dhara,whi ch was in those days the capital


of Malwa,about 1010 A. D . , and reigned glori ously for

more than forty years . Although hi s fights with the

neighbouring powers, includi ng one of the Moham

medan armi es of Mahm ud of Ghazn i,are now forgotten

,

hi s fame as an enlightened patron Of learning and a

skilled author remains undimmed, and hi s name has

RUINS OF THE TEMPLE OF BHOJPUR .

become proverbial as that of the model king. Works

on astronomy, archi tecture , the art of poetry, and other

subj ects are credibly attributed to him , and there is

no doubt that he was a prin ce,like Samudragup ta, of

very uncommon ability.

The great Bhojpur Lake,a beautiful sheet of

water to the southeast of Bhopal,covering an area

of 250 square mi les,formed by massive embank


chapter,no parti culars are known concerning the h i s

tory of Bengal during more than a century and a

half.

Early in th e ninth century (cir . 815 A. approx

im ately when the Ch andella,Paramara, and other

dynasties are fir st heard of,a chi eftain named Gopala

became ruler of Bengal . Toward the close of hi s li fe

he extended hi s power westwards over Magadh a or

Bihar,and i s said to have reigned forty-five years .

He was a pious Buddhi st,and was credi ted with the

foun dation of a great monastery at hi s capi tal, the

town of Bihar (Udandapur a, or Otan tapuri ) , whi ch

had taken the place of Pataliputra, then in ruins . In

asmuch as the word p ala was an element in the personal

names of the founder of the fami ly and hi s successors,the dynasty i s commonly and conveni ently designated

as that of the P‘ala Kin gs of Bengal . ”

The thi rd king,Devap ala (Ci r . 853- 93 A. i s

alleged to have conquered Kamarupa and Ori ssa. The

ninth king, Mahi p ala, i s known to have been on the

throne in 1026 A. D . ,and i s beli eved to have reigned

for fifty years,until about 1060 . Like all the members

of hi s dynasty,he was a devout Buddhi st, and the

revival of Buddhi sm in Tibet,efiected in 1013 A. D . by

Dharmapala of Magadh a and h is three pupils, may be

attributed to thi s king ’s mi ssionary zeal .

At about the time of Mahip ala’s death

,a raja named

V i jayasena founded a rival dynasty in Bengal com

mouly called that of the Sena kings,

” whi ch seems

to have wrested the eastern provinces for a time from

MOHAMMEDAN INVASION 345

the hands of the Pala dynasty,the power of whi ch was

then much circumscribed. Gangeyadeva of Chedi , as

has been already mentioned,was recogni zed as the

sovereign of Tirhut in 1076 A. D . But hi s supremacy

di d not last long, and an independent local dynasty

of Northern Tirhut was establi shed at Simraon early

in the thirteenth century .

In Bihar and Bengal both Palas and Senas

were swept away by the torrent of Mohammedan inva

sion at the end of the twelfth century,when Kutb -ud

din ’s general , Mohammed, the son of Bakhtiyar,stormed Bihar in 1193 A. D . (A . H . and surpri sed

Nudi ah (vulgo Nuddea) in the foll owing year. Th e

name of the last Hindu ruler of Bihar i s given by tra

di tion as In dradyum na, who i s supposed,but not

proved,to have belonged to the Pala lin e .

The Mussulman general, who had already made hi s

name a terror by repeated plundering expeditions in

Bihar, sei zed the capital by a daring stroke . The almost

contemporary hi stori an met one of the survivors of

the attackin g party in 1243 A. D .,and learned from him

that the fort of Bihar was sei zed by a party of only

two hundred horsemen,who boldly ’ rushed the postern

gate and gained possession Of the place . Great quan

tities of plunder were obtained,and the slaughter of

the shaven-headed Brahm ans,that is to say , the

Buddhist monks , was so thoroughly completed that,when the vi ctor sought for some one capable of explain

in g the contents of the books in the librari es of the

monasteri es,not a living man could be foun d who


was able to read them . It was di scovered,” we are

told,

“ that the whole fort and city was a place of

study.

Thi s crushi ng blow, followed up, of course, by sim

i lar acts of vi olence , destroyed the vitality of Buddhi sm

in i ts ancient home . No doubt a few devout though

di sheartened adherents of the system lin gered round

the desecrated shrines for a few years longer,and even

to thi s day traces of the religi on once so proudly domi

nant may be di scerned in the practi ces of Obscure sects ;but Buddhi sm as a popular religion in Bihar, i ts last

abode in Upper Indi a south of the Himalaya,was des

troyed once and for all by the sword of a single Mussul

man adventurer. Many monk s who escaped death fled

to Tibet, Nepal, and Southern Indi a .

The overthrow of the Sena dynasty was aecom

p li sh ed wi th equal or even greater ease . The ruler

of Eastern Bengal in those days was an aged king,

call ed Rai Lakhm aniya by the Mohamm edan wri ter,and was reputed to have occupi ed the thr one for eighty

years . His family,we are told, was respected by all

the Rai s,or chi efs , of Hindustan, and he was considered

to hold the rank of khalif (caliph) , or sovereign. Trust

worthy persons affirmed that no one , great or small ,ever sufiered injustice at hi s hands, and hi s generosity

was proverbial .

Thi s much-respected sovereign held hi s court at

Nudiah , si tuated in the upper delta of the Ganges , on

the Bhagirathi River, about sixty mil es north of the

si te of Calcut ta . The town still gives its name to a


The admin i stration of the aged Lakhm aniya must have

been hopelessly inefficient to permi t a foreign army to

march unobserved across Bengal, and to allow Of the

surpri se of the palace by an insignificant party of eight

een horsemen.

Notwithstanding the man i fest rottenness of their

system of governm ent,the Sena kings were suffi

cien tly concei ted to establi sh a special era of their own,whi ch they called by the name of Lakshmana- sena .

The fir st current year,according to thi s computation

corresponded wi th 1119 - 20 A. D ., and the epoch was

apparently the date of either the accession or corona

tion of Lak shm ana- sena, who seems to have been iden

tical wi th the aged Rai Lakhm aniya of the Moham

medan hi storians . One form of the tradi ti on represents

thi s king as having come to the throne in 510 A . H .,

equi valent to 1116 - 17 A. D ., just eighty lunar years

previous to the easy vi ctory of the Moslem in vader,and

the era was invented presumably to mark the date of

L‘

ak shman a-sena ’s coronation in October,1119 A. D.

CHAPTER ‘XV

THE KINGDOMS OF THE DECCAN

HE term Deccan, a conveni ent and fami li ar cor

ruption of the Sanskri t word meani ng the south,may be, and sometimes i s, extended so as to cover the

whole of Indi a south of the Narmada,but is more

usually understood as designating a more limited terri

tory,in whi ch Malabar and the Tami l countri es of the

extreme south are not included. Thus limited, the term

connotes the whole region occupied by the Telugu

speaking populations, as well as Maharashtra , or the

Maratha country. With reference to modern poli tical

divi sions,the greater part Of the Deccan in thi s re

stri cted sense i s occupied by the territori es of the Ni zam

of Hyderabad.

Physically,the country is for the most part a hot ,

hilly table- land,watered by two great rivers

,the Goda

vari and the Kri shna (Ki stna) , the latter Of which

receives on the south an important afl‘luen t, the Tun

gabhadra .

In thi s regi on the dominant power for four centuri es

and a half,up to about 230 A. D .

,was the An dhra , the

hi story of whi ch has already been di scussed . For some349

350 THE KINGDOMS or THE DECCAN

three centuri es after the extinction of the An dhra

dynasty,we have

,

” as remarked by Professor Bhan

darkar,no specific information about the dynasties

that ruled over the country but there i s reason to

GLIMPSE OF HYDERABAD .

From stereograp h , copyright 1903, b y Un derwood Underwood , New York .

beli eve that the western territory,or Maharashtra, was

governed by princes belonging to the Rash trakuta, or

Ratta,clan

,whi ch long afterward

,in the mi ddl e of the

eighth century,became for a time the leading power

of the Deccan .

Practi cally the poli ti cal hi story of the Deccan begins

in the mi ddle Of the sixth century wi th the ri se of the

352 THE KINGDOMS OF THE DECCAN

tween the Kri shna and Godavari , and establi shed his

brother Kub ja V ishnuvardh ana there as viceroy in

609 A. D . A few years later,about 620 A. D.

,wh ile

Pulik esin was fully occupied by the war wi th Harsha

of Kanauj,thi s prince set up as an independent sov

ereign ,and founded the line of the Eastern Chalukyas .

All the southern kingdoms,the Chola

,Pandya , and

Kerala,as well as the Pallava

,were forced into conflict

with the ambitious King of Vatap i , who was undoubt

edly the most powerful monarch to the south of the

Narmada in 630 A. D . Ten years before that date he

had successfully repelled the attack on hi s dom inions

led in p erson’

by Harsha, the lord paramount of the

north,who aspired to the sovereignty of all Indi a.

The fame of the King of the Deccan spread beyond

the limi ts of India,and reached the ears of Khusru II ,

King of Persia , who , in the thi rty- sixth year of h i s

reign,625 - 6 A. D .

, received a complimentary embassy

from Pulikesin . The courtesy was reciprocated by a

return embassy sent from Persia , whi ch was received

with due 'honour at the Indi an cour t . A large fresco

painting in Cave No . 1 at Ajanta,although unhappily

mutilated,i s still easily recogni zable as a vivid rep re

sen tation of the ceremonial attending the presentation

of their credentials by the Persian envoys .

Thi s pi cture,in addition to its interest as a contem

porary record of un usual politi cal relations between

Indi a and Persia, is of the highest value as a landmark

in the hi story of art . It not only fixes the date of some

of the most M p ortan t paintings at Ajanta, but also


a chi eftain of the anci ent Rash trakuta fami ly, fought

hi s way to the front, and overthrew Kir ttivarman II

Chaluk ya . The main branch of the Chalukyas now

became extinct,and the sovereignty of the Deccan

passed to the Rash trakutas, in whose hands it remained

for two centuri es and a quarter.

Dur ing the two centuri es of the rule of the early

Chalukya dynasty of Vatap i , great changes in the re

li gious state of the country were in progress . Bud

dhi sm ,although still influential , was slowly declining,

and suffering gradual supersession by its rivals,Jain

i sm and Brahm ani cal Hin dui sm . The sacrificial form

of the Hin du religi on received special attention, and

was made the subj ect of a multitude of formal treati ses .

The Pur ani c forms of Hi ndui sm also grew in p Opu

lari ty, and everywhere elaborate temples dedi cated

to Vi shn u,Siva

,or other members of the Purani c pan

theon,were erected . The orthodox Hi ndus borrowed

from their Buddhi st rivals the practi ce of excavating

cave-temples,and one of the earli est Hi ndu works of

thi s class i s that made in honour of Vi shn u by Manga

lesa Chalukya , at the close of the sixth century . Jain

ism was specially popular in the Southern Maratha

country.

Dan tidurga Rash trakuta, after hi s occupation Of

V atap i , efiected other conquests , but , becoming un p op

ular,was deposed by hi s uncle

,Kri shna I

,who com

p leted the establi shm ent of Rash trakuta supremacy

over the domi ni ons formerly held by the Chalukyas,

whi le a branch of hi s fami ly founded a principality in

THE KINGS AND THEIR RELIGION 355

Gujarat. The reign of Kri shna I is memorable for the

execution of the most marvellous archi tectural freak

in Indi a, the Kailasa temple at Elura (Ell ora) , whi ch

is by far the most extensive and sumptuous of the rock

cut shrines.

Kri shn a I was succeeded by hi s son Dhruva,and warlike prin ce , who continued

with success the,

aggressive wars so

dear to the heart of an Indi an raja .

Govinda HI ,son of Dhruva

,may

~

justly claim to be the most remark

able prince Of hi s vigorous dynasty.

He transferred his capital from Nasik

to Manyakheta, generally identified

with Malkhed in the Ni zam ’s do

min ions,and extended hi s power

from the Vindhya Moun tains and

Malwa on the north to Kanchi on the

south, while hi s di rect rule was car

ried at least as far as the Tunga

bhadra . He created hi s brother Vi ce

roy of Lata,or Southern Gujarat .

Th e long reign of the next king, Amogh avarsha, who

occupied the thr one for at least sixty- two years,was

largely spent in constant wars with the Eastern Cha

lukya Rajas of Vengi . The Digambara , or naked, sect

of the Jain s was liberally patroni zed by thi s prince.

The rapid progress made by Digambara Jaini sm late

in the ninth,and early in the tenth century

,under the

gui dance of various notable leaders , including Jinasena

THE GOD KRISID IA.


and Gunabhadr a , who enj oyed the favour of more th an

one monarch,had much to do wi th the marked decay of

Buddhi sm,whi ch daily lost ground, until it finally di s

appeared from the Deccan in the twelfth century .

The war wi th the Cholas in the reign of Kri shna II I,Rashtrakuta, was remarkable for the death of the Chola

king on the field of battle in 949 A. D. Much bitterness

was introduced into the wars of thi s peri od by the hos

tili ty between the rival reli gions, Jaini sm and orthodox

Hindui sm.

The last of the Rash trakuta kings, Kakka H ,was

overthrown in 973 A. D . by Tai la II , a scion Of the Old

Chalukya stock . He restored the family of hi s anecs

tors to i ts former glory,and founded the dynasty known

as that Of the Chalukyas of Kalyani,whi ch lasted

,like

that whi ch i t followed, for nearly two centuri es and a

quarter. The im pression made upon their contempo

rari es by the Rash trakutas was evidently considerable ,and was justified by the achi evements of their peri od .

Al though the art di splayed at Ellora is not of the hi gh

est kin d, the Kailasa temple i s one of the wonders of

the world, a work of whi ch any nation might be proud.

Many other temples were the outcome of the royal

mun ificen ce, and li terature of the type then in fashi on

was liberally encouraged.

Taila , the restorer of the Chalukya name , rei gned

for twenty-four years,and during that time succeeded

in recoveri ng all the ancient terri tory of hi s race , wi th

the exception of the Gujarat province . Much of hi s

time was spent in fighting Mun ja, the Paramara Raja

THE CHOLAS AND CHALUKYAS 357

Of Dhara, who claim ed the vi ctory in sixteen confli cts .

But toward the close of hi s reign Taila enjoyed the

luxury of revenge . Hi s enemy,having crossed the

Godavari , whi ch then formed the boundary between the

two kingdoms, was defeated, taken captive, and for

a time treated with the cour tesy due to hi s rank . But

an attempt to escape was vi sited with cruel indi gni ties

to the captive raja, who was ultimately beheaded,995 A. D.

Two years later Taila di ed, and transmi tted the

crown to hi s son Satyasraya, dur ing whose reign the

Chalukya kingdom sufiered severely from invasion by

the Chola king,Rajaraja the Great

,who overran the

coun try wi th a vast host, said to number ni ne hundred

thousand men, pillaging and slaughtering in so merci

less a fashi on that even the women,chi ldren

,and Brah

mans ‘were not spared.

In 1059 A. D . , Som esvara I, who was called Ah ava

malla,fought a battle at Kopp am in Mysore

,in whi ch

Rajadh iraja, the then reigning Chola king, lost hi s lif e .

Som esvara also claim s the honour of having stormed

both Dhara in Malwa and Kanchi in the south, and

of having defeated Karna, the valiant Kin g of Chedi .

In 1068 A. D ., Som esvara, sei zed by an incurable fever,

put an end to h i s sufierings by drownin g himself in

the Tungabhadra River, whi le reciting hi s fai th in Siva.

Sui cide in such circumstances is authori zed by Hindu

custom,and more than one instance is on record of

rajas having terminated their exi stence in °

a similar

manner .


V ikramadi tya VI, or V ikramanka, the hero of B il

hana ’s hi stori cal poem, who came to the throne in

1076 A. D .,reigned for half a century in tolerable

,though

not unbroken, peace . He i s recorded to have captured

SIVA PUJA , OR WORSHIP OF S IVA .

Kanchi , and late in hi s

reign was engaged in a

seri ous struggle wi th

Vi shnu, the Hoysala

Kin g of Dorasamudra

in Mysore . Hi s capi tal

Kalyana, probably the

modern Kalyani in the

Ni zam ’s domini ons,was

the residence of the cel

ebrated juri st, V i jna

nesvara, author of the

Mi taksham,the

'

chi ef

authori ty on Hindu law

outside -of Bengal .

After the death of

V ikramanka, the Cha

lukya power declined,and in the course of the

years 1156 62 A. D . ,during the reign of Taila II I

,the

commander- in -chi ef,B ij jala, or V ij jana, Kalachurya , re

volted and obtained possession of the kingdom. Thi s

was held by him and hi s sons un til 1183 A. D .

,when the

Chalukya prince, Som esvara IV,

succeeded in recover

in g a portion of hi s ancestral domini ons . But he was

not strong enough to resi st the attacks Of encroaching


checked the progress of the latter religion, and drove

another nail into the coffin of Buddhi sm, the exi stence

of whi ch in the Deccan cannot be traced later than the

first half of the twelfth century.

During the twelfth and thirteenth centuri es,chi efs

belonging to a family or clan named Hoysala attained

considerable power in the Mysore coun try . The first

notable prince of thi s line was Vi shn u,or B ittiga

(1117 A. who establi shed his capital at Dorasa

mudra,the modern Halebid, famous for the fin e temple

whi ch excited Mr .

‘

Fergusson’s enthusiasti c adm ir ation.

During Vi shnu ’s reign the Jain religion enjoyed hi gh

favour under the protection of hi s mini ster Gangaraja,and the Jain temples

,whi ch had been destroyed by

the orthodox Chola invaders,were restored. Vi shnu

boasts in his records Of numerous conquests,and claims

to have defeated the rajas of the Chola, Pandya, and

Chera kingdoms in the south . About the year 1223A. D .,

one of hi s successors , Narasimha I I, who was then

in alliance wi th the Cholas,actually occupi ed Tri chin

opoli .

The dyn asty lasted until 1310 A. D .,when the Mo

hammedan generals, Malik Kafur and Khwaja Haji ,entered the Hoysala kingdom,

laid it waste , captured

the reigning raja,and despoi led hi s capital, whi ch was

fin ally destroyed by a Moslem force in 1327 A. D.

The Yadava Kings Of Devagiri who have been men

tioned were descendants of feudatory nobles of the

Chalukya kingdom . The territory whi ch they acquired,lying between D evagir i (Daulatabad) and Nasik, was

OVERTHROW BY THE MOHAMMEDAN S 361

known as Sevana. The fir st of the Yadava line to

attain a position of importance was Bhi llama, who was

ki lled in battle by the Hoysala chi ef in 1191 A. D. The

most powerful raja was Singhana (acc. 1210 A. who

invaded Gujarat and other countri es,and establi shed

a short-lived kin gdom almost rivallin g in extent the

realms of the Chalukyas and Rash trakutas.

The dynasty,like that of the Hoysalas, was des

troyed by the Mohammedans . When Al a-ud -din,Sul tan

of Delhi , crossed the Narmada, the northern frontier

of the Yadava kin gdom,in 1294, the reigni ng raja,

Ramachandra, was obliged to surrender, and to ransom

his life by payment of an enormous amount of treasur e ,whi ch i s sai d to have included six hundred maunds

of pearls , two maunds of di amonds , rubies, emeralds ,and sapphir es

,and so forth.

When the Sultan ’s incur sion was repeated by Malik

Kafur in 1309 A. D .,Ramachandra again refrained from

opposition, and submi tted to the invader. He was the

last independent Hindu sovereign of the Deccan. After

his death, hi s son- in -law,Harap ala, stirred up a revolt

against the foreigners in 1318, but, being defeated, was

flayed alive and decapitated . Thus mi serably ended the

Yadava line.

The celebrated Sanskri t writer, Hem adri,popularly

known as Hemadpan t, flouri shed during the reigns of

Ramachandra and hi s predecessor, Mahadeva . He de

voted himself chi efly to the reduction to a system of

Hin du religious practices and Observances , and wi th

thi s object compiled important works upon Hindu


sacred law. He is said to have introduced a form of

current script, the Modi , from Ceylon, and has given

a valuable hi stori cal sketch of hi s patron ’s dynasty in

the introduction to one of h is books.

One of the characteristics af the Southern lud tan temples , bu t]" m the

D ravid ian s tyle of arch i tec ture ," i s the long pillared hall wi th 7110 353718

sculptured figures on e i ther sid e. Som e of the best specim ens of Ind ian

carving are to be f ound in these corrid ors, Or choultries , as they are

called . They are d eserving of the atten tion of the s tud en t as examples ofO rien tal sculpture

364 THE KINGDOMS OF THE SOUTH

Malayalam . The Chola and Pandya kingdoms both

belong to the Tami l-speaking region. Thus all the

kingdoms of the south were occupi ed by races speaking

Dravidi an languages, who are themselves generally

spoken of as Dravidi ans .

No Aryan language had penetrated into those kin g

doms , whi ch lived their own li fe , completely secluded

from Northern India,and in touch with the outer world

only through the medi um of mari time commerce, whi ch

had been conducted wi th success from very early tim es .

The pearls of the Gulf of Manar,the beryls of Coim

batore, and the pepper of Malabar were not to be had

elsewhere, and were eagerly sought by foreign mer

chants , probably as early as the seventh or eighth cen

tur y before Chri st.

But the ancient political hi story of Southern Indi a

i s irretri evably lost,and the materials for tracing the

development of the hi gh degree of civi li zation unques

tion ably attained by the Dravi di an races are lamentably

scanty. Nor is i t possible to defin e with any accuracy

the time when Ary an ideas and the religi on of the Brah

mans penetrated to the kingdoms of the south, al though

there are reasons for assumin g that 500 B . C. may be

taken as a mean date .

The mi ssi onari es of Asoka introduced Buddh i sm,

and hi s brother Mahendra built a monastery in the

Chola coun try,but whether or not they found any

form of the Brahman religion in possession it is im p os

sible to say. Th e Jain reli gi on also found great favour

in the southern coun tri es, but how or wh en i t was

INFORMAT ION REGARD ING SOUTHERN IND IA 365

in troduced from the north,there is no good evidence

to show

The hi stori cal peri od begins much later in the south

than in the north,and i t is qui te impossible to carry

back the story of the south, like that of the north , to

600 B . 0 . As will appear in the following pages,the

orderly hi story of the Chola and Pandya dynasties does

not commence un til the ninth and tenth centuri es A. D .

respectively, although both kin gdoms exi sted in Asoka’s

The earliest dynasti c annal s are those of the Pal

lavas,whi ch begin in the second century A. D . The

Fallava realm is not included in the three tradi ti onal

kingdoms of the south,” the reason apparently being

that the Pallavas were an intrusive foreign , non-Dravi

di an race , whi ch lorded i t over the ancient terri tori al

Dravidian kingdoms in varying degrees from time to

II — THE PANDYA, CHERA, KERALA, AND SATIYAPUTRA KINGDOMS

The Pandya coun try , as defined by tradi tion , ex

tended north and south from the Southern V ellaru

River (Pudukottai ) to Cape Comorin, and east and westfrom the sea to the great hi ghway,

” the Achchan

kovil Pass leading into Kerala or Travancore , and was

thus nearly co-extensive wi th the present Di stri cts of

Madura and Tinnevelli . The kingdom was ordinarilv

di vided into five prin cipali ties , kn own as the five

Pandyas The capital of the premi er chi ef was in


early days at Korkai on th e Tamr aparni River in Tinne

velli .

Korkai,or Kolkai , the Greek Ko

'

xxot , now an in sign ifican t vi ll age, was once a great city, and is indi cated

by all native tradi tions as the cradle of South Indi an

civili zation, the home of the mythical three brothers,who were supposed to have founded the Pandya

,Chera

,

and Chola kingdoms . In the days of its glory the city

was a seaport, the headquarters of the pearl trade ,which consti tuted the chi ef source of wealth enjoyed

by the Pandya kin gs , whose special crest or cogni zance

was the battle-axe, Often associated wi th the elephant .

In the course of time , the silting up of the delta ren

dered Korkai inaccessible to ships , and the city gradu

ally decayed, lik e the Cinque Ports in England.

Its commercial business was transferred to the new

port , Kayal (Coel) , whi ch was founded three miles

lower down the river, and continued to be for many

centuri es one of the greatest marts of the east . Here

Marco Polo landed in the thirteenth century,and was

much impressed by the wealth and magni ficence of

prince and people . But the same process whi ch had

rui ned Korkai caused the abandonment of Kayal,and

compelled the Portuguese to remove their trade to

Tuticorin,where a sheltered roadstead

,free from de

posits of silt, ofiered superi or conveni ence . The site

of Kayal i s now occupi ed by the huts of a few Moham

medan s and native Chri stian fishermen.

Madura,whi ch was regarded in later tim es as the

Pandya capital,and the central seat of Tami l literatur e


and Nero, an d many other large hoards of Roman coins ,gold

,silver, an d copper, have been di scovered in var ious

localities from time to time .

It i s,therefore , certain that the Pandya state, during

the early centuri es of the Chri stian era,shared along

with the Chera kin gdom of Malabar a very lucrative

trade wi th the Roman empire, and was in exclusive

possession of the much pri zed pearl fishery,whi ch had

i ts headquarters first at Korkai,and afterward at

Kayal.

From the fifth century onwards,occasional refer

en ces to the Pandya dynasty and coun try are met wi th

in literature and in scriptions . When Hi uen Tsang vis

ited the south in 640 A. D .

,and stayed at Kanchi

,the

southern limi t of h is travels, he ascertained that theinh abitants of the region called by him Malakottai ,

whi ch was equivalent to the Pandya state and the Mala

bar coast wi th a portion of the tradi ti onal Chola coun

try, were reputed to care li ttle for learning. In ancient

times many Buddhi st monasteri es had exi sted,but these

were in ruins at the time of hi s vi sit,only the bare

walls remainin g, though the country was studded with

hundr eds of Brahm ani cal temples and the adherents

of the Jain sect were num erous .

Th e most ancient Pandy a king to whom an approx

im ate date can be assigned is Raj asimh a, the contem

p orary of Paran taka I, Chola (907 47 A. who claims

to have defeated hi s southern neighbour,and des

troyed Madur a . A great-grandson of the same Chola

king fought wi th a Pandya raja bearing the name of

END OF THE PANDYAS 369

Vira . The fact that many names or titles,Sundara,

Vira , Kulasekhara, and others, recur over and over

again, causes special difficulty in attempts to construct

the Pandya dynastic li st .

The Pandya state,in common with the other king

doms of the south, un doubtedly was reduced to a con

di ti on of tributary dependence by Rajaraja the Great

about the year 1000 , and continued to be more or less

under Chola control for a century and a half,or a li ttle

longer, although, of course , the local admini stration re

mained in the hands Of the native rajas .The Jain religion, whi ch was popular in the days

of Hi uen Tsang in the seventh century, and had con

tinued to enjoy the favour of the Pandya kings,was

odi ous to their Chola overlords , who were stri ct adher

ents of Siva . A credible tradi tion affirms that , appar

ently at some time in the eleventh century,a Pandya

kin g named Sundara was mar ri ed to a Chola princess ,si ster of King Rajendra

,and was converted from Jain

ism to the Saiva faith by his consort . King Sun dara

di splayed even more than the proverbial zeal of a con

vert,and persecuted hi s late co-reli gionists , who refused

to apostatize,wi th the most savage cruelty infli cting

on no less than eight thousand innocent persons a hor

rible death by impalement . Certain unpublished sculp

tures on the walls of a temple at Trivatur in Arcot

are beli eved to record these executions .

The long dur ati on of Chola supremacy suffices to

explain in large measure the lack of early Pandya

inscriptions . The series does not begin until near the


end of th e twelfth century, but, after that time , the

records are so num erous that a dynasti c li st whi ch

seems to be almost complete for the thirteenth century

has been constructed by Professor Kielhorn . The dynasty can be traced

,with some breaks

,up to the mi ddle

of the sixteenth century, but it lost most of i ts poli tical

im portance after the sack of Madur a by Mali k Kaf ur’s

Mohammedan host in 1310 A. D. The mari time com

merce of the kingdom, however, continued to exi st on

a considerable scale to a much later date .

The most conspi cuous event in the poli tical hi story

of the Pandya kingdom is the invasion of the Sinhalese

arm i es under the command of two generals of Para

krama-bahu, King of Ceylon, whi ch occurred about

1175 A. D . Two detailed accoun ts of thi s incident, wri t

ten from di fieren t points of vi ew,are extant . The

story,as told in the i sland chr oni cle

,the Mahavamsa,

naturally represents the vi ctori ous career of the invad

ers as un broken by defeat ; but the rival account, pre

served in an inscription, proves that the invadi ng army

gained considerable success at first,but was ultimately

obliged to retire in consequence of the vigorous resi st

ance of a coalition of the southern princes . The occa

sion of the Sinhalese intervention was a di sputed

succession to the Pandya throne of Madura,contested

by claimants bearing the oft-recurrin g names of Vira

and Sundara .

Very little can be said about the southwestern kin g

doms , kn own as Chera , Kerala, and Satiyaputra. The

last-named i s mentioned by Asoka only,and its exact


state Of Cochin, whi ch is less complete , does not com

mence un ti l more than two centuri es later.

III l— THE CHOLA KINGDOM

According to tradi tion, the Chola country (Chola

mandalam ) was bounded on the north by the Penn ar ,and on the south by the southern V ellaru River, or,in other words , i t extended along the eastern coast

from Nellore to Pudukottai , where i t abutted on the

Pandya terri tory. On the west it extended to the bor

ders of Coorg. The limi ts thus defined include Madr as,and several other Bri ti sh di stri cts on the east, as well

as the whole of the Mysore state . The most anci ent

capital was Uraiyur, or Old Tri chinopoli , so far as i s

known with certainty.

But the exi stence of well-known tradi tional boun

daries must not be taken to justify the inference that

they always agreed with the fr ontiers of the Chola

kingdom, whi ch, as a matter of fact , vari ed enormously.

The limi ts of the Chola country, as determin ed by tra

di tion,seem to mark ethni c rather than poli ti cal fron

tiers , at least on the north and west, where they do not

difier widely from the lines of demarcation between

the Tamil and the other Dravidian languages . Tamil ,however, i s as much the vernacular of the Pandya as

of the Chola region,and no clear ethni cal di stincti on

can be dr awn between the peoples residing north and

south of the V ellaru .

The kingdom of the Cholas,which

,like that of the

Pandyas, was unknown to Panini , was fami liar by name

THE CHOLA KINGDOM 373

to Katyayana, and was recogni zed by Asoka as inde

pendent . Inasmuch as the great Maurya’

s authori ty

un questionably extended to the south of Chitaldurg in

Mysore, and down to at least the fourteenth degree

WATER LILIES m BOTAN IC GARDEN , MADRASFrom stereograph , COpyn gh t 1903, b y Underwood Underwood , New York .

of latitude,the Chola kingdom of hi s time must have

been of modest dimensions .

A passage in the work of Ptolemy, the geographer

of the second century A. D.,i s usually interpreted as

referrin g to the Chola kingdom , and in tirnating that

Ar cot was then the capital . But the language used is


Obscure , and the true meaning doubtful. Occasional

references to the country throw little light upon its

hi story.

From about the middl e of the second century A. D .

the lordship of the Chola country, as defined by tradi

tion,was disputed by the intrusive Pallava clans of

foreign origin. Chola rajas continued to exi st through

out all poli tical vici ssitudes , and to take part in the

unceasing internecine wars which characteri ze the early

hi story of Southern India . It is clear,however

,that

these rajas were often reduced to a merely subordinate

position,and were much circumscribed in authori ty .

The observations of Hi uen Tsang give an interest

ing notice of the Chola kingdom in the seventh century,the signi ficance of whi ch has not been fully appreciated.

Hi s vi sit to the south may be dated wi th almost absolute

certainty in the year 640 A. D . At that time the king

dom of Chola (Chu-li -ye) was a restri cted territory ,estimated to be four or five hundred mi les in circui t ,wi th a small capital town barely two miles in circum

ference . The country was wild and mostly deserted ,consi sting of a succession of hot marshes and jungles

occupied by a scanty population of ferocious habits ,addi cted to Open brigandage . The few Buddhi st mon

asteri es were ruinous,and the monks dwelli ng in them

as di rty as the buildings . The prevai ling reli gi on was

Jaini sm, but there were a few Brahmani cal temples .

The position of the country is indi cated as bein g

some two hundred miles or less to the southwest of

Amaravati . It must , therefore , be identified with a


deva the Great,put an end to dynastic intri gue , and

placed at the head of the state a man qualified to make

it the leading power in the south . In the cour se of a

busy reign of some twenty-seven years , Rajaraja passed

from vi ctory to vi ctory , and, when he died, was beyond

di spute the lord paramount of Southern Indi a , ruling

a realm whi ch included nearly the whole of the Madras

Presidency,Ceylon

,and a lar ge part of Mysore .

Hi s earli est recorded conquests were won on the

mainland toward the north and west between the

twelfth and fourteenth years of hi s reign, and com

pri sed the Eastern Chalukya kingdom of Vengi,for

merly held by the Pallavas, Coorg, and extensive

regi ons in the table-land of the Deccan . During the

next three years,Qui lon (Kollam) , on the Malabar

coast,and the northern kingdom of Kalinga were added

to hi s domin ions . Protracted campaigns in Ceylon next

occupied Rajaraja , and resulted in the annexation of

the i sland in the twentieth year of hi s reign .

The ancient enmi ty between the Chalukyas and the

Pallavas was inh eri ted by the Chola power,and led to

a four years ’ war whi ch ended in the defeat of the

Chalukyas , who had not long been freed from subj ection

to the Rash trakutas. Rajaraja, moreover, di d not con

fine hi s operations to the land: He possessed a power

f ul navy , and hi s last martial exploit was the acqui sition

of a large num ber of unspecified i slands,meaning

,per

haps , the Laccadives and Maldives .

The magnificent temple at hi s capital,Tanjore (Tan

juvur ) , built by hi s comm and, the .

walls Of whi ch are

VIEW OF TIIE GREAT TEMPLE AT BHUV LNESWAE.


member of the Eastern Chalukya dynasty of Vengi .

That province, si tuated between the Kri shn a and Goda

vari Rivers, had been ruled, after its conquest in the

time of Rajaraja, by the local kin gs as a fief of the

Tanjore monarchy. In 1070 A. D .,however

,Rajendra

Choladeva II took advantage of internal di ssensions to

sei ze the throne of hi s lord, and thus to foun d a new

lin e of Chola-Chalukya kings . His special achi evement

in war was hi s defeat of the Paramara King of Dhara

in Central Indi a .

V ik rama Chola,whose exploits are the subject Of

a Tam i l poem of some meri t,is remembered for a suc

cessf ul raid on Kalinga in 1120 A. D .

After the time of V ikrama,the Chola power gradu

ally declined,and during the thir teenth century the

Pandya Kings of Madura recovered their in dependence,and even reduced the Chola rajas to a position of in

f eriori ty. The Mohammedan invasion under Malik

Kafur in 1310 deprived the Chola kingdom of its impor

tance , but local chi efs of the old dynasty may be traced

as late as the fifteenth and sixteenth centur i es .

IV — THE FALLAVA CONFEDERACY

Al though the Pallavas seem to have been the pre

mi er power in the south for more than four centuri es ,it is strange that no mention of them i s to be found

either in the vernacular hi stori cal legends or in the

native dynastic li sts . They had been forgotten,and

remained unk nown to Eur opean inqui rers until the acci

THE PALLAVA CONFEDERACY

dental di scovery of a copper-plate grant in 1840 re

minded the world that such a dynasty had exi sted.

Sixty years of patient archaeological research have

elicited so many facts that it i s now possible to wri te

an outlin e of Fallava hi story,wi th some breaks

,from

the second century A. D. to the Chola conquest in 996,

and for the last few centuri es of that long period to

wri te it almost continuously.

The ori gin of the Pallava clan or tribe is obscure .

The name appears to be identical with Pahlava, the

appellation of a foreign clan or tribe frequently men

tioned in inscriptions and Sanskrit literature,and ulti

mately with Parthiva, or Parthian .

Thi s apparently sound etym ology naturally suggests

the theory that the Pallavas,who became a ruling race

in the south,must have come originally from the coun

tri es beyond the northwestern frontier of Indi a , and

gradually worked their way down to Malabar and the

Coromandel coast . Thi s theory is supported by the

ascertain ed fact that Pahlavas formed a di stinct and

noticeable element in the population of Western India

early in the second century, when they were classed

by native wri ters wi th the Sakas and Yavanas as

objects of hostili ty to native kings .

Vilivayakura II ,the An dhra king (113 to 138 A.

prided himself on hi s prowess in expelling the Sakas,Yavanas, and Pahlavas from h is domini ons on the west

ern coast ; and it is reasonable to believe that some of

the defeated clans retired into the interior toward the

east and south . The Sakas retained the government of


the pen in sula Of Surashtra until the closing years of the

four th century, but no Pahlava principality in Western

Indi a is menti oned, and it i s qui te credible that the

Pahlavas may have sought their fortune in the south .

When first heard of in the second century A. D . the

Pallavas are already a ruling race , and their kin g, Siva

skanda-varman, was lord of so many subordinate chi efs

that he considered himself authori zed to perform the

asvamedha, or horse-sacrifice, a ri te permi ssible only

to a paramoun t sovereign .

On the whole,although posi tive evidence of the

supposed mi gration is lacking, it is hi ghly probable

that the Pallavas were really identical wi th the Pah

lavas , and were a foreign tribe whi ch gradually fought

its way across Indi a and formed thr ee principali ti es

at Kanchi,Vengi , and Palakkada, whi ch were known

as “ the three Pallava domin i ons . ” Thi s movement

from the west must have occupi ed a considerable time,and may be assumed to have ended before 150 A. D.

The three Pallava chi efs seem to have belonged to

di f ferent sections of the tribe , whi ch had become thor

oughly Hi ndui zed, wi th a special leaning, occasionally

to Buddhi sm and Vi shnui sm,but more often to the

Saiva faith .

The home terri tori es actually coloni zed and dir ectly

admin i stered by the Pallavas do not seem to have been

very extensive . The Pallava power was superimposed

upon the ancient terri torial states , much in the same

way as the Mahratta power was in later tim es,and

presumably was confined ordinarily to the levyin g of


the worship of Vi shnu,but in later tM es the rajas

inclin ed to the cul t of Siva , and adopted the figure of

a bull as the fami ly crest .

The celebrated rock-cut temples at Mam allaipuram

near Madras, commonly called the Seven Pagodas,

”

were excavated under the orders of various kings of the

dynasty during the sixth and seventh centur ies,as

were also the cave-temples at Mahendr avadi and Ma

mandur in North Arcot . The temples at the former

place , three Saiva and one Vai shn ava, date from the

reign of Mahendra-varman I,who came to the throne

about A. D. 600 .

The first Pallava king about whom anything sub

stan tial is known was Sivaskanda-varman ,who lived

in the second century A. D . Hi s capital , although not

expressly named,was doubtless Kanchi

,and hi s power

extended into the Telugu country as far as the Kri shna

River,over territory included at times in the An dhr a

kingdom . He had Officers stationed at Amaravati

(Dhanakataka) , the famous Buddhi st holy place , but

he himself was an orthodox Hin du,with a special devo

tion for Siva . The king ’s boast that he had celebrated

the asvamedha,or horse-sacrifice

,is good evidence that

he exerci sed juri sdiction over a considerable number

of subordinate rajas . He confirmed a grant made by

an ancestor named Bappa,possibly hi s father, who

may be regarded as the foun der of the dynasty.

The next glimpse of the Pallavas i s Obtained two

centuri es later from the record of the temporary con

quests eff ected by the northern monarch, Samudra


fifth day of the sixth fortnight of the rainy season in

the eighth regnal year.

Several Pallava gr ants are known to have been

i ssued from the court at Palakkada , and i t i s reasonable

to assume that Ugrasena of Palakka was a Pallava,a kinsman and subordinate of the King of Kanchi

,lik e

Hasti -varm an of Vengi . An early inscription of ap

proximately the same period, found in Mysore , mentions

a grant of land on the shore of the western ocean ”

as having been made by the Pallava sovereign of

Kanchi .

From all these parti culars the conclusion may be

drawn that in the fourth century thr ee Pallava chi efs

were establi shed at Kanchi , Vengi , and Palakkada, the

latter two being subordinate to the fir st,and that Pal

lava rule extended from the Godavari on the north to

the Pandya boundary,or the Southern V ellaru River,

on the south,whi le it stretched across Mysore from

sea to sea .

A raja named Simha-varm an I I,son of the Crown

Prince V ishnugop a previously menti oned, i ssued a

grant in the eighth year of hi s reign from Dasanapura.

Hi s father ’s grant and thi s document,when read to

gether, give a complete genealogy of the Kin gs of

Kanchi for five generations and an equal number of

rei gns , coveri ng a period of about a century, but, un

fortunately,neither the initial nor the terminal year

of thi s peri od can be fixed wi th preci sion .

Numerous documents executed by both Pallava and

Chalukya kings during the sixth,seventh

,and eighth

THE PALLAVA CAPITAL 387

centuries, furni shed wi th copious genealogical details ,supply suffici ent material for the reconstruction of the

outline of Pallava hi story durin g the period extendin g

from about 575 to 770 A. D .

The Pallava dominion was evidently Of wide extent

durin g the reign of Simh avishnu ,who claims to have

defeated the King of Ceylon,as well as sundry conti

nen tal k ings , including the Chola, Pandya , and Kerala

rajas . Hi s successor, Mahendra-varman I, was contem

p orary wi th the earli er years of Puli kesin II , the great

est of the Western Chalukya sovereigns,who fought hi s

way to the throne in 608 A. D . and was crowned in the

following year. The ambition of thi s monarch naturally

brought him into confli ct wi th the Pallavas, at that

time the leadin g power of the south.

About the year 609 or 610 A. D ., Pulik esin defeated

Mahendra-varman , and drove him to take shelter behind

the wall s Of hi s capital, Kanchi . The seri ousness ofthe defeat is proved by the fact that the province of

Vengi,whi ch had been in the possession of a Pallava

chi eftain for centuries , was ann exed by the Chalukya

king, who placed it in charge of V ishn uvardh ana, hi s

younger brother . Af ter a few years , in or about

620 A. D .

,thi s prince established him self as an inde

pendent sovereign,and so foun ded the Eastern Cha

lukya line , whi ch subsi sted as a separate dynasty un til

1070 A. D . ,when it was merged in the Chola dynasty .

Notwithstanding the loss of thi s important province,the Pallava king claimed to have gained a vi ctory over

the invader at Pullalura near Kanchi . Thi s boast prob


ably means that Pulikesin was repulsed in an attempt

to seize the Pallava capital, and was compelled to retire

to hi s own territory.

Hiuen Tsang, who vi sited Kanchi in the year

640 A. D., during the reign of Narasimha-varman I, and

stayed there for a considerable time,calls the country

PAVIL ION , LITTLE CONJEVARAM.

of whi ch Kanchi was the capi tal by the name Of

Dravida, and describes it as about a thousand mi les

in circui t . It corresponded, therefore, very closely with

the tradi tional Chola coun try (Chola-mandalam )between the Peun ar and Southern V ellaru Rivers . The

soil was fertile and regularly cul tivated, producing

abundance of grain, flowers, and frui ts . The capital

was a large ci ty, five or six miles in circumference .


tune and in 642 A. D . , at the close of hi s reign and life ,suff ered the mortification of seeing hi s kingdom over

run,and hi s capital , V atap i (Badami ) , taken by the

Pallava kin g, Narasimha-varman I. The Chalukya

power then remained in abeyance for some thirteen

years,dur ing whi ch the Ballavas governed the kingdom,

doubtless thr ough the agency of local rajas .

In or about 655 A. D . , V ikram adi tya I, a son of

Pulikesin ,retri eved the fortunes of hi s fami ly, and

recovered hi s father ’s domini ons from Paramesvara

varman,who had succeeded to the Pallava throne .

During thi s war Kanchi was taken and occupied for a

time by the Chalukyas . On the other hand, the Pallavas

claimed a vi ctory gained at Peruvalanallur .

The perennial confli ct contin ued during the succeed

ing reigns , and Kanchi was again taken by V ikram a

di tya II Chaluk ya, about 740 A. D .,in the reign of Nandi

varman Pallava, who may be considered the last of hi s

line to enjoy extensive domini on .

When the Rashtrakutas supplanted the Chalukyas

in the mi ddl e of the eighth century, the traditional hos

tili ty of the two powers was not abated, and the new

rulers took up the old quarrel wi th the Pallavas. King

Dhruva, cousin of D antidurga, who had overthrown

the Chaluk ya dynasty,infli cted a defeat on the Pallavas

about 775 A. D .,and hi s son

,Govin da I II

,levied tribute

f rom Dan tiga, King of Kanchi , in 803A. D.

Duri n g the tenth century we hear of wars between

the Pallavas and the Ganga Kings of Gangavadi , or

Mysore, who are now commonly known as the Western

THE END OF THE PALLAVAS 391

Gangas, in order to di stingui sh them from the family

of the same name whi ch rul ed Kalinga , and held court

at Kalin ganagara, the modern Mukhalingam in the

Ganjam District .

Toward the close of the tenth century,Rajaraja the

Great, the Chola king (985 - 1011 A. succeeded in

reducing to subj ection all the kingdoms of the south,

and in making himself lord paramoun t of Southern

Indi a . Thi s able monarch ann exed Vengi in 996 A. D .,

and in subsequent years brought under hi s sway both

Kalin ga and the terri tori es of the Rash trakutas,whi ch

had been recovered by Taila, the Chalukya king, in

973 A. D. The operations of Rajaraja put an end to

the B allava independent power,whi ch had lasted for

more than eight centuri es .

The later Pallava chi efs sank into the position of

mere feudatory nobles and officials in the servi ce of

the terri torial kingdoms , and it is on record that the

Pallava raja took the first place among the feudatori es

of Kin g V ikram a Chola early in the twelfth century.

The rajas can be traced as in possession of limi ted local

power down to the thirteenth century, and Pallava

nobles are mentioned as late as the close of the seven

teenth century .

The raja of the Pudukottai tributary state , who is

the recogni zed head of the Kallar tribe , still styles h im

self Raja Pallava, and claims descent f rom the ancient

royal fami ly. The V ellalas, who admi ttedly hold the

first place among the Tamil -speaking agri cul tural

classes,profess to be descended in the female line from


the Pallava kings, wi th whom the Palli caste , as well

as the Kallar,boasts a connection. Th e latter caste

exerci sed,durin g the eighteenth century, a formi dable

control over the peaceable inhabitants of the Carnati c,

from whom i ts members levi ed blackmai l on a regular

system,and so probably continued the practi ce whi ch

had made the Pallavas a terror to their neighbours

in the early centuri es of the Chri stian era.

APPEND IX I

CHRONOLOGY (APPROXIMATE OF SAISUNAGA AND NANDADY ASTIES

Lengt h of Reign .

Vayu P. Assumed .

SAI SUNAGA

DYNASTY.

Sisunaga 40

Sak avarna 36

Kshem adh arman 20NOthm g known .

Kshattraujas 40

B . C.

O"

meo

w,

Bimb isara

Darsaka Noth ing kn own .

(Harshaka)Udaya Built city of Patal iputra.

Nandivardhan a

MahanandinNothing known .

TotalAverage

NANDADYNASTY.

Mahapadma, etc .

9 ; 2 gen erations

MAURYADYNASTY.

ChandraguptaB indusara .

AsokaDeath of Asoka cir. 232

End of Maurya cir . 184

Dynasty

BuiltNewRajagriha ; annexed Anga ; contemp orarywi th Mahavi ra andGautama Buddh a ; voyage oi Skylax , c ir . 500 .

Parri cide ; d eath of Ma

havira, c ir . 490 ; deathof Buddha, 487 ; b u iltfort of Pataliputra ;wars with Kosala and

Va isali .

T ib etan tradition reckons 10 reigns from NO .

6 , Ajatasatru, to NO . 15,

Asoka, in clusive ; and

p lacesAsoka’

s accessionin 234 A . D . (Rockh il l,Lif e of the B ud dha , pp .

33, He is said to

have waited Khotan i n250 and 254 A . B . (J . A .

S. B . 1886 , part 1 , pp .

APPEND IX II

CHRONOLOGY OF THE INDIAN CAMPAIGN OF ALEXANDER THE

DATE B . C.

Sept - OctoberEnd of October

325

Till September:

Beginn ing of

OctoberEnd of October

GREAT

FROM MAY, 327, TO MAY, 324 B . c.

EVENT .

The Advance.

Passage of Hindu Kush mountains over the Khawak and

Kaoshan passes.From Nikaia (Jalalabad ) , Alexander wi th p icked force p rooced a to the subjugation of the mountains ; Hephaistionwith rest of army advancing to the Indus th rough the

valley of the Kabul River .Capture of str ongh old of Astes (Hast i) by Hephai stion af terth irty d ays’

si ege .Alexander subdivides hi s force , advan cing in person againstthe Aspasians ; he crosses the Gouraios (Pan jkora River ,cap tures Massaga of the Assaken ians probably nglaur

on Suwat River and massacres ndi an mer cenari es.Siege of Aornos h aban ) .Cap ture of Aornos (Mah aban) .

Arrival of Alexander at bri dge-h ead at Ch ind .

Halt of army f or thi rty days.

Passage of Indus in beginn ing of spring halt at Taxila.

Advan ce eastward .

Arrival at the Hydaspes (J ib lam) River.Battle of the Hydaspes ; d efeat of Pores.

Foundation of Nikaia and Boukephala ; passage of the Ake

sin es (Ch inab) River n ear the foot of the h ills .

Passage of the Hydraotes (Ravi) River, an d confli ct wi th theKathaaans .

Arrival at the Hyphasis (Bias) River ; refusal of army top roceed farth er.

Retir ement to the Hydaspes (J ihlam) River.Commen cemen t of voyage down the rivers, and of march of

army escort ing the fleet .

Collapse of the Mallian power.V oyage con tinued , fighting wi th the Sogdoi , Sambos, Mousi

kanos, etc .

Departur e of Alexander to march th rough Gedrosia.

Nearchos starts on voyage to the Persian Gulf.396

YEAR

APPENDIX III

THE MAURYA DYNASTY

CHR ONOLOGICAL TABLE

EVENT.

Chandragup ta Maurya in h is youth met Alexander the Great .

Alexander qu itted Ind ia.

Alexander , wh i le in Karmania, received n ews of the murder ofh is satrap Philippos, i n Ind ia ; and p laced Eudamos and

Am bh i , Ki ng of Taxi la, in charge of the Indian p rovin ces .

Death of Alexander at Babylon .

Revolt of Pan jab under Chandragup ta Maurya.

Destruction of Nan da dynasty of Magadha ; accession of Chan

dragupta Maurya as Emp eror of India .

Second partition of Alexander’s emp ire at Tr iparadeisos.Seleukos Nikator comp elled by Antigonos to retire to Egyp t .Recovery of Babylon by Seleukos.

Estab lishm ent of Seleuk idan era.

Assump tion by Seleukos of ti tle of ki ng.

Invasion of India by Seleukos.

Defeat of Seleukos by Ch and ragup ta ; tr eaty of peace ; cession of

a large p art of Ariana by Seleukos .

March of Seleuk os again st Antigonos.

Megasthenes amb assador of Seleukos at Pataliputra.

Defeat and death of An tigonos at Ipsos in Phrygia.

Access ion of B indusara Am itraghata as Emp eror of India.

Deim achos ambassador of Seleukos at Patalip utra.

Ptolemy Ph iladelphos, King of Egypt , acc .

Seleukos Nikator , Ki ng of Syria, d . An tiochos Soter, h is son , acc .

An tigonos Gonatas, King of Macedon ia, grandson of Antiochos I,ac c .

Alexan der, Ki ng of Ep irus, son of Pyrrhus, and opp onen t of

Antigonos Gonatas, acc .

Accession of Asoka-vardhana as Emperor of India .

Coron ation (abhiskelca) of Asoka .

Outb reak of Fir st Pun i c War .

Conquest of Kalinga by Asoka ; Antiochos Th eos, King of Syria,son of An tiochos Soter, acc .

Asoka ab olish ed hun ting, in stituted tours d evoted to works of

p iety, and d espatch ed mi ssionaries.

Magas, K ing of Cyr en e , half-brother of Ptolemy Ph iladelphos,d ied ; (2) Alexan der , K ing of Ep irus, died .

Rock Ed icts III and IV of Asoka, who in stituted qu inquenn ialofii cial p rogresses f or p ropagation of Law of Piety (dharma) , andded i cated cave-dwellings at Barab ar for the use of th e Aj ivikas.

Pub lication of comp lete series of Fourteen Rock Ed icts, and of

the Kalinga Borderers’

Edict byAsoka, who app ointed Censorsof the Law of Pi ety (dharmamakamatrah) .

Asoka enlarged f or the second t im e the stup a of Konakam ana

Buddh a n ear Kap ilavastu .

Pub li cation by Asoka of the Kalinga Provin cials’

Ed i ct .

D ed icat ion by Asoka of a thi rd cave-dwelling at Barab ar for theuse of th e Aj ivikas

YEAR

CHRONOLOGICAL APPEND IXES 399

EVENT .

Pilgrimage of Asoka to Buddh ist h oly p lace‘

s ; erection of p i llarsat Lumbin i Garden and a stup a of Konakam ana ; (7) h is vis i t toNepal, and foundation of Lali ta Patan h is daugh ter Charum ati

becomes a nun .

Ptolemy Ph iladelphos, King of Egyp t, di ed .

Antiochos Th eos, K ing of Syria, grand son of Seleukos Nikator,d i ed ; revolt about th is time of Diodotos (T heodotos), and separation of Bactria from the Seleuki dan emp ir e .

Composition by Asoka of Pillar Ed ict VI, confirm ing the RockEdi cts.

Publicati on by Asoka of complete series of Seven Pillar Edi ctsAntigonos Gonatas, King of Macedon ia, d ied .

Close of Fi rst Pun ic War ; rise of the kin gdom of Pergamum .

Supp lementary Pil lar Ed icts of Asoka.

Publicat ion of Minor Rock Ed icts and Bhabra Ed ict ; Asoka diedDasaratha (Kusala, Vayu Emperor of India , acc . , and ded icated Nagarjun i caves to theAj ivikas ; b reak-up of Maurya em

p ire b egan .

Sangata Maurya, ki ng (Bandhupali ta, Vayu P .)Salisuka Maurya, k ing (Indrapalita, VayuSom asarman Maurya, king (Dasavarman , or Devavarman, Vayu

P .

Satadh anwan Maurya, king (Satadhara, VayuB ri hadrath a Maurya, king (B rihadasva, VayuPushyam itra Sunga, acc .

,having slain Brihadratha ; fina l destruc

t ion of Maurya emp ire .

K a n va D y nas'

rv .

Leng th of Re ign Length of Reign .

Trad i t ional .

m i t r a (v.

2 (Vayu a n d

Matsya)a (v. I. Ma 3 (Vayu a n d

d ana . etc . ) Matsya )v a s u 3 ( Vayu a n d

Matsya)ra (v. I. V i

32 (Vayu

b u m i (v. I. 10 (Vayubh um i

,etc . )

Dynasty . 1 V asudeva 9 (Vayu and

Matsya)2 B 11um im itra 14 (d itto)3 Narayana 12 (d itto)4 10 (d i tto)

End of

Length of Reign .

ACCGSNO .

Trad i t ional . 8m“ Trad i t ional .

(o l. Sisuk a, 23 (Vayu and 23 220 18 Mandalaka (v l Man 5 (Vayu a n d

talaka, etc . ) Matsya )18 (M a t s y a ) ; 18 197 19 Pur ind rasena (v. I.

10 or 18 Pur ishasena. etc . )20 Sundara Satakarn i

Satakarn i 56 (Vayu ) ; 18 10 179

18 (Vayu and 18 169

or Matsya)of

28 (Vayu a n d

56 (Matsya and 40durationVayu) ad j usted )

18 (Vayu and 18

Matsya)12 (Vayu and 12

Matsya )18 (Matsya)

18 (Matsya)

7 (Matsya)

3 (Matsya)

8 (Matsya)

1 (Matsya)

36 (M a t s ya ) ; 32

24 (Vayu)(d urationad j usted )

38 (Matsya) 38

25 (Vayu and 25

Matsya ) End of Dynas ty5 (Matsya) ; 1 5

(Vayu )

24, 27 determ ined ap p roximately b y inscri p t ions .‘ 30 k ings , accord ing to V ishnu Pn rana , reign ing f or u

V ilivayak ura I (V as ish th iputra Cha

kora or Rajada Satakarn i)Sivalakura (Madharr iputra S a k a s e n a

S i v a Satakarui-svati )

V i livayakura I I (Gautam ip utra Sri Sata

karn i )Pulumayi I I (V as i

sh th iputra Sr i P.

Satakarn i )Siva Sr i (V as ish th iputra)S i v a Skanda Sata

karn iYajna Sri (Can tamiputra Svam i Sr i Y.

Satakarn i )V ijaya (Sl‘ l Satakarn i)

Vad a Sri (V asish th iputra Sri V . Sata

karn i)Pulumayi III

404 CHRONOLOGICAL APPEND IXES

GREEK TITLE OB“AME“ EPITHET .

Plato . Ep iphanes 165 B . o. , contemporary wi th B ukratides, No. 17 .

C?) Polyxenos Ep iphanes, Num . Citron , 1896, p . 269 Mr . RapsonSoter doub ts the genuineness of the un ique

coin describ ed .

Soter, Ep ipha Contemporary wi th Heliokles.

nes, D ikaios

Soter Son , or grandson , of No. 38.

Euergetes J . A . S . B ., 1898, part i , p . 130.

Dikaios J . A . S. B ., 1897 , part i, p . 1 ; con

nected with Lysias .

Zoilos Soter, D ikaios Apparently later th an Apollodotos.

DATE.

c . 65

0 . 90- 100

APPENDIX VI

APPROXIMATE KUSHAN CHRONOLOGY

EVENT .

Expulsion of main body of Yueh -ch i hord e from Kan-sub by theHiung-nu .

Nan -tiu-m i , ch ief of theWu-sun , killed by the Yueh-ch i .Yueh -ch i occupation of th e Saka terri tory ; Saka m igration .

Saka invasion of India.

Exp ulsi on of Yueh -chi from Saka terri tory by Koen-muo, the youngWu-sun chief, son of Nan-tiu-m i .

Reduction of the Ta~ h ia, b oth north and south of the Oxus, to vas

salage by the Yueh-ch i , who b egin to settle d own .

D espatch by Chin ese Emperor Wu-ti of Chang-kien as envoy to the

Yueh -ch i .Arrival of Chang-ki en at Yueh-chi h eadquarters, north of the Oxus .

Return of Chang-kien to Ch ina.

Death of Chang-kien .

Extension of Yueh -ch i settlements to the lands south of the Oxus ;occupati on of Ta-h ia capital , Lan -sh eu , south of the river, p robably Balkh .

Formation of five Yneh-ch i p rincipal ities , including Kushan and

Bamian .

Ep och of the Malava or Vikrama era.

Ind ian embassy to Augustus.

The Ch inese graduate , King-hi en , or King-In , instructed in Buddh istbooks by a Yueh -ch i king .

T emporary cessation of intercourse between Ch ina and theWest.Augustus, Roman Emperor, d ied ; T ib eri us acc.

En d of First , or Early Han dyn asty of Ch ina.

Gains (Caligula), Roman Emperor, acc.

Claud ius , Roman Emperor, acc.

Kadph ises I Kushan (Ki eu-tsien -k io, Kozolakadaphes, etc .) acc .

Consolidation of the five Yneh -ch i p rincipal ities into Kushan emp ireunder Kadph ises I ; conquest by h im of Kab ul (Kao-f u) , Bactria(Pota) , and Kashmir (Ki-p in) Hermaios, Greek king in Kab uland Pan jab , con temporary.

Nero , Roman Em peror, acc.

Budd h ist books sen t f or by Ch in ese Emp eror, Min g-ti .Galba, Otho, and V itellius, Roman Emp erors.

V espasian , Roman Emperor (acc . Dec . 22,Pub lication of Pliny ’

s Natural History.

Epoch of the Saka, or Salivahan a era.

Titus, Roman Emperor, acc .

D omit ian , Roman Emperor, acc.

Death of Kadph ises I, at age of 80 Kadph ises II, h is son , acc.

Yen -kao-ch ing, Hima Kadph ises, etc .) the Nameless K ing,”Soter Meyas, contemporary and subord inate .

Kad p h ises II d efeated by Chin ese gen eral Pan -ch ’ao, and compelled

to pay trib ute to Ch ina.

Annexation of North ern India, and destruction of Indo-Parth ian powerin the Pan jab by Kadph ises II .

Nerva, Roman Emperor, acc.

406

APPENDIX VII

CHRONOLOGY OF THE GUPTAoPERIOD

DATE A. D. REMARKS .

c ir . 308 Li chchh avi marriage of Chandragupta IFoundat ion of

Chandragupta I acc . to i ndependent p ower

Samudragupta acc .

Em bassy from King Meghavarna of CeylonCampaigns in North ern In dia

Campaign in South ern IndiaHorse-sacrifice

Chandragup ta II acc.

Con quest of W esternUdayagiri inscrip tionTravels of Fa-h ien in Gup ta empireGarhwa inscriptionSilver coin s of western typ eSanch i inscrip tion

Kumaragupta I acc.

B ilsar i nscriptionGarhwa inscriptionMathura in scriptionMand asor in scription

Si lver coin sSilver coinsSilver coin sSi lver coins and Mankuwar inscriptionsSilver coi nsPushyam itra war

Silver coin sSilver coins

Skandagup ta acc .fir st Hun war

Emb ankmen t of lake at Girnar rebuiltTem p le erected th ereKahaon inscription (Gorakhpur D istr ict)Silver coin sSilver coinsIn dor inscription (Bulandshah r District)Si lver coin sSecond Hun war 151-61

Pali inscription (Ep . Ind . 2 . 363)Puragupta Prakasad itya) acc .

Narasimhagup ta Balad itya acc.

Kumaragupta II acc .

Song-Yun visited Wh ite Hun Ki ng of Gandhara

Later Gupta dynasty of MagadhaDynasty of Valabh iToramana

Mih iragula Defeat c ir . 528

S ilad itya of Mo-la-po

APPEND IX VIII

CHRONOLOGY OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY

Persecution of Buddhism by Sasanka .

Rajya-vardh ana, Raja of Thanesar , acc .

Harsha-vardh ana, Raja of Than esar , acc .

Conqu est of North ern India by Harsha.

Coronation of Harsha as Lord Paramount of N. India.

Tang dyn asty of Chi na ac c .

Gan jam insc ripti on of Sasanka .

Defeat of Harsha by Pul ikesin II Chalukya.

Banskh era inscription of Harsh a .

Hinen Tsang, Ch in ese p ilgrim , b egan h is travels.Madhub an inscription of Harsh a.

Recep tion by Harsha of A-lo-

pen and oth er Syrian Chri st ians,who introd uced Nestori an ism into Ch ina in 635 A . D .

Exp ed ition of Harsha to Gan jam (Kongoda) ; h is meet ingwith Hinen Tsang Ch inese m ission of Li -I-p iao and Wanghi nen -tse.

Harsha’

s assem bli es at Kanauj and Prayaga ; Hinen Tsangstarted on return journ ey.

Second m issi on of Wang-h i nen -tse despatched arrival ofHiuen Tsang in Chi na.

647- 8 Death of Harsha ; usurpation of Arjuna (A-lo-na-sh oen , orO-lo-na-sh oen ) attack on Ch inese mi ssion ; defeat of Arjuna byWang-h in en -tse wi th aid of Nepalese and Tib e tan s .

Th ir d m issi on of Wang-h in en -tse.

I-tsing, Ch in ese p ilgrim , b egan h is travels.

Residen ce of I-tsing at Nalan da monastery.Composition of I-tsing

’

s RecordReturn of I -tsing to Ch ina.

412 INDEX

Sibyrt ios, satrap of , 109Arcadius , Roman emperor, 367Archaeology , resul ts obtained from,

260

Arch ias ,ofli cer of Nearchos, 97

Arch itecture , Indian , earliest examplesof, 125

Not Greek, 217In Gupta per iod , 279-280

Ar ia : the Herat coun try , 36 , 108Ar ian a, cess ion of part of, 108, 2 14Arjun a, usurper, 316—317

Arms, Indian ,62

, 114

Aror Alor, 89Arrian ,

on India, 13

Arsakes , leader of Parth ian revolt, 200Art , Indian , earliest examples of, 125Aryavarta, 251

Asandh im itra, legendary queen of Asoka,175

Asoka, contemporary with An tiochos

Th eos, 20D ates of accession and death of

,133,

139, 398

Abolish ed royal hun t , 112 , 156Provincials’ Edict of

,118

The “king’s men

” of,119

Beginn ings of art and arch itecture inreign of, 125

Full name Asoka-vardh ana, 130V iceroy of Taxila and Ujjain

,130— 132

Went on pilgrimage , 135Ordained as m onk , 137D eath of, 139Buddh ist coun cil convoked by, 139Buildings of, 143— 145

Inscriptions of,139, 145- 150

Legend of, 151Eth ics of

,153

Enf orced san ctity of animal life , 153Toleration of

,157

Appointed Censors, 160Provided for travellers and sick

,163,

305

D espatched foreign m issions, 166Sent h is b roth er Mah endra to SouthernIndia and Ceylon , 167

Made Buddh ism a world-religion , 170Ch aracter of, 171Sons and successors of, 175D isruption of empire of

,188

Kan ishka legends resembling th ose of,235

Aspasians , tribe , 45Assakenoi , nation ,

47

Astes " Hasti , 43Astola (As talu), en chan ted isle, 96A strologers, control of, 123Asvamed h a z h orse sacrifice

,q . u.

Attila,Hun king, 285

Attock (Atak), town , 54Augustus , Indian embassies to, 367Avan ti=Malwa , q. v.

Avant ivarman , King of Kashm ir , 328Azes I and II

,Indo-Parth ian kings, 207,

217

Azilises, Indo-Parthi an king, 207

B

Bactria, Alexander’s conquest of, 42Prem ier satrapy , 198

B ajaur , valley , 45B alad itya, king, 283, 288Balkh Z ar iaspa, 198

Secondary Hun cap ital, 286B amyin , Hun h eadquar ters, 286Bana, author, 18, 294 , 304Bankipur , on site of Pataliputra, 110, 144Banyan h ospital

,164

B ar waterless uplands,83

Barabar caves, 145, et seq.

Basava,founded Lingayat sect, 359

Battle-axe, a Pandya cogn izance, 366B az ira

,town in the b ills

,49

,50

Benares Kasi , 25Bengal, Samudragup ta

’s campaign in ,

261

In cluded in Harsha’s dom in ions

, 300

Dynast ies of , 343—348

Bhab ra edi ct , 147, 150Bh andi

,cousin of Harsh a, 299

B hanugup ta, raja, 283'Bhaskara-varm an= Kumara Raja, q. v.

,

318

B h atarka, founded V alabh i dynasty , 284Bh ima, King of Gujarat, 336Bhoja

,of Dh ara, 336 , 341

Bh ojpur,lak e , 342

B humaka,Kshah arata

,192

,263

B ih ar,province Magad ha, 25, 345

B ijjala, Kalachurya king, 359B ikram

,raja, 2 78

B ilh ana, auth or, 18, 358B imb isara

,king, 27, 39

B indusara, king, 109, 127Bodh Gaya, Asoka’

s m onastery at, 256D esolate in Fa-h ien ’

s t im e,272

Bodh i tree at Gaya, 136, 308Bombay , an imal h ospital at , 164Boukeph ala, city , 67B ow, Ind ian ,

63

The Ch era cogn izan ce , 371Brahma, a god , 311

Brahman ical reaction,184

B rih ad ratha, Maurya king, 177Buckler

,In dian

,63

Buddha (Gautama), b irth and life of , 25Preceded by former Buddh as , ” 29V isited by Ajatasatru, 29-33D eath of, 29

INDEX 413

B irthplace of, 136Deified , 236

Footprin ts of, 308.

Buddh ism,origin of, 25

Bhab ra ed ict important in h istory of,

150

Asoka’s preference for, 134

Menander a convert to, 204Hinayana, ancien t form of, 233, 267In troduced in to Ch ina, 233Mah ayana, newer form of, 236 , 267Mercif ul teach ings of , 268Gradual decay of, 272 , 277Samm itiya sch ool of, 300 , 307D evotion of Harsh a to, 309Revival in T ibet of, 344Decline in D eccan of, 354In South ern Ind ia, 364Buddh ist, Ch inese pilgrims, 13, 307Instructors of Asoka, 135Holy land, 136Doctrine concern ing laymen , 137Monastic order, 150Fame of Asoka, 151Church in Ceylon ,

167

Monasteries, 230 , 267, 306Rule of life , 270Pala kings of Bengal , 344

B udh agup ta, raja, 283Bundelkhand Jejakabhuk ti , 332Burma, Buddh ism in , 169

C

Cas tes, as described by Megasthenes, 123Censors of Asoka and oth ers , 160 , 161Ceylon ,

ch ron icles of, 11, 151

Conversion of,167

Pilgrim s from,256

In time of Hinen Tsang, 389Ch alukya dynasty , 301, 351Chanakya, m in ister, 40 , 106Chandala, outcas t tribes, 270Chandella , h istory , 332—339Chandragupta, (1) Maurya Sandrakottos, 20

D efeated Seleukos, 108, 126Inst itutions of, 116Length of reign of, 125(2 ) I of Gupta dynasty , 247(3) II of Gupta dynasty , V ikramad itya,14

,20

History of, 260T he original of Raja B ikram , 278

Ch and rap ida, King of Kashm ir, 327Chang

-kien , embassy of, 223Chariot , Ind ian ,

described , 114Charumat i , daugh ter of Asoka, 141 Edicts of Asoka, 145Chash tana, satrap , 193 Egypt , embassy to India f rom ,

13

Chedi Cen tral Provinces. 332 Asoka ’s m iss ion to, 166

Ch era, kingdom, 366Chi na, Kushan relat ions wi th , 231Buddh ism in , 233In tercourse of Harsha with , 315Relat ions of Northern In d ia with

, 325Ch inab

, river, 54 , 69, 75, 79 , 87Ch inese h istorians

,13

Chola dynas ty , 363—365Chris tian m iss ion to Indo-Parth ians , 20Elemen ts in Buddhism

,236

Chu, river, 191Coel Kayal, 366Coins, many classes of, 17Andhra, 190Greek influence on ,

2 14

Of Samudr agup ta, 259

Conjevaram Kanch i,q .

Corinth ian cap itals , 238Court

,of Chandragupta Maurya, 111

Cour tesans as in formers , 119Crassus, standards of, 2 12

D

Daksh am itra, daugh ter of Rudrad aman ,194

D antidurga, Rash trakuta king, 353D arius, Indian conquests of, 35D arshaka, or Harshaka, king, 36D asaratha, grandson of Asoka, 176D ead ,

exposure of, 131D eath , penalty of, 112 , 110 , 120 , 156, 161D eaths and b ir th s, registration of , 117Deccan ,

mean ing of, 349 .

Maurya conquest of, 128D elh i , iron pillar of , 261History of, 329

D emetrios, king of the Indians, 201Devabhuti (Devabh um i), Sunga king, 185D evadatta, cousin of Buddh a, 28Dhamma (dh arma) , mean ing of, 153Dharm sala

,rest-h ouses, 305

Dh ruva, Rash trakuta king, 355. 390

D idda, Queen of Kashm ir , 328D igambara, Jain sect , 355D inapur, can tonment , 110D iodotos I and II , Bac trian kings, 200 ,

20 1

D ionysos, in Ind ia, 42 , 45

D ipavamsa ,chron icle , 11, 151

D ravida, country , 388

D ravid ian nations , 8, 166 , 351, 364D ur labhaka, King of Kashm ir, 327D urlabhavardhana, King of Kashmir

E

414 INDEX

Elephant , failure in war of the, 101Used by Seleukidan kings , 108For riding, 124Cogn izance of Pandya dynasty , 366

Elura (Ellora), rock-cut temples at , 356Eph th alite emp ire , 32 1Epics, Sanskrit , 10Ep irus, Asoka ’

s mission to,166

Eud amos,in In dia, 99 , 103, 2 14

Eukratides , Indo-Greek king, 202 , et seq.

Euph rates, voyage of Nearchos to, 93Euthydemos I and II , Indo-Bactr iankings, 20 1, 203, 401

F

Fa-h ien , first Ch in ese pilgrim,14

,143

D escrib ed Pataliputra and Magsd ha,266

Female m oral s supervised by Asoka, 161Firoz , Persian king, 285Foreigners, Maurya ofli cials in chargeof

,117

G

Gaharwar, clan , 330 , 332

Gandaria Gandh araGandh ara coun try , defined , 23Hun conquest of, 286Sculptures of, 238

Gangaridai nat ion , 37

Gangavad i Mysore , 390Ganges , river, 23, 34, 106 , 110, 249, 251,

254 , 301

Gangeyad eva, King of Ch edi , 336Ganjam Kongoda, 305Garrison s (Four) in Kashgaria, 323Gaya, sanctity of, 26Gedrosia Muk ran

,93

Al exander’s march th rough , 98Gedrosioi

,people

,96

Girnar , lake and inscriptions at , 122

Glad iatorial contests , 111Glausai (Glaukan ikoi) , nat ion , 68Gnostic h eresy and Buddh ism

,170

,236

Godavari , river, 133, 141, 380Gondal B ar Gand ar is , 68

Gondop hares, Indo-Parth ian king, 207Gopala , founded Pala dynas ty , 344Govinda III, Rash trakuta king, 355Gresco-Roman influence on Ind ia, 207

Greek influence on India , 126 , 2 12Gujarat , (1) a district in the Pan jab ,

55

(2 ) Western Kumarapala, king of, 161Gupta empire

,h istory and ch ronology

of,247

H

Had rian , Roman emperor,226

Hair shaving, penalty of, 120

Hair wash ing, cerem ony of, 113Hala, Andh ra king, 189Hala moun tains, 98Han dynasty of Ch ina, 223Harsh a, (1) King of Kashmir , 329(2) Or Harsha-vardh ana, of Thanesar,younger son of Prabhakara—var

dh ana, 18Acc essi on of, 299Empire and administration of, 302 , 327Imitated Asoka, 305Religion of, 306D eath of

, 315

The last nat ive paramoun tmonarch , 319Harsha Ch ari ta

,of Bana

,18

, 304Harsh aka

,king, 36

Hasan Abdal,town , 56

Hast i , tri bal ch ief , 43Has ti-varman

,Paliava king, 385

Heliokles,Bac trian king, 204

Hellenist ic kings, 127Heph aistion , general, 43, 77, 86Herat , city and terri tory , 36 , 108Hermaios, the las t Indo-Greek king, 22 1Herodotus, on Ind ia, 10 , 12Hinayana, prim i tive doctrine, 307Hindu ism , Buddhism a sect of, 171Orth odox

,275

Hindu Kush , mountains, 23, 42Frontier of Maurya empire

,140

Hippolytus, folk-lore tal e of, 175Hiuen Tsang

, Ch in ese pilgrim , 14“Travels ”

and “Life ” of, 293Favour ed by Harsha, 309-310Return to Ch ina of, 314On political arrangem en ts of India , 317

Hiuen-tsong,Emperor of Ch ina, 324

Hiung-nu ,h ord e

,2 19 , 221

Honorius, coins of, 367Horses acrifice of Pushyam itra, 181Of Samud ragup ta, 258

Of Kum aragup ta I , 273

Of Ad ityasena, 283

Of Rajad h iraja Ch ola, 379Of Sivaskandavarman

, 382

Hostages, Ch in ese , 231Hoysala dynasty , 360

Huna Huns, q . n.

Hnns, the, invas ion of India by , 281Two main streams of, 285Asiatic empire of, 285Characterist ics of, 287

Hushka Huvishka, 240Huvishka

,h istory of, 240

Hy dasp es, river J ih lam , 54

D i fficulties of crossing, 57Hyd raotes, river Ravi

,69

Hyphasis , river, Alexander stopped at , 37B ias

,70

Altars on furth er b ank of, 72

416

L

Lakhman iya Rai , King of Bengal , 346Lakshm ana-sena, King of Bengal, 348Lalitad itya, Muk tap ida, King of Kashmi r,

327

Lalita Patan (Lalitpur) , Asoka’s capital

of Nepal, 140Lalliya , King of Kabul , 328Land-revenue , or crown -ren t , 120Leonnatos, defended Al exander , 86D efeated Oreitai , 95

Lich ch havi , clan ,27

,247

Lingayat , sect , 359Lumb ini garden , 136 , 148

M

Macedonia, Asoka ’s mission to, 166

Mad ura, later Pandya capital , 366Magadha kingdom ,

25—40, 105, 177

Towns of,268

Later Gupta dynasty of, 283Magas , Ki ng of Cyrene, 166Mah aban Aornos

,50

Mah abh arata, epic , 10Mah adeva, Yad ava king, 361Mahanand in ,

king, 37Mah apadma Nan da, king, 37, 105Mahavam sa , ch ron icle, 11, 37, 168Mahavira, founder of Jain ism ,

24,29

Mah ayana Buddh ism , h istory of, 236, 267In Burma, 169

Monas tery of,258

Mah endra, (1) brother of Asoka, 167(2 ) King of South Kosala, 252

Mahendravadi , cave-temples at , 384Mah endra-varm an I and II , Pallava kings,

384—387

Mah ipala, King of Bengal , 344Mahmud of Ghazn i

,king, 15, 319, 328,

Mah ob a, town , 335, 340Malakottai , coun try , 368Malava, kingdom,

142 , 262 . SeeMalwaki ngdom

Malik Kafur,compared with Samudra

gupta, 254In the D eccan , 360D estroyed importan ce of Ch ola kingdom, 380

Malloi , autonomous trib e in the Panjab ,69

, 81— 87

Malwa kingdom (seeMalava) Avan ti, 23Co

géquered by Chandragupta II , 261,2

D escrib ed by Fa-h ien , 269Unnamed king of, 297

Mamallaipuram ,“Seven Pagodas ”

at ,384

INDEX

Nagarjun i h ills, inscriptions in , 176Nah ap ana Ksh ah arata, ch ieftain , 192Naksh -i-Rustam,

in script ion at , 12

Nanda dynasty , 37—40, 105Nand ivard hana, king, 36Nandi-varman ,

Pal lava king, 390Naras imh a II , Hoysala king, 360Naras im hagup ta B alad itya, king, 283Narasimha-varman I , Pallava king, 390Narmad a (Narbada). river, 8, 23, 107, 128,

143,178 , 180 , 255, 301 , 349

Nearch os, Alexander’s admiral , 93Nepal , capitals of, 140

Mamandur,cave-temples at

, 384Mangalore , town , 167, 363

Man ju Patan , oldest capital of Nepal,140

Mann , date of code of , 279Manuf actures, regulation of, 118Massaga (Mazaga), town , 47, 50Math ura, c ity , Upagup ta a native of

, 172

Satraps of,191

Buddh ist monasteries at , 240 , 268Iron p illar of D elh i probab ly erectedoriginally at , 329

Matsya Purana,date of

,11

Maues, ki ng, 206Maurya, origin of name , 105Emp ire

,128, 141 , 166

Megasthenes, on Indi a, 109Meghavarna, King of Ceylon ,

256

Menander, Indo-Greek king, 179, 203,204 , 2 15

Meros, Mount , 46Mih iragula (Mih irakula), Sakala cap ital

of , 317

History of, 286Mil inda, Questions of,” Buddh ist book ,204

Mi thradates I, Parth ian king, 206Mi tradeva, assassinated Sum itra Sunga,

186

Moga,king

,206

Mohamm ed,son of Bakh tiyar, 345-347

Moh amm edan conquest , 9, 345, 360Monghyr (Mungir), district, 27Mousikanos, king, 89Mudra Rakshasa, drama, plots described

in,117 (quotation )

Mukran Gedrosia, 93

Muk tap ida Lalitad itya

Mun icipal admin istrat ion in Maurya age,116

Mun ja,Paramara Raja, 341

Muttra, seeMathuraMysore Gangavad i , 390

Hoysala dynasty of, 360

N

INDEX

History of , 325Nerbudda , seeNarmadaNewe-writers of Asoka , 119Nikaia, (1)= Ja1a1abad

,43

(2 ) On batt le-field of theHydaspes, 67Nosala, enchanted isle, 96Nysa, posit ion of , 45, 46

O

Oh ind , on Indus, 54, 99Omph is=Ambh i , 54 , 55, 99Ora Nora, a town in the b ills

,49

Oreitai , nation or trib e, 95Oudh , provin ce, 25, 249Oxathroi, tribe, 88Oxus, river, 198 , 221, 285Oxyartes, father of Roxana, a satrap ,

104

Oxydrakai , autonomous tribe of the Panjab , 86

Oxykanos, ch ieftain , 90

P

Padaria, see Rumm indei , 148Pah lava, trib e, 191, 380Paithan ,

capital of Pulumay i II, 194

Pala dynasty of Bengal, 343Palakka (Palakkad a) , aPallava p rin cipal

ity , 382

Palghatcherry PalakkaPali , language , 146Pallava, origin and h istory , 191, 380Pal li

,caste , 392

Pamirs, Aryan migration across,23

Crossed by Hinen Tsang, 315Pan-ch ’

ao , Ch inese general, 224 , 231Pandu, sons of, 22Pandya, lim its of country ,

365

History of kingdom ,365- 70

Pan jab , changes in rivers of, 79Pan taleon , Indo-Greek king, 203Paper introduced in to Europe

, 325

Paramara, dynasty of Malwa, 341Paramard i (Parmal) , Chandella king, 336Paran taka I , Ch ola king, 368Parihar rule in Bundelkh and, 335Paropan isadai , satrapy , 108Parop an isos Hindu Kush

,or Indian

Caucasus, 108Parth ia proper , 198Parth ian early h istory , 199King, Gond ophares, 207War of Kan ishka, 231Patala, city , capital of Patalene, 91, 92Patalene delta of In dus

, 90

Pataliputra, city, foundation of, 34Patna, 110

4 17

Mun icipal admin istrati on in Mauryaage of, 116

Asoka’s capital, 143

Animal hospital at , 164Rebui lt by Sh er Shah , 266Free h osp ital at , 268Footprin ts of Buddha at , 308

Patau , Asoka ’s capital of Nepal, 140

Patna, c ity Patalip utra, 110 , 144D istrict in Magad ha, 25

Paul , St .

, compared with Asoka, 172Pearl trad e

,364

Pe1thon, son of Agenor, 90 , 104

Penal code of Chandragupta Maurya, 120Pepper trad e of Malabar

,364

Perd ikkas, general, 43

Persia, Hun attacks on, 285

Embassies between India and, 352

Persian style of Asoka’s pillars

, 145Influence on India, 126 , 145, 214 , 243Combat with a lion

,265

Religion , 310

Peshawar Purushapura, 229

Peukelaotis Charsad da, 43, 51Peukestas, defended Alexander, 85Phaedra, folk-lore tale of, 175Pharro

,the fire-god ,

241

Ph il ippos, satrap of coun tries west of theIndus, 77

Murdered, 98

Piety , law of, 153, 163Pilgrims, Buddhist , 13Pillar edicts of Asoka

,139, 147, 149

Pillars of Asoka , 144Pip rawa, oldest known inscription at 17

Pithora Rai Prith ivi Raja, 330Plays, Sanskr it , inscribed on tables of

ston e at Ajm ir, 16Ascribed to Harsha, 303Poros, (1) 55, 103(2) Nephew of 68

Prabhakara-vardhana, Raja of Thanesar,294

Prabodha-chandrodaya, drama, 336Prakasad itya, t itle of Puragup ta, 283Prakrit , language, 146Pras i i (Prasioi), nat ion , 38

Prayaga, Harsh a’s assemb ly at , 312

Prith ivi Raja, Chauhan , 330 , 339

Priyadars ika, drama, 304Ptolemy , (1) son of Lagos, 13, 51(2 ) Ph ilad elphos, 166

Pudukottai , town , 363, 365, 391

Pul ikesin

(I), Chalukya king, 351

(II) Cha ukya king, 301, 351-353Pulum ayi (II), (III), Andh ra kings , 193,

195

Puragup ta, h istory of, 282Pur anas , eigh teen , 11Date of, 279

418

Purnavarman , the last descendan t ofAsoka, 177, 308

Purush apura, cap ital of Kan ishka, 229Pushpapura Patalip utra, 34

Pushyabhuti , ancestor of Harsha , 306Pushyagup ta, brother-ln-law of Chan

d ragup ta Maurya , 122Pushyam itra, ( l ) Sunga king, 178—85(2) Nat ion , 280

QQueen

,of B imb isara, 27

KleOph is of Massaga, 48

Moth er of Mah apadma Nanda, 105B idda of Kashm ir, 328Queens of Asoka, 175Quegiions of Milinda, " Buddh ist book,

2

R

Rajad h iraja, Ch ola king, 379Rajagriha, ancien t cap ital of Magadh a, 27As oka’

s death at , 139

Rajaraja the Great, Ch ola king, 357, 369,Rajasnya h orse-sacr ifice, q . v.

Rajatarangin i , ch ron icle of Kashm ir , 10Raj auri Abh isara

,75

Rajendra Choladeva I and II,Chola kings,

379

Rajput , royal clans, 291Rajyasr i , sister of Harsha, 297, 314Rajyavardh ana, Raja of Th an esar , 294Ramachandra, Yad ava Raja, 361Rash trakuta, clan and dynasty , 354Rath or, clan , 332

Ratnavali,drama, 304

Ratta, clan Rash trakuta, 354

Religion , Buddh ism b ecame a world, 170In Ch ina

,233

Harsha’s eclecticism in , 307

Persecution of Z oroastrian , 310Jain

, 369

State of South Indian,389

Rest-h ouses, described by t ien,268,

305

Rock Edicts of Asoka, 146Roxana , consort of Alexander, 88, 104Rudradaman

,western satrap , 122 , 194

Rumm indei, inscription of Asoka, 148

S

Sabuktigin , king, 335, 339Saisun aga dynas ty , 9, 27Saka dynas ty , 244Religion , 310Tribe , 190- 193, 204—206

Sakala, capital of Mih iragula, 317

INDEX

Sakya territory , 25Sam

qgl

gand country of the Sogdioi,

Arab conquest of, 324Samm itiya sch ool of Buddh ism, 300 , 307Samudragup ta, h istory and wars of

,7,

249—260

Sangham itra, legend of, 169Sankaravarman

, King of Kashm ir, 328Sanskrit, allied to Prakrit and Pali , 146Revival of, 277

San Th ome, shrine of, 2 10Sapor (Shahpur ) I and 11, Kings of Persia,

243,245

Sarvastivad in , Buddh ist sch ool, 239Sasan ian dynasty , 196 , 243Sasanka, King of Central Bengal , 298Satakarn i , t itle of Andh ra kings, 189Satavah ana dynasty z : Andh ra

,q . v.

Satiyaputra kingdom , 363Satyasraya , Chalukya king, 357Saubhut i Sophytes, 214

Sculpture , origin of Indian , 2 15

Se, trib e Saka, 190- 193, 204— 206Seleukos Nikator , con temp orary of

Chandragupta, 107R iv

a;of An tigonos, and King of Syria ,

1

Invaded In dia unsuccessf ully and cededa large part of Ariana, 108

History of,107

Niese’s th eory about , 213

Semiram is in India, 93Sena, dynasty of Bengal, 344—347Shah iya kings of Kabul , 328Sh er Shah , rebu ilt Pataliputra, 266Sh ih ab -ud -d in

,wars of

, 331

Si , viceroy of Kadph ises II , 224Sibyrtios, Satrap of Arachosia, 104Sien -ch i

, Ch inese general, 325Silad itya, (1) King of Mo-la-po, 292

(2) T itle of Harshwvardh ana, 299Simhavarman II, Pallava king, 383Simuka, first Andh ra king, 188Sind , associated with Upagup ta, 172Kingdom of, 317

Sipraka Simuk a, 188

Sistan Sak astene, 205, 215Sakas of

,205

Sisunaga, 27

Siva, worsh ipped by Harsh a, 306Sivalakura, Andh ra king, 190Sivaskanda—varm au , Pallava king, 382Skandagup ta, h istory of, 280-282Skylax of Karyanda , 35Sogdiana Kh anate of Bukhara, 222Somesvara I , Chalukya king, 357Sophytes, King of the Sal t Range, 2 14Sravasti

,capital of Kosala, 25

Site of, 136

420 INDEX

V ira Saiva, sect, 359 XV irudhaka king, 34V isais-d evd, Chauh an raja of Ajm ir , Xandrames. king. 88

330 Xathroi , tribe, 88V ishnu, (1) deity , 264(2) Hoysala king, 360 Y

V ishnugopa , Pallava king 385 Yadava dynasty of Devagi ri ,V ism ugup ta Chanakyav 4° Yajna Sr i , An dhra king, 195V i sh nuvard hana, Chalukya, 387 Yarkand , p lain of, 224 , 231“110 1198

1Ind 0 'Pm ‘a" m g, 206 Yasodharman , Raja of Cen tral Ind ia

,

W288

,290

Yavana, tri be , m ean ing of name, 192Menander ’

s Greeks,216

Wages fixed by authority 116

Wah indah Hakra, the,

lost river, 80 ¥3hk

agvh

gg§ gf eplhrq‘e

s

s

an

l

g

l

’

,

32

30— 226

W an -h inen-tse, Ch inese envoy , 315-317W ar

gOfli ce of Chandragupta Maurya

, 115Yueh -ch l , m igrat ion ,

204’219

W eapon s, In dian , 63W estern Turks, 323Wh ite Huns, h istory of, 285Emp ire in sixth century of, 321Writing, art of , 22 , 125, 146Wu-sun , h orde , 220

Z

Z abulistan Gh azn i , 324Z ariasp a Balkh

,198

Z oroastrian de it ies , 286Alleged p ersecution , 310

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