The Xenophile Historian

500 B.C. to 600 A.D.

	The Rise of Magadha
	The Mauryan Empire
	Invasions and Influence from the Northwest
	The Gupta Empire
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The road to greatness for Magadha began when Bimbisara conquered a secondary state called Anga, in the modern state of Bihar. This gave Magadha a seacoast and allowed it to send merchant ships into the Bay of Bengal. At home Bimbisara overhauled the tax code, making his government the most efficient in all of India. His son Ajatasatru (491-459 B.C.) conquered Kasi, Kosala and Vrjji, giving Magadha control over the entire Ganges valley. After his reign ended two less effective dynasties ruled, first the Sisunagas and later the Nandas. Magadha maintained its preeminent status, but there was no more expansion for the next 140 years.

While all this was going on, contact was reestablished with the Middle East. Though it is not certain, trade appears to have resumed as early as the Assyrian Era⁽¹⁾. In 518 B.C. (or 513?) the Persian king Darius I advanced to the Indus River, annexing the kingdoms there. For over a century the Indus valley was the twentieth and easternmost satrapy (province) of the Persian Empire. The rest of India was unconquered, but the Indians learned the use of iron, coinage and writing⁽²⁾ from the Persians during this time. As the Persians grew weak in the fourth century, a local ruler named Porus declared independence (338? B.C.). The Persians were unable to regain control before Alexander the Great conquered their empire.

Pursuing his campaign to the farthest frontier of Persia, Alexander entered India in 327 B.C. It took him nearly a year to force his way through the mountain passes of Afghanistan (the weariness of nearly a decade of fighting was starting to show). After he got through there was a pitched battle with King Porus on the banks of the Hydaspes (Jhelum) River, a tributary of the Indus. Porus had a huge force of infantry and cavalry, and 200 war elephants, to repel the invader. Instead of waiting for Porus to come to him, Alexander took the initiative, leading his army across the river under cover of a thunderstorm. The battle was an awful slaughter for both sides, until the elephants panicked, trampling the Indians in their stampede. Porus surrendered, and Alexander asked him how he wanted to be treated. "Like a king," Porus replied. In admiration of a gallant opponent, Alexander restored him to his throne and made him governor over his Indian provinces.

  
Two pictures of Greek soldiers and elephants, at the battle of the Hydaspes.

Alexander accepts the surrender of Porus.

The troops had other ideas. The battle with Porus was bad enough, and rumors came to them of even stronger armies awaiting them in the east. After marching 200 miles, they stopped and refused to go any farther. Alexander took to his tent. When he emerged three days later and announced they were going home, the troops rejoiced. "Alexander," they said, "has allowed us, but no other, to defeat him."

The Mauryan Empire

Virtually every aspect of an individual's behavior was considered a proper area for state control. Kautilya believed that because men are fickle and temperamental, they should be allowed neither dispute nor unity, since disputes hindered work and unity threatened the state. To maintain this control he kept spies everywhere, both women and men; in fact he had so many spies that they became a new class in society. Many were trained in childhood for the profession, and some were assigned to spy on other spies.

Though Chandragupta's reign was a classic example of enlightened despotism, it ended on a strange note; becoming more religious late in life, Chandragupta abdicated, became a Jain monk, and achieved the Jain equivalent of bliss by starving himself to death! His son Bindusara (297-272) continued his father's conquests by invading the Deccan plateau. By the time he was done the only states left unconquered were Kalinga (modern Orissa) and three in the southernmost tip of the subcontinent: Chola, Pandya, and Kerala. His son Asoka (272-232) followed in the same footsteps at first. When Bindusara died a vicious struggle for the throne began; it ended in 268 when Asoka slew all but one of his brothers.

Eight years later Asoka invaded and conquered the kingdom of Kalinga. More than 100,000 people were killed in that campaign. Asoka was so disgusted at the carnage that he became a Buddhist and vowed never to start another war. The rest of Asoka's enlightened reign was devoted to bringing peace and prosperity to all of his subjects, making the Mauryan Empire the first welfare state in history. He disbanded the corps of spies and rejected the cynical advice of the Arthashastra; in its place Asoka called the Indian people "my children," and worked to give them "every kind of welfare and happiness both in this world and the next." Hospitals, veterinary clinics, roads, inns and monasteries were built. All over the empire Asoka set up pillars inscribed with his words of wisdom. Beyond the empire's borders he sent missionaries, spreading Buddhism and modern civilization to the south Indian states, the Maldive Islands, Sri Lanka⁽⁴⁾ and Burma; he even sent Buddhist missionaries to the Greek kingdoms, though few converts were made there.

When Asoka died, his sons struggled bitterly for the right to succeed him, and the empire fell to pieces. By 184 B.C. the last king claiming to be the Mauryan emperor was gone, assassinated in front of his own army by its Brahman commander. Now a new age of chaos began. There is, as a rule, only one Asoka to a dynasty.

Invasions and Influence from the Northwest

Bactria was destroyed in 130 B.C. by the Scythians (called Sakas by the Indians). The Sakas had been pushed out of their Central Asian homeland by yet another tribe, the Yuezhi (also called the Tocharians), which had in turn been expelled from northwest China by the Xiongnu (Huns). Taking advantage of a momentary weakness in the Parthian Empire, the Sakas pushed into northwest India and eastern Iran. Around 80 B.C. the Parthians regained control of their lands; a Parthian family called the Surens was put in charge of eastern Iran, which now had so many Sakas in it that they called it Sakastan (modern Seistan). Like the Soviet satellites of the twentieth century, the Suren kingdom was officially independent, but it always toed the Parthian line. In 18 A.D. they advanced to the Indus River, driving the anti-Parthian Sakas deeper into the subcontinent. The Parthians themselves never invaded India, but they seem to have been quite content to rule part of it via satellite. Another puppet state, the Kshatrapas, ruled the Gujarat peninsula and surrounding areas from 110 to 395 A.D. Before the Parthians disappeared they brought, according to legend, the Apostle Thomas, who introduced Christianity to India before dying in the south near Madras.

In the first century A.D. the Yuezhi broke camp and started south again. They destroyed the Suren kingdom (60 A.D.), settled down on the upper part of the Indus and founded an empire named Kushan, which grew to encompass Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and even the upper half of the Ganges. Under its greatest king, Kanishka (78-102 A.D.?--all of Kushan's dates are uncertain), Kushan's rule stretched from the Caspian Sea to Khotan in northwest China, and as far east as Benares in India. Kushan's capital, Purushapura (modern Peshawar), became a center for commerce and religion. Romans, Parthians, Indians and Chinese could all be found here, pausing as they traveled from one country to another. Kanishka was also a great patron of Buddhism; in his reign it was both reformed and introduced to China.

For a long time, perhaps as far back as the reign of Asoka, Buddhists had argued over how they should teach their creed. Some believed that it was asking too much to make everyone get to Nirvana on his own. Their solution was to introduce the idea of the bodhisattva, a saint who has achieved the ethical perfection needed to enter Nirvana, but has instead chosen to stay on earth and save as many ordinary people as possible. Under Kanishka's leadership, the revisionists held a council in Kashmir, where over a six month period they hammered out an elaborate theology to explain what they believed. They called their doctrine Mahayana, meaning "Greater Vehicle," because as they saw it, "Why should salvation be portrayed as a small raft that can only carry a few, when it is really a big ship with space for everyone?" The Buddhist fellowship in Sri Lanka boycotted the Kashmir council and promoted a conservative doctrine that they called Therevada, "The Way of the Elders"; Mahayanists called it Hinayana, the "Lesser Vehicle."

Two more differing creeds that claim to be the same religion would be hard to find. The only thing they have in common is observance of the Buddha's four truths and the Eightfold Path. The differences between modern Mahayana and Therevada Buddhism are summarized below:

View of God and the Afterlife: Therevadists say that God, if he exists, is irrelevant--as a being of the universe He (She? It?) is subject to the same law of Karma as humanity. Mahayanists on the other hand teach that piety is a virtue, and their sect readily combines with other religions. Often a vision of Heaven and Hell comes in this way, replacing the Buddha's formless Nirvana.

Man's Role: Therevada teaches that man is an individual, who must achieve salvation on his own. Mahayana teaches that man is not alone, and he is in this world to help others.

Ideals: Therevada's ideal is the arhat, a monk who steers for the goal of Nirvana without letting anything get in the way. The Mahayana ideal is the bodhisattva, one who vows not to leave this world until "the grass itself be enlightened." Therevada's highest virtue is wisdom, Mahayana rates compassion as the most important quality to have.

Ritual: Therevada cares little for metaphysics and ritual; prayer is limited to meditation. Mahayana has a place for ritual and petitionary prayer.

Mahayana Buddhism is a greater vehicle in its geographical spread; today it is the most widely practiced religion in China, Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia, South Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Therevada is found in a much smaller area: Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

The Gupta Empire

While there is no evidence that the Mauryan and Gupta rulers were related, the similarities are astonishing: the first great king of each was named Chandragupta, and he ruled from Pataliputra! The Guptas first appeared around 275 as very minor rulers, either in Bihar or in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Chandragupta I was the third of these, and he made a shrewd move when he married a princess of the Licchavi clan, the current rulers of old Magadha. It appears that the Licchavis had no heir, because Chandragupta added Magadha to his own realm. The Gupta era began in 320, but it is uncertain whether that date marks the beginning of Chandragupta's reign, his marriage, or the end of the Licchavi dynasty.

When he died in 335, Chandragupta ruled a sizeable portion of the Ganges valley. He urged his son, Samudragupta, to "rule the world," and Samudragupta did his best to comply. Calling himself the "Exterminator of Kings," he overthrew nine of them, expanding the boundaries of the kingdom in the process to include the rest of the Ganges and the Punjab. He also led a campaign down the east coast, reducing kingdoms as far away as Sri Lanka to vassalage, but he made no permanent conquests here.

The greatest Gupta ruler was Samudragupta's son, Chandragupta II (380-415). He pushed west, destroying the last of the Sakas and conquering the Gujarat peninsula. Now the empire had seaports on both the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. At this point expansion stopped--not because of weakness or lack of will from the Guptas, but because it was no longer necessary--all surrounding states paid tribute and acknowledged Gupta supremacy.

Chandragupta II devoted the rest of his reign to peaceful pursuits. As a result Indians now regard the Gupta era as a golden age. Buddhism did well during this time, as existing works of art and a visiting Chinese monk named Faxian testified, but Hinduism prospered the most. Ever since the fall of Kushan Buddhism's popularity in India had been on the decline, because the patronage of Asoka and Kanishka caused the common people of India to view it as a religion for the rich and powerful. Meanwhile the Brahmans went into the countryside, where they taught and converted the masses. Where local cults existed, the Brahmans absorbed them into mainstream Hinduism, declaring that such forms of worship were merely a different way of reaching the same goals they strived for. Many of Hinduism's sects, like the erotic mystery cults called Tantrism, got started this way. The Brahmans also tightened their hold on the faithful by writing the Dharma Shastras, a set of rules concerning how members of different castes should behave in every conceivable circumstance.

The Hindu renaissance sparked a wave of creativity. Scientists worked with sophisticated mathematical tools such as pi, negative numbers, and quadratic equations; they also invented the zero and decimal notation. The first Hindu temples were built, replacing the caves and simple shrines that had been places of worship previously. In the field of literature, Sanskrit classics like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana were written down in their final form. Kalidasa, the greatest Indian poet and playwright, lived during the Gupta era, and Gupta writers composed the Kama Sutra, the world's most famous sex manual. Chandragupta II encouraged the development of Sanskrit verse by staging poetry contests. The poets responded with enthusiasm, developing a complex, ingenious style that used riddles, puns, double entendres, wordplay, obscure meanings--anything to win. And when all else failed, they were not above slipping the judges a bribe.

One reason for the Gupta success was the empire's militant neighbor to the west: the Persians. There lived in Central Asia at this time the White Huns (also called the Ephthalites), a fearsome barbarian tribe related to Attila's Huns. As long as the Persians were strong enough to keep the White Huns away, the Guptas could enjoy peace and prosperity. Chandragupta's son and successor, Kumaragupta (415-455), did just that for forty years. Nevertheless, during the reign of the next king, Skandagupta (455-467), the White Huns inflicted some critical defeats upon the Persians and broke through the barriers protecting India from them. They proved to be just as nasty as the Huns which helped bring down the Roman Empire; the White Hun equivalent of Attila was Miharagula. Skandagupta put up a valiant defense, but by the time of his death warfare had drained the treasury and the end of the empire was in sight. Genealogies of the kings after Skandagupta disagree considerably, so it is a safe guess to say that the empire was already in pieces by this time. The White Huns spent the first half of the sixth century removing these Gupta monarchs one by one. Again India was congested with petty, quarrelsome states, and it remained that way even after the White Huns had been destroyed by the Turks and the Persians.

2. The Indians developed two alphabets, both derived from the Aramaic that was so widely used in the Middle East at this time. The older of the two scripts, Brahmi, was invented between 800 and 600 B.C. by the merchants who reestablished the trade route; it became the alphabet of Sanskrit, and later evolved into the alphabets of modern Indian languages. The other script, Kharoshthi, was introduced after the Persians conquered the Indus valley; it wasn't as popular, presumably because it used 252 different letters.

3. A century passed between the breakup of Alexander's Empire and the unification of China under the Qin dynasty. So under Chandragupta, Bindusara and Asoka the Mauryan Empire was the world's most populous state, with at least 20 million people.

4. Called Ceylon before 1971 A.D.

© Copyright 2000 Charles Kimball