The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1: Volume 1

The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1

Language: English

v1.c1 Front matter — 2 parts
v1.c2 The Cambridge History of India, Volume I: Ancient India — 13 parts
v1.c3 Preface — 18 parts
v1.c4 Table of Contents — 5 parts
v1.c5 Chapter II — 13 parts
v1.c6 Chapter V — 11 parts
v1.c7 Chapter VIII — 24 parts
v1.c8 Chapter XIV — 21 parts
v1.c9 Chapter XVII — 20 parts
v1.c10 Chapter XXII — 8 parts
v1.c11 Chapter XXIV — 12 parts
v1.c12 List of Maps — 1 part
v1.c13 List of Plates — 1 part
v1.c14 List of Bibliographies — 1 part
v1.c15 Corrigenda — 228 parts
v1.c16 Chapter III. The Aryans — 15 parts
v1.c17 Chapter IV. The Age of the Rigveda — 181 parts
v1.c18 Chapter VI. The History of the Jains — 58 parts
v1.c19 Chapter VII. The Early History of the Buddhists — 10 parts
v1.c20 Chapter IX. The Period of the Sūtras, Epics, and Law-Books — 17 parts
v1.c21 Chapter X. Family Life and Social Customs as They Appear in the Sūtras — 70 parts
v1.c22 Chapter XI. The Princes and Peoples of the Epic Poems — 68 parts
v1.c23 Chapter XII. The Growth of Law and Legal Institutions — 54 parts
v1.c24 Chapter XIII. The Purāṇas — 235 parts
v1.c25 Chapter XV. Alexander the Great — 202 parts
v1.c26 Chapter XVI. India in Early Greek and Latin Literature — 303 parts
v1.c27 Chapter XVIII. Chandragupta, the Founder of the Maurya Empire — 38 parts
v1.c28 Chapter XIX. Political and Social Organisation of the Maurya Empire — 188 parts
v1.c29 Chapter XX. Açoka, the Imperial Patron of Buddhism — 108 parts
v1.c30 Chapter XXI. Indian Native States After the Period of the Maurya Empire — 117 parts
v1.c31 Chapter XXIII. The Scythian and Parthian Invaders — 115 parts
v1.c32 Chapter XXV. The Early History of Ceylon — 61 parts
v1.c33 Chapter XXVI. The Monuments of Ancient India — 52 parts
v1.c34 List of Abbreviations — 2 parts
v1.c35 General Bibliography — 48 parts
v1.c36 Chronology — 69 parts
v1.c37 Index — 237 parts

Volume 1

Front matter

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in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation

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http://www.archive.org/details/cambridgehistory01rapsuoft This page appears to be entirely blank (a blank endpaper or flyleaf) containing no printed text, headings, figures, or page furniture.

The Cambridge History of India, Volume I: Ancient India

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C. F. CLAY, MANAGER LONDON : FETTER LANE, E.C. 4

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NEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN CO. .BOMBAY / CALCUTTA / MADRAS MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. TORONTO : THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TOKYO : MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA

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EDITED BY E. J. RAPSON, M.A. PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, AND FELLOW OF ST JOHN’S COLLEGE

Preface

THE present volume deals with the history of ancient India from the earliest times to about the middle of the first century a.d.; and it attempts to represent the stage of progress which research has now reached in its task of recovering from the past the outlines of a history which, only a few years ago, was commonly supposed to be irretrievably lost. Well within the memory of contributors to this volume it was the fashion to say that there was no history of India before the Muhammadan conquests in the eleventh century a.d., and the general opinion seemed to be summed up in the dictum of the cynic who roundly asserted that all supposed dates for earlier events were like skittles—set up simply to be bowled down again. But this gibe, not quite justifiable even when it was uttered, could not be repeated at the present day. It has lost its point: it is no longer even approximately true.

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Regarded as a record of the character and achievements of great leaders of men, this history indeed is, and must always remain, sadly deficient. Of all the conquerors and administrators who appear in this volume there are two only—Alexander the Great and, in a less degree, Açoka—whose personality is at all intimately known to us; in the case of others the bare memory of some of their deeds has been preserved; the rest have become mere names to which research has given a time and a place. But the fragments of fact which have been rescued from the past are now sufficiently numerous and well established to enable us to construct a chronological and geographical framework for the political history of many of the kingdoms and empires of ancient India; and into this framework may be fitted the history of social institutions, which is reflected with unusual clearness in the ancient literatures.

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The manner in which modern scholarship has succeeded in throwing light on the dark ages of India, and in revealing order where all seemed to be chaos, is briefly indicated in the latter section of Chapter ii which deals with the sources of history. The story of rediscovery is a long record of struggles with problems which were once thought to be insoluble, and of the ultimate triumphs of patience and ingenuity. It begins in 1793, when Sir William Jones supplied ‘the sheet-anchor of Indian chronology’

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by his identification of the Sandrocottus of Alexander's historians with the Chandragupta of Sanskrit literature; and its great epoch is ushered in by the decipherment of the long-forgotten alphabets of the ancient Indian inscriptions by James Prinsep in 1834. The first comprehensive summary of historical gains appeared in 1858, when Christian Lassen published the first volume of his *Indische Alterthumskunde*; and in recent years other summaries have been made by Dr Vincent Smith (*Early History of India*, 1st edn. 1904, 2nd edn. 1908, 3rd edn. 1914), by Dr L. D. Barnett (*Indian Antiquities*, 1913), and, on a smaller scale, by the editor of this volume (*Ancient India*, 1914).

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The *Cambridge History of India* marks a new departure. The literature of the subject has become so vast, and is still growing with such rapidity, that the best hope of securing a real advance in the study now lies in a division of labour among scholars who have explored at first hand the main sources of information. This volume therefore follows the plan adopted in the modern and medieval histories published by the Cambridge University Press. It is the outcome of the combination of a number of investigators with an editor whose function it has been to coordinate, so far as seemed possible or advisable, results obtained independently. That this plan is not without its disadvantages is obvious. All cooperative enterprises of the kind involve necessarily some reiteration and also some discrepancy; and the questions which an editor must decide are how far repeated discussions of the same topic contribute to a fuller knowledge or are merely redundant, and how far different opinions admit of reconciliation or should be allowed to remain as representing the actual state of a study which abounds with difficulties and obscurities. In all important cases of the occurrence of such supplementary or contradictory views in this volume cross-references are given to the passages in which they are expressed.

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The general scheme of the work may be explained in a few words. The first two chapters are introductory. In Chapter I Sir Halford Mackinder describes the India of the present day when railways and telegraph lines have taken the place of the ancient routes, and gives an account of those geographical features which have determined the course of history in past times. The chapter is founded on *Eight Lectures on India* prepared for the Visual Instruction Committee of the Colonial Office and published in 1910. A similar acknowledgment of indebtedness is due to the Government of India for the use which the editor has made of its official publications, especially the *Census Reports* of 1901 and 1911 and the *Imperial Gazetteer of India*, in Chapter II on peoples and languages, and the sources of history. In Chapter III Dr P. Giles reviews the evidence which Comparative Philology, aided by the ancient inscriptions of Western Asia, supplies for a knowledge of the early culture of the Āryans or ‘Wiros,’ their original habitat, and the date of the migrations which eventually led some of their tribes into India. The next five chapters are devoted to accounts of political, social, and economic conditions as represented in the earliest scriptures of the Brāhmans, Jains, and Buddhists—Chapters IV and V by Prof. A. B. Keith on the Vedas and Brāhmaṇas, Chapters VI and VII by Dr J. Charpentier and Dr T. W. Rhys Davids respectively on the earliest history of the Jains and Buddhists, and Chapter VIII by Mrs Rhys Davids on economic conditions in early Buddhist literature. The five chapters which follow extend this investigation to the Brāhman sources for the history of the post-Vedic period—Chapters IX–XII by Prof. E. Washburn Hopkins on the Sūtras, epics, and law-books, and Chapter XIII by the editor on the Purāṇas. Up to this point the evidence has been gleaned almost entirely from Indian sources and confined almost entirely to India. In the next four chapters India is viewed in relation to other countries—Chapter XIV by Prof. A. V. Williams Jackson on the ancient Persian dominions in India, Chapters XV and XVI by Mr E. R. Bevan on the invasion of Alexander the Great and the early Greek and Latin accounts of India, and Chapter XVII by Dr G. Macdonald on the Hellenic kingdoms of Syria, Bactria, and Parthia. In Chapters XVIII–XX the first great historical empire, that of the Mauryas, is described by Dr F. W. Thomas; and in Chapters XXI–XXIII the editor deals with the powers which arose on the ruins of the Maurya empire—the Indian native states, the Greek successors of Alexander the Great, and the Scythian and Parthian invaders. In Chapter XXIV Dr L. D. Barnett sums up what is known of the early history of Southern India; and in Chapter XXV he gives an analysis of the history of Ceylon which possesses a continuity in striking contrast to the fragmentary records of the kingdoms of the sub-continent. In the final Chapter XXVI Sir John Marshall describes the ancient monuments, and traces the various phases of Indian art from its beginnings to the first century A.D.

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The editor desires to thank all the contributors for the courtesy with which they have received and carried out his suggestions. He is doubly indebted to Sir John Marshall, Dr L. D. Barnett, Dr George Macdonald, Dr F. W. Thomas, and Mr E. R. Bevan for much valuable advice and for their kind help in reading the proofs of chapters other than their own. He gratefully acknowledges also the assistance which he has received from Colonel Haig and from Sir Theodore Morison, the editors in charge of the Muhammadan and British sections of the *Cambridge History of India* (vols. iii–iv and v–vi respectively).

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The preparation of vol. ii, which will deal with the period from the downfall of the Çaka and Pahlava empire in the middle of the first century a.d. to the Muhammadan conquests, is attended with unusual difficulties, caused partly by the vast extent and partly by the fragmentary character of the historical records; but it is at least to be hoped that its appearance may not be delayed by disasters such as that which has impeded the publication of vol. i.

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The printing of this volume began in 1913, and more than half the chapters were in type in 1914, when war made further progress impossible until the end of 1918. Since then the work has been completed, all the earlier chapters have been revised, and no effort has been spared to make the book representative of the state of early Indian historical studies at the end of 1920.

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The system of chronology, which has been adopted for the periods of Çaka and Kushāṇa rule, needs some explanation. The chronological difficulties connected with the Vikrama era of 58 b.c. and the Çaka era of 78 a.d. are well known; and it is universally admitted that the names which these eras bear were given to them at a later date, and afford no clue to their origin. The view maintained in this work is that the eras in question mark the establishment of the Çaka and Kushāṇa suzerainties. The idea of suzerainty, that is to say, supreme lordship over all the kings of a large region—'the whole earth,' as the poets call it—is deeply rooted in Indian conceptions of government; and the foundation of an era is recognised as one of the attributes of this exalted position. Now there is abundant evidence that the Çaka empire attained its height in the reign of Azes I and the Kushāṇa empire in the reign of Kanishka. It is natural to suppose therefore that such imperial eras must have been established in these reigns, and that their starting point in both cases was the accession of the suzerain.

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The story of the foundation and extension of later eras in Indian history—the Gupta era and the era of Harsha, for example—can be clearly traced. All such undoubted illustrations of the process are seen to imply the existence of certain political conditions—the relations of suzerain to feudatories, in fact. It is not necessarily, or indeed usually, the founder of a dynasty who is also the founder of an era; but it is that member of the royal house who succeeded in asserting ‘universal’ sway and in reducing his neighbours to the status of feudatories. The use of the era can be shown, in well-ascertained cases, to have spread from the suzerain to the feudatories. Is there any reason to suppose that extension in the contrary direction—from feudatory to suzerain—has ever taken place or could possibly take place?

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It has been suggested that the Vikrama era originated with the Mālavas, whose name it sometimes bears in inscriptions. They were a people, apparently of no great political importance, who can be traced in the Punjab and Rājputāna centuries before they settled in Mālwā, the tract of Central India which now bears their name; and they were almost certainly, like the other peoples of these regions, included in the Çaka empire at one period of their history. Is it conceivable that they could have initiated the Vikrama era, and that a great suzerain like Gondopharnes, who almost beyond doubt dates his Takht-i-Bahi inscription in this era, stood indebted to them for its use? The Vikrama era had undoubtedly become the traditional reckoning of the Mālavas in the fifth century a.d.; but the most obvious explanation of the fact is that they had inherited it from their former overlords.

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In the same way, the later name of the era of 78 a.d. may be due to its use for centuries by the Çaka satraps of Western India; but they can scarcely have founded this era. Their very title ‘satrap’ shows that they were originally feudatories; and they were most probably feudatories of the Kushāṇas. If so, they would use the era of their suzerains as a matter of course.

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Thus all *a priori* considerations favour the views which are adopted in this work in regard to the origin of these eras; and, as is pointed out on pages 581–2, the Taxila inscription of the year 136, which first suggested to Sir John Marshall the possibility of an ‘era of Azes,’ may also furnish positive evidence of their correctness. It has been necessary to deal with these chronological problems somewhat at length because of their importance. If the theories here maintained are accepted, there will be an end to the worst of the perplexities which have for so long obscured the history of N.W. India during the centuries immediately before and after the Christian era, and the dates in all the known inscriptions of the period will be determined, with the single exception of that which occurs in the Taxila copper-plate of Maues, and which, as is suggested, may be in some era which the Çakas brought with them from eastern Irān into India.

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The munificence of Sir Dorabji Tata has enabled the Syndics of the University Press to illustrate this volume more lavishly than would have been possible without such generous help. Mr G. F. Hill and Mr J. Allan of the British Museum have most kindly provided casts of the coins figured in Plates I-VIII; and Sir John Marshall has enhanced the value of his chapter on the monuments by supplying photographs, which were in many cases specially taken for the illustrations in Plates IX-XXXIV.

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The index has been made by Mr E. J. Thomas of Emmanuel College and the University Library. Modern place-names are, with very few exceptions, given as they appear in the index-volume of the *Imperial Gazetteer of India*. For the spelling of ancient names the system adopted by Prof. Macdonell in his *History of Sanskrit Literature* has been followed. This system has the double advantage of being strictly accurate and, at the same time, of offering as few difficulties as possible for readers who are not orientalists. The vowels should be pronounced as in Italian, with the exception of *a* which has the indefinite sound so common in English, e.g. in the word *organ*. The vowels *e* and *o* are always long in Sanskrit, and are therefore only marked as such in the non-Sanskritic names of Southern India, in which it is necessary to distinguish them from the corresponding short vowels.

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E. J. R.

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ST JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, *18 August 1921.*

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CHAPTER I

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THE SUB-CONTINENT OF INDIA

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By Sir HALFORD J. MACKINDER, M.A., M.P., Reader in Geography in the University of London, formerly Student of Christ Church, Oxford

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PAGE

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The four sub-continents of Asia . . . . . . 1 Ceylon; Colombo, the strategic centre of British sea-power in the Indian Ocean . . . . . . . 1 The Malabar and Coromandel coasts; the Western and Eastern Ghāts . 2 The Carnatic; Travancore; Cochin . . . . . . 3 The Gap of Coimbatore or Pālghāt . . . . . . 3 The plateau between the Ghāts; Mysore . . . . . 4 Climate of the southern extremity of India . . . . . 4 Madras; some causes of the comparative isolation of southern India . 5 Burma, the connecting link between the Far East and the Middle East . 5 The geography of Burma . . . . . . . 6 The geography of Bengal . . . . . . . 8 Calcutta . . . . . . . . . 9 Countries of the Himālayan fringe . . . . . . 10, 25 Valley of the Brahmaputra . . . . . . . 11 The plain of the Ganges and Jumna . . . . . . 12 Central India . . . . . . . . . 15 The situation of Bombay . . . . . . . 16 The Marāthā country; Hyderābād; the Deccan plateau . . . 18 The Central Provinces; Baroda . . . . . . 19 Kāthiāwār and Cutch . . . . . . . . 20 The Himālayan barrier . . . . . . . 20 Rājputāna; historical importance of the great Indian desert and the Delhi gateway . . . . . . . . 20 The north-west frontier . . . . . . . 26 The plain of the Indus . . . . . . . 27, 31 Routes leading into N.W. India . . . . . . 28 Kashmīr . . . . . . . . . 32 Gilgit; Chitrāl; the Karakoram; the Hindu Kush . . . . 33 Lateral communication between the Khyber and Bolān routes . . 33 The Hindu Kush and the Indus as boundaries between India and Irān . 34 Summary of the principal physical features of the sub-continent . . 34

Chapter II

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By E. J. Rapson, M.A., Professor of Sanskrit in the University of Cambridge, and Fellow of St John’s College

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A. PEOPLES AND LANGUAGES

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| | PAGE |
| Varieties of race, speech, and culture . . . . . . . . | 37 |
| Western and eastern invaders . . . . . . . . . | 38 |
| Natural and ethnographical divisions . . . . . . . . | 40 |
| The seven chief physical types . . . . . . . . . | 40 |
| The four families of speech . . . . . . . . . | 48 |
| The caste-system . . . . . . . . . . | 53 |

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B. SOURCES OF HISTORY

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| Prehistoric archaeology . . . . . . . . . . | 56 |
| Ancient literatures . . . . . . . . . . . | 56 |
| Foreign writers . . . . . . . . . . . | 58 |
| Inscribed monuments and coins . . . . . . . . . | 60 |
| The ancient alphabets . . . . . . . . . . | 62 |
| Progress of research . . . . . . . . . . | 62 |

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CHAPTER III

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THE ARYANS

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By P. Giles, Litt.D., Master of Emmanuel College, and Reader in Comparative Philology in the University of Cambridge

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| The Indo-European languages . . . . . . . . . | 65, 71 |
| The Wiros and their original habitat . . . . . . . . | 66 |
| Their migrations . . . . . . . . . . . | 70 |
| Evidence of the inscriptions of Boghaz-köi . . . . . . . | 72 |
| Īrānians and Indo-Āryans . . . . . . . . . | 73 |
| Āryan names in the inscriptions of Mesopotamia . . . . . . | 76 |

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CHAPTER IV

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THE AGE OF THE RIGVEDA

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By A. Berriedale Keith, D.C.L., D.Litt., Regius Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology in the University of Edinburgh, formerly Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford

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| The hymns of the Rigveda . . . . . . . . . | 77, 108 |
| Geography . . . . . | 79 |
| Fauna; peoples . . . . . . . . . . . | 81 |
| Social organisation . . . . . . . . . . | 88 |
| Origins of the caste system . . . . . . . . . | 92 |
| Political organisation . . . . . . . . . . | 94 |
| Warlike and peaceful avocations . . . . . . . . | 98 |
| Dress, food, and amusements . . . . . . . . . | 101 |
| Religion . . . . . | 103 |
| The beginnings of philosophy . . . . . . . . . | 107 |
| Chronology of Vedic literature . . . . . . . . | 110 |

Chapter V

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THE PERIOD OF THE LATER SAMHITĀS, THE BRAHMAṆAS, THE ĀRAṆYAKAS, AND THE UPANISHADS

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By Professor A. Berriedale Keith

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| | PAGE |
| Vedic literature after the period of the Rigveda . . . . . . . . | 114 |
| Extension of Āryan civilisation to the Middle Country . . . . . . . | 116 |
| Peoples of the Middle Country . . . . . | 118 |
| The more eastern peoples . . . . . | 122 |
| Changes in social conditions . . . . . | 125, 135 |
| Government and the administration of justice . . . . . . . . . . | 130 |
| Industry; social life; the arts and sciences . . . . . . . . . . | 135 |
| Religion and philosophy . . . . . | 141 |
| Language . . . . . | 146 |
| Criteria of date . . . . . | 147 |

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CHAPTER VI

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THE HISTORY OF THE JAINS

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By Jarl Charpentier, Ph.D., University of Upsala

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| | PAGE |
| Jainism in its relation to Brāhmanism and Buddhism . . . . . . . | 150 |
| The tīrthakaras or 'prophets'; Pārçva . . . . . . . . . . | 153 |
| Mahāvīra . . . . . | 155 |
| Jains and Buddhists . . . . . | 160 |
| Mahāvīra's rivals, Gosāla and Jamāli . . . . . . . . . . . | 162-3 |
| The Jain church after the death of Mahāvīra . . . . . . . . . | 164 |
| The great schism: Çvetāmbaras and Digambaras . . . . . . . . . | 165 |
| Settlements in Western India . . . . . | 166 |
| Organisation of the religious and lay communities . . . . . . . . | 168 |
| Blanks in Jain ecclesiastical history . . . . . . . . . . . | 169 |

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CHAPTER VII

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THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE BUDDHISTS

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By T. W. Rhys Davids, LL.D., Ph.D., D.Sc., formerly Professor of Pāli and Buddhist Literature at University College, London, and Professor of Comparative Religion in the University of Manchester

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| | PAGE |
| Pre-Buddhistic . . . . . | 171 |
| India in the Buddha's time; the clans . . . . . . . . . . . | 174 |
| The kingdoms: | |
| Kosala . . . . . | 178 |
| Magadha . . . . . | 182 |
| Avanti . . . . . | 185 |
| The Vamsas . . . . . | 187 |
| The first great gap . . . . . | 188 |
| Chandagutta . . . . . | 190 |
| Age of the authorities used . . . . . | 192 |
| Growth of Buddhist literature from the time of Buddha down to Asoka . . . | 197 |

Chapter VIII

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ECONOMIC CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO EARLY BUDDHIST LITERATURE

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By Mrs C. A. F. RHYS DAVIDS, M.A., D.Litt., Fellow of University College, London

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| | PAGE |
| Rural economy | 198 |
| Cities; villages; the land | 200 |
| Agriculture | 203 |
| Labour and industry | 205 |
| Social conditions | 208 |
| Trade and commerce | 210 |
| Trade centres and routes | 212 |
| Methods of exchange and prices | 216 |
| Securities and interest | 218 |
| General conclusions | 219 |

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CHAPTER IX

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THE PERIOD OF THE SŪTRAS, EPICS, AND LAW-BOOKS

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By E. WASHBURN HOPKINS, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology in Yale University

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| Language of the later Brāhman literature | 220 |
| Social conditions as reflected in the Brāhman and Buddhist books | 221 |
| Outlines of chronology | 222 |
| Causes of the wider political outlook | 225 |

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CHAPTER X

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FAMILY LIFE AND SOCIAL CUSTOMS AS THEY APPEAR IN THE SŪTRAS

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By Professor E. WASHBURN HOPKINS

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| The Sūtra literature | 227 |
| Gṛihya Sūtras | 228 |
| Oblations to spirits and gods | 229 |
| Rites to avert disaster and disease | 231 |
| Substitution of images of meal for sacrificial animals | 232 |
| Marriage ceremonies | 233 |
| Caste and family | 234 |
| Contents and arrangement of the Gṛihya Sūtras | 236 |
| The life represented is rural, not urban | 237 |
| Minor superstitions | 238 |
| Ārya and Çūdra; Dharma Sūtras | 240 |
| The beginnings of civil and criminal law; inheritance | 243 |
| Duties of the king | 244 |
| Taxes; status of women; ordeals | 247 |
| Legal rates of interest | 248 |
| Religion and philosophy | 248 |
| Relative ages of the Sūtras | 249 |

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CHAPTER XI

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THE PRINCES AND PEOPLES OF THE EPIC POEMS

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By Professor E. WASHBURN HOPKINS

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| | PAGE |
| The two chief varieties of epic poetry . . . . . . . | 251 |
| Sources of the Mahābhārata . . . . . . . | 252 |
| Narrative and didactic interpolations . . . . . . | 255 |
| The characters partly historical and partly mythical . . . . | 257 |
| Date of the poem in its present form . . . . . . | 258 |
| Features common to the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa . . . | 259 |
| Social conditions in the Sanskrit epics and in Buddhist works of the same period . . . . . . . . . | 259 |
| The story of the Mahābhārata . . . . . . . | 262 |
| The Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa contrasted . . . . . | 264 |
| Earlier and later moral ideals in the Mahābhārata . . . . | 265 |
| Knights, priests, commoners, and slaves . . . . . . | 266 |
| The king and his ministers . . . . . . . . | 271 |
| Religious and philosophical views of the epics . . . . . | 272 |
| Peoples traditionally engaged in the great war . . . . | 274 |
| The genealogies . . . . . . . . . | 275 |

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CHAPTER XII

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THE GROWTH OF LAW AND LEGAL INSTITUTIONS

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By Professor E. WASHBURN HOPKINS

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| The chief codes—Manu, Vishṇu, Yājñavalkya, and Nārada . . . | 277-9 |
| Growth of the distinction between religious precepts and law . . . | 280 |
| Growth of the distinction between civil and criminal law, and the first enumeration of legal titles . . . . . . . | 281 |
| Ordeals . . . . . . . . . . | 282 |
| *Dharna* . . . . . . . . . . | 284 |
| Punishments . . . . . . . . . | 284 |
| Development of civil law . . . . . . . . | 286 |
| Interest; wages; property . . . . . . . . | 287 |
| The king as ruler in peace and war . . . . . . | 288 |
| The king as judge . . . . . . . . . | 290 |
| Hereditary traditional law and custom . . . . . . | 291 |
| Infant marriage; the levirate; the status of women . . . . | 292 |
| The law-books and the Arthaçāstra . . . . . . . | 293-4 |

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CHAPTER XIII

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THE PURĀṆAS

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By Professor E. J. RAPSON

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| The classical definition of a Purāṇa . . . . . . | 296 |
| Kshatriya literature . . . . . . . . . | 297, 302 |
| Scriptures of the later Hinduism . . . . . . . | 298 |
| Critical study of the Purāṇas . . . . . . . | 299 |
| The Purāṇas and Upapurāṇas . . . . . . . | 300 |
| Their chronological and geographical conceptions . . . . | 303 |
| Genealogies partly legendary and partly historical . . . . . | 304 |

v1.c7.24

| | PAGE |
| Common traditional elements in Vedic literature and the Purāṇas | 305 |
| Traditional period of the great war between Kurus and Pāṇḍus | 306 |
| The Pūrus | 307 |
| The Ikshvākus | 308 |
| Kings or suzerains of Magadha: | |
| Bṛihadrathas | 309 |
| Pradyotas, originally kings of Avanti | 310 |
| Çiçunāgas | 311 |
| Nandas | 313 |
| Contemporary dynasties in Northern and Central India | 315 |
| Later kings of Magadha and suzerains of N. India: | |
| The later Nandas, Mauryas, Çuṅgas, Kaṇvas, and Andhras | 317 |

Chapter XIV

v1.c8.1

THE PERSIAN DOMINIONS IN NORTHERN INDIA DOWN TO THE TIME OF ALEXANDER'S INVASION

v1.c8.2

By A. V. Williams Jackson, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Indo-Irānian Languages in Columbia University

v1.c8.3

| Prehistoric connexions between Persia and India | 319 |
| Common Indo-Irānian domains | 321 |
| Evidence of the Veda and the Avesta | 322 |
| Avestan, Old Persian, Greek, and modern designations of Persian provinces south of the Hindu Kush | 326 |
| Early commerce between India and Babylon | 329 |
| The eastern campaigns of Cyrus | 329 |
| Cambyses | 333 |
| Darius | 334 |
| Xerxes | 340 |
| Decadence of the Achaemenian empire | 340 |
| The conquest of Persia by Alexander | 341 |
| Extent of Persian influence in India | 341 |

v1.c8.4

Note to Chapter XIV

v1.c8.5

Ancient Persian Coins in India

v1.c8.6

By Dr George Macdonald

v1.c8.7

| The rarity of Persian gold coins in India explained by the low ratio of gold to silver | 342 |
| The attribution of punch-marked Persian silver coins to India doubtful | 343 |

v1.c8.8

CHAPTER XV

v1.c8.9

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

v1.c8.10

By E. R. Bevan, M.A., Hon. Fellow of New College, Oxford

v1.c8.11

| The Kābul valley and the Punjab in the fourth century B.C. | 345 |
| Alexander's conquest of the Persian empire; settlements in Seistān, Kandahār, and the upper Kābul valley; invasion of Bactria | 347–8 |
| The rāja of Takshaçilā and the Paurava king (Porus) | 349 |

v1.c8.12

Invasion of India from the upper Kābul valley . . . . . 350 Hill tribes beyond the N.W. frontier . . . . . 352 Occupation of the lower Kābul valley . . . . . 354 Siege and capture of Aornus . . . . . 356 The crossing of the Indus . . . . . 357 Reception at Takshaçilā . . . . . 358 The Paurava king . . . . . 359, 368, 383 The battle of the Hydaspes . . . . . 360 Foundation of Nicaea and Bucephala. . . . . 368 Flight of the second Paurava king, and occupation of his kingdom . 370 Capture of Sangala . . . . . 371 Saubhūti (Sophytes) . . . . . 371 The Hyphasis, the eastern limit of Alexander's conquests . . 372 Return to the Hydaspes; expedition to the Indus delta . . 373 Defeat of the Mālavas . . . . . 375 Musicanus . . . . . 377 Return of Craterus through Kandahār and Seistān . . . 379 Pattala . . . . . 379 Return of Alexander through Gedrosia . . . . . 380 Return of Nearchus by sea . . . . . 381 Alexander's Indian satrapies . . . . . 383 Consequences of the invasion . . . . . 384

v1.c8.13

NOTE TO CHAPTER XV

v1.c8.14

ANCIENT GREEK COINS IN INDIA

v1.c8.15

By Dr GEORGE MACDONALD

v1.c8.16

Athenian and Macedonian types . . . . . 386 Sophytes . . . . . 388 Coins attributed to Alexander . . . . . 388 Double darics . . . . . 390

v1.c8.17

CHAPTER XVI

v1.c8.18

INDIA IN EARLY GREEK AND LATIN LITERATURE

v1.c8.19

By E. R. BEVAN, M.A.

v1.c8.20

The early sources of information . . . . . 391 Scylax of Caryanda; Hecataeus of Miletus; Herodotus; Ctesias of Cnidus. . . . . 393 Nearchus; Onesicritus; Clitarchus . . . . . 398–9 Megasthenes; Daïmachus; Patrocles . . . . . 399–400 Geography and physical phenomena . . . . . 400 The mineral, vegetable, and animal world . . . . . 403 Ethnology and mythology . . . . . 407 Social divisions according to Megasthenes . . . . . 409 His description of Pāṭaliputra . . . . . 411 Manners and customs; laws . . . . . 412 Marriage; suttee; disposal of the dead; slavery . . . . 414 The king; royal festivals; government officials . . . . 416 Industries . . . . . 418 Brāhmans; ascetics; philosophers . . . . . 419

v1.c8.21

Deities . . . . . . . . . 422 Fabulous creatures . . . . . . . . 422 Pearls; Southern India and Ceylon . . . . . . 423 Later sources of information—Apollodorus of Artemita; Eratosthenes; Alexander Polyhistor; Strabo; Pliny; Arrian; Aelian . . 425 Greek merchantmen . . . . . . . . 425

Chapter XVII

v1.c9.1

THE HELLENIC KINGDOMS OF SYRIA, BACTRIA, AND PARTHIA

v1.c9.2

By GEORGE MACDONALD, C.B., LL.D., F.B.A., First Assistant Secretary Scottish Education Department, formerly Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford

v1.c9.3

Greek and native rulers of the Kābul valley and N.W. India after Alexander . . . . . . . . 427 Chandragupta . . . . . . . . 429 The Indian expedition of Seleucus . . . . . . 430 Relations of Syria with the Maurya empire . . . . 432 Foundation of the kingdoms of Bactria and Parthia . . . 434 Diodotus . . . . . . . . . 436 Arsaces . . . . . . . . . 438 Euthydemus . . . . . . . . 440, 442 Invasion of India by Antiochus III . . . . . . 441 Sophagasenus . . . . . . . . 442 Demetrius . . . . . . . . . 444 Eucratides . . . . . . . . . 446, 454 Euthydemus II; Demetrius II; Agathocles; Pantaleon; Antimachus 447 Heliocles and Laodice . . . . . . . . 453 Plato . . . . . . . . . 456 Parthian invasion of Bactria . . . . . . . 457 Scythian invasion of Bactria . . . . . . . 458 Heliocles . . . . . . . . . 459 Key to Plates I—IV . . . . . . . . 462

v1.c9.4

CHAPTER XVIII

v1.c9.5

CHANDRAGUPTA, THE FOUNDER OF THE MAURYA EMPIRE

v1.c9.6

By F. W. THOMAS, M.A., Ph.D., Librarian of the India Office, formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

v1.c9.7

Characteristics of the Maurya period and authorities for its history . 467 N.W. India before and after Alexander . . . . . 468 Agrammes, Xandrames, or Dhana-Nanda . . . . . 469 Nanda and Chandragupta . . . . . . . 470 Date of the overthrow of Nanda . . . . . . 471 Plot of the *Mudrārākshasa* . . . . . . . 471 Chandragupta and Seleucus . . . . . . . 472 Megasthenes . . . . . . . . 472 Rule of Chandragupta and extent of his dominions . . . 473

v1.c9.8

CHAPTER XIX

v1.c9.9

POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ORGANISATION OF THE MAURYA EMPIRE

v1.c9.10

By Dr F. W. THOMAS

v1.c9.11

| | PAGE |
| Internal conditions: | |
| The land . . . . . . . . . . | 474 |
| Towns and fortifications . . . . . . . | 475 |
| The imperial capital . . . . . . . . | 477 |
| The people . . . . . . . . . . | 477 |
| Trade . . . . . . . . . . . | 478 |
| State of society . . . . . . . . . | 479 |
| Literature . . . . . . . . . . | 482 |
| Language . . . . . . . . . . | 483 |
| Religion . . . . . . . . . . | 483 |
| Law . . . . . . . . . . . | 485 |
| Government and administration: | |
| Civil administration founded on village autonomy . . . | 486 |
| The army . . . . . . . . . . | 489 |
| Foreign policy . . . . . . . . . | 490 |
| Tribal oligarchies . . . . . . . . . | 491 |
| Monarchies . . . . . . . . . . | 491 |

v1.c9.12

CHAPTER XX

v1.c9.13

AÇOKA, THE IMPERIAL PATRON OF BUDDHISM

v1.c9.14

By Dr F. W. THOMAS

v1.c9.15

| Bindusāra . . . . . . . . . . | 495 |
| Events and principal enactments in Açoka's reign . . . | 495 |
| Religious and other foundations . . . . . . | 497, 501 |
| Buddhist Council of Pāṭaliputra and religious missions . . | 498 |
| Duration of Açoka's reign and his family history . . . | 499 |
| Chronology . . . . . . . . . . | 502 |
| Açoka's principles and personal action . . . . . | 504 |
| His admonitions . . . . . . . . . | 507 |
| His ordinances and institutions . . . . . . | 508 |
| The personality of Açoka as revealed in his edicts . . . | 509 |
| His successors . . . . . . . . . | 511 |
| Probable division of the empire after the reign of Samprati . | 512 |

v1.c9.16

CHAPTER XXI

v1.c9.17

INDIAN NATIVE STATES AFTER THE PERIOD OF THE MAURYA EMPIRE

v1.c9.18

By Professor E. J. RAPSON

v1.c9.19

| The peoples of India in the inscriptions of Açoka . . . | 514 |
| Internal strife and foreign invasions the result of the downfall of imperial rule . . . . . . . . . . | 516 |
| Routes connecting Pāṭaliputra with the north-western and western frontiers . . . . . . . . . . | 516 |

v1.c9.20

| | PAGE |
| Kingdoms on the central route . . . . . . . | 517 |
| The Çuṅgas . . . . . . . . | 517 |
| Feudatories of the Çuṅgas . . . . . . . | 523 |
| Kosala and Magadha . . . . . . . | 527 |
| Independent states . . . . . . . . | 528 |
| Rise of the Andhras . . . . . . . . | 529 |
| Conquest of Ujjain . . . . . . . . | 531 |
| Conquest of Vidiçā . . . . . . . . | 533 |
| The Kaliṅgas . . . . . . . . | 534 |
| Key to Plate V . . . . . . . . | 538 |

Chapter XXII

v1.c10.1

THE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT

v1.c10.2

By Professor E. J. RAPSON

v1.c10.3

| The Yavana invasions . . . . . . . . | 540 |
| Extension of Yavana power along the routes from Kābul . . . | 542 |
| Stages on the route leading to Pāṭaliputra . . . . . | 543 |
| Yavana invasion of the Midland Country . . . . . | 544 |
| Bactrian and Indian coins . . . . . . . | 545 |
| The house of Euthydemus: | |
| Demetrius; Pantaleon and Agathocles; Antimachus . . . | 546 |
| Apollodotus; Menander . . . . . . . | 547 |
| The kingdom of Çākala . . . . . . . | 549 |
| Dominions of this house after the conquests of Eucratides and Heliocles . . . . . . . . . | 551 |
| The families of Menander and Apollodotus . . . . | 552 |
| The Çaka conquests completed in the reign of Azes I . . | 553 |
| The house of Eucratides: | |
| Eucratides . . . . . . . . . | 554 |
| The kingdom of Kāpiça . . . . . . . | 555 |
| Heliocles . . . . . . . . . | 556 |
| His successors at Pushkalāvatī . . . . . . | 557 |
| Antialcidas . . . . . . . . . | 558 |
| Archebius his successor at Takshaçilā . . . . . | 559 |
| Çaka conquest of Pushkalāvatī and Takshaçilā in the reign of Maues | 559 |
| Successors of Eucratides in the upper Kābul valley . . . | 560 |
| Hermaeus the last Yavana king . . . . . . | 560 |
| Pahlava conquest of the upper Kābul valley . . . . | 561 |

v1.c10.4

CHAPTER XXIII

v1.c10.5

THE SCYTHIAN AND PARTHIAN INVADERS

v1.c10.6

By Professor E. J. RAPSON

v1.c10.7

| The Çaka invaders came from Seistān and Kandahār into the country of the lower Indus . . . . . . . . | 563 |
| Çakas in the inscriptions of Darius . . . . . . | 564 |
| Migration of the Yueh-chi . . . . . . . | 565 |
| Bactria overwhelmed and Parthia invaded by Çakas . . . | 566 |
| Being checked by Parthia the Çakas invaded India . . . | 567 |
| The title ‘Great King of Kings’ . . . . . . . | 567 |

v1.c10.8

Pahlava and Çaka suzerains in eastern Irān and India . . . . . 569 The date of Maues, the conqueror of Pushkalāvatī and Takshaçilā . . 570 Extension of his conquests by Azes I, who may be the founder of the Vikrama era . . . . . . . . . . 571 Azilises; Azes II; Vonones . . . . . . . . 572 The family of Vonones . . . . . . . . . 573 Çaka satraps . . . . . . . . . . 574 The *strategoi* . . . . . . . . . . 577 Gondopharnes . . . . . . . . . . 577 Pacores . . . . . . . . . . . 580 The transition from Pahlava to Kushāṇa rule in Takshaçilā . . . 580 V'ima Kadphises . . . . . . . . . 581 The date of Kanishka . . . . . . . . . 583 Summary of numismatic evidence for the history of the Yavana, Çaka, and Pahlava invaders of India . . . . . . 586

Chapter XXIV

v1.c11.1

THE EARLY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN INDIA

v1.c11.2

By L. D. Barnett, M.A., Litt.D., Keeper of the Department of Oriental Printed Books and MSS. in the British Museum, formerly Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge

v1.c11.3

The Dravidian peoples . . . . . . . . . 593 The Tamil kingdoms . . . . . . . . . 594 The Andhras or Telugus . . . . . . . . 598 The Kaliṅgas . . . . . . . . . . 601 Mahārāshṭra, etc. . . . . . . . . . 602

v1.c11.4

CHAPTER XXV

v1.c11.5

THE EARLY HISTORY OF CEYLON

v1.c11.6

By Dr L. D. Barnett

v1.c11.7

Sources of history . . . . . . . . . 604 The Väḍḍas . . . . . . . . . . 604 Other races in Ceylon . . . . . . . . 605 Earliest colonisation . . . . . . . . . 605 History from Vijaya to the advent of Buddhism . . . . 607 From Devānaṃpiya Tissa to Kuṭakaṇṇa Tissa . . . . . 608

v1.c11.8

CHAPTER XXVI

v1.c11.9

THE MONUMENTS OF ANCIENT INDIA

v1.c11.10

By Sir J. H. Marshall, K.C.I.E., Litt.D., Director General of Archaeology in India, formerly Scholar of King's College, Cambridge

v1.c11.11

Prehistoric antiquities . . . . . . . . . 612 The age of iron . . . . . . . . . . 615 The mounds at Lauriyā Nandangarh; the walls of the old city of Rājagṛiha . . . . . . . . . . 616 The earliest buildings . . . . . . . . . 617 Monuments of the Maurya epoch . . . . . . . 618

v1.c11.12

| | PAGE |
| Persian influence | 621 |
| Contrast between Indian and foreign workmanship also seen in the minor arts | 622 |
| Development of art in the Çuṅga period | 623 |
| Bhārhut | 624 |
| Besnagar | 625 |
| More advanced style in the railing at Buddh Gayā | 625 |
| Sāñchī | 627 |
| Interpretation of the reliefs | 629 |
| Varieties of style | 630 |
| The pre-Kushāṇa sculptures at Mathurā | 632 |
| Decadence of art | 633 |
| *Chaityas* | 633 |
| Bhājā; Kondāne; Pitalkhorā; Ajanta; Bedsā; Nāsik; Kārli | 635 |
| *Vihāras* | 637 |
| The caves of Orissa | 638 |
| Sculptures in the caves | 640 |
| Paintings of the Early Indian school | 642 |
| Terracottas | 643 |
| Foreign influence in Indian art | 644 |
| Coins | 645 |
| Architecture | 646 |
| Minor arts | 646 |
| The Gandhāra School | 648 |
| Greek and Indian ideals | 648 |
| | |
| LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS | 651 |
| BIBLIOGRAPHIES | 653 |
| CHRONOLOGY | 697 |
| INDEX | 705 |
| PLATES I—XXXIV | *at end* |

List of Maps

v1.c12.1

List of Plates

v1.c13.1

List of Bibliographies

v1.c14.1

| | PAGE |
| **General Bibliography** . . . . . . | 653 |
| **Chapter I** . . . . . . . . | 654 |
| **Chapter II** . . . . . . . . | 655 |
| **Chapter III** . . . . . . . . | 658 |
| **Chapter IV** . . . . . . . . | 659 |
| **Chapter V** . . . . . . . . | 660 |
| **Chapter VI** . . . . . . . . | 662 |
| **Chapter VII** . . . . . . . . | 663 |
| **Chapter VIII** . . . . . . . . | 665 |
| **Chapters IX—XII** . . . . . . | 666 |
| **Chapter XIII** . . . . . . . . | 669 |
| **Chapter XIV** . . . . . . . . | 670 |
| **Note to Chapter XIV** . . . . . . | 673 |
| **Chapters XV and XVI** . . . . . . | 674 |
| **Note to Chapter XV** . . . . . . | 676 |
| **Chapter XVII** . . . . . . . . | 677 |
| **Chapters XVIII and XIX** . . . . . . | 679 |
| **Chapter XX** . . . . . . . . | 681 |
| **Chapter XXI** . . . . . . . . | 683 |
| **Chapter XXII** . . . . . . . | 685 |
| **Chapter XXIII** . . . . . . . | 686 |
| **Chapter XXIV** . . . . . . . | 688 |
| **Chapter XXV** . . . . . . . . | 690 |
| **Chapter XXVI** . . . . . . . | 692 |

Corrigenda

v1.c15.1

p. 129, l. 2 from foot. *For* Himalāyas *read* Himālayas.

v1.c15.2

p. 184, l. 11. *For* Samañña- *read* Sāmañña-.

v1.c15.3

p. 194, l. 3. *For* Moggliputta *read* Moggaliputta.

v1.c15.4

p. 265, note 2, l. 3. *For* Kṛishṇa *read* Kṛishṇā.

v1.c15.5

pp. 320, 321, note 2, ll. 7 and 10. *For* Oldenburg *read* Oldenberg.

v1.c15.6

p. 501, l. 15. *For* Koṇagamana *read* Koṇāgamana.

v1.c15.7

p. 581, l. 11. *For* protrait *read* portrait.

v1.c15.8

p. 598, l. 10. *For* Aravāḷar *read* Aruvāḷar.

v1.c15.9

p. 636, l. 5 from foot. *For* Andra *read* Andhra.

v1.c15.10

p. 684, l. 1. *For* Fourcher *read* Foucher.

v1.c15.11

MAP 1

v1.c15.12

PHYSICAL MAP OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE

v1.c15.13

PHYSICAL MAP OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE

v1.c15.15

THE great continent of Asia falls naturally into four parts or sub-continents. The east drains to the Pacific, and is mainly Buddhist. The north and west centre lie open in an arctic direction, and during the past century were united under Russian rule. The south-west, or Lower Asia, is the land of passage from Asia into Africa, and from the Indian ocean to the Atlantic. It is the homeland of Islām. In the middle south is the Indian subcontinent.

v1.c15.16

The inhabitants of the United States describe their vast land as a sub-continent. As regards everything but mere area the expression is more appropriate to India. A single race and a single religion are overwhelmingly dominant in the United States, but in India a long history lives to-day in the most striking contrasts, presenting all manner of problems which it will take generations to solve.

v1.c15.17

In the past there have been great empires in India, but it is a new thing that the entire region from the Hindu Kush to Ceylon, and from Seistān to the Irrawaddy should be united in a single political system. The one clear unity which India has possessed throughout history has been geographical. In no other part of the world, unless perhaps in South America, are the physical features on a grander scale. Yet no where else are they more simply combined into a single natural region.

v1.c15.18

The object of this chapter is to give a geographical description of India, as the foundation upon which to build the historical chapters which follow. We will make an imaginary journey through the country, noting the salient features of each part, and will then consider it as a whole, in order to set the facts in perspective.

v1.c15.19

The most convenient point at which to begin is Colombo, the strategical centre of British sea-power in the Indian ocean. Four streams of traffic, India-bound, converge upon Colombo from Aden and the Mediterranean, from the Cape, from Australia, and from Singapore and the Far East. From Cape Comorin, in the immediate neighbourhood of Colombo, the Indian coasts diverge to Bombay and Karāchi on the one hand, and to Madras, Calcutta, and Rangoon on the other.

v1.c15.20

Colombo is not, however, in a technical sense Indian. It is the chief city of the luxuriant and beautiful island of Ceylon, which is about as large as Ireland. Neither to-day nor in the past has Ceylon been a mere appendage of India. The Buddhist religion of half its population, and the Dutch basis of its legal code are the embodiment of chapters in its history; it is for good historical reasons that the Governor of Ceylon writes his despatches home to the Secretary for the Colonies and not to the Secretary for India.

v1.c15.21

The passage by steamer across the Gulf of Manaar from Colombo to Tuticorin on the mainland occupies a night. Midway on the voyage the mountains of Ceylon lie a hundred miles to the east, and Cape Comorin a hundred miles to the west. The gulf narrows northward to Palk Strait, which is almost closed by a chain of islands and shoals, so that the course of ships from Aden into the Bay of Bengal is outside Ceylon.

v1.c15.22

Cape Comorin, the southernmost point of India, lies eight degrees north of the equator, a distance nearly equivalent to the length of Great Britain. From Comorin the Malabar and Coromandel coasts extend for a thousand miles, the one north-westward, and the other northward and then north-eastward. The surf of the Arabian sea beats on the Malabar coast, that of the Bay of Bengal on the Coromandel coast. Both the Arabian sea and the Bay of Bengal open broadly southward to the Indian ocean, for the Indian peninsula narrows between them to a point.

v1.c15.23

The interior of the Indian peninsula is for the most part a low plateau, known as the Deccan, whose western edge is a steep brink overlooking the Malabar coast. From the top of this brink, called the Western Ghāts, the surface of the plateau falls gently eastward to a lower brink, which bears the name of Eastern Ghāts. Between the Eastern Ghāts and the Coromandel coast there is a belt of lowland, the Carnatic. Thus India presents a lofty front to the ship approaching from the west, but a featureless plain along the Bay of Bengal, where the trees of the coastline appear to rise out of a water horizon when seen from a short distance seaward.

v1.c15.24

As the steamer approaches Tuticorin the land becomes visible some miles to the west as a low dark line along the horizon. Gradually the detail of the coast separates into a rich vegetation of trees and a white city, whose most prominent object is a cotton factory. India is a land of cotton. Its people have grown cotton, woven cotton, and worn cotton from time immemorial. The name calico is derived from Calicut, a town on the Malabar coast which was a centre of trade when Europeans first came over the ocean.

v1.c15.25

On leaving Tuticorin we travel northward over the Carnatic plain. It is a barren looking country and dry, though at certain seasons there are plentiful rains, and crops enough are produced to maintain a dense population. Far down on the western horizon are the mountains of the Malabar coast, for in this extremity of India the Western and Eastern Ghāts have come together and there is no plateau between them. The mountains rise from the western sea and from the eastern plain into a ridge along the west coast, with summits about as high as the summits of Ceylon, that is to say some eight thousand feet. The westward slopes of these mountains, usually known as the Cardamon hills, belong to the little native states of Travancore and Cochin.

v1.c15.26

A group of hills, isolated on the plain, marks the position of Madura, a hundred miles from Tuticorin. Madura is one of three southern cities with superb Hindu temples. The other two are Trichinopoly and Tanjore, standing not far from one another, a second hundred miles on the road from Tuticorin to Madras.

v1.c15.27

A hundred and fifty miles west of Trichinopoly is Ootacamund, high on the Nīlgiri hills. 'Ooty,' as it is familiarly called, stands some seven thousand feet above the sea in the midst of a country of rolling downs, rising at highest to nearly nine thousand feet. This lofty district forms the southern point of the Deccan plateau, where the Eastern and Western Ghāts draw together.

v1.c15.28

South of the Nīlgiris is one of the most important features in the geography of Southern India. The western mountains are here breached by the broad Gap of Coimbatore or Pālghāt, giving lowland access from the Carnatic plain to the Malabar coast. The Cardamon hills face the Nīlgiris across this passage, which is about twenty miles broad from north to south, and only a thousand feet above the sea.

v1.c15.29

The significance of the Gap of Coimbatore becomes evident when we consider the distribution of population in Southern India. For two hundred miles south of Madras, as far as Trichinopoly and Tanjore, the Carnatic plain is densely peopled. There are more than 400 inhabitants to the square mile. A second district of equal density of population extends from Coimbatore through the Gap to the Malabar coast between the ancient ports of Cochin and Calicut. There are many natural harbours along the Malabar coast all the way from Bombay southward, but the precipitous and forested Western Ghāts impede communication with the interior. Only from Calicut and Cochin is there an easy road to the Carnatic markets, and this is the more important because the Coromandel coast is beaten with a great surf and has no natural harbours.

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To-day there is a railway from Madras through the Gap of Coimbatore to Cochin and Calicut, and from this railway a rack and pinion line has been constructed up into the Nīlgiri heights to give access to the hill station of Ootacamund. There are magnificent landscapes at the edge of the Nīlgiris where the mountains descend abruptly to the plains. On the slopes are great forests in which large game abound, such as sāmbar and tiger. On the heights the vegetation is naturally different from the lowland. The cultivation of the Nīlgiris is chiefly of tea and cinchona.

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Northward of the Nīlgiris, on the plateau between the Ghāts, is the large native state of Mysore. The Cauvery river rises in the Western Ghāts, almost within sight of the western sea, and flows eastward across Mysore. As it descends the Eastern Ghāts it makes great falls. Then it traverses the Carnatic lowland past Trichinopoly and Tanjore to the Bay of Bengal. The falls have been harnessed and made to supply power, which is carried electrically for nearly a hundred miles to the Kolār goldfield.

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The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1: Volume 1

Contents

Volume 1

Front matter

The Cambridge History of India, Volume I: Ancient India

Preface

Table of Contents

Chapter II

Chapter V

Chapter VIII

Chapter XIV

Chapter XVII

Chapter XXII

Chapter XXIV