There is so much to know about ancient
India that if volumes were written, it will not suffice. So I continue this
incredulous journey of revisiting India in its ancient glory. We are now moving
to 6th century BC, when a second urbanization seemed to have taken
place, the first one being in Indus Valley civilization of 2500 BC.
At this time in the north-east India,
gana-sanghas have come to be, which were
confederacy of clans governed through an assembly. They gave equal status to
all people within their sangha (Assembly)
and did not follow the Vedic rituals or varnas.
Chiefdoms and kingdoms also arose, transition from chiefship to king not being
very distant. Kingdoms had a centralized system of governance with the sovereign
king at the center.
Earlier the kings were from Kshatrya caste, but very soon kings
arose from shudra caste also. These
required legitimization, which was done by the Brahman priests for gifts and
money, conducting huge brahmanical rituals. Thus throne and priesthood were
mutually supportive of each other, just as in would be in the later cases of
Christendom and Islamic Caliphates.
Four rival states arose in northern
India, three kingdoms of Kashi, Kosala and Magadha, and one gana-sangha, Vrijjis. Of these by 550 BC,
Magadha will emerge prominent after overpowering the other states. Along with
that administrative systems began, collection of land revenue, one sixth of the
produce as belonging to the king and other trappings of power. Village was the
basic unit and official assessment of the tax was made by the officials of the
kingdom on the produce.
Varna
hierarchy became consolidated with Brahmans laying down the rules reinforced by
their ritual powers; kshatryas,
through rulers had to depend on Brahman priests to legitimize their sovereignty
through Vedic rituals; next in importance came traders, the vaishyas, and then the shudras, who managed to get incorporated
as Kshatryas when opportunities
presented and also as traders and land owners.
Below all of them were the out castes
or the untouchables, who were actually the forest dwellers in the margins of
the settlements, which either pushed them deeper into the forests or eke out
their living as marginalized people at the fringes of the settlements. They
were forced to do manual jobs and the dirty jobs for the community and were accommodated
as the lowest of the low in the caste system.
As landless and displaced people they
had no voice. They were not allowed to have any weapons. The combination of
hereditary status with economic deprivation and social disabilities ensured a
permanent and subjugated labor force, for the rest of the community – a very
convenient form of slavery, which continued for millennia, in some rural parts
of India even today. It is nothing but a curse on Indian social ethos, which
got ingrained into Indian social system as early as 600 BC.
Magadha Kingdom came into being with
Bimbisara by 550 BC and his son Ajatashatru, who died in 461 BC. Their capital
was Rajagriha; Pataliputra was an important town. As a means of conquest of the
neighboring kingdoms and sanghas,
they had to keep a standing army. They controlled the nodal points in Ganges
river system, dominating the river trade. Land was fertile in the Ganges valley
and the land tax and tax from trade kept their treasuries full.
This was followed by Shishunga
dynasty which didn’t last very long and Nanda, a shudra, usurped and established his own Nanda dynasty. He would be
the first of many non-Kshatrya kings.
Nandas built canals for irrigation even up to Kalinga (Orissa). Mauryas usurped
the Nanda throne in 321 BC.
In the north-western India, even more
interesting things were happening. During 6th century BC,
north-western India was a part of Achaemenid Empire. In 530 BC Cyrus,
Achaemenid Emperor of Persia crossed over Hindu Kush and received tribute from
the kings of Kamboja and Gandhara. These became his provinces ruled by local
satraps. It is the same Cyrus mentioned in the
Bible, who permitted by an imperial order, the Jews living in exile in Babylon
to return to their land, Palestine and helped them rebuild their Temple. Check
out Ezra[1]
in the Bible, the book starts with Cyrus the king of Persia!
Bible makes reference to the Persian
king again in the Book of Esther, where it states that the King of Persia,
Xerxes, ruled over 127 provinces, stretching from India to Cush (Upper Nile
region).[2]
Esther’s story happened around 483 BC, when Xerxes was the Emperor.
Herodotus, early historian of renown,
names Gandhara as the most populous and wealthy satrapy in Achaemenid kingdom.
It is understood from these writings that Indian provinces provided mercenaries
for the Persian army to fight against the Greeks in 5th century BC.
Xerxes attacked Greece and won at Thermopylae in 481 BC, but got defeated at
Salamis in 480 BC. Indian warriors were dressed in cotton clothes and carried
red bows, spear and arrows tipped with iron. Wow, imagine that! Indians taking
part in the battle of Thermopylae in Greece! World was quite small even then, I
suppose!
There were other cities in
north-western India, Tahshashila (Taxila) for example, which was described by
Greeks as a cosmopolitan center, where Greek, Iranian and Indian knowledge and
learning mingled. Persian coins were copied in India. Even the rock
inscriptions of Ashoka, a later Mauryan Emperor, were influenced by the rock
inscriptions of Persian King Darius. King Darius also is mentioned in the Bible
as one of the Kings served by Daniel,[3]
en exile from Israel, who rose to very high positions under Persian Emperors.
The script used in north-western
India around this time was Kharoshthi,
derived from Aramaic, the official language of the Persian Acheamenid Empire.
Recall, Jesus and his disciples spoke in Aramaic in the first century AD![4]
Acheamenid Empire was defeated by
Alexander the Great from Macedonia in 330 BC. Alexander, wanting to conquer the
farthest eastern provinces of Persian Empire, came to north-west India and
campaigned for two years. As his soldiers refused to go any further, he
traveled along the Indus river up to its delta and sent one part of his army
back via Persian Gulf and the other took the coastal land route.
It is this latter part of his army
that met stiff resistance from Indian kings, especially Porus (Puru), who
fought Alexander’s forces at the Battle of Hydaspes (Jhelum River) and was
vanquished, but maintained his dignity. Appreciating his valor, Alexander
appointed him as his satrapy and left.
Alexander had brought along literate
Greeks, who have left their impressions of India, both facts and fable. The
invasion opened up routes along which trade and communication flourished. India
established connections with Mesopotamia even, through Afghanistan and Iran/Persia.
There was cultural exchange between
these countries, for Indian enlightened gurus, munis or sophists are said to have accompanied Alexander to
Babylon. Indian thought definitely influenced those of Greek and Persian and in
turn borrowed from them too, leading to enrichment all over. Greeks were called
Yavana in Sanskrit and Yona in Prakrit.
Another interesting fact: early trade
in India was facilitated by setthis,
entrepreneurs of trade and finances. Where do you think our Shettys in
Mangalore, Chettiars in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Shets from north India come
from! From these ancient Setthis only. Talk about the ancient roots of castes
in India!
[1]
The Book of Ezra, chapter 1, verse 1. (Ezra 1:1)
[2]
The Book of Esther, 1:1
[3]
Book of Daniel 9:1
[4]
Gospel of Mark 5:41 reports Jesus called out to the girl who was dead, Talitha Koum, which meant ‘Little girl,
I say to you, get up,’ and she arose! Then Mark reports in Mark 7:34, of Ephphatha, meaning ‘Be opened,’ which
Jesus used while giving sight to a blind man; Jesus called his heavenly Father
as Abba, meaning Father. Mark 14:34.
Thank you.
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