BY
W. H. MORELAND, C.S.I., C.I.E.
AND
ATUL CHANDRA CHATTERJEE
G.C.I.E., K. C.S.I.
AFTER the death of Asoka the Maurya empire broke up, and for some centuries there was no really paramount power in northern India, though from time to time one dynasty or another claimed the overlordship of a larger or smaller portion of the country. The history of these centuries is still obscure, but an outline of it has been laboriously drawn by interpreting the traditional dynastic lists with the aid of inscriptions and coins, so that we can see dimly the rise and fall of the various conflicting kingdoms. From this time on, coins become one of the main sources for political history, and it will be well to approach the period by a short account of what is known of the development of the use of money in India.
So far nothing has been found to suggest, that money was current in any form in the early Indus civilisation,1 nor can it be traced in the Rigveda, where the usual standard of value appears to have been the cow. The first rudiments of a monetary system occur in the literature of the later Vedic period, in which the berry of a certain plant, known to botanists as Abrus precatorius, appears as a unit of weight, a unit which still survives under the name ratī; pieces of gold weighing 100 of these berries, equal to about 180 grains, are mentioned in the texts and were doubtless used in commerce, but there is nothing to suggest that as yet they were stamped or marked as coins. Metallic currency was clearly common when the earliest Buddhist literature was written, but the dates to be assigned to these texts are uncertain, and the most that can be inferred from them is that the use of money was well established in northern India before the time of Asoka-how long before we cannot say with confidence.
The
earliest coins hitherto found in the North are rectangles cut from a sheet or
strip of metal, trimmed at the corners, and punched on one side, or
occasionally on both, with a variety of marks the significance of which is
still matter for conjecture; at present they are of little value to the
historian, but they may eventually be deciphered. The practice, now so
familiar, of striking coins by means of double dies must be attributed to foreign
influence; the first Indian coins which have been found of this type were
pieces of silver, which were issued by a local ruler in the Punjab about the
time of Alexander's invasion, and they are obviously direct imitations of the
Greek coinage of the period. The adoption of the new method was, however,
gradual, and there is as yet no evidence that it was ever followed by the
earlier Maurya emperors. The suggestion has been made that the use of the old
rectangular coins, which are known as purānas, was the result of early commercial dealings with Mesopotamia, where similar coins were current, but here
again definite evidence is wanting: we know only that these coins were used in
India for some centuries, and that, soon after Alexander's invasion, they began
to give way to pieces struck from double dies, and bearing the name 2 of the
ruler who issued them. It is these names, with the accompanying descriptions,
which give their historical value to the coins of the second cen- tury B.C.,
for the practice of inscribing the date of issue was not adopted until much
later; from about A.D. 175 onwards the named and dated coins are sources of the
highest value for the historian, but even names without dates are of
substantial service in interpreting the traditional dynastic. lists and the
occasional allusions in the literature.
Using
such sources as exist, the probable course of events may be summarised as
follows. Soon after the death of
POLITICAL
GEOGRAPHY
Asoka
two of the three vice-royalties broke away from the Maurya empire: on the
north-west Taxila became inde- pendent, and its history will be traced in the
next chapter; on the south-east Kalinga resumed the position it had recently
lost, and increased in power. The remainder of the empire, comprising the bulk
of the Gangetic plain and a large part of Central India, was held, though with
diminishing authority, for about half a century by the Mauryas, and then passed
to a new dynasty, the Sungas, which maintained itself, probably, from about 184
to 72 B.C., the seat of power passing during this interval from Bihār to Mälwa.
It may be conjectured that the constituent states were now increasing in
importance relatively to the central power, and it becomes necessary to take
account of the separate units.
Beginning
from the east end of the Gangetic plain, the position of Bengal is uncertain,
but some recent discoveries suggest that the northern portion at least had been
incor- porated in the Maurya empire, and may have remained subject to the Sunga
dynasty. West of Bengal, we know of four states on the south of the Ganges and
three on the north, which together occupied the great bulk of the plain. On the
south these were, in order, Magadha itself, Kāshi (or Benares), Kausāmbi, and
Muttra. The position of the capital of Kausambi has been the subject of much
discussion, but the evidence of surviving monuments and inscriptions appears to
justify its identification with the village of Kosam on the Jumna, about 30
miles west of Allahabad. Muttra, also on the Jumna, north-west of Agra, has
survived as a city of some importance, and is the centre of the popular worship
of Krishna; the northern limit of this kingdom is quite uncertain. North and
east of the Ganges lay Videha (or North Bihar), Kosala (or Oudh), and Panchāla.
The two former have been mentioned in earlier chapters; the chief capital of
Panchala was Ahichhatra, now a ruin near Bareilly in Rohilkhand, but the
kingdom extended across the Ganges, with a second capital at Kampil. These
states, however, are not conspicuous in the story of the next few centuries.
In
order to describe the Central Indian kingdoms, a few words are necessary
regarding the physical aspect of the land. From about Agra to Allahabad the
Jumna marks the base of the wide belt of rugged country, which rises towards
the south to the range of hills overhanging the valley of the Narbada. Thus the
latter river has no im- portant tributaries on the north; the whole country
drains to the Jumna by a succession of rivers, some of them rising within a
very few miles of the course of the Narbada, and, while none of them is
navigable, their valleys provide practicable routes from the Gangetic plain
towards the south. In the past, therefore, this central belt was as a rule more
closely connected with the northern powers than with the kingdoms of the
peninsula.
The
road from Patna to Ujjain left the Jumna at Kausāmbi, and struck southwards for
about 80 miles along the valley of the Tons as far as Bharhut, then the seat of
an important kingdom, but now known only for the remains of buildings belonging
to this period. At a distance of about 180 miles south-west of Bharhut lay
Vidisā, and 120 miles further was Ujjain, these two places being the capitals
of East and West Malwa respectively. In comparison with the broken country
further north, Malwa may be described as a level plateau, comprising large
areas of productive soil; Ujjain is still an important city, and the commercial
capital of the whole region, but Vidisā, now Besnagar, a few miles from Bhilsa,
is, like Bhārhut, known only for its monuments. These three kingdoms, Bharhut,
Vidisă, and Ujjain, con- stituted the bulk of the dominions of the later
Mauryas outside the Gangetic plain, though there may have been other units the
memory of which has not survived.
The
scanty evidence available suggests that the Sungas were originally kings of
Vidisä subordinate to the Maurya empire. About 184 B.C., one of the race, named
Pushyamitra, who was commander-in-chief of the Maurya forces, rebelled, killed
his master, and seized the throne of Magadha. His dynasty lasted for a little
more than a hundred years, in the course of which period the capital seems to
have been transferred from Patna to Vidisă; Bihār now passes into obscurity for
some centuries, and Malwa takes its place as
THE
CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN POWERS
one
of the main centres of political interest. It is probable, though not certain,
that Buddhist influences remained powerful among the Mauryas, but the Sungas
reverted to the ordinary practice of employing Brahmans as ministers, and it
was a Brahman minister who, probably in 72 B.C., brought the dynasty to an end
by the murder of its last representative. There are some indications that the
Sungas remained overlords of Kausāmbī, Muttra and Panchala in the Gangetic
plain, as well as of the kingdoms of Central India, but there is no evidence to
show how far their power extended towards the east.
It
was during the period of the Sungas that the Andhras of southern India first
became an important factor in the politics of the North. This kingdom lay on
the east coast, adjoining Kalinga on the south; and soon after Asoka's death it
underwent a remarkable expansion right across the Peninsula, as is shown by
Andhra inscriptions surviving in the mountains above Bombay. During the reign
of the first Sunga king, the Andhras appear to have struck north- ward, and
captured Ujjain, thus dividing Malwa with the Sungas at Vidisā, and it is
probable that they retained their conquest for some time, until Ujjain became a
bone of contention between conflicting powers. Kalinga also increased in
importance during the second century B.C., and inscriptions show that it was
occasionally engaged in hostilities with the Andhras, as well as in Bihār, but
the extent of its actual achievements is uncertain.
About
the beginning of the first century B.C., then, the political situation of India
may be described as follows. The Sungas held the centre of the country, and
probably the western side of the Gangetic plain; the Andhras held the north of
the peninsula, and had extended into Mālwa Kalinga was well established on the
east coast; the position in Bengal and Bihār is uncertain. To the south of the
Andhras, the peninsula was occupied mainly by three extensive kingdoms, the
Cholas on the east, the Keralas on the south-west, and the Pandyas on the
south-east, but these powers, called collectively the Tamil kingdoms, do not
yet come into the picture. There remains the Indus plain. the story of which is
told in the next chapter.
Referance
1 Certain copper tablets, which were at first taken to be coins, are now regarded as amulets.
2 A few coins with names appear to belong to a period earlier than Asoka, but they cannot as yet be identified with particular dynasties.
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