sarabhanga
03 December 2007, 02:05 AM
The Kingdom of Magadha
At the time of Gautama Buddha (6th Century BC), the land of Magadha was ruled by the wise King Bimbisara, whose city of Rajagriha (modern Rajgir, near Gaya, Bihar) controlled nearby iron-mines. Bimbisara established dynastic relations by intermarriage with the nobility of neighbouring Kosala and Vrijji, and easily dominated the territory of Vanga to the southeast. He was, however, murdered by his son Ajatashatru in 493 BC, who established a fort at Pataliputra (Patna), by the Ganga and near to her confluence with the Gandaki, Sona, and Ganghara Rivers. Ajatashatru was also murdered (461 BC) by his impatient heir ~ and so too, the next five generations.
Magadha battled with all of its neighbours, and used its superior weaponry (e.g. the terrible Rathamushala ~ an armored chariot with fixed iron blades for mowing down opposing forces) to great effect. Finally, the people rose up and appointed Shishunaga as ruler, whose short-lived regency was usurped by Mahapadma Nanda in about 390 BC. The Nandas were neither Brahmana nor Kshatriya, and they began a long and interesting period of non-Kshatriya monarchs informed by non-Brahmana (generally Kshatriya) philosophies.
The Nanda throne was overthrown by Candragupta Maurya in 321 BC, who developed Pataliputra as his capital. Candragupta took advantage of the disorder precipitated by Alexander of Macedon’s raid on the Panjab (327-325 BC), and occupied that western heartland of Brahmanism. He gave much support to Jaina, relinquishing sovereignty in 297 BC, and ending his life by Itvara.
Candragupta’s son, Bindusara, extended Mauryan control across the Deccan, as far south as the Kauveri. At his death in 272 BC, the extreme south was ready for capitulation, and Devanamapriya Priyadasi (Ashoka Maurya) inherited the Empire.
The last remaining independent territory of the peninsula was Kalinga (the Puri region of modern Orissa), which Ashoka dutifully attacked (c. 261 BC). Although, moved by the slaughter that he had caused in his first military campaign, Ashoka gave up warfare and accepted the doctrine of Buddhism (c. 257 BC), preferring ‘conquest by righteousness’. By the time of his death (c. 232 BC), most of the subcontinent (from the Makran Coast in the west, and north to the Hindu Kush, eastwards beyond the Ganges Delta, and south to the Kaveri River) came under Mauryan rule, and the influence of Buddhism.
Ashoka proclaimed throughout the land of Bharata (India), the fundamental moral principle of Ahimsa (Not Harming ~ respect for all Purusha) that informs Jaina and Bauddha Dharma, which both also denied the existence of any deity requiring oblation. The futility of animal sacrifice in Vaidika Yajna was thus recognized. This was a source of animosity from orthodox Brahmanas of the Pravrtti-Marga, who naturally considered their authority, indeed their whole purpose, to be subverted by such popular teachings.
The Kshatriya doctrines of Bauddha and Jaina, and the Atharvan (which is sometimes referred to as a Kshatriya-Veda), regard the three-fold Ritam of Saguna-Brahma as an impure admixture of mundane ingredients ~ one must look beyond (or within) for the ultimate Truth.
Large numbers of Shudra from over-populated areas, and those displaced by conquest, were sent into new territories to clear the land and establish new settlements. Highways and elaborate irrigation schemes were established, products were required to be date-stamped, and taxation was developed as an art.
In Magadha, Megasthenes reported a sales tax of 10%, while throughout the territories a tax of 20% was applied to all produce (with a 20% trading-surcharge). Philosophers, however, were exempt from taxation. One quarter of total revenue was reserved for major works, the salaries of civil servants, and the maintenance of a standing army of (according to Megasthenes) 9,000 elephants, 30,000 cavalry, and 600,000 infantry. Ashoka, who also sent spies throughout the country, disguised as mendicants, merchants, students, ascetic nuns, and prostitutes, personally reviewed all financial records. The Royal Highway (later, the Grand Trunk Road) extended from the major port for trade to Burma, at Tamralipti (modern Tamluk in the Midnapore District of West Bengal), through Pataliputra, and on to Taxila (near the Khyber Pass, in modern Afghanistan), the lucrative portal to all western trade routes.
The Mauryan Empire lasted for only fifty years after the death of Ashoka in 232 BC. Bactrian Greeks took Taxila and Gandhara in about 180 BC, and restless Kalinga re-asserted its independence soon after. In 88 BC, the Shakas (Scythians displaced from the shores of the Aral Sea) came through the Bolan Pass (near modern Quetta, northern Baluchistan) and occupied the entire Indus region and as far east as Mathura (U.P.). By 78 AD, the northern Yueh-Chi tribes had flooded through the Himalaya and established the Kushana Empire, which stretched from Kabul to Kashi and south to Sanchi (near the Narmada, in M.P). Purushapura (Peshawar) became the Kushanian capital, although their favorite resort was always Mathura. The Scythians were quickly routed by the Kushanians, only retaining the western regions of Kacch, Saurastra, and Malwa; although the calendar that is reckoned from the foundation of Kushanian rule (and still used in Bharata today) is remembered as the Shaka Era.
Despite all of this political upheaval, the Mauryan infrastructure now linked Bharata with the world, and trade continued to prosper. Among the three Dvija (Twice-Born) castes, the Vaishya or merchant-caste has always suffered discrimination in Brahmin society, and many were influenced by the Kshatriya-Dharmas. Lack of caste also prevented recent immigrants from achieving Brahmin acceptance (although a special rank of degraded Kshatriya was established for the new rulers), and so they also turned to Buddhism and Jainism.
At the time of Gautama Buddha (6th Century BC), the land of Magadha was ruled by the wise King Bimbisara, whose city of Rajagriha (modern Rajgir, near Gaya, Bihar) controlled nearby iron-mines. Bimbisara established dynastic relations by intermarriage with the nobility of neighbouring Kosala and Vrijji, and easily dominated the territory of Vanga to the southeast. He was, however, murdered by his son Ajatashatru in 493 BC, who established a fort at Pataliputra (Patna), by the Ganga and near to her confluence with the Gandaki, Sona, and Ganghara Rivers. Ajatashatru was also murdered (461 BC) by his impatient heir ~ and so too, the next five generations.
Magadha battled with all of its neighbours, and used its superior weaponry (e.g. the terrible Rathamushala ~ an armored chariot with fixed iron blades for mowing down opposing forces) to great effect. Finally, the people rose up and appointed Shishunaga as ruler, whose short-lived regency was usurped by Mahapadma Nanda in about 390 BC. The Nandas were neither Brahmana nor Kshatriya, and they began a long and interesting period of non-Kshatriya monarchs informed by non-Brahmana (generally Kshatriya) philosophies.
The Nanda throne was overthrown by Candragupta Maurya in 321 BC, who developed Pataliputra as his capital. Candragupta took advantage of the disorder precipitated by Alexander of Macedon’s raid on the Panjab (327-325 BC), and occupied that western heartland of Brahmanism. He gave much support to Jaina, relinquishing sovereignty in 297 BC, and ending his life by Itvara.
Candragupta’s son, Bindusara, extended Mauryan control across the Deccan, as far south as the Kauveri. At his death in 272 BC, the extreme south was ready for capitulation, and Devanamapriya Priyadasi (Ashoka Maurya) inherited the Empire.
The last remaining independent territory of the peninsula was Kalinga (the Puri region of modern Orissa), which Ashoka dutifully attacked (c. 261 BC). Although, moved by the slaughter that he had caused in his first military campaign, Ashoka gave up warfare and accepted the doctrine of Buddhism (c. 257 BC), preferring ‘conquest by righteousness’. By the time of his death (c. 232 BC), most of the subcontinent (from the Makran Coast in the west, and north to the Hindu Kush, eastwards beyond the Ganges Delta, and south to the Kaveri River) came under Mauryan rule, and the influence of Buddhism.
Ashoka proclaimed throughout the land of Bharata (India), the fundamental moral principle of Ahimsa (Not Harming ~ respect for all Purusha) that informs Jaina and Bauddha Dharma, which both also denied the existence of any deity requiring oblation. The futility of animal sacrifice in Vaidika Yajna was thus recognized. This was a source of animosity from orthodox Brahmanas of the Pravrtti-Marga, who naturally considered their authority, indeed their whole purpose, to be subverted by such popular teachings.
The Kshatriya doctrines of Bauddha and Jaina, and the Atharvan (which is sometimes referred to as a Kshatriya-Veda), regard the three-fold Ritam of Saguna-Brahma as an impure admixture of mundane ingredients ~ one must look beyond (or within) for the ultimate Truth.
Large numbers of Shudra from over-populated areas, and those displaced by conquest, were sent into new territories to clear the land and establish new settlements. Highways and elaborate irrigation schemes were established, products were required to be date-stamped, and taxation was developed as an art.
In Magadha, Megasthenes reported a sales tax of 10%, while throughout the territories a tax of 20% was applied to all produce (with a 20% trading-surcharge). Philosophers, however, were exempt from taxation. One quarter of total revenue was reserved for major works, the salaries of civil servants, and the maintenance of a standing army of (according to Megasthenes) 9,000 elephants, 30,000 cavalry, and 600,000 infantry. Ashoka, who also sent spies throughout the country, disguised as mendicants, merchants, students, ascetic nuns, and prostitutes, personally reviewed all financial records. The Royal Highway (later, the Grand Trunk Road) extended from the major port for trade to Burma, at Tamralipti (modern Tamluk in the Midnapore District of West Bengal), through Pataliputra, and on to Taxila (near the Khyber Pass, in modern Afghanistan), the lucrative portal to all western trade routes.
The Mauryan Empire lasted for only fifty years after the death of Ashoka in 232 BC. Bactrian Greeks took Taxila and Gandhara in about 180 BC, and restless Kalinga re-asserted its independence soon after. In 88 BC, the Shakas (Scythians displaced from the shores of the Aral Sea) came through the Bolan Pass (near modern Quetta, northern Baluchistan) and occupied the entire Indus region and as far east as Mathura (U.P.). By 78 AD, the northern Yueh-Chi tribes had flooded through the Himalaya and established the Kushana Empire, which stretched from Kabul to Kashi and south to Sanchi (near the Narmada, in M.P). Purushapura (Peshawar) became the Kushanian capital, although their favorite resort was always Mathura. The Scythians were quickly routed by the Kushanians, only retaining the western regions of Kacch, Saurastra, and Malwa; although the calendar that is reckoned from the foundation of Kushanian rule (and still used in Bharata today) is remembered as the Shaka Era.
Despite all of this political upheaval, the Mauryan infrastructure now linked Bharata with the world, and trade continued to prosper. Among the three Dvija (Twice-Born) castes, the Vaishya or merchant-caste has always suffered discrimination in Brahmin society, and many were influenced by the Kshatriya-Dharmas. Lack of caste also prevented recent immigrants from achieving Brahmin acceptance (although a special rank of degraded Kshatriya was established for the new rulers), and so they also turned to Buddhism and Jainism.