Page:The Cyclopedia of India (Specimen Issue).pdf/158

 THE CYCIDPEDIA OI" INDIA.

fuetg' nets supply us (tom tithe to time with interesting ‘eces oi information. Thus in a 6th century work or dhayana. India is divided into three portions—(r) Aryavarta. the true home oi the Aryans and the most highly esteemed part of India. (2) Most ol the Punjab. .indh. Gujarat. Main and the Deccan. with South and East Bohar. The people 0! these districts were oi mixed origin by the tusion ot Aryans with aborigines. (3) The least esteaned oi India. cornprisin Crises. part at Ben 1. some oi the Puniab. an most at Southern In These three des probably denote three diﬂerent stages at t e Hinduiaing processes. The passage anords striking testimony to the rapid expansion at Aryan civilisation which had taken place after the close at the Epic Pct-ind. Coming to the ﬁfth century we ﬁnd a 'ertul Andhra kingdom occupying the Deccan as or south as the River Krishna. It was about this time that Herodotus wrote his monu- mental history. in the third book of which he testiﬁes to the greatness ot the Hindu peoples. and their tiourishin condition. From other sources it seems certain t at the whole at Southern India had been Hinduired by the 4th centu at least. and the three kin dams oi the Cholas. hem and Pandyas at. ready founded. The conquest of Ceylon. although m 0' u.“ its authentic date is hidden be- mﬂ"; w". neath a mass of legend. cannot have taken place much later than this Thus before the conclusion oi the Ration alist Age a com ete chain of Hindu or Hinduiaed States was sprea over the Peninsula from its northern toits southern limits. It must not. however. besupposed that this expansion took the some tot-mas the conquest ot the Gangetic basin several hundreds of years hetero. The present process was not so much a conquest by the sword oraubitpiiitous settlement of Anmnugrndual and maeelul nduising of the tribes that the peninsula. ” It was n social rather tan an ethnicol revolution. The aborigines were not hunted down and slot: htered wholesale. or even dispossessed of their land. t. coming under the inﬂuence at a stronger race. they learned to adopt its civilization and tell on.“ Particularly was this so in the south and con to at India. The Dravidian races who in. habited these parts had attained a considerable civilisation at their own. and were living in towns accorditﬁ to a settled lorrn at government. What happen. then was a conﬂict 0! civilization, and the triumph ol the Aryan. the stronger civilization 0! the two. But in many dports the pormlation remained almost entirely Draw an. and retained their own cial languages in they still do in Southern lndia) $ng with much 0 their own religious belicl. Sanskrit outer toolt the place at the Drsvidinn languages 0! the south. nor did the Hindu religious s tern take a really ﬁrm hold oi Southern lndia until a ter Buddhist times. And it is easy to see that hetore this was accomplished the contact of the Hindu with the aboriginal truth had resulted in the adoption by Hinduism of ma non. Aryan deities. superstitions. and iorrns of ritua.

—'1'hol‘autabshouldproperlyhelongso Ana-Tufts. '7 ‘ handmeMunhlndlamtohave sohetsiodh-Ita Wtﬁhattteamtotelowlyesteeuedbyonhodoam

Whiletheprooesasatworkinthe uewlyllintht- “m” “$332”? “2‘5" yo ‘ wear: t'rtm y wﬁm" able to picturemoreaecuratel the '6‘ m political woditionﬂltiie indu peop In avarta. particularl in ter years at the 'h Littledcan beatninat‘abgut the mzrd’e important 'ngdotns trring utra ‘ but when the curtain rises in the centurypg'osh dernble changes in the Statwsystem are Iound to havetahen sinoethedoseoitheEpicﬁie‘. The northern plain and the northwest at I trout (isndhara (near Peshawar) to Ujain in llalwa was occuptcd by sixteen great countries. either monarchies or mini republics.

The chiet monarchies were :—

m I madmslightl ‘ hiring")., Y Y m

Age. but now gradnslly obtaintpln; Innmount power. 1 ' was the early. Patahputn the later. mpital

oi this kingdom.

in) Koala. with which we have already become acquainted in the last period.

(3) The hi oi the Vautsss or \‘stsas. south ot osala. Its capital was Kosarnhi on the Jurnna.

(4) Avanti. still further to the south. in the modern Raiputana, with Ujain as its capital.

Among the twelve other States which complete the list. there ﬁgure certain names with which we are already familiarfthe Kasis. soon about to lose their power and inde cure. the Kurtis and Panchalas. sadly diminished in importance since the Epic Days. and the Videhas. now one oi the ei ht contederate clam oi the Vajiians. but iorrneriy important kingdom oi janslta. the scholar and philospher. This Vajjian coolederation is ion at because it included the powerful Lichchavt. whose chiefs, now about to be related in marriage to the kin oI Magadha. Were datincd to he ancestors oi the lungs 0t Nerd. oi the lauryas and at the great Gupta d ty. ts capital. Vesah. situated somewhere in Tir or. was at this time a great and ﬂourishing place.

From about the year (too a considerable amount oi intormanon about Hagadha. Anga. Kosala. Kasi. and Vessli is supplied by the Jain. Buddhist and Brahmanical books continued. while the rest of the country is left in almost total darkness. Koala had now incorporated 5hr: ancient mdotn cube Kasis.

an was reg as t etnier

mudw State of India. a positionwwhich

however. it soon yielded to Magadha. The early lists at kings in the case oi “agsdha alone can claim any historical reality. '13: ﬁrst Mﬁgadban monarch or w m an 't_ tog important is

“5"”“m‘f known is nmtnsm, the ﬁlth oi the Saisunaga line. He is credited with theannexation oi Alisa. a small omdhon the mic-m trams" o a. and be out with

m.” reason regarded as the rounder

ol the Hagadhan Imperial power. Duringhis re'gn Gautama Buddha scents to have