Thursday 29 March 2018

Blogchatter A2Z Challenge 2018: Theme reveal – Ancient Cities of India




Theme: Ancient Cities of India





That India has a rich historical and mythological heritage is not unknown, but hidden in the folds of such mythology and history are cities which once sparkled with glory. We know about a lot of such ancient cities of our country from the Vedas, Puranas and mythological legends. In later Vedic periods, accounts of historians and chroniclers from India, Greece, China and the Arabian region have given us legendary tales and information about many cities which were imperial seats of power, home to many dynasties, steeped in religion, learning and culture, thus etching their names in history forever.

My attempt during the A2Z Blogchatter Challenge in April will be to alphabetically showcase some of such ancient cities which have had an impactful life in ancient India, but have either faded into insignificance later, or changed their character and names as they fell into the hands of other rulers, or with time and change have been erased from the face of the world. In my blog-posts on these ancient cities I hope to share with my readers many lesser known ancient cities and the role they played in their times; also tracing the history of those cities down to the modern times wherever possible.

I hope my readers will enjoy this re-telling of history and the stories that come with it.

To leave you with a taste of history, let me share with you the story of Pushkalavati, an ancient city first excavated in 1902 by archaeologists John Marshall. Legend has it that Pushkalavati was founded by Bharat’s son Pushakala, as mentioned in the ‘Uttarakhanda’ of the Indian Epic Ramayana. 

This legendary city was built on the banks of the Swat River near its confluence with the Kabul River. Pushkalavati once served as the capital of the verdant Gandhara kingdom and was an imperial city which impressed the visiting Greeks, who called it ‘Peucelaitis’

King Ashoka built a stupa in Pushkalavati when he was propagating Buddhism in the region, and the city was later visited by the famous Chinese traveller Hieuen Tsang in 630 AD and finds mention in his records.

The ruins of Pushkalavati are found near the outskirts of modern-day Charsadda in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.


So, if you enjoy mythology and history, stay tuned for my posts in the A2Z Blogchatter Challenge 2018!


Thank you…
Sayan Bhattacharya


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Ancient Cities of India has been published by BecomeShakespeare.com in both Paperback and eBook  (Amazon Kindle) editions, in April 2019. Hence the posts have been removed from my blog.

You may get your copy of the book from the following sellers:


Amazon global - The book is available on the respective Amazon portals of USA, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy and Japan as part of its international distribution. Please search with the Title of the Book, or the Author name.




Thank you for your interest in my Book, and I hope you will enjoy reading it.




Wednesday 28 March 2018

The Kanyakubja Chronicles V


The Revival of Kannauj under the Gahadavala dynasty (1080 – 1200 AD)


The fall of the Pratiharas and the invasions of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni destroyed the glory of Kannauj. In the ensuing political vacuum of the state, the Chedis, the Paramaras and the Cholas also attacked, destroyed and looted the city of Kannauj, until Chandradeva, a valiant Gahadavala prince of Rajput lineage, defeated them and established sovereignty over Kannauj and the neighbouring areas. From the historical chronicles of the times, it is quoted as follows, that Chandradeva…“by the valour of his arm acquired the matchless sovereignty over the glorious Kanyakubja”.

Chandradeva was the first in the Gahadavala dynasty who ruled over Kannauj and made the city the capital of his empire. In yet another verse, Chandradeva of the Gahadavalas is said to be the “Maharajadhiraja and the protector of the holy places of Kasi, Kanyakubja, Uttarkosala and Indrasthana…” (Kasi being Benaras and Kanyakubja being Kannauj, we may understand that Uttarkosala referred to the vicinity of Ayodhya; and Indrasthana was perhaps Indraprastha – which we know today as Delhi).

Inscriptions from his time shows that Chandradeva was a staunch follower of the Brahminical Hindu religious traditions and that the state of the Kanyakubja Brahmins began to regain their former glory and position under his patronage. One such inscription and record describes Chandradeva as “an ardent and philanthropic Brahamanist, giving land-grants and Tuladhanas to Brahmins for upkeep and propagating the Hindu religion. He restored many of the Hindu temples in Kannauj and other cities, broken during the invasion by Mahmud.” (Tuladhana was a practice of the king weighing himself against gold and silver and then donating the same for charitable work).

Chandradeva was succeeded by his son Madanapala who more or less ruled peacefully over the large kingdom left to him by his father. There were still some occasional raids and attacks by Ghaznavid invading Muslims, and it was during one of those that Madanpala led a successful campaign as the leader of a joint army and restricted the invaders from entering his kingdom near Indraprastha (Delhi). He was ably assisted by his son, Govindachandra, the ‘yuvaraj’ of Kannauj, who seemed to be calling most of the shots on behalf of his father already. Inscriptions found in the Rahan plates cite the tale of his valour like this:

“The Yuvaraja of Kannauj, again and again by the play of his matchless fighting drove back the mlechchas and compelled the Hammira (the Amir) to lay aside his enmity.”

[As translated from the original Sanskrit, in the works of Vincent Smith’s ‘Early History of India’.]

It was after Govindachandra ascending the throne of Kannauj in 1114 AD, that the Gahadavala Empire saw real success once again. Inscriptions found in Sarnath, refer to Govindachandra’s military exploits in detail and shower eloquent praise on the young king:

“Maharajadhiraja Govindachandra, it seems is an incarnation of Hari (Lord Vishnu), who has been commissioned by Hara (Lord Shiva) to protect Baranasi (Benaras) from the wicked Turuska (Turkish) warriors, as the only one who is able to protect the earth.”

These invasions by the later Ghaznavid Sultans (Mahmud’s descendants), and the one where the invasion of Benaras and Kannauj were repulsed by Govindachandra, is well corroborated in the chronicles of the ‘Diwan of Salman’ as an expedition sent by the Ghaznavid Sultan Massud III in 1115 AD (509 Hijri calendar year)  reported as: “against Kannauj, the capital of Hind,… the Kaaba of the Shamans and the Kibla of the kafirs,… where treasures of Hind were collected just as all rivers flow into the sea.”

The ‘Tabaqat-i-Nasiri’ further testifies that during the reign of Massud III, “the Hajib Tughatigin crossed the river Gang (Ganges?), in order to carry on jihad (holy war) in Hindustan and penetrated to a place where none except Sultan Mahmud had reached so far with an army before.”

[The Tabaqat-i-Nasiri was composed in 1260 AD by Minhaj-i-Siraj for Sultan Nasir-ud-din Mahmud of the Ghurid dynasty in Ghazna, and is an elaborate history of the Islamic world written in Persian. Though the major part of the book is devoted to the Ghurid dynasty, it also contains details of exploits by the earlier Ghaznavid dynasty Sultans.]

We are aware in history that Mahmud did not advance in the plains beyond Kannauj, hence the reference in the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri is to the war that Massud III’s army waged against Benares and Kannauj, which was successfully repulsed by Govindachandra. The success of the King of Kannauj is written in bold as “in consequence of his valiant prowess and the mlechchas vanquished, that there was never any talk of the Hammira coming back to the banks of the river of the Gods.”

Govindachandra’s military exploits did not stop with only defending Kannauj and his kingdom from the invading Muslims, but he made successful campaigns against Magadh (Bihar), Gauda (Bengal), and the Rashtrakutas (central-south India) and made them vassals of the Kannauj empire. The inscription plates further state that Govindachandra was a devout Shaivite and held the Brahmins in his kingdom in very high esteem. Thus his patronage of the Kanyakubja Brahmins was expansive and large-hearted. There were found texts of huge land grants, in many instances clusters of villages, to Brahmins, for building ashramas, temples and propagation of Shaivite Hinduism across the land. Thus it is evident that the Kanyakubja Brahmins once again had days of glory and importance under Govindachandra and the Gahadavala dynasty.

Govindachandra’s reign was also marked by the rise of literary efforts in Sanskrit, by the Brahmins in his court. His minister for law-and-war, Lakshmidhara and another Brahmin minister Raghunandana are credited for authoring the very famous Sanskrit work “Kalpadruma”, a collection of works on law and societal procedures. The chief volumes (khandas) of the Kalpadruma are:

  • Kritya Kalpataru (related to different types of work)
  • Vyavahara Kalpataru (related to different types of behaviours)
  • Vivada Kalpataru (related to types of argument and logic)
  • Dana Kalpataru (related to charity)
  • Rajdharma Kalpataru (related to governance of the state)


The Kalpadruma and many other such literary gems are said to have been authored by the eminent Kanyakubja Brahmins of that time, under the direct patronage of King Govindachandra. The king himself, holding a great literary taste and reverence for Sanskrit education, has been referred to in some inscriptions as “vividha-vidya-vichaara-vachaspati” (an exponent well versed in variety of studies and discourses).

Govindachandra ruled for forty years and re-established the glory and magnificence of Kannauj as the capital of the empire, and was succeeded by his son Vijayachandra in 1154. Vijayachandra too like his father stood like a bulwark against the Muslim invaders, and ensured that they were not successful in their designs of capture, plunder and loot. From the chronicles of history it may be observed that during the period of Vijayachandra’s reign there was no major Muslim invasion or conquest into the Doab region. There is a reference to a conflict between the Vijayachandra of Kannauj and the army of Amir Khusrau and later Khusrau Malik, who having been driven out of the Ghaznaid Empire by Ala-ud-din Ghori had come to occupy Lahore and were trying to make inroads into the other Indian states at that time. However, the Indian states being well equipped and militarily stronger than before were able to successfully repulse the efforts of Khusrau and Malik. However, it was soon that the Ghori Sultans themselves overran the entire North-west provinces and conquered Lahore, Multan and the region of the Indus.

While Vijayachandra may have withstood the occasional onslaughts of the Muslim invaders successfully, he did not have much success with his neighbour kings, for he soon lost the Delhi region to the King Kumarapala and even the south-central regions of his kingdom. Thus when his reign ended in 1170 AD, the Kannauj Empire covered the entire of modern-day Uttar Pradesh and Bihar regions. Towards the end of Vijayachandra’s reign, we find the elaborate mention of the “Yuvarajyabhishekham” of his son Jayachandra, on the banks of the Ganges at Benaras on 16th June 1168 AD, in an ornate ceremony conducted by Mahapurohita Prahlada Sarman, who was later gifted an entire village as land-grant in appreciation of his services.

Jayachandra finds important mention in the history of Kannauj and that of India for two incidents that marked the period of his reign. First, the make-believe romantic legend of Prithviraj Chauhan storming into Jayachandra’s celebratory event at Kannauj and carrying off his not-unwilling daughter Samyukta for marriage. Second, Jayachandra’s valiant resistance of Muhammad Ghori’s invasions and his final defeat which led to the destruction of Kannauj by the invading Muslims.

 Jayachandra led a huge army and as per the bards of his court, it was on the strength of his army that he subjugated kingdoms far and wide and expanded his territories. Jayachandra is also credited with victories against Muhammad Ghori’s invasions a few times before his final engagement with him. The Purusapariksa of poet Vidyapati describes Jayachandra:

“Yavanesvara Sahavadin (referring to Sihabuddin Ghori) fled several times after sustaining defeat at the hands of King Jayachandra, the ‘nikhila-yavana-ksayakarah’ (destroyer of all Yavanas – infidels).”

Referring to Jayachandra, the Muslim historian Ibn Asir says in his Kamil-ut-Tawarikh: “the King of Kannauj was the greatest in Hind and possessed the largest territory, extending lengthwise from the borders of China to the province of Malwa, and breadthwise from the sea to within ten days journey from Lahore.”

Despite his exploits and military valour, Jayachandra had a bitter rivalry with the King of the Chamanas (Chauhans), Prithviraja III, against whom he was in constant skirmish on territorial annexations of each other’s’ kingdoms. The Sanskrit poetic work ‘Prithviraja Raso’ states that Prithviraja III ruled from his capital in Ajmer and had by this time annexed Delhi with the intention to encroach more into Jayachandra’s kingdom. The much recited romantic legend of Prithviraj and Samyukta is almost a popular folklore in India, however, it is important to note that the venue for Jayachandra’s celebratory ‘rajasuya yagna’ (ceremony of universal supremacy of an emperor) which was to culminate in the ‘swayamvara’ (self-selection of the groom by the bride) of his daughter Samyukta, was the magnificent capital city of Kannauj.

[On a side note, it may not be irrelevant to point out to the readers that Kanyakubja or Kannauj had been the venue for two of the most talked about ‘swayanvaras’ in Indian mythology and history:

First, the swayamvara of Draupadi in the Mahabharata, where Arjun won her hand by his archery skills. Draupadi’s father King Drupad was the ruler of Panchal Pradesh and had his capital at Kampilya, which is the city of Kanyakubja temporarily known by another name.

Second, the swayamvara of Samyukta, daughter of Jayachandra, King of Kannauj, where bride was carried off by her father’s arch rival Prithviraj Chauhan, the uninvited King of the Chauhans of Ajmer.]


The second Muslim conquest of Kannauj (1194 AD)


Kannauj was swept away and eventually destroyed during the Muslim conquest of Hindustan by the repeated invasions of Sultan Sihabuddin Muhammad Ghori (a.k.a Mu’izz-ud-din Muhammad) and his Turkic generals. However, the seeds of these conquests were sown as early as 1175 AD, when Sihabuddin had moved from Ghor and conquered and taken Ghazni to avenge the death of his ancestor Ibn Suri at the hands of Mahmud of Ghazni.

[On an unrelated but interesting side note, the famous Muslim historian, Baihaqi, of the time of Mahmud of Ghazni have placed on record that the small kingdom of Ghor (in present-day Afghanistan) was a Buddhist kingdom with a Buddhist king named Amir Suri. The Ghorids were a collection of many Pashtun tribes of Afghanistan who had mixed tribal lineages with Turkic races; they had been scattered from their native settlements in the mountains by the Mongols and later by the Ghaznavids. Whilst their tribes bore Islamic names, viz., Suri, Lodhi, Niazi, etc., many of the tribes came under the Hindu and Buddhist influences during the Hindu Shahi kingdom rule in and around Kabul region, and adopted those religions. The Suri’s for instance, were followers of the Mahayana Buddhist traditions and so were the entire population of their tribe in Ghor.

Historian Bahaqi also writes that Mahmud of Ghazni and the neighbouring Islamic kingdoms considered the native Ghorids as ‘pagans’ and were determined to wage ‘jihad’ against them to bring them forcibly under the Islamic religious influence in the region. Thus Mahmud of Ghazni had attacked Ghor in 1011 AD and taken the Suri king (Ibn Suri – son of Amir Suri) as prisoner and brought him to Ghazni along with his son. While the Suri king killed himself by consuming poison to prevent being converted to Islam by Mahmud, his son (later renamed as Abu Ali Ibn Muhammad) was forcibly converted and placed back on the throne of Ghor as a subjugated feudatory to the throne of Ghazni. Thus the Ghurids and the population of their tribe was forcibly converted to Islam by Mahmud and thence they became an Islamic dynasty. Their tribe name of Suri was replaced by the name of their feudal kingdom Ghor and the dynasty came to be called ‘Ghori’.]


Sihabbudin Muhammad Ghori, having established himself in Ghazni, then looked towards the alluring North-west provinces of Hindustan, which by then were in control of the later Ghaznavid dynasty rulers and vassals. In 1175 he marched against the Qarmatian Ismaili kings of Multan and wrested the city from their control. This was followed by the annexation of Uch and Peshawar in 1179 and finally Lahore in 1186. Khusrau Malik, the last vassal of the Ghaznavids ruling Lahore was captured and executed by Muhammad Ghori, thus completely overthrowing the reign of the Ghaznavid dynasty. If Mahmud of Ghazni was a religious knight-errant of Islam and took pride in forcibly converting the populace of conquered lands and desecrating the shrines of other religions, Muhammad Ghori was a practical conqueror. Apart from plundering and enjoying the spoils of war, he ensured that he left behind his slaves or generals to control and continue the administration in the lands conquered by him, thus effectively making them vassal and feudal states in his sultanate.

By 1191, Muhammad Ghori devoted his attention and strategies to continued invasions of Hindustan, and amassing a huge army, stormed the fortress of Bhatinda in Punjab. The fortress of Bhatinda was within the territories of Prithviraj Chauhan, who assisted by other Rajput princes, marched with a mighty army to defend his territory. The two armies met on the plains of Tarain (near Thanesar) and after a bloody engagement, Ghori’s forces were completely overwhelmed by the Hindu army. The Sultan himself would have been killed in the battle, if not for a Khilji retainer who courageously saved him from the charge of the Chauhans. Muhammad Ghori, being one not to leave a score unsettled, returned the following year (1192) with a mightier army and better stratagem against the Rajput Hindu confederacy and once again met Prithviraj Chauhan on the same historic battle-field of Tarain.

As soon as Prithviraj Chauhan had the intelligence of the advance of Ghori’s army, he had sent out messages to his fellow Rajput chieftains and also the neighbouring kings, so that an enormous army of Hindustan could be amassed to repulse the invaders. As described in historian Firishta Muhammad Qasim Shah’s expansive work ‘Tarikh-i-Firishta’, many chiefs and kings answered to Prithviraj’s appeal, as the Rajputs ‘having sworn by the water of the Ganges that they would conquer their enemies or die martyrs to their faith’. Some historians point out that while kings of many neighbouring kingdoms joined Prithviraj’s army against the ‘yavana Sahavadin’ (infidel invader Sihabuddin Ghori), the King of Kannauj, Jayachandra remained withdrawn. They surmise that probably Jayachandra would have thought that Ghori would put an end to Prithviraj and leave Hindustan, after which it would be easy for Jayachandra to take control of the entire northern India regions. However, fate had a different design as we shall soon see. With the turn of events that followed, Prithviraj Chauhan’s mighty army was defeated and scattered by Muhammad Ghori and Prithviraj himself was killed in the battle.

The victorious invading army soon captured the forts and cities of Sarsuti, Samana, Kahram, Hansi and Ajmer and Sihabuddin Ghori became the master of almost entire north India up to the precincts of Delhi. Ghori returned to his capital in Ghazni, but the command of furthering the Muslim conquest into the Ganga-Yamuna Doab was entrusted to his slave general Qutubuddin-Aibak, who continued the unfinished task left to him by his Sultan. In 1193, Delhi fell, followed by similar successes by Aibak over Meerut and Aligarh. These victories paved the way for the Muslims to now advance against Kannauj, one of the most prominent and magnificent cities of Hindustan.

Muhammad Ghori returned in 1194 and with the aid of his slave-general Qutubuddin Aibak, marched towards Kannauj with a very large army. King Jayachandra met Ghori on the plains of Chandwar (a place between Kannauj and Etawah) where a pitched battle took place. The tidings of the battle were gradually favouring Jayachandra’s army when a freak arrow hit Jayachandra in the eye and pierced his skull, killing him instantly. Seeing their leader dead, the Hindu army scattered directionless and within no time the battle was won by Muhammad Ghori.

As the victorious Sultan reached the outskirts of Kannauj, in the words of a historian of that time, “the Sultan there saw an imperial city which raised its head to the skies, and which in strength and structure might justly boast to have no equal. The city was surrounded by strong walls and deep ditches and was washed by the Ganges on its eastern face.”

Ghori quickly plundered and pillaged Kannauj, killing the Hindu populace and breaking the gorgeous temples and shrines while amassing enormous amount of booty. However, having finished with the capital, Ghori soon turned his target to the holy city of Benaras, which was also an important treasury centre for the Gahadavala kingdom. There he plundered all the temples and enslaved the people, taking immense war-spoils including elephants.

After Ghori’s exit, Qutubuddin Aibak continued to consolidate the conquered cities by vanquishing the remnants of the Hindu armies in those places. The Rajput resistance however continued in sporadic efforts in different areas in an attempt to throw off the Turkic yoke. In Kannauj, especially, Jayachandra’s nineteen year old son, Harishchandra, succeeded in pushing back Aibak’s armies and liberated Kannauj once again in 1197 AD, a respite which was destined to be only too short-lived.


The Final Decimation (1211 – 1215 AD)


Post the sudden assassination of Sihabuddin Ghori by the Khokhar Hindu tribes at Dhamiak near the banks of the Jhelum River in 1206 (present-day Sohawa in Pakistan), and the death of Qutubuddin Aibak in 1210, the entire expanse of North India was in political chaos and rebellion. Though Iltutmish, the son-in-law of Qutubuddin Aibak ascended the throne of Delhi and proclaimed himself the next ruler of Hindustan, it took a lot of effort on his part to squash the rebellions and impose his suzerainty over the kingdoms of Hindustan. The Chauhans had liberated Ajmer and the other Hindu chieftains who were discontented with their loss of independence had also liberated their kingdoms of Gwalior, Benaras, Kalinjar and Ranthambore. Even the Muslim governors who had been appointed by Qutubuddin Aibak had revolted and declared themselves as Sultans of their own regions, viz., Nasir-ad-in Qabacha in Uch and Multan and Ali Mardan Khilji in Bengal and Lakhnauti.

In his attempt to put to rest all rebellions and bring not only these feudal kingdoms but also the still independent and recently liberated Hindu kingdoms under his Islamic rule, Iltutmish started his campaign with the kingdoms situated in the vicinity of Delhi and the Ganga-Yamuna Doab region. Ranthambore was taken after a bloody war and so was Ajmer, once again defeating the Rajput army convincingly. He personally led the military campaign against Awadh, Badaun and Siwalik and having captured these cities, established his own men as generals to rule these kingdoms as feudatories.

Iltutmish’s son, Nasir-ud-din Mahmud, a ferocious warrior in his own right, waged a terrible battle against Kannauj, Benaras and Rohilkhand. The battle of Kannauj saw the complete end of the Gahadavala dynasty with the ruling King Harishchandra and his son being driven out of the city, and the establishment of Nasir-ud-din’s Turkic generals as administrators of Kannauj. It is said that in Kannauj and Benaras alone, over one thousand temples and shrines, including a famous six-hundred year old Shiva temple of King Harsha’s times, were demolished and mosques were built in their places. In the pillage, plunder and massacre that ensued in the days of the war, Kannauj was completely destroyed and razed to the ground. The Hindu populace scattered to neighbouring areas and once again a mass exodus of the Kanyakubja Brahmins were seen in the aftermath of the battle. As Nasir-ud-din and his troop of Turkic generals decimated the city and its remaining people, Kannauj with its heritage and soul of Hindu imperialist tradition, culture and learning were lost forever.

Kannauj thereafter was governed under Nasir-ud-din Mahmud who was appointed as the Governor of Awadh region. The city could never throw off the yoke of Islamic rule and its prolonged influence gradually robbed Kannauj of the remnants of its glorious Vedic and Hindu imperial past. The magnificent city which over the centuries had held pre-eminence in North India and was regarded as the seat for many a proud dynasty, ceased to exist as an independent state and slowly sank into insignificance.

The following stanza from Bhartrihari’s composition ‘Vairag yasataka’ (volume 36), is a fitting adieu and lament for Kanyakubja; the epitaph of its glories:

“Alas brother… the mighty kings, the train of barons and witty court at his side, the damsels with faces like the moon’s orb, the haughty troop of princes, the minstrels and the tales… by whose will all this hath passed into mere memories… as homage to Time.” [Sanskrit: sarvam yasya vasadagat smritipadam Kalaya tasmai namah…”]


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Coming soon …. The Escape to Nowhere

While Series I - Kanyakubja Chronicles, depicting the history of the ancient city of Kanyakubja, comes to a close with the decimation of the city, we will return in the next part of our series with the story of the Kanyakubja Brahmins who managed to escape the decimation at the hands of the invaders and conquerors and fled to different parts.

Stay tuned for new episodes in our Series II – The Migration.

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Saturday 24 March 2018

The Kanyakubja Chronicles IV



Kannauj: the capital of Aryavarta (836 – 1019 AD)


For Kannauj, the period spanning almost two hundred years after the death of King Harsha was one of continuous wars and short-lived monarchies by the rival dynasties of the region, who were perpetually at battle with each other in the attempt to consolidate their empire and probably once again fulfil the ideals of a Chakravartin Samrat of Aryavarta. Kannauj was already well established as the capital of North India from the time of Harsha and with Magadh, Pataliputra, Mathura and other cities fading in their prominence, Kannauj continued to be regarded as the heart of Aryavarta and the jewel in the crown most sought after by the kings at war. After Harsha and his immediate successor Yasovarma, the Ayudha dynasty captured Kannauj and ruled for about fifty years. During this time, the Chalukyas and even the King of Kashmir, Lalitaditya, is said to have attacked Kannauj with the desire to rule over this magnificent city.

However, by the end of the 8th century, the power and politics of Aryavarta remained in the hands of three dynasties, who were forever at war with each other: the Gurjara-Pratiharas from Rajasthan, the Rashtrakutas from Maharashtra and parts of south-central; and the Palas of Bengal. All of them sought to keep Kannauj under their clamp, as the city strongly signified power and control over Aryavarta. The chequered history of war-torn Kannauj during these periods and tales of the battles and coups forged by the Pratihara, Rashtrakuta and Pala kings over a hundred years is, on one hand fascinating yet on the other, dark and of betrayals and bloodshed.

It was also during this turbulent period that Kannauj once again rose to a commendable height of glory under the Pratihara King, Mihir Bhoja in 836 AD. Though not immediately comparable to the Kannauj under Harsha, Mihir Bhoja ensured that he rebuilt the city’s war affected zones and added further magnificence. Learning and culture surged in Kannauj and once again the traditions of Brahmanical Hinduism were glorified under the Kanyakubja Brahmins, who now had acquired the cult tag of ‘Kannaujia Brahmin’, one that was set to stay for many more centuries to come. A devout follower of Lord Vishnu, Mihir Bhoja built many temples across his kingdom and patronised the Brahmins extensively, as bearers and keepers of traditional Brahminical Hindu faith who propagated the Vedic rituals, culture and literature.

Mihir Bhoja’s kingdom ranged from the Sutlej River in the North-west to the foothills of Himalayas in the North and from Bengal in the East to Gujarat in the West, while the Narmada River made up for the border in the South. Kannauj was the illustrious capital of his expansive empire and a very prosperous one at that, as we read from the works of Sulaiman, the Arab traveller who visited India during this time. Mihir Bhoja also successfully repulsed several Arab invasions on the North-west borders of his kingdom (present day Sindh in Pakistan) and ensured that he united Aryavarta under Kannuj once again, till 885 AD.

Mihir Bhoja’s successors, though defended their kingdom for a few more generations, were steadily losing parts of their territories to other kings. They lost some parts of the Punjab to the King of Kashmir, while the Rashtrakutas in the south were posing a fierce threat yet again against the weakened Pratiharas. It was during the initial years of the reign of Mahipala, 913 AD to be exact, that the Rashtrakuta King, Indra III, attacked Kannauj and ransacked the city mercilessly. Mahipala had to flee and Kannauj passed on to the hands of the Rashtrakutas for the next three years. Kannauj had hitherto not seen such a bloody war and pillage of its wealth and magnificence as it saw at the hands of the Rashtrakuta king Indra III; however then, little did the city know that it would have to face an even more merciless ransacking, killing and looting within the turn of the same century at the hands of the first Muslim invaders.

Mahipala was however able to return to his capital and overthrow the Rashtrakuta vassals in Kannauj and take the city back for the Pratiharas by 916 AD. Barring the singular blot of the ‘ransacking of Kannauj’ by Indra III, Mahipala is credited with the attributes of a valiant ruler and warrior who maintained his kingdom and subjects well. The Arab chronicler, ‘Al-Masudi’ writes about him:

"The ruler has four armies according to the four quarters of the wind. Each of these number 700,000 or 900,000 men. He has large armies in the garrisons in the north and in the south; in the east and in the west, for he is surrounded on all sides by warlike rulers."

Thus in the fight for the control of Aryavarta and pursuit of keeping suzerainty over Kannauj as the capital of Aryavarta, the Pratiharas had overall emerged victorious against their rivals the Rashtrakutas and the Palas. However, constant wars and break down of kingdoms over this period actually worked against the interests of Aryavarta, for after Mihir Bhoja there was no king who could unite Aryavarta again and build a formidable force. The powers of the Palas in Bengal were limited, while that of the later Pratiharas and the Rashtrakutas got weakened. Their vassals rebelled against them and broke away from the kingdoms to form smaller kingdoms of their own. Thus by 1000 AD, Aryavarta had disintegrated into a disjoined and fragmented structure of many states and kingdoms with independent rulers, mostly still fighting against themselves. This paved the way easily for the successful raids into India by Mahmud of Ghazni, which began in 1001 AD.


The first Muslim conquest of Kannauj (1018 AD)


It was in 1018 AD that the tremors of the pounding hoofs of the troops of horsemen of Mahmud of Ghazni’s ferocious army were felt on the soil of Kannauj, heralding the most ominous and dreaded of the battles that the magnificent city had ever witnessed. Stories of Mahmud’s fearsome invasions and battles on the plains of the Indus and Sutlej had by then spread all across Aryavarta (northern India), as the burly Sultan had already invaded the country at least ten times and indiscriminately killed and looted in the towns and cities that fell in his way.

What started as a battle for territorial supremacy between the Ghaznavids and the Hindu Shahi kings of Kabul in 1000 AD, in no time broke down the barriers of the rugged North-western frontier and opened the doors to India for Mahmud. The Hindu Shahi King Jayapaladeva of Kabul was defeated by Mahmud in the first battle in 1000 AD, but Mahmud returned within a year with a larger force to capture Kabul and then furthered his intention to loot and fill his Ghaznavid capital with the riches of Hindustan, as he chased the Hindu Shahi forces further down. By 1006 AD, he had defeated Jayapaladeva and his son and successor King Anandapala repeatedly and ransacked the cities of Purushapura (modern Peshawar in Pakistan), Udabhandapura (modern Und in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan – which was the later capital of the Hindu Shahi kings once Kabul was taken), Bhera (modern Bhira in Pakistan-Punjab) and Mulasthanam (modern Multan in Pakistan). Making it a sport and easy exploit, Mahmud continued his series of infamous raids to India and emboldened by each lavish victory, he soon swooped down onto the heartland of north India.

Having deposed the Hindu Shahi Kings from Kabul and North-west of India, over the next decade Mahmud continued to plague the country with his raids, ransacking and looting. While Peshawar and Multan were repeatedly sacked, Mahmud’s fury did not spare the Nandana, the last capital city of the Hindu Shahi Kings - after Mahmud destroyed and annexed Udabhandapura (Und). Nandana was a picturesque town nestled in the verdant valleys of the Salt Range of the Indus valley, and King Anandapala had chosen to name it Nandana, after the celestial garden of Lord Indra. (In modern day, the only remains of Nandana city are the ruins of the Shiva temple built by Anandapala, which still stands atop a hill in the Salt Range of Pakistan; the city has been completely decimated, destroyed and has over time slipped into oblivion).

In his invasions of 1011 Mahmud had come as far as Delhi and sacked Thaneswar, and in 1015 he had successfully pillaged the formidable city of Lohkot (modern Lahore in Pakistan). He completely overthrew the Hindu Shahi kingdom and forced its last ruler Trilochanapala to flee. Trilochanapala was given refuge by the king of Kalinjar. Having conquered and subjugated the kingdoms in the North-west provinces, it was but expected that in his next adventure the ferocious Sultan would come charging down on the cities that lay further deep in the Ganga-Yamuna Doab, the opulence of which were not unknown to him by then.

When Mahmud attacked Mathura and Mahaban in 1018, he was met by armies of some of the regional kings but they were hardly a match to the ferocity of the invading Ghaznavid army under Mahmud. Mathura and Mahaban fell after a fierce battle in 1018 and were completely ransacked post which the Sultan turned his attention to Kannauj, as he intruded further down the plains. The ruling Pratihara king of Kannauj at that time was Rajyapala who was terrified at the prospect of facing Mahmud’s army with the almost certainty of defeat and bloodshed in the capital. Rajyapala had been part of the Hindu confederacy (the joint armies of Ujjain, Gwalior, Kalinjar, Kannauj, Delhi and Ajmer) which had earlier fought in support of the Hindu Shahi kingdom and had opposed Mahmud between Und and Peshawar and had been completely routed by the invading forces. Faced with the daunting task of fighting Mahmud’s army alone, Rajyapala chose not to engage in battle with the Sultan and Kannauj was surrendered without a fight. This however did not stop the greedy Sultan from ransacking the city and he proceeded to destroy many important Hindu temples and Buddhist stupas in Kannauj. The holy shrines were desecrated and the temple wealth was looted indiscriminately.

As the pillage and plundering in Kannauj went on at the hands of Mahmud’s army, among the subjects the worst fate probably befell the Kanyakubja (Kannaujia) Brahmins. On the pretext of jihad, the Muslim invaders fanatically crushed the Hindu centres of worship and learning, burning Vedic and Sanskrit texts and scriptures wherever they could find them. They were aware that the Brahmins were the keepers of the religious culture and traditions as well as the temple wealth, and hence the wrath fell on them. The Brahmin houses were invaded, destroyed and looted and the priests and scholars were mercilessly tortured, their books and belongings being burnt in front of their eyes. The king had already surrendered and remained a mute spectator as the once glorious city of Kannauj was brought to its knees and its wealth forcibly taken away.

Mahumd of Ghazni left a burning and destroyed Kannauj, and if that wasn’t enough, within a year Kannauj was attacked by the neighbouring Chandelas. The rage of the Chandela King was directed against Rajyapala for having meekly surrendered to Mahmud without a fight and for allowing the destruction, arson and looting of his city, but the Chandel soldiers ensured that they also had their share of looting as they ravaged through the already broken city. Rajyapala was killed by the Chandelas and that marked the end of the Pratihara dynasty, leaving Kannauj in a total state of anarchy and political chaos, by the end of 1019 AD.




Coming Soon …. Kanyakubja Chronicles V

In the next article, we shall read about the revival of Kannauj and the restoration of its glory under the lineage of the Gahadavala Kings, until the final decimation of the city and its Hindu Brahminical culture, in the second Muslim conquest at the hands of Muhammad Ghori. Kannauj thereafter came under Islamic rulers, an influence which relegated all Hindu culture and learning to minimal relevance, thus forcing large sections of the remaining Kanyakubja Brahmins to desert the city to escape forced conversion and attempt safekeeping of the remnants of Vedic scriptures and traditions that were miraculously saved.


Thursday 8 March 2018

The Kanyakubja Chronicles - III



Kanyakubja as the capital of King Harsha’s empire (606 – 647 AD)


Kanyakubja enjoyed its most glorious time during the reign of King Harsha from 606 to 647 AD, and was the capital of his empire which ranged from the North-west frontiers to the outer borders of Gauda (Bengal) in the east. Much about Harsha’s reign and life is told in the Harshacharita composed by his court poet Banabhatta. Apart from being the biography of King Harsha, the Harshacharita is important for a few more reasons as well. It is the first historical poetic work to be composed in Sanskrit, in the court of Kanyakubja. It is also the first historical biography written in Sanskrit language. In the Harshacharita, Banabhatta gives an ornate account of life in Harsha’s kingdom, his capital Kanyakubja and even the rural areas. Kanyakubja is portrayed in the most glorified manner as a capital city un-paralleled in its time and of flaunting a deeply rich cultural exchange of literature, religious discourses and practices, surge of Vedic and Sanskrit language and composition of great poetic works. The city is also described to be an important centre of trade and commerce and a destination for many travellers not only from the nearby locations, but also from foreign countries.

The accounts of the famous Chinese pilgrim, Hieuen Tsang, (a.k.a Xuanzang) form an important and precious source of information of Harsha’s empire and Kanyakubja as his capital city in those times. Hieuen Tsang, being a highly acclaimed Buddhist monk, spent fourteen years in India, travelling to all the sacred places connected with Buddha’s life, of which he spent seven years in Kanyakubja, under King Harsha’s patronage and hospitality. His accounts acquaint us with the political, religious, economic and social conditions of Kanyakubja in those days. According to Hieuen Tsang, at the time of his visit, he found Nalanda to be on the decline and Kanyakubja and Prayag (modern day Allahabad) to be the emerging and vibrant cities. It was exactly in these two places that King Harsha had conducted his two major Religious Assemblies during the period of Hieuen Tsang’s stay in his kingdom. Hieuen Tsang, in his accounts, writes in great detail about the benevolence and magnanimity of King Harsha as a ruler and refers to him by the name ‘King Shiladitya’ throughout his writings.

The religious beliefs of King Harsha’s family is a metaphorical representation of the religious beliefs of the citizens of his empire during those times. Pushyabhuti, the founder of Harsha’s dynasty was a devotee of Lord Shiva, while Harsha’s father, Prabhakara Vardhana used to daily worship Surya, the Sun god, with a bunch of red lotuses. Harsha’s brother Rajyavardhana and sister Rajyasri were deeply attached to the Hinayana practices of Buddhism, while Harsha himself was a staunch Shaivite in the early part of his reign as King of Kanyakubja.

He personally followed the Puranic Hindu religious practices and beliefs and thus the Vedic Brahmins enjoyed positions of importance and great patronage from the King for spreading their religious doctrines, scriptures and faith. However, in the latter part of his reign, King Harsha was greatly influenced by the Buddhist monk Hieuen Tsang and though he did not denounce Hinduism, he accorded immense importance to the Mahayana form of Buddhism (preached by Hieuen Tsang) and undertook extensive and pompous efforts to spread the religion.

Hinduism and Buddhism, and the various inherent cults of the two religions, were so near to each other, that the people accepted them with intense devotion. During the most glorious period of King Harsha’s reign, his empire was an excellent example of the synthesis of religious ideas being adopted with a broad spiritual outlook. By his time, Puranic Hinduism was sweeping over the country in full force and the Hindu gods and goddesses had come to dominate the religious faith of the common people. Buddha’s images were also worshipped by Hindus alongside their own gods and goddesses. Hieuen Tsang, though a devout Buddhist himself, was impressed to see the predominance of Brahminical Hinduism in the country and the stature and patronage accorded to the Kanyakubja Brahmins by Harsha in his court and empire. Within Puranic Hinduism there were many sects, however, Vishnu, Shiva and Surya were the prominent Hindu gods to be worshipped. Buddhism, even though seemed to be heading towards a decline, held its power in the imagination of the people, while Jainism was concentrated only in a few places like Vaishali and its former holy centres.

The citizens were free to follow and practise the faith of their choice, and a person could even be a believer in different faiths. There were religious controversies but no religious dogmatism or fanaticism. The King, himself being tolerant to different religious faiths, allowed for an atmosphere of congenial co-existence of the religions and strongly opposed imposing any single religion on any of his subjects. It is said that King Harsha was a devotee of Shiva, Surya and also the Buddha. It was undoubtedly a time of religious assimilation and spiritual synthesis.

Towards the latter years of his reign, King Harsha was profoundly impressed with the doctrines of Mahayana form of Buddhism and it could be attributed to the influence of Hieuen Tsang on the King. Hieuen Tsang was undoubtedly a vastly learned Buddhist monk and his exposition of the Mahayana Buddhism attracted the King and drove him to undertake more efforts to spread the religion. Accordingly, Harsha organised for religious conferences providing Hieuen Tsang the opportunity to preach Buddhism and also built many stupas in his kingdom in the honour of Lord Buddha.

Even though Harsha became devoted to Buddhism, he did not exit the fold of Hinduism completely. Hieuen Tsang’s detailed description of his ‘King Shiladitya’s’ religious practices show that Harsha (a.k.a Shiladitya) continued to pay deep devotion and respect to Hindu deities. His respect, understanding and tolerance of the different religious faiths was the most noteworthy feature of his reign. This was best demonstrated in the five-yearly religious conferences which Harsha organised in his kingdom and named them ‘Moksha’. We get to read about the details of two such grand conferences in the year 643 AD, from the descriptions of Hieuen Tsang, held at Kanyakubja and Prayag respectively.


The Kanyakubja Religious Assembly of 643 AD

King Harsha organised a grand religious conference in his capital city of Kanyakubja, on the western banks of the Ganges. The purpose of the assembly was to highlight the teachings of Buddha. On that occasion, Harsha also wanted to honour the Chinese ‘Master of the Law’, Hieuen Tsang. This grand function was attended by twenty tributary kings, including the kings of Kamarupa (modern-day Assam) Bhaskara Varman from the extreme east, and the King of Vallabhi (modern day Vallabhipur – near Bhavnagar, Gujarat) Dhruvasena from the extreme west. Three thousand Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhists, three thousand Brahmins and Jains, and one thousand Buddhist scholars from the University of Nalanda attended this assembly, which continued for long 23 days. Harsha himself proposed the name of Hieuen Tsang to preside over the assembly. The subject of discussion in the assembly related to Mahayana Buddhism.

From the accounts of Hieuen Tsang it is known that a splendid monastery with a shrine was constructed, on the bank of the Ganges for the purpose of the assembly. There, on the huge tower, one hundred feet high, a golden image of Buddha equal to the height of Harsha himself was kept for the view of the large gathering. A smaller image of Buddha, 3 feet in height was every day carried in a procession, joined by all the 20 kings, and with 300 elephants. In that procession, Harsha himself, dressed as the Hindu god Sakra (referred to as Indra), held the canopy on the image. The King of Kamarupa, dressed as the god Brahma, waved a white fly-whisk around the image.

As the procession progressed, Harsha scattered golden flowers, pearls and gems on all sides for showing honour to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. At the end of the procession every day, Harsha used to wash the image with his own hands at the altar, and carry it on his shoulders to be placed at the appropriate tower. There, the image was dressed in many silken robes, decorated with gems.

Harsha’s devotion to the image of Buddha in the Kanyakubja Assembly clearly proves his deep attachment to Mahayana Buddhism. The Hindu gods like Sakra and Brahma were shown as the attendants of Buddha in a symbolic way, since Buddha was considered to be an incarnation of Vishnu.


The Kanyakubja Assembly was marred by two unfortunate incidents. Those incidents also show that many in the assembly did not like Harsha’s extraordinary favours to the Chinese ‘Master of the Law’, and to the Mahayana faith. The first incident relates to a threat to the life of Hieuen Tsang. Coming to know of it, Harsha issued a proclamation to warn the intolerant group: “If anyone should touch or hurt the Master of the Law, he shall be forthwith executed, and who ever speaks against him, his tongue shall be cut off; but all those who desire to profit by his instructions, relying on my good will, need not fear this manifesto”.

The second incident relates to an attempt on the life of Harsha himself. One night the monastery on the site of the assembly suddenly caught fire, and Harsha himself came down to put it out. As he was coming down the steps of a stupa from where he had supervised the work, a fanatic with a dagger rushed towards the emperor, from behind the dark pillars, in an attempt to assassinate him.

The man was promptly caught, and he confessed that he had been sent to kill the king for his favour to Buddhism. Following an investigation into the matter, five hundred Brahmins were arrested and they admitted their hand in it. They were all exiled from the country for their act of treason against the King.

These incidents show that Harsha’s attempts to give a new vitality to Buddhism by being its royal patron, may not have actually carried much appeal to the Hindu mind in those declining days of Buddhism. Once the religion had come nearer to Hinduism both at intellectual and popular level, its exclusive predominance was out of question. Harsha could not have recalled the old spirit of Buddhism to the India of his time, despite his valiant attempts and proclamation.

Nine hundred years separated Harsha from Asoka. The latter, while patronising Buddhism, laid absolute emphasis on the ethical aspects of Buddha’s religion. Harsha, by championing the Mahayana Buddhism, laid emphasis on the worship of the image of Buddha. As Puranic Hinduism also accepted Buddha as an incarnation of Vishnu, there was no novelty in the royal patronage of a decadent faith in India, even if it was in full vigour outside.


The Kanyakubja Assembly was followed by another spectacular assembly at Prayag in the same year. While the Kanyakubja Assembly was a religious assembly to highlight Mahayanism, the Prayag Assembly was an assembly of universal character for offerings of royal charities to all classes of people. It was known as the Maha Moksha Parishad. Harsha was at his best in the Prayag Assembly as a generous monarch and an admirer of all the major faiths of his country.

On the first day of the Prayag Assembly, an image of Buddha was worshipped amidst distribution of valuables. On the second day was worshipped the image of Surya. And, on the third day, the image of Shiva was worshipped. The Prayag Assembly finally closed after 75 days.

Soon after the Prayag Assembly, Hieuen Tsang left for home, and travelling through long distances, finally reached China in 645 A.D. Within the next two years, early in 647 A.D., Harsha Shiladitya died.


Kanyakubja post-Harsha ( 650 AD – 850 AD)

As Harsha’s empire gradually disintegrated after his death, the Gurjara-Pratiharas took control of most of Northern India and established the Pratihara Dynasty. Nagabhatta I, Nagabhatta II, Ramabhadra and Mihir Bhoja ruled in succession in the powerful Pratihara clan with Kanyakubja continuing to be the capital of their empire. They even proclaimed themselves with the title of ‘Maharajadhiraja of Aryavarta’ (Great King of Kings of India), having secured the major portion of Northern India under their control.

The Pratiharas were staunch Hindu kings and with the decline of Buddhism in the heartland of India after King Harsha’s demise, Brahminical Hinduism took centre stage as the predominant religious faith both for the state and its subjects. Kanyakubja and its clan of the ‘Kanyakubja Brahmins’ therefore continued to enjoy their status of prominence and importance during the next four centuries under the Pratihara and Bhoja kings.

However, gradually over time in the post-Harsha period, the city’s ancient name of ‘Kanyakubja’ gradually metamorphosed into the much-colloquial name ‘Kannauj’. How it exactly happened is not documented anywhere, but it is logical to assume that the shortening and rephrasing of the name would have been more due to localised and conversational influences.

The Pratiharas did not have a very peaceful reign as there were regular skirmishes with the neighbouring kings either to defend or extend the territories. Kannauj continued to be at the centre of a tripartite power struggle between the Pratiharas, the Rashtakutas of the South and the Palas of the East.



Coming Soon …. Part 5

In the next article, we shall detail more on the chequered path of war-torn Kannauj under the Pratihara and Bhoja kings till the Muslim conquests and destruction of the city in 1018 AD and beyond, an event which also forced a mass exodus of the Kanyakubja Brahmins to flee the city to escape death and the destruction of their Vedic scriptures and centres of learning.


[credit for this blog-post content goes to S. Priyadarshini, for her article on ‘2 Memorable Assemblies of Harsha’ in HistoryDiscussion.net, extracts of which have been reproduced here]

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