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Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c7: Introductory

Early History of the Dekkan down to the Mahomedan Conquest c7

Language
English

Introductory

c7.1

India has no written history. Nothing was known till within recent times of the political condition of the country, the dynasties that ruled over the different provinces which composed it, and the great religious and social revolutions that it went through. The historical curiosity of the people was satisfied by legends. What we find of a historical nature in the literature of the country before the arrival of the Mahomedans comes to very little.

c7.2

I. We have a chronicle of Kasmîr called the Râjatarangiṇî, in which, however, there is a good deal which is not supported by contemporary evidence. Now and then, a bountiful prince or minister found a poet to sing his glories, and the works thus composed, contain a good deal of historical information, though, of course, an undue praise of the patron and his ancestors is to be expected. But a few such works only have hitherto been discovered, and the oldest of them gives an account of a prince who lived in the first half of the seventh century. The literature of the Jainas of the Śvetâmbara sect contains accounts mostly of the later princes of Gujarât and other noted personages. There are also similar accounts of the princes of Râjaputâna. In the beginning or at the end of some Sanskrit works the names of the princes under whose patronage or in whose reign they were composed, are given, and sometimes we find a long genealogy of the family to which the particular prince belonged, with some short observation with reference to each of his ancestors Lastly, the Purânas contain genealogies of the most powerful royal families which ascend to a higher antiquity than the works noticed hitherto

c7.3

II But the information to be gathered from all these sources is extremely meagre, and there are many provinces on the history of which they do not throw any light And the facts mentioned in them cannot be systematically arranged, or even chronologically connected, except with the assistance of other sources of information to which we shall now proceed The invasion of Alexander the Great brought the Greeks in contact with the Hindus, and his successors in Syria kept up an intercourse with the Indian emperors for a long time The notices of Indian persons and events contained in the writings of the Greeks, when compared with the statements occurring in the Purânas, admit, in some cases, of an easy identification, and from the known dates of the corresponding Greek persons or events, we are able to determine those of the Indian persons or events In this manner the date of the foundation of the Maurya dynasty by Chandragupta has been determined to be about 322 B C, and a good many other dates in Indian history have been ascertained The writings of Chinese authors also throw a great deal of light on some periods of Indian history Buddhism was introduced into China in the first century of the Christian era, and from time to time men from that country came to India as pilgrims, and some Indian Buddhists also must have found their way to China The Chinese pilgrims wrote accounts of what they saw and did in India, and these works, which have come down to us, are very valuable for the elucidation of Indian history The Chinese possessed a perfect system of chronology, and the dates of the pilgrimages are useful for the purposes of the Indian antiquarian Valuable accounts of India written by the Arabic visitors to the country in the Middle Ages have also become available

c7.4

III Another very important source, and fuller than any hitherto noticed, consists of inscriptions Some of these are cut on stones or rocks, and others engraved on copperplates These last are in all cases charters conveying grants of land made mostly by princes or chiefs to religious persons or to temples and monasteries A great many of these are dated in one of the current eras It is usual in these charters to give the pedigree of the grantor The names of his ancestors together with some of their famous deeds are mentioned As the authors who composed the grants cannot be expected to be impartial in their account of the reigning monarch, much of what they say about him cannot be accepted as historically true And even in the case of his ancestors, the vague praise that we often find, must be regarded simply as meaningless But when they are represented to have done a specific deed, such as the conquest of Harshavardhana by Pulakeśi II of the early Châlukya dynasty, it must be accepted as historical, and when we have other sources available, we find the account confirmed, as Hwhan Thsang does that of Pulakeśi's exploit Even in the case of the reigning monarch, the specific deeds such as wars with neighbouring princes, which are mentioned, may be accepted as historical, though, however, legitimate doubts may be entertained as regards the reported results

c7.5

The stone-inscriptions are intended to commemorate the dedication of a temple or monastery or any part thereof, and of works of public utility such as tanks and wells, and sometimes grants of land also A good many of these benefactions are by private individuals, but not seldom the name of the king, in whose reign the dedication was made, is given together with the year of his reign, as well as the date in the current era When it is a royal benefaction that is commemorated, we have a longer account of the reigning prince, and sometimes of his ancestors

c7.6

The great pioneer in the deciphering and interpretation of inscriptions was James Prinsep, but no great progress was made after him, in this branch of antiquarian work, till the establishment of the "Indian Antiquary" and the institution of the Archæological Survey These gave a strong impetus to it, and many scholars entered into the field with zeal Twenty years ago, it would have been impossible to write the following pages

c7.7

IV I must not omit to mention old coins as a valuable source of information as to the names of the successive monarchs of a dynasty, and sometimes their dates A study of these too has led to very important results

c7.8

The materials for the history of the development of Indian thought and of changes in the social condition are the whole literature itself But this is an independent inquiry with which we are not here directly concerned, and the conclusions arrived at are applicable to the whole Hindu race, and not to any particular province I have consulted general literature only in discussing points concerning the Âryan settlement of the Dekkan The materials used in the preparation of the other sections, which fall under each of the four classes noticed above, are as follows

c7.9

I —Bılhaṇa's Vıkramâṅkacharıta, Introductıon to the Vratakhaṇḍa, Introductıon to Jahlaṇa's anthology, the Purâṇıc genealogıes, and scattered notıces ın the Kathâsarıtsâgara, Hâla's Saptaśatî, Vâtsyâyana's Kâmasûtra, Kavırahasya, Dıgambara Jaına works—such as the Harıvamśa, the Uttara Purâna, the Yaśastılaka, the Praśnottararatnamâlıkâ &c —Vıjñâneśvara's Mıtâksharâ, the Abhılashıtârthachıntâmaṇı, the Basava Purâṇa, the Lekhapañchâśıkâ, the Sabdârṇavachandrıkâ, the Jñâneśvarî, and a few others

c7.10

II —Ptolemy's geography, the Perıplus, Hwıhan Thsang's Itınerary

c7.11

III —Inscrıptıons ın the cave-temples of Western Indıa, Rudradâman's ınscrıptıon at Junâgaḍ, stone ınscrıptıons ın the Southern Maratha Country, copper-plate charters of the early Châlukyas, the Râshṭrakûṭas, and other dynastıes, of whıch we have now a large number

c7.12

IV —Coıns of the Satavâhanas found at Kolhâpur and ın the lower Godâvarı dıstrıct

c7.13

Sınce the polıtıcal hıstory of the Dekkan before the advent of Mahomedans was entırely unknown before, and the dıffıculty of ascertaınıng facts ıs very great, my object has been to collect as many of them as possıble The absence of proportıon ın the space allotted to ımportant and unımportant events due to thıs cırcumstance, wıll, ıt ıs hoped, be excused Thıs does not pretend to be a lıterary productıon, but merely a congerıes of facts

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