This was there for long time in my mind. Before writing my
experiences I want to present a series of recapped history of my places of stay
in this great country. I am told by one to write my experiences of Tamil Nadu
and have no doubt on it. In this article I will tell you about Magadha the
modern-day Bihar.I was born in the land of rulers and warriors, great writers
and administrators. Magadha has been there from the time of Vedic civilization before 2000 BC. It was listed as a kingdom of Ancient India (Bharat Varsha). It was
ruled by Jarsandha who formed friends with Chedi King Sisupala, Kuru King
Duryodhana and Anga King Karna. It had its capital at Girivraj, a city
protected by five hills. This capital was concealed by forests of fragrance and
with stock of water that never exhausted. It was full of cheerful and well fed
inhabitants and festivities were perennial.
After the epic age, in Kaliyuga, Magadha
became the foremost of kingdoms. In 1100BC the Indo-Aryans spread into the modern–day Bihar
and formed the society.The first ruling dynasty was Brihadratha dynasty as early as 7th century BC and succeeded by Haryanka dynasty. It was the Haryanka King
Bimbisara who expanded the boundaries of his kingdom. Bimbisara was the
contemporary of Mahavira and Buddha. Vardhaman Mahavira was born in Vaishali (modern-day
Muzaffarpur). Vaishali was an ancient metropolis and the first republic in the
world. Although Jainism was founded by Rishabha, father of King Bharata
(ancestor of Pandavas and Kauravas) it was only under Mahavira that this became
a major religion. He was the 24th and last thirthankar or Prophet of Jainism. Siddhartha Gautama son of Suddhodana and Queen Mayadevi,
found then what today would become the 4th largest religion in the world,
Buddhism. He attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in modern day Nalanda
district. He delivered his last sermon at Vaishali and announced his
parinirvana there.
As latest as around 642 BC the kingdom of Magadha (modern-day South
Bihar) was founded by Shishunaga with its capital at Rajgriha. Shisunaga was a
minister of the last Haryanka king Nagadasaka who ascended to the throne after
popular rebellion. He was succeeded by
his son Kakavarna during whose time the capital shifted to Pataliputra (modern-day
Patna). After the last ruler Nandivardhana died the empire was inherited by his
illegitimate son Mahapadma Nanda. Nandivardhana also called Mahanandin, the last Shishunaga
ruler of Magadha was thrown by the low-caste Mahapadma Nanda who founded a new
royal dynasty called Nanda Dynasty in around 370BC. He extended the empire, build
canals and irrigation projects. He is claimed to be the first great historical
emperor of northern India.
Around 323BC, with the help of his astute chief minister
Chanakya, twenty-year-old Chandragupta Maurya overthrew the last Nanda ruler
Dhananda Nanda and founded the Mauryan Dynasty. He extended his empire as far
as Afghanistan and Balochistan with both Indus and Ganges basin. The empire comprised
of 118 kingdoms then. He was succeeded by Bindusara in around 293BC who
extended the empire into the Deccan region.
After him came his son, and the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, Ashoka
recognized as the greatest ancient warrior and ruler, ruling almost the entire
subcontinent. Later in his life he showed
religious tolerance, promoted non-violence and republicanism and treated all as
equal. He built edicts in Pali and various other scripts spreading the message
of peace. He commissioned a sculpture of four Asiatic lions, the image of which
today features in Indian passports and currencies. Ashoka had taken to Buddhism
and slowly he began to lose his empire and which disintegrated after his death.
About 50 years later, emperor Brihadratha, last of Mauryan rulers was assassinated
by his own Brahmin general Pushyamitra Sunga.
Pusyamitra Sunga ruled for 36 years since 185BC and was followed
by his son Agnimitra. It is said that being the Brahmin emperor, the former had
persecuted Buddhists and also contributed to the resurgence of Brahminism. It
could be because of it that Buddhism moved away to other faraway lands. The
script used then was Brahmi to write the Sanskrit Language. The Sunga dynasty came to an end around 78BC when
the Sunga ruler Devabhuti was murdered on the orders of his Brahmin minister Vasudeva
Kanva who founded the Kanva dynasty.
Magadha was not only the name of a kingdom but also the name
of a caste, a mixed class formed by the intermixture of basic castes of ancient
India. The son begotten by a Vaisya upon a Kshatriya woman becomes a Vandi
while son begotten by the former upon a woman of Brahman order is called a
Magadha. In one type pure castes mixed with each other while in the
other type the castes were produced by mixture of pure and/or mixed castes.
This was how formed the many mixed order caste system in India also told by
Manu in his law book dated between 200BC and 200AD. Not to forget the incursion
of foreign elements such as Bactrian Greeks, Sakas, Parthians and Kushanas.
Some of these foreigners were Buddhists; some were Brahmanists while some were
following outlandish beliefs and practices. Manu in order to restrict to the
four order ‘varna’ system lumped most of the intermixed castes with the Sudras
in respect of their hereditary duties. "Anuloma Marriage (hypergamy) in Hinduism is a social practice in which a boy from upper
varna/caste/class can marry a girl from the lower varna/caste/class. It was, however, allowed only among the top three castes of the then society. Pratiloma (Hypogamy) is a type of marital
practice in which a man of lower caste marries a girl of higher caste. Of the
two, anuloma was considered preferable to pratiloma. Manu condemned pratiloma
and opined that the progeny of the latter would become ‘chandalas’ or ‘Untouchables’.
In fact, the origin of the practice of untouchability is to be seen in the
practice of pratiloma marriage."
For next 200 years there are flurry of attacks and conquests
by Meghavahana dynasty, Kuninda Kingdom, Western Satraps with no major
development in the area. It is in 320AD that the era of peace and prosperity
returns to Magadha under the Guptas.
The Gupta Empire was founded by Maharaja Sri Gupta also
called Chandragupta I and the Gupta period is called the Golden Age of India.
He was succeeded by Samudra Gupta the great and then Chandragupta II the great,
who conquered 21 kingdoms and extended the empire beyond India. They are followed
by abled Kumaragupta I and Skandagupta. The first Masonry temples were built in
the Gupta period. The Iron pillar in Mehrauli, Delhi in the Qutb complex, is
installed by Chandragupta II; a miracle of metallurgy as it has never rusted. The
great Buddhist monastery cum University of Nalanda was established. It was then
that Mahabharata was transcribed into Sanskrit. The Chinese pilgrim and
Traveller Fa Xian visits India and describes the great prosperity of the people
of Magadha. Kalidasa the great Classical Sanskrit writer was born here and he
wrote plays and poetry based on the Hindu Puranas and Hindu philosophy. The twenty-year-old
Aryabhata, wrote the first book on algebra, Aryabhatiya.For the next 200 years it developed into the most powerful
kingdom in the Gangetic Plain.
“We all have to move. Either you move or you are ousted.
Nothing settles!” Bhanugupta was the last Gupta ruler. The Guptas were ousted
by the Vardhana ruler Harsha Vardhana, a convert to Buddhism. The small
republics of North India united and their representatives crowned Harsha as
their king when the latter was just 16 years old and the population of the subcontinent
numbered around 100 million. Approximately 3 years before Harshavardhana’s
death in 647 AD, the subcontinent has its first taste of Islam when Arab
traders arrive in India’s western ports.
The History of this subcontinent is very vast and filled
with adventures. Writing them in one go is a very difficult task and I have had
thus restricted myself to Magadha. I would write about the happenings and
transformation of/from Magadha to Bihar in the next post.
Ref: Harshacharita by Banabhata (Harshavardhana), Indica by Megasthenes (Chandragupta Maurya), Manusmriti by
Manu (Caste system), Mahabharata, Puranas.
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