NEW EMPIRES IN INDIA
While two religions—Hinduism and Buddhism—spread through India, there was
little political unity. Between 1500 and 400 B.C., warring kingdoms and shifting
alliances prevented a lasting peace.
Three New Empires
After 400 b.c., India faced threats from invaders. First came Persia, which
extended its empire into western India. Then came the Greeks and Macedonians.
Alexander the Great had heard of the riches of India. After conquering Persia, he swept
into India in 327 b.c., but his soldiers refused to continue fighting. His army departed
almost as quickly as it came. Alexander’s conquests in western India, however, gave
rise to the first Indian Empire.
The Mauryan Empire
The new Indian state was founded by Chandragupta Maurya
(CHUN•druh•GUP•tuh MAH•oor•yuh), who ruled from 324 to 301 b.c. He drove out the
foreign forces and established the capital of his new Mauryan Empire in northern India
at Pataliputra, modern Patna, in the Ganges Valley. This first Indian Empire was highly
centralized. According to the Arthasastra, a political text written by a Mauryan court
official, “It is power and power alone which, only when exercised by the king with
impartiality, . . . maintains both this world and the next.” The king divided his empire
into provinces, ruled by governors he appointed. According to Megasthenes, the Greek
ambassador to the Mauryan court, Chandragupta Maurya was always afraid of
assassination despite having a large army and a secret police. All food was tasted in
his presence, and he made a practice of never sleeping two nights in a row in the
same bed in his large palace. The Mauryan Empire flourished during the reign of
As´oka (uh•SHOH•kuh), the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya. As´oka is generally
considered to be the greatest ruler in the history of India. After his conversion to
Buddhism, As´oka used Buddhist ideals to guide his rule. He set up hospitals for the
welfare of both people and animals. He ordered that trees and shelters be placed
along the road to provide shade and rest for weary travelers.
As´oka was more than a kind ruler. His kingdom prospered as India’s role in
regional commerce expanded. India became a major crossroads in a trade network
that extended from the rim of the Pacific to Southwest Asia and the Mediterranean
Sea. After As´oka’s death in 232 b.c., the Mauryan Empire began to decline. In 183
b.c., the last Mauryan ruler was killed by one of his military leaders, and India fell into
disunity.
The Kushan Empire
After the collapse of the Mauryan Empire, a number of new kingdoms arose
along the edges of India in Bactria, known today as Afghanistan. In the first century
a.d., nomadic warriors seized power and established the new Kusha–n kingdom. For
the next two centuries, the Kusha–ns spread over northern India as far as the central
Ganges Valley. In the rest of India, other kingdoms fought for control. The Kusha–ns
prospered from the trade that passed through their empire between the Mediterranean
countries and the countries bordering the Pacific Ocean. Most of that trade was
between the Roman Empire and China. It was shipped along the route known as the
Silk Road, so called because silk was China’s most valuable product. One section of
the Silk Road passed through the mountain’s northwest of India.
The Silk Road, which had arisen between 200 b.c. and a.d. 100, reached from
the city of Changan in China across central Asia to Mesopotamia. The route covered
a distance of about 4,000 miles (6,436 km) and wound through mountains and deserts,
ending at Antioch in Syria, a port city on the Mediterranean Sea. At Antioch, luxury
goods from the West were traded for luxury goods from the East, which were then
shipped across the Mediterranean to Greece and Rome. Only luxury goods were
carried on the Silk Road because camel caravans were difficult, dangerous, and thus
expensive. Chinese merchants made large fortunes by trading luxury goods, such as
silk, spices, teas, and porcelain. Indian merchants sent ivory, textiles, precious stones,
and pepper. These were exchanged for woolen and linen clothes, glass, and precious
stones from the Roman Empire. Silk was especially desired by the Romans, who
considered it worth its weight in gold. In fact, the Romans knew China as Serica, which
means “Land of Silk.”
The Empire of the Guptas
The Kusha–n kingdom came to an end in the third century a.d., when invaders
from Persia overran it. In 320, a new state was created in the central Ganges Valley
by a local prince named Candra Gupta—no relation to the earlier Chandragupta
Maurya. He located his capital at Pataliputra, the site of the decaying palace of the
Mauryas. His successor, his son Samudra Gupta, expanded the empire into
surrounding areas.
Eventually the new kingdom of the Guptas became the dominant political force
throughout northern India. It also established loose control over central India, thus
becoming the greatest state in India since the Mauryan Empire. Under a series of
efficient monarchs— especially Candra Gupta II, who reigned from 375 to 415—the
Gupta Empire created a new age of Indian civilization. The Gupta Empire actively
engaged in trade with China, Southeast Asia, and the Mediterranean and also
encouraged domestic trade in cloth, salt, and iron. Cities famous for their temples as
well as for their prosperity rose along the main trade routes throughout India.
Much of the trade in the Gupta Empire was managed by the Gupta rulers, who
owned silver and gold mines and vast lands. They earned large profits from their
dealings. They lived in luxury, awakening to the sound of music and spending much
time in dining with followers and guests. It was said that “the king and his companions
drank wine out of ruby cups while lutes were strummed.” Much of their wealth came
from religious trade as pilgrims (people who travel to religious places) from across
India and as far away as China came to visit the major religious centers. The greatness
of Indian culture was reported by a Chinese traveler, Faxian (FAH•SHYEHN), who
spent several years there in the fifth century. A Buddhist monk, he visited India in
search of documents about the teachings of the Buddha. In his writings, Faxian
describes the Gupta rulers, their practice of Buddhism, and the prosperity of the
empire.
The good fortunes of the Guptas did not last. Beginning in the late fifth century
a.d., invasions by nomadic Huns from the northwest gradually reduced the power of
the empire. A military commander briefly revived the empire in the middle of the
seventh century, but after his death, the empire collapsed. North India would not be
reunited for hundreds of years.
Indian Accomplishments
Few cultures are as rich and varied as India. Its literature reflects that. The
earliest known Indian literature are the Vedas, which contain religious chants and
stories. Originally passed down orally from generation to generation, the Vedas were
recorded in Sanskrit after the development of writing. India’s great epics, the
Mahabharata (muh•HAH•BAH•ruh•tuh) and the Ramayana, were also put into written
form about 100 b.c. Both of these works tell of the legendary deeds of great warriors.
The Mahabharata, consisting of over ninety thousand stanzas, or lines of poetry, is the
longest poem in any written language. Taking place around 1000 b.c., it describes a
war between cousins for control of the kingdom. The most famous section of the book,
called the Bhagavad Gita (BAH•guh•VAHD GEE•tuh), is a sermon by the god Krishna
on the eve of a major battle. In this sermon, he sets forth one of the key points of Indian
society: In taking action, one must not worry about success or failure. One should only
be aware of the moral rightness of the act itself. The Ramayana, written at about the
same time, is much shorter than the Mahabharata. It is an account of the fictional ruler
Rama. As a result of a palace plot, Rama is banished from the kingdom and forced to
live in the forest. Later, he fights the demonking of Ceylon, who had kidnapped his
beloved wife Sita. Like the Mahabharata and most works of the ancient world, the
Ramayana is strongly imbued with religious and moral lessons. Rama is seen as the
ideal hero, a perfect ruler, and ideal son. Sita projects the supreme duty of wifely loyalty
to her husband. To this day, the Mahabharata and Ramayana continue to inspire the
people of India. One of ancient India’s most famous authors from the Gupta era was
Kaˉlidaˉsa. His poem, The Cloud Messenger, remains one of the most popular Sanskrit
poems. In the poem, an exiled male earth spirit shares his grief and longing for his
wife.
Architecture
Some of the earliest examples of Indian architecture stem from the time of
As´oka, when Buddhism became the state religion. The desire to spread the ideas of
Gautama Buddha inspired the great architecture of the Mauryan dynasty and the
period that followed. The three main types of structures, all serving religious purposes
were the pillar, the stupa, and the rock chamber. During As´oka’s reign, many stone
pillars were erected along roads to mark sites of events in the Buddha’s life. The
polished sandstone pillars weighed up to 50 tons (45.4 t) each and rose as high as 50
feet (15 m). Each was topped with a carved lion, uttering the Buddha’s message. A
stupa was originally meant to house a relic of the Buddha, such as a lock of his hair.
These structures were built in the form of burial mounds. Eventually, the stupa became
a place for devotion and the most familiar form of Buddhist architecture. Each stupa
rose to considerable heights and was surmounted by a spire. According to legend,
As´oka ordered the construction of 84,000 stupas throughout India. The final
development in early Indian architecture was the rock chamber, carved out of rock
cliffs. This structure was developed by As´oka to provide a series of rooms to house
monks and to serve as a hall for religious ceremonies.
Science and Mathematics
Ancient Indians possessed an impressive amount of scientific knowledge,
particularly in astronomy. They charted the movements of the stars and recognized
that Earth was a sphere that rotated on its axis and revolved around the sun. Their
most important contribution was in the field of mathematics. Aryabhata, the most
famous mathematician of the Gupta Empire, was one of the first scientists known to
have used algebra. Indian mathematicians also introduced the concept of zero and
used a symbol (0) for it. After Arabs conquered parts of India in the eighth century a.d.,
Arab scholars adopted the Indian system. In turn, European traders borrowed it from
the Arabs, and it spread through Europe in the 1200s. Today it is called the Indian-
Arabic numerical system.
