Public Administration in Ancient India c9.35

c9.35

Soon after the departure of Alexander from India, Chandragupta, with the help of his minister, Chānakya, succeeded in bringing the whole of Northern India under his imperial control, and the empire of his grandson Asoka included the entire continent of India with the exception of the countries of Chola, Pāndya, Keralaputra and Satiyaputra lying to the extreme south of the peninsula.¹ But this vast fabric fell into pieces not long after Asoka’s death. The centre of political predominance then shifted to the Āndhra country, which succeeded in bringing under its sway the whole of the Deccan as well as a considerable part of Northern India. In the fourth century after Christ, Samudragupta and his son Chandragupta Vikramāditya revived for a time the lost glory of Magadha by re-establishing the Magadhan empire. The dominion under the direct control of the early Gupta Emperors comprised almost the whole of Northern India, while many of the kingdoms in the other parts of the country were attached to the Empire by bonds of subordinate alliance. The Gupta Empire was broken up by the incursions of the Huns in the latter part of the fifth century A.D., and the Gupta Kings sank into the position of local Rājās, ruling over a limited extent of territory. Yasodharman of Mālava was the next ruler to aspire to the position of an imperial sovereign.² In the seventh century, the political suzerainty of Northern India passed to Kanauj under Harshavardhana, whose victorious arms and wise statesmanship gathered together for the last time the scattered fragments of the North-Indian Empire.¹ In the country beyond the Vindhyas, the Chālukyas had already founded a powerful empire, and in the eighth and ninth centuries after Christ they fought with another great nation, the Rāṣṭrakūṭas, for imperial dominion over the Deccan with varying success. In the ninth and tenth centuries the Pāla Kings of Bengal made themselves masters of large territories, and some of them assumed titles of paramount sovereignty.² The Cholas in South India rose into prominence in the tenth century, and under Rajendra Chola they succeeded in conquering not only the whole of South India, but also Kalinga and Ceylon. In the meanwhile, the Rājpūts had appeared on the scene and had occupied Kanauj, Delhi, and Central India, and founded settlements in the country called after them ‘Rājasthān.’ The new as well as the old nations fought with one another for supremacy, but no King after Harsha seems to have succeeded in establishing a stable empire in any part of India. The country thus continued to be governed by a number of independent or semi-independent rulers, until the conquest of India by the Mahomedans deprived the people of their liberty, and brought about a rearrangement of the political boundaries of Indian States.