Ancient India

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ANCIENT INDIA
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

fonion
:
C. F.
FETTER LANE, E.G. CLAY, Manager
(Efiinbtttflh
loo
fedjn: A.
Jctpaifl:
iXttD
PRINCES STREET ASHER AND CO. F. A. BROCKHAUS
Vork
G. P.
:
PUTNAM'S SONS
fowbag anb Cakntta MACMILI.AN AND CO., Ltd. Woronto: J. M. DENT & SONS, Ltd.
lokBO:
THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA
A/l rights reserved
I'LATK
I.
ANCIENT INDIA
FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE FIRST CENTURY A.D.
E.
J.
RAPSON, M.A.
PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE AND FELLOW OP ST JOHN'S COLLEGE
IVITH SIX ILLUSTRATIONS
AND
TfVO
MAPS
Cambridge
at
the University Press
1914
//.
PREFACE
In the following pages
I
have
tried to write the

shall
story of Ancient India in a

intelligible to all
manner which
draw
be
who
take an interest in
Modern
India.
My
object has been to
as clearly as
possible the outlines of the history of the nations
of India, so far as
the
ancient
it
has yet been recovered from
literatures
and monuments, and
to
sketch the salient features of the chief religious
and
social
systems which
flourished
during the
period between the date of the Rig-veda (about

I
200
B.C.)
and the
first
century a.d.
For the benefit of those

the study
I
who wish
to continue
have added
at
the end of the
book
some notes on the ancient geography and a short

bibliography of standard works.
In the transliteration of Sanskrit
names
have
followed a system which, while giving a strictly

accurate representation of sounds,
will, I trust,
not
If
puzzle readers
who
are not oriental scholars.
the vowels are pronounced as in Italian, with due
526497
vi
PREFACE
long and
the
all
attention to
variably
short
result
{e will
and be
being
in-
long),
for
sufficiently
satisfactory
practical
in
purposes.
Modern
place-names are spelt as

of India (new edition).
I
the Imperial Gazetteer
am
indebted to
my
friend,
Dr
F,
W.
Thomas,
the Librarian of the India Office, for his kindness

in
obtaining for
me
permission to reproduce the

are
illustrations,
which
taken from negatives
in
the possession of the India Office.
to the
To my
much
wife, to
Miss Mary Fyson, and

I
Rev. C. Joppen,
S.J.,
owe my
best thanks for

in
valuable assistance in reading proofs and
compiling the index.

E.
J.
RAPSON
St John's College
Cambridge
\']th
February 191 +
CONTENTS
CHAP.
I.
PAGE
The Sources
of the History of Ancient India
II.
The
Civilizations of India
III
The Period
The Period
of the Vedas
.... ....
.
24
36
52
IV.
of the
Brahmanas and Upanishads

.
V. The Rise of Jainism and Buddhism
64
VI. The Indian
Dominions of the Persian

.
and
.
Macedonian Empires
VII
VIII
The Maurya Empire

India
.....
. ,
78
99
after
.
the
.
Decline
.
of
.
the
.
Maurya
.
Empire
IX.
.113
.
The Successors
of
Alexander the Great

.
122
X. Parthian and Scythian Invaders
.136
.
Notes on the Illustrations
149
i
Notes on the Ancient Geography of India
59
Short Bibliography
.176
.
Outlines of Chronology
Index
.......
.
181
187
ILLUSTRATIONS
Plate
I.
The GiknAr Rock
in
1869
Frontispiece
Plate
II.
Coins of Ancient India

.
Facing p.
18
Plate III. The Besnagar Column
,1
134
142
Plate IV. The Mathura Lion-Capital Plate

V. Inscriptions on the Girnar Rock and
ON the
Mathura Lion-Capital
,,
150
157
Plate VI. Inscriptions on the Besnagar Column
MAPS
N.W.
India
and the adjacent Countries
in
the
time of Alexander the
Great
Between pp. 78 and'jg

.
The
Principal Countries of Ancient India
At
the
end
ANCIENT INDIA
CHAPTER
INDIA
The
I
THE SOURCES OF THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT
The Indo-European family Ancient India The languages and Alphabets and Coin-legends Chronology The of Jainism and Buddhism.
'discovery' of Sanskrit
languages
literatures of
of
Inscriptions
rise
"The
antiquity,
Sanscrit
is
language,
a
vhatever
structure
;
be
its
of
wonderful
more
the
perfect than the Greek, more

Latin,
copious than
and more exquisitely refined than either

affinity,
yet bearing to both of them a stronger

in
both
the roots of verbs, and in the forms of grammar,
than
could
;
possibly
have
indeed,
been
that
produced
by
accident
so
strong
no philologer
could examine them
all
without believing them to

source^
have sprung from
so7ne
common
is
which perhaps
no longer
exists.
There
a similar reason,
though
not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the

Gothick and the Celtick^ though blended with a very
different
idiom,
had the
same
origin
with
i
the
ANCIENT INDIA
;
Sanscrit
and the old Persian might be added to

pronouncement,
the same family."
This
Jones
as
made
the
by
Sir
William
of
President
the year
of
Asiatic
truly
Society
Bengal
'
in
1786,
it
may
be
called
epoch-making,' for
marks
Sir
the
beginning of
the historical and scientific study of languages.
At
the
time
when
William Jones spoke
these words, the recent discovery

recent revelation to
Western
ancient
or rather eyes of the

classical
the
exist-
ence in India of an
literature,
written in a language showing the closest affinity

to the classical languages of
Ancient Greece and

it
Rome, had
raised
necessary to find
problem for which some rational solution.

a
was
How
was the affinity of Sanskrit to Greek and Latin and other European languages to be explained ? Scholars at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries were inclined
to
see
all
in
Sanskrit
the
parent
language
It
from which
the others were derived.
was
only after the lapse of a generation that the view
propounded by
Sir
The
correctness of
'
William Jones began to prevail. his conception of an Indo-
European family of languages,' the members of which are related to each other as descendants of a common ancestor, has since been abundantly proved by the researches of Franz Bopp, "the
SOURCES OF HISTORY
whose
first
founder of the science of Comparative Philology,"

those of his
work was published numerous successors

its
in
in
1816, and by
the same
field.
The
science of Comparative
first
Philology,
which
thus received
impulse from the study of

least
Sanskrit, represents
by no means the
among
the intellectual triumphs of the nineteenth century.
The
and
historical
dialects,
treatment of individual languages
and a comparison of
taken place
in
the
each,
sound-
changes which have
have
shown
that
human
speech, like everything else in
nature, obeys the laws of nature.
The
evidence
obtained by this method proves that the process

of change, by which varieties of language
are
produced from a parent stock,

that
it
is
not arbitrary, but

certain
takes
place
in
accordance with
ascertainable laws, the regularity of

is
whose action
is
only disturbed by the fact that
man
a reason-
ing and imitative being.
The
laws,
which govern
mechanical
change
in
language, are, in
fact, partly
and partly psychological
in character.
More
valuable perhaps, from the point of view

is
of the student of early civilization,
the service
in
which Comparative Philology
has
rendered
throwing some hght on the history of the Indo-
European peoples before the age of written records. These peoples are found, in ancient times, widely scattered over the face of Asia and Europe from
ANCIENT INDIA
in
Chinese Turkestan
the East to Ireland in the

seen,
West
but,
as
we have
less
been a period more or

united.
must have remote when they were

there
Now,
since
words preserve the

it
record
both of material objects and of ideas,

possible,
has been
from a careful examination and comparison
of the vocabularies of the different languages, to

gain some knowledge of the state of civilization,
the social and political institutions, and the religious

ideas
of the Indo-European peoples, both at the
period
when they were
still
united and after the
separation of the various branches.

In the earlier stages of the science, this line of
investigation
was,
no doubt, sometimes
little
pursued
;
with too much zeal and too
discretion
and
the evidence of language as a record of civilization
was sometimes strained to prove more than was justifiable. But there can be no question that certain broad facts have thus been established
beyond the
possibility of dispute.
The
evidence
of language proves conclusively, for instance, that

a particularly intimate connexion must have existed
between the Persian and Indian branches of the Indo-European family. The similarity in language and thought between their most ancient scriptures, the Persian Avesta and the Indian Rig-veda, can only be explained on the supposition that these
two peoples
after leaving the rest of the family,
SOURCES OF HISTORY
had
lived
in
association
for
period, and that the separation
some considerable between them had
taken place at no very distant period before the

date of the earlier of the two records, the Rigveda. In the following pages
this
we
shall
be chiefly
concerned with
particular
is
European
the
family,
which
usually designated
group of the Indoby

^/ry<
term 'Aryan,' the name which both people

to
apply
themselves
(Avestan
= Sanskrit
Aryd).
Such, then, were the first fruits of the study by Europeans of the classical language of Ancient
India
a complete revolution in our conception of
the nature
of
human
in
speech,
and the recovery

lost
from the past of some of the

peoples, who,
historical
in
history of the
times,
have played a
predominant part
and Europe.
its
the civilization of both India
The
'discovery' of Sanskrit, with
patent resemblance to Greek and Latin, sug-
gested the possibility of a connexion which was
undreamt of before, and prepared the way for the application to languages of the historical and
comparative method of investigation, which was
destined to win
its
most signal triumph when
it
was applied subsequently by Charles Darwin and

other great scientists to the material universe and
to living organisms.
Familiar as the notions of an Indo-European
ANCIENT INDIA
family of languages and of the scientific study of
language may be to us at the present day, they

proved a hard stumbling-block to
all
but the most
advanced thinkers of the

early nineteenth centuries
late
;
eighteenth and the they rudely dispast

that
for
turbed the belief of
many
centuries
Hebrew was the primitive language of mankind,

and that the diversity of tongues on earth was the result of the divine punishment inflicted on
the builders of the
Tower
of Babel.
as
But great and far-reaching

influence
has been the

the
of
the
'discovery'
of
life
Sanskrit
language on the intellectual
of
the West,
which have followed from the application of Western methods of scholarship to the interpretation and elucidation
no
less
remarkable
are
the
results
of the ancient literatures and monuments of India.
When,
tion
in
was founded by
before the
1784, the Asiatic Society of Bengal Sir William Jones for the promolearning,
of Oriental
the
history
in the
of India
eleventh
is
Muhammadan
conquest
century a.d. was a complete blank; that
to say,
there was no event, no personaHty, no monument,
no
literary
production,
belonging
to
an
earlier
period,
the date of which could
be determined
even approximately.
the
vast
and varied ancient and
Sanskrit literature, both prose and verse, existed

in
form
of
manuscripts
European
SOURCES OF HISTORY
scholars, with the aid of the
'
7
or learned
to publish
pandits
'
men of
India,
were already beginning

of
this
texts and translations from the manuscripts.

as to the date
But
cen-
literature nothing whatever
was known.
turies past to
Sanskrit had ceased for
many
be a language generally understood

It
by the people.
Latin
in
had long
since
become,
like
the middle ages of European history, the
exclusive
possession of a class of learned
men,
who
attributed to the sacred books a divine origin
and regarded the secular literature as the work

of sages
mystery.
in
dim and
distant period of legend
and
The
chronological
conceptions of the
pandits were those of the Puranas, which teach

that the universe
undergoes an endless
series of
creations
and
dissolutions
corresponding to the
days and nights of the god Brahma, each of which

equals
1000 'great periods

as
'
'
of 4,320,000 years.
What we know
and most
as
the historical period of the

Kali Age,' or the shortest
world was for them the

degenerate
together constitute a 'great period.'

a
drop
in
which was but the ocean of time and might be

of
the
four
ages
It
neglected.
It
is
due almost
during the
entirely
last
to
the
labours
of
scholars
century and a quarter
that the outlines of
the lost history of Ancient
India have, in a great
measure, been recovered.
ANCIENT INDIA
its
and that
literature,
which
reflects
the course
of religious and intellectual civilization in India
from about 1200

chronologically.
B.C.
onwards, has been

the
reconstruction
classified
The
history
materials
for
of the
three
are
supplied
principally
from
sources:
Jains,
(1) the
literatures
;
of the Brahmans,
and Buddhists
(2)
inscriptions
seals
;
on stone
(3) the accounts of foreign writers, chiefly Greek, Latin,

coins,
or
copper-plate,
and
and
and Chinese.
At
present, large gaps remain in the historical

it
is
record and
probable that some of them can
never be
expected
filled,
although
the
very
much
may be
from
progress
of
archaeological
investigation.
of India
facts as
Of the more primitive inhal)itants we can know nothing beyond such general
may be gleaned from the study of
History
is
pre-
historic archaeology or ethnology.
in
the
ordinary
sense
of
the
word,
that
to
say,
connected account of the course of events or of

the progress of ideas,
is
dependent on the
to be
exist-
ence of a literature or of written documents of
some description
in
and these are not
found
tribes
India
before the period

its
when Aryan
an
its
invaded the country at
north-western frontier
and
brought
with
them
in
Indo-European
civilization,
resembling
main features the
SOURCES OF HISTORY
ancient civilizations of Greece, Italy, and
Germany.
the
first
Our knowledge
of
Ancient
it
India
follows
course of this civilization as
spread,
from
the Punjab into the great central plain of India,

the
country
of
the
Ganges
and
the
Jumna
rivers,
and thence subsequently into the Deccan.

extension
is
This
everywhere
its
marked by the
It
spread of Sanskrit and
dialects.
received a
check
to
in
Southern
India,
where the older Dravidian

this
civilization
and languages remain predominant even

In
the present day.
region history can
scarcely be said to begin before the Christian era.
Thus, the language of
all
the earliest records of
India, whether literary or inscriptional, is IndoEuropean in character. That is to say, it is
related
to
Greek and Latin and

it
to
our
own
English tongue, and not to the earlier forms of
speech which
tribes
supplanted
in India.
The Aryan
who
continued, perhaps for generations or
even for centuries, to swarm over the mountain

passes into Southern Afghanistan and the Punjab,
or through the plains of Baluchistan into Sind and
the valley
of the Indus,
must,
no doubt,
have
spoken a variety of kindred

of languages everywhere
variably
dialects.
The
this
history
is
shows that
primitive
inIt
the
case
among
in
peoples.
shows, too, that,
the course of time,

settled
when
community
becomes
and
civilization
lo
advances,
ANCIENT INDIA
the dialect
special
1
district,
of some particular
which has won

religion,
politics,
importance as a centre of
eventually
or commerce, gradually acquires
an ascendancy over
accepted
the others and
is
by general
consent
as
the
standard
language of educated
people
is
and
of literature
its
and
that,
when
its
position
thus established,
use tends to supersede that of the other dialects.
An
illustration
of this general rule of
from the history of our
may be taken own language it was

:
"the East
rest,
Midland"
"that
last
variety
the
Mercian
over the
dialect of English
finally prevailed
and was
at
accepted as a standard, thus

the
rising
from the position of a dialect to be

in the series
language of the Empire " (Skeat, English Dialects,

p 66, of Cambridge Manuals).
In India, such a standard or literary language
appears
first
in
the
Hymns
of the Rig-veda, the
most ancient of which must probably date from a period at least 1200 years before the Christian Vedic Sanskrit is the language of This era.
'
'
priestly poets
as
who
lived in
the region
now known
it
Southern
later
Afghanistan,
the
North- Western
;
Frontier Province, and the Punjab
and
differs
from the
'
Classical
'
Sanskrit
rather
more,
perhaps, than the language of Chaucer diflers from

that of Shakespeare.
After
the
Vedic
period,
Aryan
civilization
SOURCES OF HISTORY
extended
itself in
a soutli-easterly direction over
the fertile plains of the Jumna and Ganges, which became subsequently not only the chief political and religious centre of Brahmanism but also the birthplace of its rival religions, Jainism and Buddhism. It was in this region that the priestly
treatises,
known
as
'Brahmanas,' and the great
epic poems, the
Mahabharata and the Ramayana,

these classes of
litera-
were composed.
The language of each of

ture
the
the
Brahmanas
the
representing
the
almost
ex-
clusively
priestly caste,
Brahmans, and
to
the epic
caste,
poems belonging
Kshatriyas
chiefly
in
the warrior
sense,
is,
different
transitional
between Vedic and

as
Classical Sanskrit.
dis-
In character, the two styles
may broadly be
popular
in
tinguished
learned
and
respectively.
The
Sanskrit of the
Brahmanas merges
the
course of time by almost insensible degrees into

Classical Sanskrit
;
the epic language, on the other

its
hand,
is
already stereotyped and retains

its
'
archa-
isms and
irregularities
'
for all time.

first
Thus, about the year 500 b.c, when the
work
culties
in
strictly
Classical
'
Sanskrit
'
appeared
diffi-
Yaska's Niriikta or
Explanation
there were
of Sanskrit.
of Vedic
in
existence three well-defined

first,
types
The
already
invested
with a sacred character from
its
great antiquity,
12
ANCIENT INDIA
poetical
was the
settlers in
language of the
early
Aryan
the
the north-west.
The second was
language of bards, who sang at royal courts ot

wars and the deeds of the heroes and sages of old
time.
The
third, to
'
which, strictly speaking, the
term 'Sanskrit
(samskrita
is
'cultivated,' 'literary')
should be confined,
that form of the language
of the Brahmans, which, as the result of a long

course of literary treatment and grammatical refinement,
had
gained general acceptance as the
standard of correct speech.
A
to
literary
language thus definitely fixed ceases
undergo any material change, so long as the civihzation which it represents continues. Its spoken form must naturally, as a rule, be less careful and elaborate than its written form and both must vary according to the degree of
;
cultivation possessed
by each individual speaker

infinite varieties of
or writer.
style,
There may thus be

there
is
but
no
substantial
modification
Classical
of
the
character
of
the
language.
Sanskrit has remained essentially unaltered during
the long period of nearly twenty-five centuries in
which
of the
later,
it
has been employed,
first
as the
language
educated
to
classes
and
of literature, and
as the
common means of communication between learned men

the
down
present
da)',
in
India.
SOURCES OF HISTORY
country
stand
is
13
In sharp contrast to the literary language of a
the
local
dialects.
still
While
the
former
life
fixed, the
latter
continue to have a
in
and growth of their own and to change

with
the
accordance
laws
of
human
speech.
While the
originally
literary language,
although no doubt
the the
the dialect of some particular district,
gains
currency
the
to
throughout
whole
local
country
dialects
among
continue
educated classes,
be spoken by the
in
common
India,
people,
who,
in
Ancient as
Modern
must have
formed an overwhelmingly large proportion of the

population.
It is,
therefore, chiefly by a perfectly
natural process of development that most of the
produced
*
modern vernaculars of Northern India have been from the ancient local dialects or
Prakrits,' as they are called
'),
(/)r,;z/^r//^
'
natural,'
'uncultivated
in precisely
the same
way
as the
Romance languages have sprung,

Latin, but
not from literary
from the
people.
dialects
of Latin spoken by
the
common
While, however, the literary language and

dialects continue to exist
its
side
by
side, the
former
invariably
latter,
tends
to
grow
at the
expense of the
character.
so long as the civilization to which they

its
belong does not decline or change
The
inscriptions
and coin-legends of Ancient India

illustration
afford
striking
of this
fact.
As
14
being,
ANCIENT INDIA
from
to
all
their
very
character,
intended
to
appeal
men, learned and unlearned

first
alike,
they are, on their

century
B.C.,
appearance
in
;
the third
but,
as
written in
some Prakrit
is
time goes on, their language
gradually influenced
and eventually assimilated by the literary language,

until,
after
about
the
year
400
a.d.,
Prakrit
ceases to be used for these purposes and Sanskrit
takes
its
place.
is
The
history of Sanskrit
especially associated
with Brahmanism, and the tradition has remained
unbroken by time or place. Brahmanism what Latin is to the Sanskrit is to Roman Catholic church. Jainism and Buddhism were revolts against Brahman tradition and, like
through the ages
;
the reformed churches in Europe, both originally
used
the
type
Prakrit,
which
various districts
of speech, whether Sanskrit or happened to be current in the to which their doctrines extended.
Thus
the Buddhist scriptures appear in a Sanskrit
Nepal and in Prakrit versions elsewhere. Through their employment for religious purposes some of the Prakrits developed into literary
version in
languages, for which,
in
the course of time, hard
and
fast
laws were laid
precisely as in the case of Sanskrit.
down by grammarians, The most

form of some
notable of these
is
Pali, the literary
Indian Prakrit which was transplanted to Ceylon,
SOURCES OF HISTORY
probably
in
15
the third century b.c,
and became
there the sacred language of the particular phase
of Buddhism which found a permanent

the island, and
which has spread thence

itself,
to
home in Burma
and Siam.
the
part
In India
after about the fifth
century a.d., there was a growing tendency on

of both
Jains
and
Buddhists
to
use
the
Sanskrit,
which
thus
eventually
became
lingua franca of religion and learning throughout
the whole continent.
Such then are the languages in which all the early literature of India and Ceylon is preserved. This literature is enormous in extent and most
varied in character.
No
species of composition,
;
whether in prose or verse, is unrepresented and few phases of human intellectual activity remain without their record, except in the domain of those sciences, which have been, even in Europe,
two hundred and fifty But, if we compare any ancient Indian years. literature. Brahman, Jain, or Buddhist, with the
the creation of the last
Greek and Latin

ing deficiency;
in
classics,
we
shall find
one
strik-
historical composition
earliest stages.
none of them has the art of' been developed beyond its heroic poems, legendIts sources
ary
to
chronicles,
ancient
genealogies
are
indeed
be found
in
abundance.
From
the literatures
and from the monuments we learn the names, and
ANCIENT INDIA
a great
some of the achievements, of

nations,
in
number of
who
rose to power, flourished, and declined
the continent of India during the twenty-two
centuries before the
Muhammadan
conquest
its
but
not one of these nations has found
historian.
Ancient India has no Herodotus or Thucydides,
no
Livy
or
Tacitus.
Its
it
literatures
is
supply
materials by
means of which
their
possible to trace
the daily
their
life
of the people, their social systems,

progress
in
religions,
the
is
arts
and
sciences, with a completeness

in antiquity
;
which
unparalleled
but events are rarely mentioned, and

total
there
is
an almost
lists
absence of chronology.
instances, the length
Dynastic
with, in
some
of the different reigns, are certainly to be found

but these in themselves supply no fixed point for
the determination of Indian chronology.
As they
stand, they are discrepant, partly perhaps because
of original errors, but chiefly on account of the

textual corruptions which are the inevitable result
of a long transmission
they are misleading,
as successive, dynasties
in
manuscript form
and
since
they often represent
which can be proved from other sources to have been contemporary. It has been shown that any system of Indian chronology, which could have been constructed on the data supplied by these documents alone, must have been hopelessly wrong by
SOURCES OF HISTORY
hundreds, and
of years.
Fortunately,
this
in
17
some
cases even
by thousands,
literature
defect
in
the
is
supplied to some extent from the other sources of

early
India,
Indian
History.
For certain countries

in
in
and for certain periods

it
the
history
of
of
these countries,
sort
has been possible to construct a

aid
of chronological framework by the

inscriptions
dated
and
coin-legends.
This most
valuable kind of historical evidence has been

available
entirely
made
by modern scholarship during

India
first
the last three generations.
When
the
monuments of
attracted
the attention of archaeologists, not a single syllable
of the ancient inscriptions or coin-legends could
be read.
had,
All knowledge of the ancient alphabets

centuries
long
ago,
passed
into
oblivion.
These alphabets, which can now be read with ease and certainty, are two in number, both of them of non-Indian (Semitic) origin. They are called by scholars at the present time Brahmi and Kharoshthi, the names which they seem to bear
in
an account of the youthful Buddha's education

in
given
a Sanskrit
work
called the Lalita-vistara.
Brahmi, which
(y. p.
is
usually,
though not invariably

to right, has
151), written from left

to
heen^^
shown
B
be the parent of
all
the modern alphabets
of India, numerous and widely differing as these
ANCIENT INDIA
It is
are now.
probably derived from the type of
Phoenician writing represented by the inscription
on
Moabite stone {c. 890 B.C.) and it is supposed to have been brought into India through Mesopotamia by merchants, Ukimately, therethe
fore,
Brahmi and
all
all
the
modern Indian alphabets
appear to have
since
much
the same origin as our own,
the alphabets of Europe also are to be
traced back to the Phoenician through the Greek.
Kharoshthi, which
is
particularly the alphabet
of North-Western India (Afghanistan and the Punjab) is a variety of the Aramaic script which prevailed generally throughout Western Asia in
Originally, no doubt, it the fifth century B.C. Like came from the same source as Brahmi. most other Semitic alphabets, probably including Brahmi in its earliest form, it is written from right to left. It disappeared from India in the
third
century a.d.
but
it
remained
in
use for
some time longer in the western region of Chinese Turkestan, which had formed a part of the Indian Empire of Kanishka in the first century a.d.
The
clue
to
the decipherment of both
these
âlphabets was obtained from bilingual coins struck
by the Greek princes who ruled over portions of Afghanistan and the Punjab from c. 200 b.c. to These coins regularly bear on the c. 25 B.C. obverse a Greek inscription giving the name and
PI. ATI-:
II.
COINS
Ol'
ANCIKiNT INDIA
ISee />age 151.
SOURCES OF HISTORY
titles
19
of the king, and on the reverse a translation
of
this inscription in
an Indian dialect and
in
Indian
characters.
As
first
step in the process of de-
cipherment, the names of the kings in their Indian

guise were identified with the Greek.
a clue to the alphabet
In this
way
on
it
was obtained
and
this clue
titles
;
soon led to the explanation of the Indian

the
coins
with their Greek equivalents
but
was only after many the knowledge thus gained from the coin-legends was applied with complete success to the decipherment and translation of the long inscriptions, which are found in many parts of India, engraved on stone
years of patient effort that
or copper plates.
These
inscriptions,
like
the
seals,
are
some-
times royal
and sometimes private

are,
in
character.
The
coin-legends
naturally,
royal.
Both
inscriptions
and coins are often dated either in the year of some king's reign or in the year of
some Indian era

logical
locality.
and, if not actually dated, they
are usually capable of being assigned, on archaeo-
evidence,
to
some
definite
period
and
They
afford, therefore, positive informa-
tion as to the history
of royal houses
their aid
in different
parts of India.
restore
we may sometimes and determine the reigns of monarchs whose very names have otherwise
dynastic
lists
By
vanished from the page of history.
20
ANCIENT INDIA
But
it
was neither from Indian
literature nor
light to pierce
from inscriptions that there came the first ray of the darkness in which the history
of Ancient India lay enveloped.
That
light
came
from Greece.
For one short period only, and for one corner of India only, do we possess any connected narrative
of events
in
the centuries before Christ,
This
is
furnished by the
Greek
historians of the Indian

in
campaigns of Alexander the Great
the years
327-5
in
B.C.,
and of
his successor, Seleucus Nicator,
305
B.C.
of the
they
rise to
call
first
who
These historians give some account power of an Indian adventurer whom Sandrokottos. It was Sir William Jones recognised that Sandrokottos was to be
with Chandragupta,
identified
who
its
is
known from
in
Indian sources to have been the founder of the
Maurya Empire, which

all
at
height,
the
reign of his grandson, A9oka, included, not only
the continent of India with the exception of
the extreme South, but also the greater part of the

countries
now known
Within
a
as
Afghanistan
and
few years of the deGreek dominions in India came under the sway of North-Westtrn Chandragupta, and they were confirmed in his
Baluchistan.
parture
of Alexander,
the
possession
by the
with
treaty
of
in
peace
b.c.
which
It
he
concluded
Seleucus
305
was
SOURCES OF HISTORY
certain, then, that the accession
21
of Chandragupta power in the Punjab must have taken place at some date between 325 and 305 b.c.
to
This
identification
of
thus
Sandrokottos
with
Chandragupta, which
brought
the
Greek
and Indian records into relation with each other,
was long known

chronology.
it
as
the
'
sheet-anchor
'
of Indian
It
secured a fixed point from which

to
was possible
measure chronological distances

fixed points
with some approximation to certainty.
have since been gained, sometimes from one and sometimes from
another of the three chief sources of Indian history
number of other
Indian
the third
hterature, Indian inscriptions, and foreign
authorities.
Thus
the period of the reign of A9oka,

is
emperor of the Maurya dynasty,
deter-
mined by the mention in one of his inscriptions of five contemporary Hellenic sovereigns, whose dates are known from Greek history (i) Antiochus II.
:
of Syria (b.c. 261-246); (2) Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt (B.C. 285-247); (3) Magas of Cyrene
(B.C.
(B.C.
285-258); (4) Antigonus Gonatas of Macedon 277-239); and (5) Alexander of Epirus (ace.
determination of the
eras,
in
initial
B.C. 272).
The
various
years of the
inscriptions
which the dates of

in
are
commonly expressed, has

to
further
made
it
possible
arrange
systematic order the his-
22
torical
ANCIENT INDIA
data which
they supply.
The Vikrama
a.d.
still
era of 58 B.C. and the
Caka era of 78
diiFerent parts
continue to be used
in
of India.
The
starting
points
of others have been detere.g.^
mined
by
investigation,
the
Traikutaka,
Chedi, or Kalachuri era of 249 a.d. the Gupta era
of 319 A.D., and the era of King Harshavardhana Each of these marks the establishof 606 A.D.
ment of
a great
power
in
some region of
its
India,
and
originally denoted the regnal years of
founder.
most important epoch

is
in the religious history
of India
marked by the
rise
of Jainism and
Buddhism, the dates of which have been ascertained approximately from the combined evidence
These two common, represent the most successful of a number of movements directed against the formality of Brahmanism and
of literary and inscriptional sources.
religions,
which have much
in
the supremacy of the priestly caste in the sixth
century B.C.
or
The
leaders of both
were Kshatriyas
members of the princely and military caste. Vardhamana Jnataputra, the founder of Jainism,
probably lived from 599 to 527 B.C., and Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, from about $61,
483 B.C. These two reformed religions, although springing directly from Brahmanism and inheriting many of
to
its
fundamental ideas, yet introduce
new elements
SOURCES OF HISTORY
into the intellectual life of India
23
and are important For the
factors
in
its
subsequent
civilization.
period before their rise no positive dates are forth-
coming.
This
earlier period
is
represented by a
very large
Hterature,
which exhibits transforma-
tions of so far-reaching a character in the
domain
of language, of religion, and of social institutions,

that centuries
would seem
It
is
to
be required for their
accomplishment.
possible,
by tracing the
different
course of such changes,

strata,
to
distinguish
literature,
as
it
were, in the
sort
;
and
so
to
this
establish
of relative chronology for

it
early period
as
but
is
evident that
all
such dates
we may
for the
sake of convenience associate
with this system of relative chronology must be

conjectural.
early
are,
The
ultimate limits within which this

history must be confined
period of Indian
on the one hand, suggested by the evidence

civilization, and,
of Comparative Philology and the spread of Indo-
European
on the other, fixed by
the rise of Jainism and Buddhism.
CHAPTER
II
THE CIVILIZATIONS OF INDIA

The names
ot
Aryans Natural divisions of the continent Dravidians The geographical course of Aryan civilization.
India
Its
natural limits
Its
chief invaders
The word
the
river
India originally meant the country of

Indus.
'
It
is,
in
fact,
etymologically
it
identical with
Sind.'
In this restricted sense
occurs
in
the Avesta and in the inscriptions of

b.c.)
King Darius (522-486

territories to the
as
denoting
those
in
west of the Indus which,

history,
It
the
earlier periods of
Persian than Indian.
were more frequently was this province which
Alexander the Great claimed as conqueror of the The name India became familiar Persian Empire.
to the
West
of
chiefly
historians
Alexander's
through Herodotus and the campaigns and, in

;
accordance with what would almost seem to be a
law of geographical
the best
to the
nomenclature, the
name of
known
district
was subsequently applied

it is
whole country.
only at a comparatively
In Sanskrit literature
34

late period
25
that
we
find
the whole continent of

as
all
India.
any one word to denote This is intelligible,

belongs to the Aryan
the
early literature
civilization,
the gradual extension of which from
the north-west into the central region and eventually to
the south
may be
traced historically
and
the
geographical
outlook
of
this
civilization
would naturally be limited to the stage which it A comprehad reached at any particular time. Bharata or Bharata-varsha seems hensive term It means the realm to occur first in the epics.
'
of Bharata,' and refers to a legendary monarch

is
who
supposed to have exercised universal sovereignty.

historical foundation
The
for the
name
is
found
in the ancient
Aryan
in
tribe of the
Bharatas,
who
are well
known
the Rig-veda.
The
limits of this continent of India or
Bharata-
varsha, which is equal in extent to the whole of Europe without Russia, are for the most part well On the north, it is almost defined by nature. completely cut off from the rest of Asia by impassable mountain ranges; and it is surrounded by the sea on the eastern and western sides of the triangular peninsula which forms its southern But the northern barrier is not absolutely portion. secure. At its eastern and western extremities, river-valleys or mountain-passes provide means of communication with the Chinese Empire on the
26
ANCIENT INDIA
At the
one hand and with Persia on the other.
present time, these means of access to the Indian
Empire have been

of
political
practically closed in the interests
when
but until the year 1738, Nadir Shah invaded India Persian king the
security;
its
and sacked Delhi, the very capital of
Mughal
emperors, countless hordes of Asiatic tribes have
swarmed down the valleys or over the passes which Hence the extraordinary diversity lead into India.
of races and languages which,
now
united under
together
the
one sway for the

constitute
first
time
in
history,
the
Indian Empire.
glance at
ethnographical and linguistic maps of India will
show
that the races
and languages on the east
are Mongolian, and those on the west Persian or
Scythian
in
character; while the

in
Aryan
is
civilization
which predominates
invasions
the north
the result of
which can be traced historically, and the Dravidian civilization which still holds its own in
the south
is
probably also due to invasions
in pre-
historic times.
The
chief motive of the migration of peoples,
which forms one of the most important factors in the history of the human race, was scarcity of food and the chief cause of this scarcity has in
;
Central Asia been the gradual dessication of the

land.
However
this dessication
may have
arisen,
whether through physical causes which
affect the

by shrinkage
winds
neglect
27
whole of our planet, or through the thrusting up,

of
the
earth's
crust,
of
lofty
mountain-ranges which
cut
off
the
rain-bearing
from
certain
regions,
or
again
by man's
it
improvidence
in the destruction
of forests and the

irrigation,
is
of natural
means of
phenomenon the progress of which may be traced extent historically. to some Explorations in
Baluchistan and Seistan have brought to light the
monuments of
all
past
civilizations
which perished
;
because of the drying up of the land
and above
in
the researches of Sir Aurel Stein
Chinese
Turkestan have supplied us with materials and from which it will be possible observations
eventually to write
this
the
history
of dessication in
part of the
world with
some chronological
proves
that
in
precision.
this
Archaeological
evidence
a
region
which
is
now
rainless
desert,
which no
and the
a
living
being can exist because of the

in
burning heat and blinding sand-storms

arctic cold in winter,
;
summer
seat of
was once the

art,
flourishing civilization
and the study of the

discovered
written documents
at
and works of
sites
which have been explored, shows that these sites were abandoned one by one at dates varying from about the first
the
various
ancient
century b.c. to the ninth century a.d.
The
import-
ance
of these
observations,
as
bearing
on
the
28
ANCIENT INDIA
lies
history of India,
in
the consideration that
its
present isolation on the land-side was by no means

so complete in former times,
when the
river-valleys
and mountain-passes on the east and west of the
Himalayas were open, and when the great highroads leading from China to India on the east, and
from India through Baluchistan or Afghanistan
to
Persia and so to Europe on the west, not only

afforded a constant means of communication, but
also permitted the migration
of vast multitudes.
east,
The
invaders from
the
greatly as they
have modified the ethnology and of India, have

left
the
languages
no enduring record whether in the advancement of civilization or in literature.

Invaders from the west, on the other hand, have
determined the character of the whole continent. In our sketch of the civilization of Ancient India,
we
shall
have to deal especially
wîth
invasions
It
the Dravidian and the Aryan.

sometimes
two of these
that
;
has
been
supposed
the
it
Dravidians were the aborigines of India
but
seems more probable that these are rather to be sought among the numerous primitive tribes,
which
still
inhabit mountainous districts and other
regions difficult of access. the Gonds, found in
Such, for example, are
many different parts of India, remain even to the present day in the stone age of culture, using flint implements, hunting
who
THE CIVILIZATIONS OP INDIA

with
29
bows and arrows, and holding the most

belief.
rudimentary forms of religious

that the Dravidians
The view
into
were invaders, who came

in
India
from the north-west

support from the
prehistoric
times,
receives
fact
that
the Brahiji
language, spoken in certain districts of Baluchistan,
belongs
to
the
same
family
;
as
the
it
Dravidian
is
languages of Southern India

that
it
and
possible
may
testify to
an ancient settlement of the

India.
Dravidians
case,
before
they invaded
In
any
in
Dravidian
civilization
was predominant
India before the coming of the Aryans.
Many
of
the Dravidian peoples
languages not originally their

retain their
social
now speak Aryan or other own but they still

;
own
languages and their characteristic

the South, and
;
customs
that
in
in
certain hilly
tracts
of Central India
they
and
very
there
greatly
can
be no
in
doubt
have
influenced
Aryan
North.
civihzation
and
Aryan
religion
the
Their literatures do not begin
until
some
centuries after the Christian era, but the existence
of the great Dravidian kingdoms in the South
may
be traced
in
Sanskrit literature and in inscriptions

earlier period.
from
much
The term Aryan was

in a
formerly, chiefly through
the influence of the writings of
Max
It
is
Miiller,
used
broad sense so as to include the whole family
of Indo-European languages.
now
almost
30
ANCIENT INDIA
the
universally restricted to
Persian and
Indian
title
groups of used
in
this family, as
being the distinctive
their ancient scriptures.

in
These two groups have

characteristic
common
to
so
many
features,
in
regard
which they
differ from the other
members of
the family, that
we
can only conclude that there must have been a
period in which the ancestors of the Persians of
the Avesta and of the Indians of the Rig-veda

lived together as
one people and spoke a common

a
language.
When
separation
took
place,
the
Persian Aryans occupied Bactria, the
region
of
Balkh,
i.e.^
Afghanistan north of the Hindu Kush,
and Persia, while the Indian Aryans crossed over

the passes of the Hindu
the
Kush
into the valley of
Kabul River
Frontier
in
southern
Afghanistan,
i.e.
and
thence into the country of the Indus,
the North-
western
Punjab,
Province
and
the
northern
The
date of this separation cannot be
determined
with
much
accuracy.
ancient literatures of the two peoples
the Indian
B.C.,
The
most
Rig-veda, possibly as early as
1200
and the
Persian Avesta, dating from the time of Zoroaster,
probably
clusive
660-583 B.C. afford no confrom which it is possible to estimate the distance of time which separates them
about
evidence
from the period of unity

the
but an examination of
to
two languages seems
indicate
that
the

common speech from which they
not differ materially
since
31
are derived did
from that of the Rig-veda, Avestan forms are, from the etymological
generally be deduced from
point of view, manifestly later than Vedic forms,
and
may
them by the
laws
application
of certain
It
well
ascertained
inferred,
of
phonetic change.
the
may be
then, that
Aryan migration into India took place during a period which is separated by no long interval from
the date of the earliest Indian literature.
The
progress of Aryan civilization

naturally
in
India
is
determined
by
the
geographical
is
:
con-
formation of the continent, which

three well-defined principal regions
(i)
divided into
North-Western
its
India,
the country of the
Indus and
tributaries.
This region, bounded
by mountainous districts on the north and west, is separated from the country of the Ganges and Jumna on the east by the deserts of Rajputana. "With it has often been associated in history the
country of Gujarat (including Cutch and Kathia-
war) to the south.

(2)
Hindustan, the country of the Ganges- and
the Jumna and their tributaries, the great plain which constitutes the main portion of Northern
India.
(3)
India,
The Deccan
or
'
Southern
'
(Skt. dakshind)
the large triangular table-land lying south
32
of the
ANCIENT INDIA
Vindhya Mountains,
together
with
its
the
narrow strips of plain-land which form on the eastern and western sides.
fringe
The
tional
first
of these regions
is
in
character transi-
between India and Central Asia. Into it have poured untold waves of invasion Persian, Greek, Scythic, Hun, etc. and many of these Hence its have spent their force within its limits.
extraordinary
religion.
diversity
in
race,
language,
and
The
second has been the seat of great

in
kingdoms, some of which, both

in
the Hindu and
the
Muhammadan
periods,
have grown by
conquest into mighty empires including the whole

of Northern India and considerable portions, but
never the whole, of the South.

included
It
has always
most of the chief centres of religious

life
and
intellectual
in
its
India.
has a character of
own.
kingdoms and
their struggle
The third region The history of its for supremacy among

its
themselves have usually been enacted within
own
borders.
It
has, as a rule, successfully re-
sisted the
political,
and has only by slow degrees

ideas
admitted the intellectual, influence of the North

but
it
when
is
it
has accepted
or
institutions
has held them with great tenacity, so that the
South
now
in
many
respects the most orthodox
and the most conservative portion of the continent.
The
literary
and inscriptional records of Ancient

of continuity
the course
2,3
India enable us to trace with a remarkable degree
of
Aryan
it
civilization
through the periods during which

the
first
passed from
of these regions into the second and then
eventually into the third.
But
it
must always be
partial, in
remembered that these records are

sense
that
the
they
represent
only
one
type
of
this
civilization
and only those countries to which
civilization
had extended
at
any particular epoch.

of a
Unless this fact be borne constantly in mind, the

records are apt to produce the impression
unity and a homogeneity in the political, religious,
and
social
life
which never
this
existed.
is
The
best
corrective
for
false
in
impression
to study
Ancient India always

ledge of
history.
the light of our
know-
Modern
India
is
India and in the light of general

and, in historical times, always
has been composed of a number of large countries
and a multitude
having
its
of smaller
communities,
each
pursuing
own complicated racial its own particular lines

its
history and each
of development
In India, as in
independently of
neighbours.
Europe, one or other of the constituent countries

has from time to time succeeded in creating a great
empire at the expense of

kings of
that of
c
its
neighbours.
But the
mightiest of these empires, that of the
Maurya
and
height in
Magadha the Mughal
in the
third century b.c,

its
kings of Delhi at
34
the
last
ANCIENT INDIA
years ot the seventeenth century
a.d.,
have never been co-extensive with the continent they have never included the extreme south of
India.
tained
They were won by conquest and by power and, when the power
;
mainfailed,
the
various
countries
their
which
constituted
these
empires reasserted
independence.
Such a
in
phenomenon
which is advantage
square
as
the
less
British
dominion
India,
founded
on conquest than on mutual

together
which
of
holds
some 773,000
(excluding
miles
British
territory
Baluchistan
and Burma) and nearly the same amount (745,000 square miles) of independent territory administered by about 650 native princes
chiefs, principally
all
and
because the great
common
interest of
parallel
alike
is
peace and security
finds
at no any time formed a complete bond of union between these multitudinous and diverse nationin
history.
Neither has religion
alities.
The Brahmanical
systems of thought and
Vedas have never gained universal acceptance, as some of their text-books might lead us to suppose. Not only was their supremacy contested even in the region which was their stronghold the country of the Ganges and the Jumna by reformed religions such as but their appeal was Jainism and Buddhism everywhere almost exclusively to the higher castes
practice founded on the

who can never have formed
lation.
35
the majority of the popu-
as in
Most of the people, no doubt, in Ancient Modern India, were either confessedly, or at
more
primitive
in defaith.
heart and in practice, followers of
forms of
scribing
As Mr W, Crooke
religious
i.
says,
present
conditions
(Imperial
432), "The fundamental religion of the majority of the people Hindu,

Gazetteer of India,
p.
Buddhist, or even Musalman
it
is
mainly animistic.
greater
The
gods
peasant
;
may but when
nominally worship the
trouble comes in the shape of

is
disease, drought, or famine,
from the older
gods that he seeks relief"
CHAPTER
III
THE PERIOD OF THE VEDAS

The
Oral Geography Germs of The Sama-veda The Yajur-veda Contrasted with Rig-veda The Atharva-veda The
Rig-veda
transmission
Civilization
State
of
Religion
the later caste-system

the
principal divisions of
Northern India
in
Vedic
times.
The
vid
'
Sanskrit
to
in
and
word veda comes from the root know,' which occurs in the Latin vid-eo the Anglo-Saxon wit-an, from which our
etc. are derived.
It is
English forms wit^ wisdom^

especially used
to denote
the four collections of
sacred
'
wisdom,' which form the ultimate basis on
which
rest not only all the chief systems of Indian
religion
and philosophy, but also practically the whole of the Aryan intellectual civilization in secular. The most India, whether sacred or
ancient of these
collections
is
the Rig-veda,
or
It consists of 1028 'the Veda of the Hymns.' hymns intended to accompany the sacrifices offered
to
the
various
deities
of
the
ancient
Indian
pantheon.
acter
86
it
In respect of style and historical charfittingly to
may be compared most
the

'
^^
If
Psalms of David
'
in
the
Hebrew
scriptures.
it
compared by the number of more than four times as long.

Internal evidence,
verses,
is
rather
supplied by changes in lanin thought,
shows that the composition of the hymns of the Rig-veda must They have extended over a considerable period. were handed down from generation to generation
in
guage and progress
the
families of
the
;
'rishis,'
or sacred bards,
who composed them

the character
and, at a later date,
when
their venerable antiquity
collected
firstly,
had invested them with scriptures, they were together and arranged on a two-fold plan,
of inspired
traditional
according to their
authorship,
and secondly, according to the

the
all
divinities to
whom
Like
hymns
in
each group were addressed.
the other works of the Vedic period the Rig-
veda has been transmitted orally from one generation

to
another
from a remote
If
all
antiquity even
down
and
to the present day.
the manuscripts
its
all
the printed copies were destroyed,
text
could even
living
now be
recovered from the mouths of

fidelity as
men, with absolute
to the
form
and accent of every single word.

has only been possible
perfect organization of
a system
Such a
tradition
through the wonderfully

of schools
generations
ot
Vedic
study,
in
which
untold
of
students have spent their lives from boyhood to
38
ANCIENT INDIA
old age in learning the sacred texts and in teaching
them
the
This is, beyond all question, to their pupils. most marvellous instance of unbroken continuity to be found in the history of mankind
and the marvel increases when

this extraordinary feat of the
we consider that human memory has
been concerned rather with the minutely accurate preservation of the forms of words than with the
transmission of
their
meaning.
past,
The Brahmans,
who, for long centuries

services,
have repeated Vedic

or no importance to
texts in their daily prayers and in their religious
have attached
;
little
their
sense
but
so
faithfully
has
the
verbal
tradition
been maintained by the Vedic schools

readings
'
that
'
various
can scarcely be
said to
exist in the
text of the Rig-veda

It
down
to us.
which has come has probably suffered no material
change since about the year 700 B.C., the approximate date of \\\e pada-pdtha or 'word-text,' an
ingenious contrivance, by which each word
in
the
sentence
is
registered separately and independently
of
its
context, so as to supply a
means of checking
the readings of the samhitd-pdtba or 'continuous

text,'
and thus preventing textual corruption.
But
the sense of
lessly
lost
many Vedic words was

or
either hope-
thousand
five
extremely doubtful nearly two hundred years ago, when Yaska

In
fact,
wrote his Nirukta.
at
that period the

and
its its
39
;
Vedic language was already regarded as divine

obscurities
in
no way tended
from
sacred character
a.d.),
is
to detract
for, as
the commentator,
Sayana (died 1387

of the time, says
the
blind
:
quoting a popular maxim
"
It
no fault of the post

it
man cannot
belief
in
see
its
"
but
if
rather
to
strengthen the
super-human
origin.
Orthodox Hindus, then as now, believed that the Vedas were the revealed word of God, and so beyond the scope of human criticism. It remained,
therefore, for
Western
scholars in the nineteenth
century,
who were
original
able to approach the subject
without prepossessions, not only to bring to light

again
the
meaning
of
many
as
passages
of the Rig veda, but also to show the historical

significance
of the
whole collection
and
valuable
one of
of
the
most
interesting
records
antiquity.
The
region in which the

is
hymns of the Rigdetermined by their

twenty-five rivers
veda were composed

are mentioned
clearly
geographical references.
;
About
all
and nearly
of these belong to
include not only
the system of the Indus.

its five
They
five
great branches on the east, from which the

rivers,'
Punjab, 'the land of the
derives
its
name,
but
also
tributaries
on
the
north-west.
We
know, therefore, that the Aryans of the Rig-
veda inhabited a territory which included portions
40
ANCIENT INDIA
N.-W.
Frontier Province,
of S.E. Afghanistan, the
and the Punjab.

Like many
the Hindu
literature
later
invaders
of India,
they,
no
doubt, came into this region
over the passes of

Sanskrit
Kush range of mountains.
subsequent to the date of the Rig-veda

of their Aryan
a south-easterly direction until the
enables us to trace the progress

civilization
in
when it was firmly established in the plains of the Jumna and the Ganges. These two great rivers were known even in the times of the Rigtime
veda
but at that period they merely formed the

limit
extreme
of the geographical outlook.

of civilization depicted
primitive.
It
The
veda
is
type
in
is
the Rigthat
by no means
of
somewfiat advanced military aristocracy ruling
in
the midst of a subject people of far inferior culis a wide gulf fixed between the Aryans and the dark Dasyus the name itself is contemptuous, meaning usually demons whom they are conquering and enslaving. This distinction of colour marks the first step in the development of the caste-system, which afterwards attained to a degree of rigidity and complexity unparalleled elsewhere in the his-
ture.
There
fair-skinned
'
'
tory of the world.
The
conquerors themselves are called compre'
hensively
the
five
peoples
;
'
and these peoples

are divided into a
are
to
41
number of
in
tribes,
some of
history.
whom
The
be traced
tribes
later
Indian
Aryan
were not always united against the land, but sometimes made war among themselves. Each tribe was governed by a king and the kingly office was usually hereditary,
people
of
the
;
but
sometimes,
perhaps,
elective.
As among
other Indo-European peoples, the constitution of

the
tribe
was modelled on
that
of the family
the aid and
its
and the king, as head, ruled with

advice of a council of elders
various branches.
patriarchal
:
who
represented
Thus, the state of society was

it
but
people lived
in villages,
was no longer nomadic. The and their chief occupations
were pastoral and
agricultural.
In war, the chief weapons were bows and arrows, though swords, spears, and battle-axes were also used. The army consisted of foot-soldiers and
charioteers.
The former were probably marby

village
shalled village
and
tribe
by
tribe as
in
ancient Greece and Germany, and as in Afghanistan

at the present day.
The
war-chariots,
which may
have been used only by the nobles, carried two men, a driver and a fighting man who stood on his
left.
In the arts of peace considerable progress had been made. The skill of the weaver, the carpenter, and the smith furnish many a simile in the hymns.
1
42
ANCIENT INDIA
metals chiefly worked were gold and copper.
The
It is
doubtful
if silver
and iron were known
in
the
age of the Rig-veda.
amusements were huntthe last ing, chariot-races, and games of dice mentioned a sad snare both in Vedic times and in
the favourite
Among
subsequent periods of Indian history.
The
like
religion of the
Aryan invaders of
India,
that
of other ancient peoples of the same
Indo-European family
and Slavs
was a form of nature worship, in which the powers of the heavens, the firmament, and the earth were deified. Thus Indra, the god
of the storm,
shatters
is
Greeks, Romans, Germans,

who with
his
a giant
thunderbolt
re-
the
stronghold
of the demon and
covers the stolen cows, even as the lightning-flash

pierces
the cloud
and brings back the rains

^
to
earth
fire,
while Agni (the Latin ignis)
the god of
is
manifested in heaven as the sun, in the

as
firmament as the lighting, and on earth

sacrificial
fire
the
the
produced
fire-sticks.
mysteriously
from
friction
of the
The
sacrifice is the link
which connects man with^the gods, who take delight in the oblations, and, in return, shower blessings
wealth
There
spirits
in
cows and horses, and strength
in
the
form of stalwart sons
on
the pious worshipper.
are also other aspects of this religion.
The
of the departed dwell
in
'
the world of the

Fathers,'
43
where they are dependent

on
for their sus-
the offerings of their descendants and ever lurking around man are the demons of
tenance
famine and disease, whose insidious attacks can

only be averted through the favour of the beneficent deities.
certain
to
amount of
other
this
Vedic mythology
is is
common
Skt.
Indo-European peoples, as
'the Sky-father
proved by such equations as the following:
Dyaus
pitdr-^
'=Gk. Zeus
(cf.
pater=L3.t. Ju'pifer=Aug\o-Sd.xon
^(:sg-=Eng. Tuesday^.
Tlw
T'lwes
Skt.
Ushdsa-^
'the
Dawn
'=:Gk.
Eos
for
* Ausbs=h-3,i.
Aurora
for * ^//joj-^
= Anglo-Saxon
eas-t (Eng. east).
Points of similarity with the ancient Persian

religion are
their
more numerous
dwelt
and, in
estimating
cogency as evidence that the Persian and

together
for
Indian Aryans
some period
after their separation
the Indo-European stock,
from the other branches of we must bear in mind
the fact that the Persian religion, as represented

in
the Avesta,
is
the outcome of the reforms of

c.)
Zoroaster (660-583, b
which, presumably, did

ancient
away with much of

must
suffice
its
mythology.
It
here to mention one striking feature

in
which the two religions share
common.
The
Vedic offerings of soma^ the intoxicating juice of
44
a
plant,
find
ANCIENT INDIA
their
exact
counterpart
is
in
the
Avestan haoma^ a word which

identical.
etymologically
The hymns
priestly bards
of the Rig-veda were the work of
who
and,
took no small pride
in
their
poetic
skill
although
we may
find
much
monotony in the collection, due to the great number of hymns which are sometimes devoted to the same topic, and numerous difficulties and obscurities, caused chiefly by our own defective knowledge of the language and of the period,
yet
the
beauty
are
and
as
strength
fully
of many of the
justify
this
hymns
such
to
pride.
The
by the by a caesura after the fourth or fifth syllable, and by quantity, as in Greek and Latin, except that the rigid scheme of short and long is generally confined to the
principles of scansion are determined
syllables in
number of
each
line,
endings of the lines. The commonest metres are of eight, eleven, or twelve syllables to the line,
and three or four of these lines usually make a verse. But there are a number of other varieties, some of them more complicated in structure.
The
a
office
of priest, therefore, required not only
knowledge of the ritual of the sacrifice, but also some skill in the making of hymns. No doubt,
the king of the tribe was supreme in
in
originally
sacred
as
secular
matters
and
it
is
possible

that
45
of
certain
indications
still
of
in
this
earlier
state
affairs
may
survive
the
Rig-veda.
But
already,
by a natural
in
division of labour, the persacrifices
formance of the ordinary

behalf was
specially
on the king's
to
practice
entrusted
priest
appointed,
'
who
').
was
This
the
called
office,
purohita
too,
(=Latin, probably
prafectus
had
to
become
hereditary,
and
it
tended
grow
in
importance with
strengthening of
of the Rigfour
the religious tradition.
Thus, although
veda,
in the early period
the caste-system was
unknown
in
the
castes are only definitely

latest
mentioned
one of the
hymns
yet
the social conditions which led
to
its
development were already present.

first
As we
have seen, the
great
division
between con-
founded on colour. In fact, the same Sanskrit word, varna^ means This was the basis both 'colour' and 'caste.'
querors and conquered was
on which a broad distinction was

'twice-born,'
subsequently
i.e. those who drawn between the were regularly admitted into the religious community by the investiture of the sacred cord, and
the
servile
caste
or
'
ûdras.
'
The
into
three-fold
divisions
class
of
the
twice-born
priests
the
ruling
(Kshatriyas), the
(Brahmanas) and
its
the
tillers
of the
soil
(Vai9yas) finds
parallel in
it
other Indo-European communities, and indeed
46
seems
to
ANCIENT INDIA
represent
the
natural
distribution
of
functions which occurs generally in

at a similar stage
human
societies
of advancement.
Of
were
cattle
the more primitive inhabitants of the land
the Rig-veda teaches

a
us
little,
except that they
pastoral people possessing large herds of
and having as defences numerous strong-
holds.
Contemptuous references describe them

'
as a dark-complexioned, flat-faced,
noseless
'
race,
who spoke
a language
and followed
India
religious practices
which was unintelligible, which were ab-
horrent to their conquerors.
Of
all
the rest of
beyond the country of the Rig-veda we know

the three other Vedas two are directly de-
nothing whatever at this period.
Of
pendent on the Rig-veda.

took part
in
They
are especially in-
tended for the use of the two orders of priests
who
the sacrifices in addition to the Hotar
who The
the
recited the verses selected from the Rig-veda.
Sama-veda, which chiefly consists of verses from the Rig-veda pointed for the benefit of
'
'
Udgatar or singing
priest,
has
little
or no
historical value.
The
Yajur-veda, which contains
the sacrificial formulas to be spoken in an under-
tone by the Adhvaryu, while he performed the
manual portions of the ceremony, is on the other hand a most important document for the history of the period to which it belongs. It introduces

us not only to a
47
new
region, but also to a complete
transformation of religious and social conditions.
The Yajur-veda marks

trend of
the
a further advance in the
Aryan civilization from the country of North-West into the great central plain of
Its
India.
geography
lies
is
that
of Kuru-kshetra
'the field of the Kurus,' or the eastern portion of
the plain which
between the
Sutlej
and the
Jumna, and Panchala, the country to the southThis east between the Jumna and the Ganges.
region,
bounded on the west by the sacred region which lay between the rivers Sarasvati (Sarsuti) and Drishadvati (Chautang), was the land in which
the complicated system of Brahmanical sacrifices
was evolved, and
it
was
in later times
'
regarded
with especial reverence as

sages,' while the first
the country of the holy
home of
the
Aryan invaders
of India seems
to
have
been almost forgotten.

subject
Kuru-kshetra
is
also the scene of the great battle
which forms the main epic, the Mahabharata.

capital
of the national
its
One
of
capitals
was
Indraprastha, the later Delhi, which became the
of the whole of India under the Mughal
restored to
emperors, and which has recently, in 1912, been its former proud position.
Religious and social conditions, as reflected
the
in
Yajur-veda,
differ
very
widely
from
those
of the period
of the Rig-veda.
Ail the moral
48
elements
in
ANCIENT INDIA
religion
seem
to
have
disappeared,
extinguished
by
an
elaborate
is
and
complicated
system of ceremonial which

as a
in
regarded no longer
means of worship but as an end in itself Sin Rig-veda means the transgression of the divine laws which govern the universe: in the whether inYajur-veda it means the omission of some detail in the tentional or accidental endless succession of religious observances which
the
filled
man's
life
from birth to death.
The
sacrifice
had developed into a system of magic by means of which supernatural powers might be attained and
;
the
powers thus gained might be used for any
purpose, good or bad, spiritual or temporal,
and
the
even
to
coerce
also,
the
the
gods
themselves.
In
Yajur-veda
earlier stages of the casteit
system, in essentially the form which

the present day, are distinctly seen.
bears to
Not
only are
the four great social divisions hardening into castes,
but a number of mixed castes also are mentioned.
Thus were
fixed the outlines of the system
which
subsequently, by further differentiation according
The tremendous
became extraordinarily complicated. spiritual power, which the sacrifice placed in the hands of the priestly caste, was no doubt the cause which directly led to the preto trades, etc.,
dominance of
this caste in the social system.
The
religion
and the
social
system of the Yajur-
49
veda represent, to a great extent, the development

of tendencies which are clearly to be recognized
in
the Rig-veda; but they also, no doubt,
show
the influence of the religious beliefs and the social

institutions of the earlier
non-Aryan inhabitants of
this
India
and
it
seems possible sometimes to trace

cite
influence.
To
is
one
instance
only.
Snakein
worship
India.
common among
trace of
it
primitive
peoples
in the
No
but
it
is
to
be found
Rig-
veda,
appears
therefore,
in
is
the
that
Yajur-veda.
it
The
presumption,
was borrowed
from the
in
earlier
The Atharva-veda
It is
non-Aryan peoples. difters from the other three

in
not being connected primarily with the sacrifices.

generally
It
more popular
character than the
Rig-veda.
represents the old-world beliefs of

evil
the
common people about
spirits
and
the
eflScacy
of spells and incantations rather than the

priests.
more advanced views of the

the collection
is
Although
than the
manifestly later in date
Rig-veda, yet, for the history of early civilization,

it is
even more valuable, since much of
its
subject-
matter belongs to a more primitive phase of religion.

It is
especially important for the history of science

as
its
in India,
charms to avert or cure diseases
through the magical efficacy of plants contain the
germs of the
later systems of medicine.
The
geographical information supplied by the

so
Atharva-veda
compiled
that
ANCIENT INDIA
is
not
sufficient
to
in
enable
us
it
to
determine the precise

;
locality
which
in
it
was
but the tribes mentioned

full
indicate
the
extent
of the
two
first
regions
occupied
earlier
by the Aryan
later
civilization
during
the
and
Vedic periods
at
the
country of
the Indus and the country of the
Ganges and the
Jumna
tion
was known was made.
the time
when
the collec-
For a long period, Aryan

fined within these limits.
civilization
was con-
The
definitions of the
whole region, and of its chief divisions, are thus given in The Laws of Manu, a work, in its present form, of a much later date, but undoubtedly
representing the traditions from Vedic times
:
Arydvarta,
district
'
the country of the Aryans,'
is
the the the
lying
Vindhya
between the Himalaya and Mountains, and extending from

'the
eastern to the western sea.
Madhya-defa^
Middle
lies
Country,'
is
that
portion of Arydvarta^ which
between the same
two mountain ranges, and is bounded by Vinafana (the place where the river Sarasvati loses itself in the sand) on the west, and by Praydga (the modern
Allahabad, where the Ganges and the Jumna meet)
on the
east.
'
Brahmarshi-defa,
includes
the county of the holy sages,'
the
territories
of the
Kurus,
Matsyas,

Panchalas and Curasenas
the Punjab, the
in
{i.e.
51
the eastern half of
the State of Patiala and of the Delhi division of
Rajputana, the region which
Alwar State and adjacent territory lies between the
Ganges and the Jumna, and the Muttra District

in the
United Provinces).
'
Brahmdvarta.,
the Holy Land,'
lies
between the
sacred rivers Sarasvati (Sarsuti) and Drishadvati
(Chautang), and may be identified generally with

the modern Sirhind.
Its precise situation is
some-
what
uncertain,
owing
to
the difficulty of tracing

;
the courses of rivers in this region
for
many of
That
is
them
lose themselves
in
the sand and sometimes
reappear at a distance of several miles.

seen from the following
verse from the
Brahmarshi-dega formed part of Kuru-kshetra

bharata
*^
Maha-
Dakshinena Sarasvatya Drhhadvatyuttarena cha
Te vasanti Kurukshetre,
" Those, who dwell
Sarasvati
in
te
vasanti Trivishtape.'^
Kuru-kshetra to the south of the
and
tjlje
north of the Drisadvatl, dwell in Heaven,"
CHAPTER
THE PERIOD
OF
IV
THE BRAHMANAS AND
UPANISHADS
Growth of
a prose
Language
Contents Geography The

literature
of the Brahmanas
(Jatapatha
Brahmana
Its
relation to
Buddhism and The religion of works and

Upanishads
to the ancient Sanskrit epics
Pantheism The
the religion of knowledge

intellectual
The
not
movement
confined to the priestly caste.
The
most ancient works of Indian literature, with which we have been deaHng hitherto, are almost This fact is in accordance with entirely in verse.
the general rule that poetry precedes prose in the
development of
found
in the
literature.
The
only prose to be
Yajur-veda,
associated
Vedas occurs in some versions of the where a sort of commentary is
with the verse portions.
From
this
point of departure,
a large
we may
trace the
similar
growth of
character.
prose
literature
of a
Each of the Vedas was handed down traditionally in a number of priestly schools devoted entirely to
its
study, and each of these schools produced in

its
the course of time

62
own
particular text-book,
BRAHMANAS AND UPANISHADS

in
S3
the form of an elaborate prose treatise, intended
to explain to the priest the mystical significance of
that portion of the sacrificial ceremony which he
upon to perform. These treatises are styled Brahmanas or 'religious manuals.' Their contents are of the most miscellaneous character
was
called
but they
may be
classified
broadly under three

(vidbi), (2)
categories:
tions
(i)
directions
explana-
(artbavdda), and (3) theosophical speculations (upanishad). The last were, as we shall see,
developed more fully

bearing
the
in a
special class of
works
pre-
same
title.
The Brahmanas
;
suppose an intimate acquaintance with the very

complicated ritual of the sacrifice
and they would

if
have been
unintelligible
to
us,
we had
'Sutras,'
lore
not
in
is
fortunately also possessed the later
which each
separate
branch
of
Vedic
minutely explained.
The Brahmanas
At
first
are priestly documents in the
narrowest and most exclusive sense of the term.

sight, their contents
would seem
to
be the
most hopeless possible form of historical material.

It is
only incidentally and accidentally that they
afford any insight whatever into the political and

social conditions of the
country and the period to
which they belong. They give an utterly oneBut religion had sided view even of the religion.
other and nobler aspects even in this priest-ridden
54
ANCIENT INDIA
is
age, and the memorial of these
preserved
in
the
Upanishads.
Nevertheless, there are found embedded in the Brahmanas a number of old-world legends which
supply
valuable
evidence
culture.
for
the
history
of
primitive
human
For instance, a reminiin
scence of the far distant period,

sacrifices
in the
which human
story told
prevailed,
is
to
be seen
in a
iii.)
Aitareya Brahmana (VII.
of the Rig-
veda, about a
Brahman
lad
named ûnahQepa, who
was about to be sacrificed to the god Varuna, the god himself appeared and released him. Another story in the same Brahmana (II. i.) illustrates the stages of transition from human sacrifice, in which at first some animal, and subsequently a
when
cake made of
stituted for the
rice,
was
in
ordinary practice sub-
human
victim.
Occasionally also some valuable information as

to the social
and
political
state
of India may be
gleaned from the Brahmanas.
The
coronation
ceremonies referred to
Aitareya
priestly
Brahmana
caste
in the eighth book of the show how completely the
had,
in
theory at
caste.
least,
gained
book,
supremacy over the kingly

horizon, for
The same
moreover, shows an extension of the geographical

it
mentions by name a number of the

It
peoples of Southern India.

kingly
titles
also
records
the
used
in
different regions of India;

"
; ;

and these
period,
titles
S5
early
seem
to
show
that,
at
this
the
most diverse
forms
of government
ranging from absolute monarchies to self-governing

(svardj)
communities
were
to
be found.
This
and
interpretation
would
certainly
be
in
accordance
with what
other
we know from
sources
the
inscriptions
historical
of a
later
date.
The
is
interesting fact, that the Brahmanical religiop did
not
include
all
the tribes of Aryan

in
descent,
gathered from the account given
the
Tandya
Brahmana of
certain sacrifices (the vrdtya-stojnas')^
which were performed on the admission of such Aryans into the Brahman community. The
description
of these
non-Brahmanical
" they pursue neither agriculture nor

their laws
Aryans commerce
are in a constant state of confusion
they speak the same language as those
who have
received Brahmanical consecration, but nevertheless

call
what
in
is
easily
spoken hard
Ind.
Lit.^
p.
to
6y')
pronounce
(trans,
Weber,
shows that
they were freebooters speaking the Prakrits or

dialects allied to Sanskrit.
For the
possess the
student
of language
the Brahmanas
highest interest.
mines of philological
great
They are perfect specimens. They show a
variety of forms which are transitional between the language of the Rig-veda and the
later
Classical Sanskrit
and
as
being, togethe
56
with the
oldest
ANCIENT INDIA
prose portions of the
Yajur-veda,
the
examples
very
of
Indo-European prose,
they
afford materials
for the
study of the development
from
its
first
beginnings of a prose style and

is
of a more complicated syntax than

ordinary verse.
in India at
feasible in
Thus we
find, existing side
by
side
the same period, an ancient poetry, no

elaborated by
longer primitive in character but
generations of bards, and a rudimentary which often reminds us of the first attempts of a child or an uneducated person to express his
prose,
many
thoughts
in writing.
The geography of
of the holy sages
(âtapatha
its
;
the Brahmanas
'
is
generally
the land of the Kurus and Pafichalas,

'
the country
but at times
it
lies
more
to
the west or more to the east of this region.
The
Brahmana
first
is
especially remarkable for
wide geographical outlook.
belong to the
home of
the
Some of its books Aryan invaders in
the north-west.
In others the scene changes from
the court of Janamejaya, king of the Kurus, to

the court of Janaka, king of Videha (Tirhut or
N. Bihar). The legend of Mathava, king of Videgha (the older form of Videha), in the first book,
indicates
the
'
progress
'
of
Brahmanical
culture
Holy Land of the SarasvatI, first into Kosala (Oudh), and then over the river Sadanira (probably the Great Gandak, a tributary
from
the

of the Ganges) which formed
its
si
boundary, into
Videha.
The âtapatha Brahmana

link
in
supplies an important
in
the
it
history of religion and literature

is
India; for
closely connected with
Buddhism
which
on
the one hand, and with thp ancient Sanskrit
epics on
the other.
Many
'
of the terms
subsequently became characteristic of Buddhism,

such as arhat
'
saint
and framana
;
'
ascetic,' first
occur in the (âtapatha

teachers mentioned in
and among the famous

are
Gautamas, the Brahman family whose patronymic was adopted by

it
the
the Kshatriya family in which

It
Buddha was
born.
was
to Janamejaya,
king of the Kurus, that
the
story
of one
of the great epic poems

said to
is
Mahabharata
the
while
is
have been related

Sita, the
Janaka, king of Videha,
probably to be identified
heroine of the
with Janaka, the father of
other great epic, the Ramayana.
of
Such are some of the comparatively few features general interest which relieve the dreary monotony of the endless ritualistic and liturgical disquisitions of the Brahmanas. As we have seen, the kind of religion depicted in the Brahmanas is absolutely mechanical and unintelligent. The hymns from the Rig-veda are no longer used with any regard to their sense, but verses are taken away from their context and strung together
58
fantastically,
ANCIENT INDIA
because
or
they
all
contain
some
their
magical
metres,
or
word,
because
the scheme of
when arranged according to the increasing number of syllables, resembles a thunderbolt wherewith the sacrificer may slay his
decreasing
foes,
or
a
for
some other
equally
valid
reason.
Such
secure
system may have been
useful enough to
the supremacy of the Brahmans and to keep the common people in their proper place but it is not to be imagined that it can ever have satisfied the intellectual aspirations of the Brahmans
;
themselves
and, as a matter of fact,

in
there has
always been
a 'religion
India a broad distinction
between
of works,' intended for

religion of
the
common
people and for the earlier stages in the religious

life,
and a
'
knowledge
'
which appealed
Certain hymns
only to an intellectual aristocracy.
of reflection
in
the Rig-veda and the Atharva-veda

existence
its
show
and
that the eternal problems of the
the
nature
of a
higher power, and of
relation to the universe

filling
and to man, were already

at
this
the thoughts of sages even

;
early
period
and,
as
its
we
have
seen,
theosophical
speculation finds
It
is,
place even in the Brahmanas.
however,
specially
developed
in
certain
treatises,
called Upanishads,
which usually come
at the
end of the Brahmanas, separated from them by Aranyakas or forest-books,' which are transi'

tional in character as in position.
59
Thus the whole

comprehensively
of
Vedic
literature,
'
which
'
is
styled fruti or
revelation
'
as distinguished
falls
from
the later smriti or

classes.
'
tradition,'
into
two great
to the
The Vedas and Brahmanas belong

of
works,'
religion
and
the
Aranyakas
and
Upanishads to the 'religion of knowledge.'
A
the
the
similar principle
of division applies also to
the four dframas, or religious stages, into which

life
of the Brahman
is
theoretically divided.
In
first,
he
lives
as
a pupil in the family of his
guru and learns from him the sacred texts and the in the second, he marries and sacrificial procedure
;
brings up a family, religiously observing
all
the
domestic
rites
in the
third, after
he has seen the

to live
face of his grandson, he goes forth into the forest,
either accompanied
by
his wife or alone,

;
the
life
of an anchorite
all
and
in
the fourth, he
abandons
this
earthly ties and devotes himself to

'
meditation on the dtman or
Supreme
'
Soul.'
'
In
way, his
'
life is
divided between the

first,
religion
of works
in
'
the
knowledge
in
two the two
and the
rehgion of
last stages.
The Upanishads, with which the philosophical hymns of the Rig-veda and the Atharva-veda are
closely connected in spirit, lead us into the realm
of what
religion.
we
should
call
philosophy rather than
But the two have never been separated
6c
in India,
ANCIENT INDIA
where the
necessary
consists
social
latter
has always been regarded

for
as
the
preparation
in
the
former.
Orthodoxy
ance of
observances
speculation
the unquestioning accept-
the
system
and
the
religious
this,
of
is
Brahmanism.
to
Beyond
free
range without restriction,
whether
it
lead to pantheism, to dualism, or even

*
to atheism.
The Upanishads
contain
doctrine.
are
not
systematic.
They
no
orderly
expositions
of metaphysical
They give no reasons for the views which they put forth. They are the work of thinkers who were poets rather than philosophers. But nevertheless they contain all the main ideas which formed the germs of the later systems of philosophy, and are, therefore, of the utmost
importance for the history of Indian thought.
The
neither
object of the
earthly
'
religion of
knowledge
rewards
'
'
is
happiness
nor
the
of
heaven.
Such may be the
fruits of the
religion
of works.'
But, according to Indian ideas, the joys
of earth and of heaven are alike transient.
may be pursued by
turns
the
They man of the world who

;
mistakes appearances for realities
but the sage
away from them,
for
he knows that, as the

soul
is
result of works, the
human
fast
bound
it
in a
chain of
mundane
existences, and that

in
this
will
go
on from birth to birth, whether
world or
BRAHMAN AS AND UPANISHADS

in
6i
of
evil
other
worlds,
its
condition
in
each
state
existence being determined
by the good or
niukti^
deeds performed
aim,
in previous existences.
is
His sole
'release,'
therefore,
this
to
obtain
or
from
birth.
perpetual
release
succession of birth and re-
This
can
only
is
be
say,
is
obtained
'right
knowledge,' that
fact
to
realization of the
in the
that there
by by the full no existence,

In reality
is
highest and only true sense of the term,

'
except the dtman or the
World-Soul.'
everything
thing.
is
the atman and the atman

is
everythat
is
There
to
no
second
'being.'
All
seems
us
to
exist
besides
It
is
the
atman
'appearance' or
'illusion.'
of the atman, due merely to a change
and form.
of
clay,
Just as
all
the vessels
some disguise in name which are made
by whatever names they may be called and however many different forms they may
assume,
are
in
reality only clay,
so
everything,
exist-
which appears
ence,
is
to us to
have an independent
really only a
modification of the atman.
There
is,
therefore, no essential difference

'
between
Soul.'
the soul of the individual and the
World
The complete apprehension

the
'
of this fact constitutes

brings
'right
'
knowledge,'
circle
which
with
it
release
from the
of mundane existences,
which are now clearly seen to be apparent only and not real.
62
ANCIENT INDIA
This pantheistic doctrine, which forms the main,
but
by no means the exclusive, subject of the

was,
at
Upanishads,
later
period,
developed
in
with
marvellous
fulness
and
subtilty
the
Its influence has Vedanta system of philosophy. been more potent than any other in moulding the
spiritual
and intellectual
evidence
life
of India even
down
to
the present day.
The
earliest
of
language
shows
are
also
that
the
Upanishads,
which
the
the the
most
later
important,
belong
to
period
of
Regarded as sources for the history of religion and civilization in India, these two classes of words supplement and correct each other. The Brahmanas represent the ceremonial, and the Upanishads the intellectual, phase of religion and the social aspects of these two
Brahraanas.
;
phases
stand
in
striking
sacrifice,
contrast.
While the
complicated
performance of the
ritual,
with
in
all its
remained
caste,
entirely
the
hands
royal
in
of
the
priestly
members of the
caste
and
even learned ladies joined eagerly

sions,
the discus-
which were held
at royal courts,
concerning
the nature of the atman, and acquitted themselves
with distinction.
Thus
came
to
the far-famed Brahman,

Ajataâtru, the
Gargya
Balaki,
king of
Kagi (Benares), and, having heard his words of
wisdom, humbly begged that he might be per-

mitted
to
6^
become
on
the
his
pupil
while
the
ladies
Gargi and Maitreyi discoursed concerning these
deep matters,
Yajnavalkya,
Janaka,
perfectly
equal
terms,
with
of
the
great
rishi
of
the
court
king
of
Videha.
in
fact,
The
time
of
Upanishads was,
unrest,
one of great
spiritual
and of
revolt against the formalism
and
exclusiveness of the Brahmanical system.

revolt the royal caste played
In this
no unimportant part
and,
as
we
shall
see
in
the next chapter, the
leaders of the
as Jainism
two chief
religious reforms,
known
and Buddhism, were both scions of
princely families.
CHAPTER V
THE
The
RISE OF JAINISM
AND BUDDHISM
founders of Jainism and

trasted with
epics
The Puranas Genealogies The
Brahmanism
Their
Buddhism
Their
literatures
The
doctrines con-
Sanskrit
Pali epics
The
Sutras.
With
least
the rise of Jainism and
Buddhism we enter
the period of Indian history for which dates, at
approximately correct, are available.
We
are
no longer dependent for our chronology on an

estimate of the length of time required for the
evolution
of
successive
phases
of
thought
or
language.
These two religions differ from the earlier Brahmanism in so far as they repudiate the religion of works as inculcated in the Vedas and That is to say, they deny the the Brahmanas. authority of the Vedas and of the whole system of sacrifice and ceremonial which was founded on the Vedas and in so doing they place themselves outside the pale of Brahman orthodoxy. On the other
'
'
hand,
64
their
'
fundamental
religion of
ideas
are
'
substantially
those of the
knowledge
as represented
RISE
in
OF JAINISM AND BUDDHISM

These
all
65
the Upanishads.
ideas are, in fact, the

religions
postulates
on which
Indian
and
all
all,
Indian philosophies rest.

that the individual soul
is
They
fast
'
hold, one and
bound by the power

to a continuous series
of
its
own karma
and
or 'actions
of birth
re-birth
which
all
need
is
never
end
and the object of one and
to find out the
way by which the

bonds of
differ
soul
may be
freed
from the
this
unending mundane existence.

in
They
from one another, partly

this
in
regard to the
means whereby
and partly
freedom may be obtained,
their views as to the nature of the
universe and of the individual soul, and as to the

existence or non-existence of some being or
first
cause corresponding to the

'
Atman
or
'
some World-
Soul
of the Upanishads.
Vardhamana Jfiataputra, the founder of Jainism, called by his followers Jina (hence the epithet the Conqueror or Mahdvira Jain ') the
'
'
'
'
Great Hero,' probably lived from about 599 to 527 B.C. As his surname denotes, he was a scion
of the Kshatriya or princely tribe of
Jfiatas,
and
of
he was related
(Basarh)
in
it
to
the royal family

(Tirhut).
of
Vai9ali
Videha
His
system
teaching, as
has come
;
down
to us,
is full
of metaits
physical subtiities
but, apart from these,

in a
main
purpose,
soul
summed up
its
few words,
fetters
is
to free the
from
mundane
by means of the
66
'
ANCIENT INDIA
three jewels'
a
a term also used in Buddhism, but
in
different
sense
viz.
'right
faith,'
'right
knowledge,' and
headings
'right
action,'
each
of
these
into
being
divided
and
subdivided
life.
number of dogmas
or rules of
form a wealthy and important community in many of the large towns, section of the particularly in Western India, where their ancestors
Jains
still
The
have
left
behind them an abiding record

temples
in
the
also
beautiful
of
Gujarat.
They have
played a notable part

India,
in the civilization
of Southern
where the early literary development of the Kanarese and Tamil languages was due, in a great
measure, to the labours of Jain monks.
The founder
of
Buddhism
the
Buddha
or
'Enlightened' as he was called by his disciples
was
Siddhartha, whose date was probably from about
563
muni
with
to
483
B.C.
He
belonged to the Kshatriya

is
tribe of âkyas,
',
and so
often styled
;
'
âkya-
the sage of the (âkyas
but, in accordance
practice
which
Kshatriyas, he bore a
among the Brahman surname, Gautama,

prevailed
borrowed from one of the ancient families of Vedic The (âkyas ruled over a district in what Rishis. known as the Western Tarai of Nepal now is
and, at Buddha's period, they were feudatories of
the king of Kosala (Oudh).
In recent years
some
have
most
interesting
archaeological
discoveries
RISE

in this region,
all
c.
67
been made
ing of
erected,
perhaps the most interestpillar
being
the
inscribed
which was
Aôka
born.
to
244 B.C., by the Buddhist emperor mark the spot where the Buddha was
the pessimism of his period, the
Buddha shared
literature
of which constantly reminds us of the
words of the Preacher

vanity
'
'
and
of
Vanity of vanities
all is
he sought a refuge from the world

first in
and a means of escape from existence,

doctrine
the
the
Atman,
as
set
in
forth
in
the
Upanishads, and subsequently of these could satisfy him
a system of the
severest penance and self-mortification.

;
But neither
and after a period of
meditation he propounded his

in its simplest
own
in
:
system, which the four head" sorrow

:
:
form
is
comprised
at
ings of his
first
sermon
:
Benares
the
cause of sorrow
the removal of sorrow
the
is
way
leading to the removal of sorrow."

all
That
is
to say,
existence
is
sorrow
this
sorrow
caused by
the craving of the individual for existence, which

leads from birth to re-birth
;
this
sorrow can be
;
removed by the removal of its cause this removal may be effected by following the eight-fold path,
viz.
'right understanding,'
'right resolve,' 'right
speech,' 'right action,' 'right living,' 'right effort,'

'right mindfulness,' 'right meditation.'
seen, then, that the
'
It
will
be
eight-fold path
'
of Buddhism
68
is
ANCIENT INDIA
'
essentially identical with the
three jewels
'
of
the Jains, and that both of them differ from the
Upanishads
of
life
chiefly in substituting a practical rule
for
an abstract 'right knowledge,' as the

'
'
means whereby freedom may be secured. Jainism and Buddism also differ materially from Brahmanism in their organization, Brahmanism is strictly confined to the caste-system, in which a
man's social and religious duties are determined
once and
In theory,
for
all
by
a
his
birth,
Jainism
to
and
Buddhism made
all
wider
claim
universality.
distinction of castes ceased within
the religious community.
In practice, the
firmly
established social system has proved too strong for
both rehgions.
present
day,
It is
observed by the Jains at the

in
while,
India
itself,
it
has
re-
absorbed
the
is
Buddhists
not
many
centuries
Its
ago,
Brahmanism
congregational.
observ-
ances consist partly of caste-duties performed by

the individual, and partly of sacrifices and cere-
monies performed for

temples.
his special benefit
by
priests.
In ancient times there were, therefore, no
Brahman
and Buddhism were, on the contrary, both congregational and monastic. One striking result of this difference is that the most
Jainism
ancient
monuments of
India teach us a great deal

little
about the Jains and Buddhists and
or nothing
about the Brahmans.
The
one-sided impression,
RISE
which
species

the
69
comparative
for
lack
of
this
important
history of
of evidence
is
the
earliest
Brahmanism
apt to produce, must be corrected

literature.
is
from a study of the
The language
of Brahmanism
always
and
everywhere Sanskrit.
district
The language of
is
the Jain
and Buddhist scriptures

or
the
different
that of the
particular
particular
period
to
which the
from
India
books or versions belong.

disappeared
entirely
Buddhism
it
proper at the end of the twelfth century a.d., but

still
flourishes at the northern
and southern ex-
Nepal and Ceylon. From its original home it has extended far and wide into Eastern Asia and its ancient books are preserved in four Pali (in Ceylon, Burma, and great collections Siam), Sanskrit (in Nepal), Tibetan, and Chinese. Thus both Jainism and Buddhism arose and flourished originally in the same region of India,
tremities, in
;
:
viz.
the districts to the east of the 'Middle Country,'
including the ancient kingdoms of Kosala, Videha,
and
Magadha,
i.e.
the
modern Oudh together

S.
with the old provinces of Tirhut and
Bihar in
Western Bengal.
other regions, and for
They spread subsequently to many centuries divided the

Brahmanism.
litera-
allegiance of India with
Both
tures,
religions
produced large and varied

secular,
sacred
and
which are
especially
yo
ANCIENT INDIA
traditions
valuable from the historical point of view, as they
represent
which
are,
presumably,
in-
dependent of one another and of Brahmanism.
We
the
Jain,
may, therefore,
three
available
reasonably
if it is
believe
in
the
all
accuracy of a statement
supported by
literary
it
sources,
Brahman,
and Buddhist, since

has
is
almost certain that
no borrowing
taken
place
between them.
finds in
The
using
chief difficulty which the historian
these materials
in
lies
in
the fact
are
;
that
the
books
their
present
form
not
original.
it is
They
has
are the versions ot a later age
and
not
easy to determine to what extent their purport
corrections, or
by subsequent additions or by textual corruption. This remark is especially true of some of the Brahman sources. For instance, the ancient epic poems, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, and
been
the Puranas or 'old-world stories' are undoubtedly,
in
changed
their present
form,
many
centuries later than
the date of some of the events which they profess

to record,
and their evidence, therefore, must be
used with caution.

tioned that
But
it
can scarcely be quesis is
much of
their substance
extremely
expressed
ancient, although the form in
which
it
may have undergone

course of ages.
considerable change in the
The Mahabharata,
or 'great
poem of
the de-
RISE

usually
to
it
71
scendants of Bharata,' consists of about

couplets
100,000
each.
of
if
thirty-two
syllables
That
is
say,
is
reckoned
thirty
by the number of
times
as
syllables,
about
long
fifth
as
Milton's 'Paradise Lost.'

this
Only about a
of
mass has anything whatever to do with the

story, viz.
main
the war between the Kurus and

is
the Pandus.
All the rest

stories,
made up of
episodes,
or disconnected
or
philosophical
poems.
as
There can be no doubt that the Mahabharata,

it
stands now,
is
the creation of centuries; and

in in
criticism
has
its
succeeded
distinguishing various
stages in
growth and
to
assigning certain prostages.

It
bable limits of date

suffice
these
must
here to say that the historical groundwork
of the story would seem to be an actual war at a
remote period between the well-known Kurus and
whose history is obscure and that an poem, which forms the nucleus of the present Mahabharata, was put together at least as early
the Pandus,
epic
;
as
the fourth
century
B.C.
from
traditional
war
at
songs founded on events which took place
much earlier date. While the Mahabharata

to the
belonged
to
originally
'Middle Country,' the Ramayana belongs

to
rather
this
the
districts
lying
title
the
east
it
of
region.
'
As
story
its
denotes,
a
cele-
brates
the
of
Rama,'
prince
of
the
7 2
ANCIENT INDIA
its
is
royal Ikshvaku family of Kosala (Oudh), and
heroine
his
faithful
wife
Sita,
daughter
of
the
Janaka,
king
of Videha
the
(Tirhut).
is,
Unlike
the
Mahabharata,
also of
Ramayana
not
on
whole,
probably the product
only of one age

It is
;
but
one author, Valmiki. from more recent additions

of date
not entirely free
but the main poem
forms one consistent whole, and such indications

as can be found seem to show that it was composed probably in the fourth or third century As we have seen, some of its characters B.C. appear to be far more ancient and to be men-
tioned in the Upanishads.
There can be no doubt

than to the Brahmans.
that, originally at least,
the ancient epics belonged rather to the Kshatriyas
Their scenes are courts
and camps, and their chief topics the deeds of Their religion is that of the kings and warriors.
kingly caste.
Among
their
deities,
Indra,
who
was
especially the sovereign
lord of the kings of
the earth, stands most prominent, and the future
reward which awaits
their heroes for the faithful

is
discharge of kingly duty
life
of material
happiness in Indra's heaven.
Their language is neither that of the Brahmanas and Upanishads,

is
nor that which

is less
known
and
as Classical Sanskrit.
It
regular and more popular in character than

;
either of these
like all poetical
languages
it
RISE
preserves

many
archaisms.
73
We
can scarcely be
wrong in supposing that this epic Sanskrit was formed by the minstrels who wandered from court
to court singing
date,
when
the
At a supremacy of the Brahman

of wars and heroes.
later
caste
was
firmly established,
no doubt
fact,
more
definitely
religious tone
was given
in
to the epics.
The
history
of the Mahabharata,
seems to show such

of a war,
a transition from a purely epic to a didactic character.
Originally
the
story
such as
would appeal chiefly to the military caste, it has become through the accretions of ages the work,
no doubt, of Brahman editors
of Brahmanical
Closely
lore.
a vast encyclopedia
with
the
connected
in
character
Mahabharata are the Puranas. The word purdna means 'ancient'; and the title is justified by the nature of the contents of the eighteen long Sanskrit poems which are so called. These consist
chiefly of legendary accounts of the origin of the
world and stories about the deeds of gods, sages,
and monarchs
in
olden times.
Works
title
of this
are
description and bearing the
same
men-
tioned in the Atharva-veda and in the Brahmanas.
This species of literature must, therefore, be extremely

of
old,
the subject-matter of
to
and there can be no doubt that much the early Puranas has
the later versions.
been transmitted
But,
in
74
ANCIENT INDIA
Puranas are undoubtedly
dynasties
since
their present form, the

late,
some
of
of
the
to
which they
in
mention
six
are
known
the
have ruled
era.
the
first
Together with these, however, they mention others which belong to the last six centuries B.C., and others again which they attribute to a far more remote antiquity. It is evident that the Puranas have been brought up to date and wilfully
centuries
Christian
'
'
altered
so
frequently,
that
their
ancient
and
modern
confused.
elements
are
now
often
inextricably
In theory,
these
'
family genealogies
'
(vamfdessential
nucharita)
constitute
one
:
of the
five
of a Purana they are supposed to form part of the prophetic description given by
features
some divine or semi-divine personage,

remote
past,
in
far
of the ages of the world to come
and of the kings
who
lists
are
to
appear on earth.
delivered
in
They
the
are,
therefore,
invariably
the
future tense.
Such
are absent from
many of
modern
versions,
but,
where they do occur,
there can be no doubt that they were originally

historical.
Occasionally they give not only the

also the
names of the kings, but

in
number of
years
each reign and
in
each dynasty.
is
The
the
informato
tion
which
by
they
the
supply
supported,
extent,
literatures
of
some Jains and
RISE
75
Buddhists, and, to some extent,
by the evidence
partly-
of inscriptions and coins.

time,
But, in the course of

so corrupt,
these
lists
have
become
through textual
'
errors,
and partly through the

of editors,
that,
in
in
corrections
'
and additions
as
they stand at present, they are neither
agree-
ment with one another nor consistent

selves.
themquite
Nevertheless,
is
the
source
;
of
it
many of
is
their errors
easily discovered
and
possible
that,
when
these
errors
have
been
removed from the text by

the Puranas
critical
editing,
many
of the apparent discrepancies and contradictions of
may
likewise disappear.
similar
problem is presented also by the Pali epic poems of Ceylon. The Dipavamsa in its present form dates from the fourth
century a.d. and the
somewhat
Mahavamsa from
both
are
the sixth
certainly
century
a.d.
but
almost
founded
far
is
on
traditional
chronicles
which
were
more
to
ancient.
The
professed object of both
record the history of Buddhism from the
earliest times,
and
in particular its history in the

its
island of
Ceylon from the date of
introduction
by Mahendra (Mahinda) r. 246 b.c. to the reign of Mahasena, at the beginning ot the fourth century a.d. There can be little doubt
that,
when
the
miraculous
elements and other
later accretions are
removed from these chronicles,

-j^
ANCIENT INDIA
what may
earliest
fairly
there remains a substratum of
be
regarded as history.
The
period
to
which
the
Jain
and
Hterature belongs is marked by the growth of a species of composition the Sutra which is peculiarly Indian. It is used by all sects alike and applied to every conceivable subject,
Buddhist
sacred
or
secular.
The
Sutras
may, perhaps,
thread
most aptly be said to

of knowledge.
treatise
represent the codification

'
'
The word means

title
and a
bearing the
consists
of a string of
of
aphorisms forming
particular subject.
sort
of analysis
some
In this
way
all
the different
branches of learning
law,
sacrificial ritual,
the
treated
such as
atized.
study of language, etc. which were somewhat indiscriminately in earlier works Brahmanas and Upanishads were system-
philosophy,
The Sutra form

of
a
was,
no
doubt,
the
result
method of
instruction
as
which
was
purely
oral.
The
step
in
teacher,
we know from
to
the extant Buddhist Sutras, was wont to enunciate
each
it
the
argument and then

parallel illustrations
until
enforce
by means of
reiteration
pupil's
and
im-
by frequent
pressed
it
he
had
fully
on the
mind.
The
pupil thus
learned his subject as a series of propositions, and
remembered by the aid of short sentences which became in the course of time more and more
these he
RISE

The Sutras
77
purely mnemonic.
rule, unintelligible
are therefore, as a
by themselves and can only be
understood with the help of a commentary.

preserve a wonderfully complete record
the
social
They
both of
and religious
in
life
and
of intellectual
activity in almost every conceivable direction, but
they are unhistorical
character and rarely throw

political condi-
any
light,
even incidentally, on the

times and countries
tions of the
to
which they
Jain,
as
belong.
All
the
literary
sources,
Brahman,
and
the
Buddhist,
are
in
general
agreement
b.c.
in
to
chief political divisions of Northern India in the

sixth
and
fifth
centuries,
The number of
the
lists
is
large
kingdoms mentioned
;
usually
sixteen
smaller
but
in addition to these there
were many
or
principalities,
and
many independent
semi-dependent communities, some of which were

oligarchical in their constitution.
in the
The
chief feature
subsequent history
is
the growth of one of

(S, Bihar),
the large kingdoms,
Magadha
which was
the nations
life-
already becoming predominant

east of the
time.
It
among
Middle Country during Buddha's

the
eventually established an empire which

nearly
included
India.
whole
of the continent
of
CHAPTER
VI
THE INDIAN DOMINIONS OF THE PERSIAN AND MACEDONIAN EMPIRES

Relations between India and
Cyrus
West Kings of Mitanni of Darius Herodotus Gandhara and India Expedition of Xerxes Greece Alexander Great Arrian Q. Curtius Rufus Alexander's Indian campaigns Limits of conquests His Indian India
the
Inscriptions
'
Ctesias
'
against
the
his
satrapies
after his death.
We
have seen that the present poHtical isolation

is
of India
history,
a comparatively
that,
in
and
ancient times,
modern feature in its many of the
physical impediments also, which
now
prevent free
communication both with the Farther East and with the West, did not exist. We have seen that
the results of
times
such communication
in prehistoric
are
attested
by the
certain
evidence
of
the
ethnology and language.

the
We
now approach
period during which relations between India and
West (Western Asia and Europe)

region of Western Asia, which
are to be
traced in historical records.
The
India
lies
between
Seas,
and the iEgean and
Mediterranean
1.
2.
3.
Babylon BaSkh
Ecbatana
4.
5. 6.
Gaugamela
Herat Kabul
7. 8.
9.
Kandahar
Karachi
Persepolis
10. 11 12. 13. 14.
Peshawa.r
Quetta (Bolan Pass)
Samarkand
Sialkot
Taxiia
Cambridiie
University
Press
K OF
ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
1.
Babylc
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
1
Baikh Ecbat
Gaugamela
Herat Kabul
Kandahar
Karachi
Persepolis
0.
Peshawar
QuettaiBolanPassi
12. 13. 14.
Samarkand
Sialkot
Taxila
PERSIANS
that
is
AND MACEDONIANS
region which comprises
79
the
to
say
the
modern countries
Persia,
of Afghanistan,
Baluchistan,
in
and the northern provinces of Turkey

site
Asia
(Armenia, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and Syria)

is
famous as the
of
many of
the most advanced

it
civilizations
of antiquity.
In extent,
is
larger
than
the continent of India, but less than India
and Burma combined.

peoples
Here, as
in
India,
many
have
;
of different
their
races
and
languages
played
here,
part
on the stage of history

and
and
too,
novi^
one
nov/ another of these
peoples has, from time to time, become predominant
among
history
its
fellows and has succeeded in establishing
a great empire.
As
in
the case of India also, the

civilizations
of these
ancient
has
been
recovered from the past by modern scholarship.
Excavations of ancient
Tigris
region,
sites
in the
valleys of the
in
this
in-
and
have
Euphrates,
and
elsewhere
brought to light
thousands of
scriptions in cuneiform characters, not
one syllable
of which could have been read a hundred years
These inscriptions, now that many of them have been deciphered, tell of Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations which were flourishing at least as early as 2200 B.C., and of a still earlier Sumerian civilization, the monuments of which seem to go back to about 4000 b.c.
ago.
Of
especial interest from the point of view
of
8o
ANCIENT INDIA
to
Indian history are the cuneiform inscriptions which

relate
the kings of Mitanni, a branch of the
Hittites
estabHshed
in
the district of Malatia in

learn
^sia Minor; for
we
from
them
that not
only did the kings of Mitanni in the fifteenth and

fourteenth centuries
also that they
b.c.
bear Aryan names, but

deities
worshipped the
veda
of the Rig-
Indra, Varuna, Mitra, and the A9vins (the
horsemen gods, the Castor and Pollux of Indian

mythology),
under
their
in
Vedic
title
'Nasatya.'
The
precise
manner
for
which the kings of Mitanni

present uncertain
but,
still
and the Aryans of the Rig-veda were connected
must remain
the
as
many
ancient
sites
in
this
region are
un-
explored and as only a portion of the inscriptions

already discovered have yet been published, there
seems to be no
limit
to the possibilities presented

field
by
not
this
most
fertile
of archeology, and
it
is
improbable
that
both this and many other
obscure problems
That there
may still be solved. may have been constant means of
communication both by land and sea between the Babylonian Empire and India seems extremely
probable
there
is
;
but,
although
there
are
traditions,
no
real evidence that
the sway of any of

to the east
the powers of
Western Asia extended
as far as India, until the time of

B.C.), the
Cyrus (SS^-SS*^
founder of the Persian Empire, to whom.
PERSIANS
on
the
AND MACEDONIANS
of certain
8i
authority
is
Greek and
Latin
authors,
attributed the conquest of Gandhara.
This geographical term usually denotes the region

comprising
the
the modern districts of Peshawar in
Frontier Province and Rawalpindi in
it
N.-W.
the Punjab, but in the Old Persian inscriptions
seems to include also the

Afghanistan.
limit
district
of Kabul
in
This province
formed the eastern

in
of a vast empire which,
the reign of Cyrus,
included not only the whole of Western Asia as
described above, but other countries to the north
of India and Afghanistan, and

successor
in the
reign of his
Cambyses (530-522 B.C.) also Egypt. Gandhara thus forms a most important link
connecting India with the
West
and
it
holds a
unique position among
all
the countries of India
from the fact that

veda even
ants,
its
history
may be
traced with
remarkable continuity from the times of the Rig-
down
to the present day.
Its inhabitin
the
Gandharis, are mentioned both

the Atharva-veda
;
the
Rig-veda and
appears
and
Gandhara
Upanishads
It
among
from
in
the countries of India in Sanskrit the
literature
period
of the
onwards,
in the
the
earliest
Buddhist literature, and

inscriptions.
most ancient Indian
remained
;
a Persian province for about

after the downfall of the
two centuries
in
'
and,
it,
331 together with the Persian province of India

F
empire
B.C.,
'
or
82
ANCIENT INDIA
'the country of the Indus,' which had been added

to the empire
by Darius not long after 516 B.C., came under the sway of Alexander the Great. Through Gandhara and the Indian province was exercised the Persian influence, which so greatly modified the civilization of North-Western India. The sources, from which our knowledge of the Indian dominions of the Persian Empire is derived, are of two kinds: (i) the inscriptions of King
(522-486 B.C.), and (2) Greek writers, notably Herodotus and Ctesias.
Darius
I
The
Persia
historical
inscriptions
of
Darius
are
at
three important centres in the ancient kingdom of
Behistun, and Naksh-i-Rustam. They are engraved cuneiform characters and three languages Old Persian, Susian, and BabyPersepolis,
in
in
lonian.
The Behistun
inscription,
cut
into
the
surface of a lofty
feet
cliff at
is
a height of about
in
500
above the ground,

;
famous
the annals of
scholarship
its
for it was through the publication of Old Persian version by Sir Henry Rawlinson in 1847, t^^^ the numerous difficulties in the decipherment of the cuneiform alphabet were finally
overcome.
The
historical
importance
of these
lists
inscriptions lies in the fact
that they contain
of
all
the subject peoples, and therefore indicate
the extent of the Persian Empire at the time
when
they were engraved.
PERSIANS
The
dotus
to
AND MACEDONIANS
an account
83
chief object of the 'Histories' of Herois
give
of the
struggles
between the Greeks and the Persians during the His third book period from 501 to 478 B.C. nomes or fiscal contains a list of the twenty Darius divided the empire, units, into which together with the names of the peoples included in each and the amount of tribute imposed. Herodotus both confirms and amplifies the information supplied by the inscriptions. His work is by far the most valuable record of the Persian Empire which has come down to us.
'
'
Ctesias resided at the Persian court for seventeen
years
{c.
415-398
II
B.C.)
as
physician
during the
reigns of Darius
(424-404 b.c), and Artaxer-
He wrote accounts (404-358 b.c). both of Persia and India of which there are
xes
Mnemon
extant fragments
preserved
well as abridgements
by later writers, as made by Photius, patriarch
of Constantinople, in the ninth century a.d.

writings
The
in
of Ctesias relating to India are,
the
form
the
in
races
which they have survived, descriptive of and the natural productions of the
as
country rather than historical.
Such information
may be gleaned from
the
available sources as to the political history of the
Persian provinces of Gandhara and 'India'
may
thus be summarized.
84
ANCIENT INDIA
Gandhara
is
said to
have been conquered during
the reign of Cyrus.
The
writers
to
whom we
several
it is
owe
this
information
certainly
lived
centuries after the
time of Cyrus, but
not
improbable that they may have possessed good

authority
for
their statements.
In the Behistun
inscription of Darius, the date of
which
is
about
the
;
516
B.C.,
the
Gandharians
appear
among
subject peoples in the

their place
is
Old Persian version
but
taken
in
the Susian and Babylonian
versions by the Paruparaesanna.
These were the inhabitants of the Paropanisus, or Hindu Kush. As a rule, a distinction may be observed between the country of the Paropanisadae (the Kabul
in
Valley,
Afghanistan) and Gandhara, but the

to
two names seem
be used
indiscriminately in
these inscriptions, probably as denoting generally

the region which included both.
tions
'
In the inscripis
at
'
Behistun
no mention
made of
the
Indians
who
are included with the Gandharians

in-
in
the
lists
of subject peoples given by the
scriptions
on the palace of Darius at Persepolis

'
and on
fact
it
his tomb at Naksh-i-Rustam. From this may be inferred that the Indians were
'
conquered
at some date between 516 B.C. and the end of the reign of Darius in 486 b.c. The
preliminaries
to
this
conquest are
described
by
sent
Herodotus,
who
relates that Scylax
was
first
PERSIANS
fleet
AND MACEDONIANS
B.C.) to
85
by Darius (probably about 510

the Indus
to report
in
conduct a
of ships from one of the great tributaries of

the Gandhara country to the sea, and
tribes living
on the
on both banks of
the river.
Although
by Darius
it
is
not possible to determine the

'
precise extent of the 'Indian

to the
province thus added
Persian Empire, yet the informa-
by Herodotus indicates with sufficient clearness that it must have included territories on both sides of the Indus from Gandhara to its
tion supplied
mouth, and that

India on
it
the east
was separated from the rest of by vast deserts of sand, evi-
dently the present

'
Thar
or Indian Desert.
The
Indian
'
province,
therefore, no doubt
included
the
Western Punjab generally and the whole of

According to Herodotus
it
Sind.
constituted the
fiscal division
twentieth and the most populous

the empire and
it
of
paid the highest annual tribute

are placed together with
of
all.
The Gandharians
three other peoples in the seventh division, which

paid altogether less than half that amount.
During the reigns of Darius and
his successor
Xerxes took place the Persian expeditions against Greece, the total defeat of which by a few small states forms one of the most stirring episodes in history. The immediate cause of the war
between Persians and Greeks was the
revolt,
in
86
501
B.C.,
ANCIENT INDIA
of the
Greek
colonies
in
Ionia,
the
district
along the western coast of Asia Minor,

to
which had become tributary

defeat
Persia after the
of Croesus,
B.C.
king of Lydia,
546
Athenians,
;
The lonians were who thus incurred the
by Cyrus in aided by the

hostility
of the
and, after the revolt was subdued, the Persians Persian arms were turned against Greece itself. Since the Persians thus became acquainted with
the
Greeks
chiefly
through the Ionian

in
colonists,
they not unnaturally came to use the term laund

'lonians,'
which
a
occurs
the
inscriptions
of
Darius,
in
wider
sense to
denote Greeks or
people of Greek origin generally.

Tona), which were
The
corre-
sponding Indian forms (Skt. Tavana and Prakrit
borrowed from
in
Persia, have
the
same meaning
first
the
Indian literature
and
inscriptions of the last three centuries before
and
era.
the
two centuries
after
the Christian
At
a later date, these terms were used in India to
denote foreigners generally.
most powerful of the Persian expeditions against Greece, which was accompanied by King Xerxes in person in 480 b.c, Herodotus has
the
Of
preserved
contingents
full
account.
It
was
made up of
forty-nine
it
sent
by no
fewer
than
subject nations of the Persian Empire, and

said to
is
have numbered more than two
million six
PERSIANS
AND MACEDONIANS
87
hundred thousand fighting men. In this vast army both of the Persian provinces of India were represented, the Gandharians being described by Herodotus as bearing bows of reed and short spears, and the Indians as being clad in cotton garments and bearing similar bows with arrows
'
'
tipped with iron.
After
the time
India, as
of Herodotus, the history of

told
Northern
by Greek writers, almost
ceases until
the period
when both Greece and

But
it
Persia had submitted to the Macedonian conqueror,
Alexander
the
Great.
is
important
is
to
remember
extent
writings
that this lack of information
to a great
accidental
and due
to the fact that the

in
of Ctesias have only survived

that
fraglost.
ments, and
other writings
to
have
that
been
There
is
no
reason
doubt
in
the Indian
provinces were included
the Persian Empire

its
and continued to be governed by

the end.
satraps until
There is also no reason to doubt that during the whole of this period the Persian Empire formed a link which connected India with
Greece.
We
aid
know
of
of
that
the
battles
of
the
Persian king were fought, to a very great extent,
with
the
Greek mercenaries, and

all
that
Greek ment both
officials
kinds readily found employ-
at the imperial court
and at the courts of
the satraps.
At no
period in early history, probably
88
ANCIENT INDIA
were the means of communication by land more open, or the conditions more favourable for the interchange of ideas between India and the West.
But the event which, in the popular imagination, has, for more than twenty-two centuries past,
connected India with Europe,
is
undoubtedly the
Indian expedition of Alexander the Great.
He
the
came
to the throne of
;
Macedon
in
336
B.C., at
age of twenty
quest
and, after
subduing Greece, he
crossed over the Hellespont and began the con-
of
Western Asia
at
in
334
b.c.
After the
defeat of the Persian monarch, Darius III Codo-
mannus,
the decisive battle of
Gaugamela
in
331 B.C., the Persian dominions in India together with all the rest of the empire came nominally
under the sway of the conquerors.
object,
The
military
campaigns which followed had, as their ostensible

the
vindication
of the right of conquest
and the consolidation of the empire thus won. The route by which Alexander approached India
passed
through
in
the
Persian
provinces
of
Aria
(Herat
North- Western Afghanistan), Drangiana

in
South-Western Afghanistan), and Arachosia (Kandahar in SouthEastern Afghanistan), and thence into the country of the Paropanisadae (the Kabul Valley, the province of East Afghanistan which adjoins the present North-Western Frontier Province). Here, in the
(Seistan,
Persia, bordering on
PERSIANS
AND MACEDONIANS
'
89
spring of 329 B.C., he founded the city of Alex-
andria-sub-Caucasum,
Caucasus
'
being the name
which the Greeks gave to the Paropanisus (Hindu Kush), the great chain of mountains which in ancient
times separated India from Bactria, and which
divides Southern from
city
now
This
Northern Afghanistan.
his
Alexander used as
base of operations
and
hence he made a series of campaigns with the

object
lay to
of subduing the Persian provinces which

the north
Bactria
his return
to
(Balkh) and Sogdiana

to
(Bukhara).
On
the city which he
had founded, he began

If
the invasion of India in the
make preparations for summer of 327 b.c.

time to the actual date
we reckon from
B.C.,
this
of
Alexander's
departure
the
from India
total
in
the
the
autumn of 325
campaign
the
duration of
in India, that is to say the Kabul Valley, North-Western Frontier Province, the Punjab, and Sind, was about two years and three months. As has been observed, this period is unique in the
history of Ancient India in so far as
it is
the only one
down to us. The names are recorded of about twenty Greek writers, who are known to have composed histories of this campaign. Some of them actually accomof which detailed accounts have come
panied
Alexander,
while
all
the
others
were
his
contemporaries.
ception
But
their
works without expossess
have
perished.
We, however,
90
five
ANCIENT INDIA
different
accounts of Alexander and his by later authors to whom these original records were accessible. Of these the two most
exploits
important are Arrian and Curtius.

Arrian,
in
the
who was born about 90 a.d. and died reign of the Roman Emperor, Marcus
(161-180
a.d.),
Aurelius
wrote
in
Greek an
account of Alexander's Asiatic expedition, called

the
'
iVnabasis of Alexander,' which was modelled

'
on the on
Anabasis
'
of Xenophon, and also a book
India,
which was
and
of Ctesias.
founded on the work of

to
is
Megasthenes
account
intended
supplement
our most
the
Arrian
trust-
worthy authority.
Q.
Curtius Rufus,
doubtful,
wrote
a
has,
Alexander which
This
for
historical
whose date is somewhat work on the exploits of with some probability, been
assigned to the reign of Claudius (41-54 a.d.).
biography has been more praised

merits than for
its
its literary
accuracy.
The
in
difficulties,
which the reader encounters

to
in
his
endeavours
trace
the
progress
of
Alexander's
campaign
India with
the aid of
these and other classical authorities, are very considerable.
In the early stages of the campaign,
the
military
operations
of Alexander
in
and
his
generals
districts
were carried out
the
mountainous
of Afghanistan and the North-Western
PERSIANS
the
Indus.
AND MACEDONIANS
lie
91
Frontier Province which
This region, then
between Kabul and as now, was in-
habited by numerous warlike tribes living in a

perpetual state of feud with one another.
to
Even
is
the
present
day much of
to the
its
geography
scarcely
known
outer world.
the
sieges
The
fights
with warlike
tribes
and
of remote
of
mountain
strongholds,
which
the
historians
Alexander describe
Indian government
to
in detail, find their parallels in
the accounts of the military expeditions, which the

is
obliged to send
from time
the Northis
time
to
quell
disturbances
on
it
western
Frontier.
Even
now
scarcely
possible to follow the course of such expeditions,

as described in
books or newspapers, without the

military
aid of special
large
scale.
sketch-maps drawn
is
to a
The
only
difficulty
greatly
increased
in
when our
guides
are
ancient
records,
which the identification of place-names with their modern representatives is often uncertain. Thus,
to cite perhaps the
most striking instance of

through the
defied
all
this
uncertainty, no episode in Alexander's career has
been more
famous
to
ages than
his
capture of the rock Aornos, a stronghold which
was
fabled
have
the
eiforts
of
Hercules
himself, and no subject has attracted more attention on the part of students of Indian
history than the identification of
its
present
site
92
but,
in
ANCIENT INDIA
spite
of
all
the
learning and
to bear
ingenuity
which have been brought

during the
position of
last
on the point
seventy years, the geographical

still
Aornos
remains to be decided.
B.C.,
Early
his
in
the spring of 326
Alexander and
army passed over the Indus, probably by means of a bridge of boats at Ohind, about sixteen miles above Attock, into the territories of the
king of Taxila,
mission.
who had
already tendered his sub-
Taxila (Sanskrit Takshafila)^ the capital

in the
of a province of Gandhara, was famous
time
of Buddha as the great university town of India,
and
is
now
represented by miles of ruins
in
the
neighbourhood
District.
of Shahdheri
this city
in
the Rawalpindi
Alexander sent a summons to the neighbouring king, Porus, calling upon him to surrender. The name, or rather title, Porus,' probably represents the Sanskrit Paurava^
'
From
and means 'the prince of the Purus,' a

appear
in the Rig-veda.
tribe
who
Porus,
who
ruled over a
kingdom
situated
between the Hydaspes (Jhelum)
and the Acesines (Chenab), returned a defiant answer to the summons, and prepared to oppose the invaders at the former river with all his forces.
The ensuing
battle,
in
is
forces finally prevailed,
which the Macedonian the most celebrated in

His
to the
first
the history of Alexander's Indian campaign.
conquests were subsequently extended,
PERSIANS
Hydraotes
direction.
AND MACEDONIANS
and
then
to
93
(Ravi),
the
in
Hyphasis
easterly
in
(Beas), which marks their Hmit
an
His soldiers refused to go farther,

of their leader.
spite of the eagerness
Beyond the Beas dwelt the people whom the Greek historians call Prasioi.' This name is, no
'
doubt, intended to represent the Sanskrit Pracbyah^

'
the Easterns,' and

nations
is
a collective term denoting
the
of the country of the Ganges and

Latin writers speak of
;
Jumna.
The Greek and
them
as
of one great nation

a
but,
as
we have
It
is,
seen, this region included a
number of
at
large king-
doms and
multitude of smaller states.

that,
however, quite possible

suzerainty of Magadha.
this
period,
all
these kingdoms and states were united under the
Hitherto Alexander had
not been
brought face to face with any great
confederation of the nations of India.
He had
in
all
conquered some states and accepted the allegiance

of others
bability,
;
but none of these could,

in
pro-
be compared
point
of strength with
It
is
any of the great nations

useless to speculate as to
of Hindustan.
what might have been if the result Alexander had crossed the Beas and come into conflict with the combined forces
of the Prasioi.
After
the
refusal
of the
his
line
army
of
to
proceed,
to
Alexander retraced
march
the
94
ANCIENT INDIA
Hydaspes (Jhelum), on either bank of which he Bucephala, in had previously founded a city honour of his favourite charger, Bucephalus, probably near the modern town of Jhelum, on the right bank, at the point where his army had crossed the river, and Nicaea, the city of victory,' on the left bank, on the site of the battle with Porus. At these cities Alexander collected the fleet which was to convey a large portion of his forces down the rivers of the Punjab to the mouth of the Indus, and thence through the Arabian Sea to the head of the Persian Gulf. But Alexander's career of conquest in India was not finished. He had hitherto not only reclaimed Persian province the of Gandhara, but had annexed the whole of the Northern Punjab which lay be-
'
yond, as far as the River Beas.
He now
proceeded,
on
his return journey, to reclaim the Persian pro-
vince
Sind.
of 'India,'
viz.
the
Western Punjab and
Nearchus,
The command of the fleet was entrusted to who thus performed for Alexander a
similar task to
somewhat
at the
that which, nearly
two
centuries before, had been undertaken by Scylax
Nearchus wrote an account of his adventures which is no longer extant, but which is quoted frequently by Arrian
Darius.
in
command of
his
Anabasis of Alexander.
The
progress of
PERSIANS
the
fleet
as,
it
AND MACEDONIANS
down
95
protected
either bank,
passed
Chenab, and so into Greek and Latin historians with their usual minuteness.
by armies marching on the Jhelum into the the Indus, is described by the
The
map of
all
ordinary diiEculties, which the reader
finds in
tracing the course of their narrative on

India, are here increased
the
that
by the
fact to
the rivers of the Punjab are
known
Such changes have been very considerable during the few centuries for which accurate observations are available, and
have changed their courses.
the rivers must, accordingly, in
many
cases,
have
flowed in very different channels at the time of
Alexander, more than two thousand two hundred

years ago.
We
are,
therefore,
now
deprived, to
a great extent, of the chief
often possible to identify

ancient historical
sites.
means by which it is the modern position of

it
But, although
details
may not
always be easy to follow the

series
of the constant of these operaof the Persian
of military operations which marked the

sea, the final result
journey to the
tions
is
certain.
The conqueror
Empire had
in its
'
fully established his claim to
be the
suzerain of the peoples
who were
in the
formerly included
Indian
'
province.
Before leaving India
autumn of 325
B.C.,
Alexander had made provision for the future control of his new dominions by the appointment of
g6
ANCIENT INDIA
In so
satraps to govern the different provinces.
he was merely perpetuating the system which had become firmly rooted in Northern India
doing
as
the
result
of two centuries of Persian
rule.
The
satraps
whom
;
he selected
as
governors in
the former provinces of the Persian empire were
Greek
added
or Persian
territories,
while, in the case of the
newly
have
he seems, where possible,
to
chosen the native prince as satrap.

policy
Alexander,
in fact, carried into practice the traditional Indian
recommended by Manu (vii. 202), and followed, wherever it has been possible or expedient, by conquering powers in India generally, both ancient and modern, that a kingdom which had
submitted
should
its
be
placed
in
the
charge
of
some member of
the
ancient royal family.
So both
king of Taxila,
to submit,
who
accepted
Alexander's
who valiantly resisted, were made satraps over their own dominions. Indeed, to the former dominions of Porus, who
summons
and Porus,
was probably a ruler of exceptional ability, were added those of some of his neighbours.
Thus,
ments
spite
in
all
periods of history,
local
governin
in India
have gone on almost unchanged

It
of conquest after conquest.
was always
regarded as a legitimate object of the ambition of

every king to aim
or
'
at
the position of a chakravartin

If his
supreme monarch.'
neighbours agreed,
PERSIANS
so
AND MACEDONIANS
;
97
much
the better
but, if they resisted his pre-
tentions,
battle.
the question was decided by a pitched

In
either
case,
the
government of the
states
involved
same prince continued to

his rule did not
The was usually not affected. rule, and the nature of

his position as suzerain
depend on
or vassal king.
Generally speaking, the condition
of the ordinary people was not affected, or was

only affected indirectly, by the victories or defeats
of their
the
rulers.
tillers
It
of the
made.
The army was not recruited from The soldier was born, not soil. was just as much the duty of certain
it
was the duty of others not to fight. War was a special department of government in which the common people had no share.
castes to fight, as
These considerations enable us to understand why the invasion of India by Alexander the Great has left no traces whatever in the literature or in the institutions of India. It affected no changes either in the methods of government or in the life It was little more than a military of the people. expedition, the main object of which was to gratify a conqueror's ambition by the assertion of his suzerainty. But this suzerainty was only effective so long as it could be enforced. In June 323 B.C., a little more than a year after his return from India, Alexander died at Babylon, and with his death Macedonian rule in India ceased. His sue-
98
ANCIENT INDIA
endeavoured
c.
cesser, Seleucus Nicator,
in
vain to
re-conquer the lost possessions,

fore
this
305
b.c.
Be-
date
all
the states of North- Western
India,
including
whatever
remnants
there
may
have been of the military colonies established by

Alexander, had come under the sway of an Indian
suzerain.
CHAPTER
VII
THE MAURYA EMPIRE

The Kingdom
the
of Magadha Chandragupta Seleucus Nicator Extent Megasthene Bindusara Afoka His with West The Maurya Empire of of Buddhism Later of Mauryas
edicts
Intercourse
the
propagation
Continuity of
history
the
policy of Indian rulers.
The
descriptions
of
as
Alexander's
campaign
are
especially valuable
political conditions
enabling us to realize the
of the land of the Indus at this

Indian literature that
period.
We
may gather from

different.
the political conditions of the land of the
Ganges
were not widely
Here, too, the country
was divided into a number of states varying greatly in size and power; and here, too, at some period between the lifetime of Buddha and the invasion of Alexander the Great, a conquering power had succeeded but, in this case, a native power
in
establishing a suzerainty over

(S.
its
neighbours.
The kingdom of Magadha

growing
in
Bihar) was already

time
power
in
Buddha's
historians
we
are probably justified in
inferring
and from the

;
statements of Alexander's
that its
as-
loo
ANCIENT INDIA
cendancy over the Prasioi, or the nations of Hindu-
was complete at the time of his invasion. Soon after the return of Alexander, the throne of Magadha, and with it the imperial possessions of the Nanda dynasty, passed by a coup
stan,
d'etat into the
hands of an adventurer
whom
the
Greek and Latin
writers call Sandrokottos.
As
we have
seen, the identification of this personage
with the Chandragupta,
who
is
well
known from
Indian literature, and whose story, at a later date,
formed the subject of a Sanskrit historical play called the Mudrd-rdkshasa, supplied the first fixed
point in the chronology of Ancient India.
Chandragupta,
supposed
to
whose
derived
the
first
surname
be
is
from the
historical
Maurya name of
is
his
mother, Mura,
founder of a
great empire in India.
As king of Magadha he
position
in
succeeded to a predominant
stan
;
Hindu-
and,
within a
few
years
of Alexander's
departure
also of the
vi'hich
from India, he had gained possession North- Western region. The empire
India lying
he established included therefore the whole
of Northern
between the Himalaya

together
lies
and
Vindhya
Mountains,
with
that
portion
of Afghanistan which
south of the
information
Hindu Kush.
as
to
We
have no detailed
the process by
which the North-Western
region thus passed from one suzerainty to another.
THE MAURY A EMPIRE
loi
We
their
can only surmise that the victorious career of
Chandragupta
Alexander
that
must have resembled that some states willingly gave

to
of
in
allegiance
the
new
conqueror,
while
others did not submit without a contest.
323 b.c. was followed by a long struggle between his generals for the
Alexander's death
of the theory
fell
in
possession
empire.
at
least,
The
to
eastern
portion
which,
in
included
the
Indian
dominions,
eventually
Seleucus
Nicator,
who
took possession of Babylon and founded the
dynasty commonly
known
b.c.
as that
of the Seleucid
invaded
Kings of Syria
in
312
About the year 305 b.c, Seleucus

of Alexander
this expedition
India with the object of reclaiming the conquests
which had now passed
into
the
power of Chandragupta.
is
No
detailed account of
extant.
We
only
know from
Greek and Latin sources

a
that Seleucus crossed the
Indus, and that he concluded with treaty
Chandragupta by the terms of which the Indian provinces formerly held by Darius and Alexander were definitely acknowledged to form
of peace,
part of the empire of Chandragupta.
The most important consequence of this treaty was the establishment of political relations between the kingdom of Syria, which was now the predominant power
in
Western
Asii, and the
Maurya
102
ANCIENT INDIA
India.
is
empire of Northern
political relations
For a considerable
evidence that these
period after this date there
were maintained.
in
empire was acknowledged

the
great
the
The Maurya West as one of

at
powers
and ambassadors both from

the
Syria
capital,
and from
Egypt resided
Maurya
to
Pataliputra (Patna).
first
The
ambassador sent by Seleucus
the
court of
Chandragupta was Megasthenes,
who
wrote an account of India which became the chief

source of information for subsequent
Latin
authors.
Greek and
is
The
work
itself
lost,
but
in
numerous fragments of it have been preserved the form of quotations by later writers.
Among
of
these
quotations
historical
we
find
descriptions
very
great
value.
The
capital,
Pataliputra, was, according to Megasthenes, built

in
the form of a large parallelogram 80 stadia long
and 15 stadia wide. more than 9 miles
That
in
is
to say, the city
was
more than i| miles in width. It was surrounded by a wall which had 570 towers and 64 gates, and by a moat 600 feet wide and 30 cubits deep. At the present time excavations are being made by the Archseolength and
logical
Survey
as
of India
on the
ancient
site
of
Pataliputra,
the result of which discoveries of
the highest interest
may be
anticipated.
To Megasthenes also we arc
indebted for a detailed
THE MAURYA EMPIRE

account of the administration of public
this imperial city
;
103
affairs in
and
this
account
is
supplemented
and confirmed
called
is
in
a very remarkable
manner by a
Sanskrit treatise on the conduct of affairs of state,
the Artba-fdstra^ the authorship of which
attributed to Chanakya,
who
appears
as
the
Brahman prime
minister of Chandragupta in the
Mudrd-rdkshasa^ and
who
has
won
for himself the
reputation of having been 'the Machiavelli of India.'

It
has been well said (V. A. Smith, Early History

1
1
of India, second edition, p.

fully
9),
that
we
are
more
in
informed concerning
political
and municipal
institutions in the reign of
Chandragupta, than
that of any subsequent Indian
monarch until the time of the Mughal Emperor Akbar, who was
contemporary with our Queen Elizabeth,
The
321
is
reign of Chandragupta lasted from about
to
297
B.C.
He was
to
succeeded by a son
writers
who
called Bindusara in Indian literature
probably
titles as
known
Greek
and who was by one of his
Amitrochates (Sanskrit Ajuitraghdia), 'the
slayer of his foes.'
There is little information to be obtained about him either from Indian or from Greek sources. In his reign another Syrian ambassador named Daimachus, sent by Antiochus I Soter
(280-261
the
court
B.C.),
the successor of Seleucus, visited

Pataliputra.
of
He
also
lost.
wrote an
account of India,
which has been
We
there-
I04
fore
ANCIENT INDIA
have no means of judging of the truth of
Strabo's statement,
when he
says that of
all
the
Greek writers on India Daimachus ranked

mendacity.
first in
Of
the
a third ambassador,
at
who came
to India
from
West
some time during
this period,
merely the name
Dionysius and
B.C.).
we know
was
that he
sent from the court of
Ptolemy Philadelphus, king
of Egypt (285-247
The
three ambassadors,
whose names, have been

class.
It
is
preserved, are no doubt typical of a

in every
"way probable that constant relations were
maintained between India and the

period of the
West
during the
is
Maurya
empire.
There
of
positive
relations
evidence
of the
continuation
such
during the reign of the next emperor
renowned of the imperial

Bindusara,
line
Agoka,
the most
the son of
who
reigned
c.
269-227
B.C.
Anoka's fame rests chiefly on the position which
he held
as the great patron of
Buddhism.
As
such
he has often been compared

Great, the
royal patron of
to Constantine the
Roman
Christianity-
The
reign
literary
sources
for
Brahman,
But
the history of A9oka's
Jain,
and Buddhist
are
many
indeed
cases,
abundant.
his
very fame has, in
caused these materials to assume a legendary or

miraculous character.
He
has suffered both from
the enthusiasm of friends and from the misrepre-
THE MAURYA EMPIRE

sentations of foes.
105
The Buddhist
to us in
accounts of his
collections
Hfe have
come down
books
in in
two great
written
in
of
religious
those
Pali
and
preserved
Ceylon, and those written in Sanskrit
and preserved
these, an
Nepal.
In the case of both of

fact
is
undoubted substratum of
is
so
much
hidden by a dense overgrowth of legend, that the

historian
sorely perplexed in his efforts to dis-
tinguish the one from the other.
Fortunately, there exists a source of information
which
is
beyond
dispute
inscriptions
cut
into hard rocks or pillars of stone
by command of
already
the king himself, and, in
many
instances, record-
ing
his
own
words.
We
have
had
occasion to speak of these w-onderful inscriptions.
Their object was ethical and religious rather than

historical or political. They inculcate good government among the rulers, and obedience and good conduct among the governed, and these
virtues as the fruit of the observance of
dhamma
in
(Skt.
case,
dharmci) or 'duty,'
since
a term which,
this
is
Acoka was
with
a follower of Buddha,
probably identical
the
eight-fold
path
of
Buddhism.
to
In striking contrast to the inscriptions
of Darius, the edicts of Agoka were intended not
convey to posterity the record of conquests or
of the extent of a mighty empire, but to further

the temporal and spiritual welfare of his subjects.
'
io6
ANCIENT INDIA
proclaim
is
They
in
so
many words
'
that
" the
chief conquest
material
the conquest of
duty.' "
One
of
is
conquest
Kahriga
they
which
and
it
that
indeed
of
the
;
kingdom
but
this
do
record
expressly cited as an instance of the worthlessness
of conquest by force
when compared with

the
the
conquest
'
comes of
is
performance
of
duty,'
coupled with an expression of
bitter regret for the destruction
and the misery

in the
which the war
entailed.
Surely, imperial edicts of
this description,
engraved as they are
most
permanent form and promulgated throughout the

length and breadth of a great empire,. are unique
in the history
of the world.
is
Of
peculiar interest
the inscribed pillar which

to
was erected
birth-place
in
by Agoka of Buddha.
at
mark the
This
in
traditional
1896
Rummindei
still
was discovered Nepalese the
Tarai, with every letter

it
as perfect as
when
of the
was
first
still
engraved.
The modern name

'
place
continues to represent the
Lumbini
grove of the ancient story of Buddha's birth.

But, although the edicts and the other inscriptions of
Agoka
are not historical in character, yet

incidentally,
they
supply,
evidence of the most
valuable kind for the history of the time.

In
the
first
place,
the extent of the

is
Maurya
empire during the reign of Agoka
indicated by
THE MAURYA EMPIRE

their geographical distribution.
107
are found,
They
usually at ancient places of pilgrimage, from the
India to
N.-W. Frontier Province in the extreme north of Mysore in the south, and from Kathiawar in the west to Orissa. That is to say, they show that the sway of Agoka extended over the whole
length and breadth of the continent of India, with
the exception of the extreme south of the peninsula.
It is
extremely probable also that versions of the
edicts will
it
be found
in
Southern Afghanistan, when
is
possible to pursue archaeological investigations
in that region.
The
geographical knowledge
in
thus
gleaned
is
supplemented by the mention

fringes
the inscriptions
of the peoples living on the northern and southern
of the
empire.
In
the
north,
Agoka
to say,
regarded his empire as conterminous with that of

the the
Greek (Yona) king Antiochus,

Seleucid
king,
that
is
Antiochus
II
Theos (261-
246 B.C.). His neighbours in the extreme south were the rulers of the Tamil kingdoms, four of
which are mentioned by name. Three of these kingdoms, which can be identified with certainty,
played an important part
in
later Indian history.
The
inscriptions
also
mention
for
Ceylon
first
(Tambawhich
panni).
We
are
thus,
the
time in the
history of India, supplied with information
would enable us
to give
some description of the
io8
ANCIENT INDIA
geography of the whole continent from Afghanistan to Ceylon.
We
large
also
learn
incidentally
that
this
great
empire was governed by viceroys

provinces
in
who
ruled over
North-West, the South, the East, and the West. The central districts were probably under the direct rule of the emperor at
the
Pataliputra.
We
find,
further, evidence of the continuance
of that intercourse between India and the West,

which, as
maintained
we know from Greek

during
the
reigns
authorities,
of
was Chandragupta
and Bindusara.
Agoka was
satisfied
a zealous Buddhist.
He was
duty
'
not
with
having the 'law of

subjects
preached everywhere among his
and among the independent peoples of Southern India and Ceylon but he states in one of his
;
edicts that
he had sent
Epirus.
his missionaries
even into
the
Hellenic kingdoms of Syria, Egypt, Cyrene,
Macedonia, and
He
mentions by name
the reigning sovereigns of these kingdoms, and
thereby supplies some most valuable chronological

evidence for the history of his
the
dates
own
reign, since
of most of these Hellenic kings are

certainty.
known with
established
During the reign

in
of
Agoka,
the island of Ceylon,
Buddhism was where it still

it
continues to flourish
hundreds of years after
THE MAURYA EMPIRE

of India except Nepal.
at this period
title
109
has disappeared from every part of the continent
The
{c.
ruler of the island
was Tissa
'
2,47-207 B.C.) whose

the
gods,'
is
Devdnampiya,
dear
to
that
which is used by A9oka himself in his inscriptions and may possibly have been borrowed from him. The conversion of the island to Buddhism is attributed by the Ceylonese chronicles to the son of Agoka, Mahinda, who had become a Buddhist monk.
In his latter years the
emperor A9oka himself

the
Bihar).
became a monk,
a
sacred
Girivraja in
living in seclusion at Suvarnagiri,
mountain,
near
(S.
ancient
city
of
Magadha
Like many of
is
the Indian monarchs of old whose story
told in
the Sanskrit epics, he retired to devote the final
stage of
first
life
to rehgious meditation, after
having
transferred
the
cares
of state
to his heir
apparent.
This prince is mentioned in an edict which Agoka issued from Suvarnagiri, but only by
his title.
We
of the
have no means of identifying him
farther, or
knowing
if
he
succeeded
of
the
to
the
throne on the death of A9oka.
For
empire,
subsequent
history
Maurya
we have no such
authorities, literary or
inscriptional, as
those which enable us to under-
stand so fully the social and political conditions of

India
during
the
reigns
of
Chandragupta
and
no
Aôka.
entirely
ANCIENT INDIA
'
We
are
once more
dependent almost
chronicles
on the testimony of the Puranas and the sources of the Jains and Buddhists
which are only partly in agreement with one another, and which at best afford little more than the names of the successors of Agoka and the
length of their reigns.
Five
that
If
of the
Puranas agree
in
the
for
statement
the
Maurya dynasty
in
c.
lasted
137 years.
we
accept this statement
of the dynasty
we may date the end 184 B.C. They are not in

successors.
complete agreement either as to the names or the
number of
Puranas
A9oka's
in
Two
his
of
the
agree
stating
that
immediate
reigned
latter
successors were a
son and grandson
each for a period of eight years.

these
is
who The
of
probably the
Da9aratha whose name

of Bengal.
occurs
Hills
in
some
the
cave-inscriptions in the Nagarjuni

district
in
Gaya
These
a
inscriptions
show
that
Da9aratha had continued
the patronage which
Acoka had bestowed on
sect of Jain ascetics called Ajivikas.

It is
possible that the Puranas

that
may be
;
right in
recording
some
six or
seven successors of
but, if so,
A9oka
it
sat
on the throne of Magadha

over
or,
is
certain that
most of these successors could

an
only
have ruled
in
empire
very
greatly
diminished
extent
perhaps, even reduced to
THE MAURYA EMPIRE

the
kingdom of Magadha out of which
it
had
grown.
It is
interesting in reviewing the past history of
India to trace a remarkable continuity of policy on
the part of the rulers of whatever nationality
who
great
have
succeeded
in
welding
together
this
congeries of widely differing races and
tongues.
The main
principles of
government have remained
unchanged throughout the ages. Such as they were under the Maurya empire, so they were inherited by the Muhammadan rulers and by their These principles are based successors the British.
on the recognition of a
social
system which depends
ultimately on a self-organized village community.
Local government thus forms the very basis of

political
all
systems
in
India.
The
left
grouping
of
village
communities into
states,
and the grouping

the social system
of states into empires has
unchanged.
of social
firmly
All governments have been obliged
to recognize an infinite variety
among
the governed
beliefs,
customs and
of religious
too
grounded
in
to admit of interference.
Thus
the idea of religious toleration which was of slow
growth
Europe was accepted
in
India generally
from the earliest times. All religious communities were alike under the protection of the sovereign
;
and
inscriptions
plainly
show
that,
when
the
government changed hands, the privileges granted
112
ANCIENT INDIA
were
ratified
to religious communities
by the new
In a
special
sovereign
as
matter
of course.
edict devoted to the subject of religious toleration
Agoka
definitely says that his

all
own
practice
reverence
the habit
sects.
In this edict
was to he deprecates
at
of exalting
one's
own views
the
expense of others, and admits that different people

have different ideas as to what constitutes 'duty'
{dharma).
Such has been the attitude of enall
lightened rulers of India in
ages.
Instances of
religious persecution have, indeed, not

in
been wanting
India
but the tolerant policy of Agoka was

capable and
far-seeing of the
it
that of the most
Muhammadan
like
it
rulers
such as Akbar, and
has
always been that of the British government, which,
Aôka, has only interfered with religion when

with the
has entailed practices which conflict
ordinary principles of humanity.
CHAPTER
EMPIRE
Dismemberment of
of Kalinga
Bactria
Vill
INDIA AFTER THE DECLINE OF THE
MAURYA
Empire The The Andhras The and Parthia The Indian

the
ûrigas
The
Kingdom
Hellenic Kingdoms of invasion of Antiochus the
Great.
Another
lesson
which
is is
enforced by the history

that the maintenance of
of the Maurya empire

to progress,
peace, and of those conditions which are essential
depends
in
India on the existence of
strong imperial
power.
On
the downfall
of
Maurya empire, as on the downfall of the Mughal empire nearly two thousand years later,
the
the individual states

united
which had been peacefully
under the
for
imperial
sway regained
their
independence, and the struggle between them for

existence or
literature
supremacy began anew.
The
some
and
the
monuments
aiford
us
information as to the history of various regions of

India during the period of strife and confusion which now ensued. According to the Puranas the Mauryas were 113 H
114
succeeded
(ûngas
{c.
ANCIENT INDIA
on the
throne of
Magadha by
the
who
are said to have ruled for 112 years
184-72
B.C.)-
There
is
is
no reason
to disbelieve
this
statement which
consonant with probability

;
and with such other evidence as we possess

after this period,
it
but,
seems impossible to make the chronology of the Puranas agree with the more trustworthy evidence of inscriptions and coins.
In this case
lists
it
seems probable that the dynastic

authentic,
were
originally
but
that
later
editors have reduced
them
the
to
absurdity
by
re-
presenting contemporary dynasties as successive.
The
founder
of
is
(ûriga
dynasty
was
Pushyamitra who
historical
said to
have
slain his master,
Brihadratha, the last of the royal Mauryas.

play,
An
the MdlavikdgniniHra, by India's
flourished c. 400 Although A.D., a composition of this kind, written between five and six centuries after the date of the events to which it refers, cannot be accepted as historical evidence,
greatest dramatist, Kalidasa,
who
deals with this period.
yet
it
is
altogether probable that

his
its
chief char-
acters
Pushyamitra, son grandson Vasumitra were

Yavanas, for instance
Agnimitra, and his

personages,
historical
and that some of the events mentioned a war with Vidarbha (Berar) and a conflict with the
were
actual
occurrences.
The
picture of a diminished empire
still
possessed
INDIA AFTER THE

by Magadha
is
MAURYA EMPIRE
in
accordance with the knowledge
of the period which
we
derive from more trust-
worthy sources.
at
The king
Pataliputra,
probably
while
still
reigned
son,
the
capital,
his
the
heir-apparent, like
Agoka before he came
to the
throne, governed the western provinces with his
court at Vidiga (Bhilsa) in

It
Malwa
(Central India).
was before the vice-regal court of the same province and at its capital, Ujjain, that the play was first performed during the reign of the later
Gupta emperor,
Chandragupta
II
Vikramaditya
indicated
The
by
an
extent of the Curiga dominions

inscription
'
is
in
the
sovereignty
of the
ûfiga kings' which occurs on one of the sculptures from the
Bharhut tope
in
the
Nagod
State
(Central India), and possibly also by certain coins
found
in
the United Provinces in Rohilkhand, the
ancient
site
kingdom of North Panchala, and on the

the
of Ayodhya,
;
ancient capital of Kosala
(Oudh)
but the names found on these coins, with

'
the single exception of
Agnimitra,' only bear a
general resemblance with those given in the dynastic lists
and cannot be identified with certainty.

evidence thus tends to show that
the
(ûhgas
still
The available Magadha under

time of A9oka.
possessed
an
empire, but one greatly reduced in size since the
Some
of the
losses
which the
ii6
ANCIENT INDIA
empire had sustained are clearly proved by the

evidence of inscriptions and coins.
The kingdom
between the
as
of Kalinga,
on
the
east
coast
rivers
Mahanadi and Godavari, had,

edicts,
we know from A9oka's
been conquered
by him in the ninth year after his coronation. It would seem to have regained its independence
at
no long interval after his death, according
to
evidence supplied by an inscription of Kharavela,
king of Kalinga, in the Hathigumpha cave near
Cuttack
thirteen
in Orissa.
Unfortunately, the inscription,

in
which gives an account of events

years
its
the
is
first
of
the
king's
is
reign,
full
all
much
difficulis
damaged, and
ties.
interpretation
of
What
appears to be beyond
doubt
the
statement that Kharavela belonged to the third

generation of the royal family of Kalinga.
The
mention of an Andhra king, Catakarni, and such

other chronological indications as can be obtained
from the
inscription,
would seem
c.
to suggest that
B.C.
Kharavela was reigning

precise date
is
150
No
more
obtainable at present.
The
also
in
decline of the Maurya empire was marked by the rapid growth of the Andhra kingdom
Southern India.
that part of the
Originally a Dravidian people
living
in
immediately to the south of the Kalihgas
Madras Presidency which

j
lies
between
the
rive,
Godavari and
Kistna,
the
INDIA AFTER THE
MAURYA EMPIRE
117
Andhras had become, probably about 200 B.C., a great power whose territories included the whole of the Deccan and extended to the western coast. They are mentioned in the edicts in a manner which seems to indicate that they acknowledged the suzerainty of A9oka, but that they were never conquered and brought under the direct government of a viceroy of the empire like
their
neighbours
to
the
Kalingas.
They would
outline
seem
after
their
have asserted their independence soon

death
of
the
A9oka.
traced
literary
Some
sources
of
in-
history
may be
and
by the aid of
scriptions,
coins,
from probof
the
ably about 220 B.C. to 240 A.D.
The names
a succession of thirty kings are preserved in
Puranas, together with the length of each reign,
and the
given
total duration
of the dynasty which

or
as
is
either
are,
as
456
460
in
years.
The
with
Puranas
usually,
fairly
agreement
the evidence of inscriptions and coins, so far as

the names of the kings and the length of their
reigns
are a
concerned
but
they assign
to
is
the
im-
dynasty
possible.
chronological
position
which
that,
There can be
poraneously
little
doubt also
rise
contem-
with
the
of
rn
the
independent
in
kingdoms of the Kalingas and the Andhras

the South, the
North-We.:
region of India,
ii8
too, ceased to
ANCIENT INDIA
belong to the Maurya empire.
We
have no glimpses of the history of

but
time
this defection
we may
reasonably assume that the numerous
petty states which had been held together for a
by the imperial power reasserted their autonomy when that power ceased. During the reign of Aôka two revolts occurred in the empire of Syria which were fruitful in
consequences
for
the
future
history
of
India.
Almost at the same time, about 250 B.C. or a few years later, Diodotus, satrap of Bactria, and a Parthian adventurer named Arsaces threw
off
their
allegiance
II
to
the
Seleucid
monarch,
Antiochus
Bactria
Theos (261-246 b.c), and founded

is
the independent kingdoms of Bactria and Parthia.
the name form Balkh was the
preserved
in
the modern
region of N. Afghanistan,
river
bounded on the north by the
was divided from the Maurya empire by the Hindu

Oxus.
It
are
Kush a range of mountains which, lofty as many of its peaks, possesses also numerous
and forms no very formidable barrier to
passes,
between Northern and Southern The Hellenic kingdom of Bactria founded by Diodotus lasted till about 135 b.c, when its civilization was entirely swept away by
communication
Afghanistan.
the
irresistible flood
of Scythian (âka) invasion

brief
from the
North.
Its
history
of a
little
INDIA AFTER THE

more than
ciated with a
MAURYA EMPIRE
is
119
century
most intimately asso-
that
of the
a
North-Western region
province
lying
to
of India.
Parthia,
originally
the
south-east of the Caspian Sea,
grew
into a great
empire
at
the
expense of the empire of Syria,
which, once the predominant power in Western

Asia,
was at last reduced to the province of Syria from which it takes its name. The Parthian power lasted till 226 a.d. In the
reign
of
as
Mithradates
far
(171-138
as
b.c.)
it
ex-
tended
eastwards
the
river
Indus
which thus became once more the dividing line between Western Asia and India. The Parthian
and Scythian invasions of India, which,
at a
some-
what
the
later period, constitute the chief feature in
history
of
the
North-Western region are
dealt with in our final chapter.
But the Syrian empire did not acquiesce without a protest in the independence of
provinces.
III
its
revolted
the Great,
About the year 209 made an attempt

the
rule
B.C.,
Antiochus
both
has
to reduce
Parthia and Bactria to obedience,
Parthia was
now
under
but
I
of
the
king
who
usually,
perhaps
(2 10-
incorrectly,
B.C.),
been
called
Artabanus
191
{c.
while
Bactria was
The ex230-195 B.C.). pedition of Antiochus ended in an acknowledgeunder Euthydemus
I20
ANCIENT INDIA
So
is
meat of the independence of both kingdoms.

far as Bactria
concerned, Antiochus
is
said to
have listened to
that
in
it
the
argument of Euthydemus
would
at
the present juncture be impolitic,
the cause of Hellenic civilization generally, to
weaken the power of
Bactria
barrier against the constant

irruptions from the North.
which formed a menace of Scythian

Hellenic
Bactria was, indeed, a stronghold of

civilization.
It
was held by a military aristocracy, thoroughly Greek in sentiment and religion, ruling over a subject people so little advanced in culture that its ideas are in no way reflected in the monuart.
ments of Bactrian
purely
The
coins of Bactria are
Greek in character, the divinities represented on them are Greek, and the portraits of the kings themselves are among the finest examples extant of Greek art as applied to portraiture. But the kingdom was short-lived
and
its
history
was troublous.
The house
of the
founder, Diodotus, was deposed by Euthydemus,
perhaps about 230 b.c, and the later history of

Bactria
is
occupied with the internecine struggle

of Eucratides.
between the descendants of Euthydemus and the

rival family
After
thus
making a treaty
Antiochus,
like
of peace
with
Euthydemus,
Alexander
in
his
predecessors,
c.
327
B.C.,
and Seleucus
305 b.c,
INDIA AFTER THE

passed over the
MAURYA EMPIRE
into the
its
121
Hindu Kush
Kabul Valley.
extent
No
exact details of this invasion or of

;
but it seems clear that this which formed part of the Maurya empire when Seleucus invaded it, had, at some time subsequent to the death of A9oka, reverted to the rule of its local princes, one of whom, Sophagasenus
have been preserved
region,
(probably
the
Sanskrit
Subhagasena)^
is
said
to to
have
purchased
peace
by
offering
tribute
Antiochus.
CHAPTER
IX
THE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT

The
records
India
by Mithradates Bactria Greek kings in occupied by the âkas and the Yueh-chi India The house of Euthydemus and the house of Eucratides Menander Allusions to Greeks in Sanskrit
of
Bactria
Invasion
literary
and
numismatic
Bactrian
conquests in
literature
Greek
influence in India.
The
political
condition of India on the downfall
of the
foreign
Maurya empire was

invasion
;
such
as
to
invite
its
and the establishment on

borders
northern
and
north-western
of
the
kingdoms of Bactria and Parthia supplied the sources from which invasions came.
The
period
literary authorities for the history
of this
are
indeed
few
but they
afford
some
most valuable information.

are
or
:
The most
who,
in
important
the fourth
(i) Justin, a Latin writer
fifth
century a.d.,
a history of the
made an abridgement of Macedonian empire compiled by

of Augustus (27 B.C.- 14 a.d.);
Trogus
and
in the reign
(2) the Greek geographer Strabo,
who was
probably contemporary with Trogus.

122
THE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER

The
this
123
of
chief records, however, of the
rulers
which are found in From them we learn of the existence of thirty-five kings and two queens, all bearing purely Greek names, who reigned in Bactria and India during the period from
period are their coins,
extraordinary variety and abundance.
about 250
B.C. to
25
B.C.
The
great majority of
these rulers are otherwise unknown.
The
coins
which they struck have survived, while every other memorial of their Hves has perished. A curious
fact
connected with
this
series of
coins
is
that
certain specimens struck in Bactria before
are of nickel, a metal which

to
is
have
been discovered
after
in
200 b.c. commonly supposed Europe about the
middle of the eighteenth century a.d.
Not long
to
the
expedition of Antiochus
the Great, the Bactrian king
Euthydemus seems
of
have formed
the
design
extending his
territories lying
It
is
kingdom by the conquest of the to the south of the Hindu Kush.

that the fulfilment of this design
his son
probable
to
was entrusted
Demetrius,
who
has been supposed to be
the original of
*
The
grete Emetreus, the king of Inde'
of Chaucer's Kiiigbtes Tale.
As
a result of the conquests of Demetrius, the

i.e.
ancient provinces of the Persian empire,
the
124
ANCIENT INDIA
Kabul Valley and the country of the Indus (the Western Punjab and Sind), which had been once reclaimed and held for a brief period by Alexander the Great, were now again recovered for the Greek
kings of
Bactria
who
proudly boasted to be his
successors.
But though Demetrius had thus gained a new kingdom in India, he was soon to lose his own kingdom of Bactria after a desperate struggle with
his rival
Eucratides,
who now
laid
claim to
the
throne.
The
account of an episode in this contest
has been preserved by Justin,
who
was
describes
how
by
Eucratides
with
300
men
besieged
Demetrius with 60,000, and how he wore out the enemy by continual sorties and escaped in the
month of the siege. Finally, not only Bactria but also some part of the newly acquired Indian dominions of Demetrius passed into the power of
fifth
the conqueror, Eucratides and from this time onwards we may trace the existence of two lines of Greek princes in India, the one derived from Euthydemus, ending c. 100 B.C., and the other derived from Eucratides, ending ^.25 B.C.
;
The period of the reign of Eucratides is determined by the statement of Justin that he
came
is
to
the
I
throne at about the
same time
B.C.
as
It
Mithradates
doubtful
of Parthia,
i.e.
about 171
if
Demetrius or any other member of

the family of
125
Euthydemus ruled in any part of It is more probable that Bactria after this date. henceforth their power was confined to India. The
family of Eucratides, on the other hand, continued
civilization in Bactria
and in India until Greek was swept away by the flood of Caka invasions from the North c. 135 B.C. but
to rule
both
in Bactria
they retained their

to the
possessions in the territories
south of the Hindu Kush,
and held the

conquest,
Kabul
c.
Valley
until
the
Kushana
rule
25
B.C.
The
India
transference of
is
Greek
the
from Bactria to
unmistakable
In
indicated,
in
most
manner, by a change
in
the style of the coins.
Bactria the coins remain purely
Greek
in character,
and they are struck
in
accordance with a purely
Greek standard of weight. The subject population was evidently not sufficiently advanced in
civiHzation to influence the art of the conquerors
In India, on the other hand, in any degree. where the Greeks came into contact with an ancient civilization, which was, in many respects, as advanced as their own, it was necessary to It was essential that the effect a compromise.
coinage should be suited to the requirements of

the conquered as well as of the conquerors.
coins, accordingly,
The
are
become
bilingual.
They
obverse^
struck with
Greek legends on the
and
26
ANCIENT INDIA
in
with an Indian translation

the reverse
;
Indian characters on
and they follow the Persian standard

in
of weight which had been firmly established
N.-W.
India
as
a result
of the
seen
long
Persian
valuable
dominion.
We
have already
how
the study of these bilingual coins has proved in

affording the necessary clue to the interpretation
of the forgotten alphabets of Ancient India.
invaded
During the reign of Eucratides, Bactria was by the Parthian king, Mithradates I
B.C.),
(171-138
It
is
who seems
to
have
remained
his
master of the country for some considerable time.

probable that certain coins which bear
name, and which are palpably imitated, some from

the Bactrian coins of Demetrius and some
from
those of Eucratides,
in
may have been

on
struck by
is
him
Bactria
during this period.
There
reason
for supposing that Mithradates,
this occasion,
penetrated even into India.
In
the printed text

historian
of the works of Orosius, a

flourished
c.
Roman
is
who
400
a.d., there
indeed to be found
a definite statement to the effect that Mithradates
subdued
that
the
nations
between
it
'
the
Hydaspes
incorrect
(Jhelum) and
the
the
'
Indus; but
seems possible
manuscripts of
reading
to
Hydaspes
may be
and due
the
some corruption
in the
name of
a river not in India, but in Persia to
the west of the Indus.

Thus weakened, on
by the drain on
conquests, the
its
127
the one hand, by internal
feuds and by Parthian attacks, and, on the other,

resources caused
by the Indian
Greek kingdom of Bactria proved
incapable of resisting the hordes of Scythians
who
burst through
its
northern frontiers
c.
135 B.C.
These represented one of the groups of nomadic

tribes
known
as Cakas,
who
still
occupied, as in
the time of Darius (522-486 b.c), the country of
the
river
Jaxartes
(Syr
Darya)
to
the
north
of Sogdiana (Bukhara).
They had always been

menace
to
regarded
as
standing
the
Greek
civilization of Bactria,
and now, being driven from
their pastures
by the pressure of other nomadic

the Chinese historians call Yueh-chi,
in
hordes
whom
they were forced partly

into Bactria,
tion
a southerly direction
and partly
in
a south-westerly direc-
into the Parthian
empire where they joined

in the
with an earlier settlement of âkas

of Drangiana (Seistan).
this earlier
province
Traces of the existence of

in
âka settlement
in
Drangiana seem
campaigns.
to
be found both
the
vital
the inscriptions of Darius and in
accounts
of
Alexander's
The
India of
importance for the history of
N.-W.
this
augmentation
of the
âka power
137).
already
established in a province of the Parthian

will
Empire
be seen subsequently
(p.
The Yueh-chi,
thus driving the
âkas before
128
ANCIENT INDIA
first
them, seem to have occupied
Sogdiana
and
then Bactria, where, under the leadership of their

-chief tribe, the Kushanas, they developed into the
strong power which created the next great Indian

empire.
It is
only possible to give a very general outline
of the history of the Greek kingdoms

the Hindu Kush.
south of
Nearly
all
the evidence which
we
possess has been gleaned from the study of their

;
coinages
and the interpretation of this evidence
is
by no means always clear. As has been observed, these Greek princes seem to belong chiefly to the two rival royal lines the house of Euthydemus, which having begun and the house of Eucratides
their struggle in Bactria continued

is,
it
in India.
It
however, not always easy to attribute princes

coins
whose
and
we possess
to either of these
that,
in
groups
it is
quite possible
addition to these
two chief Greek kingdoms there may have been other
in
Northern
India,
principalities
which
for
Greek
soldiers
of fortune
had carved out
themselves.
The
Indian conquests of Demetrius, the son of
by later same house, notably by Apollodotus That these two princes were and Menander. intimately connected there can be no doubt. They use the same coin-types, especially the
Euthydemus,
rulers of the
were
greatly
extended

'

figure of the
129
Greek goddess, Athene, hurling the

which
is
thunderbolt,
characteristic
of
other
the
in
members of the family of Euthydemus,

Stratos
;
e.g.
and they are twice mentioned together

Strabo attributes conquests
while the
in
literature.
India to
them
jointly,
unknown author
a
of the
Periplus maris Erythrai
most interesting hand-
book intended for the use of Greek merchants and seamen as a guide to the coasting voyage from the Persian Gulf to the west coast of India
states that small silver coins, inscribed
with Greek
characters
princes,
c.
and bearing the names of these two

still
were
current in his
time (probably
80 A.D.)
at
the
port of Barugaza (Broach).

is
The
extent of Menander's dominions especially
indicated both by the
great variety of his coin-
types which prove that
he ruled
over a great
to the effect that he passed beyond the Hyphasis (Beas) which formed the extreme limit of Alexander's conquests.
number of different quoted by Strabo
provinces, and by a statement
We
first
have, in
all
probability, further information
concerning
sight,
Menander from
source
which,
at
might seem not very promising from
the point of view of the historian.
Menander
is
almost certainly to be
Milinda,
cal
identified
with the King

of Milinda
who
is
known from
the
'
a Buddhist philosophi-
treatise
called
(êstions

130
ANCIENT INDIA
This monarch resided
at Qakala,
(Mi/inda-Panba).
an ancient city which has been identified with the modern Sialkot in the N.E. Punjab. Now, we have
direct evidence that other
members of
the house of
Euthydemus
conquerors
(Muttra).
(the Stratos) reigned to the S.E. of the
Punjab, since their coins are imitated by their Qaka
who
occupied the district of Mathura
We
may
conclude, then, that the family
of Euthydemus ruled over the E. Punjab, with
one of
its
capitals at Sialkot
and possibly another

United Provinces.
capital in the
Muttra
Dist, of the
But the evidence both of coins and of literature shows that, at one period, they possessed a far The fact that the coins of wider dominion. Apollodotus and Menander were current at Broach, surely indicates that their conquests must have extended to Western India (Gujarat and Kathiawar)
;
while
the
statement
in
Strabo,
into
that
Menander
passed
is
beyond
the
Beas
the
Middle Country,
supported by certain references

warlike activity of the
in Sanskrit literature to the
Yavanas (Greeks) about the middle of *the second The best known of these allusions century B.C.
are the following (i)
mitra^
:
Kalidasa's historical play, the Mdlavikdgni-
represents
the forces
of the
king,
Pushyamitra,
under
the
first Cuhga command of his
grandson, Vasumitr.i, as coming into conflict with

the Yavanas somewhere in Central India.
131
This
may
well be the reminiscence of some episode in
Menander's invasion of the (ûnga dominions.
The grammarian Patanjali, Great Commentary hhdshya or

(2)
'
in
'
his
MabdPanini's
on
Grammar, mentions King Pushyamitra his contemporary, and refers to the were as if he sieges by the Yavanas of Saketa in South Oudh and
Sanskrit
of
Madhyamika (Nagari) near Chitor

they had taken place within his
(3)
in
Rajputana
as if
own memory.
Perhaps the
in
fullest
of
all
the accounts of
the Greeks
India at
this
period occurs in an
astronomical, or rather astrological, treatise called
the Gdrgi Sanihitd^ or 'the
compendium of Garga.'
the style of a Purana
a
One
that
of
is
its
chapters
say,
it
is
in
to
gives
in
prophetic form an
account of kings
earth.
who have
already ruled on the
Unfortunately this work has not yet been
fully edited and the manuscript of it which has been described is both fragmentary and corrupt. Put into historic form the information which the certain portions of this chapter yield may be ex-
pressed as follows
The Greeks
after reducing Saketa, the

(all in
Panchala
country and Muttra
the United Provinces)
reached the capital Pataliputra (Patna).

did not stay in the Middle
strife
But they Country because of the between themselves which took place in
132
their
ANCIENT INDIA
own kingdom (North-Western
India).
They
;
were eventually conquered by

in
a Qaka. king
and
time the (âkas yielded to another conquering

is
power, the name of which
obscured by textual
corruption in the manuscript.
This account no doubt refers successively to the

internecine struggle between the house of Euthy-
demus
and
the
house
of
Eucratides,
to
the
conquest of Greek kingdoms by the Qakas, and

to the subsequent conquest of the
Qakas by the
Kushanas.
The Gargi Samhita

in
holds an almost
unique position
the literature of Ancient India,
and
it
is
much
to
be regretted that no edition of

is
this interesting
work
at present possible.
It is
almost the only surviving representative of the old
Hindu astrology or astronomy, which was superseded, probably in the fourth century a.d., by the Greek system of astronomy borrowed, presumably,
from Alexandria.
frequently
refer
The
to
is
later Indian
astronomers
'
Vriddha
no reason
his
Garga,
to
the
old
Garga,' and there
doubt that the

to a
compendium which bears

period not
invaders
name belongs
much
it
later
than that of the
foreign
whom
is
mentions.
The
which
information
conveyed
referred
this
by the
in
chapter
to
we
have
accordance with the knowledge of
period which
we may
glean
independently
from other sources.

The
frontier
territories
133
on the extreme north-western
of India, i.e. the Kabul Valley and Gandhara (including Taxila) which were originally conquered by Euthydemus or by Demetrius, were wrested from this family of Greek princes by
Eucratides.
Evidence of the
transfer
is
of
this
region from one rule to the other

certain coins
ally
afforded
by
which have been restruck.
Origin-
they were issued by ApoUodotus, a prince of
the house of
restruck by
Euthydemus
;
but they have been

they bear the
Eucratides
and, as
image and superscription of the tutelary deity of

Kapiga, the capital city of Gandhara, they
to
testify-
the change of government which had
taken
place in this province.

Inscriptions
and
coins
show further
supplanted
;
that the
family
satraps
of
in
Eucratides
was
by Qaka
but
these
both Kapiga and Taxila
princes continued to hold the
the last vestiges of their rule, the

attacks of the Qakas,
Kabul Valley until which had survived
the Kushanas. the
The
last
were swept away by Greek king to reign in
Kabul Valley, and indeed in any region of was Hermasus who was succeeded, c. 25 A.D., by the Kushana chief, Kujula Kadphises.
India,
It
is
curious
fact
that,
while the coinages

are
of
the
Graeco-Indian
all
princes
remarkably
abundant,
other memorials of their rule should
134
be
so
rare.
ANCIENT INDIA
Only one stone inscription, for has yet been found in which any of
is
instance,
these princes
mentioned.
This inscription
is
at
is
Besnagar
coins,
in
Gwalior, and the prince mentioned
from the evidence of was one of the earlier members of the line of Eucratides, and who ruled both in Bactria and in the Kabul Valley. The inscription records the erection of a standard in honour of the god Vishnu and it is especially interesting as showing
Antialcidas who, to judge
;
that
the donor, a
Greek named Heliodorus,

to
the
son
of Dion,
who had come

Antialcidas,
inscription
Besnagar
dated
as
an an
the
ambassador
Indian
faith.
from
had
is
adopted
in
The
14th year of the reign of a king Bhagabhadra
presumably ruled over the province in which Besnagar was situated. As this region no doubt formed part of the empire of the Qungas, it is not improbable that this King Bhagabhadra may be identical with the Bhadra or Bhadraka who is mentioned in some of the Puranas among
the successors of Pushyamitra.
It
{c.
who
is
to
the
period
of nearly two
centuries
princes
200-25
the
^-^0
during
which
Greek
ruled in
Kabul Valley, the North- Western Frontier Province, and the Punjab, and not to the expedition of Alexander the Great {z'^J-S B.C.), the political results of which lasted only for a few
PLATE
in.
THE BESNAGAR COLUMN.
[Sce/>age 156.

years,
135
that
we must
in
trace
the
chief
India.
all
source
of
Greek
power,
influence
Northern
For some
in
centuries after the extinction of
their political
we
find
Greeks
into
mentioned
Indian
Indian
literature
and Indian
Indian
inscriptions.
But they have

social
been
absorbed
the
system.
They bear
or
Persian
names, and
they
profess Indian faiths.
The
of
existence of a strong
is
Greek element
the
in
the
population
attested
Buddhist
art
Gandhara,
is
in
by which the
;
influence of
Greek
to
traditions
manifest
the
and a
system
alphabet
of writing
is
developed
in
from
Greek
until at
be traced
this region
least the
later.
fourth century a.d., and possibly
much
CHAPTER X
PARTHIAN AND SCYTHIAN INVADERS
Cakas and
(|!!aka
Parthian Origin Progress Defeat of Caka king of Malwa and establishment of âkas by Vikrama Gondopharnes Progress Kushana power Establishment of Kushana empire The of
Pahlavas
a
Their
the
of
conquests in India
era
satrapies
the
the
the
of
era
Kanishka.
So
far,
we have
traced the history of the Yavanas
(Yonas), or foreign invaders of
Greek
descent, in
North-Western India. The history of this region now compHcated by the appearance on the is scene of invaders belonging to two other nationalities,
who
in
are
constantly
associated with
the
Yavanas
Indian
literature
and
inscriptions.
These
//
are the Qakas and Pahlavas,
jîikas
Herodotus expressly states that the term was used by the Persians to denote generally Scythians and this statement is
'
certainly in accordance with the use of the

in the inscriptions
it
word
of Darius.
In
one of these,
occurs together with descriptions which

it
show
that
denotes certain Scythians
in
Europe
as well
136
PARTHIAN & SCYTHIAN INVADERS

as
137
two branches of Scythians
in
Asia.
These,
we
have reason to believe, are specimens merely of

the innumerable swarms of nomads which had been finding their way during untold centuries from that great hive of humanity, China, to
Western Asia and
to
Europe.
The One
settlements of Qakas
which affected the
history of India at this period are
two
in
number.
of these occupied the country of the Jaxartes
to the north of Bactria
and Sogdiana, and had for

in
ages past been regarded as a great danger to Persian
and Hellenic
the
civilization
Central Asia;
while
other inhabited the province of Drangiana,

lay
which
between Persia and
India,
and which
'
subsequently bore the name of (âkasthana,
the
abode of the Cakas
'
(the later Sijistan
and the
modern
Seistan).
It is
probable that both of these
bodies of (âkas were stirred into activity in the
middle of the second century B.C. by the same

cause
the impact of further swarms of
nomads
who
this
are
known
as the Yueh-chi.
The
result of
impact was two-fold.
On
the one hand, the
Hellenic kingdom of Bactria was submerged in a

flood of barbarian invasion, and,
on the other, the

II (I),
Parthian kings were occupied during two reigns
(Phraates
II,
138-128
B.C.,
and Artabanus
128-123 B.C.) in endeavours to stem the tide which had extended to Seistan, and were only
138
completely
ANCIENT INDIA
successful
II
in
the
following
B.C.).
reign
(Mithradates
effect
the Great,
123-88
of
The
a
in
of
the
âka
invasion
the
Parthian
kingdom was thus to increase the power of Qaka settlement which was already established
the struggles between Qakas and Parthians
the Parthian province of Seistan, and the result of

in this
region was the creation of a kingdom, probably
more or less dependent on the kingdom of Parthia, in which the two peoples were associated.
The
third class of foreign invaders,
who
are, in
Indian literature and inscriptions, called Pahlavas,
were Parthians, the two names being etymologically

identical.
It
is
clear,
however, that the Pahlavas

the
who
invaded India did not belong to

empire, but
main
stock which was represented by the rulers of the
Parthian
rather
to
in
the subordinate
its
branch which was established

vinces,
eastern pro-
Drangiana
(Seistan),
Arachosia (Kanda-
har) and Gedrosia (Northern Baluchistan).

history
The
is
of this subordinate
kingdom
for
its
is
obscure.
Almost
supplied
our
only
;
evidence
existence
by coins but these give us names of rulers which are undoubtedly Parthian in character, and the area over which the coins are found affords
some
these
indication of the extent of territory
which
but
princes
governed.
They may have been

;
originally
satraps of the Parthian monarchs

the
title
'
139
King of Kings
'
which,
in
imitation of
their coins,
their former over-lords, they bear
on
shows that they had asserted
their independence.
The
first
of these Pahlavas to appear on the coins
has the familiar Parthian
name Vonones
call
and we
may, therefore, conveniently
the line to which
he belongs
'
the family of Vonones.'

line
With
this
of Pahlava
princes
the
Qaka
Like
invaders of India are intimately connected.
them, and unlike the Gr^co-Indian princes, they

bear the
this title
title
is
'King of Kings.'
It
The
history of
interesting.
denoted originally the

the
It
supreme
title
lord
who
claimed
kings.
allegiance
of
number of subordinate
of the
in
was the ancient

as
Persian
monarchs, and
such
it
appears
the inscriptions of Darius in the form

In
first
Kshdyathiydndm Kshdyathiya. monarchy it seems to occur

Mithradates
numismatists
II
the
Parthian
on coins of
(123-88
to
B.C.),
though
the
B.C.).
some
in
It
prefer
attribute
I
coins
question to Mithradates
(171-138
was
introduced into India by the (âka and Pahlava

invaders,
and continued
;
in
use by their successors,
the Kushanas
and
in
the form
Shdhan-shdh
it
remains the
title
of the Shahs of Persia even to
the present day.
There
distinctive
can
title
be
no
doubt,
then,
that
the the
'King
of
Kings'
connects
I40
ANCIENT INDIA
both with
naturally;
Indian Qakas with the Pahlavas and
Parthia
and
this
connexion
is
most
explained on
^'
the theory that
these (pakas
came
into India from Seistan
through Kandahar, over

the
Indus.
the Bolan Pass, through Baluchistan into Sind and
would explain the fact that the coins of Maues, the earliest known of these (âka princes, are found in the Punjab only and not in the Kabul Valley, which still continued to be held by the Greek
so
up the
valley
of
This
princes of the family of Eucratides.
Access into
the Kabul Valley from Bactria over the passes of the Hindu Kush was thus, at this period, barred.
The
at the
progress which the Qdkd. conquests
expense of both the chief

is
rulers
illustrated
by the
coins.
made lines of Greek Maues strikes

at
coins
which are directly imitated from those of

;
Demetrius
Taxila
the
Qaka satrap Liaka Kusulaka

the
coins
imitates
of
Eucratides,
the
and
coins
another satrap, Rafljubula, at Muttra

struck
by Strato
and
II
reigning
conjointly.
Everywhere, indeed, the Qaka invaders seem to have retained the form of coinage used by the
Greek
princes
whom
by
a
they dispossessed
a coinage
distinguished
Greek legend on the obverse

in
and a Prakrit on the reverse

issued
coins
translation
Kharoshthi characters
and
it
is
probable that they only
in
those districts where they found

a
141
as
is
currency already
in
existence.
So
from
far
known, none of
their
coinages
imitated
is
original.
All
without exception are
Greek or
Hindu models.
North-Western India the system of government by satraps which was
The
(âkas continued
in
firmly established there during the long period of
Persian rule.
This system was,
as
we have
seen,
is
followed by Alexander the Great, and there

reason to suppose that
either under the
it
no
had been interrupted

or under the rule
of the later
Maurya empire Greek princes.
Of
tions
the history of these Qaka satrapies inscrip-
and coins give us a few

inscription
details.
An
satrap
district
affords
the bare mention of a

capital
of Kapi9a,
the
of
Gandhara,
which, as
family
we know from
of
coins,
had passed
from
the
Euthydemus
(Apollodotus)
power of Eucratides. There is a copper-plate inscription of a satrap of Taxila named Patika which records the deposit of relics of the Buddha and a donation made in the 78th year of some era not specified and during the reign of the Great King Moga, who is without
into the
doubt to be identified with Maues, since Moga is merely a dialectical variant of Moa^ the Indian
equivalent of the
name Maues found on the

is
coins.
The
era in which the inscription
dated cannot at
142
ANCIENT INDIA
The most
plausible con;
present be determined.
jecture
it
is
that
it
may be
of
of Parthian origin
and
if
could be supposed to start from the beginning

reign
of the
Mithradates
great
(171
b.c),
the
monarch who
small
state
raised Parthia from a comparatively

a
to
empire, which extended
from the Euphrates

India,
to Bactria
and the borders of

to
this
the
result
as
applied
inscription
B.C.), would give a date which is But it fairly probable on other considerations. must be admitted that there is no evidence of the The satrap Patika was existence of such an era.
(171-78 = 93
the
son
of Liaka
Kusiilaka,
who
struck
It
coins
imitated
from those
of
Eucratides.
would
of
its
seem, then, that Taxila, like Kapica (Gandhara),
was
taken
by the
Qakas
from
the
family
Eucratides, while the Kabul Valley remained in

possession.
Of
the (âka satraps of

a
possess
most
valuable
first
discovered and
Indian scholar.
Mathura (Muttra) we monument, which was published by a distinguished

Bhagvanlal Indraji,
Pandit
who
bequeathed
in
it
together with his valuable collection
of ancient Indian coins to the British Museum.

It
is
the
form of a large
lion
carved
in
red
sandstone
pillar.
and
intended to be the capital of a
The
workmanship
shows
is
undoubted
completely
Persian
influence.
The
surface
PLATE
IV.

covered
143
char-
with
inscriptions
in
Kharoshthi
acters, which give the genealogy of the satrapal family ruling at Miittra and also mention members
of other
satrapal
houses
in
other
provinces of
North-Western
and
Taxila,
India.
These
Buddhists.
inscriptions
show
that the satraps of Muttra, like those of Kapiga
were
The
Rajula
reigning
satrap, or
rather
'great
satrap,'
(whose
name appears
also as Raj uvula or Raiijubula) also
struck coins, some of which are imitated from the
currency of certain Greek princes of the house of
Euthydemus
the Stratos
while others are copied

of Hindu princes
from the coins of a

ruled at Muttra.
this
district
line
who
know, therefore, that in Qaka rule superseded that of both

princes.
in
We
Greek and Hindu
Evidence of the existence of a Qaka power

Central India and of
is
its
defeat by a Hindu king

called the Kdlikdchdrya-
supplied
by a Jain work
'story
kathd or
of Kalikacharya.'
From
it
we
in Malwa were patrons were subdued by a king named Vikramaditya who reigned at Ujjain, and
learn that the Qakas,
who
of
the Jain religion,
who
which
the
'
established
still
the
era,
beginning
in
58
B.C.,
bears his name.
The name
;
of the king
may, no doubt, be legendary
or possibly, while
titles,
name
itself
has been
lost,
one of the king's

;
the sun of valour,'
has survived
but that this
'
144
era
ANCIENT INDIA
was
really first used in
Malwa
is
probable on
it
other grounds.
At
a later date (405 a.d.)

*
is
certainly described as
the traditional reckoning of

story goes on to say that
for
the Malava
this
it
tribe.'
The
in
135 years, when was superseded by one which was founded by

era
continued
use
another
Qaka conqueror.
called
This
in
era.
second
era
is
undoubtedly that which begins

it
78
It
is
a.d.,
and
is
still
the
Qaka
probable
founda-
further that, soon after the

tion,
date of
its
and that and
Kushana empire extended to Malwa, conquest was effected by the Pahlava Qaka satraps of the Kushana emperor,
the
its
Kanishka (see
It
p.
147).
been already observed that there is evidence of an intimate connexion between Pahthe family of lavas and Qakas, i.e. between Vonones and the family of Maues.' This conhas
'
' '
nexion appears to be proclaimed by certain coins
on which Spalirises, the brother of the king (i.e. presumably of Vonones) is definitely associated with Azes, who was almost certainly the Such evidence as there is successor of Maues. would seem to indicate that these two lines con'
tinued to rule over adjacent provinces
the family
of Vibnones in Seistan, Kandahar, and North Baluchistan, and the family of Maues in the West Punjab and Sind until, probably towards the end

of the
first
145
quarter of the
first
century a.d., the
two kingdoms were united under the sway of the

Pahlava Gondopharnes, as to the Parthian character
of whose name there can be no possible doubt.
The
its
evidence bearings
is
almost entirely numismatic, and
may
as
be
summarized
as
follows.
The numerous
monarch, copied
vious issues,
sive
varieties
of the coinage of this
they are from so
many
pre-
show that he ruled over

;
a very exten-
dominion
and the
fact
that these varieties
are imitated from the currencies both of the family
of Vonones and the family of Maues, leads us to

the conclusion that he ruled over both the earlier kingdoms of the Pahlavas and of the (âkas. The fame of King Gondopharnes (or Gondopherres, as the name appears in the Greek coinlegends) spread even to the West, and he is known in the legends of the early Christian Church as the king to whose country St Thomas was sent as the
apostle of the 'Parthians,' or, according to other
authorities, of the
'
Indians,'
i.e.
the people of the
Indus country.
The
in
story of the mission of St
Thomas and of
tian
the king's conversion to the Chris-
faith
is
told
the
Thomas.,
Syriac,
of which there
apocryphal Acts of St are extant versions in

earliest
Greek, and Latin, the
of these, the
Syriac, belonging
A.D.
probably to the third century

in
Doubtless there must be a great deal
146
this
ANCIENT INDIA
story
which can only be regarded

it
as
it
pure
legend, but
is
reasonable to suppose that

in fact.
may
have some basis
The names of several pharnes are known from

coins
successors
their coins
;
of
Gondo-
but these
show
that they ruled over a greatly diminished

at this period
realm.
Already
the
first
century a.d.
the Kushana
the
early part of
power, which
to
had grown up
together
in Bactria,
had begun
Pahlavas,
absorb the
various states of North- Western India, and to weld
Greeks,
step
Qakas,
and Hindus
into one great empire.
The
first
in
the creation of this Indian

last
empire was the conquest of the

stronghold of Greek rule
in
remaining
the Kabul Valley.
The
coins
show
clearly the process
by which
this
first
region, probably in
the last quarter of the
century
B.C.,
passed from Hermanns, the
last ruling
member of
the
'
the line of Eucratides, to his conqueror,
Kushana Kujula Kadphises.
The conquest of
his
India,' the
country of the Indus, was the work
of his successor,
as
who
is
known from
in
coins
Wima
Kadphises, and after him the Kushana

its
empire reached
of Kanishka.
culminating point
the reign
The
question of the date of Kanishka

;
is
still
the subject of keen controversy
but
it
will pro-
bably be settled within a short time by the exca-

vations which are
logical
147
the ArchseoSurvey of India on the ancient site of
now being made by
Taxila, one of his capitals.

In the meantime, until absolute certainty can be
probable view appears to be that he was the founder of the Qdka. era, the initial year of which is 78 a.d., and that the era obtained its name from the fact that it became most widely known in India as that which was used for more than three centuries by the (âka kings of Surashtra (Gujarat and Kathiawar) who were originally
attained, a
satraps and feudatories of the Kushanas.
With the establishment of the Kushana Empire we must bring our survey of Ancient India to a close. The history of the remaining ten centuries
' '
which elapsed before the Muhammadan period may, perhaps, be more fittingly included under the
heading
empires,
origin,
'
'Medieval
India.'
In
Medieval,
rise
as
fall
in
Ancient, India
we may
see
the
and
of
partly of foreign
and partly of native
some of them the result of invasions through the Gates of India on the north or north-west, others the outcome of the struggle for supremacy between the nationalities of the continent itself.
'
NOTES ON THE ILLUSTRATIONS

THE GIRNAR ROCK
(Plate
I,
IN 1869
a, facing p.
Frontispiece, and Plate
150)
GiRNAR, the
Sanskrit
G'trinagara,
the
in
'
Hill
City,'
It
was
is
in
ancient times the
name of Junagadh
Kathiawar.
applied to the sacred mountain on the east of the city.

foot of this mountain
now At the
stands a rock which

valuable
in
is
without question
of
all
one
of
the
most interesting and

It
is
historical
monuments.
surface
about twelve feet

;
height and seventy-five

it
feet in circumference at the base
and
has engraved on
to
its
records
of three
kings
belonging
three
different
dynasties
the
Maurya Emperor,
'
(i) Afoka, which have ruled over Western India: c. 250 b.c. (2) Rudradaman, the
;
Mahakshatrapa or
date the
Great Satrap
'
of Surashtra and Malava
(inscription dated in the year
Caka era=i50
72 of what was called at a later and (3) Skandagupta, the a.d.)

;
Gupta Emperor
(inscription bearing dates
in
in
the years
136,
137, and 138 of the Gupta era beginning
319
a.d.
= 455,
456, and 457 A.D.).
The
Burgess
illustration
in
is
from
photograph taken by
Dr James
edicts
1869.
further
Since that date the rock has been proinjury
tected from
by a roof.
The
The
fourteen
of
Afoka
are engraved on the north-east face of the rock and

feet.
cover a space of about 100 square
inscription
of
Rudradaman
occupies the top, and the inscription of Skanda-
gupta the west face.
The
105-8).
edicts of
A9oka have
already been described
[v.
pp.
The
subjoined reproduction of an impression of the

illustrate the beautiful
in
second edict will serve to
Brahml
writing
of the period
the
letters
the original are about
two inches
148
I50
in height
ANCIENT INDIA
and
the translation
which
is
appended
will
show the
historical
importance of these inscriptions.
Transliteration
( 1 )
Savrata vijitamhi
api
devanam
priyasa priyadasino rano
(2) evam
prachanitesu
yatha
Choda Pada
vapi
tasa
Satiyaputo
Keralaputo a Tarnba(3)
P'lipni
Amtiyako Yonaraja ye
Arptiyakasa
samipam
(4) rajano savrata devanam priyasa chikichha kata
priyadasino
rano dve
(5) manusa-chikichha cha pasu-chikichha cha osudhilni cha

yani manusopagani cha
(6)
paso[|pa]gani cha yata yata nasti savrata harapitani cha
rohapitani cha
(7) mulani cha phalani cha yata yata nasti savrata hsrapitani cha rohapitani cha
(8) pamthesu kupa cha paribhogaya pasumanusanam.
khanSpita
vrachha
cha
rohapita
Translation
*
Everywhere
in the
realm of his Gracious Majesty, the King,

also in the border lands,
the Beloved of the
Gods, and likewise
such as (the countries of) the Cholas, the Pandyas, Satiyaputra,

Keralaputra, as far as Ceylon, Antiochus the
Greek
king, or
the kings in the neighbourhood of the said Antiochus, every-
where has
his
Gracious Majesty, the King, the Beloved of the

for
Gods, provided remedies of two kinds, remedies

remedies for animals
to
;
men and
and herbs, both such
as are serviceable
men and
serviceable to animals, wheresoever there
were none,
has he everywhere caused to be procured

also and fruits,
and planted, roots
wheresoever there were none, has he everywhere
caused to be procured and planted, and on the highways has he

caused wells to be dug and trees to be planted for the enjoyment
of animals and men.'
TLATK
V.
RRAHMl
l.NJClxirTlON ()N
IHE GIRNAR ROCK.

[See pfii^c 150.
KHAROSHTHi INSCRl
I'
ION ON
IIIIC
I
BASE OK THE
See/aê
MATHURX
LION-CAl'I
AL.

COINS OF ANCIENT INDIA
(Plate II, facing p. i8)
151
1.
Punch-marked Coin
Obv.
number of symbols.
Silver.
Rev. Traces of symbols.
is little
This represents the primitive form of Indian coinage, which more than a currency of square or oblong pieces cut out
flat
of a
plate of silver.
The
symbols punched on
to the coin
on the obverse are supposed to be the private marks of the moneychangers, while those on the reverse, which are almost invariably
fewer
in
number and of
somewhat
different character,
may
possibly denote the locality in which the coins were issued.
2.
Ancient Cast Coin
Obv.
in
Ram
Blank.
Dhamajjalasa =* (^Coin) of King Dharmapsla,'

left.
very ancient BrShmi characters written from right to

Jêv.
Bronze.
class are
Coins of
this
found
at the
village of
Eran
in
the
Saugor District of the Central Provinces.

quoted
in
This coin has been
support of the view that the

written
BrShml alphabet was

like
originally
p.
from
right
to
left
KharoshthI
(^v.
18).
3.
Guild Token
Obv.
Steel-yard
above, Dujaka or Dojaia, in KharoshthI
characters.
Rev.
in
incuse.
Negama
'
Merchants
'
in
Brahmi
characters.
Bronte.
is
The
use of these tokens
uncertain, as also
is
the meaning
of the legend on the Obverse.
152
ANCIENT INDIA
4.
Pantaleon
lion
Ohv.
in
incuse.
Maneless
to
right;
Greek legend,
Rajt[^ne']
Baslleos Panta/fonios
= (Com)
*
of King Pantaleon.'
;
Rev.
An
Indian dancing
girl
Br5hmi legend.
Pamtalevasa.^
Bronze.
Pantaleon was one of the earliest Greek, kings of Bactria to

reign also in India.
The
square shape of this coin shows the
influence of the old Indian currency of the district in
which
it
was
struck.
5.
Ancient Struck Coin
Single Die
;
Obv.
Cha'ttya, or
;
Buddhist shrine
to
left,
Vatasvaka
in
BrahmT
characters
to right, a
standing
figure worshipping
'
beneath him, the symbol called nandi-pada,
the footprint of
Nandi' (îva's
Rev. Blank.
bull).
Bronze.
It has been suggested that the legend
Vatasvaka may denote
the
'
Fig-tree
'
[vata)
branch of the A9vakas, a people of
North- Western India who may perhaps be the Assakenoi of

Alexander's
coinage
historians.
The
cast,
three
early
forms
of
Indian
punch-marked,
and struck on one
side only
are illustrated by Nos. i, 2, and 5 respectively.
6.
SOPHYTES
Obv. Helmeted head of king to right.
Rev. Cock
of Sophytes.'
to right
above, on
;
left,
a caduceus (the
emblem
^
of the Greek god Hermes)
Greek
legend, Sophutou
(Coin)
Silver.
is
The
coin
purely
Greek
in
style.
At
in its
the
time
of
Alexander's invasion, Sophytes, whose name

1
Greek form
In the case of all the bilingual coins represented in this plate, the
is
Indian legend
an exact translation of the Greek.

is
153
supposed to represent the Sanskrit Sauhhutt, was ruling over
kingdom
in
the Punjab.
He
entertained
his
Alexander with the

dogs were matched
it
spectacle of a fight in
against a lion.
is
which four of
his
As
his
sporting propensities were so strong,

coins
in
possible that the
cock on
may be
a fighting cock.
That
sport
was certainly popular

7.
Ancient India.
Antialcidas
to
^
Ob-v.
Bust
|
of
king
right
nikephorou
Aniialkidou
= [Com)
a throne
of
Greek legend, Basileos King Antialcidas, the

in his right
Victorious.'
Rev. Zeus seated on

a
and holding
;
hand
the
figure of
Nike (the goddess of victory)

;
on the
left,
forepart of an elephant with trunk upraised
Kharoshthi legend,
Silver.
Maharajasa jayadharasa
Ajnt'tal'ik'ttasa.
\
The
type of Zeus enthroned
is
frequently found on the coins
of the Greek princes of the house of Eucratides to

Antialcidas belonged.
is
which
For the Indian
inscription in
which he
mentioned,
v. p. 134.
8.
Menander
left
;
Obv.
Bust of king thrusting a spear to

\
Greek
legend,
Basileos soteros
Menandrou
a
(Coin) of King Menander, the

Kharoshthi
Silver.
Saviour.'
J
Rev. Athene hurling
thunder-bolt to right
\
legend,
Maharajasa tratarasa
v.
p.
Menamdrasa.
For Menander,
Euthydemus, of
129.
the
He
figure
belonged to the family of

of Athene
is
which
the
most
characteristic coin-type.
9.
Demetrius
Obv.
Head
of elephant to right.
Rev. Caduceus; Greek legend, Basileos Demetriou, *(Coin)

of King Demetrius.'
Bronze.
154
ANCIENT INDIA
lO.
Maues
Basileci
Obv.
Head of elephant
;
to right.
Rev. Caduceus
Greek legend,
Mauou,
'
(Coin) of
Bronze.
King Maues.'
These
first,
coins, the second of
which
is
an exact imitation of the
show
that the rule of the district in
which they circulated
passed from the Greeks of the house of
Euthydemus
to the
Cakas
("u. p.
140).
II.
EuCRATIDES
Obv. Helmeted bust of king to right.
Rev. The caps of the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux) sur-
mounted by
stars
two palms
below, a monogram
Greek
legend, BasiUos Eukratidou
'^
(Coin) of King Eucratides.'

Silver.
12.
LlAKA KUSULAKA
Obv. Helmeted bust to right.
Rev.
The
caps of the Dioscuri

in
two palms
below, a mono-
gram
Legend
Greek
characters, [_Li']ako [_K']ozouIo.

Silver.
Similarly
these coins
show
the transition
of the district to
which they belong from the

the Cakas.
rule of the house of Eucratides to a satrap
Liaka Kusulaka was
and the father of Patika

in the reign
whose
dated
inscription at Takshafiia
was engraved
of the
is
Great King Moga (the Maues or

in the
Moa
of the coins) and
seventy-eighth year of an era which has not yet been

("y.
determined,
p.
141).
13.
Dharaghosha, King of Audumbara

rishi
Obv. Standing figure (probably of Vi9vamitra, the

third
of the
book of the Rig- veda)
KharoshthI legends
(x) Around,

Mahadevasarana Dharnghoshasa
Great Lord, King Dharaghosha
across, Viq'oam'ttra.
|
|
155
0^w^3flr/ja
(Coin) of the
' ;
Prince of
Audumbara
(2)
Rev. Trident battle-axe

(identical with the
Tree within
(
i
railing
)
Brahmi legend
Silver.
Kharoshthl legend
on the Obverse).
in
Audambara, or the country of the Udambaras, was situated that region of the Punjab in which the two alphabets of
coins are found in the neighbourhood of Pathankot in the
Ancient India, Brahmi and Kharoshthij were used concurrently.
The
Gurdaspur District.
type of coinage.
They show
the influence of the
Greek
In fabric and style they somewhat resemble
the coins of Apollodotus, a prince of the house of
Euthydemus,
Their
and they are sometimes found
in
association with them.
date would seem to be about 100 b.c.
156
ANCIENT INDIA
THE BESNAGAR COLUMN
(Plate III, facing p. 134, and Plate VI, facing p. 157)
This monument
Marshall,
India.
p.
is
best described in the
words of
Dr
J.
H.
in
CLE.,
says
the
Director
General
of Archaeology
Society,
He
{^Journal of the
Royal Asiatic
1909,
1053):
"
When
examining the ancient
site
of Besnagar, near Bhilsa,
in
the extreme south of the Gwalior State,

to a stone
my
attention
a
was
by
drawn
the
column standing near

main
site,
a large
mound,
little to
it
north-east of the
and separated from

1877, and
branch of the Betwa

Sir
river.
This column had been noticed by

back
as a description of
in
it
A. Cunningham
as far
(though not a wholly accurate one) appeared

that year.
his
Report
for
The
shaft of the
in
column
the
is
a monolith, octagonal at
the
base,
sixteen-sided
middle, and
thirty-two-sided
above, with a garland dividing the upper and middle portions

the capital
is
of the
Persepolitan
it
bell-shaped
is
type,
with
a a
I
massive abacus surmounting
and the whole
crowned with
design,
palm-leaf ornament
of strangely unfamiliar
which
strongly suspect did not originally belong to
it.
In
1877
it
this
is,
column was thickly encrusted from top

with vermilion paint smeared on
after generation
it
to bottom, as
still
by pilgrims,
at the
who
generation
have come to worship
spot."
The
(p.
subsequent removal of the paint revealed the inscription,
the historical importance of which has been already described
134).
specimen of the coinage of the Graeco-Indian

is
king, Antialcidas,
shown
in
Plate II,
No.
7 (facing p. 18).
The
and
inscription
shows that the
figure on the top of the
column,
if original,
is
should represent Garuda,
who
has the form of a bird
supposed to carry the god Vishnu.
There
is
also a
smaller inscription of
two
lines,
apparently
in verse.
The
text
and translation of the two inscriptions here given are based on
TLATE
VI.
'\

the readings and interpretations proposed by
157
Fleet,
Dr
Bloch,
Dr
Prof. Barnett, and Prof. Venis, in various articles which will be
found
in
the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for the years
1909 and 1910.

Transliteration
(2)
(1) Devadevasa Va^sude^vasa Garudadhvaje ayaip karite i[a] Heliodoreiia bhaga-
(3) vatena Diyasa putrena Takhasilakena (4) Yona-dfitena agatena maharajasa (5) Amtalikitasa upa[m]ta sakasam rano
(6)
Kasrput[r3asa Bhagabhadrasa tratarasa
(7) vasena [chatujdasemna rajena vadhamanasa
(i) Trini amuta-padani

(2) nayaniti svaga
[su]
anuthitani
dama caga apramada.
Translation
"This Garuda-column of Vasudeva (Vishnu)

the son of Dion, and an inhabitant of Taxila,
the god of
gods, was erected here by Heliodorus, a worshipper of Vishnu,
who came
to
as
Greek ambassador from

in the
the Great
King Antialcidas
King
Ka9iputra Bhagabhadra, the Saviour, then reigning prosperously

fourteenth year of his kingship."
" Three immortal precepts (footsteps)

lead to heaven
when
practised
self-restraint, charity, conscientiouiness."
158
ANCIENT INDIA
THE MATHURA LION-CAPITAL
(Plate IV, facing p. 142, and Plate
b,
facing p. 150)
This
mounted
of an
capital of
a
pillar.
hard red sandstone must originally have surIt
was
discovered
it
by the
late
Pandit
Bhagvanlal Indraji
altar
at
Muttra, where
was
built into the steps
devoted to the worship of CTtala, or the goddess
of small-pox.
The
Pandit was also the

the
first
to decipher the
is
Kharoshthi inscriptions with which
capital
completely
("u. p.
covered and to recognize their great historical value
142).
it
He
now
bequeathed the capital to the British Museum, where

be seen in the Gallery of Religions.
may
illus-
The
where
following
it
tration represents the base of the capital
was joined to
the pillar.
It contains the beginning
of the chief inscription.
The
in
transliteration
and translation
are, with a
few
slight
changes
the former, borrowed from the edition of
Dr
F.
W. Thomas
in the
Epigraphla Indica, vol. ix.
p.
135.
Transliteration
( 1 )
Mahachhatravasa Rajulasa
(2) agramahish(r)i-Ayasia(3)
Komusaa
dhitra
(4)
Kharaostasa yuvarana
. .
(5) matra Nadasi-Akasa.
Translation
" By the Chief Queen of the Great Satrap Rajula, daughter of Ayasi-Komusa, mother of the Heir Apparent Kharaosta, Nandasi-Akasa (by name) " [associated with the other
members of her family

was deposited
in
relic
of the Holy Sage, Buddha,
the
stiipii^.
NOTES ON THE ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA

{^See the
map
at the
End)
in in
The names
of Peoples and Countries are printed
capitals.
In Ancient India they were identical, as they were

Britain in the time of Julius Cassar.
Ancient
The names
of Mountains
and Rivers are printed
in
ordinary type.
Achiravati, v. Cakya.
Akara,
v.
Malava.
Cities,
Amaravatl, v. List of
No.
(p.
172).
Andhra,
the
name of
is
a tribe of Southern India inhabiting
the Telugu country between the rivers Krishna (Kistna) and
Godavari which
the Andhras.'
often called Andhra-defa, the

are
Country of
later
They
Pliny
mentioned
in
c.
one of the
books
of the Aitareya Brahmana (possibly

described
500
B.C.).
vi.
by
(^Historia
Naturalis,
(f.
They are 21-23), ^^^

as being,
probably quotes from Megasthenes

to the Prasi.i, the
relations to the
in
300 b.c),
next
most powerful of the nations of India.

are uncertain
;
Their
Maurya Empire
but the
manner
[c.
which they are mentioned

B.C.)
in the
inscriptions
of Afoka
its
250
seems to indicate that they acknowledged
suzerainty
while retaining a certain degree of independence.

decline of the
On
the
Maurya Empire
their
power greatly increased
and early
in
the second century b.c. their dominions had ex-
tended westwards across the Deccan to the District of Nasik

in
the
Bombay
Presidency.
It
is
probable also that at this

159
i6o
period they
ANCIENT INDIA
came
into collision with the
kingdom of Magadha,
now won
under the Cuhgas.

this great
its
The
dynasty under which the Andhras
empire bears the general name of Catavahana and
many of
456
or
kings are called Catakarni.

Its total
The
is
dynastic
list is
given in the Puranas.
duration
usually stated to be
thirty.
460
years
and the number of reigns
If
we
it
suppose, therefore, that the dynasty began about
220 b.c,
would have ended about 240

correct statement.
are enabled
a.d.
and and
this
is
probably
a fairly
At
various intervals during this period
we
from
inscriptions, coins,
literature to trace the
history of the
Andhras with some
precision.
In literature they
are
frequently associated with
their
northern neighbours, the
Kalihgas, as also in the

the king of Kalinga,
historical
c.
Hathigumpha inscription of Khatavela, B.C. But their most important 1 50
monuments belong to the first half of the second [c. 120-150 a.d.), tiie period during which they came into conflict in Western India with tlie Pahlava and Caka satraps of the Kushana Empire. The decline of the Andhra Empire began about the end of the second century a.d., when the western and south-western
century
A.D.
provinces passed into the hands of another dynasty of Catakarnis,

the
'
Chutu
family, to
whom
the designation Andhra-bhrityas, or

is
servants of
the Andhras,'
specially applied.
About
the
sup-
middle of the third century

planted by the Abhiras
in
a.d.,
the
Chutu family was
the west and by the
Kadambas
in the
south-west, while the Cstavaliana family, which had continued to
hold Andhra-defa
in the east,
was succeeded by a Rajput dynasty.

rule, v.
;
For
the chief centres of
Andhra
List of Cities
No.
i,
Aniaravatl;
No.
12,
Pratishthana
and No. 16, Vaijayanti,
(pp. 172, 174, 175).
Anga,
Its capital
the Districts of
Monghyr and Bhagalpur
in
N. Bengal.
was Champa, near the modern town of Bhagalpur on
the Ganges.
NOTES ON GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA

Aparanta, the
lying between the
i6i
Western Border,' the ancient name of the

strip
Northern Konkan, the northern portion of the
of country
Western Ghats and the sea. Its capital was ûrparaka, the modern Sopara in the Thana District of Bombay.
Aryavarta, the
Asikni, the
'
'
Land of the Aryans,'
v. p. 50.
river
It
Black River,' the Vedic name of the

in Sanskrit the
which
is
was afterwards called
Chandrabhaga.
the
Acesines of the historians of Alexander and the modern Chenab.
Hesychius of Alexandria, the author of

lexicon (probably in the
fifth
celebrated
century a.d.) says that the
Chandrabhaga was changed by Alexander.

Sandrophagos,
it
In
its
'
Greek name Greek form,

Devourer of
might be interpreted to mean the

therefore preferred the older
Alexander.'
the
name Asikni, Greek form of which, Acesines, might be supposed to mean
He
the
Healer.'
V.
AvANTI,
MaLAVA.
No.
2
(p.
Ayodhya,
v. List of Cities,
172).
Bhrigu-kaccha, v. List of Cities, No. 3 (p. 172).
Brahmarshi-dea, the
p.
'
Country
of the
Holy
Sages,'
v.
50.
Brahmavarta,
the
'Holy Land,'
it
p.
51.
âkala, V. List of Cities, No. 4 (p. 172).

(j^llKYA,
one of the numerous Kshatriya clans living

is
in the
low-
lands at the foot of the Himalayas in what
now known
as the
Nepalese Tarai.
belonged.
Its
It
is
celebrated as the clan to which
Buddha
territory
was
bordered
on the north by the

was Kapila-
mountains, on the east by the river Rohiiil, and on the west and
south by the river Achiravati (Rapti).
vastu, in the
Its capital
neighbourhood of which was Lumbini-vana, or the

{v.
p.
'Grove of Lumbini,' where Buddha was born
67).
62
ANCIENT INDIA
an aristrocratic oligarchy owing some allegi-
The âkyas were

Champa,
ance probably to the kingdom of Kosala.

v.
Anga.
Chandrabhaga, v. AsiknT.
Charmanvatl, the
river
Chambal, the
largest tributary of the
Jumna.
Chedi, the name of a people mentioned
later times
in the
Rig-veda.
In
they occupied the northern portion of the Central
Provinces.
Chera,
v.
a
Kerala.
Chola,
Coromandel Coast receives

mentioned
Tamil people of Southern India from whom the (Coromandel = Sanskrit its name.
Chola-mandala, the 'Province of the Cholas').

in the inscriptions
They
are
of
Aôka
[c.
250
B.C.)
independent
peoples living beyond the limits of
among the the Maurya
Empire.
literature
traffic
They
occur also
in
the Mahabharata.
testifies
Other ancient
to the sea-borne
(Tamil, Greek, and Latin)
which was carried on between the Coromandel Coast and

Evidence of the trade with
afforded by the numerous
in various districts
Alexandria and thence to Europe.
Rome
is
Roman
coins
which have
been discovered
of Southern India.
Among
them has been found the gold piece which was Emperor Claudius (41-54 a.d. ) to commemorate
of Britain.
India and the
us
struck by the
the conquest
Further evidence of the trade between Southern
West
is
supplied by words.
0\xc pepper comes to

peperi.
from the Tamil pippali through the Greek

Cravastr, V. List of Cities,
No.
5 (p. 173).
in
CuRASENA, the region of Muttra

CiJrparaka, v.
the United Provinces.
Aparanta.
Cutudri, the Vedic
name
for the Sutlej, called
by the Greeks
'

Zadadrus or Zaradrus.
the Sutlej has changed
163
Like
its
all
the great rivers of the Punjab,

in
course
still
historical
times, and
some
it
of
its
deserted channels are
to be traced.
At
present
is
a tributary of the
Indus
but in the time
of Alexander the
the
Great
it
was probably an independent
river flowing into
Rann of Cutch.
Dakshinapatha,
Uttarapatha, the
the
Deccan,
the
'
Southern
as
Region
opposed to
(Sanskrit dakshina, Prakrit dakkhtm
6o\!it\\^)
Northern Region.'
v. List of Cities,
Dhanyakataka,
No.
p.
i.
Amaravatl
(p.
172).
Drishadvati, the 'Stony River,' v.
51.
Gandhara,
v. p. 81.
rivers
Ganga, the Ganges, the most celebrated of the sacred

of India.
It
is
only mentioned once directly
in
the Rig-veda,
and that
settlers
in a late passage.
This
fact indicates that the
Aryan
had not yet occupied the plain of the Ganges when the hymns of the Rig-veda were composed.
Girinagara, v. p. 149.
Girivraja, v.
Magadha.
still
Godavarl, the river of Southern India which
bears the
same name.
Gomati, the name
in
the
Rig-veda of the present
river
Gumal,
tributary of the
Indus.
Hastinapur, v. List of Cities, No. 6. Indraprastha (p. 173).
Himalaya, the
Himavant, the
reproduce
'
Abode of Snow,' called in the Rig-veda Snowy Mountain,' and by the Greeks Imaus,
'
Himaus, or Hemodus,
in
the
all more or less successful attempts to Greek alphabet the Prakrit equivalents of the
Vedic name.
Iravati, v, Parushni.
i64
Kaccha, the
name, though
to be a Prakrit
'
ANCIENT INDIA
Shore,' the country which
still
bears the same
it is
now
usually spelt Cutch.

<
The word
a girdle.'
seems
form of the Sanskrit kaksha,
KaI, the modern Benares, a small kingdom the possession

of which was sometimes
ful
in
dispute between
its
more powerat
neighbours Kosala
(Oudh) and Videha (Tirhut)

lived.
It
is
the
period
when Buddha
usually
associated
with
Kosala.
Kalinga, the country lying along the

between the
east coast
of India
Mahanadi
again
and
p.
the
;
Godavari.
Kalinga
was
conquered by A9oka [v.
lo6)
but on the decline of the

p.
Maurya Empire
it
became independent (v.
ii6).
Kamarupa, the
Kampilya,
v.
ancient
name of Assam.
Panchala.
Kapilavastu, v. (âkya.
Kau9ambr,
v.
Vatsa.
'
KaverT, the Cauvery River of Southern India, the
Ganges
of the South.'
Kerala,
also written
Chera, an ancient kingdom of Southern
India comprising the modern Malabar, Cochin, and Travancore.
The name
of A9oka.
of
its
king appears as Keralaputra
in
the inscriptions
KoNGU-DE(Â, the Districts of Salem and Coimbatore
in
the
Madras Presidency.
KosALA,
a
kingdom lying
It
is
to the east of
Panchala and to the

in
west of Videha.
the
modern Province of Oudh
the
United Provinces.
Its
chief cities were
Ayodhya
or Saketa
and
(^ravasti.
'
Krishna, the
Black River,' the modern Kistna,

Krivi, v. Panchala.
165
Krumu,
Kurram,
the
name
in
the
Rig-veda
for
the
modern
river
a western tributary of the

in the
Indus.
for the
Kubha, the name
Rig-veda
Kabul River.
KuRu,
Kurus
'
the
name
of the most important people of India in the
time of the Brahmanas.

(1;.
Kuru-kshetra, or the be described

as
Field of the
p.
47) may
the Eastern half of the
State of Patiala and the Delhi division of the Punjab.
The
holy land of BrahmSvarta lay within

west,
its
border on the north-
and
its
eastern limit
was formed by the River Jumna.

Their ancient
in
But the
far
territories
occupied by the Kurus extended to the east

of Kurukshetra.
capital
beyond the
limits
Hastinapura was situated on the Ganges

of the United Provinces.
the Meerut District
They
must, therefore, have occupied
the northern portion of the doab, or the region
between the
Jumna and
the
the Ganges, having as their neighbours on the east
North Panchalas, and on the south the South Pai^chalas, who

where the two
rivers
held the rest of the dosb as far as the land of the Vatsas, the
corner
meet
at
Prayaga
(Allahabad).
early
The Kurus and
Panchalas are
constantly
associated in
is
Sanskrit literature and the
name Kuru-Paiichala
capital
often used to
denote their united countries.
For the
later
and more celebrated

6, Indraprastha (p.
of the Kurus, v.
List of Cities,
No.
173).
in
Lanka sometimes
denotes Ceylon, and sometimes the city
the island which was the capital of the
demon Ravana, whose
abduction of Slta and subsequent destruction by
Rama form
part
of the story of the Ramayana.
LiccHAvi, V. Vai9alr.
Madhya-dea,
the
'
Middle Country,'
v. p. 50.
Magaoha, Southern
Bihar, the Districts of
Gaya and Patna
-i66
n Bengal, a
history
ANCIENT INDIA
kingdom of the
and
greatest political importance in the
of Ancient
Medieval
India.
The
rise
of the
Maurya Empire of Magadha is described in Chapter VII. Once again in later history did Magadha become the (p. 99). centre of a great empire, under the Gupta Dynasty, the establishment of which is marked by its era which begins in the year The ancient capital of Magadha was Girivraja or 3 9 A.D. Rajagriha, the site of which is marked by ruins at the village of
1
Rajgir in the Patna District.

for
The
11
later capital
was Pataliputra,
which
v. List of Cities
*
No.
(p.
174).
still
Mahanadi, the
It
Great River,' which
retains its
name.
flows through the Orissa Division of Bengal and was the
northern limit of the ancient kingdom of Kaliftga.
Maharashtra,
Poona,
Satara,
the
Maratha Country, the

the
Districts of Nasik,
in
and
Kolhapur
the
State
the
Bombay
are
Presidency.
(Sanskrit
The
inhabitants of this region are called Rathikas

in
Rashtrika)
inscriptions
of
Afoka and
associated with the Pitenikas or people of Paithan.
Malava. (i) Malwa

capital
in
Central
:
India.
It
was sometimes
its
divided into two kingdoms
Avanti or
W.
Malava with
Ujjayinl (Ujjain), and
Akara or E. Malava with
its
capital Vidifa (Bhilsa).
(2)
(Also
spelt
Malaya, or Malaya) a people

literature.
living in the
Punjab and known from Sanskrit
They
are the Malli
of the historians of Alexander the Great.
The name was

in different parts
probably that of a tribe which had settlements of India.

or
Maru,
the
Thar
Great Indian Desert of Rajputana.

Cities,
Mathura, v. List of
No. 9
(p.
174).
in
Matsya,
the
name of
a people
mentioned
the Rig-veda.
In the period of the Mahabharata they lived to the south of the

Kurus and
the
to the
167
is
west
of the Curasenas.
in
Their country
modern State of Alwar
Rajputana and some adjacent
districts.
Mithila, V. List of Cities,
No. lo
(p.
174).
Narmada, the modern
river
Narbada.
NisHADHA, an ancient kingdom on the south of the Vindhya

Mountains.
It lay to the It
is
south of Malava and to the north-
west of Vidarbha.
in the
best
known
as the
realm of King Nala,
Story of Nala,' an episode of the Mahabharata.

a
Pallava,
people of Southern India having as their capital
Kanchi (Conjeeveram).
PaSchala, a people who appear
Krivis mentioned
in
to
be identical with the

suggest
the Rig-veda.
The name would

divided
that they were a confederation of five tribes (Sanskrit paficha,

'five').
In
history
they
are
sometimes
into
two
kingdoms
South
to
Paiichala, the
the
east
country between the Jumna
and Ganges
Curasenas,
and south-east of the

Panchala,
districts
Kurus and
the
and
North
east
of
United
Provinces lying
of the Ganges
and north-west of the

of South
Province
of Oudh.
The
capital
Panchala was
Kampilya,
the
now
represented by ruins
at
the village of
Kampil
in
Farrukhabad District.
It appears in
the Mahabharata as
the capital of
King Drupada, the
father of
Krishna or Draupadi,
who became
of North
the wife of the five sons of
Pandu.
The
capital
in
Panchala
was Ahicchatra,
a
also
mentioned
the
Mahabharata and now

,near the village of
ruined
site
still
bearing the same
name
v.
Ramnagar
are
in the Bareilly District.
The
KuRU.
Panchalas
often
associated
with
the
Kurus
Madura and Tinnevelly
Pandya, an ancient people occupying the modern Districts of They in the extreme south of India.
68
ANCIENT INDIA
by Greek and Latin authors
in his edicts.
are mentioned
and also by the
Emperor Afoka
Paropanisus,
for the
sometimes written Paropamisus, the Greek Hindu Kush which was also sometimes called the Indian Caucasus. It is the Greek form of Paruparesanna, the name which the people of this region bear in the Babylonian
name
and Susian versions of the

{v. p. 84).
inscription
of Darius at
Behistun
Parushni, the name

called
in later Sanskrit
in
the
Rig-veda of the
river
which
It
is
is
Iravatl, the
It
is
modern Ravi.
the
in
Hydraotes of the Greeks.
celebrated in the Rig-veda
connexion with the victory of Sudas over the ten kings.

Pataliptura, v. List of Cities,
No. 11
(p.
174).
Pratishthana, v. List of Cities, No. 12 (p. 174).
PraySga,
1;.
List of Cities, No. 13 (p. 175).
Rajagriha, v.
Magadha.
Rohinl, v. Cakya.
Sac'aoira, v.
Videha.
'
Samatata, the
Even Shore,'
the
ancient
name of the
Ganges
delta.
'
Sarasvati, the
River ot Lakes,' v.
p. 51.
Sindhu, the ancient name of the Indus, the

India derives
its
river
from which
name
[v. p. 24).
Sindhu-SauvIra, the
lower valley
of the
Indus, approxiparts of the
mately the modern Province of Sind.
The two
compound
are often used separately as
names having much the
same meaning.
Sipra, V. List of Cities,
No.
15.
Ujjayini (p. 175).
SuRASHTRA, the
'
Good Kingdom,' Kathiawar
and a part of

Gujarat
in
169
modern
Western India.
The name
survives in the
name
Surat.
'
SuvSstu, the
River of
Good
Dwellings,' the name
in
the
Rig-veda
for the
Swat, a tributary of the Kabul River.
Tak.sha9ila, v. List of Cities,
No. 14
(p.
175)a
Tamraparni.
In
(i)
the Sanskrit
name of
Pali
town
in
Ceylon,
island.
in
is
sometimes used in a wider sense

this
latter
to denote the
its
whole
sense
it
occurs in
in
form Tambapaiini
Buddhist
literature
and
the inscriptions of
A9oka.
(2)
It
known
to
Greek and Latin
writers as Taprobane.
Tsm-
braparni, a river in the Tinnevelly Dist. of
Madras.
river
Tap!, the
Sanskrit
name of the modern
Tapti
in
Western India.
Ujjayinr, v. List of Cities,
Vaiâlr, the
No. 15
in the
(p.
175).
modern Basarh
ancient site
Hajlpur subdivision which
occupies the south-western corner of the MuzafFarpur District
of Bengal.
ruins
is
The
is
marked by
pillar
lion.
large
and by a magnificent uninscribed
of
mound of A9oka which
surmounted by the figure of a
It
is
described by the
visited the spot
Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, Hiuen Tsiang,

early in the seventh century a.d.
who
In the sixth
century
B.C.
Vai9alT was the seat of a small but powerful aristocratic oligarchy
of nobles belonging to the Licchavi clan which seems to have
been a branch of the Vriji
tribe.
The
Vrijis formed a con-
federacy, and the country of the Vrijis seems to have included
not only Vai9alr but also the larger adjoining realm of Videha.
at Kundapura, the modern Basukund, a suburb of Vai9alr, Vardhamana Jnataputra, the founder of Jainism, was born. and it was Vai9ali was famous also in the annals of Buddhism
It
was
that
here that the Second Buddhist Council
was held a hundred
years after Buddha's death for the purpose of correcting ceruin
170
ANCIENT INDIA
community.
VaifalT, situated near the opposite bank of
abuses which had grown up in the doctrine and practices of the

religious
the Ganges, was a standing menace to Pataliputra and stood in

the
way of
the expansion of the
kingdom of Magadha.
It
was
accordingly reduced to submission by Ajatafatru, the king of
Magadha,
shortly after
Buddha's death.
for
The
removal of
of the
this
obstacle cleared the

influence of
way
the
extension
political
Magadha
not only over Videha (Tirhut) but also

is
over Kosala (Oudh), and
therefore an important fact in the
growth of the empire of Magadha.

VaijayantI, v. List of Cities,
No. i6
(p.
175).
It
Vanga, the old form of the modern name Bengal.

denoted the western and central
viz. Murshidabad,
districts
of the present province,
Blrbhum, Burdwan, and Nadia.

(1;.
Vatsa, the region of Prayaga

Allahabad
in
List of Cities, No. 13), or

Its capital

identified,
was Kau9ambr
which has been
though not with absolute certainty,
with Kosam, the name borne by two adjacent villages
(Kosam
Inam and Kosam Khiraj)
in the
Allahabad District.
ViDARBHA, the modern Berar,

Provinces.
It
now
attached to the Central

the
father
was the kingdom

'
of Bhima,
of
DamayantT, the heroine of the of a war between Magadha

Kalidasa's
historical
Story of Nala.'
The
is
tradition
in
and
Vidarbha
preserved
drama
Malavikagnimitra
[c.
400
a.d).
Kalidasa, like Shakespeare, was probably careless about details
of ancient history or geography
and some of the information
which we derive from the Malavlkagnimitra is no doubt inexact. If we may correct and supplement this information from other
we may suppose that early in the second century B.C., when the ûnga king Pushyamitra was reigning over Magadha with his son Agnimitra as yiceroy of the Province
sources,
of Malava, there
was
war between Malava and Vidarbha,
) ;

which was
Empire.
ViDEHA, Tirhut or Northern Bihar.
It
at
171
Andhra
that period probably a province of the
probably comprised
in
the districts of Champaran, MuzafFarpur, and Darbhanga
the
Province of Bengal.
In
its
south-west corner (the Hajipur

little
subdivision of the MuzafFarpur District) lay the

Vaifalr.
state
of
Videhawas
the
separated from
Ganges, and from

probably
Kosala
Magadha (S. Bihar) by the (Oudh) by the river SadanFra,

It
Great
Gandak.
was the realm
of
King
Its
Janaka, the father of Sita, the heroine of the Ramayana.

capital
was Mithila.
Vidi95, V.
Malava.
of
the
Vipa9 or Vipaga, the Hyphasis
Greeks and
the
modern Beas.
Vindhya, the range
It
is
of
mountains
in
still
bearing the same name.

as
usually regarded
Sanskrit
literature
the
natural
boundary between Northern and Southern India.

Vitasta, the
name
use
in
the
Rig-veda
for
the
Hydaspes
to
of
Alexander's historians and the modern river Jhelum.

classical
Latin
writers
'
Hydaspes,'
like
Britain,'
denote
some
e.g.
far
remote region on the confines of the habitable world

I.
Horace [Odes
xxii)
quas loca fabulosus
Lambit Hydaspes.
These geographical references

as, for
are not always strictly correct,

'
example, Virgil's
Medus Hydaspes
[Georgics,
iv.
21
1
which would place the

Vfiiji, v. Vai9ali.
river in Persia.
Yamuna,
Ganges.
that period
It
the
is
'
Twin
River,' the
Jumna, the
in
sister
of the
mentioned three times
the
Rig-veda.
At
it
probably marked the extreme limit to which the
Aryan
settlements had yet extended.
172
ANCIENT INDIA
NUMERALS
village in
LIST OF CITIES INDICATED BY

IN
1.
THE MAP
*
(at the End)

the Immortals,' a
Amaravati,
Guntfir
the
Abode of
of
the
District
it
River.
Near
Madras on the Krishna (Kistna) stood Dhanyakataka (Dharanikotta) one of

*
the capitals
of Andhra-defa,
is
the Country of the Andhras.'
Amaravati
famous
for
its
Buddhist stupa, once probably the

India, but
its
most magnificent of
all
the
monuments of
now
ruined
by the vandalism of modern times.
Some of
sculptures in
white marble are preserved on the great staircase of the British
Museum and
others in the the the
Madras Museum.
2. Ayodhya, Gogra River in

It
modern Ajodhya, a sacred town on the Fyz5b3d District of the United Provinces.
kingdom of Kosala (Oudh), and the
father of
is
was the
capital of the
residence of
the
King Da9aratha, the
Rama
the hero of
Ramayana.
Buddhist
Oudh (Awadh)
literature
simply the modern form of
the name.
In
Saketa
appears
cities
as
the
capital
of
Kosala, and as one of the largest
of India.
It has
been
supposed that either Saketa and

they were adjacent
3.
cities like
Ayodhya were identical London and Westminster.

'
or that
Bhrigu-kaccha, 'the Shore of Bhrigu
legendary king,
later spelt
Bharu-kaccha, the Greek Barugaza and the modern
Broach,
town
in the
Bombay Presidency
In ancient times
in the
it
near the
mouth of the
Narmada (Narbada).
4.
was
a famous sea-port.
Cakala, the modern Sialkot
Lahore Division of the
Punjab, was the capital of the Madras

later
who
tor
are
known
in the
Vedic period (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad).

'
(âkala-dvipa,
or the
island
'
of Cakala, was the

the
name
the dodb, or land
lying
between
two
rivers
Chandrabhaga
(Chenab)
and
Iravatl (Ravi).
(îkAa. was the capital, or one of the capitals,

of the Greek kings of the
173
House of Euthydemus, and

p.
the residence
of Menander (Milinda) (v.
130).
After the invasion of the

fifth
Hijnas (Huns)
in
the
last
quarter of the
his
century a.d.,
it
became the
5.
capital of
Toramana and
son Mihirakula.
modern Set Mahet in the Gonda District of kingdom of Kosala intimately associated with the teaching of Buddha. Many of his discourses are said to have been delivered while he was residing there in the
(^ravasti, the
Oudh,
a city of the
monastery of the Jetavana,

chased
for
a large
park which had been pur-
him from
Prince
price
Anathapindika.
The
edge
by the wealthy merchant was represented by the number of

Jeta
(i>.
the square coins of the period
Plate II.
1),
which when
placed
edge to
is
sufficed
to
cover
the
ground.
This
purchase
sttJpa at
the subject of a bas-relief on the great Buddhist

in
Bharhut,
the
Nagod
State of Central India.
6.
Indraprastha, the
capital
second
in
of the Kurus.
modern Indarpat near Delhi, was the According to the story told
blind king,
the Mahabharata, the
Dhritarashtra,
with his
hundred
Pandus,
prastha.
sons, continued to rule at the old capital Hastinapura

his
on the Ganges, while he assigned to

a
district
nephews,
the
five
on the Jumna where they founded
Indra-
The
'
Field of the Kurus,'
or the region of Delhi,
was the scene of the subsequent war between the Kurus and the Pandus when, according to the epic in its present form, all the
nations of India
were ranged on one side or the other

it
and
it
has been the great battlefield of India ever since, as
forms a
narrow
strip
of habitable country lying between the Himalayas every invading army

this strategical
and the Indian Desert through which
from the Punjab must force

emperors,
its
way.
Because of
importance Delhi became the capital of India under the Mughal
who came
into India
by land from the north-west.
The
British,
on the other hand, who came by sea made their
earliest capitals near the coast.
174
7.
ANCIENT INDIA
KanchI, the modern Conjeeveram [Kanchi-puram)
District
in the
Chingleput
Pal lavas.
8.
of Madras.
It
was the
capital
of the
Kanyakubja,
the
modern
Kanauj
in
the
Farrukhabad
famous
in
District of the
United Provinces, an ancient
city
Indian history.
The
the
fanciful derivation of
its
name from
book
of
the
two Sanskrit words, hanya 'a maiden' and hubja 'hunchback,'

gave
rise
to
legend,
told
in
the
first
the
Ramayana, of the hundred daughters of King Kufanabha who were condemned to this deformity by the curse of the rishi
Vayu
story
as a
is
punishment
for declining his offer
of marriage.
The
King
also told,
with variations, by
the
Chinese
court
Buddhist
of
pilgrim,
Hiuen
Tsiang,
at
who
retains
visited
in the
the
Harshavardhana
9.
Kanauj early
still
seventh century a.d.
Mathura, which
is
written Muttra,
a city in the
capital
its ancient name now usually Agra Division of the United
Provinces.
It
was the
of the (^firasenas, and, as being

it
the birthplace of the
god Krishna,
was held sacred by the
Hindus.
It
was governed by
their
native princes,
whose names
are
it
known from
Caka
Plate
satraps,
coins,
in
the second
century B.C., and
passed from them into the possession of one of the families of

c.
100
b.c.
(i'.
the
IV, and
it
the note on p.
158).
Lion Capital of Mathura on Under the Kushana
Empire
10.
was an important
religious centre of the Jains.
kingdom of Videha (Tirhut or N. Bihar) and the residence of King Janaka, the father of Sita the heroine of the Ramayana.
Mithila, the capital of the
11.
Pataliputra, the
modern Patna,
It
is
the capital of
Magadha
visited
under the Maurya Empire.

the
described by
Megasthenes,
the court of Chandragupta,

12.
Pratishtliana, the
Greek ambassador of Seleucus, king of Syria, who c. 300 b.c. [v. p 102).
modern Paithan on the Godavarj
in

the
175
It
Aurangabad District of the Nizam's Dominions.
was
the capital of the western provinces of the

13.
It
is
Andhra Empire.
Prayaga, the modern Allahabad
in
the sacred region
where Ganges and Jumna meet.

Taxila
of the
14.
Taksha9ila,
the
Greeks.
i
Its
site
is
marked by miles of
'
ruins near
in
Shahdheri or Dher
Shahan, the
Mound
of the Kings,'
the Rawalpindi District of the Punjab.
was the most celebrated University town of Ancient India where students learnt 'the three Vedas (Rig, Yajur, and Saman)
It
and the eighteen

the Great
arts.'
The
district
of Tkashafila sometimes
in
formed an independent kingdom,

;
as
the days of
Alexander
but
it is
often regarded as a province of the
kingdom
of Gandhara.
15.
Ujjayini,
is
on the Sipr5, a tributary of the CharmanvatI

in
(Chambal), the modern Ujjain

was the
the
capital
Gwalior, Central India.
It
of Avanti or
W.
Malava, and the residence of
the viceroy of the western provinces both under the
Maurya and
a great
Gupta Empires.
centre.
commercial
Owing to Here met

its
its
position
it
became
the
three
routes,
from
the
Western Coast with

Kosala
sea-ports
ûrparaka
(Sopara)
and
in
Bhrigukaccha (Broach), from the Deccan, and from CravastT
(Oudh).
It
was
also
great centre of science
and
first
literature.
The
Hindu
astronomers
reckoned
their
meridian of longitude from Ujjayini, and the dramas of Kalidasa
were performed on the occasion of the Spring Festival before

viceregal court,
16.
c.
its
400
the
a.d.
VaijayantI,
modern
Banavasi
It
in
the
N.
It
Kanara
of the
afterit
District of the
Bombay
Presidency.
was the
capital
south-western provinces of the
Andhra Empire.
was
wards held by the Chutu family of Catakarnis and from them

passed to the Kadambas.
SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY
GENERAL SURVEYS
The
Imperial Gazetteer of India (new edition)
:
The
Indian
Empire, Vol.
II. Historical.
Oxford, 1908.
A., Archeology of
Pp
1-88.
Fleet, J. F., Epigraphy.
Pp. IOI-134. Pp. 135-154.

Pp. 155-205. Pp. 206-269.
Literature.
Smith, V.
the
Historical Period.
Smith, V. A., Numismatics.

Burgess,
J., Architecture.
Macdonell,
A.
A.,
Sanskrit
Pp.
270-302.
Smith,
V.
A., Early
History
of
Northern India.
Gazetteer of the
I.
i.
Bombay
Presidency.
Bombay, 1896.
1-147.
Gujarat.
Pp.
Bhagvanlal
Indraji,
Early
History
of
I.
ii.
Bombay, 1896.
132-275.
Dekkan,
Bhandarkar,
Pp.
R.
G.,
History
of the
(Second
Pp. 277-584.
Districts.
edition.
Bombay, 1895.)
Fleet, J. F., Dynasties of the Kanarese
Grundriss der
Strassburg.
I.
indo-arischen
Philologie
und Altertumskunde.
II. Biihler,
G., Indische Paldographie, 1896.
176
SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY
II.
I
177
and
the
a.
Bloomfield,
M.,
1
The
899.
Atharvaveda
Gopaiha-Brahmana,
II. 3b.
Rapson, E.
J.,
Indian Coins, 1897.

Strassburg.
II.
Grundriss der iranlschen
Philologie.
Band.
Litteratur, Geschichte
Pp.
54-74.
Inschriften.
und Kultur, 1896-1904. Weissbach, F. H., Die altpersischen

Geiger,
Justi,
Pp. 371-394.
Pp.
W.,
F.,
Geographie von Iran.

Geschichte
395-550.
Irans
von
den
d/testen Zeiten bis
zum Ausgang
der Sasaniden.
THE LITERATURES OF ANCIENT INDIA

Hopkins, E. W., The Great Epic of India. New York, 1901. Kaegi, A., The Rigveaa. (English trans, by Arrowsmith.)
Boston, 1886.
Macdonell, A. A.,
[900.
A History
Indiens
of Sanskrit Literature.
Literatur und Cultur.
London,
Leipzig,
von Schroeder,
1887.
L.,
Winternitz, M., Geschichte der indischen Litteratur.

I.
Band.
die
Einleitung
Der Veda Die
Leipzig.
volkstUmlichen
Epen
und
II.
Puranas.
Erste
(Zweite Ausgabe.)
Halfte.
1909.
Litteratur,
Band,
Die Buddhistische
HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY,
AND ANTIQUITIES
(Bactria)
Gardner, P., The Coins of the Greek and Scythic Kings of Bactria
and
India.
(British
Museum
Catalogue.)
London,
1886.
Rawlinson,
H. G.,
Bactria.
London, 1912.
178
ANCIENT INDIA
(Persia, Syria, and Parthia)
Paris,
Babelon, E., Les Perses Achemenides.

,
1893.
Les
Ro'is de Syrie.
Paris, 1890.
Bevan, E. R., The House of Sdeucus.
London, 1902.
Tiibingen, 1888.
Sculptures
von Gutschmid, A.,

King, L.
tions
Gesch'tchte Irans.
W., & Thompson, R. C, The

of Darius the Great on
the
and
in
Inscrip-
Rock of Behistun
Persia.
London, 1907.
Rawlinson, G., The five great Monarchies of the ancient Eastern
World.
,
Fourth Edition, Vol. III.

sixth great Oriental
The
Monarchy.
London, 1879. London, 1873.

Parthia.
(British
Worth,
W. W., Catalogue of the Coins of Museum Catalogue.) London, 1903.

(India)
Barnett, L. D., Antiquities of India.

Biihler, J.
London, 191
3.
G.,
&
Burgess, J., The Indian Sect of the Jainas.
London, 1903.
Cunningham, A., Coins of Ancient India.
,
London, 1891.
East.
Coins of Alexander
s Successors in the
1
(Reprinted
from the Numismatic Chronicle,

1873-
868-1873.)
London,
the
Coins of the Indo- Scythians. (Reprinted from Numismatic Chronicle, i 888-1892.) London, 1892.
,
Coins of the Later Indo-Scythians.
Reprinted from
the Numismatic Chronicle, 1893-4.)
Davids, T.
The Ancient Geography of India. W. Rhys, Ancient Coins and Measures of London, 1877.
,
London, 1894. London, 1871.

Ceylon,
Buddhist India.
London, 1903.
Duff, Miss C.
M.
(Riclimers,
Mrs W. R.), The
Chronology
oj
India from the

century.
earliest times to the beginning
of the sixteenth
Westminster, 1899.
SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Elliot,
179
W., Coins of Southern India. London, 1886. Foucher, A., Notes sur la Geographie anc'tenne du Gandhara.
(
Reprinted from the Bulletin de I'Ecole Franfaise d' Extreme
Orient.)
Hanoi, 1892.
or the Great Chronicle of Ceylon.
Geiger,
W., The Mahavamsa,
Oxford, 1912.
JopTpen,C, Historical îlas of India.
1914.
Liiders, H.,
to
Third
edition.
London,
^ List of Brahmi
Calcutta, 19 10.
Inscriptions from the earliest times
about A.D. 400.
(Appendix
to Vol. x. of the Epigraphia
Indica.)
Macdonell, A. A,, and Keith, A. B., Vedic Index of Names
and
Subjects.
London, 191 2.
Purana.
(Translated into
Calcutta, 1904.
Pargiter, F.
E., The Markandeya
English with geographical notes.)
Rapson, E.
J.,
Catalogue of the Coins of the
Andhra Dynasty,
Paris,
etc.
(British
Museum
Catalogue.)
London, 1908.
188 1 -6.
edition.
Senart, E., Les Inscriptions de Piyadasi.
Smith, V. A., The Early History of India.
Second
Oxford, 1908.
,
Asoka.
Second
edition.
Oxford, 1909.
Zimmer, H.,
Altindisches Leben, Berlin, 1879.
(India as described by
Greek and Latin Writers)

London, 19 10.
from the
Indian
Holdich, T., The Gates
of India.
M'Crindle,
J.
W.,
1877.
Ancient India as described by Megasthenes
and Arrian.
Calcutta,
,
(Reprinted
Antiquary.)
The Commerce and Navigation of

Ancient
the Erythrtean
Sea.
(Reprinted from the Indian Antiquary.)

,
Calcutta, 1879.
the
i.)
India
as
described by
Ktesias
Knidian.
Calcutta,
(Reprinted from the Indian Antiquary, 188
1882.
i8o
M'Crindle,
J.
ANCIENT INDIA
W.,
Ancient
India
as
described
by
Ptolemy,
Calcutta,
(Reprinted from the Indian Antiquary, 1884.) 1885.

,
The Invasion of India

Westminster,
India
as
i
by Alexander the Great.
Second
edition.
,
896.
in
Ancient
described
Classical
Literature.
Westminster,
190 1.
OUTLINES OF CHRONOLOGY
It must be understood that many of the dates given are only
approximately correct.
I200-I000.
1000-800.
Earliest
Vcdic hymns.
of
the
Period
Vedic
collections
Rig-veda,
Atharva-
Sama-veda,
veda.
Yajur-veda,
and
800600.
600.
Period of the Brahmanas.
The
earliest
Upanishads.
the
660583.
Zoroaster,
founder
of the
religion
of the
Avesta.
600-200.
599-527. 563-483.
558-530.
Period of the Sutras.
Vardhamana Jnataputra, the founder of Jainism. Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism.
Cyrus, king of Persia.
The
reign.
conquest of Gandhara took place
in
his
543-491.
Bimbisara, king of Magadha, contemporary with
Buddha.
522-486.
Darius
I,
king of Persia.
The
'
expedition of Scylax and the conquest of
India,'
= the
c.
country of the Indus, took place in

B.C.
his reign,
510
491-459.
400300.
Ajata9atru, king of
Magadha, contemporary with
Buddha.
Period of the Mahabharata.
Period of the RamSyana.
18X
400-200.
82
B.C.
ANCIENT INDIA
The Nanda
dynasty of Magadha.
343-321. 336-323.
331.
Alexander the Great, king of Macedon.
The battle of Gaugamela. The Persian empire and,

provinces
in
theory,
its
Indian
come under
the sway of Alexander the
Great.
327325. 321-184.
321-297.
Indian expedition of Alexander the Great.
The Maurya
Maurya
dynasty of Magadha.
king of Magadha,
empire.
Chandragupta,
founder of the
312-280.
Seleucus Nicator, king of Syria.
The
305.
Seleucid era dates from the beginning of
his reign.
Invasion of the Punjab by Seleucus Nicator.
297-269. 285-258.
Bindusara, king of
Magadha and Maurya emperor.

of Egypt,
Magas, king of Cyrene, contemporary with Aôka.
285-247.
277-239.
272.
Ptolemy Philadelphus, king

with Aôka.
contemporary
Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedon, contemporary

with Afoka.
Accession of Alexander, king of Epirus, contemporary with Afoka. Afoka, king of Magadha and Maurya emperor.
269-227.
The
from
dates in
Afoka's
inscription are
b.c.
reckoned
his coronation in
264
261-246.
256.
Antiochus II Theos, king of Syria, contemporary

with A9oka.
Conquest of Kalinga by Afoka

after his coronation.
in
the ninth year
250.
Establishment
of
the
kingdom
of
Bactria
by
Diodotus, and of the kingdom of Parthia by

Arsaces.
247-207.
Tissa, king of Ceylon, contemporary with
Ajoka.
B.C.
183
246.
Introduction of
Buddhism
of
into
Ceylon by Mahendra
supplants the house
(Mahinda).
230.
Euthydemus, king
of Diodotus.
Bactria,
320.
Establishment of the Andhra power (Câtavahana

dynasty).
209.
Invasion
of Bactria
III
B.C.).
and
the
the
Kabul
king
Valley
by
Antiochus
Great,
of
Syria
(223-187
200-100.
ruling in
Graeco- Indian kings of the house of Euthydemus
N.W.
India.
The
Indian conquests of the Graeco- Bactrian

in
kings began
the reign of
Euthydemus
(r.
200
B.C.
They were extended

dhara, and
'
over the Kabul Valley,
Gan-
India
'
= the
country of the Indus, by
Demetrius
of
its
(f.
195 B.C.).
This house was deprived
possessions in Bactria, in the
Kabul Valley,
(r.
and
in
Gandhara by Eucratides
Punjab.
Subsequently, the chief centre of

the E.
after
its
175 power
b.c.)
lay in
The
chief princes of this house
Demetrius were Apollodotus, Menander, and

dynasty of
the Stratos.
184-72.
The Cunga The first

is
Magadha and Malava.

Magadha,
It
king, Pushyamitra, ruled over
with his son, Agnimitra, as viceroy of Ma'ava.

possible that
the
king
Bhagabhadra, who had
political relations
with Antialcidas, a Grasco-Indian
king of the house of Eucratides,
may have been
the
Cunga viceroy of Malava

175-25.
Grseco-Indian
ruling in
134). kings of the house of Eucratides

(p.
N.W.
India.
Eucratides wrested the Kabul Valley and
Gan-
dhara from the house of Euthydemus
and kings of
84
B.C.
ANCIENT INDIA
his
house held these provinces together with possesBactria until the Câka invasion of Bactria
B.C.), after
sions in
[c.
135
which
their
rule
was confined
to
territories
south
of the Hindu
Kush.
They
were deprived of Gandhara by the (âkas c. 100 B.C., and of the Kabul Valley by the Kushanas
c.
The immediate successors of Eucratides 25 B.C. The last king of were Heliocles and Antialcidas.
this
house was Hermasus.

I.,
1 71-138.
Mithradates
king of Parthia.
in the reign
He
150.
135.
100.
invaded Bactria
of Eucratides.
Kharavela, king of Kalinga.
The Caka invasion of Bactria. The âka invasion of N.W. India. The Cakas conquered the Punjab from
the
Graeco-Indian kings of the house of Euthydemus
and Gandhara from the Grasco-Indian kings of the

house of Eucratides.
58.
Initial year
of the Vikrama
era.
The
establishment of this era marks the defeat

in
of the Qakas
Malava by
a king
who
is
known
as
Vikramaditya.
50.
A Pahlava
in
dynasty (the family of Vonones) ruling

India.
N.W.
The
are
precise relations of the Pahlavas (the family
of Vonones) to the Câkas (the family of Maues)

uncertain
;
but there was undoubtedly

It
is
some
connexion between them.
probable that the

for centuries in
two peoples had been

the
eastern
associated
provinces
(Drangiana
= Seistan
and
Aracho8ia= Kandahar) of the Persian and Parthian empires. The appearance of the family of Vonones
in
India seems to denote the extension to India of
B.C.
185
Parthian
power
already
established
in
these
eastern provinces.
25.
Conquest of the Kabul Valley by the Kushana chief

Kujula Kadphises.
The
Kujula
evidence of coins
seems to indicate that
Kadphises
was
contemporary
with
the
Roman emperor Augustus

conquest
of
in
the
last
His (27 B.C.-14 a.d. ). remaining Grasco-Indian
kingdom
to
the
Kabul Valley marks the beginning
of the extension of the Kushana power from Bactria

India. During the period of his rule in the Kabul Valley, Gandhara, the Punjab, and Sind
still
were
A.D.
held by the Pahlavas and the Cakas.
21-50.
Gondopharnes, Pahlava king of
N.W.
India.
The
Pahlava power
culminated and
this
probably
began to decline under
king.
His Takht-iin
Bhai inscription shows that he ruled

and,
if its
Gandhara,
reigning
dates are correctly interpreted, that he

in
began to reign
in
a.d.
and was
still
30.
47 A.D. Wima Kadphises, Kushana king.
The
began in
78.
extension of the Kushana power from the

to
'
Kabul Valley
India
'
the
country of the Indus,
his reign.
Kanishka, Kushana king.
The Caka
it
era, so called at a later
date because
was used
for
more than three
centuries by the
Caka kings of
Surashtra, originally satraps of the
Kushanas, probably marks the establishment of the
Kushana empire under Kanishka.
INDEX
Important references are separatedfrom the rest by a semicolon.
AbhIra, i6o Acesines = Chandrabhaga = Chenab = Asikni, y.-y. Achiravatl = R5ptI, i6i Agoka, Maurya emperor, 104109; 118 contemporary Hellenic sovereigns
Ajataâtru (1) king of Ka^l, 62 (2) king of Magadha, 170 Ajivikas, Jain ascetics, iio
Akbar, Mughal emperor, 103 Alexander the Great, king
ot
Macedon
mentioned
in
his
edicts, 21
sent missionaries to Hellenic
kingdoms, 108
erected
a
pillar
to
mark
Buddha's birthplace, 67, 106 conquest of Kalinga, 116 extent of his dominions, 20, 107
religious toleration in his reign, 112 his heir-apparent mentioned in his edicts, 109
invasion of the Punjab, 88-96 24, 120 historians, 89, 90; 20, 127 continued the Persian system of government by satraps, 95-6; 141 no traces of his invasion left in Indian literature or in;
stitutions, 97, 134
division
of
the
Macedonian
empire after his death, loi Alexander, king of Epirus, 21 Alexandria-sub-Caucasum, 89

alphabets, ancient, their decipher-
grandson Daâratha, iio Girnar inscription, 149

his
u. also inscriptions as sources
of history
aframa, 59 Acts of St Thomas, 145
126 Cuneiform, Brahml, Kharoshthi, Greek Amaravati, 172 Amitrochates = Skt. Amitraghata,
ment,
1).
18, 19, 82,
also
A^vaka, 152
Aqvins, 80
a title of Bindusnra, 103 Anabasis of Alexander, 90, 94
Adhvaryu, 46 Agni=:Lat, ignis, 42 Agnimitra, ûnga king. Viceroy of Malava, 114, 170
Ahicchatra, capital of N. Panchala, 167 ^;>ya = Aryan, 5 Aitareya Brahmana, 54, 159
Anathapindika, 173 Andhra, people and

116-7, 159-60
kingdom,
Andhra-bhiitya family of Andhra

kings, 160 Aiiga, 160 Antialcidas, Graeco-Indian king of the house of Eucratides, 134, 157 coin of, 153
187

i88
ANCIENT INDIA
Assyria, 79 astronomy,
king of Antigonus Gonatas, Macedon, ii of Syria, Antiochus I Soter, king

103
Hindu
and
Greek,
Antiochus
II
Theos, king of Syria,
I3 Atharva-veda, 49, 50; 81 Athene, figure of, v, coin-types

atman, 59, 61
21, 107, 118, 150 Antiochus III the Great, king of Syria his invasion of the Kabul
:
Audambara, coin
Augustus,
Aurora, 43
of,
154-5
Roman
24
;
emperor, 122
166, 175
Valley,
19-21
Avanti=W. Malava,
Avesta, 30
;
Aornos, 91-2 Aparanta, 161
4,
ApoUodotus, Graeco-Indian king of thehouseof Euthydemus, 128,

Arachosia = Kandahar, _ H, 144
130. '33' 141, ^SS 88,
Ayasi-KomQsa, 158 Ayodhya, 171 115

Azes, (âka king, 144
138,
Aranyakas, 58-9
arhat, 57 Aria, 88 Arrian, 90, 94 Arsaces, first king of Parthia, 118 Artabanus I, king of Parthia, 119 Artabanus II, king of Parthia, 137 Artaxerxes II Mnemon, king of
Babylon, Babylonia, 79, 80, loi Babylonian language, 82. 84, 168 Bactria = Balkh, occupied by Per sian Aryans, 30 conquered by Alexander the Great, 89 Hellenic kingdom, 118-120, 124; 122.3, 134
its coins, 120, 125 transference of Greek rule to
Persia, 83
Artha-fastra,
artha-vada,
1
India, 125
03
5
yTrya
= Aryan,
:
53
Aryan group of Indo-European

family Persians and Indians, 29-31,43 migration into India, 31, 40: 26 progress of civilization, 31-33 civilization depicted in Rig-veda, 40-46 Yajur-veda, 46-49 Atharva-veda, 49, 50 languages, 29-31 kings of Mitanni with Aryan names, 80 non-Brahmanical Aryans, 55 Aryavarta, 50 Asiknl = Chandrabhaga = Aceiines = Chenab, 161 92 Assakenoi, 152 Assam = Kamarnpa, 164
;
Parthian invasion, 126 Câka invasion, 127 125,137 Yueh-chi occupation, 127, 128 Baluchistan, v. Gedrosia Barnett, Prof. L. D. 157 Barugaza = Broach = Bhrigukaccha, q.v. Beas = Hyphasis = VipaqorVipaga,
;
,
g.v.
Behistun,
inscriptions
ot
Darius
168 Benares =:Ka9i, 164 Bengal = Vanga, 170 Bengal, Asiatic Society of, 6
at, 82, 84,
Besnagar
column, 156
inscription, 134, 157
Bhadra or Bhadraka, (ûiiga king, 134 Kaciputra, king Bhagabhadra,

reigning at Besnagar, 134, 157 Bhagvanlal Indraji, Pandit, 142. 158
INDEX
Bharata, 25
its
189
retention
in
Ceylon and
Bharata or Bharata-vaisha, 25 Bharhut j;/T/>a, 115, 173 Bhima, king of Vidarbha, 170 Bhrigu-kaccha or Bhriru-kaccha = Barugaza = Broach, 129, 130,
172. '75 bilingual coins, 18-9. 125-6, 152-5 Bindusiira, A-Iaurya emperor, 103 Bloch, Dr, 157 Boian Pass, 140 Bopp, Franz, z
Nepal, 108, 109 Burgess, l)r James, 149
ÂKAs (Scythians),
147
132,
136-44,
ii8,
invasion of Bactria, 127
120
Qaka era, 22, 144, 147 âka princes and satraps

dhara), 133, 141-2
Kapija and Takshacila (Gan-
Brahman (Brahmana)
59
its literature, 8,
caste,
45,
Mathura, 130, 142-3, 174 Malava, 143-4

Surashtra, 147 Qakala = Sialkot, 130, 172 âkasthana=:Seistnn, 137-8; 140, 144
(âkya, 66, i6i
11
Brnhmanas, 53-9; 76
language, ii, 55-6 geography, 56 religion, 57-8 Brahmanism, 34, 55, 68 sacred language of,
Brahmarshi-deija, 50-1
27,
(âkyamuni,
14,
1'.
Buddha
69
Cambyses, king of Persia, 81

caste-system, 40, 45, 48, 68 âtakarni, 160, 175 (Jatapatha Brahmana, 56-7 (Jatavahana, 160
Brahmavarta, 51
17-8, 149-50 coin-legends, 151-2, 155 inscriptions, 150, 157 Brahul language, 29
Brahmi alphabet,
Caucasus
= Hindu
Kush
Paro-
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 172

Brihadratha,
British
Maurya king,
14
panisus, q.v. Central Asia, 26, 32 Ceylon = Lanka or Tamraparni:
dominion
Broach = Bhrigu-kaccha. q.-u. Bucephalus, Bucephala, 94
in India, 26, 34
early language and literature,

14-5 epic poems, 75
Buddha = Siddhartlia
âkyamuni,
22,
Gautama =
67,
Buddhism, 108-9
chakravartin, 96
66,
161,
'73. his birthplace, 67, 106, 161 relics of, 141, 158
Chanakya, 103 Chandrabhaga = Chenab = Acesines
= Asiknl,
q.-u.
Buddhism, 66-9; 22, 34, 105 compared with Brahmarism,

64, 65, 68
Chandragupta, Maurya emperor,

20-1, 100-3
patronised by Acoka, 104 professed by (J)aka satraps, 143 second council of Vaiâll, 169 languages and literature of,
8, 14, 69,
its
Chandragupta II Vikramaditya, Gupta emperor, 115 Charmanvati = Chambal, 162 Chautang = Drishadvatl, 47, 51
Chedi, 162 era, 22
75-6, 81, 105
disappearance
from the
of
India,
Chenab = Chandra
=:AsiknT, q.1<. Chera= Kerala, 164
aga
= Acesines
main continent
68, 109
190
28
ANCIENT INDIA
ancientlndian, 13-4,151-2,173 Graeco-Bactrian, 125 Graeco-Indian, 18-9, 123, 1256, 128-30, 140, 143, 153-S
(âka, 140-4, 154 Pahlava, 138-9, 144-6 Partliian, 126
China, connexion with India, 25,
Chinese Buddhist scriptures, 69 Buddhist pilgrims, 169, 174

historians, 8,
1
27
Chinese Turkestnn, 18, 27 Chela, 150, 162 Chola-mandala = Coromandel, 162 chronology of Ancient India, 16.
21-3, 181-5 v. also Puranas Chutu family of Andhra 160, 175
Qltala, 158
Roman
in S. India, 162
communities, oligarchical or sellgoverning, 55, 77 comparative philology of Indo-
kings,
European languages, 2-6 conquests, nature of Indian, 96-7 coronation ceremonies in Aitareya
Brahmana, 54
framana, 57
(^ravastl, 173, 175
civilizations, primitive Indian, 28-9,
46
early Indo-European, 3-5 Aryan, 8-11, 26, 28-33,
36,
Croesus, king of Lydia, 86
40.6, 47-9 Dravidian, 9, 26, 28-9 in Western Asia, 78-80 in Chinese Turkestan, 27 Claudius, Roman emperor, 90, 162 coin-h'gends, language of, 13-4 bilingual, 18-9, 125-6, 152-5 Brahmi, 151-2, 155 Kharoshlhl, 140, 153-5 Greek, 18-9, 125-6, 140, 152-5 coin-types: Athene, characteristic of the house of Euthydemus, 128.9, 153
Crooke,
friiti,
Mr
;
W., 35
82, 87, 90
59 45
Ctesias, 83
(j:udra caste,
(ûnahqepa, 54 cuneiform alphabet, decipherment

of, 82 (Junga dynasty,
1
1
3-6
Cunningham,
A., 156 Qurasena, 162, 174; 51 (j;nrparaka = Sopara, 161, 175 Curtius (Q. Curtius Rufus), 90 Cutch, "v. Kaccha
Sir
Zeus enthroned, characteristic of the house of Eucratides,

S3 caduceus, 153-4 chatty a, 152 dancing girl, Indian, 152 Dioscuri, caps of, 154 elephant, head of, 153-4 Knpiga, tutelary deity of, 133 lion, maneless, 152 steel-yard, 151 symbols, punch-marked, 151 tree within railing, 155 trident battle-axe, 155 Vi^vamitra, 154 coins as sources of history, 8, 17,
9
Qutudrl=Zadadrui
Sutlej, 162-3
or
Zaradrusn
Cyrene, 108 Cyrus, king of Persia, 80-1, 84
Daâratha (i) Maurya king, no (2) father of Rama, 172 Daimachus, 103-4
Dakshina-patha
Deccan [dakkhma
31-2,
= datshina =
163
V. also
'southern'],
Southern India Damayanti, 170 Darius I, king of Persia, 85-6, 127

inscriptions, 82; 24, 105, 136,
139
Darius
11,
king of Persia, 83
INDEX
Darius
111
191
Codomannus, king of
eras, Indian, 21-2
Persia..
88
Dasyu, 40 Deccan, v. Dakshina-patha and Southern India Delhi, f. Indraprastha Demetrius, Graeco-Indian king of the house of Euthydemus, 123-4,
128, 133 coins, 140, 153 dessication in Central Asia, 26-7 Devanavipiya, 109, 150
also Qaka era Vikrama inscripera; Takshaîla tion of Patika Eucratides, Bactrian and GrzcoIndian king, 124, 126, 133
V.
;
;
house 146
of,
120, 124, 132-4, 140,
coins, 133, 142, 154
Euthydemus, Bactrian and GrscoIndian king, 119-20, 123 house of, 124-5, ^^^> 133
'3
Dhanyakataka
172
Dharanikotta,
Dharaghosha, king of Audumbara,

coin
of,
I
Fleet,
Dr
J.
F.
157
9^! 94' '33'
54-5
dharma^^VzW dhamma, 1 05, 112 Dharmapala, king ruling at Eran,

coin of, 151 Dhritarashtra, 173 dialects, 13-4
Gandhara,
141-2
81-85,
Diodotus, Greek king of Bactria, 118, 120 Dionysius, 104
Dipavamsa, 75 Drangiana = Seistan
(Sijistan),
27,
137.8; 88 Draupadi, 167 Dravidian civilization, 9, 26, 28-9 languages, 9, 29, 66 Drishadvati = Chautang, 47, 51 Drupada, 167 Dujaka or Dojjka, 151
Dyaus-pitar,\/S^l
Buddhist art, 135 f. also Kapiqa Taksha9ila Gandhari, 81 Gandharians described by Herodotus, 87 Gahga = Ganges, 163 Ganges and Jumna, the country of=Hindustan, 31-2, 93, 100 Garga, 131-2 Gargi, 63 Gargi Samhita, 131-2 Gargya Balaki, 62
;
Garu(la, 156-7 Gaugamela, 88
dynastic lists, epic poems

eas-t
-u.
PurSnas
Ceylon,
Gautama, 57 V. also Buddha Gedrosia:=N. Baluchistan,

138, 140, 144 genealogies, v. Puranas lon, epic poems
;
27,
Cey-
(Eng, east"], 43 EgyPtj 81, 108 English language, Mercian dialect

_of, 10
Eos, 43
geography, Rig-veda, 39, 40 Yajur-veda, 47 âtapatha Brahmana, 56 Brahman, Jain, and Buddhist
literatures, 77
epic
bharata
poems, Sanskrit, :'. MahaRiSmayana their language, ii-z, 72-3

;
Girivraja
at,
= Rajagiiha,
109, 166
Girnar= Girinagara, inscribed rock

149 Godavarl, 163
Pali, 75
Epirus, 108
Eran, coin
of,
151
Gomatl = Gumal, 163
1Q2
Gondopharnes,
145-6
ANCIENT INDIA
Pahlava
king,
literawriters on India; inscriptions tures, Indian
; ;
Gonds, 28 government,
house of;
of;
seals.
different forms of, 55

-v.
Hittites, 80
GrsEco-Indian kings,
Eucratides,
Hiuen Tsiang,
Horace, 171 Hotar, 46
169, 174
Euthydemus, house
Yavanas
Greece, Persian expeditions against, 85-7 Greek alphabet in India, 18-9, 125-6; 135, 140
HQna=:Hun, 173
Hydaspes = Jhelum = Vitasta, q.i). Hydraotes = Ir3vatl = Riivi = Parushnl,
9. 1".
q.-v.
Greeks in India, v. Yavanas Greek writers on Persia, 82-5. 87 Greek and Latin writers on India,
8, 20-1, 24, 89, 90, 93, 95, loo-i,
Hyphasis = Beas = Vipngor Vipn9n,
is^n'ts,
122
Imaus,
India,
Greek influence on
132
guild tokens, 151 Gupta era, 22 guru, 59
haoma, 44
134-5;
<
I
42 Himaus, or Himavant, 163

'
Hemodus =
the
India the country of Indus, 24, 31-2 province of tlie Persian pire, 81-8
em-
reconquered
by
Alexander
Harshavardhana, king of Kanauj,

174
era, 22
the Great, 94-5 conquered by Yavanas(GraE:coBactrian kings), 123-5 invaded by âkas, 136-8, 140,
Hastinapura, 165, 173
Hathigumphfi
inscription
of
Kharavela, 116, 160 Heliodorus, Greek ambassador,

i34> 157 Hellenic kingdoms,
;
v.
;
Bactria
Epirus Cyrene Egypt Macedonia; Parthia Syria Hermsus, Grsco-Indian king of

;
;
144 invaded by Pahlavas, 138-9 conquered by Kushanas, 146 India, the continent: names, 24-5 conformation, geographical 31-2 primitive inhabitants, 8, 28,
,
the house of Eucratides, 133, 146 Herodotus, 83; 24, 82, 84-6, 136 Hesychius of Alexandria, i6i
46, 49 variety of races and languages,
26
the Dravidians vaders, 28-9
!
probably in-
Himalaya = Himavant, 163
Hindu Kush =Paropanisus, q.v, Hindustani the country of the Ganges and Jumna, 31-2, 93,
100
history, sources of ancient Indian,
6-8, 15-23
V.
Aryan
invaders, 8-9, 40 relations with the Farther
Chinese historians; Chinese Buddhist pilgrims Greek and Latin coins

also
;
East and with the West in early times, 28, 78, 80 ancient languages and literatures, 6-16 political divisions of N. India
in the 6th
B.C.,
and 5th centuries
77
'
INDEX
the the the
193
patronized by Caka kings in
M.alava, 143
Maurya empire,
99-111
Kashana empire, 147 Gupta empire, 166 theMughalempire, 26, 33, 1 73

the British dominion, 34 native principalities, 34 common principles of govern-
flourished at
Mathura, 174
Janaka, 56-7, 6^, 171, 174 Janamejaya, 56-7 Jaxartes = Syr Darya, 127 Jetavana, 173
ment, II 1-2
languages Southern India and the various headings collected under history, sources of ancient Indian 'Indians' described by Herodotus,
V.
;
; ;
also alphabets
Jhelum = Hydaspes = Vitasta, g.-v, J/a=:Vardhamana Jnataputra, 65

Jones, Sir William,
2, 6,
20
Jumna = Yamuna,
V. also
I
171
'
Ganges and Jumna, the
country of
Ju-piter,
43
Justin, 122
Indo-European peoples, 3, 4 religion and mythology, 42-3

social divisions, 45
Kabul River = Kubha. 165 Kabul Valley, 133-4, 140,

.46
142.
family of languages, 2-6 languages Indra, 42, 72, 80 Indraprastha, 173; 26, 47
V. also
Kaccha = Cutch, 164

Ka9i
= Benares,
164
Kadamba,
160, 175
Indus^Sindhu,
168
24, 119, 126, 146,
Kalachuri era, 22
Kali Age, 7 Kalidasa, 114, 130, 170, 175 Kalikacharyakatha, 1 43 Kaliriga, 164
inscriptions as sources of history, 8, 17, 19, 21 Persian: Darius, 82; 24, 81,
127, 136, 139 Indian, language of, 13-4
Anoka's 150
inscr. at Girnar, 149inscrr.

in
Dagaratha's
the
Nagarjuni Hills,
no
Khara-
Hathigumpha
Besnagar
inscr. of
conquered by Agoka, 106, ii6 rise of the later kingdom, 1 16 Kamarupa=: Assam, 164 Kampilya, 167 Kanarese language, its literary development, 66 Kanchl = Conjeeveram, 174
vela, 116, 160

inscr., 134, 156-7
Kandahar = Arachosia,
144, 146-7
q.-u,
Kanishka, Kushana emperor, 18,
Mathura Lion-Capital, 142-3, 158 Takshaîla inscr. of Patika,

j
Kanyakubja = Kanauj, 174

Kapiâ, coins struck
I
at,
.41-2
Ionia,
lravatl
Greek colonies
in,
86
\
= Parushnl,
q.-v.
I
also (âka satraps Kapilavastu, 161 karma, 65

V.
133 princes
and
Jajnism, 22, 65-6, 69
contrasted with Brahmanism, 64-5, 68
languages and literature 8, 14, 66,69-70,76-7
of,
Kauâmbi, 170 Kaverl = Cauvery, 164 Kerala = Chera, 164 Keralaputra, 150, 164 Kharaosta, 158
194
ANCIENT INDIA
legends, ancient, 54, 73, 75
Kharavela, king of Kaliiiga, ii6, i6o
Liaka Kusolaka, (âka satrap of

Takshaîla, coins
of,
Kharoshthi alphabet, 17-8

coin-legends, 140, 151-5 inscriptions, 143, 158 King of Kings,' title used by Persian, Parthian, Qaka, and Pahlava kings. 139
of N. India, 77 kingly titles in India, 55 Kongu-de(;a, 164 Kosala:=Oudh, 69. 164, 170; 72 coins of, 115 Krishna, 174 Krishna i) = Kistna, 159, 164 (2j = Draupadi, 167 Krivi= Panchala, 167 Krumu^Kurram, 165 Kshatriya caste, 45
1
140,
142,
154
Licchavi, 169 literary languages, 9-12
literatures,
kingdoms
Indian, as sources of history, 6-17 early chronology of, 23
Vedic, 36-9, 44. 46-7, 49 Brahmanas, 52-9 Upanishads, 59-63 Jain, 69, 70, 76-7 Buddhist, 69, 70, 75-7 Sutras, 76-7 Brahman epics, 70-3
Puraiias, 73-5 Buddhist epics, 75-6 Classical Sanskrit, 10-2, 14-5,
its
literature,
130-2
local
its
religion, 72
government
in India, 96, iii
Kshayathihanam Shahan-shah.
Kshayaihiya
1
Lumbini-vana, 106, 161
Kubha = Kabul
39 River, 165
Ku9anabha, 174 Kujula Kadphises, 133, 146 Kunclapura= Uasukund, 169 Kuru, 50, 165 Kuru-kshetra 47, 51, 173 Kushana conquest of Kabul Valley,
125, 133, 146
Macedonia, 108 Madhya-deâ, the

'
Middle
Country,' 50
Madhyamika=:Nagari, 131
Magadha = S.
Bihar,
165-6;
33,
77, 93, 100, iio-i, 114, 170 Magas, king of Cyrene, 21
conquest ot (âkas, 132, 144 empire under Kanishka, 146-7

Lalifa-vistara, 17 language, scientific
study of, 2-6 preserves the record of early

civilization, 4, 5
Mahabharata, 70-3 11,47,51,57 Mahabhashya, 13 Mahanadi, 164, 166 Maharashtra, 166 Mahasena, king of Ceylon, 75 Mahavanisa, 75 Mahavira = Vardhamana Jn3ta;
putra, 65
natural {prakrita), 13-4 artificial or literary {saiiiskrita), 9-12 languages, Indo-European family, 2-6
Mahendra = Mahinda,
Maitreyl, 63
75, 109
Malava(i) = Malwa, 166; 144, 170 (2) = Malaya or Malaya = Main, 166
Malavikagnimitra, Ii4>
'S^î
Aryan group, 4, 5, 29-31 Dravidian, 9, 29, 66 Lankan Ceylon, 165 Latin writers, v. Greek and Latin
writers on India
'7^
Manu, Laws
90 Marshall, Dr
of, 50,
96
Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor

J.
H., 156
INDEX
Maru, 166 Mathava, 56 Mathura = Muttra, 174 Hindu princes, 143, 174
under Greek kings, 131
(Jaka satraps, 142-3
195
q.-y.
Muttra = Mathura,
Nadir Shah of Persia, 26 Naksh-i-Rustam, inscriptions

Darius at, 82, 84 Nala, 167 Nanda dynasty, 100 Nandasi-Akasa, 158
nandi-pada,
1
ot
under Kushanas, 174

the Lion-Capital, 142. 158 Matsya, 50-1, 166-7 Maues = Moa = Moga, (âka king,
141
52
Narmada = Narbada, 167

Nearchus, 94 Negama, 151 Nicaea, 94
Nirukta, 11,38
lamily
of,
144-5
coins, 140, 154 inscription, 141
Maurya empire, 99-112;

121
its
20,
33,
Nishadha, 167
fiscal units of the Persian empire, 83, 85 North-western region of India, 3132, 117-8
nomes or
Hellenic kingdoms, 101-2, 104, 108 its extent, 106-8, 118 governed by viceroys, 108
relations
its
with
decline,
no,
113-4, 116-8,
Old Persian language,

Orosius,
I
82,
84
122
26
Max
Miiller, Prof, F., 29
Megasthenes, 102-3; 9 pada-patha, 38 Menander = Milinda, Grseco- Pahlava (Parthian) invaders of India, 136, 138-40, 144-6 Indian king of the house of Pali language, 14-5 Euthydemus, 128-31 coin, 153 Buddhist literature, 69, 75, 105
Mercian dialect of English, 10 Middle Country Madhya-dega,

q.v,
migration of peoples, 26 Mihirakula, Huna king, 173
Pallava, 167 Panchala = Krivi, 47, 51, 131, 167 Pafichala, N., 167 coins, 115
Panchala,
S.,
167
Milinda = Menander,
q.v.
Milinda- Pahha., 129-30 Mitanni, kings of, 80 Mithila, 171, 174

lîng of Parthia, 1, 119, 124, 126, 139, 142 Mithradates II the Great, king of Parthia. 138-9
'
Mithradates
Panclu, 71, 173 Panciya, 150, 167-8 Panini, 131 Pantaleon, Bactrian and GrzcoIndian king of the house of Euthydemus, coin of, 152
Paropanisadae
84, 88, 168
=
or
Paruparaesanna,
Mitra, 80
Paropanisus
Paropamisus
Moabite stone, 18 Moga = Moa = Maues, q.-v. Mongolian races and languages, 26
Ixludra-rakskasa^ 100. 103
84, 89, 140, 168 Parthia, Hellenic kingdom, 118-9.
Hindu Kush,
142
Mughal empire,
Mura, ICO
26, 33, 173
(J!aka invasion, 127, 137 Pahlavas and âkas hold the'
eastern provinces, 138-9
196
ParushnT
ANCIENT INDIA
= Iravati =
;
Hydraotes
102.3,
prose
52-3
literature,
development
of,
Ravi, 168 93 Pataliputra = Patna, 115, 131, 170
174;
early, 56
Patanjali, 131 Patika, (âka satrap of Takshacjila,
Ptolemy Philadelphus, Egypt, 21, 104

'
king
of
I4I-Z
Paurava = Porus, Indian king, 92,

96
Periplus maris Eri^thrtei, 129
Persepolis, inscriptions of Darius

at, 82, 84 Persia, connexion
with India, 25-6,
28, 81, 88, 140
Punjab, V. India = the country of the Indus Purrmas, 73-5 70 Maurya dynasty, 1 10 (ûnga dynasty, 113-4 Andhra kings (^stavahana dynasty), 1 17, 160 chronology and dynastic lists, 7, 16-7, 74-5, 114
' ;
Persian (AchsEmenid) empire, 80 subject peoples in inscriptions of Darius, 82 nomes or fiscal units, 83, 85
purohita, 45
Puru, 92
v. also Paurava Pushyamitra, 114, 130, 170
dominions
123-4 expeditions
in
India,
81-8,
against
Greece.
85-7 Persian influence on India, 26, 82, 142, 156 Persian religion, ancient, 43-4 philology, comparative, of IndoEuropean languages, 2-6 Photius, 83 Phraates II, king of Parthia, 137 pippaHpeper'i=.pepper, 1 62 Pliny, 159 portraits on Bactrian coins, 120 Porus= Paurava, Indian king, 92,
RAjAGRiHA = Girivraja, 109, 166 Rajula or Rajuvula = Ranjubula, Qaka Great Satrap ':
'
coins, 140, 143 inscr. on Mathura
Lion-
Rama,
71-2
Capital, 143, 158 hero of the Ramayana,
96
Prachyah
prafectus,
V'Cd.fXox,
. .
11, 57 Raniubula = Rajula, q.-v. Ravi = Iravati = Hydraotes = Parushni, q.-v. Rawlinson, Sir Henry, 82 religion of knowledge, 58-61, 64-5 religion of works, 58-60, 64
Ramayana, 71-2;
q.-u,
45 Prakrit, 13-4
'Prîio'l
coin-legends, 18-9, 125-6, 140 Prachijah, the 'Easterns' = the peoples of the country of the Ganges and Jumna (Hindustan), 93, 100 Pratishthana = Paithan. 174-5
religions primitive inhabitants V. India Persian religion, ancient;

;
of
Rig-veda
Yajur-veda; Ath;
arva-veda
Upanishads
Jainism
;
Brahmanas Brahmanism
Buddhism
religious toleration in India, 11 1-2
Prayaga, 175 primitive inhabitants of India,

28, 46, 49
8,
Rig-veda, 36-9
4,
30
81
geography, 39, 40,
religious beliefs
and
social in-
stitutions, 35, 49
language, 10, 38 religion, 42-4
INDEX
deities
197
= Qakasthana,
137-8;
27,
worshipped by kings
Seistan
of Mitanni, 80 hymns and metres, 44

social
rivers,
and
political
condi-
tions, 40-2, 44-6
Indian, change of courses,

in Rig-veda, 39
S.
140, 144 Seleucus Nicator, king of Syria, invasion of tlie Punjab, loi; 20, 98, 120-1 Shahan-shah, 139
9S; 51. 163
mentioned
RohinT, 161
Shakespeare, 170 Sialkot=;Qakala, 130, 172 Siddhartha Gautama = Buddha, y.t.

Sijistan
Rome, trade with
India, 162
= Seistrin,
'
q.v.
coins found in S. India, 162
Sind
of
India.' the
country of the
119, 126, 146,
Rudradaman, Great Satrap Surashtra and Malava, 149

SACRIFICE, traces of
Indus, q.v. Sindhu = Indus, 24,
human, 54
i6g Sita, heroine of the Ramiiyana, 72,

171, 174 Skandagupta, Gupta emperor, 149
in Rig-veda, 42-3, 44-5 in Yajur-veda, 47-8
Sadanira. 56, 171 Saketa, 131, 172 Samatata, 168
Skeat, Prof., 10
Smith,
smriti,
Mr
59
V. A., 103
Sama-veda, 46
samhita-patha, 38
Sogdiana= Bukhara, conquered by

Alexander, 89 invaded by Yueh-chi, 127-8
soma, 43
Sandrokottos = Chandragupta, Maurya emperor, q,-v.

5and'/-oy>âo-oj
= Chandrabhaga,
'
61
2,
Sanskrit, the
discovery
the
'
of,
Sophytes = Saubhuti, coin Southern India, 31-2

history
of,
of,
151-2
5,6
varieties
1
ot
language,
Tamil kingdoms mentionedîn

Anoka's inscriptions, 107, ISO Dravidian languages, 9, 29, 66 Spalirises, Pahlava king, 144
Stein, Sir Aurel, 27 Strabo, 104, 122, 129-30 Strato I reigning conSoter, jointly with his grandson, Strato II Philopator, GrsecoIndian kings of the^ house of Euthydemus, coins of, 129j/!/â
1-2
the sacred language of Brah-
manism,
14, 69
used also by
Jains and Bud-
dhists, 15 Vedic, 10, 38 Brfihrnana, 11, 55-6 epic, 1 1-2, 72-3

classical, 10-2, 14-5, 130-2 Buddhist in Nepal, 105
Saras vatT=:Sarsuti, 47, 51 Satiyaputra, 150

satraps,
government
by, 141
appointed by Alexander, 95-6 Saubhuti = Sophytes, coin of, 151-2 Sayana, 39

Scylax, 84, 94 Scythian races and languages, 26
seals, as
130, 140, 143 = tope, 115, 158, 172-3 Subhagasena = So'phz.g?iStn\lS, 121 Sudas, 168
Sumerian
civilization, 79
Scythians, -v. (âkas sources of history,
8,
19
Surashtra, 168-9 (âka kings of, 147 Susian language, 82, 84
198
Sutras, 76-7
ANCIENT INDIA
;
53 Suvarnagiri, 109
Valmiki, 72
"vavifanueharita,
Suvastu = Swat, 169 svarSj, 55

Syria, Seleucid
Variga
of,
= Bengal,
74
170
Vardhamana
loi,
Jflataputra
Jina
kingdom
Mahavira, 65; 22, 169

varna, 45
119
revolts of Bactria
and Parthia,
8-9 relations
1
Varuna, 54, 80 Vasumitra, 114, 130

Jûtas-vaia, 152 Vatsa, 170 veda, 36 Vedas, v. Rig-veda
;
with the empire, 101-2, 108
Maurya
Takshaîla
= Taxila,
92, 175
Sama-veda
Alexander the Great, 92, 96 Grxco-Indian kings, 133, 157 âka satraps, 133, 140-3, 154
copperplate
Patika, 141
inscription
in
of
in-
Yajur-veda Atharva-veda Vedanta, 62 Venis, Prof., 157 Vi^vamitra, coinfigure of, v.

types
Tamil kingdoms
Anoka's
scriptions, 107, 150 language, literary development

of,
Vidarbha, 114, 170 Videha = Videgha, 56, 69, 170-1 video, 36

uidki,
66
(i)
53
Tamraparni
= Tambapanni =
Vidi(;ri
= Bhilsa,
era,
115, 166
Ceylon, 107, 169
Vikrama
22
Tripi = Tapti, 169 Taxila = Taksha9ila,
(2)= Tambraparni, 169 Tandya Brshmana, 55

g.v.
Vikramaditya
Thomas, Dr F. W., 158 Thomas, St, 145

Tibetan Buddhist scriptures, 69 Tissa, king of Ceylon, 109
Tliv:
Ti%ves-dceg=iTuesday,
(i) a Ujjain, 143 (2) = Chandragupta emperor, 115 village communities, 11

;
king
II,
ot
Gupta
Vindhya, 171 50 Vipr)(; or Vipaâ = Hyphasis = Beas,

93, 130, 171 Virgil, 171
tope
= strij)a,
43
115, 158, 172-3
Toramana, Huna king, 173

Traikutaka era, 22 Trogus, 122
Vishnu, 134, 156-7 Vitasta = Hydaspes = Jhelum, 171

92, 126
Vonones, Pahlava king, family

139, 144-5
uratya-stoma. 55 Vriji, 169
of,
Udgatar, 46 Udumbara, 154-5

Ujjayini=Ujjain, 143, 175
uf>anishad,
53
Upanishads, 58-63; 72, 76, 81 Ushasa, 43

VAi9ALi, 169
Weber, Prof, A., 55 Western Asia, early

of,
civilizations
India, 80-1
78-80
connexion with
Wima
146
wh-an
Kadphises, Kushana king,

(cf.
Vai^ya
caste, 45 Vaijayantl = Banavasi, 175
Eng.
-wit,
ivisdom, etc.),
36
' t/ic
Ancient Gcooyaphy of Inaia" pages 159-175.
I'
CITIES INDICATED BY NUMERALS,

9.
\Sre pag;cs 172-175
(^"ravastl.
Mathura.
Mithila. Pataliputra.
13.
14.
15. 16.
[ndraprastha.
f<ânchl.
10. 11. 12.
Prayaga. Takshaîla,
Ujjayini. Vaijayanti.
Kanyakubja.
Pratishthana.
I.
AmaravatT.
INDEX
Xerxes
I, king of Persia, expedition against Greece, 85-6
199
two
chief royal houses in Bactria and India, 124 of transference rule from Bactria to India, 125
Yajnavalkya, 63
Yajur-veda, 46, 52
geography, 47 religious and social conditions, 47-9
with Qunga dynasty, 114 (âkas conquered by and Kushanas, 132-3, 146
conflict
130-1
Yamuna = Jumna,
Yaska, 11,38
171
T01211,
influence in India, 134-5
I'auna ^\on\a.ns^ ^^Tavana,
86
Yavanas, Yonas = Bactrian and Indian Greeks mentioned in inscriptions of Darius, 86 in Indian literature and in:
absorbed in the Indian social system, 134-5, 157 Yueh-chi, 127-8, 137
Zadadrus, Zaradrus
Sutlej, 163 Zeus pater, 43 Zoroaster, 30, 43
Qutudrr
scriptions, 86
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Ancient India

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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

FETTER LANE, E.G. CLAY, Manager

PRINCES STREET ASHER AND CO. F. A. BROCKHAUS

A/l rights reserved

PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE AND FELLOW OP ST JOHN'S COLLEGE

IVITH SIX ILLUSTRATIONS

the University Press

tried to write the

story of Ancient India in a

object has been to

possible the outlines of the history of the nations

has yet been recovered from

and monuments, and

sketch the salient features of the chief religious

period between the date of the Rig-veda (about

For the benefit of those

the end of the

some notes on the ancient geography and a short

followed a system which, while giving a strictly

are not oriental scholars.

the vowels are pronounced as in Italian, with due

place-names are spelt as

the Imperial Gazetteer

the Librarian of the India Office, for his kindness

permission to reproduce the

taken from negatives

the possession of the India Office.

Miss Mary Fyson, and

best thanks for

valuable assistance in reading proofs and

compiling the index.

of the History of Ancient India

Brahmanas and Upanishads

V. The Rise of Jainism and Buddhism

VI. The Indian

Dominions of the Persian

The Maurya Empire

Alexander the Great

X. Parthian and Scythian Invaders

Notes on the Illustrations

Notes on the Ancient Geography of India

The GiknAr Rock

Coins of Ancient India

Plate III. The Besnagar Column

Plate IV. The Mathura Lion-Capital Plate

Plate VI. Inscriptions on the Besnagar Column

and the adjacent Countries

time of Alexander the

Between pp. 78 and'jg

Principal Countries of Ancient India

THE SOURCES OF THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT

perfect than the Greek, more

and more exquisitely refined than either

yet bearing to both of them a stronger

the roots of verbs, and in the forms of grammar,

could examine them

without believing them to

have sprung from

not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the

and the old Persian might be added to

the same family."

the historical and scientific study of languages.