Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s1: Section I. General Character of the Period C. 544 B.C. to 324 B.C.

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c12.s1

Language: English

Section I. General Character of the Period C. 544 B.C. to 324 B.C.

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The most remarkable feature of the age that commenced with the coronation of Bimbisāra c. 545—44 B.C.,² and ended with the retirement of Alexander from India and the accession of Chandra Gupta Maurya (324 B. C.), is the rise of a New Monarchy in the Eastern part of the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent which is already heralded by a *Brāhmaṇa* passage cited above³:

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² See below, Section VII.

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³ Pp. 156-7

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“In this eastern quarter (*prāchyāṁ diśi*), whatever kings there are of the eastern peoples, they are anointed for supreme kingship (*Sāmrājya*); ‘O supreme king (*Samrāṭ* they style them when anointed.”

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The eastern peoples, *prāchyas*, are not enumerated in the same manner as those of the southern, the northern and the central regions. But it may be safely assumed that the name used in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* stands for the Prasii of the Graeco-Roman writers. The most famous nations of the east in the *Brāhmaṇa-Upanishad* period were the Kāśis, the Kosalas and the Videhas. But a new star was soon in the ascendant. Under the vigorous kings of the race of Bimbisāra and Nanda Magadha played the same part in ancient Indian politics as Wessex did in pre-Norman England and Prussia in Hohenzollern Germany. Several circumstances contributed to the pre-eminence of the new aspirant for imperial power—its position of vantage between the upper and lower parts of the vast riparian plain of Northern India, the possession of an almost unassailable stronghold amidst five hills, and another at and near the confluence of several rivers, the arteries of commerce and navigation in those days, a superbly rich and fruitful soil, and resources including a powerful elephant corps which greatly impressed the classical writers and writers in polity.

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But strategic position and material wealth cannot suffice to raise a nation to greatness. As Burke says, it is the quality and spirit of the people 'that give all their life and efficacy to them'. As in several Atlantic lands, so in Magadha, we have a fusion of folks and cultures. Kīkaṭas mixed here with enterprising clans coming from upper India as Celts did with Latins and Teutons in Mediaeval France and some adjoining territories. It is not difficult to find out two strands in the cultural—no less than the racial—texture of the population. The same nation that produced relentless fighters and, 'exterminators of kings' and clans like Jarāsandha of epic legend, Ajātaśatru, Mahāpadma, Chaṇḍāśoka (the ruthless conqueror of Kaliṅga) and perhaps Samudra Gupta, hearkened at the same time to the devout teachings of Madhyama Prātibodhīputra, Varddhamāna Mahāvīra, and Gautama Buddha, and played a conspicuous part in the propagation of a world religion as it did in the establishment of an empire embracing nearly the whole of India. The birth of Ajātaśatru and the enlightenment of the Buddha took place in the same country and the same age, and they met in Rājagṛiha as Charles V and Martin Luther did at Worms. The symbol of aggressive imperialism stood face to face with the preacher of piety and morality, leader of a movement that was destined to convulse a continent. The two ideologies did not long remain apart. They were harmonised and the magician who worked the miracle was Dharm-āśoka who combined in himself the imperial tradition of his forbears as well as the spiritual fervour of the sage of the Śākyas.

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A characteristic of the people of Magadha was an elasticity of social behaviour which was absent in the system which developed on the banks of the Sarasvatī and the Dṛishadvatī. In their country Brāhmaṇas could associate with Vrātyas, the *Rājanya* could admit the Śūdra girl to the harem, the *Vaiśya* and even the *Yavana* could be promoted to gubernatorial office, hereditary rulers of aristocratic lineage could be expelled to make room for the offspring of a *nagara-śobhinī*, and the "royal throne of kings" was not beyond the reach of a barber.

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Magadhan rulers and chancellors like Vassakāra (Varshakāra) and Kauṭilya, were not over-scrupulous in their methods. Tradition credits some of them with the use of Machiavellian diplomacy in disintegrating kingdoms and republics, and invention of engines of destruction which worked with deadly effect. But they had the sagacity to evolve an administrative system in which princes royal, ministers of state as well as leading men of villages had their due share. Foreign diplomats and pilgrims in the fourth century B. C., as well as the fifth and seventh centuries A. D. speak of their sense of justice, their hospitals, charitable institutions and public works. They believed in ceaseless endeavour with the object of realising the dream of a united Jambudvīpa (Greater India) integrated by political as well as spiritual ties. In the *Māgadha* bards, the rulers of Girivraja and Pāṭaliputra had a body of devoted men who could rouse popular enthusiasm in a cause in which they believed. These singers and chroniclers have left a legacy which is invaluable to the student of ancient history.

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The rise of Magadha synchronised with, and may have been a contributory cause of, an exodus of people from the *Madhya-deśa* to the outlying parts of India, notably the west and the south. The displacement of the Yādavas in antiquity is vouched for by epic tradition. It is well-known that the Vṛishṇis and cognate clans of Dvārkā in Kāthiāwār and several peoples of the Deccan claimed Yadu lineage. It was in the period under review that the Far South of India comes definitely within the geographical horizon of the grammarians and foreign diplomats some of whom graced the *Durbar* of Magadhan kings. *Sapta-Sindhu* had at last developed into *Jam udvīpa*. And the time was not distant when a notable attempt would be made to impress the stamp of unity on it in the domain of culture and politics.

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In making their prowess felt throughout the vast sub-continent of India the great men of Magadha had at first to face three problems, *viz.*, those presented by the republics mainly on their northern frontier, the monarchies that grew up on the Rāptī, the Jumna and the Chambal and the foreign impact that made itself felt in the Punjab and Sind. We turn first to the republics.

Linked texts (1)

Aitareyabrāhmaṇa — Mahidāsa Aitareya, Sanskrit