TABLE OF CONTENTS
INDIAN HISTORY IN OUTLINE
A PRELIMINARY SURVEY, COMPRISING A CURSORY VIEW OF THE SWEEP OF EVENTS AND A TABLE OF CHRONOLOGY
The important place which India holds in recent history combines with the fascination of its mysteries to give this country an interest in the eyes of the modern historian which it never held previously to the last century. Thus one finds that in the most recent German Weltgeschichte the history of ancient India is given almost as much space as is devoted to the entire history of ancient Greece or Rome. Whereas, to point a contrast, it may be noted that in the classical Weltgeschichte of Schlosser, written half a century ago, the history of India is allotted only about a dozen pages. It may fairly be held that in each of these cases there is a lack of true historical perspective, for, whereas it would be absurd to claim that India receives anything like just treatment in the condensed summary of Schlosser, it would be equally absurd to claim that the actual world-historic merit of India is at all comparable—from a European standpoint—to that of Greece or Rome. But questions of exact importance aside, the facts just cited evidence a growing realisation of the importance of the oriental branch of the great Aryan tree. They show among other things that the Western mind is being aroused from that standpoint of insular dogmatism on which it placed itself with such seeming security.
It is a hopeful sign of the times, for it suggests that the hour is near at hand when it will be generally demanded of the historian who attempts to deal with general history that he shall look out upon the world not with the eyes of a narrow European partisanship, but with true cosmopolitanism. When this is done it will become more and more evident that a great people of the Orient, who had attained the highest stage of culture, had developed an extraordinary literature, and achieved the height of an amazing practical philosophy at least half a millennium before the beginning of our era, are not to be treated with contempt because their conceptions of religion and their estimate of the right ideals of practical civilisation differ from our own. To such a clarified view the position given to the history of India in the work just referred to must manifestly tend.
It must be admitted, however, that whatever the interest attaching to Indian history, almost insuperable difficulties stand in the way of a clear interpretation of that history. The country itself is of enormous size, comprising about a million and a half of square miles, and giving residence to a population estimated at some two hundred and forty millions. This enormous population is made up of a great variety of races, the origin of which is altogether obscure. When one speaks of the history of ancient India, one practically ignores all these indigenous races, and refers merely to the invading hosts of so-called Aryans that came into the country from the northwest and finally became dominant there. How greatly these invaders were modified as a race by their contact with the native hordes of India, is evidenced in the wide gap that separates the Aryan of India to-day from the Aryan of Europe.
As to the exact time when the Aryan invasion occurred, all is obscure. Nor is anything definite known of the history of conquest, and the subsequent development of the race in India, except such merely inferential glimpses as may be gained through study of the Vedas. India was indeed known to the western world from a very early period. We have seen that the Assyrian monuments depict animals unmistakably of Indian origin, as being brought in tribute to the court of Shalmaneser II. But neither these nor any other records of the western world suffice to throw any light whatever upon the real history of India or give us any knowledge of the country beyond the mere proof that its existence was known, until so relatively late a period as the conquest of Alexander. After that time the West and the East were in closer contact.
Seleucus, a general of Alexander’s and the inheritor of the chief part of his Asiatic territories, entered into diplomatic relations with an Indian Raja, Chandragupta by name, who had driven the Macedonian garrisons from the Punjab and proved himself too formidable to be conquered. The ambassador sent by Seleucus to the court of the Raja was named Megasthenes. The Greek appears to have been greatly impressed with what he saw of Indian life, for he wrote an enthusiastic description of the manners and customs of the Indian people. This account would appear to have circulated widely in the Grecian world, and to have afforded one of the sources for the accounts of India given at a later day by Diodorus and Arrian; but, unfortunately, the original has not come down to us. Its loss was probably due, in part, at any rate, to the excellence of Arrian’s work. Arrian drew also upon the account of India written by Nearchus, the general who commanded Alexander’s fleet.
No doubt there were other writers of the time of Alexander and the immediately succeeding period who wrote on India, but if so, their works, like those of Megasthenes and Nearchus, were superseded by the famous work of Arrian, which, as has been pointed out by Professor Lefmann, was for many centuries regarded as the most authoritative book on the subject. Arrian, it will be recalled, was also the author of the most authoritative life of Alexander the Great. It is not quite clear that his Indica was originally intended as a separate production; in any event, it naturally grew out of the history of Alexander. There is no reason to suppose that Arrian had visited India, but his recognised merits as a careful historian give a high degree of reliability to his work as evidencing the best knowledge of his time. It must be understood, however, that this knowledge had referred almost exclusively to the manners and customs of India, throwing almost no light whatever on the sweep of historical events.
Turning to India itself, we find that almost no historical documents except the religious books have come down from antiquity. The one bright spot in Indian history of a relatively early period is furnished by the reign of King Asoka.[16] Asoka lived about the middle of the third century B.C. He was a great conqueror, and appears to have brought a large part of India under his sway. His famous edict was engraved on rocks and pillars throughout his domain. These edicts are chiefly concerned with the practical enforcement of the duties enjoined by the Buddhist faith.
A Specimen of an Asoka Inscription: Mathia Pillar
“Seventeen versions of the edicts of Asoka have been discovered,” says Taylor. “They are engraved on rocks and pillars in all parts of India, and there are several inscriptions of dedication on caves or rock-cut temples which were constructed by him. There are also six pillar inscriptions, of which the best known are those at Delhi and Allahabad. On five of the pillars are inscribed the six edicts promulgated in the year 236 B.C., while the rock inscriptions contain copies, more or less complete, of the fourteen earlier edicts which date from 251 B.C. One of the most perfect covers the face of a huge granite boulder, seventy-five feet in length and twelve in height, at Girnar, near Junagarh, in Gujarat. There is another copy at Dhauli; a fourth, in a different alphabet, at Kapur-di-giri, on the frontiers of Afghanistan; and a fifth, four hundred miles to the southeast, at Khalsi. There are also six rock inscriptions, containing single edicts. An imperfect fragment, on which the well-known title of Asoka can however be read, has been brought from Ceylon.
“The wide range of these inscriptions shows the extent of the dominion or supremacy of Asoka. They are found from Gujarat on the western coast to Orissa on the east; as far north as Peshawar, as far south as the boundary of the Madras Presidency, if not even in Ceylon. They range over fifteen degrees of longitude, and twenty-seven of latitude.”[17]
Aside from their interest as historical documents, these inscriptions of Asoka had the greatest importance in giving an insight into the literature of India; for it was through them that the Indian alphabet was interpreted by Princeps. “The Delhi pillar and the granite boulder at Girnar,” says Taylor, “may fairly take their place in the history of epigraphy beside the bilingual inscription of Malta, the Rosetta Stone, and the rock of Behistun.” Unfortunately, the later rulers of India did not follow the example of Asoka, and his inscriptions are almost unique among the epigraphic remains of India.
It will be evident then, that classical literature and monumental remains give but brief glimpses of the actual history of early India. It follows that no full knowledge of this subject is, or perhaps ever can be, available.
2000 B.C. The Indians are that branch of the Indo-European family which moved from the west into the tableland of Iran, the valley of the Indus, and the Punjab. Here they were the first of their family to attain to a higher civilisation than their brothers. The members of this branch called themselves Aryans, “the noble” or “the ruling.” In their new home they found a race of black people, which was enslaved or expelled.
The sole evidence of their early life is the Rig-Veda, from which it appears that the knowledge of effectual invocations and sacrifices to the gods was in possession of certain families.
1500 They slowly push their way along the spurs of the Himalayas into the valley of the Ganges, whose aborigines were enslaved or driven into the Himalayas on the north and the Deccan on the south.
In the struggle with the natives the separate tribes are amalgamated into larger communities; the small unions of tribes become nations, which divide the land of the Ganges among themselves; the tribal chiefs are changed into military leaders, and the successful leaders become the heads of important states. This took a considerable amount of time. There were the Matsyas on the west bank of the Jumna; the Surasenas, who lived in the cities of Mathura and Krishnapura, and the afterwards united kingdoms of the Bharatas and Panchalas on the Jumna and Ganges. These were governed at Hastinapura. Farther to the east and north were the Kosalas whose capital was Ajodhya; the Videhas of Mithila. On the Ganges were the Kasis, capital Varanasi (Benares), the Angas at Champa (Bhagalpur), and south of the river was the kingdom of the Magadhas, the most important on the Ganges, with the capital at Rajagriha.
1400 This is the approximate beginning of the dynastic periods for most of the kingdoms on the Ganges. Of the kingdom of Magadha:
Brihadratha reported to be the first king.
His third successor was Somapi, the first of the Barhadrathas.
1300 Somapi, the first of the Barhadratha dynasty.
There are about thirty kings of this dynasty. The last one, Ripunjaya, dies about 800 B.C. They rule at Rajagriha.
1400 Kuru, evidently the first dynastic king of the Bharatas.
The name of the royal family passes over to the people, and they are henceforth known as the Kurus.
The Kurus are the first to establish extensive dominion over the tribes of the Upper Ganges, and they drive eastward the tribes which were once united to them and had followed them into the Jumna valley,—the Kosalas, Angas, Videhas, and Magadhas.
It is the struggles of these tribes against the Kurus which are described in the Mahabharata.
The Pandus, a younger race than the Kurus, and who have become prominent among the Panchalas, rise in rebellion. The Pandus have many allies. The Kurus disappear in a great war shortly before 1200 B.C., and the kings of Pandu ascend the throne of Hastinapura. They hold it for thirty generations, governing at Hastinapura.
1200 Shortly after the great war, Parikshit comes to the united Kuru (Bharata)—Pandu (Panchala) throne. He reigns sixty years in Hastinapura, and dies (according to tradition) from the bite of a snake.
The origin of the kingdom of Kosala was probably of a somewhat later date than that of Magadha and Bharata. The people looked to Manu as their first king, and reckoned one hundred and sixteen kings from him to Prasenajit (600-550 B.C.). The age 1400-1200 B.C. is that of the arrangement of the kingdoms, the establishment of the position of the nobles, the rise of the Kshattriyas—the warrior caste.
Their organised kingdoms show a striking contrast to the condition of those Aryans who remained in the Indus region. We have no knowledge of their fortunes except that most of them retained their tribal life without kings. “The people,” says Duncker, “show not the least interest in preserving the memory of their actions or fortunes.”
1200-1000 is approximately the period of the formation of the castes. These were:
(1) The priests or Brahmans—families who had kept to themselves knowledge of the prayers, rites, and sacrifices of the religion since the old days.
(2) The Kshattriyas—or warriors (the Rajputs of the present day), among whom were the rulers of the kingdoms.
(3) The Vaisyas—or husbandmen.
(4) The Sudras—a non-Aryan servile class (the Dasas of the Rig-Veda), the remnant of the aboriginal tribes.
These castes gradually become separate and distinct. Intermarriage ceases and each keeps to its hereditary employments. As yet the Kshattriyas are the most important, but the priests are slowly influencing the people to the idea that the relations of men to the gods transcend all the other relations of life, thereby pushing themselves into the first place.
The kingdoms on the Ganges continue as in the preceding epoch. Under king Nichahra the capital of the Pandus (Bharatas) is removed from Hastinapura to Kausambi, lower down the Ganges.
In the Punjab and the land of the Indus, a considerable number of principalities have arisen among the kingless tribes. There are also some nations governed by overseers of cantons, heads of cities and districts. Among the states that of Kashmir is the most important. About 1000 B.C. we know there is a brisk trade between the Upper and Lower Indus. Phœnician ships bring home gold and sandal-wood, obtained from the Upper Indus. The process of caste-formation has not gone on to any extent in these regions, and there are now no links between the people of the Indus and the Ganges. 1000-800 Era of the struggle for supremacy between the priests and nobles. At its close the Brahmans have been raised to the first order, and the severest known class distinctions in history have become established—distinctions which are in force at the present day. The supremacy of the priesthood is due to the new religious view it developed—the discovery of the idea of Brahma which takes place about 1000 B.C. This idea was evolved from the mysterious secret of worship, the spirit of prayer, and the phenomena of birth and decay. Behind these phenomena lies a single soul—the world soul. From this soul they arrive at a deity, the cause and basis of the world. This deity is Brahma. It drives out the ancient gods. A rigid system of the universe is developed in which the most spiritual beings stand nearest to Brahma, while the most material are the most remote. We have no knowledge as to the resistance made by the Kshattriyas to these ideas, but they are accepted by the people, and the Brahmans as being the most spiritual of the people, attain the first place, and the whole terrible system of Brahmanism, involving the rise of the people to spirituality through continuous regeneration, and its complicated 800 system of reward and punishment, comes into effect. Although they have the first place, the Brahmans do not interfere with the ruling power in the hands of the Kshattriyas. The monarchs are in full possession of despotic power, and are used by the priests to hold their rule. The Brahmans draw up the customs of family law, marriage and inheritance, of the rights and duties of the castes. The new system is not universally adopted. Even on the Ganges some districts resisted the new system and held to their ancient laws and customs. In the Indus only a few regions followed the development.
800 The territory of the Jumna and Ganges has become the “Sacred Land.”
800-600 Era of development of Indian philosophy. The people give themselves to the study of worship and dogma under the Brahmanic system.
800 The dynasty of Pradyota succeeds the Barhadrathas on the throne of Magadha.
The rulers of this and the other kingdoms are thorough despots who oppress their people greatly and force severe taxes and exactions from them.
665 The Saisunaga dynasty succeeds the Pradyota on the throne of Magadha.
The first two kings are Kshemadharman and Bhattya.
603 Bimbisara succeeds to the throne.
In his reign justice, morals, and religion are regulated in Magadha and neighbouring states, according to the Brahmanic system.
560 Birth of Prince Sarvathasiddha (Siddartha) son of Suddhodana, king of the petty principality of Kapilavastu.
He belonged to the race of the Sakyas, which had emigrated from the delta of the Indus to the land of the Kosalas.
550 Ajatasatru succeeds Bimbisara—is said to have put him to death.
Prasenajit, twenty-third ruler of the Kosalas after the great war, is their king and rules at Sravasti, a new city they had built to the north of Ajodhya, the ancient capital.
Vatsa, son of Satanika, the twenty-fifth successor of Parikshit, is king of the Bharatas (Panchalas-Pandus) at their new capital Kausambi.
The life of these kings is one of great magnificence and luxury. Their palaces are gorgeous and their harems numerous.
540 According to Arrian, Cyrus the Great reaches the Indus on his march. This has never been substantiated, though it is probable that he compelled the nations on the right bank of the river to pay tribute when he reached Gedrosia (Baluchistan).
532 Renunciation of the world by Siddartha.
522 He begins to preach his doctrines at Varanasi (Benares).
He is henceforth known as Buddha “the Enlightened.” He preaches the reformed doctrine known as Buddhism. It points out a way of escape from the terrible consequences of the Brahmanical system by the suppression of desire. It ends in the negation of existence—Nirvana.
It does not thrive in India owing to its abstractness and morbid views of life as well as by the competition of Sivaism and Vishnuism. But in modified form it has flourished in Afghanistan, Tibet, and China.
519 Udayabhadra murders his father, Ajatasatru, and succeeds him.
512 Darius subjugates the tribes on the right bank of the Indus north of the Kabul. In the reorganisation of the Persian empire, the territory becomes a satrapy, and is said to have paid the highest tribute in the whole empire. The Persian dominion does not seem to have had any deep influence on the life of the Aryans, and it is uncertain whether it continued until the coming of Alexander the Great.
503 Anuruddhaka murders his father Udayabhadra and succeeds him.
495 Nagadasaka murders his father Anuruddhaka, and succeeds him.
480 Death of Buddha.
471 Nagadasaka is dethroned by the people and Sisunaga, a son of Ajatasatru, formerly a vassal king of the Vrijis, is put in his place.
453 Kalasoka, his son, succeeds him. He leaves the capital Rajagriha for a new one he has built—Pataliputra (the Palibothra of Megasthenes) at the confluence of the Sonu and Ganges.
After the reign of Ajatasatru the kings of Magadha increase their power and dominions, and the states to the north and west of Magadha gradually become a part of that kingdom.
450 The Pandu dynasty of Bharata comes to an end, whereby the Panchalas and Surasenas become subject to the king of Magadha.
500-400 The conquests and emigrations of the Aryans extend to the Deccan and Ceylon.
The pearls and coral found in these localities give a new impetus to trade.
425 Kalasoka is succeeded by three sons, ruling in succession.
403 Nanda, the head of a robber band, organises an army, attacks and captures Pataliputra, murders Pinjamakha the king, and ascends the throne. He and his descendants keeping the kingdom intact, reign until 340, when 340 Dasasiddhika is murdered by his wife’s paramour, Indradatta, who puts his son Dhanananda on the throne. This king is the Xandrames or Agrames of Greek writers, and his realm is called the kingdom of the Prasians (Prachyas or Gangarides). He is said to have acquired great wealth, and kept an enormous army.
The power of Magadha is at its height.
327 Alexander the Great begins the conquest of the Aryans on the right bank of the Indus. He captures Pushkala after a siege of thirty days and overpowers the Gandarians.
After a stubborn resistance, the Asvakas (the Assacanes, Aspasians, or Hippasians of the Greeks) are subjugated during the winter.
326 Early in the year Alexander prepares to cross the Indus. Mophis, the ruler of Takahasila (Greek Taxiles), surrenders without resistance. The king of Kashmir sends his brother to announce submission, and several smaller princes come in person to give homage.
Alexander advances to the Vitasta (Hydaspes, modern Jhelum) river, and meets the army of King Porus, whose territory extends to the Asikni. Porus has been promised the assistance of the king of Kashmir, in spite of the latter’s submission to the Macedonian. Before this help arrives Alexander defeats Porus, but restores him to his throne and increases his power by assigning him some conquered territory. The king of Kashmir now comes in person to give homage. The Asvakas revolt and the Khattias, assisted by the Kshudrakas and Malavas, make stubborn resistance, but all are subdued. Other princes submit. The Agalassians are severely defeated.
325 Alexander sails up the Asikni to the Indus. The tribes of the Punjab and Indus are easily reduced.
The principalities on the Lower Indus are seized without difficulty. Alexander fortifies the conquered territory and establishes satrapies. In August he returns to Persia with eighty thousand men. In September, Nearchus sails for Persia with the fleet. After Alexander’s departure Philippus, the satrap of the Punjab, is murdered by mutinous mercenaries. Eudemus and Mophis of Takshasila are made temporary satraps.
323 June 11, death of Alexander.
321 Antipater appoints Peithon satrap of Upper India, and Porus of the Lower Indus. Murder of Porus by Eudemus.
320 This crime instigates Chandra Gupta (Sandrocottus), a man of humble origin, probably a native of the Punjab, to arouse his countrymen against the Greeks. They flock to his standard.
317 Chandra Gupta expels the satraps from the land of the Indus. He proceeds against the kingdom of Magadha.
315 Conquest of Magadha by Chandra Gupta. Dhanananda probably slain.
312 He ascends the throne of Magadha. Beginning of the Maurya dynasty.
305 Seleucus attempts to re-establish Greek supremacy in the Punjab and Indus valley. He encounters army of Chandra Gupta, is forced to make an unfavourable treaty and alliance with him.
300 Changes have been introduced into the Brahmanic system through the influence of Buddhism. Vishnu (the preserver) and Siva (the destroyer) form a trilogy with Brahma (the creator). There is a liberation from regeneration.
291 Death of Chandra Gupta. His son Vindusara succeeds. He keeps up the kingdom. Megasthenes is the ambassador of Seleucus at the court of Magadha.
263 Asoka “the Buddhist Constantine,” son of Vindusara, succeeds to the throne of Magadha.
256-254 Treaty with Antiochus Theos. From being a cruel man Asoka is converted to Buddhism. Builds monasteries and many splendid edifices for the new faith. Associates Buddhist priests with him in the government. Professed by the king and his family, Buddhism now spreads rapidly throughout India.
Ceylon under King Devanampriya-Tishya (245-205) is also converted.
The kingdom of Magadha is extended over Surashtra (Guzerat), Orissa, Kalinga, and in the south beyond the Godavari.
The monumental history of India begins.
226 Subhagasena succeeds his father, Asoka. In his reign or that of his father the columns of Bharhut, Sanchi, and Buddha Gaya were erected.
180 Eucratides, king of Bactria, conquers the Indus as far as Patala.
GRÆCO-BACTRIAN DOMINION IN THE INDUS REGION
178 Fall of the dynasty of Maurya.
The Sungas ascend the throne.
Two kings, Puspamitra and Agnimitra, reign thirty years.
148 The Gupta dynasty succeeds.
125 The Tatar tribe of Su drives the Greeks from Bactria, and the Græco-Bactrian settlements in the Punjab are overthrown by Tue-Chi.
The extent of the Scythian invasion has been variously estimated. Some scholars believe that they virtually supplanted the previous population of India, and there seems little doubt that by far the most numerous section of the Punjab population is of Scythian origin. At all events the Scythians play an important part in the subsequent history of northern India, and are the means of Buddhism getting into central and eastern Asia.
57 Beginning of the era founded in honour of King Vikramaditya. This name has been borne by several kings in Indian history—all famous for their struggles against the Scythians, from which much confusion has arisen.
A.D. 2-78 A.D. By this time the Scythians have established an empire over which the Kanishka family rules.
78 Salivahana, a king of southern India, is supposed to have checked the advance of the Scythians towards the south. After this, the fortunes of the invaders undergo many reverses. From now until the time of the Mohammedan conquest our knowledge of Indian history is most imperfect. But among the opponents of the Scythians there are:
60-235 The Sah (or Xatrapa) kings living northwest of Bombay.
319-470 The Gupta kings of Oudh and the northwest provinces.
480-722 The Valabhi kings in Cutch, the northwest districts of Bombay and Malwa.
510-560 Within the period took place the great battle of Korur in which King Vikramaditya of Ujjain in Malwa annihilated the Scythian army.
636 First appearance of the Mohammedans in India.
Osman sends a naval expedition to the Bombay coast.
712 Kasim invades Sind and establishes himself in the Indus valley.
722 The invaders overthrow the Valabhi dynasty.
828 The Hindus expel the Mohammedans and regain possession of Sind.
977-1176 Era of Mohammedan invasion.
A portion of the Punjab annexed to the Saracen empire.
1199 Mohammedan conquest of Behar.
1203 Mohammedan conquest of Lower Bengal.
1295-1315 Conquest of southern India.
1398 Tatar invasion of Timur (Tamerlane).
1482 Accession of Babar. (The Mogul dynasty.)
1556 Accession of Akbar the Great. The Mohammedan empire of India established.
FOOTNOTES
[16] The word is spelled with various modifications of the second letter, which is usually pronounced like s in sure.
[17] Isaac Taylor: The History of the Alphabet.
