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Book No. – 11 (History)
Book Name – India: The Ancient Past (Burjor Avari)
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1. New Dynasties and New Centres of Power
1.1. The Gangetic heartland: Shungas, Kharavela
1.2. The north-west: Indo-Greeks, Pahlavas, Shakas
1.3. From the Aral Sea to Kashi: the trans-Asiatic empire of the Kushans
1.4. The Satavahanas of the Deccan: their prosperity and piety
1.5. Gujarat and Malwa: the Western Shakas
1.6. Tamil lands of the deep south
2. The international trade of India
2.1. The commercial infrastructure
2.2. The overland trade route through the Kushan territories
2.3. India and Rome
3. New trends in Indian religions
3.1. Mahayana Buddhişm
3.2. Vaishnava and Shaiva traditions
3.3. The orthodoxy of the Dharmashastras
4. Secular literature, sciences and the arts
4.1. Sanskrit literature
4.2. Tamil literature
4.3. Advance in sciences
4.4. Architecture and sculpture
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Between the Mauryas and the Guptas
Chapter – 7
Table of Contents
Timeline/Key Dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 185–73 BCE | Shunga rule in north India |
| 185–172 BCE | Kharavela’s rule in Kalinga |
| 180 BCE | Demetrius rules over the first Indo-Greek state in north-west India |
| 166–150 BCE | Rule of Menander, the best known Indo-Greek ruler |
| c. 50 BCE–CE 236 | Satavahana dynasty of the Deccan |
| CE 78–111 | Kanishka rules over north India |
| CE 130–50 | The reign of Rudradaman, the powerful Western Shaka ruler |
| CE 1st–3rd centuries | Indo-Roman trade at its height |
| CE 1880 | The British Museum acquires the iconic Amaravati art collection |
- Fall of Mauryan Empire led to the loss of pan-Indian authority from Pataliputra.
- Emergence of competing power centres in different regions of India, replacing imperial monarchy with regional monarchies.
- Centralised bureaucracy replaced by regional bureaucracies.
- Absolutist kingship remained central, with monarchs endowed with superhuman qualities in royal eulogies(prasastis).
- Many regional monarchs had Central Asian origins but adopted traditional Brahmanic notions of kingship.
- Monarchs followed the fourfold varna system, though Buddhism offered easier social integration for foreigners.
- Post-Mauryan period, with regional monarchies and foreign roots, described as ‘chaotic darkness’ (Dunbar 1943: 68), yet both economy and culture displayed dynamism.
- Post-Mauryan era rich in historical evidence: royal inscriptions, shastras, secular literature, Buddhist texts, and Tamil anthologies.
- Foreign literary sources from China, Syria, Greece, Persia, and Egypt support political and commercial context.
- Numismatic evidence aids the construction of relative chronologies.
- From 200 BCE onwards, Indian history becomes more definitive with better archaeological corroboration, transitioning from proto-historical to historical study.
New Dynasties and New Centres of Power
The Gangetic heartland: Shungas, Kharavela
- Shunga dynasty, founded by Pushyamitra, controlled Magadha for 112 years (until 73 BCE).
- Shungas faced constant wars with neighbors and distant enemies.
- Kharavela of Kalinga was the Shungas’ most dangerous internal enemy.
- Kharavela’s deeds are recorded in the Hathigumpha Inscription at Udayagiri hills (near Bhubhaneshwar, Orissa).
- Despite Ashoka’s defeat of Kalinga, Kharavela restored its power.
- Kharavela attacked Magadha, the Greeks in the northwest, and the Pandya kingdom in the south.
- The Hathigumpha Inscription shows Kharavela was a warrior who believed in Jainism and funded a Jain monastery.
- Kharavela enlarged an irrigation canal (built by the Nandas) and constructed gates, walls, and gardens.
- The inscription summarizes Kharavela’s reign (185 BCE–172 BCE).
- After Kharavela’s death, Kalinga’s power waned, allowing Shungas space to consolidate.
- Shungas faced constant threats from Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian kings of north-west India.
- Pushyamitra and his successors kept these threats in check, although many Mauryan-held lands were lost.
- Despite constant warfare, Shungas patronized Buddhism and Brahmanism and contributed to a minor architectural renaissance.
The north-west: Indo-Greeks, Pahlavas, Shakas
- North-west India was attacked and occupied by forces from Bactria (between Oxus River and Hindu Kush mountains) during the last two centuries BCE.
- Bactria, part of Persian conquests under Alexander the Great, was initially part of the Seleucid kingdom (Syria).
- Bactria and Parthia revolted against the Seleucids in the 3rd century BCE.
- Diodotus I of Bactria (c. 250 BCE) was the first rebellious king after the revolt.
- Euthydemos, Diodotus’ successor, fought against Antiochus the Great of Syria, securing Bactrian independence in 208 BCE.
- Graeco-Bactrian kings clashed with the Mauryas and, after the Mauryan collapse, Demetrius occupied parts of Indus delta, Saurashtra, and Kutch.
- Shungas were powerless against the Graeco-Bactrian invasions.
- Indo-Greek rulers (from Bactria and Gandhara, Punjab) established small kingdoms in north-west India.
- Menander, one Indo-Greek ruler, ruled from Sialkot and is featured in the Buddhist text The Question of Milinda.
- Buddhism spread from Indo-Greek territories north and west.
- Greeks in India were called Yavanas, and Indians, especially Brahmins, had an unfavorable view of them.
- Indo-Greek territories were commercially prosperous, with many coins featuring Greek profiles and Indian symbols.
- Taxila, a famous Indo-Greek city, shows a fusion of Indian and Hellenistic influences.
- Bactrian Greek and Indo-Greek monarchs faced attacks in the 1st century BCE from Parthians and Scythians.
- Parthia, after revolting from the Seleucids, became a powerful Persian empire, spreading east to Punjab and beyond.
- Indians called the Parthians Pahlavas.
- The Parthians were later attacked by the Shakas (Scythians), a Central Asian group.
- Shakas, fleeing from Yueh-chi pressure, moved east and entered India.
- Shakas took Gandhara, Punjab, Mathura, Yamuna valley, upper Deccan, Saurashtra, and Ujjain in Malwa.
- Shaka rulers in India were called Shaka-Pahlava, a mix of Shakas and Parthians.
- Shaka suzerainty was exercised by Northern Shakas (Taxila, Mathura) and Western Shakas (Malwa, Kathiawar).