New Empires and Kingdoms

Harsha was the ruler of Kanauj. He tried to expand his rule beyond the river Narmada. His successive efforts were foiled by the Chalukya ruler Pulakeshin II. He is regarded as most successful Chalukya ruler. He is credited for performing Ashvamedha sacrifice several times.

Banabhatta was a poet laureate in Harshavardhana court. He was a prolific Sanskrit writer, lived during the 7th century as the court chronicler of King Harshavardhana. 'Harshacharita' and ’Kadambari’ are among his renowned works. In 'Harshacharita', Banabhatta has narrated the complete life of King Harshavardhana.

Chandragupta I was born in 305 A.D. He married a Lichchhavi princess named Kumaradevi. Through this matrimonial alliance, he gained enormous power and used it to his great advantage. He launched a series of military expansions, pushing the kingdom's boundaries westward. By 320 A.D., he proclaimed himself Maharaj-adhiraja. Many historians consider 320 A.D. was the beginning of the Gupta dynasty.

Chandragupta II was an Indian astronomer and mathematician of the fifth century A.D. He lived and worked in Kusumapura near present-day Patna in Bihar. He was born in 476 A.D. in Kerala. He was also a great mathematician. His treatise was Aryabhatyam.

A number of local assemblies were mentioned in the inscriptions of the Pallavas. Most probably these assemblies were controlled by rich and powerful landowners and merchants.

• Sabha was an assembly of brahmin land owners. It performed various roles and functioned through subcommittees, which looked after irrigation, agricultural operations, making roads, local temples etc.
• The ur was a village assembly found in areas where the land owners were not brahmins.
• The nagaram was an organisation of merchants.

Kalidasa, Fa Xian and Banabhatta wrote about the lives of the ordinary people in the kingdom./p>

• In his plays, Kalidasa has shown the king and most brahmins speaking Sanskrit, while women and men other than the king andbrahmins use Prakrit. There is a remarkable description of the plight of a poor fisherman in his play Abhijnana Shakuntalam.
• The Chinese pilgrim Fa Xian has given a detailed account of the plight of the untouchables. They were mistreated by the high and mighty and were expected to live on the outskirts of the city.
• Banabhatta provides us with a vivid picture of the king’s army on the move.

The protection of an Empire required huge and strong army. Thus, special attention was paid to maintain a huge and efficient army.

• Infantry, cavalry and elephants were the main divisions of the army.
• Besides, there were military leaders known as samantas, who provided troops to the king whenever required.
• Samantas were not paid regular salaries. Instead, some of them received grants of land. They collected revenue from the land and used this to maintain soldiers, horses and provide equipment for warfare.

During the Gupta period, there were some new developments in the administrative field. Kings adopted numerous measures to win the support of powerful men such as:

• Some important administrative posts now became hereditary. For example, the poet Harishena was a maha-danda-nayaka, or chief judicial officer, like his father.
• At times, one person held many offices. For instance, besides being a maha-danda-nayaka, Harishena was a kumar-amatya, and asandhi- vigrahika.
• Besides, important men probably had a say in local administration.

Pulakeshin was one of the famous Chalukyan rulers. A prashasti, composed by his court poet Ravikirti, is an important source of information regarding his early life and his expeditions. This provides us with the information about his ancestors for four generations.It tells us that Pulakeshin evidently got the kingdom from his uncle. According to Ravikirti, he led expeditions along both the west and east coasts. He also checked the advance of Harsha.

The most important ruling dynasties in south India were the Pallavas and Chalukyas. The realm of the Pallavas spread from the region around their capital, Kanchipuram, to the Kaveri delta. The kingdom of the Chalukyas was centred on the Raichur Doab between the rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra. Aihole was the capital of the Chalukyas. It was an important trading centre as well as a religious centre. The Pallavas and Chalukyas frequently attacked each other’s lands, especially the capital cities, which were prosperous towns.

An important source of information about Samudragupta is a long inscription in the form of poem written in Sanskrit by his court poet, Harisena nearly 1700 years ago.

The poet praised the king as warrior and as a king who won victories in battle. He was learned and the best of poets. He is also described as equal to the gods.

Chandragupta was the first ruler of the Gupta dynasty who adopted the grand title of maharaj-adhiraja. Later on this title was also adopted by Samudragupta.

The Chalukyas were one of the important dynasties in south India during 3rd -5th A.D. The kingdom of the Chalukyas centered around the Raichur Doab, between the rivers Krishna and Tungabhadra. Their capital city was Aihole. It was an important trading centre. It was also an important religious centre, with a number of temples. Pulakeshin II was the famous Chalukya ruler.

These assemblies were controlled by rich and powerful landowners and merchants.

We get information about Harshavardhana from his biography titled Harshacharita in Sanskrit, written by his court poet, Banabhatta.

The kingdom of the Pallavas spread from the region around their capital, Kanchipuram, to the Kaveri delta. They were one of the most important ruling dynasties in south India during the 3rd to 5th A.D.

Nagara-shreshthi: Chief banker or merchant of the city
Sarthavaha: Leader of the merchant caravans
Prathama-kulika: Chief craftsman and head of the then kayasthas or scribes.

Samantas were military leaders who provided the king with troops whenever he needed them. For their service they were not paid regular salaries. Instead, they received the grants of land from the king. They collected revenue from the land and used it for the maintenance of soldiers and horses and to provide war equipments. Whenever the king was weak they tried to become independent.

A number of local assemblies have been mentioned in the inscriptions of the Pallavas. The Sabha was one of the local assemblies. It was an assembly of brahmin land owners. This assembly had sub-committees that looked after irrigation, agricultural operations, making roads, and local temples, etc.

The Prayag Prashasti mainly talks of the military conquests and achievements of Samudragupta. Apart from that it also traces the genealogy of Samudragupta. This is the obvious information that is available to us. These inscriptions also give us information about his state policies which can be interpreted from the accounts of his treatment of the conquered territories. They also provide information about his court and the people who attended it.

The administration was decentralised and land grants were given to administrative officers in lieu of regular salaries. At times, these officers became powerful and started fighting for their independence. Also during Skandagupta’s reign, the empire was attacked by the Huns, the nomadic tribes from Central Asia. These attacks proved to be the death knell on the Gupta Empire.

The end of the Gupta Empire saw a period of disorder which prevailed for a while. There were many small kingdoms that became powerful and fought against each other. These were finally conquered by Harshavardhana who established a powerful empire.

The administration had been decentralised to a large degree. The king reigned at the top of the hierarchy with his council of ministers. The kingdom was divided into provinces. These were called `bhuktis` and were ruled by governors who were assisted by their officers. These provinces were further divided into districts or `vishayas` and were administered by the `ayuktas`. At the bottom of the hierarchy were the villages which were administered by the village elders. At each level, people were powerful enough to take decision so as to ease the administration and function efficiently.

The Chalukya king Pulakesin II defeated Harshavardhana in battle on the banks of Narmada thus checking his advancement into the Deccan and then further south.

The money collected was spent on facilitating good administration. Grants and donations for religious and educational establishments were made. A portion of the revenue was also spent on maintaining the armies.