Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c11.s2.1

c11.s2.1

The chief interest of the political history of the post-Bimbisārian Age lies in the interplay of two opposing forces, one centrifugal, the other centripetal, *viz.*, the love of local (*Jānapada*) autonomy and the aspiration for imperial unity. The former ideal is best expressed in the words of Manu—*sarvaṁ paravaśaṁ duḥkham, sarvam ātmavaśaṁ sukham*,¹ "subjection to others is full of misery, subjection to self leads to happiness." The predilection for local self-rule was in part fostered by geographical conditions. The intersection of the land of India by deep rivers and winding chains of mountains flanked by dreary deserts or impenetrable forests, developed a spirit of isolation and cleft the country asunder into small political units whose divergences were accentuated by the infinite variety of local conditions. But the vast riparian plain of the north and the extensive plateau in the interior of the Deccan Peninsula, decked with green by the life-giving streams that flow from the majestic heights of the Himālayas and the Western Ghats, fostered an opposite tendency—an inclination towards union and coalescence. The sands which choked the Sarasvatī, the floods that swelled the Lauhitya, the dangers that lurked in the Mahāṭavī proved no effective bar to unity. The five hills of Girivraja could not permanently withstand the conquering heroes who were charged with an imperial mission. The head of the Vindhya bent in reverence before the sage who was bringing the culture of the Ganges valley to the banks of the Godāvarī and the Tāmraparṇī.