Ajatasatru and His Successors
August 19, 2008 by Arun Pal Singh · Leave a Comment
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Ajatasatru(493-462 B.C.) continued his father’s policy of expansion through military conquests. First, a fierce struggle started between Magadha and Kosala. Prasenajit’s sister who was the wife of Bimbisara died of grief at the death of her husband. Prasenajit could not tolerate it and asked Ajatasatru to return Kasi which was given in dowry to Bimbisara.
Ajatasatru, refused and thus a protracted war began between Magadha and Kosala. The war remained indecisive for a long time but ultimately Prasenajit agreed to give Kasi to Ajatasatru and also gave his daughter Vajira in marriage to him, which proves that the outcome of war, finally, went in favour of Magadha. Read more
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The Factors That Led To Rise of Magadha
August 18, 2008 by Arun Pal Singh · Leave a Comment
The kingdom of Magadha rose to pre-eminence during the period the period of Bimbisara and became the first great empire in India by the time of the Nandas.
Apart from ambitious and powerful rulers, other geographical, economic and cultural factors also contributed to its rise. There were certain permanent factors also which enabled it to rise to to the zenith of political greatness. Read more
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Rise of Magadha
August 15, 2008 by Arun Pal Singh · Leave a Comment
Magadha was a very ancient kingdom but for quite a long time it remained only a small state. It came into the limelight under Brihadratha, a Chedi prince. The famours Jarasandha who once defeated Krishna in the Mahabharata times was probably a son of Brihadratha.
The descendants of Brihadratha were overthrown in 600 B.C. by Sisunaga who founded the Sisunaga dynasty. The first well-known ruler of this kingdom was Bimbisara. Bimbisara ruled for forty-nine years. He made Rajagriha his capital. A man of determination and political foresight he realized the importance of a large kingdom decided to make Magadha such a state. He pursued his ambition both by wars and a policy of matrimonial alliances. Read more
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The Magadha Imperialism
August 10, 2008 by Arun Pal Singh · Leave a Comment
The history of India assumes a more or less definite shape towards the end of the seventh century B.C.
During this period, the whole country was divided into a number of independent states. North India was split into sixteen “Mahajanapadas.” Some of these states were monarchial others were either republicans or oligarchics. Out of these sixteen some of the prominent ones were Anga, Magadha, Vatsa, Vriji, Kasi, Kosala and Avanti.
The four important dynasties who tired to establish their supremacy at the cost of the minor states were Magadha, Kosala, Vatsa and Avanti. There was no political unity at all in Northern India.
Very little is known about the political fortunes of these republics but information about the method of their administrations is available.
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Religion and Spirituality In Vedic Age
July 6, 2008 by Editor · Leave a Comment
Aryans worshipped the forces of nature. these forces were divided into two classes. Benevolent forces of nature were called Devas and malevolent forces Asuras. They worshipped the Devas-benevolent forces of nature or shining Gods.
The Sun, Sky, Rain, Air and Fire were all defined and worshipped. Whenever they required sun or rain or fire, they chanted certain hymns especially meant for that particular natural force and invoked its help.
The religious beliefs were extension of primitive faiths prevalent among the Aryans before their arrival in India. Read more
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Early Vedic Age-Political Organization
June 18, 2008 by Editor · Leave a Comment
In early vedic age, monarchy was the prevalent form of government. The institution of monarchy was justified on grounds of divine sanction.
As a rule, kingship was hereditary. But there are instances when the king owed his position to the choice of the people. The king led the army in battles, administered justice and maintained the priestly classes.
The main source of income was war booties. Also, the voluntary gifts by the people were source of income.
The Senani, the Gramini and the Purohit were important members of the royal entourage.
While the Senani looked after the army, Gramini served as the village headman and Purohit was concerned with religious administrative matters. Read more
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The Expansion of Early Vedic Age
June 17, 2008 by Editor · Leave a Comment
Initial Aryan settlements in India, seem to have been the Punjab and Delhi reigon. Most frequently mentioned rivers are the Sindhu (Indus), the Saraswati (modern Sarsuti), now lost in the Rajasthan deserts, the Drishadvati (Ghaggar) and the five streams of Sutudri (Sutlej), Vipas (Beas), Parushni (Ravi), Asikni (Chenab), and Vitasta (Jhelum).
The geographical knowledge of he early Aryans did not extend beyond the Yumuna.
The early Aryan settlers were engaged in taking possession of the Land of the Seven Rivers (saptasindhava) represented by the Indus and its principal tributaries. This often led to conflicts between various Aryan tribes. Read more
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Economic Life in Early Vedic Age
May 30, 2008 by Editor · Leave a Comment
The life of the Rigvedic Aryans was distinctly rural. The village with its pastoral and agricultural land formed the unit of the Rigvedic economic life.
The cattle occupied a position of great importance. Values of commodities or lands were determined in terms of cattle.
Agriculture was the main occupation. Ploughing of land and reaping of java (barley) was done and there was also to a crude system of irrigation.
Hunting too was one of the approved, though subsidiary means of livelihood. Read more
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Social Life of Early Vedic Age
May 29, 2008 by Editor · Leave a Comment
The family, called Griha or Kula, was the pivot of the Rigvedic society. As the semi nomad Aryans settled in the North-West and the Punjab Valley they developed a healthy family life in which marriage was considered sacred and indissoluble.
Monogamy was the normal practice though instances of polygamy were not unknown. Polyandry, known in later days, does not appear to have come into vogue in Rigvedic times. Child marriage was unknown and the girls enjoyed considerable freedom in the choice of their consorts. Read more
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Where Did Aryans Come From?
May 11, 2008 by Editor · Leave a Comment
There are, several schools of thought regarding the original home of the Aryans.
As per Prof. Macdonell, their original home was in South-East of Europe. A.C. Dass says that their original home was India. Others say that they first lived in central Asia, whereas another theory believes them to have come form Arctic regions.
According to Prof. Max Muller, a great German scholar, there was a time when the ancestors of the Indians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Germans and the Celts, lived at one place. The study of the languages of these people clearly shows that at one time these different nations must have had one common habitat.
Words like The ‘Pita’ and ‘Mata’ of the Indian are essentially the same as the Persian ‘Pidar’ and ‘Madar’ the Latin ‘Pater’ and ‘Mater’, and the English ‘Father’ and ‘Mother’. These are words of everyday use in families which could not have been adopted unless, at some distant time, the ancestors of these people had lived at one common place.
The Aryans, who today occupy European countries, migrated by a route south of the Caspian, through Asia Minor to Greece and Italy; and one of their groups came to India through the north-west passages.
But Shri Bal Ganga Dhar Tilak, the great Maratha scholar and nationalist, in his “Arctic Home in the Vedas” has tried to prove that the original home of the Aryans was the Arctic region.
By a careful and close study of the Rigveda and Zend-Avesta, by comparing the Flora and fauna in these books with those of the area which we today call the Arctic region, he has formulated a theory that our ancestors originally lived in the tract between the North Pole and the Arctic Circle.
Geologists have proved that in pre-historic times there was a congenital climate and perpetual spring in those areas.
The theory of Tilak, therefore, cannot be rejected.
A.C. Dass, a Bengali historian locates the original home of the Aryans in the ancient Sapt-Sandhu or the modern, Punjab. He says that all the plants and animals mentioned in the Rigveda and other ancient books were found in the ancient Punjab, which was called Sapt-Sandhu. The geography of the ancient Punjab was also the same, which the internal study of the Rigveda reveals as to the original habitat of the Aryans.
A.C. Dass sayys
The original cradle of the Aryans was, therefore, Sapt-Sandhu, which included the beautiful valley of Kashmir on the north and Gandhara on the west. Its southern boundary was Rajputana and its easern boundary covered the Gangetic trough.
It was completely cut off from southern India by sea, but it was connected by land with western Asia in the direction of Gandhara and Kabulistan through which waves after waves of Aryan immigrants advanced to the west and to Europe the earliest Aryan tribes had left Sapt-Sandhu having been pushed farthest into Europe by those that followed them at long intervals and in different stages.
But this theory is not convincing.
The theory which is generally accepted these days is that the original home of the Aryan was in south-east Europe. Prof. Macdonell says that the common trees like the oak, the beech and the willow, and the common animals like the horse and the cow with which the ancestors of the Aryans were familiar, could, in those days, be found only in southern Europe.
We cannot say with certainly what the original habitat of the Aryans was, however, it is generally accepted that the ancestors of Persians, Indians, Greeks, Germans and English once lived at one common place.
Though essentially a nomad people, they were acquainted with agriculture. The called themselves “Arya” or “Airya”. The Sanskrit “Arya” in Zend-Avesta means persons living on agriculture or of good family. The Aryans who settled in India are distinguished from the other groups of the Aryans and are called Indo-Aryans.
Note: The Zend Avesta (”Book of the Law”) is the principal Zoroastrian scripture. The Zend Avesta is a collection of prayers, hymns, and other works, and includes the Gathas, or hymns of Zoroaster. The Zend Avesta as seen today was compiled from older oral traditions around the thirteenth century and may have existed in a different formn much earlier. According to legend, the original scriptures were destroyed by Alexander the Great, who is still reviled to this day
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