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“Arya” is a title
used by pastoral
nomads who
migrated into
Punjab in the later
centuries of the
second century
BCE
Their migration occurred amidst a broad
prehistoric dispersion of peoples using languages
in the family called Indo-Aryan or Indo-European,
which includes Greek and Latin as well as Sanskrit
In the Punjab, pastoral peoples using Vedic Sanskrit in their rituals
mingled with local agro-pastoral cultures, producing new cultural forms
In first millennium -- the iron age -- Sanskrit texts
indicate adaptation of Brahmanic rituals, ideas and
authority down the Ganga River basin
A Chronological Framework for Ancient History
I. Prehistory BCE
– pre-2500 stone age, microlithic tool cultures, Merhgarh, agropastoral community formation
– 2500-1500 Harappa and Indus Valley urban culture, urbanism,
urban decline, cultural dispersion around Indus basin
II. Early Antiquity to 600 BCE
– 1200-400s early Vedas, late Vedas and Brahmanas. Agropastoral communities, lineage leadership, ritual authority
– 1000 onward: iron mining, smelting and tool-making
– 900s period of wars recounted in Mahabharata
– 700s formation of janapadas and sixteen mahajanapadas
• 200sBCE-1200s Sri Lanka: Lambakannas
III. The Ancient Transformation
– a. Early States, circa 600 to 327 BCE
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600s-500s rise of states: Kuru, Panchala, Kosala, Magadha (“republics”)
500s Persian king Darius occupies Sind and Gandhara; life of Mahavira
327 Alexander the Great enters Punjab
400s Life of Buddha; composition of Ramayana and Mahabharata
– b. The Original Empire, 300s - 185 BCE
• late 300s Chandragupta founds Maurya empire; composition of Pannini's
grammar, possible first version of Arthasastra
• 268-233 Ashoka Maurya
• 185 Last Mauryas. Founding of Sunga dynasty in Pataliputra.
– c. Imperial Competition 250 BCE - 250 CE
• 250BCE-250 Northwest: Indo-Greeks, Northern Sakas, Indo-Parthians,
Kushanas
• 55BCE-500s South: Satavahana and Vakataka dynasties in Prastisthana
and Vidarbha
• 70-409CE West: Sakas in Malwa Ujjaini-Rajasthan-Gujarat
• 100BCE-100 early Siva and Vishnu worship; Buddhist stupas prominent in
northwest, southeast, Sri Lanka; early Sangam literature; composition of
Manu's Dharmasastra, Bhagavad Gita
– d. Dynastic Territories circa 200 BCE - 600 CE
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320-840s Ganga Basin: Guptas and Pusyaputis
400s-500s Northwest: Southern Hunas.
100BCE-400 Southern Peninsula: Cheras, Cholas, and Pandyas
200s-500s Maharashtra: Vakatakas, Kalacuris, and Rashtrakutas
500s-750s Karnataka: Chalukyas
Lineage-based “monarchies” and “republics”
scattered across the Ganga Basin
Ancient Greek
military
mobility
introduced
new imperial
models of
power into
Punjab and
opened new
routes of
trade EastWest
Ancient imperial heartlands emerged among
eastern Gangetic kingdoms, strategically placed
on trade routes (E-W & N-S), among rice lands
(Bihar), near iron mines (Jharkhand).
Mauryan Empire
Ashokan sites display imperial
symbolism of transcendent
authority and spread Buddhism
THE BUDDHIST STUPA
NAEEM AHMED
"The Stupa is truly the image,
or rather the epiphany, of the
Buddha, of his Law that rules
the universe, and is moreover
a psycho-cosmogram. The
form, suggested by the
apparent aspect of the vault of
the sky, implies in its turn the
total presence and intangibility
of the Buddha, who in this way
is seen not as a human teacher
but as the essence of the
Universe."
Sanchi
Chandra Gupta I (reigned AD 320-c. 330),
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Founder of the imperial Gupta dynasty.
Grandson of Sri Gupta, the first of the Gupta line,
Became a local chief in the kingdom of Magadha.
Increased his power and territory by marrying, about 308, Princess
Kumaradevi of the Licchavi tribe, controlling north Bihar, perhaps Nepal.
At that time, India polities consisted of independent states, monarchical
and nonmonarchical, and it is likely that Guptas and Licchavis ruled over
adjoining principalities.
The marriage enhanced the power and prestige of the new kingdom.
Special gold coins depicted King and Queen on one side and Licchavis
on the other.
The chronology of the Gupta era, dating from AD 320 is believed to be
based on the date either of his coronation or of his marriage.
By the conclusion of his reign, his kingdom probably extended west to
the present city of Allahabad and included Ayodhya and south Bihar.
These regions were assigned to him by Puranas (ancient chronicles of
early Sanskrit literature) composed in later centuries.
His inscriptions proclain his glory with the imperial title maharajadhiraja-"king of kings"--and his son Samudra Gupta used that imperial ambition
to launch wars of conquest that produced the Gupta Empire.
Buddhism under the Guptas
• Under the Gupta dynasty (c. AD 320-c. 600), Buddhism in India was
being affected by spreading Gupta patronage for Brahmanic religion and
by the rising tide of bhakti (a devotional ritualism centered on temples to
Puranic deities), which emphasized a devotee’s love for a personal god).
• During this period, some Hindus practiced devotion to Buddha, whom
they regarded as an avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu.
• During the Gupta period some Buddhist monasteries joined together to
form mahaviharas that functioned as universities.
– The most famous of these at Nalanda had a curriculum that went far beyond
the bounds of traditional Buddhism.
– Nalanda soon became the leading centre for the study of Mahayana, which
was rapidly becoming the dominant Buddhist tradition in India.
• Though Buddhist institutions seemed to be faring well under the Guptas,
various Chinese pilgrims visiting India between AD 400 and 700
described a decline in the Buddhist community and the beginning of the
reabsorption of Indian Buddhism by Hinduism. Among these pilgrims
were Fa-hsien, Sung Yün, Hui-sheng, Hsüan-tsang, and I-ching.