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Unit 3 Polities from 2Nd Century B.C. to 3Rd Century

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Unit 3 Polities from 2Nd Century B.C. to 3Rd Century rd ND Polities from 3 Century UNIT 3 POLITIES FROM 2 CENTURY B.C. A.D. to 6th Century A. D. TO 3RD CENTURY AD Structure 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Post Mauryan Period: Sungas and Kanvas 3.3 Rise of the Power of the Indo-Greeks, Sakas, Parthians and Kushanas 3.3.1 Indo-Greeks 3.3.2 Sakas and Parthians 3.3.3 Kushanas 3.4 Nature of Kushana State 3.5 Peninsular India: The Rise of the Power of the Satavahanas 3.6 Nature of Satavahana State 3.6.1 Socio-economic and Political Background 3.6.2 Administrative Structure of the State 3.7 Summary 3.8 Glossary 3.9 Exercises 3.1 INTRODUCTION The period between circa 200 B.C. and A.D. 300 in conventional historical writings is usually perceived as a dark period, largely owing to the absence of territorially extensive political formations. The Kushana imperial project, covering large parts of Northern India, was an exception. However, viewed differently the five centuries between the decline of the Mauryas and coming of the Guptas were important for various reasons. They were characterised not only by extensive economic and cultural contacts within the country and with the West and Central Asia, the beginning of a long-term mutually beneficial networks of exchange with southeast Asia, and the evolution of new art forms at Mathura, Sarnath, Sanchi and Amaravati, but also significant developments in the political sphere. The exalted notion of kingship in ancient India with its pompous titles, as also its identification with divinity gained currency from the post-Mauryan period onwards. The process of state formation manifested itself outside northern India also. The early state in Kalinga under Kharavela and that of the Satavahanas in the Deccan are good examples of it. But these need not detain us here because the nature of Satavahanas state will be discussed subsequently in this Unit. 3.2 POST MAURYAN PERIOD: SUNGAS AND KANVAS The death of Ashoka seems to have inaugurated the disintegration of the Mauryan empire. In Kalinga and in the south there is no evidence for the continuation of Mauryan rule after the great emperor. Brihadratha, the last ruler of the dynasty, was murdered by his general, Pushyamitra Sunga, in about 185 B.C. He then founded 1 Early State Formation the Sunga dynasty which lasted a little more than a hundred years. Pushyamitra was a brahmana and is said to have performed the ashvamedha sacrifice, suggesting its revival for political purposes after a considerable break. This need not necessarily imply a brahmanical resurgence at the cost of Buddhism. The Sunga territories comprised the Ganga valley and northern India, extending up to the Narmada in the south. Pushyamitra had to defend his dominions against the Greek invaders from Bactria who entered the Indian plains. However, he met with little success in his endeavour since area as far as Mathura was lost. At the end of the second century B.C. the Greek ambassador, Heliodorus, erected a Garuda pillar at Besnagar, near Vidisha. The inscription on the pillar besides recording that he was a follower of the Bhagavata religion also mentions the contemporary ruler (Bhagabhadra) who perhaps belonged to the Sunga dynasty. The last king of the dynasty was assassinated around 73 B.C., leading to the foundation of the short-lived Kanva dynasty by Vasudeva, the brahmana minister of the deceased king, who is said to have had a hand in the palace intrigue. Magadha under the later Sungas and Kanvas was a pale shadow of its former glory. The scene of activity had shifted to the northwest, the Deccan and southern India. In ancient Punjab and the adjoining territories “tribal” or Gana-sangha polities, which had been subsumed under the Mauryan empire, resurfaced. The Audambaras, Arjunayanas, Yaudheyas, Kunindas and Malavas, among others, were some of the important communities who usually issued coins in the name of the Gana, suggesting their largely egalitarian character. Notwithstanding the continuation of the Gana- sangha tradition, these communities experienced internal change. It is borne out by archaeological and numismatic evidence. Some of the late Yaudheya coins were issued in the name of the Gana and Mantradharas i.e. the Executive Council, suggesting the existence of a managerial group or ruling stratum. Similarly, we come across terms such as maharaja and mahasenapati by the end of the period under discussion, pointing probably to the transition to monarchical form. It has been suggested that the trade route from Mathura to Taxila and beyond passed through their territories, which opened them to the movement of goods, ideas and people from the various areas. The polities affected by these influences were transformed. 3.3 RISE OF THE POWER OF THE INDO-GREEKS, SAKAS, PARTHIANS AND KUSHANAS Nomadic tribal movements occurred in the 2nd Cenury B.C. and acquired a coherent form. The nomadic central Asian tribes pushed westward towards Bactria. It was occupied by the Scythians and later the yueh-chis the two important central Asian tribes. 3.3.1 Indo-Greeks An equally important political development during this period was the waves of movements from across the northwestern borders. The Seleucids had been thwarted in their efforts to enter the Indian plains. The Greek kings of Bactria succeeded where the Seleucids had failed. Though Diodotus revolted against the Seleucids and founded the Greek kingdom of Bactria in the middle of the third century B.C., it was Euthydemus, the third ruler, who won recognition from the Seleucid king, Antiochos III, in the closing years of the third century B.C. The successors of these Greek kings of Bactria are known as Indo-Greeks who came to occupy large parts 2 of northwestern India and Afghanistan. About three dozen such kings are known Polities from 3rd Century th largely from their coins. Indian literary sources refer to them as Yavanas. Demetrius, A.D. to 6 Century A. D. son of Euthydemus, moved into the Indian plains. He and his successor Menander led several successful campaigns annexing most of the Ganga-Yamuna Doab and perhaps even reaching as far as Pataliputra. The conquest of large parts of northwestern India is attested by Strabo’s Geography and Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Menander is the best known Indo-Greek ruler and his reign is dated to 155-130 B.C. While his coins have been reported from Kabul and Mathura, the Milindapanho records discussions between him and the Buddhist philosopher Nagasena. With the death of Menander the political influence of the Indo-Greeks waned. Besides Gandhara art, which synthesised Greek, Roman and Indian elements, and the Heliodorus pillar, mentioned above, the Indo-Greek coins, which unlike the Indian punch-marked coins, can be identified with individual kings and have been dated are among their important legacy. While the volume of Indo-Greek coins unambiguously point to their role in trade and commerce, the image of the king on the coins had political implications. It was a statement of royal sovereignty. 3.3.2 Sakas and Parthians Continued manifestation of the process of conquest of northwestern India can be seen in the emergence of the Sakas (people of Central Asian origin who had kin ties with the Scythians) as the new rulers of the region in the first century B.C. Political developments pushed them towards Bactria and Iran and from Bactria they moved into the northwest of India through southern Afghanistan. Maues or Moga was the first Saka king in India. He and his successor Azes I founded a large kingdom by displacing the Indo-Greeks. Their territories extended from the northwest to Mathura and included the whole tract from Ujjain to Saurashtra. Deriving from their familiarity with aspects of Indo-Greek and Iranian culture they issued coins in imitation of the Indo-Greek style and used the Iranian title kings of kings (shahanu shahi), which can be translated into Greek as basileus basileon. The introduction of the impressive title ‘kings of kings’ into India under the above mentioned influences was not without political content. It points to the existence of a number of lesser chieftains or smaller kings. Besides, there were the provincial governors known as Kshatrapas and Mahakshatrapas who were appointed by the king. The political system as it emerges appears to be a confederation of (“tribal”/clan) chieftains headed by the Saka kings. The chieftains and governors seem to have exercised a considerable degree of autonomy or independence within such a system. The assertion of independence by the local kshatrapas led to the waning of Saka power. Azes II was the last importat Saka king in the northwest. In the early part of the first century A.D. they were replaced by the Indo-Parthians or Pahlavas, whose rule did not last long. Pahlavas originally came from the Iranian province of Parthia. In the 2nd century B.C. they occupied Bactria. Gondopharnes who ruled in the first half of the first century A.D. is the best known among them. The rise of the Kushanas to prominence in India coincided with the decline of the Pahlavas. While the Kushanas dominated the political scene in northern India a branch of the Sakas continued to rule in Kathiawar and Malwa in western India. Rudradaman happens to be the best known of this group. The lengthy inscription at Junagarh dated to the middle of the second century A.D. records his conquests and achievements. The record is important because it is the earliest specimen of Sanskrit as a court language, as also the preferred medium for making statements of power. The fact that it is a public document imbues it with political meaning.
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