Kingdoms of ancient and medieval India

Kamalika PIERIS

In the ancient and medieval period, the Indian peninsula held many separate kingdoms. Some kingdoms were small, such as the Chutus of Maharashtra and the Ikshvakus of the Krishna-Guntur region of Andhra. Other kingdoms were extensive. The huge Satavahana Empire, ruled by the Satavahana dynasty from the 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD, covered the whole of the Deccan and extended from coast to coast. Harsha of Kanauj (606 - 647 AD) ruled over a large northern kingdom, which included Punjab, Nepal and Kashmir. Some kingdoms were stable. Orissa and Kerala became separate kingdoms with settled boundaries in the 7th century. Some dynasties were long lived.

The Palas ruled in Bengal and Bihar from 760-1142 AD. Ancient India saw the rise of two empires but neither included the whole of present day India. Maurya kings (321 BC- 185BC) ruled over the Indus and Ganges plains and south India up to Mysore. Gupta kings (320- 454 AD) ruled over parts of north, east and western India. They received tributes from north-west and central India, as well as Andhra and Tamil kingdoms. Both empires disintegrated into independent states. Anarchy often prevailed in the period between Maurya and Gupta rule in north India.

North India was repeatedly invaded and ruled by West Asian and Central Asians They came through the north western passes which the Indian kings left unguarded, in the hands of local rulers. The invaders were superb horsemen and the Indian cavalry could not stand up to them. Alexander the Great arrived in India from Macedon in 327-326 BC. He occupied Kabul and the Indus valley.

Persian King Darius I (522-486) conquered parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India down to Rajputana. From Central Asia came the Pathans, Bactrians, Huns, Kushans and Shakas. Kushan king, Kanishka (78-101AD) controlled all the western half of north India, from Gandhara to Ayodhaya, including Benares and Sanchi. The Shakas ruled over Cutch, Kathiawar and Malwa up to the 5 century AD. The Rajputs held power in north western India in the 9th and 10th century. They ruled in Malwar, Kathiawar, Mewar, Gwalior and Udaipur. They were of foreign origin and operated in clans.

Turks from Afghanistan invaded in the 11th century. They fought efficiently and were superior horsemen. They took Lahore in 1185 and set up the Delhi Sultanate in 1206. They conquered Bengal and Bihar. In the Deccan, the breakaway Bahamani kingdom declared independence from Delhi in 1347 and ran the northern Deccan for two centuries. Daulatabad was one of its centers. This kingdom was eventually absorbed into the Moghul Empire.

From 12 century onwards, India came under Muslim rule. Between 1206 and 1526 five successive dynasties of Turks and Afghans ruled from Delhi. Afghans, Arabs, Mongols, Turks, and Persians poured into north India. The green, brown and blue eyes of present day north Indians are due to this ethnic mix. Turks and Afghans settled in the towns. They held elite status. The Rajput chiefs and other local rulers also came to be accepted as nobility, when the Sultanate found that it had to come to terms with them after many inconclusive wars. The villages and rural areas had considerable local autonomy.

The Mongols were Central Asian Turks from east of the Caspian Sea in what is now southern Russia. Mughal is the Persian variant of Mongol. The ‘Mughal’ dynasty in India started with Babur (1483-1531). Babur was related to both Timur and Genghis Khan. Babur was succeeded by his son Humayun, then Akbar (1556-1605) Jehangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb (1657-1707) and Bahadur Shah.

The Mughals used Persian as the official language and as a literary influence. Persian was the official language of Muslim India. Persian names became popular. . Persian architectural elements were introduced, notably the pointed arch, the dome and octagonal shape. Today’s much admired Indian architecture, such as Taj Mahal, is largely Persian (Iranian).The Muslim nobility also introduced innovations to north Indian classical music and dance.

In the meantime, there arose in the south, the Vijayanagara Empire (1366- 1646). Within four decades it controlled the whole of south India, including Kerala, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It was ruled from Vijayangara, near present day Hampi in Karnataka. Under Devaraya (1422-46) it became the most powerful state of the time in India.

The most prominent element in Indian politics was not good governance. It was war. Harsha of Kanauj maintained a large army and was surrounded by smaller kings always ready to go to war. Vijayangara was constantly faced with invasion from the adjoining Bahamani kingdom and the king maintained a large standing army. Much of the revenue of the Pallavas and Chalukyas went to maintain the army.

Sastri says that the wars in south India were fought with unusual bitterness and were marked by much wanton destruction, cruelty and ‘sickening horrors.’ The motive was invariably territory. In south India, the kings wanted to control the entire waterway of the Godavari and Krishna rivers which started in the west and entered the sea in the east.

South India fought over this for centuries, across the rise and fall of several dynasties. Vengi in modern Andhra Pradesh was frequently the bone of contention, since it lay between these two rivers.

Chalukyas of Badami, the Pallavas of Kanchipuram, and the Pandyas of Madurai fought each other throughout a period of 300 years from the middle of 6th century to 9th century AD, seeking constantly to grab each others territory . Rashtrakutas (757-973 AD) who ruled from Karnataka were always fighting. They had Amoghavarsha as king for 66 years. The whole period was full of wars. In the 11th and 12th centuries there was continuous war between the Cholas and neighboring Western Chalukyas. Chola king Kulottunga I and Chalukya king Vickramaditya VI fought for about half a century. The rulers also fought among themselves. The Rajput clans fought each other unceasingly. They were always trying to seize each others territory. When they were not fighting the Sultanate, they were fighting each other. The Bahamani rulers quarreled a lot among themselves.

(The writings of A.L. Basham, C.R.Boxer, S. Kiribamune, R.C. Majumdar, K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, K.M. Panikkar and R. Thapar were used for this essay).