Ajivika: Vanished Indian philosophy and religion

                        Buddha's disciple Mahākāśyapa meets an Ājīvika / Wikimedia Commons 

Ajivikas were a religious sect founded in the 5th century BC by Goshala Maskariputra, a contemporary of the Buddha and Mahavir. The doctrines of the Ajivikas have come to us only from Buddhist and Jain texts which are highly critical of this sect. Naturally enough, they were the chief rivals of Buddhists and Jains. The cardinal point of the doctrines of the Ajivikas was a belief in the rule of the principle of order, Niyati or fate. Hence, there was no room for human volition.

The Ajivika sect enjoyed its heydays during the Mauryan rule under Ashoka and his successor Dasharatha. Two of the Barabar caves in Gaya in Bihar were dedicated by Ashoka to the monks of Ajivika sect. Dasharatha is also credited with the dedication of three caves in the Nagarjuni Hills, near Barabar, to them. 

This strictly deterministic sect survived until fourteenth century in South India where the Ajivika monks practised severe asceticism. Inscriptions show that  a special tax was levied on them by the Cholas. 

The Jaina text Bhagwati Sutra is the main source of the information about the Ajivika sect. Bhagwati Sutra has been translated into English by K. C. Lalwani.  

The Earliest Chalukyas: Chalukyas of Badami

                    Badami Caves / Wikimedia Commons Photo: Sanyam Bahga

The Chalukyas dynasty of Badami was an ancient Indian power which rose in prominence in an area comprising modern day Karnataka and much of Andhra Pradesh in the middle of the 6th century AD. The dynasty was founded in 543 by Pulkesin I who had chosen Vatapi (modern Badami in the Bagalkot district of Karnataka)  as his capital. He is known to have performed Ashvamedha yajna (horse sacrifice) to mark his accession to power. 

Pulkesin I was succeeded by his son Kirtivarman I who extended the territories of the kingdom at the cost of his adversaries including Kadambas of Banavasi and Nalas of Bastar. Goa, then known as Revatidwipa, was annexed to the empire. Since Pulkesin II, son of Kirtivarman, was too young to ascend the throne at the time of latter’s death in 597-98, Mangalesa, brother of Kirtivarman, became the regent of the empire. However, when Pulkesin II came of age, Mangalesa refused to surrender the throne and tried to secure the throne for his own son. So there ensued a battle between Mangalesa and Pulkesin II who killed the former and proclaimed himself king in 609-10. 

Pulkesin II is the greatest king of the Chalukya dynasty of Badami. Aihole Prasasti (Inscription) composed by his court poet Ravikirti, gives a detailed account of his victories. He was a contemporary of North Indian emperor Harsha (Vardhana dynasty) whom he had defeated on the banks of the Narmada river - the only check in the northern ruler’s otherwise victorious career. He subjugated the Latas (Gujarat), Malavas and Gurjaras.  

Pulkesin II considerably extended the bounds of his realm. Leaving his younger brother Kubja Vishnuvardhana in charge of the capital he embarked on an extensive campaign of conquest of Southern Kosala, Kalinga in the eastern Deccan. (Vishnuvardhana was the founder of a separate dynasty known as Eastern Chalukya, also known as the Chalukyas of Vengi.) 

He subjugated Kadamabas by overthrowing their capital Banavasi and compelled Alupas of Southern Karnataka and the Gangas of Mysore to acknowledge his suzerainty. Mauryas of northern Konkan were also compelled to submission when he successfully attacked their capital Puri (on the island of Elephanta). 

During his reign the Battle of Pullalur was fought with the Pallava king Mahendravarman I who was defeated. The battle took place at Pullalur (now in the Kanchipuram district in Tamil Nadu) in about 618–19. This was the beginning of the long-drawn-out struggle between the Pallavas and their sworn enemies the Chalukyas. In 640 AD the battle of Maanimangala was fought between Pallava ruler Narasimhavarman I and Pulakesin II who suffered defeat. The Battle of Vatapi took place in 642 AD between Narasimhavarman I and Pulakesin II near Vatapi.  After the battle which resulted in the defeat and death of Pulakeshin II, Narasimhavarman I took the title of Vatapikonda (Conqueror of Vatapi).

These were the days of crisis for Chalukyan kingdom. The feudatories began to declare independence and the matter was made worse by the dissensions among the sons of the Pulkeshin II. However there was a revival of the fortunes under Pulkeshin II’s son Vikramaditya I who set himself the task of repelling the Pallava invasion.  Vikramaditya I was succeeded by his son Vinayaditya who ruled from 681 to 696. Vinayaditya was in turn succeeded by his son Vijayaditya who was the longest serving Chalukya ruler of Badami. He ruled from 696 to 733. His long reign was generally marked by prosperity and general peace. Vijayaditya was followed by his son Vikramaditya II who is credited with overrunning the Pallava capital Kanchi three times. Vikramaditya II was succeeded by his son Kirtivarman II in 744-5. Kirtivarman II was overthrown in 752 or 753 by a chief named Dantidurga who proclaimed himself a sovereign power and founded the Rashtrakuta Empire. 

Eastern Ganga Dynasty of Odisha

                                        Jagannatha temple of Puri 

Eastern Ganga dynasty was a kingdom in India, ruling over an area corresponding to present day Odisha, the coastal plain between the Ganga and the Godavari. Eastern Gangas, who had been ruling since the close of the 5th century, were great temple builders. The temples built by them survive to be awe-inspiring spectacles for the people who throng to them. Chief among them are Jagannatha temple of Puri and the Sun Temple (also known as Black Pagoda) at Konark. The dynasty is called Eastern Gangas to differentiate them from Western Gangas, a separate dynasty, ruling in Mysore. 

Nothing much can be said with certainty about the early history of the Eastern Ganga dynasty. One of the rulers of the dynasty was Vajrahasta III whose coronation took place in AD 1038. He adopted the titles of Trikalingadhipati and Anantavarman. He was succeeded by his son Rajaraja I who entered into a conflict with the Cholas. Peace was concluded by a marriage alliance under which Rajaraja I married a Chola princess, Rajasundari.

Rajasundari gave birth to Anantavarman Chodagangadeva who succeeded his father, Rajaraja I, in 1077. Anantavarman Chodagangadeva was so called because he was the son of Rajaraja I (a Ganga ruler) and Rajasundari (a Chola princess). Anantavarman Chodagangadeva is known for starting the construction of famed Jagannatha Temple at Puri. 

In 1206 Ghiyas-ud-din Iwaz Shah, a lieutenant of Afghan military chief Bakhtiyar Khilji, invaded Odisha and defeated Rajaraja III who had ascended the Eastern Ganga throne in 1198. However, his son Anangabhima III (A.D.1207-1238) succeeded in driving the Muslims from Odisha. Anangabhima III had dedicated his kingdom to Lord Purushottama Jagannath and proclaimed himself as the deputy of the divinity of Puri. After Anangabhima III his son Narasimha I came to the throne. Narasimha I built the famous temple of Sun God at Konark. With his death in A.D. 1264, the Ganga dynasty began to lose its prominence. 

Narasiriiha I was succeeded by his son Bhanudeva I, who after a reign of fifteen years, was succeeded by his infant son Narasiriiha II. Narahari Tirtha, the famous Vaishnava scholar and disciple of Madhvacharya (founder of Dvaita school of philosophy), acted as the regent of Narasiriiha II for the first twelve years of latter's reign. 

Another ruler of the dynasty was Bhanudeva III (reigned 1352–1378) during whose reign the kingdom was invaded by Tughlaq Sultan, Firuz Tughluq, resulting in the flight of Bhanudeva III and desecration of the famous temple of Jagannatha at Puri. 

The throne of Bhanudeva IV, the last ruler of the dynasty, was usurped by his minister Kapilendra who founded a new dynasty, the Suryavamsha dynasty or Gajapati dynasty in c. A.D. 1434-5.  

Kanva Dynasty

Kanva dynasty was an ancient Indian dynasty which ruled from 72 BC to 28 BC in parts of eastern and central India. The founder of the dynasty was Vasudeva who brought an end to the Shunga (also spelt Sunga) kingdom by ordering the killing of its last ruler Devabhuti or Devabhumi of whom the former was a minister. This has been attested by 7th-century Sanskrit author Bana, who describes how Devabhuti fell prey to an assassination plot by Vasudeva and was eventually killed by a slave girl dressed in the guise of a queen.

According to the Puranas, Vasudeva ruled for 9 years and was succeeded by his son named Bhumimitra who ruled for 14 years. Next in the line of the Kanvas was Bumimitra’s son Narayana who ruled for 12 years. The fourth and last ruler of the dynasty was Narayana’s son Susarman who reigned for 10 years. Susarman was killed by the Satavahana (Andhra) ruler  and with this the Kanva dynasty came to an end. Kanva dynasty is also known as Kanvayanas. 

Like the Shungs, the Kanvas were also brahmanas.

Zia Nakhshabi

Zia Nakhshabi (d.1350) was a famous Sufi saint and scholar during the reign of Tughlaq Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq. He is credited with translating Chintamani Bhatta’s Sanskrit work Suka-saptati (Parrot’s Seventy) into Persian. The text translated by him is known as Tutinama (Stories from a Parrot) which was in time translated into Turkish and other European languages.

Zia Nakhshabi had also translated Koka-shastra (also known as Rati-rahasyam: Mysteries of Passion), a popular early medieval Sanskrit work on erotica written by Kukkoka (Kokapandita).

 

Jalaluddin Firoz Khalji: Founder of Khilji Dynasty

Accession of Jalaluddin Firoz Khalji to the throne of Delhi Sultanate in AD 1290 resulted in the foundation of Khilji Dynasty which ruled till 1320. He became the first Khilji Sultan after murdering Slave Sultan Kaiqubad (grandson of Slave Sultan Balban) and deposing latter’s infant son Kayumars. With the rise of the Khiljis, the Turkish nobility began to lose their influence. 

His coronation was held in Kilokhari (Kilughari), a suburb of Delhi, not in the city, for the dominant Turkish population of Delhi considered him to be an Afghan usurper and consequently resented his accession to the throne.  

Jalaluddin Khilji was in his seventies at the time of his ascension. 

Lenient in his treatment of his opponents and fellow Muslims, Jalaluddin Khilji was averse to punishing even those who sought to overthrow him. When Balban’s nephew Malik Chajju, governor of Kara, unfurled the banner of revolt in the second year of Jalaluddin Khaljis reign, the sultan entertained him with wine and released him from prison where the latter had found himself after being defeated by the Delhi forces.  This behaviour of Jalaluddin Khilji did not go down well with the Khilji nobles. 

Jalaluddin Khilji was killed by his son-in-law and successor Alauddin Khilji in 1296. 

Qiran-us-sadin, Meeting of two Sultans

Qiran-us-sadin is the first historical masnavi of Amir Khusrau, the mediaeval Sufi mystic and poet.

Written in verse in 1289, it describes the much talked about meeting between Bughra Khan, a Bengal Sultan and his son Kaiqubad (Kaiqubad), the last ruler of the Mamluk dynasty of Delhi Sultanate. Bughra Khan, who was appointed governor of Bengal by his father Balban, declined to be the Delhi Sultan and instead became an independent ruler of Bengal after the death of his father in 1287. Balban was succeeded by Kaiqubad on the throne of Delhi Sultanate. 

Qiran-us-sadin was written on the instructions of Kaiqubad.