topics: |  india | ancient | history

Excerpts

The concentration on dynastic histories in the early studies was also due to
the assumption that in 'Oriental' societies the power of the ruler was
supreme even in the day to day functioning of the government. Yet authority
for routine functions was rarely concentrated at the centre in the Indian
political systems. The unique feature of Indian society - the caste system
... localized many of the functions which woould normally be associated with
a truly 'oriental despotism'.  The understanding of the functioning of power
in India lies in analyses of the caste and sub-caste relationships and of
institutions such as the guilds and village councils, and not merely in the
survey of dynastic power. - p.19

The study of institutions did not receive much emphasis in part due to the
belief that they did not undergo much change: an idea which also fostered the
theory that Indian culture has been a static, unchanging culture for many
centuries, largely owing to the lethargy of the Indian and his gloomy,
fatalistic attitude to life. ... Even a superficial analysis of the changing
social relationships within the caste structure, or the agrarian systems, or
the vigorous mercantile activities of Indians throughout the centuries ,
points to anything but a static socio-economic pattern. - p.19-20

The vast northern Indo-Gangetic plain lent itself more easily to the
emergence of large unitary kingdoms. The southern half of the sub-continent,
the peninsula, was cut up into smaller regions by mountains, plateaux, and
river valleys - the changing topography permitting of less political
uniformity than the northern plain. In an age of empires as was the
nineteenth and early twentieth cenury, the larger kingdoms of the north
attracted the attention of historians.  Periods when large kingdoms
flourished became the 'Golden Age' and those which saw the growth of smaller
regional states became the 'Dark Ages'.  - p.21

[KNOWLEDGE IS NOT ENOUGH - Jainism] Purification is not achieved through
knowledge, as some of the Upanishadic teachers taught, knowledge being a
relative quality.  This is explained by the famous story of the six blind
men, each touching a different part of an elephant and insisting that what
they touched was not an elephant but a rope, a snake, a tree trunk, and so
on. Each man sees only a fraction of true knowledge, which makes knowledge
unreliable for salvation. - p.65

The state directly employed some of the artisans such as armourers,
shipbuilders, etc., who were exempt from tax, but others who worked in state
workshops, as for example the spinning and weaving shops and the state mines,
were liable to tax. The rest worked either individually or, as was most often
the case, as members of a guild. The guilds were large and complex in
structure... A tax was levied on all manufactured articles and the date was
stamped on them so that consumers could distinguish between old goods and
new. ...
[INTEREST RATES] There was no banking system but usury was
customary. Fifteen per cent per annum was the recognized rate of
interest on borrowed money. However, in less secure transactions
involving long sea voyages, the rate could be as high as sixty per
cent.  [Maurya period, 300-200 B.C. - p.78]

[COMMERCE VS STATE] Vaishyas, though technically dvijas, did not benefit
recognizably from their privileged position, since they were socially
excluded by the first two castes. Yet the vaishyas by now were economically
powerful, since commerce was in their hands... Guild leaders in urban centers
had the factual control of urban institutions, yet the social code denied
them the position of prestige to which they felt entitled. A partial
expression of their resentment was their support for the heterodox sects,
Buddhism in particular. - p.79-82

[GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS PAY SCALES] The higher officials were extremely well
paid... The chief minister, the purohita, and the army commander received
48,000 panas, the treasurer and the chief collector 24,000 panas; [ministers
- 12,000, accountants and clerks - 500, and artisans 120 panas. The ratio of
he highest-to-lowest is 400:1.] - p.83

A fundamental aspect of Maurya administration was the espionage system.  The
Arthashastra advocates the frequent use of spies, and recommends that they
should work in the guise of recluses, householders, merchants, ascetics,
students, mendicant women, and prostitutes. - p.84

[Ashoka, rock edict XII]: "The essential advancement of all sects [depends
on] the control of one's speech, so as not to extol one's own sect or
disparage that of another on unsuitable occasions. ... Concord is to be
commended so that men may hear one another's principles." One suspects that
the emperor almost had a fear of people becoming impassioned over differences
of opinion.  p.87

On the roads I have had banyan trees planted, which will give shade to beasts
and men. - Ashoka, Pillar edict VII, p.88

"For a long time past it has not happened that business has been
dispatched and that reports have been received at all hours. Now by me
this arrangement has been made that all hours and in all places --
whether I am dining, or in the ladies' apartments, in my bedroom, or in
my closet, in my carriage, or in the palace gardens -- the official
Reporters should report to me on the people's business, and I am ready
to do the people's business in all places."
	- [Un-cited Ashokan record, RC Mazumdar, Ancient India, p. 113]

Recruitment and administrative power remained within the same social group
and was localized, which also meant that local cliques could dominate local
administration. ... If the Mauryans had adopted a system [similar to the
Chinese examination system] their administrative structure might have enabled
them to survive longer. - p.90

The best remembered of the Indo-Greek kings was undoubtedly Menander, who, as
Milinda, attained fame in he Buddhist text Milinda-panho - the questions of
King Milinda - a catechismal disussion on Buddhism, supposedly conducted by
Menander and the Buddhist philosopher Nagasena, resulting in Menander's
conversion to Buddhism. [NW provinces and Punjab upto the Ravi, may have
attacked the Shungas in the Yamuna region, if not Pataliputra itself. Ruled
155-130 B.C. - p.94]

Shakas = Scythians, from Central Asia, near Aral Sea. Were driven out
	by the Yueh-Chi
Yueh-Chi = Nomadic North Chinese tribe, prevented from attacking China
	in third C. B.C. by the great Chinese Wall built by Shi Huang
	Ti. They divided into two groups, Little Yueh-chi settling in
	Tibet, and the Great Yueh-chi displacing the Scythians who
	moved into Bactria, Parthia, and India, eventually to be
	followed by the Yueh-Chi as well, who formed the Kusana dynasty,
	which included Kanishka.
		- p.95-96

TRADE ROUTES, p.105-107:

The whole of India was now crossed by trade routes, some of which continued
further into central Asia and western Asia. They tended to follow the
highways and the river valleys. Rivers were not bridged but ferries were
common. Travels were restricted to the dry summers and winters, the rainy
season being a period of rest. ... There is an interesting passage in the
Arthashastra comparing the advantages of land and water routes. Although sea
travel is cheaper, the danger of pirates and the cost of losing ships to them
makes it expensive. A coastal route is obviously safer for trade. Kautilya
advises that the south roads running through the mining areas shuold be
taken, as these traversed heavily populated regions and were therefore
safer. [Buddhist sources refer to roads from Shravasti to Rajgriha, Shravasti
to Pratishthana, (the Satavahana capital, modern Paithan on the Godavari east
of Nasik)] ... The port of Bharukachchha (modern Broach) continued to be the
main port for the western sea trade as it had been in earlier centuries when
it was in communication with Baveru (Babylon). ...

The Mauryans had built a royal highway from Taxila to Pataliputra, a road
which was rebuilt, (approximating fairly closely to the original) throughout
the centuries and which today survives as the Grand Trunk Road. Pataliputra
was connected by road with Tamluk in the Ganges delta, the chief port for
[the east]. ...

The most widely used highway westwards was from Taxila to Kabul, from where
roads branched off [to the north] via Bactria, the Oxus, the Caspian Sea, and
the Caucacus to the Black Sea. A more southerly route went from Kandahar and
Herat to Ectabana (later Hamadan) and from thee it was linked to the ports on
the eastern Mediterranean. Another important highway connected Kandahar with
Persepolis and Susa. Even further south was the road via the Persian Gulf and
the Tigris to Seleucia.

Eastern Afghanistan was regarded politically and culturally as a part of
north-western India. [the Old Silk Road] Indian traders were establishing
trading stations and merchant colonies in places such as Kashgar, Yarkand,
Khotan, Miran, Kuchi, Qara-shahr, and Turfan...  p.106-107

the guild could act as banker, financier, and trustee as well. Generally
however, these functions were carried out by a different category of
merchants, known as sreshthins or financiers, the descendants of whom are the
present day seths of northern India and the chettis or chetttiyars of south
India. -p.112

The southern kingdoms were familiar with large-scale maritime trade and their
literature refers to harbours, docks, lighthouses, custom offices - p.113

Certain aspects of the life of Christ (the supernatural birth and the
temptation by the Devil) are so closely parallel to events in the legends of
Buddha that it is difficult to avoid suspecting some indirect borrowing. -
p.118

[Chinese goods in India, 200 B.C.] bamboo, kichaka, which is related to the
Chinese ki-chok -p.120

Apart from their role in the economy, the guilds provided education as well,
though not 'formal' education, which remained in the hands of the brahmans
and the monks. The guilds, by restricing membership to artisans of a
particular craft, were centres for technical education.  Knowledge of mining,
metallurgy, weaving, dyeing, carpentry, etc. was maintained and improved upon
by the relevant guild. The spectacular progress achieved in this way is
visible in the coins which have survived, in the pillars of the Mauryan and
later periods when stone cutting and polishing reached a stage of perfection,
and even in something as simple as the northern black polished ware, which
defies reproduction. Engineering skill in building of dams and irrigation
tanks is evident from the remains of these and from the inscriptions relating
to them. Geometry began as a practical aid in the building of altars and
sacrificial structures but slowly came to be applied to more complex
architecture. ... Medical encyclopedias and pharmacopeas were composed at
this time, the most famous being that of Charaka, a contemporary of the king
Kanishka, and another of a slightly later date, that of Sushruta. Evidently,
Indian herbal knowledge had reached the western world, since the Greek
botanist Theophrastus gives details of the medicinal use of various plants
and herbs from India in his History of Plants. The systematic analysis of
language had had a large and devoted following culminating in the great work
of Panini on Sanskrit. Patanjali was the grammarian of this period whose
commentary, Mahabhashya, is not only an impressive study of syntax and the
evolution of words, but also provides, incidentally, useful material on the
history of the time.  - p.122-123, [200 B.C.-A.D. 300]

Brahmanism did not remain unchanged through all these centuries, nor was it
impervious to the effects of Buddhism and Jainism. Some of the Vedic gods had
quietly passed into oblivion and some were being reborn as new gods with
additional attributes. This was the time when the brahmanical religion
assumed features which today are recognized as Hinduism.  [p.132, [200
B.C.-A.D. 300]

[Vishnu] is believed to have manifested himself in nine incarnations so far,
the most recent being that of the Buddha, who was included when Buddhism
ceased being a formidable rival to Hinduism.  ... Shiva evolved from the
Vedic god Rudra and the Tamil god Murugan.  - p.132

Hinduism was not founded by a historical personage as a result of a
revelation: it is not a revealed religion but grew and evolved from a
variety of cults and beliefs which became associated with the more
sophisticated religion, a concession which the priests had to make to
popular worship. [p.132]
	[Note the similar exigencies in moving the Christmas day to the
	Winter Solstice (old Pagan festival), the retaining of the
	Kaaba in Islam, though the three goddesses were rejected, see
	S.Rushdie, The Satanic Verses]

[EVOLUTION OF RELIGION] Another shift in Hinduism was a gradual shift in
emphasis from ritual alone to the view that a completely personal
relationship between the God and the devotee was possible. ... Vedic
sacrifices were not entirely rejected; they still provided the ceremonial
content of occasions such as the coronation of kings, but people lost touch
with Vedic tradition, which increasingly had become the preserve of the
brahmans. The brahmans appropriated the Vedic texts and in their place people
acceptted the Epics, the Dharmashastras, and the Puranas as their religious
literature ... the Epics, which had been essentially bardic poetry, were now
given the sanctity of divine revelation. The Epics had originally been
secular and therefore had now to be revised by the brahmans with a view to
using them as religious literature; thus, many interpolations were made, the
most famous being the addition of the Bhagavad-Gita to the
Mahabharata. [p.133, 200 BC to AD 300]

[DECENTRALIZATION] Local administration was for all practical purpses
independent of the center. Decisions whether of policy or in relation to
individual situations were generally taken locally, unless [specifically
centralized]. ... This was the significant difference between the Mauryan
administration and that of the Guptas : whereas Ashoka insisted that he must
know of the doings of even the smaller officials in the districts, the Guptas
were satisfied with leaving it to the kumaramatyas (head of province = many
districts) and ayuktas (district head). Each city had a council ... the
difference between the council and the Committee [of the Mauryas] is that the
Mauryan government appointed the committees, whereas in the Gupta system the
council consisted of local representatives, on which, interestingly enough,
commercial interests predominated. [p.145]

Salaries were paid not in cash but in grants of land ... of two types.  One
was the agrahara grant which was restricted to brahmans and was tax
free. [The other] was those to secular officials either in lieu of salary or
as reward for services. ... Land grants weakened the authority of the
king. ... Water wheels used for irrigation had become a familiar part of the
landscape. [p.146]

[ANIMAL HUSBANDRY] It is strange that India never bred sufficient
horses of quality, the best blood having always to be imported; this
was to have disastrous consequences on the cavalry ... particularly in
comparison with central Asian horsemen. [ p.149] [Percival Spear,
p. 24 - Battle of Panipat 1525, and Babur's battle near Agra 1527 with
Rajputs under Rana Sanga] the Rajputs had no answer to the wheeling
tactics of the Mughal cavalry.

	[The lack of breeding in cows is also notable despite having
	such an extensive dependence on the cow for so many centuries.
	It is worth investigating if there were specific taboos on the
	breeding of cows in particular, or did it simply not occur to
	the farmers?  The lack of breeding in the primary domestic
	animal would have transferred to the lack of breeding in other
	animals like the horse and the dog. The lack of an appropriate
	animal breeding technology had wider ramifications in many areas
	such as the inadequate dairy industry, cavalry warfare, etc.
	Romila Thapar's footnote that "The only likely explanation for
	this is that climatic conditions and the particular type of
	pasture suitable for breeding horses did not exist in India"
	may not be tenable. What is more likely is that economic
	pressures pushed land towards active cultivation vis a vis
	pasture since the restrictions on meat eating (in force by
	now?) lowered the economic value of animal husbandry. This is
	in contrast to the open steppes of Central Asia, say. Also, the
	lack of formalized guild like centers for agricultural
	innovation and training would have made it difficult for such
	technology to propagate.]

[INTEREST RATES] The fantastically high rates demanded during the Mauryan
period on loans to be used for overseas trade [240%] were no longer demanded,
indicating an increased confidence in [shipping]. The average rate was now
twenty percent per annum. [p.148]. Indian ships going to south-east Asia have
been described as 'square-rigged, two masted vessels with raked stem and
stern, both sharp without bowsprit and rudder, and steered by two quarter
paddles'. ... Indian contacts with the east African coast date to a period in
prehistory and by now this contact had developed through trade. ... There
appears to have been a lively interest in navigation and trade at this time
in India. Yet the law-makers were declaring it a great sin for a Hindu to
travel by sea, to cross the black waters, and this may have reduced Indian
participation in maritime trade. ... contamination with the melecchha ... It
was difficult to observe caste rules abroad. The ban had an additional
indirect advantage for the brahman that it curbed the economic power of the
trading community.  [p.150]

[SEX] The Kamasutra is a remarkable document ... it discusses and analyses
the whole question of love with a precision and lucidity surprisingly similar
to that of modern works on the subject. The courtesan was a normal feature of
urban life, neither romanticized nor treated with contempt. Judging by the
training given to a courtesan as described in the Kamasutra, it was amongst
the more demanding professions, for she was often called upon to be a
cultured companion like the geisha of Japan or the hetaera of Greece. [p.151]

Certain features emerged during this period which became characteristic of
the status of women in later centuries. Early marriages were advocated, often
even pre-puberty marriages. It was also suggested that a widow should not
only live in strict celibacy, but preferably should ... become a
sati. [p.152]

Contrary to Fa Hsien's statement that vegetarianism was customary in India,
meat was commonly eaten. [p.152]

---

The joint family system, which became an essential feature of Hindu caste
society, was prevalent at the time. Fathers and sons had equal ownership in
ancestral property and the sons had equal ownership in the property of the
father. [p.153]

Katyayana describes the judicial process at length. Evidence was based on
... three sources, documents, witnesses, or the possession of incriminating
objects. Ordeal as a means of proof was not only permitted but used. [p.154]

[UNIVERSITIES] Buddhist monasteries took students for only ten years, but
those wishing to be ordained as monks had to remain for a longer
period. Nalanda near Patna grew to be the foremost Buddhist monastery and
educational center in the north... was supported by the income from a number
of villages which the monastery acquired over the years through
donations. These villages and estates covered the expenses of the university,
which was thus able to provide free educational facilities and residence for
most students. [p.154]

Metallurgy

 Knowledge of metals had improved tremendously and it is
unfortunate that more objects have not survived from this period. The most
spectacular survival is the iron pillar at Delhi, just over twenty-three feet
high, scarcely rusted. ... The more technical and specialized knowledge
remained in the hands of the guilds where the sons of craftsmen were trained
in the hereditary trade. These centers had little contact with brahmanical
institutions and Buddhist monasteries. The study of mathematics was an
exception and provided a bridge between the two types of education, and not
surprisingly this was an intensely active period in
mathematics. ... Aryabhata calculated PI to 3.1416 and the length of the
solar year to 365.3586805 days, both remarkably close to recent estimates. He
believed the earth was a sphere and rotated on its axis, and that the shadow
of the earth falling on the moon caused eclipses. [opposed by the
orthodox]. [p.155] Manuals on the construction of stone temples were written
giving minute details of construction, and these were followed. [p.157]

Poetry and prose in Sanskrit were encouraged on a lavish scale through royal
patronage. [Kalidasa in the court of Chandragupta II]. A notable feature in
the Sanskrit plays of this period is that the characters of high social
standing speak Sanskrit, whereas those of low social status and all the women
speak Prakrit. [p.156-7]

[IDOLATRY - origins in Buddhism] The depiction of the Buddha in human form
led to the portrayal of the more important Hindu gods and goddesses in the
same manner. The Hindus, however, treated the image as a symbol and not as
representational: thus, although god took human form, he may well have been
given four or eight arms, each arm carrying a symbol of an attribute
connected specifically with that particular god. [p. 158]

[BUDDHISM - EVOLUTION] The fifth century saw the coming of a new and curious
cult which began with the worship of female deities, associated with the
fertility cult; they then became the nucleus of magical rites which in a
later form are called Tantricism. Buddhism was influenced by Tantric rites,
and in the seventh century AD a new branch of Buddhism emerged with its
center in eastern India called Vajrayana (Thunderbolt Vehicle) Buddhism. The
Vajrayana Buddhism gave female counterparts to the existing male figures of
the Buddhist pantheon, and these counterparts were named Taras (or
Saviouresses). The cult of Taras remains prevalent in Nepal and Tibet.
... Tantric beliefs also made an impression on Hindu worship as well and in
Hinduism there developed the Shakti cults, with their basic belief that the
male can be activated only by being united with the female. The gods
therefore acquired wives and the wives were worshipped in their own right;
for example, Lakshmi, the wife of Vishnu, and Parvati, Kali, and Durga, the
various manifestations of the wife of Shiva. This cult appears to have been
based on the persistent worship of the mother goddess, which has remained an
enduring feature of religion in India.  Since this could not be suppressed it
was given a priestly blessing and incorporated into the regular ritual in the
guise of the Shakti cult.  [p.160-1] That the imposition of the Aryan
patterns on levels of society other than than those of the upper castes was
uncertain and incomplete ... is indicated by ... repeated concessions were
made to popular cults; or by the fact that Shaivism, in its aspect of lingam
worship, was in origin non-Aryan. [166]

The Puranas as we know it were composed during this time. ... They were
originally composed by bards, but now, having come into priestly hands, they
were re-written in classical Sanskrit, and information on Hindu sects, rites,
and customs was added in order to make them into sacrosanct Hindu
documents. [AD 300-700, p.163]

The Indian impact [on South-East Asia] is understandable in terms of a more
advanced civilization meeting a less advanced one, with the elite of the
latter moulding themselves on the pattern of the former... The Thai court at
Bangkok employs, to this day, brahmans from India for all court ceremonies,
and the brahmans are maintained in comfort in Bangkok.  [Reminescent of the
chants in The King and I, p. 165]

On the west coast, the initiative in the trade with the occident was
gradually passing into the hands of the foreign traders settled along the
coast, mainly the Arabs. Indian traders were becoming suppliers of goods
rather than carriers ... communication with the west became indirect, via the
Arabs, and limited to trade alone. [500-900 AD, p.180]

Hindu COLLEGES (ghatikas) were generally attached to the temples. Entry to
these colleges was at first open to any 'twice-born' Hindu. Gradually
however, they became exclusively brahman institutions and confined themselves
to advanced study. Apart from the university at Kanchi, which acquired fame
equal to that of Nalanda, there were a number of other Sanskrit
colleges. ... The Enniriyam temple college provided free education to 340
students and had ten teaching departments. [p.181] Courses in the colleges
were organized in a systematic manner demanding regular attendance and
instruction. ... Had Tamil been encouraged to a greater extent in the centres
of higher education it would have assisted in producing a far more vigorous
intellectual tradition.  [AD 900-1300, p.213]

[SANSKRIT LITERATURE] There was a tendency however, to conscious literary
labouring which was carried to an extreme in another work of Dandin's, a
poem, which ... could be read both forwards (Ramayana) and in reverse
(Mahabharata). [p.180]

Tamil devotionalism achieved a great wave of popularity in the sixth and
seventh centuries A.D. ... the devotional aspect was formulated in a
relationship between God and man based on love... The vedic gods were either
denied or ignored, the emphasis being not on the object of worship but on the
relationship... Manikkavasagar explains in his hymn: "Indra or Vishnu or
Brahma / Their divine bliss crave not I / I seek the love of my saints /
Though my house perish thereby. " [p.186-7]
Although never so recognized by the brahmans, the Tamil devotional cult was
in part a resistance to the Aryanization of the region. The brahmans enjoyed
royal patronage, but the cult was widely supported by ordinary people,
although, in later centuries, when the established order had arrived at a
comprpmise with it, royal patronage was frequently extended to the
cult. [p.188]

Bharatanatyam - the dance according to the choreographical rules of Bharata
as explained in his text, Natya-shastra. [p.189]

An inscription from the temple wall at Uttareamerur (a village of brahmans)
gives details of how the local sabha functioned ...  "...  select each person
possessing the following qualification for inclusion for selection by lot:
[own 1/4th the land, live in house on it, age in (35,70), know the mantras]
... [except] One who has been on any of the committees for the last three
years ... One who has been on any of the committees but has not submitted his
accounts, and his relations [sons of siblings of mother, sister of father;
etc long list]... These tickets [with names] shall be put into a pot ... any
young boy standing close who does not know what is inside ... one ticket
shall be drawn ...  the arbitrator shall receive it on the palm of his hand
with five fingers open... [p.202-203]

Devadasis (female slaves of the gods) were commonly found in most temples in
Chola times. They were in origin a special and venerated grooup of women
attendants some of whom, like the Vestal Virgins of Rome, were dedicated to
the temple at birth or when quite young. ...  eventually in many temples the
devadasis degenerated into shamefully exploited prostitutes, their earnings
being collected by the temple authorities. [p.211]

Unlike the north Indian brahman landowners, the southern brahmans were more
adventurous and invested their surplus income in commerce. ... Some even
journeyed to South-East Asia where they settled down in spite of the ban on
crossing the ocean. [p.211-12]

The Lingayata or Virashaiva sect which emerged in the twelfth century with
characteristics of a reform movement... The founder Basavaraja, an apostate
Jaina, had a certain cynical strain which lent sharpness to the point he
wished to make.
    The lamb brought to the slaughter-house eats the leaf garland with which
    it is decorated ... the frog caught in the mouth of the snake desires to
    swallow the fly flying near its mouth. So is our life. The man condemned
    to die eats milk and ghee. ... When they see a serpent caged in stone
    they pour milk on it: if a real serpent comes they say, Kill. Kill. To
    the servant of God who could eat if served they say, Go away, Go away;
    but to the image of God which cannot eat they offer dishes of food.
         [p.216, quote from Sources of Indian Tradition, ed. Th. M. Bary]

Ramanuja disagreed with Shankara's theory that knowledge was the primary
means of salvation. According to Ramanuja it was merely one of the means and
was not nearly as effective or reliable as pure devotion, giving oneself up
entirely to God. ... it was essentially a personal relationship based on
Love. The emphasis on the indifidual in this relationship carried almost a
protestant flavour. [p.217] Ramanuja, whilst accepting special privileges for
the higher castes, was nevertheless opposed to the excluding of shudras from
worship in the temple. He pleaded for the throwing open of temples to
shudras, but without much success. ... Although the temples were not opened
to the shudras, the deities and rituals of a vast number of subsidiary cults
crept into the temple. [p.218]

It was in Bronze sculptures that the Chola craftsman excelled, producing
images rivalling those produced anywhere in the world. They were mainly
images of deities, donors, saints, made by the cire perdu [lost wax]
process... [p.219] 

Much of Kamarupa was conquered in 1253 by the Ahoms, a Shan people who came
from the mountains to the south-east of Assam. It was they who finally gave
the place its name. [p.226]

Somnat - a celebrated city of India situated on the shore of the sea... Among
the wonders of that place was the temple in which was place the idol called
Somnat. This idol was in the middle of the temple without anything to support
it from below, or to suspend it from above ... and whoever beheld it floating
in the air was strucck with amazement.... December A.D. 1025 The number of
slain exceeded 50,000. ... The value of the things found in the temple and of
the idols exceeded twenty thousand dinars. ... The king directed a person to
feel all around and above and below [the idol] with a spear, which he did but
met with no obstacle. One of the attendants then stated his opinion that the
canopy was made of lodestone, and the idol of iron, and that the ingenious
builder had skilfully contrived that the magnet should not exercise a greater
force on any one side ... When two stones were removed from the summit, the
idol swerved on one side, when more were taken away it inclined still
further, until at last it rested on the ground.
	[p.233 quote from Al-Kazwini, tr. Eliot and Dowson, "The
	history of India as told by its own historians, v.1]

   The Indians believe that there is no country but theirs, no nation like
   theirs, no king like theirs, no religion like theirs, no science like
   theirs ... they are by nature niggardly in communicating what they know,
   and they take the greatest possible care to withhold it from men of
   another caste from among their own people, still more of course from the
   foreigner. [- Al-Beruni, from Tahqiq-i-Hind, quoted p.239]

Caste considerations in the matter of money-lending appear by now to have
been regularized, the brahman being charged two percent and the shudra five
percent or more on the same capital. [p.251]

A number of the new sub-castes were associated with technical professions, as
for instance those requiring surgical, medical, or mathematical
knowledge. The brahminical writings of this period attacked professions where
technical knowledge was essential.  Medhatithi regards handicrafts as low
occupations. According to contemporary commentaries on Manu, mechanical work
was a minor sin, and this category of work included the construction of
bridges and embankments to control the flow of water. Perhaps those in
authority were conscious of the power of technical knowledge. [p.253,
800-1200AD]

Krishna, meaning dark, has led to his being associated with the flute-playing
Tamil god Mayon, the dark one, the herdsman who spent many hours in the
company of milkmaids, which is what the cowherd of Mathura is associated with
in the northern tradition. It is believed that the Abhiras, a pastoral tribe
of the peninsula, brought this god with them when they travelled north and
settled in central and western India. The cult became popular in the region
of Mathura, from where it spread rapidly to other parts of northern
India. [p.260 800-1200AD]

... new gods emerged. Ganesha or Ganapati, the elephant-headed god,
worshipped in village shrines as he is to this day, rose to popularity. In
origin a god who could take on the shape of a beast, (and perhaps a totem
god), a respectable parentage was attributed to him by the brahmans who now
described him as the son of Shiva and Parvati. [p.263, 800-1200 AD]

[BUDDHISM ROUTED BY ISLAM] Buddhism and Islam, both being institutionalized,
proselytizing religions, attracted the same potential following. This led to
a strong antagonism between the two and the attacks on the monasteries
resulted in an exodus of Buddhists from eastern India to south-east
Asia. Islam found its largest following in previously Buddhist areas of
India, the northwest and the east. [p.264]

Sultana Raziya was a great monarch. She was wise, just, generous...  She was
endowed with all the qualities befitting a king, but she was not born of the
right sex, and so, in the estimation of men, all these virtues were
worthless.
	[p.269. ruled from 1230's-1265 A.D., between Iltutmish and Balban.
	 quote from contemporary historian, Siraj]

[MUSLIM CASTEISM] Although, theoretically, caste was not accepted by Islamic
society, it was by no means ignored in Muslim social life. The development of
Muslim castes began with an ethnic distinction.  Families of foreign
extraction, such as the descendants of Arabs, Turks, Afghans and Persians,
formed the highest caste and wre later called Ashraf (Ashraf in Arabic means
'honourable').  Next in order of status came the upper-caste Hindu converts,
such as the Muslim Rajputs. Occupational castes formed the two final castes
and were divided into 'clean' and 'unclean' castes. [p.300-1]

CHRONOLOGY:
Harappa: 3000 - 1500 BC
Ashoka: 3d c. BC (BC 268-31; empire vaster than the Mughals; centralized)
Kanishka: 1st c. AD (Accession: 78 AD, Shaka era)
Samudragupta: 335 AD accession
Harsha: 606-47
Chola: 1000 AD (Rajendra Chola)
Mahmud of Ghazni: 997-1030 (annual raids, Somnath Temple December 1025)
Muhammad Ghuri: 12th c. AD (defeats Prithviraj Chauhan 1192)

Rg Veda: 1500 - 1000 BC
Upanishads : started 700 BC
Buddha/Mahavira: 5th c. BC (Buddha died 486 BC, Mahavira c.468)
St Thomas? : 50 AD [Malabar to Madras, Syrian Church in Kerala]
Kalidasa: c.400 AD (Chandragupta II's court); Panchatantra c.500
Aryabhata: born 476 AD
VajrAyana buddhism - 700 AD tArA feminine figures; tAntrism
Shankaracharya: c.800 [knowledge as path to God]
Ramanuja: c. 1050     [individual devotion, start of bhakti movt]
Kabir/Nanak/Chaitanya: 15th c. (1440/69//85 - 1518/39/33)

Megasthenes: c.315 BC (Maurya court)
Fa Hsien: 405-411 AD
Hsuen Tsang: 630-44 (Kanauj, Nalanda)
Alberuni: 1030 (NW)
Marco Polo: 1288,93 (S. India)
Ibn Batuta: c. 1333-46 ["For a time he worked as a judge for the
	Sultan, after which he was sent on a mission to China. Life
	came to him in exciting instalments involving bandits,
	shipwrecks, high office, and innumerable wives." p.268]

[ ---- www.itihaas.com:
2700 BC   Harappa Civilisation
1000 BC   Aryans expand into the Ganga valley
900 BC    Mahabharata War
800 BC    Aryans expand into Bengal; Beginning of the Epic Age:
         	Mahabharata composed, first version of Ramayana
550 BC    Composition of the Upanishads
544 BC    Buddha's Nirvana
327 BC    Alexander's Invasion
325 BC    Alexander marches ahead
324 BC    Chandragupta Maurya defeats Seleacus Nicator
322 BC    Rise of the Mauryas; Chandragupta establishes first Indian Empire
298 BC    Bindusara Coronated
272 BC    Ashoka begins reign ; Exclusive Interview with Ashoka
180 BC    Fall of the Mauryas ; Rise of the Sungas
145 BC    Chola king Erata conquers Ceylon
58 BC     Epoch of the Krita-Malava-Vikram Era
30 BC     Rise of the Satvahana Dynasty in the Deccan
40 AD     Sakas in power in Indus Valley and Western India
50 AD     The Kushans and Kanishkas
78 AD     Saka Era begins
320 AD    Chandragupta I establishes the Gupta dynasty
360 AD    Samudragupta conquers the North and most of the Deccan
380 AD    Chandragupta II comes to power; Golden Age of Gupta Literary Renaissance
405 AD    Fa-hein begins his travels through the Gupta Empire
415 AD    Accession of Kumara Gupta I
467 AD    Skanda Gupta assumes power
476 AD    Birth of astronomer Aryabhatta
606 AD    Accession of Harshavardhan Gupta
622 AD    Era of the Hejira begins
711 AD    Invasion of Sind by Muhammad Bin Qasim
892 AD    Rise of the Eastern Chalukyas
985 AD    The Chola Dynasty: Accession of Rajaraja, the Great
1001 AD   Defeat of Jaipal by Sultan Mahumd
]