Indian kingdoms and ancient Sri Lanka

Kamalika PIERIS

The Indian kingdoms and the Sinhala kingdoms of the ancient and medieval period differed greatly from each other in standards of governance. The Sinhala state rapidly developed into a highly centralised state, under a single monarch. The Sinhala king was the head of state, fount of justice, protector of Buddhism and head of external trade.

In contrast, India consisted of many kingdoms, each consisting of feudatories who pledged alliance to the king. There were sub-feudatories as well. Whenever they could, the feudatories declared independence. The feudatories of Pulakesin II declared independence when Pulakesin was being harried by Pallava king Mahamalla. His two sons who were ruling as viceroys also declared independence. This would have led to uncertainty, political turbulence and fragmentation The Tamil kingdom was never ruled as a well knit kingdom. It was ruled in strata by the Pallava, Cholas, Pandya and Chera, each with its own capital city. Cholas, Pandya and Chera were continually at war with each other.

There was no interest in legitimate succession. .Sastri said that between 7th and 10th century AD, any adventurer who could establish power was accepted as a ruler in south India. There was no respect for territorial boundaries either. Sastri says the main interest of the south Indian king was in capturing and over running neighboring territories. 'Aggrandizement was the recognized duty of the ruler' and the king had to be a person who wished to conquer. There were frequent wars and skirmishes. The king spent much time fighting his neighbors and returned from raids with gold, jewellery and elephants captured from the enemy. Sastri said that 'a streak of ruthlessness and disregard for individual life is evident in the Dravidian character down to the fall of Vijayanagara.'

The king did not concern himself with day to day rule. The needs of the people were looked after by autonomous groups such as village assemblies and mercantile guilds. These functioned independent of the ruler. There was much local autonomy at village and district level. In south India, three types of village assemblies were in existence in 8th and 9th century. They were the village assembly, the 'sabha' of the Brahmin villages and the 'nagaram' of the localities which held traders and merchants. They existed side by side in the same locality. Committees were appointed by lot from nominees. Thapar says this system survived longest in the Tamil kingdom. There were exceptions. The early Pallava Empire was well organised with village and district officials and an elaborate tax system. Cholas had a centralised political system, but the village autonomy continued.

India did not produce a national history. Such a work could not emerge from the political disunity which was endemic in India. The rise and fall of empires and ruling dynasties, the ever-changing political boundaries of states did not help to create a history, which embraced the whole of India. Not even a vast provincial literature was produced in India before the Muslim period. Some phases of India's history are hazy. The political history of Pallavas from 350-500AD is 'almost a blank'.

The Sinhala king placed great emphasis on diplomacy not war. Diplomacy was one of the skills listed in medieval literature. He was choosy when it came to Indian kingdoms. He linked with the best of the Maurya and Gupta kings. He had friendly relations with Orissa, Kerala and the Western Chalukyas who ruled from Karnataka. According to Ferishta the Sinhala king had sent presents to the powerful Vijayanagara king who ruled over Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Kerala.

However, the Sinhala king was contemptuous of the Tamil kings and did not hesitate to meddle in the Tamil succession whenever possible. In supporting the Pandyas he showed sound judgement. The Pandyans had established themselves in southern Tamilnadu, with a base at Madurai, by the 6th century. They remained in control of this region for many centuries and were the last to rule the whole Tamil kingdom. The other Tamil dynasties could never obliterate the Pandyas.

In India trade was controlled by private organisations, not by the king. Trade was always private in India. Sastri says there was a great multiplicity of currencies, weights and measures in south India. Each locality had its own system. Coinage was never the monopoly of a single power. Thapar says that in the Chola kingdom paddy remained the unit of exchange for many centuries. The Muslims carried on trade independent of the ruler.

In Sri Lanka the king had monopoly control of external trade. Ibn Batuta (14th century) said that people from 'Mabar' took away cinnamon from the island by 'gifting' cloth to the king. Foreign traders were not allowed to set up in business in Devinuwara without permission during the reign of Parakramabahu II (1236-1270).The king watched the customs and port duties. Parakrama bahu IV (1302-1326) ordered that an ad valorem tax of a quarter per cent on all merchandise passing though the seaports be paid to the Tooth Relic. Dharmapala of Kotte (1551-1597) complained to the Portuguese that though he had gifted some ports to them, he was still entitled to the customs duty from areca nut, sapan, copra, cinnamon and elephants.

The trade route went along the western coast of India and on to Sri Lanka. Therefore there would have been considerable contact between western states of India and Sri Lanka. Gujerati merchants were dominant in the regional trade at the end of 15th century .They traded their own Cambay cloth, indigo and opium as well as the goods of others.

The sailing craft of western coast of India resemble that of Sri Lanka. The outrigger canoe is found on the west coast of India, African coast, eastern part of Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka. The catamaran is today restricted to Tamilnadu and the north of Sri Lanka near Jaffna peninsula.

(The writings of M.B.Ariyapala, A.L. Basham, L. Dewaraja, K. Indrapala, S. Kiribamune, A. Liyanagamage, K.A.Nilakanta Sastri, S. Paranavitana, P.E. Peiris and R. Thapar were used for this essay).