Palas of Bengal and Bihar

                                                      Pala empire with neighbours / Wikimedia Commons

We know little of events in Bengal from the death of Harsha in 647 AD up to the rise of the Palas in Eastern India. What is known to us that during this period, Bengal was subjected to a condition known as Matsya nyaya (the rule of strong devouring the week). Against this backdrop Gopala was chosen (Grahita) as king by the people. He founded the Pala dynasty which ruled regions of Bengal and Bihar for about four centuries from the middle of the 8th century until the end of the 12th century.

There are instances when rulers were chosen by the people, ministers and nobles in ancient India. Harsha was invited by the nobles of Kannauj to assume the throne when Grahavarman died childless. The appointment of the boy Nandivarman (735-797) as the Pallava ruler of Kanchi by an assembly of nobles and ministers is another case in point.  

Though details of Gopala’s reign is not known it can be said with absolute certainty that he must have laid a strong foundation on which his successors— Dharmapala and Devapala —could embark upon a policy of conquest and annexation.

According to Lama Taranatha, the 17th century Tibetan historian of Buddhism in India, Gopala built the famous monastery of Odantapura (located in Bihar Sharif in Bihar) and ruled for forty five years. The Odantapura or Odantapuri, also spelled Uddandapura, was destroyed by the Afghan military chief Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1197AD.  

Gopala was succeeded after nearly twenty five years by his son Dharmapala whose long reign marks the zenith of Pala power. Since former had already undertaken the internal consolidation of the Pala dynasty, time was ripe for the energetic Dharmapala to embark upon a career of aggrandizement by undertaking foreign expeditions.   He involved himself in the famed tripartite struggle for the supremacy of Kannauj in north India and succeeded in raising his protégé Chakrayudha to the throne of Kanauj. However, his expeditions against his contemporaries came to naught as he was defeated both by Pratihara ruler Vatsaraja and Rashtrakuta ruler Dhruva Dharavarsha (ruled from c. 779 to 793-94).  

Dhruva’s son Govinda III also fought a successful battle against Dharampala and his protégé Chakrayudha. Finally the tripartite struggle for Kanauj ended in favour of the Gurjara-Pratihara ruler Nagabhata II who dealt a crushing defeat to Dharampala at Mudgagiri (now Munger in Bihar).  

                                    Vikramshila University/Rakesh Ranjan via Wikimedia Commons

A devout Buddhist, Dharampala had built the famous monasteries of Vikramshila (in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar) and Somapura Mahavihara (now in the Naogaon district of Bangladesh).

Dharampala was succeeded by his son Devapala, the most powerful Pala ruler. Devapala is credited by the Badal pillar inscription to have “eradicated the race of the Utkalas, humbled the pride of Hunas and scattered the conceit of the rulers of the Dravida and Gurjara”. The Bhagalpur inscription says that his cousin, Jayapala, was responsible for effecting the submission of Utkala (Orissa) and Pragjyotisha (Assam). 

Devapala was in diplomatic contact with the Sailendra kings of Sumatra. He is said to have granted 5 villages, as requested by Balaputradeva, the king of Sumatra and Java, for the upkeep of a Buddhist monastery commissioned by the latter at Nalanda. Devapala ruled for about 40 years. His reign may be dated from 815 to 855 AD.

Mahipala I was last important ruler of the Pala dynasty. The most important event of his reign was Rajendra I Chola’s northern expedition which resulted in the defeat of Mahipala I. After Mahipala I, the Pala power declined under his successors due to internal feud and external invasions. 

The rulers of Pala dynasty were great patrons of art and literature. According to eminent historian Vincent Smith, the Pala dynasty boasted two artists, whom he names Bhiman and his son Vitapala, who “acquired the highest fame for their skill as painters, sculptors and bronze-founders”.

The Palas did not regularly mint coins. They relied on those of the other kingdoms. 

Rebellion of Khusrau

    Tomb of Khusrau in Khusro Bagh, Allahabad|Wikimedia Commons

Khusrau was the eldest son of the fourth Mughal emperor Jahangir. He was born in 1587 to Man Bai, sister of Raja Man Singh, trusted general of Emperor Akbar. With the support of the powerful nobles Khusrau eyed the Mughal throne and unfurled a banner of rebellion against his father. After the death of his grandfather, Akbar, in 1605, he was imprisoned in Agra Fort by Jahangir who had succeeded Akbar as the Mughal emperor.

However, though he managed to escape, he was defeated by the Mughal forces in 1606.  

In 1606, the fifth Sikh Guru Arjan Dev was sentenced to death by Jahangir since he had blessed Khusrau during his rebellion against the emperor. However, famous Sufi saint Shaikh Nizam Thaneswari was banished by the emperor to Mecca for the same offence. 

Khusrau was later blinded and was forced into the custody of his brother Khurram (future Shah Jahan) who eventually strangled him at Burhanpur in 1621. (The official cause of his death was colic.)

On the orders of Jahangir, Khusrau was buried in a tomb adjoining his mother's in a garden in Allahabad, now called Khusrau Bagh.

Somapura Mahavihara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

                    First level plinth at Somapura Mahavihara/Image source

One of the famous Buddhist monasteries in ancient India, Somapura Mahavihara, the remains of which are located at the Paharpur archaeological site in the Naogaon district of Bangladesh, was built by the second Pala ruler Dharmapala (r. 770- c.810). The Pala rulers were great patrons of Buddhism and built several monasteries. 

Somapura Mahavira is one of the best few preserved Buddhist monasteries to survive the Muslim invasions under Afghan military chief Ikhtiyar- al-Din Muḥammad Bakhtiyar Khalji, popularly known as Bakhtiyar Khilji.

The other famous Buddhist monastery of Vikramshila (in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar), built by Dharampala, was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji. Missions sent from Vikramshila monastery resulted in the establishment of Vajrayana form of Buddhism in Tibet in 11th century AD.

Facts about Important Gupta Rulers

Not much is known about the events in North India after the downfall of the Kushana dynasty but it seems probable that by the 3nd century AD the Indian territories east of the Punjab and Malwa were ruled by small Indian kings. 

Chandra Gupta I

In this backdrop, in 320 AD there emerged a king named Chandra Gupta whose successors were instrumental in restoring the glory of the Mauryan dynasty (322 BCE - 185 BCE) to a great degree. He was the son of 2nd Gupta king Ghatotkacha whose father Srigupta I is considered the founder of the Gupta kingdom. It was, however, Chandra Gupta who was responsible for elevating the kingdom to the imperial status. 

Chandra Gupta I strengthened his position by matrimonial alliance with the tribe of Lichchhavi whose princess Kumaradevi was married to him. (The Licchhavi clan made its reappearance, eight centuries after their defeat by Magadhan emperor Ajatashatru.) 

Special coins were issued to commemorate this marriage which has been described by eminent historian and numismatist A S Altekar as the 'most dominating political event of the reign of Chandragupta I '.

Chandragupta I was the first Gupta ruler who assumed the title of Maharajadhiraja, "supreme King of great Kings".

Samudra Gupta

Samudra Gupta (reigned c.330 – c.380) was appointed by his father Chandra Gupta I to succeed him. However, the coins of an obscure prince, Kacha, suggest that his accession to the throne did not go unchallenged.  

A skillful military leader and administrator as well as a patron of learning, Samudragupta is called Indian Napoleon by the British historian V.A. Smith. A detailed record of Samudragupta’s reign is contained in the Allahabad pillar inscription composed by his court poet and minister Harisena. 

Chandragupta II

Chandragupta II succeeded to the Gupta throne after his father Samudra Gupta. According to one school of thought, before Chandragupta II his elder brother Ram Gupta ruled the Gupta empire and had to give way to his younger brother who saved the empire from a great calamity in the form of a Saka invasion.

Ancient India culture reached its climax during the reign of Chandragupta II. Kalidasa, the greatest of India’s poets and dramatists, and the famed astronomer Varahamihira were patronized by him. Chinese traveller Faxian (Fa-hsien) who came to India during his rule to collect authentic copies of the Buddhist scriptures attest the prosperity and happiness of the Gupta empire.

Chandra Gupta II is generally identified with a king called Chandra to whom is dedicated the Iron Pillar of Meharauli in Delhi.  

Kumara Gupta I

Chandragupta II was succeeded by his son Kumara Gupta I (c. 415-455 AD), who like his grandfather Samudragupta, performed the Vedic horse sacrifice (Ashvamedha).  He managed to keep the vast Gupta dominions intact. 

In his last years, the Gupta empire suffered a severe blow in the form of attack by the Hunas, the barbaric tribes from Central Asia. Kumara Gupta I died during the war with the Hunas who were finally defeated by his son Skanda Gupta. 

Skandagupta

Skandagupta, who ruled between 455 and 467 CE, was the last powerful ruler of the Gupta Empire. He ascended the throne after the death of his father Kumar Gupta I. 

Skanda Gupta succeeded in keeping the Hunas at bay by defeating them. To mark the occasion he justifiably assumed the title of Vikramaditya.

After his death in 467 AD, Skanda Gupta was succeeded by half-brother Purugupta.

Vishnugupta was the last ruler of the Gupta empire. 

Bibliography

A. S. Altekar: The coinage of the Gupta empire

A. L. Basham: The Wonder that was India 

Jandial Temple Taxila

The 2,000-year-old Greek temple in Jandial (now in Pakistan) is a famous landmark in temple architecture in India. It was excavated from one of the mounds which covered the city of Taxila or Takshashila . 

The Jandial temple was probably Zoroastrian and contained a square sanctuary, a meeting hall and a courtyard. Its inner and outer entrances were each flanked by two large pillars of Ionian pattern. 

Tipu Sultan: Ruler of Mysore

A military leader in 18th century South India, Tipu Sultan (ruled from 1782-99) was the ruler of Mysore for a seventeen-year-period until his death in 1799. He succeeded to the throne when his father Hyder Ali died on December 7, 1782 during the course of Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-84). The Second Anglo-Mysore War came to an end by the Treaty of Mangalore (March 1784) on the basis of mutual restitution of conquests. 

Tipu Sultan was born in 1750 in Devanahalli (near Bangalore in Karnataka). 

Unlike his father who was a de facto ruler, Tipu assumed royal title of Sultan by dethroning the Hindu raja of Mysore in 1786.

The increasing power of Mysore made the Marathas and the Nizam enter into a coalition in 1786 against Tipu Sultan who became successful in defeating them by crossing the flooded Tungabhadra in rafts and basket boats in a brilliant military feat. The defeat brought the Marathas and the Nizam closer to the English who were eyeing opportunity to avenge the past defeat. The alliance among the English, the Marathas and the Nizam led to the Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790-92) in which Tipu Sultan was defeated. The Third Anglo-Mysore War came to an end by the Treaty of  Srirangapatnam. Under the terms of the treaty Tipu had to surrender of nearly half of Mysorean territory to the victorious allies. 

Tipu was killed in 1799 in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. The immediate cause of the war was, according to the English, Tipu’s intrigues with the Marathas and the Nizams. He also tried to enlist the support of Zaman Shah of Afghanistan and the French in the Isle of France (Mauritius) by sending embassies to Arabia and the Directory at Versailles for an alliance against the British in India. The fourth Anglo-Mysore War took place during the governor generalship of Lord Wellesley who jettisoned the non-intervention policy and annexed most of the territories of the Mysore state to the East India Company under the subsidiary Alliance system. A boy of the earlier Mysore Hindu royal family was placed on the throne. 

Tipu Sultan is revered by a section of the people as a patriot and a hero as he stood against the British. That even cost him his life. But there is another angle to view the truth. Tipu Sultan was in cahoots with the French. There is every possibility that had he succeeded in driving the British away with French help, Mysore would have fallen to the French instead. And there was no concept of nationalism in the age in which Tipu lived.

Key Takeaway

Tipu Sultan had planted the 'Tree of Liberty' at Srirangapatnam. 

Mughal Mansabdari System

Mansabdari system was a unique feature of the administrative system of the Mughal empire. It was introduced by Akbar with a view to organizing his nobility as well as army. Under the system, all officers of the state were entitled to a mansab. Mansabdari system was, in sum, “the army, the peerage, and the civil administration, all rolled into one.”   

Mansabdar (holder of a rank, or an officer) is a title derived from the word Mansab which is of Arabic origin and means a rank or a position. 

Under the system, each mansabdar held a mansab (rank) and was to maintain a quota of horses, elephants, camels, beasts of burden and carts. They were paid either in cash (naqd) or allotted land (jagir). The mansabdars who received pay in cash were known as naqdi and those paid through assignments of jagirs were called jagirdars.

According to the Ain –Akbari, there were thirty-three grades of mansabdars ranging from the dahbashi (commanders of 10) to the dah hazari (commanders of 10,000). Mansabs above 5,000 were reserved for the royal princes. 

The status of mansabdars was defined by sawar (cavalrymen) and zat (personal). The former indicated number of horsemen which a mansabdar had to maintain while the zat rank showed his personal pay in the pay schedules.

Akbar included all nobles in the Mansabdari system. Persons holding ranks below 500 were called Mansabdar. Those holding from 500 to less than 2500 were called Amir and those holding 2500 and above were known as amir-i-umda or amir-i-azam or omrahs. 

In theory all mansabdars were appointed, promoted, suspended or dismissed by the emperor. Mansabdars holding ranks below 500 zat were called mansabdars, those more than 500 but below 2,500 amirs and those holding ranks of 2,500 and above were called amir-i-umda or amir-i-azam or omrahs.

The post of a mansabdar was not hereditary and it automatically lapsed after his death or dismissal. Children of a mansabdar, if they were granted a mansab, had to start afresh. 

Mansabdari system marked the end of the separation of civil and military departments. Now officers were expected to perform both duties and were liable to be transferred from the civil administration to the military department and vice versa. 

In order to provide rest for the horses during their marches and their replacements in times of war, it was expected of the mansabdars to maintain twenty horses for every ten cavalrymen. A sawar with only one horse was considered as a nim-sawar i.e. half a sawar. 

Mansabdari system introduced by Akbar was continued by his successors with some modifications. 

While during Jahangir’s reign there was a reduction in the average rate of maintenance grant payable to Mansabdar per Sawar, a significant modification introduced by Shah Jahan to the system came in the form of drastic reduction in the number of sawars a noble was expected to maintain.

Some selected mansabdars were allowed by Jahangir to maintain a large quota of soldiers without raising their zat rank. 

During the reign of Aurangzeb the numbers of the Hindu mansabdars was higher than that of the Muslim mansabdars. 

Reference: Mughal Nobility Under Aurangzeb by Ali M. Athar