Thapar, Romila;
A History of India v.1
Penguin, 1966 / 1980, 381 pages
ISBN 0140138366
topics: | india | ancient | history
The concentration on dynastic histories in the early studies was also due to the assumption that in 'Oriental' societies the power of the ruler was supreme even in the day to day functioning of the government. Yet authority for routine functions was rarely concentrated at the centre in the Indian political systems. The unique feature of Indian society - the caste system ... localized many of the functions which woould normally be associated with a truly 'oriental despotism'. The understanding of the functioning of power in India lies in analyses of the caste and sub-caste relationships and of institutions such as the guilds and village councils, and not merely in the survey of dynastic power. - p.19 The study of institutions did not receive much emphasis in part due to the belief that they did not undergo much change: an idea which also fostered the theory that Indian culture has been a static, unchanging culture for many centuries, largely owing to the lethargy of the Indian and his gloomy, fatalistic attitude to life. ... Even a superficial analysis of the changing social relationships within the caste structure, or the agrarian systems, or the vigorous mercantile activities of Indians throughout the centuries , points to anything but a static socio-economic pattern. - p.19-20 The vast northern Indo-Gangetic plain lent itself more easily to the emergence of large unitary kingdoms. The southern half of the sub-continent, the peninsula, was cut up into smaller regions by mountains, plateaux, and river valleys - the changing topography permitting of less political uniformity than the northern plain. In an age of empires as was the nineteenth and early twentieth cenury, the larger kingdoms of the north attracted the attention of historians. Periods when large kingdoms flourished became the 'Golden Age' and those which saw the growth of smaller regional states became the 'Dark Ages'. - p.21 [KNOWLEDGE IS NOT ENOUGH - Jainism] Purification is not achieved through knowledge, as some of the Upanishadic teachers taught, knowledge being a relative quality. This is explained by the famous story of the six blind men, each touching a different part of an elephant and insisting that what they touched was not an elephant but a rope, a snake, a tree trunk, and so on. Each man sees only a fraction of true knowledge, which makes knowledge unreliable for salvation. - p.65 The state directly employed some of the artisans such as armourers, shipbuilders, etc., who were exempt from tax, but others who worked in state workshops, as for example the spinning and weaving shops and the state mines, were liable to tax. The rest worked either individually or, as was most often the case, as members of a guild. The guilds were large and complex in structure... A tax was levied on all manufactured articles and the date was stamped on them so that consumers could distinguish between old goods and new. ... [INTEREST RATES] There was no banking system but usury was customary. Fifteen per cent per annum was the recognized rate of interest on borrowed money. However, in less secure transactions involving long sea voyages, the rate could be as high as sixty per cent. [Maurya period, 300-200 B.C. - p.78] [COMMERCE VS STATE] Vaishyas, though technically dvijas, did not benefit recognizably from their privileged position, since they were socially excluded by the first two castes. Yet the vaishyas by now were economically powerful, since commerce was in their hands... Guild leaders in urban centers had the factual control of urban institutions, yet the social code denied them the position of prestige to which they felt entitled. A partial expression of their resentment was their support for the heterodox sects, Buddhism in particular. - p.79-82 [GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS PAY SCALES] The higher officials were extremely well paid... The chief minister, the purohita, and the army commander received 48,000 panas, the treasurer and the chief collector 24,000 panas; [ministers - 12,000, accountants and clerks - 500, and artisans 120 panas. The ratio of he highest-to-lowest is 400:1.] - p.83 A fundamental aspect of Maurya administration was the espionage system. The Arthashastra advocates the frequent use of spies, and recommends that they should work in the guise of recluses, householders, merchants, ascetics, students, mendicant women, and prostitutes. - p.84 [Ashoka, rock edict XII]: "The essential advancement of all sects [depends on] the control of one's speech, so as not to extol one's own sect or disparage that of another on unsuitable occasions. ... Concord is to be commended so that men may hear one another's principles." One suspects that the emperor almost had a fear of people becoming impassioned over differences of opinion. p.87 On the roads I have had banyan trees planted, which will give shade to beasts and men. - Ashoka, Pillar edict VII, p.88 "For a long time past it has not happened that business has been dispatched and that reports have been received at all hours. Now by me this arrangement has been made that all hours and in all places -- whether I am dining, or in the ladies' apartments, in my bedroom, or in my closet, in my carriage, or in the palace gardens -- the official Reporters should report to me on the people's business, and I am ready to do the people's business in all places." - [Un-cited Ashokan record, RC Mazumdar, Ancient India, p. 113] Recruitment and administrative power remained within the same social group and was localized, which also meant that local cliques could dominate local administration. ... If the Mauryans had adopted a system [similar to the Chinese examination system] their administrative structure might have enabled them to survive longer. - p.90 The best remembered of the Indo-Greek kings was undoubtedly Menander, who, as Milinda, attained fame in he Buddhist text Milinda-panho - the questions of King Milinda - a catechismal disussion on Buddhism, supposedly conducted by Menander and the Buddhist philosopher Nagasena, resulting in Menander's conversion to Buddhism. [NW provinces and Punjab upto the Ravi, may have attacked the Shungas in the Yamuna region, if not Pataliputra itself. Ruled 155-130 B.C. - p.94] Shakas = Scythians, from Central Asia, near Aral Sea. Were driven out by the Yueh-Chi Yueh-Chi = Nomadic North Chinese tribe, prevented from attacking China in third C. B.C. by the great Chinese Wall built by Shi Huang Ti. They divided into two groups, Little Yueh-chi settling in Tibet, and the Great Yueh-chi displacing the Scythians who moved into Bactria, Parthia, and India, eventually to be followed by the Yueh-Chi as well, who formed the Kusana dynasty, which included Kanishka. - p.95-96 TRADE ROUTES, p.105-107: The whole of India was now crossed by trade routes, some of which continued further into central Asia and western Asia. They tended to follow the highways and the river valleys. Rivers were not bridged but ferries were common. Travels were restricted to the dry summers and winters, the rainy season being a period of rest. ... There is an interesting passage in the Arthashastra comparing the advantages of land and water routes. Although sea travel is cheaper, the danger of pirates and the cost of losing ships to them makes it expensive. A coastal route is obviously safer for trade. Kautilya advises that the south roads running through the mining areas shuold be taken, as these traversed heavily populated regions and were therefore safer. [Buddhist sources refer to roads from Shravasti to Rajgriha, Shravasti to Pratishthana, (the Satavahana capital, modern Paithan on the Godavari east of Nasik)] ... The port of Bharukachchha (modern Broach) continued to be the main port for the western sea trade as it had been in earlier centuries when it was in communication with Baveru (Babylon). ... The Mauryans had built a royal highway from Taxila to Pataliputra, a road which was rebuilt, (approximating fairly closely to the original) throughout the centuries and which today survives as the Grand Trunk Road. Pataliputra was connected by road with Tamluk in the Ganges delta, the chief port for [the east]. ... The most widely used highway westwards was from Taxila to Kabul, from where roads branched off [to the north] via Bactria, the Oxus, the Caspian Sea, and the Caucacus to the Black Sea. A more southerly route went from Kandahar and Herat to Ectabana (later Hamadan) and from thee it was linked to the ports on the eastern Mediterranean. Another important highway connected Kandahar with Persepolis and Susa. Even further south was the road via the Persian Gulf and the Tigris to Seleucia. Eastern Afghanistan was regarded politically and culturally as a part of north-western India. [the Old Silk Road] Indian traders were establishing trading stations and merchant colonies in places such as Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan, Miran, Kuchi, Qara-shahr, and Turfan... p.106-107 the guild could act as banker, financier, and trustee as well. Generally however, these functions were carried out by a different category of merchants, known as sreshthins or financiers, the descendants of whom are the present day seths of northern India and the chettis or chetttiyars of south India. -p.112 The southern kingdoms were familiar with large-scale maritime trade and their literature refers to harbours, docks, lighthouses, custom offices - p.113 Certain aspects of the life of Christ (the supernatural birth and the temptation by the Devil) are so closely parallel to events in the legends of Buddha that it is difficult to avoid suspecting some indirect borrowing. - p.118 [Chinese goods in India, 200 B.C.] bamboo, kichaka, which is related to the Chinese ki-chok -p.120 Apart from their role in the economy, the guilds provided education as well, though not 'formal' education, which remained in the hands of the brahmans and the monks. The guilds, by restricing membership to artisans of a particular craft, were centres for technical education. Knowledge of mining, metallurgy, weaving, dyeing, carpentry, etc. was maintained and improved upon by the relevant guild. The spectacular progress achieved in this way is visible in the coins which have survived, in the pillars of the Mauryan and later periods when stone cutting and polishing reached a stage of perfection, and even in something as simple as the northern black polished ware, which defies reproduction. Engineering skill in building of dams and irrigation tanks is evident from the remains of these and from the inscriptions relating to them. Geometry began as a practical aid in the building of altars and sacrificial structures but slowly came to be applied to more complex architecture. ... Medical encyclopedias and pharmacopeas were composed at this time, the most famous being that of Charaka, a contemporary of the king Kanishka, and another of a slightly later date, that of Sushruta. Evidently, Indian herbal knowledge had reached the western world, since the Greek botanist Theophrastus gives details of the medicinal use of various plants and herbs from India in his History of Plants. The systematic analysis of language had had a large and devoted following culminating in the great work of Panini on Sanskrit. Patanjali was the grammarian of this period whose commentary, Mahabhashya, is not only an impressive study of syntax and the evolution of words, but also provides, incidentally, useful material on the history of the time. - p.122-123, [200 B.C.-A.D. 300] Brahmanism did not remain unchanged through all these centuries, nor was it impervious to the effects of Buddhism and Jainism. Some of the Vedic gods had quietly passed into oblivion and some were being reborn as new gods with additional attributes. This was the time when the brahmanical religion assumed features which today are recognized as Hinduism. [p.132, [200 B.C.-A.D. 300] [Vishnu] is believed to have manifested himself in nine incarnations so far, the most recent being that of the Buddha, who was included when Buddhism ceased being a formidable rival to Hinduism. ... Shiva evolved from the Vedic god Rudra and the Tamil god Murugan. - p.132 Hinduism was not founded by a historical personage as a result of a revelation: it is not a revealed religion but grew and evolved from a variety of cults and beliefs which became associated with the more sophisticated religion, a concession which the priests had to make to popular worship. [p.132] [Note the similar exigencies in moving the Christmas day to the Winter Solstice (old Pagan festival), the retaining of the Kaaba in Islam, though the three goddesses were rejected, see S.Rushdie, The Satanic Verses] [EVOLUTION OF RELIGION] Another shift in Hinduism was a gradual shift in emphasis from ritual alone to the view that a completely personal relationship between the God and the devotee was possible. ... Vedic sacrifices were not entirely rejected; they still provided the ceremonial content of occasions such as the coronation of kings, but people lost touch with Vedic tradition, which increasingly had become the preserve of the brahmans. The brahmans appropriated the Vedic texts and in their place people acceptted the Epics, the Dharmashastras, and the Puranas as their religious literature ... the Epics, which had been essentially bardic poetry, were now given the sanctity of divine revelation. The Epics had originally been secular and therefore had now to be revised by the brahmans with a view to using them as religious literature; thus, many interpolations were made, the most famous being the addition of the Bhagavad-Gita to the Mahabharata. [p.133, 200 BC to AD 300] [DECENTRALIZATION] Local administration was for all practical purpses independent of the center. Decisions whether of policy or in relation to individual situations were generally taken locally, unless [specifically centralized]. ... This was the significant difference between the Mauryan administration and that of the Guptas : whereas Ashoka insisted that he must know of the doings of even the smaller officials in the districts, the Guptas were satisfied with leaving it to the kumaramatyas (head of province = many districts) and ayuktas (district head). Each city had a council ... the difference between the council and the Committee [of the Mauryas] is that the Mauryan government appointed the committees, whereas in the Gupta system the council consisted of local representatives, on which, interestingly enough, commercial interests predominated. [p.145] Salaries were paid not in cash but in grants of land ... of two types. One was the agrahara grant which was restricted to brahmans and was tax free. [The other] was those to secular officials either in lieu of salary or as reward for services. ... Land grants weakened the authority of the king. ... Water wheels used for irrigation had become a familiar part of the landscape. [p.146] [ANIMAL HUSBANDRY] It is strange that India never bred sufficient horses of quality, the best blood having always to be imported; this was to have disastrous consequences on the cavalry ... particularly in comparison with central Asian horsemen. [ p.149] [Percival Spear, p. 24 - Battle of Panipat 1525, and Babur's battle near Agra 1527 with Rajputs under Rana Sanga] the Rajputs had no answer to the wheeling tactics of the Mughal cavalry. [The lack of breeding in cows is also notable despite having such an extensive dependence on the cow for so many centuries. It is worth investigating if there were specific taboos on the breeding of cows in particular, or did it simply not occur to the farmers? The lack of breeding in the primary domestic animal would have transferred to the lack of breeding in other animals like the horse and the dog. The lack of an appropriate animal breeding technology had wider ramifications in many areas such as the inadequate dairy industry, cavalry warfare, etc. Romila Thapar's footnote that "The only likely explanation for this is that climatic conditions and the particular type of pasture suitable for breeding horses did not exist in India" may not be tenable. What is more likely is that economic pressures pushed land towards active cultivation vis a vis pasture since the restrictions on meat eating (in force by now?) lowered the economic value of animal husbandry. This is in contrast to the open steppes of Central Asia, say. Also, the lack of formalized guild like centers for agricultural innovation and training would have made it difficult for such technology to propagate.] [INTEREST RATES] The fantastically high rates demanded during the Mauryan period on loans to be used for overseas trade [240%] were no longer demanded, indicating an increased confidence in [shipping]. The average rate was now twenty percent per annum. [p.148]. Indian ships going to south-east Asia have been described as 'square-rigged, two masted vessels with raked stem and stern, both sharp without bowsprit and rudder, and steered by two quarter paddles'. ... Indian contacts with the east African coast date to a period in prehistory and by now this contact had developed through trade. ... There appears to have been a lively interest in navigation and trade at this time in India. Yet the law-makers were declaring it a great sin for a Hindu to travel by sea, to cross the black waters, and this may have reduced Indian participation in maritime trade. ... contamination with the melecchha ... It was difficult to observe caste rules abroad. The ban had an additional indirect advantage for the brahman that it curbed the economic power of the trading community. [p.150] [SEX] The Kamasutra is a remarkable document ... it discusses and analyses the whole question of love with a precision and lucidity surprisingly similar to that of modern works on the subject. The courtesan was a normal feature of urban life, neither romanticized nor treated with contempt. Judging by the training given to a courtesan as described in the Kamasutra, it was amongst the more demanding professions, for she was often called upon to be a cultured companion like the geisha of Japan or the hetaera of Greece. [p.151] Certain features emerged during this period which became characteristic of the status of women in later centuries. Early marriages were advocated, often even pre-puberty marriages. It was also suggested that a widow should not only live in strict celibacy, but preferably should ... become a sati. [p.152] Contrary to Fa Hsien's statement that vegetarianism was customary in India, meat was commonly eaten. [p.152] --- The joint family system, which became an essential feature of Hindu caste society, was prevalent at the time. Fathers and sons had equal ownership in ancestral property and the sons had equal ownership in the property of the father. [p.153] Katyayana describes the judicial process at length. Evidence was based on ... three sources, documents, witnesses, or the possession of incriminating objects. Ordeal as a means of proof was not only permitted but used. [p.154] [UNIVERSITIES] Buddhist monasteries took students for only ten years, but those wishing to be ordained as monks had to remain for a longer period. Nalanda near Patna grew to be the foremost Buddhist monastery and educational center in the north... was supported by the income from a number of villages which the monastery acquired over the years through donations. These villages and estates covered the expenses of the university, which was thus able to provide free educational facilities and residence for most students. [p.154]
Knowledge of metals had improved tremendously and it is unfortunate that more objects have not survived from this period. The most spectacular survival is the iron pillar at Delhi, just over twenty-three feet high, scarcely rusted. ... The more technical and specialized knowledge remained in the hands of the guilds where the sons of craftsmen were trained in the hereditary trade. These centers had little contact with brahmanical institutions and Buddhist monasteries. The study of mathematics was an exception and provided a bridge between the two types of education, and not surprisingly this was an intensely active period in mathematics. ... Aryabhata calculated PI to 3.1416 and the length of the solar year to 365.3586805 days, both remarkably close to recent estimates. He believed the earth was a sphere and rotated on its axis, and that the shadow of the earth falling on the moon caused eclipses. [opposed by the orthodox]. [p.155] Manuals on the construction of stone temples were written giving minute details of construction, and these were followed. [p.157] Poetry and prose in Sanskrit were encouraged on a lavish scale through royal patronage. [Kalidasa in the court of Chandragupta II]. A notable feature in the Sanskrit plays of this period is that the characters of high social standing speak Sanskrit, whereas those of low social status and all the women speak Prakrit. [p.156-7] [IDOLATRY - origins in Buddhism] The depiction of the Buddha in human form led to the portrayal of the more important Hindu gods and goddesses in the same manner. The Hindus, however, treated the image as a symbol and not as representational: thus, although god took human form, he may well have been given four or eight arms, each arm carrying a symbol of an attribute connected specifically with that particular god. [p. 158] [BUDDHISM - EVOLUTION] The fifth century saw the coming of a new and curious cult which began with the worship of female deities, associated with the fertility cult; they then became the nucleus of magical rites which in a later form are called Tantricism. Buddhism was influenced by Tantric rites, and in the seventh century AD a new branch of Buddhism emerged with its center in eastern India called Vajrayana (Thunderbolt Vehicle) Buddhism. The Vajrayana Buddhism gave female counterparts to the existing male figures of the Buddhist pantheon, and these counterparts were named Taras (or Saviouresses). The cult of Taras remains prevalent in Nepal and Tibet. ... Tantric beliefs also made an impression on Hindu worship as well and in Hinduism there developed the Shakti cults, with their basic belief that the male can be activated only by being united with the female. The gods therefore acquired wives and the wives were worshipped in their own right; for example, Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, and Parvati, Kali, and Durga, the various manifestations of the wife of Shiva. This cult appears to have been based on the persistent worship of the mother goddess, which has remained an enduring feature of religion in India. Since this could not be suppressed it was given a priestly blessing and incorporated into the regular ritual in the guise of the Shakti cult. [p.160-1] That the imposition of the Aryan patterns on levels of society other than than those of the upper castes was uncertain and incomplete ... is indicated by ... repeated concessions were made to popular cults; or by the fact that Shaivism, in its aspect of lingam worship, was in origin non-Aryan. [166] The Puranas as we know it were composed during this time. ... They were originally composed by bards, but now, having come into priestly hands, they were re-written in classical Sanskrit, and information on Hindu sects, rites, and customs was added in order to make them into sacrosanct Hindu documents. [AD 300-700, p.163] The Indian impact [on South-East Asia] is understandable in terms of a more advanced civilization meeting a less advanced one, with the elite of the latter moulding themselves on the pattern of the former... The Thai court at Bangkok employs, to this day, brahmans from India for all court ceremonies, and the brahmans are maintained in comfort in Bangkok. [Reminescent of the chants in The King and I, p. 165] On the west coast, the initiative in the trade with the occident was gradually passing into the hands of the foreign traders settled along the coast, mainly the Arabs. Indian traders were becoming suppliers of goods rather than carriers ... communication with the west became indirect, via the Arabs, and limited to trade alone. [500-900 AD, p.180] Hindu COLLEGES (ghatikas) were generally attached to the temples. Entry to these colleges was at first open to any 'twice-born' Hindu. Gradually however, they became exclusively brahman institutions and confined themselves to advanced study. Apart from the university at Kanchi, which acquired fame equal to that of Nalanda, there were a number of other Sanskrit colleges. ... The Enniriyam temple college provided free education to 340 students and had ten teaching departments. [p.181] Courses in the colleges were organized in a systematic manner demanding regular attendance and instruction. ... Had Tamil been encouraged to a greater extent in the centres of higher education it would have assisted in producing a far more vigorous intellectual tradition. [AD 900-1300, p.213] [SANSKRIT LITERATURE] There was a tendency however, to conscious literary labouring which was carried to an extreme in another work of Dandin's, a poem, which ... could be read both forwards (Ramayana) and in reverse (Mahabharata). [p.180] Tamil devotionalism achieved a great wave of popularity in the sixth and seventh centuries A.D. ... the devotional aspect was formulated in a relationship between God and man based on love... The vedic gods were either denied or ignored, the emphasis being not on the object of worship but on the relationship... Manikkavasagar explains in his hymn: "Indra or Vishnu or Brahma / Their divine bliss crave not I / I seek the love of my saints / Though my house perish thereby. " [p.186-7] Although never so recognized by the brahmans, the Tamil devotional cult was in part a resistance to the Aryanization of the region. The brahmans enjoyed royal patronage, but the cult was widely supported by ordinary people, although, in later centuries, when the established order had arrived at a comprpmise with it, royal patronage was frequently extended to the cult. [p.188] Bharatanatyam - the dance according to the choreographical rules of Bharata as explained in his text, Natya-shastra. [p.189] An inscription from the temple wall at Uttareamerur (a village of brahmans) gives details of how the local sabha functioned ... "... select each person possessing the following qualification for inclusion for selection by lot: [own 1/4th the land, live in house on it, age in (35,70), know the mantras] ... [except] One who has been on any of the committees for the last three years ... One who has been on any of the committees but has not submitted his accounts, and his relations [sons of siblings of mother, sister of father; etc long list]... These tickets [with names] shall be put into a pot ... any young boy standing close who does not know what is inside ... one ticket shall be drawn ... the arbitrator shall receive it on the palm of his hand with five fingers open... [p.202-203] Devadasis (female slaves of the gods) were commonly found in most temples in Chola times. They were in origin a special and venerated grooup of women attendants some of whom, like the Vestal Virgins of Rome, were dedicated to the temple at birth or when quite young. ... eventually in many temples the devadasis degenerated into shamefully exploited prostitutes, their earnings being collected by the temple authorities. [p.211] Unlike the north Indian brahman landowners, the southern brahmans were more adventurous and invested their surplus income in commerce. ... Some even journeyed to South-East Asia where they settled down in spite of the ban on crossing the ocean. [p.211-12] The Lingayata or Virashaiva sect which emerged in the twelfth century with characteristics of a reform movement... The founder Basavaraja, an apostate Jaina, had a certain cynical strain which lent sharpness to the point he wished to make. The lamb brought to the slaughter-house eats the leaf garland with which it is decorated ... the frog caught in the mouth of the snake desires to swallow the fly flying near its mouth. So is our life. The man condemned to die eats milk and ghee. ... When they see a serpent caged in stone they pour milk on it: if a real serpent comes they say, Kill. Kill. To the servant of God who could eat if served they say, Go away, Go away; but to the image of God which cannot eat they offer dishes of food. [p.216, quote from Sources of Indian Tradition, ed. Th. M. Bary] Ramanuja disagreed with Shankara's theory that knowledge was the primary means of salvation. According to Ramanuja it was merely one of the means and was not nearly as effective or reliable as pure devotion, giving oneself up entirely to God. ... it was essentially a personal relationship based on Love. The emphasis on the indifidual in this relationship carried almost a protestant flavour. [p.217] Ramanuja, whilst accepting special privileges for the higher castes, was nevertheless opposed to the excluding of shudras from worship in the temple. He pleaded for the throwing open of temples to shudras, but without much success. ... Although the temples were not opened to the shudras, the deities and rituals of a vast number of subsidiary cults crept into the temple. [p.218] It was in Bronze sculptures that the Chola craftsman excelled, producing images rivalling those produced anywhere in the world. They were mainly images of deities, donors, saints, made by the cire perdu [lost wax] process... [p.219] Much of Kamarupa was conquered in 1253 by the Ahoms, a Shan people who came from the mountains to the south-east of Assam. It was they who finally gave the place its name. [p.226] Somnat - a celebrated city of India situated on the shore of the sea... Among the wonders of that place was the temple in which was place the idol called Somnat. This idol was in the middle of the temple without anything to support it from below, or to suspend it from above ... and whoever beheld it floating in the air was strucck with amazement.... December A.D. 1025 The number of slain exceeded 50,000. ... The value of the things found in the temple and of the idols exceeded twenty thousand dinars. ... The king directed a person to feel all around and above and below [the idol] with a spear, which he did but met with no obstacle. One of the attendants then stated his opinion that the canopy was made of lodestone, and the idol of iron, and that the ingenious builder had skilfully contrived that the magnet should not exercise a greater force on any one side ... When two stones were removed from the summit, the idol swerved on one side, when more were taken away it inclined still further, until at last it rested on the ground. [p.233 quote from Al-Kazwini, tr. Eliot and Dowson, "The history of India as told by its own historians, v.1] The Indians believe that there is no country but theirs, no nation like theirs, no king like theirs, no religion like theirs, no science like theirs ... they are by nature niggardly in communicating what they know, and they take the greatest possible care to withhold it from men of another caste from among their own people, still more of course from the foreigner. [- Al-Beruni, from Tahqiq-i-Hind, quoted p.239] Caste considerations in the matter of money-lending appear by now to have been regularized, the brahman being charged two percent and the shudra five percent or more on the same capital. [p.251] A number of the new sub-castes were associated with technical professions, as for instance those requiring surgical, medical, or mathematical knowledge. The brahminical writings of this period attacked professions where technical knowledge was essential. Medhatithi regards handicrafts as low occupations. According to contemporary commentaries on Manu, mechanical work was a minor sin, and this category of work included the construction of bridges and embankments to control the flow of water. Perhaps those in authority were conscious of the power of technical knowledge. [p.253, 800-1200AD] Krishna, meaning dark, has led to his being associated with the flute-playing Tamil god Mayon, the dark one, the herdsman who spent many hours in the company of milkmaids, which is what the cowherd of Mathura is associated with in the northern tradition. It is believed that the Abhiras, a pastoral tribe of the peninsula, brought this god with them when they travelled north and settled in central and western India. The cult became popular in the region of Mathura, from where it spread rapidly to other parts of northern India. [p.260 800-1200AD] ... new gods emerged. Ganesha or Ganapati, the elephant-headed god, worshipped in village shrines as he is to this day, rose to popularity. In origin a god who could take on the shape of a beast, (and perhaps a totem god), a respectable parentage was attributed to him by the brahmans who now described him as the son of Shiva and Parvati. [p.263, 800-1200 AD] [BUDDHISM ROUTED BY ISLAM] Buddhism and Islam, both being institutionalized, proselytizing religions, attracted the same potential following. This led to a strong antagonism between the two and the attacks on the monasteries resulted in an exodus of Buddhists from eastern India to south-east Asia. Islam found its largest following in previously Buddhist areas of India, the northwest and the east. [p.264] Sultana Raziya was a great monarch. She was wise, just, generous... She was endowed with all the qualities befitting a king, but she was not born of the right sex, and so, in the estimation of men, all these virtues were worthless. [p.269. ruled from 1230's-1265 A.D., between Iltutmish and Balban. quote from contemporary historian, Siraj] [MUSLIM CASTEISM] Although, theoretically, caste was not accepted by Islamic society, it was by no means ignored in Muslim social life. The development of Muslim castes began with an ethnic distinction. Families of foreign extraction, such as the descendants of Arabs, Turks, Afghans and Persians, formed the highest caste and wre later called Ashraf (Ashraf in Arabic means 'honourable'). Next in order of status came the upper-caste Hindu converts, such as the Muslim Rajputs. Occupational castes formed the two final castes and were divided into 'clean' and 'unclean' castes. [p.300-1] CHRONOLOGY: Harappa: 3000 - 1500 BC Ashoka: 3d c. BC (BC 268-31; empire vaster than the Mughals; centralized) Kanishka: 1st c. AD (Accession: 78 AD, Shaka era) Samudragupta: 335 AD accession Harsha: 606-47 Chola: 1000 AD (Rajendra Chola) Mahmud of Ghazni: 997-1030 (annual raids, Somnath Temple December 1025) Muhammad Ghuri: 12th c. AD (defeats Prithviraj Chauhan 1192) Rg Veda: 1500 - 1000 BC Upanishads : started 700 BC Buddha/Mahavira: 5th c. BC (Buddha died 486 BC, Mahavira c.468) St Thomas? : 50 AD [Malabar to Madras, Syrian Church in Kerala] Kalidasa: c.400 AD (Chandragupta II's court); Panchatantra c.500 Aryabhata: born 476 AD VajrAyana buddhism - 700 AD tArA feminine figures; tAntrism Shankaracharya: c.800 [knowledge as path to God] Ramanuja: c. 1050 [individual devotion, start of bhakti movt] Kabir/Nanak/Chaitanya: 15th c. (1440/69//85 - 1518/39/33) Megasthenes: c.315 BC (Maurya court) Fa Hsien: 405-411 AD Hsuen Tsang: 630-44 (Kanauj, Nalanda) Alberuni: 1030 (NW) Marco Polo: 1288,93 (S. India) Ibn Batuta: c. 1333-46 ["For a time he worked as a judge for the Sultan, after which he was sent on a mission to China. Life came to him in exciting instalments involving bandits, shipwrecks, high office, and innumerable wives." p.268] [ ---- www.itihaas.com: 2700 BC Harappa Civilisation 1000 BC Aryans expand into the Ganga valley 900 BC Mahabharata War 800 BC Aryans expand into Bengal; Beginning of the Epic Age: Mahabharata composed, first version of Ramayana 550 BC Composition of the Upanishads 544 BC Buddha's Nirvana 327 BC Alexander's Invasion 325 BC Alexander marches ahead 324 BC Chandragupta Maurya defeats Seleacus Nicator 322 BC Rise of the Mauryas; Chandragupta establishes first Indian Empire 298 BC Bindusara Coronated 272 BC Ashoka begins reign ; Exclusive Interview with Ashoka 180 BC Fall of the Mauryas ; Rise of the Sungas 145 BC Chola king Erata conquers Ceylon 58 BC Epoch of the Krita-Malava-Vikram Era 30 BC Rise of the Satvahana Dynasty in the Deccan 40 AD Sakas in power in Indus Valley and Western India 50 AD The Kushans and Kanishkas 78 AD Saka Era begins 320 AD Chandragupta I establishes the Gupta dynasty 360 AD Samudragupta conquers the North and most of the Deccan 380 AD Chandragupta II comes to power; Golden Age of Gupta Literary Renaissance 405 AD Fa-hein begins his travels through the Gupta Empire 415 AD Accession of Kumara Gupta I 467 AD Skanda Gupta assumes power 476 AD Birth of astronomer Aryabhatta 606 AD Accession of Harshavardhan Gupta 622 AD Era of the Hejira begins 711 AD Invasion of Sind by Muhammad Bin Qasim 892 AD Rise of the Eastern Chalukyas 985 AD The Chola Dynasty: Accession of Rajaraja, the Great 1001 AD Defeat of Jaipal by Sultan Mahumd ]