Formation of New States & Expansion in Peninsula - BPSC (Bihar) PDF Download

Formation of New States & Expansion in Peninsula

The New Phase

• The period AD 300–750 marks the second historical phase in the regions south of the Vindhyas. It continued some of the processes that had begun in the first historical phase (c. 200 BC-AD 300) of the peninsula.
• The first phase shows the ascendancy of the Satavahanas over the Deccan and that of the Tamil kingdoms over the southern districts of Tamil Nadu.

• In that period, northern Tamil Nadu, southern Karnataka, a part of southern Maharashtra, and the land between the Godavari and the Mahanadi broadly owed allegiance to the seats of political authority established outside their areas.
• Eventually, by the beginning of the seventh century, the Pallavas of Kanchi, the Chalukyas of Badami, and the Pandyas of Madurai emerged as the rulers of the three major states. The first historical phase is marked by numerous crafts, internal and external trade, widespread use of coins, and a large number of towns.

• Trade, towns, and coinage seem to have been in a state of decline in the second phase, but in that phase, numerous land grants free of taxes were made to the temples and Brahmanas.
• Cave inscriptions probably indicate the influence of Jainism and also of Buddhism in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. This phase also marked the beginning of the construction of stone temples for Shiva and Vishnu in Tamil Nadu under the Pallavas, and in Karnataka under the Chalukyas of Badami.
• By the beginning of the second phase, south India had ceased to be the land of megaliths, and towards its end began the process that made it a land of temples. 
• Culturally, the Dravidian element seems to have dominated the scene in the first phase, but during the second phase, Aryanization and brahmanization came to the fore. This happened because of land grants made by the rulers who were either Brahmanas or firm supporters of them.
• The Ashokan inscriptions found in Andhra and Karnataka show that the people knew Prakrit in the third century BC. Also, epigraphs between the second century BC and the third century AD were largely written in Prakrit.

• The Brahmi inscriptions that have been found in Tamil Nadu also contain Prakrit words, but from about AD 400 onwards Sanskrit became the official language in the peninsula and most charters were composed in it.

States of the Deccan and South India

• In northern Maharashtra and Vidarbha (Berar), the Satavahanas were succeeded by the Vakatakas, a local power. The Vakatakas, who were brahmanas themselves, are known for a large number of copperplate land grants issued by them. They were great champions of the brahmanical religion and performed numerous Vedic sacrifices.

• Culturally however the Vakataka kingdom served as a channel for the transmission of Brahmanical ideas and social institutions to the south.
• The Vakataka power was followed by that of the Chalukyas of Badami who played an important role in the history of the Deccan and south India for about two centuries until AD 757, when they were overthrown by their feudatories, the Rashtrakutas.

• The Chalukyas claimed their descent from Brahma or Manu or the Moon.
• The Chalukyas set up their kingdom towards the beginning of the sixth century in the western Deccan. They established their capital at Vatapi, modern Badami, in the district of Bijapur, which forms a part of Karnataka.
• On the ruins of the Satavahana power in the eastern part of the peninsula, there arose the Ikshvakus in the Krishna–Guntur region.
• They seem to have been a local tribe who adopted the exalted name of the Ikshvakus in order to demonstrate the antiquity of their lineage, and also claimed to be brahmanas.

• They have left behind many monuments at Nagarjunakonda and Dharanikota.
• They began the practise of land grants in the Krishna–Guntur region, where several of their copperplate inscriptions have been discovered.
• The Ikshvakus were supplanted by the Pallavas. The term pallava means creeper, and is a Sanskrit version of the Tamil word tondai, which also carries the same meaning. 
• The Pallavas were possibly a local tribe who established their authority in the Tondainadu or the land of creepers. The authority of the Pallavas extended over both southern Andhra and northern Tamil Nadu. They set up their capital at Kanchi, identical with modern Kanchipuram, which under them became a town of temples and Vedic learning.
• The early Pallavas came into conflict with the Kadambas, who had established their control over northern Karnataka and Konkan in the fourth century. The Kadamba kingdom was founded by Mayurasharman. It is said that he came to receive education at Kanchi but was unceremoniously driven out.
• Smarting under this insult, the Kadamba chief set up his camp in a forest, and defeated the Pallavas, possibly with the help of the forest tribes. Eventually, the Pallavas avenged the defeat but recognized the Kadamba authority by formally investing Mayurasharman with the royal insignia. Mayurasharman is said to have performed eighteen ashvamedhas or horse sacrifices and granted numerous villages to brahmanas.
• The Kadambas established their capital at Vaijayanti or Banavasi in north Kanara district of Karnataka.

• The Gangas were another important contemporary dynasty of the Pallavas. They established their kingdom in southern Karnataka around the fourth century. The kingdom was situated between that of the Pallavas in the east and of the Kadambas in the west. They are called the Western Gangas or Gangas of Mysore in order to differentiate them from the Eastern Gangas who ruled in Kalinga from the fifth century onwards.
• The Pallavas, the Kadambas, the Chalukyas of Badami, and their other contemporaries were great champions of Vedic sacrifices.

The Kalabhra Revolt

• Although the period between AD 300 and 750 was extremely important for state formation and agrarian expansion in the peninsula. The only important event is a revolt led by the Kalabhras in the sixth century.
• The Kalabhras seem to have been a tribal people who captured power, particularly at the cost of the Cholas, and ruled for seventy-five years.
• Their rule also affected the Pallavas as well as their neighbouring contemporaries. 
• The Kalabhras are called evil rulers, who overthrew innumerable kings and established their hold on the Tamil land. The Kalabhra revolt was a powerful peasant protest directed against the landed brahmanas.
• They put an end to the brahmadeya rights granted to the brahmanas in numerous villages.
• It appears that the Kalabhras were of Buddhist persuasion as they patronized Buddhist monasteries. The Kalabhras’ revolt was so widespread that it could be quelled only through the joint efforts of the Pandyas, the Pallavas, and the Chalukyas of Badami.
• By the last quarter of the sixth century, according to a tradition, the Kalabhras had imprisoned the Chola, the Pandya, and the Chera kings, which underlines how formidable their revolt was.

• The Sangam texts tell us that villages were granted to the warriors by the chief for their acts of bravery.
• Land grants seem to have stimulated agrarian expansion under the Pallavas in south Andhra and north Tamil Nadu from the end of the third century onwards, but they seem to have adversely affected the peasants.

The conflict between the Pallavas and the Chalukyas

• The principal interest in the political history of peninsular India from the sixth to the eighth-century centres around the long struggle for supremacy between the Pallavas of Kanchi and the Chalukyas of Badami. The Pandyas, who were in control of Madurai and Tirunelveli districts of Tamil Nadu, joined this conflict as a poor third.

The main reason for the conflict between the Pallavas and Chalukyas of Badami was supremacy over throne, prestige and territorial resources. This struggle continued from 6th century to 8th century. Later the Pandyas under control of Madurai and Tinnevelly also joined this conflict.

• Although both the Pallavas and the Chalukyas championed Brahmanism, performed Vedic sacrifices, and made grants to the brahmanas, the two quarrelled with each other over plunder, prestige, and territorial resources. Both tried to establish supremacy over the land lying between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra.
• This doab was again the bone of contention in late medieval times between the Vijayanagar and the Bahmani kingdoms. Time and again, the Pallava princes tried to cross the Tungabhadra, which formed the natural historic boundary between many a kingdom of the Deccan and the deep south.
• The first important event in this long conflict took place during the reign of Pulakeshin II (AD 609–42), the most famous Chalukya king. He is known to us from the eulogy written on him by the court poet Ravikirti in the Aihole inscription. This inscription is an example of the poetic excellence achieved in Sanskrit, and despite its exaggeration is a valuable source for the life of Pulakeshin.
• He subjugated the Kadamba capital at Banavasi and compelled the Gangas of Mysore to acknowledge his suzerainty. He also defeated Harsha’s army on the Narmada and checked his advance towards the Deccan. In his conflict with the Pallavas, he almost reached the Pallava capital, but the Pallavas purchased peace by ceding their northern provinces to Pulakeshin II.
• Around AD 610 Pulakeshin II also conquered the entire area between the Krishna and the Godavari, which came to be known as the province of Vengi. Here, a branch of the main dynasty was set up and is known as the eastern Chalukyas of Vengi. However, Pulakeshin’s second invasion of Pallava territory ended in failure.
• The Pallava king Narasimhavarman (AD 630–68) occupied the Chalukya capital at Vatapi in about AD 642, when Pulakesin II was probably killed in a battle against the Pallavas. Narasimhavarman assumed the title of Vatapikonda or the conqueror of Vatapi. He is also said to have defeated the Cholas, the Cheras, the Pandyas, and the Kalabhras.
• Towards the end of the seventh century, there was a lull in this conflict, which was again resumed in the first half of the eighth century. The Chalukya king Vikramaditya II (AD 733–45) is said to have overrun Kanchi three times. In AD 740 he completely routed the Pallavas. His victory ended the Pallava supremacy in the far south although the ruling house continued for over a century thereafter.
• However, the Chalukyas were unable for long to enjoy the fruits of their victory over the Pallavas because their own hegemony was brought to an end in AD 757 by the Rashtrakutas.

Temples

• The Nayanars rendered a similar service to the cult of Shiva. From the seventh century onwards, the cult of bhakti began to dominate the religious life of south Indians, and the Alvars and Nayanars played a great part in propagating it.
• The Pallava kings constructed a number of stone temples in the seventh and eighth centuries for housing these gods. The most famous of them are the seven ratha temples at Mahabalipuram, at a distance of 65 km from Chennai. These were built in the seventh century by Narasimhavarman, who founded the port city of Mahabalipuram or Mamallapuram.

The Shore Temple by Pallavas

• This city is also famous for the Shore Temple, which was a structural construction erected independently and not hewn out of rock.
• In addition, the Pallavas constructed several such structural temples at their capital Kanchi. A very good example was the Kailashnath temple built in the eighth century.

Kailashnath Temple

• The Chalukyas of Badami erected numerous temples at Aihole, which has as many as seventy, from about AD 610. The work was continued in the adjacent towns of Badami and Pattadakal. Pattadakal has ten temples built in the seventh and eighth centuries, the most celebrated of which are the Papanatha temple (c. AD 680) and the Virupaksha temple (c. AD 740).

Aihole, Pattadakal, Badami

• The first of these, although 30 m long, has a low and stunted tower in the northern style; the second was constructed in purely southern style. The latter is about 40 m in length and has a very high square and storeyed tower (shikhara).

Demands on the Peasantry

• To conduct wars, to cultivate art and literature, to promote religion, and to maintain the administrative staff, enormous resources were needed. These were apparently provided by the peasantry.
• The nature of burdens imposed on the agrarian communities was more or less the same in the Vakataka and the Pallava kingdoms although the former was in Vidarbha and Maharashtra, and the latter in southern Andhra and northern Tamil Nadu.
• The state made heavy demands on the labour and produce of the peasantry.
• Most of these are covered by the eighteen types of immunities granted to the brahmanas from the fourth century AD onwards. Later, more and more demands were made on the peasantry.

Land Grants and Rural Expansion

• These numerous demands made by the king on the agrarian population presuppose a capacity to pay on the part of the peasantry. The states could not multiply without the proliferation of rural communities or an increase in the agricultural production of the existing villages. This period saw three types of villages in south India: ur, sabha, and nagaram.

• The ur was the usual type of village inhabited by peasant castes, who perhaps held their land in common; it was the responsibility of the village headman to collect and pay taxes on their behalf. These villages were mainly found in southern Tamil Nadu. 
• The sabha type of village consisted of brahmadeya villages or those granted to the brahmanas, and of agrahara The brahmana owners enjoyed individual rights in the land but carried on their activities collectively.
• The nagaram type of village consisted of a village settled and dominated by combinations of traders and merchants. This possibly happened because trade declined and merchants moved to villages.
• In the Chalukya areas, rural affairs were managed by village elders called mahajana. On the whole, the period AD 300–750 provides good evidence of agricultural expansion, rural organization, and more productive use of land.

Social Structure and Brahmanization

• The princes claimed the status of brahmanas or kshatriyas, though many of them were local clan chiefs promoted to the second varna through benefactions made to the priests.
• The priests invented respectable family trees for these chiefs and traced their descent from age-old solar and lunar dynasties.
• This process enabled the new rulers to acquire acceptability in the eyes of the people. 
• The title dharma-maharaja was, therefore, adopted by the Vakataka, Pallava, Kadamba, and Western Ganga kings.
• The real founder of the Pallava power, Simhavarman, is credited with coming to the rescue of dharma when it was beset with the evils typical of the Kaliyuga. This apparently refers to his suppression of the Kalabhra, peasants who upset the existing social order.