THE GREAT ANCIENT EMPIRES
THE GREAT ANCIENT EMPIRES
The splendour of the тАШdark periodтАЩ
The five centuries which passed between the decline of the first great
Indian empire of the Mauryas and the emergence of the great empire of
the Guptas has often been described as a dark period in Indian history
when foreign dynasties fought each other for short-lived and ephemeral supremacy over northern India. Apart from KanishkaтАЩs Indo-Central
Asian empire which could claim to be similar in size to Han China, the
Parthians of Persia and to the contemporary Roman empire, this period
did lack the glamour of large empires. But this тАШdark periodтАЩ,
particularly the first two centuries AD, was a period of intensive
economic and cultural contact among the various parts of the Eurasian
continent. India played a very active role in stimulating these contacts.
Buddhism, which had been fostered by Indian rulers since the days of
Ashoka, was greatly aided by the international connections of the IndoGreeks and the Kushanas and thus rose to prominence in Central Asia.
South India was establishing its important links with the West and with
Southeast Asia in this period. These links, especially those with
Southeast Asia, proved to be very important for the future course of
Asian history.
But India itself also experienced important social and cultural changes
in this period. For centuries Buddhism had enjoyed royal patronage. This
was partly due to the fact that the foreign rulers of India found Buddhism
more accessible than orthodox Hinduism with its caste barriers. The
Vedic Brahmins had been pushed into the background by the course of
historical development although Hinduism as such did not experience a
decline. On the contrary, new popular cults arose around gods like Shiva,
Krishna and Vishnu-Vasudeva who had played only a marginal role in an
earlier age. The competition between Buddhism, which dominated the
royal courts and cities, and orthodox Brahminism, which was still
represented by numerous Brahmin families everywhere, left enough scope
for these new cults to gain footholds of their own. Of great importance
for the further development of Hinduism and particularly for the Hindu
idea of kingship was the Kushana rulersтАЩ identification with certain
Hindu godsтАФthey were actually believed to attain a complete identity
with the respective god after their death.
Religious legitimation was of greater importance to these foreign rulers
than to other Indian kings. MenanderтАЩs ashes had been distributed
according to the Buddhist fashion, and Kanishka was identified with
Mithras, but Wima Kadphises and Huvishka were closer to Shiva as shown
by the images on their coins. HuvishkaтАЩs coins provide a regular almanac
of the iconography of the early Shiva cult. The deification of the ruler
which was so prevalent in the Roman and Hellenistic world as well as
among the Iranians was thus introduced into India and left a mark on the
future development of Hindu kingship.
Another feature of crucial importance for the future political
development of India was the organisation of the Shaka and Kushana
empires. They were not centralised as the Maurya empire had been, but
were based on the large-scale incorporation of local rulers. In subsequent
centuries many regional empires of India were organised on this pattern.
The best-known contribution of the тАШdark periodтАЩ was, of course, to
Indian art. After the early sculptures of the Mauryas which were greatly
influenced by the Iranian style, a new Indian style had first emerged under
the Shungas and their successors in the Buddhist monuments of Bharhut
and Sanchi which particularly showed a new style of relief sculpture. The
merger of the Gandhara school of art, with its Graeco-Roman style, and
the Mathura school of art which included тАШarchaicтАЩ Indian elements and
became the centre of Indo-Kushana art, finally led to the rise of the
Sarnath school of art. This school then set the pattern of the classical
Gupta style.
Less well-known, but much more important for the future development
of Hindu society, was the compilation of the authoritative Hindu law
books (dharmashastra), the foremost of them being the Code of Manu
which probably originated in the second or third century AD. After the
breakdown of the Maurya and Shunga empires, there must have been a
period of uncertainty which led to a renewed interest in traditional social
norms. These were then codified so as to remain inviolate for all times to
come. If we add to this the resurgence of Sanskrit, as testified by
RudradamanтАЩs famous rock inscription of the second century AD, we see
that this тАШdark periodтАЩ actually contained all the elements of the classical
culture of the Gupta age. Thus the much maligned тАШdark periodтАЩ was
actually the harbinger of the classical age.
THE CLASSICAL AGE OF THE GUPTAS
Like the Mauryas a few centuries earlier, the imperial Guptas made a
permanent impact on Indian history. In his Allahabad inscription,
Samudragupta, the first great ruler of this dynasty, mentions one Maharaja
Shri Gupta and one Ghatotkacha as his ancestors. But, except for these
names, nothing else is mentioned in any other Gupta inscription nor have
any coins been found which bear their names. They were probably local
princelings somewhere around Allahabad or Varanasi. The Puranas report
that the early Guptas controlled the area along the Ganges from Prayag
(Allahabad) to Magadha. But Pataliputra and the centre of Magadha were
certainly not within their reach.
The dynasty stepped into the limelight of history with Chandragupta I
(AD 320 to about 335) who married a Licchavi princess. This marriage
must have greatly contributed to the rise of the Guptas because the
Licchavis were a mighty clan controlling most of north Bihar ever since the
days of the Buddha. ChandraguptaтАЩs coins show the king and his queen,
Kumaradevi, and on the reverse a goddess seated on a lion with the legend
тАШLicchaviтАЩ. Samudragupta was also aware of the importance of this
connection and in his famous Allahabad inscription he called himself тАШson
of the daughter of the LicchaviтАЩ rather than тАШson of the GuptaтАЩ. Chandragupta introduced a new era starting with his coronation in AD
320 and he also assumed the title тАШOverlord of great kingsтАЩ
(maharajaadhiraja).
ChandraguptaтАЩs son, Samudragupta (c. AD 335тАУ375), earned a
reputation as one of the greatest conquerors of Indian history. This is
mainly due to the fact that his famous Allahabad inscription on an old
Ashokan pillar withstood the ravages of time and thus preserved a glorious
account of his deeds.1
The inscription, which is undated, was perhaps
initially located at Kausambi. It contains a long list of all kings and realms
subdued by Samudragupta. Only half of the names on this list can be
identified, but the rest provide us with a clear picture of SamudraguptaтАЩs
policy of conquest and annexation. In the тАШland of the AryasтАЩ (aryavarta)
he uprooted (unmulya) many kings and princes between west Bengal in the
east, Mathura in the west and Vidisha in the southwest and annexed their
realms. The old kingdom of Panchala north of the Ganges and many Naga
(Snake) dynasties which had arisen in the area from Mathura to Vidisha
after the decline of the Kushanas were eliminated in this way. The conquest
of Pataliputra was also achieved in this first great campaign.
