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Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession Of 2012-08-09 00:01:51 UTC 50228e0f453e7 220.255.2.51 Singapore in. ftZG5A-i POLITICAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT INDIA PROM THE ACCESSION OF PARIKSHIT TO THE EXTINCTION OF THE GUPTA DYNASTY BY HEMCHANDliA RAYCHAUDHURI, M.A., Ph.D., LECTURER IN HISTORY, CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY ; FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, PRESIDENCY COLLEGK, CALCUTTA ; ESHAN SCHOLAR, ' GRIFFITH PRIZEMAN ; AUTHOR OF THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE VAISHNAVA SECT.' PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA 1923 PREFACE The object of the following pages is to sketch the political history of Ancient India from the accession of Parikshit to the extinction of the Gupta Dynasty. The idea of the work suggested itself many years ago from observing a tendency in some of the current books to dismiss the history of the period from the Bharata war to the rise of Buddhism as incapable of arrangement in definite chronological order. The author's aim has been to present materials for an authentic chronological history of Ancient India, including the neglected Post- Bharata period, but excluding the Epoch of the Kanauj Empires which properly falls within the domain of the historian of Mediaeval India. The volume now offered to the public consists of two parts. In the firstpart an attempt has been made to furnish, from a comparison of the Vedic, Epic, Puranic, Jaina, Buddhist and secular Brahmanical literature, such a narrative of the political vicissitudes of the Post- Parikshita-pre-Bimbisarian period as may not be less intelligible to the reader than Dr. Smith's account of the transactions of the Post-Bimbisarian age It has also been thought expedient to append, towards the end of this part, a short chapter on kingship in the Brahmana- Jataka period. The purpose of the second part is to provide a history of the period from Bimbisara to the Guptas which will be, to a certain extent, more up to date, if less voluminous, than the classic work of Dr. Smith. The greater part of the volume now published was written some years ago, and the author has not had viii PREFACE the opportunity to discuss some of the novel theories advanced in recent works like The Cambridge History of India, and Mr. Pargiter's Ancient Indian HUtorioal Tradition. The writer of these pages otters hi" tribute of respect to the Hon'ble Sir Asutosh Mookerjee for providing opportunities for study which render it possible for a young learner to carry on investigation in the subject of his choice. To Professor D. R. Bhandarkar the author is grateful for the interest taken in the prog of the work. His acknowledgments are also due to Messrs. Girindramohan Sarkar and Rameschandra Raychaudhuri for their assistance in preparing the Indexes. Lastly, this preface cannot be closed without a word of thanks to Mr. A. C. Ghatak, the Superintendent, for his help in piloting the work through the Press. H. C. R. July 16, 1923. CONTENTS PART I From the Accession of Parikshit to the Coronation of Bimbisara. Pa";f. Foreword i ... ... ... ... Sources ii ... ... ... ... The Age the Parikshitas 1 of ... ... The Great Janaka 1G the ... Age of ... The Later Vaidehas Mithila ... 37 of ... The Deccan in the Age the Later Vaidehas 40 of ... The Sixteen 45 Mahajanapadas ... ... The Fall Kasi the Ascendancy Kosala 79 of and of ... Kingship 82 ... ... ... ... PART II From the coronation of Bimbisara to the extinction of the gupta dynasty. Foreword 95 ... ... ... ... The rise of Magadha. Bimbisara ... 97 The Age of ... ... 105 Kunika ... Ajatas'atru ... ... 108 successors ... Ajfltasatru's ... ... the Bimbisara-Sisunaga 116 The Chronology of group ... Nandas ... ... 117 The ... ... xii CONTENTS The Persian and Macedonian Invasions. Page. V The Persian Macedonian invasions 122 and ... The Maurta Empire: the Era. of Digvijaya. The Reign Chandragupta Maurya of ... ... 137 The Reign Bindusara 155 of ... ... ... The Early As'oka 158 years of ... ... ... The Maurya Empire: The Era of Dhammavijaya and Decline. the Kalihga war 169 Asoka ... after ... The Later Mauryas and the Decline of their power 1*3 The Sunga Empire and the Bactrian Greeks. The Reign Pushyamitra of ... ... 197 Agnimitra his successors 211 and ... ... The Fall of the Magadhan and Indo-Greek Powers. The Kanvas the Later Sungas 215 and ... ... The Satavahanas the Chetas 216 and ... ... The End Greek Rule in North- West India 225 of ... Scythian Rule in Northern Inma. The Sakas 230 ... ... ... ... The Pahlavas or Parthians 242 ... ... ... The Kushans ... ... ". ... 245 CONTENTS xiii Page. Scythian Rule in Southern and Western India. The Kshaharatas 257 ... ... ... The Restoration the Satavahana 262 of empire ... The Sakas 266 ... ... ... of Ujjain . The Gupta Empire. The Rise the Gupta Power 271 of ... ... The Age the Vikramadityas 282 of ... ... The Later Guptas 294 ... ... ... Appendix Bibliographical Index General Index ABBREVIATIONS. XVI ABBREVIATIONS POLITICAL HISTORY OF INDIA PART I From the Accession of Parikshit to the Coronation of Bimbisara Foreword. No Thucydides or Tacitus has left for posterity a genuine history of Ancient India. But the researches of a multitude of scholars have disclosed an unexpected wealth of materials for the reconstruction of the ancient history of our country. The first attempt to sort and arrange the accumulated and ever-growing stores of knowledge was made by Dr. Vincent Smith. But the excellent historian, failing to find sober history in bardic tales, ignored the period " immediately succeeding the famous war waged on the banks of the Jumna, between the sons of Kuru and the sons of Pandu," and took as his starting point the middle of the seventh century B. C. My aim has been to sketch in outline the political history of Ancient India including the neglected period. I have taken as my starting point the accession of Parikshit, which according to Epic and Pauranic tradition took place shortly after the Bharata War. Valuable information regarding the Parikshita and the post-Parikshita periods has been supplied by eminent ii POLITICAL HISTORY OF INDIA scholars like Oldenberg, Macdonell, Keith, Rhys Davids, Pargiter, Bhandarkar and others. But the attempt to give a connected history from Parikshit to Bimbisara is, believe, made for the firsttime in the following pages. Sources. No inscription or coin has unfortunately been covereddis- which can be referred, with any amount of certain-ty, to the pre-Bimbisarian period. Our chief reliance must therefore be placed upon literary evidence. Un-fortunately this evidence is purely Indian, and is not supplemented by those foreign notices which have done more than any archaeological discovery to render possible the remarkable resuscitation of the history of the post- Bimbisarian period. Indian literature useful for the purpose of the torianhis- of the post-Parikshita-pre-Bimbisarian age may be divided into five classes, viz. :" I. Brahmanical literature of the post-Parikshita- pre-Bimbisarian period. This class of literature naturally contributes the most valuable information regarding the history of the earliest dynasties and comprises ; (a)The last book of the Atharva Veda. (b)The Aitareya, Satapatha, Taittirlya and other _ ancient Brahmanas. (c)The Brihadaranyaka, Chhandogya and other classical Upanishads. That these works belong to the post-Parikshita period is proved by repeated references to Parikshit, to his son Janamejaya,and to Janaka of Videha at whose court the fate of the Parikshitas was made the subjectof a philo-sophical discussion. That these works are pre-Buddhistic been and, therefore, pre-Bimbisarian has proved by petentcom- critics like Dr, RajendralalMitra (Translation SOURCES iii of the Chhandogya Upanishad, pp. 28*24),Professor Macdonell (Historyof Sanskrit Literature, pp. 189, 202- 203, 226) and others. II. The second class comprises Brahmanical works to which no definite date can be assigned, but large portions of which, in the opinion of competent critics, belong to the post-Bimbisarian period. To this class belong the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. The present Ramayana not only mentions Buddha Tathagata (II.1C9. 34),but distinctly refers to the struggles of the Hindus with mixed hordes of Yavanas and Sakas, m^H W*lflffircn*l(I. 54. 21). In the Kishkindhya Kanda (IV. 43. 11-12), Sugriva places the country of the Yavanas and the cities of the Sakas between the country of the Kurus and the Madras, and the Himalayas. This shows that the Grseco-Scythians at that time occupied parts of the Pan jab. As regards the present Mahabharata, Hopkins says " (GreatEpic of India, pp. 391-393), Buddhist supremacy by already decadent is implied passages which allude contemptuously to the edukas or Buddhistic monuments as having ousted the temples of the gods. Thus in III. 190. 65 'They will revere edukas, they will neglect the ' be gods' ; ib. 67 the earth shall piled with edukas, not With adorned with godhouses.' such expressions may Buddhistic Catur- be compared the thoroughly epithet, in XII. 339. 40 Buddhistic maharajika and philosophy in the same book." as expounded " The Greeks are described as a western people and to The Romans, their overthrow is alluded in formal list Romakas, are mentioned but once, a of all II. 51. 17, thus in possible peoples and stand marked Greeks Persians, Pahlavas, are contrast to the and who The distinct that mentioned very often prophecy 1 Scythians, Greeks and Bactrians will rule unrighteously iv POLITICAL HISTORY OF INDIA in ' the evil age to come which occurs in III. 188. 35 is too clear a statement to be ignored or explained away." The Puranas which contain listsof kings of the Kali Age cannot be placed earlier than the third or fourth century A.D. because they refer to the Andhra kings and even to the post-Audhras. It is clear from what has been stated above that the Epics and Puranas, in their present shape, are late works which are no better suited to serve as the foundation of the history of the pre-Bimbisarian age than the tales of the Mahavamsa and the Asokavadana are adapted to bases form the of chronicles of the doings of the great Maury a.
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