Indian History Political, Economical and Social history of India from Harappa civilization to 10th Century A D MPPSC Exam Notes

He renders this word as “bows” (or “archers”) and starts inquiring what length it connoted. Dupont-Sommer is unaware of the origin and history of the word and of its significance. Even acceptance of it would not necessarily force us into the 3rd century B.C. Dupont-Sommer has himself traced the name to a greater antiquity, right back to nearly 2000 B.C., that is about 1050 years earlier than the time we have chosen B.C. But the likelihood is more that the Aramean influence came towards Aśoka than that he extended himself to the Palmyra oasis. Our scholar’s puzzlement is enough to suggest that we are in a world quite apart from the post-Achaemenid where we should have an Aramaic speech affined to that which had prevalence in the Achaemenid empire. We have on the contrary Syriac affinities and the resultant Aramaic is sui generis, carrying us beyond the period in which Aśoka is situated by our historians.

in rigvedic period warrior art taught to the princess of olden days are known as

Question of the queen conspiring with a lover and murdering her husband and bringing to the throne her son by that lover, or of the lover himself carrying out several murders to set up his future son as king. Mahāpadma comes to the throne rightfully and is coronated in the normal course of things. The name “Xandrames” indubitably looks as if it were the Greek form of either the Sanskrit “Chandramās” or some other appellation like it. The Purānas1 mention the founder of the Nandas as Mahāpadma and designate one of his eight sons variously as Sukalpa, Sumālya, Sumātya, Sahalya. Mouths of the Ganges is occupied by the Gangaridai.” At a second place he1 implies by the proximity of another people, the Maroundai, to the north of the Gangaridai the latter’s location in the same region. Supplement Three attempts a comparison between the claims of the two Chandraguptas to the main personal characteristics of Sandrocottus. Corresponding in its own way to the condition the Purānas feel in the post-Āndhra epoch during which, amidst a lot of strange vicissitudes, the Gupta dynasty has arisen.

But at the same time, he should give honour to the Brahmanas and seek advice from his ministers. Thus the king though autocrat, should exercise his authority wisely. According to the Buddhist writers, the region from which the Mauryas came was full of peacocks , and hence they came to be known as the Moriyas . It is obvious from this that the Buddhists were trying to elevate the social position of Asoka and his predecessors.

These poems were written by

According to Dr. Smith, Kanishka also waged war against the Parthians. Kanishka also con­quered Kashgarh, Khotan and Yarkhand. He is credited with defeat­ing the Chinese and thereby avenging the defeat of his predecessor Kadphises II at the hands of the Chinese general Pan-chao and com­pelled the Chinese to surrender hostages to him. This era was abandoned temporarily during the Gupta rule when it was confined to the south where its use was spread by the Jainas.

In addition to these things, we must mention that the Kushana kings patronized all kinds of religions, including Hinduism. Kanishka was definitely and eclectic monarch as he honored a medley of gods belonging to the Greek, Zoroastrian and Hindu faiths. Not only Buddhism flourished under the Kushanas but there were definitely stirrings of Hinduism. Along with religion, Sanskrit language received an impetus. In a way the Kushan age constituted the prelude to the Gupta age. Marking their destruction, as shown by several inscriptions and a number of literary documents.

Rise of Magadha under the Haryanka Dynasty

But, if the Greek is briefer, more generalised and less Aśokanly suggestive in content, why should we not derive it from the Aramaic instead of from an Indian model sent by Aśoka? Dupont-Sommer and Benveniste hold that the Greek no less than the Aramaic makes adaptations straight of Indian concepts and phrases from a common model. But is it not possible that the adaptations by the Greek scribe according to the spirit of his culture are from the Aramaic adaptations? If we can think of him as Hellenizing Indian concepts and phrases, we can equally think of him as Hellenizing those proper to the Avestan-Aramaic mind and tongue. The fact of mere translation need not be given too much weight. Kamaniya.1 This etymology, drawing confirmation from the fact that the Kamboja country was noted for many of the best kinds of blankets,2 and basing itself entirely on Indian words, could never have been pertinent to a people thought to be Irānian. Present inscription was engraved for the Yonas – the Yonas who are Greeks and who, by being Greeks, are without Brāhmanas and Śramanas.

Gupta Army

These abstractions grow more numerous in the later Vedas. Thus Kāma, “Desire,” first appears in the Atharva-veda, where the arrows with which he pierces hearts are already referred to; he is the forerunner of the flower-arrowed god of love, familiar in classical literature. Thus Prajāpati, originally an epithet of such gods as Savitṛi and Soma, occurs in a late verse of the last book as a distinct deity possessing the attribute of a creator. This god is in the Atharva-veda and the Vājasaneyi-Saṃhitā often, and in the Brāhmaṇas regularly, recognised as the chief deity, the father of the gods. In the Sūtras, Prajāpati is identified with Brahmā, his successor in the post-Vedic age. In the post-Mauryan era, central Asia and north-western India witnessed hectic and shifting political scenes.

When a Rishi dies he merges back into an element or an archetype, Sage Jaimini was trampled by wild elephants, Sage Gautama was eaten by Cannibals, etc. When Sage Parāśara was walking through a dense forest hr music com he and his students were attacked by wolves. He was unable to get away in his old age with a lame leg, he left this world merging into the wolves. The fish in reality was an apsara by the name of Adrika.