Post Mauryans
THE SUNGA DYNASTY:
(185 BC – 73 BC)
- Pushyamitra founded this dynasty. His dominions extended to South
as far as the Narmada River & included cities of Pataliputra, Ayodhya
& Vidisha (capital).
- He performed two Ashwamedha
sacrifices.
- He also defeated the Bactrian
king, Dematrius.
- The fifth king was Bhagabhadra, to whose court
Heliodoros, the Greek ambassador visited.
- A Shunga king, Agnimitra was the hero of
Kalidasa’s Malavikagnimitram.
- They were basically Brahmins.
- This period saw the revival of
Bhagvatism.
- Patanjali’s classic Mahabhashya
was written at this time.
THE KANVA
DYNASTY: (73 BC – 28 BC; capital - patliputra)
- The founder of this short-lived dynasty was Vasudeva, who killed the last
Sunga king, Devabhuti.
- They were
swept away by Satavahanas of the Deccan.
THE CHETIS OF
KALINGA
- The Hathigumpha inscription (near Bhubhaneshwar,
Orissa) of Kharavela, the third ruler of the dynasty, gives information
about the Chetis.
- Kharavela pushed his kingdom beyond the Godavari in the
South.
- He was a follower of Jainism and patronized it to a
great extent.
THE SATAVAHANAS
OR THE ANDHRAS: (60 BC – 225 AD)
- They were the successors of the
Mauryans in the Deccan & the central India.
- Simuka is regarded as the founder of this dynasty.
- The most important king was Gautamiputra Satakarni (AD 106 –
130) who raised the power and prestige of Satavahanas to greater heights.
He set up his capital at Paithan on the Godavari in Aurangabad distt.
Important aspects of
Satavahanas :
- Mostly issued lead coins (apart
from copper and bronze).
- Acted as a bridge between North
and South India.
- Satavahanas rulers called
themselves Brahmans. Performed Vedic rituals and worshipped gods like
Krishna, Vasudeva and others. However, they also promoted Buddhism by
granting land to the monks.
- The two common religious
constructions were the Buddhist temple that was called ‘Chaitya’ & the
monasteries, which was called ‘Vihara’. The most famous Chaitya is that of
Karle in W. Deccan.
- Started the practice of
granting tax free villages to brahmanas & Buddhist monks.
- The official language was
Prakrit & the script was Brahmi, as in Ashokan times. One Prakrit text
called Gathasattasai is attributed to a Satavahana king called Hala.
Sangam Age
(1 AD – 3 AD)
PANDYAS:
- Their capital was Madurai.
- First mentioned by Megasthenes,
who says that their kingdom was famous for pearls and was ruled by a
woman.
- The Pandya kings profited from
trade with the Roman Empire and sent embassies to the Roman emperor Augus.
CHOLAS:
- The kingdom was called Cholamandalam or Coromondal. The
chief centre was Uraiyur, a place famous for cotton trade. Capital was
Kaveripattanam/Puhar.
- A Chola king named Elara conquered SriLanka & ruled
it over for 50 years.
- Karikala was their famous king.
- Main source of wealth was trade in cotton cloth. They
also maintained an efficient navy.
CHERAS:
- Their capital was Vanji (also called Kerala country).
- It owed its importance to trade with the Romans. The
Romans set up two regiments there to protect their interests.
- Fought against the Cholas about 150 AD.
- Greatest king was Senguttuvan, the Red Chera.
MISCELLANEOUS
- All the gathered information is based on Sangam
literature. Sangam was a college or assembly of Tamil poets held probably
under Royal Patronage (esp. Pandyas)
- Sangam age corresponds to the post-Maurya and the
pre-Gupta period.
- Three Sangamas were held:
- The first Sangam was held at
Madurai but its work has not survived. Its chairman was Agastya.
- The second Sangam was held at
Kapatpuram. Its chairman was Tolkappiyar (author of Tolkappium).
- The third Sangam was held at
Madurai. Its chairman was Nakkirar. It was the third Sangam from which
covers the entire corpus of Sangam literature.
- Silappadikaram by llano Adigal (story of a married
couple) and Manimekalai by Sattanar are the famous epics of this time.
- Other books are Tolkappium by Tolkappiyar,
Jivikachintamani by Tirutakkdewar and Kural (called the ‘fifth veda’ or
‘the Bible of the Tamil Land’) by Tiruvalluvar.
- The chief local god was Murugan, who was also called
Subramaniya.
- ‘Pariyars’ – agricultural laborers who used to work in
animal skin.
- Civil and military offices held by vellalas (rich
peasants).
- The ruling class was called “Arasar”.
- Captains of the army were given the title ENADI in
formal functions.
