Maurya to Gupta Empire

Chandragupta Maurya, an exiled member of the royal family of Magadha, a kingdom established on the bank of river Ganges since 700 BC, captured Punjab with his allies after the death of Alexander. Later on he formed the Mauryan Empire by overthrowing the ing of Magadha in 321 BC. After 24 years of kingship, his son Bindusara succeeded Chandragupta who also added Deccan to the Mauryan rule.

Ashoka, son of Bindusra, has appeared as one of the greatest rulers of the world known till date. He ruled a very vast empire and he also tried to rule it compassionately. Afterwards the loss of thousands of lives during the conquest of Kalinga, Ashoka  decided to rule his vast Empire by the law of piety. He built Buddhist monasteries for the purpose to spread Buddhism throughout and outside the Sub-continent. He also sent missionaries to the other lands to spread the religion.

Around 195 BC, the Kabul River Valley was conquered by Demetrius, the Greek king of Bactria. The Greeks rebuilt Taxila and Pushkalavati and declared them as their twin capital cities in Gandhara. In 75 BC the Scythians, Iranian nomads from central Asia succeeded these lands and they were further followed by powerful Parthians in 50BC, from east of the Caspian sea.

In 53 BC the northern area of Pakistan became under the rule of Parhtians after they defeated the Greeks. During the era of economic prosperity and trade of Parthians, they promoted religion and art. The development of the Gandhara School of art took place which clearly reflects the glory of Persian, Indian, Syrian and Greek traditions of art.

Kujula, the Kushana king, a ruler of nomad tribes from central Asia took control of Gandhara when he overthrew the Parhtians around 64 AD. The Kushans extended their rule further into the Bay of Bengal and the northwest India, in south they went till Bahawalpur and short of Gujrat, in north they entered till Kashgar and Yarkand, inside the Chinese frontier. Purushapura (The city of Flowers), today it is known as Peshawar was the winter Capital of their Empire and north of Kabul was the summer capital.

Kanishka, one of the greatest ruler of the Kushans Empire, who ruled in between years 121-151. Trade with Romans flourished during his rule. They used to trade in gold for perfumes, jewelry, spice, dyes and textiles. There was great progress at his time in literature and medicine. A vast number of stupas and monasteries for Buddhists were built and the most famous and best sculptures were produced in the Gandhara School of art. Due to his unending expansionist pursuits, he was killed by his own people while he was sleeping.

The Kushans Empire was seized from both the sides. In north the Sassanian Empire from Persia eroded their rule, while the Gupta Empire took its hold in the south. Due to the decline of prosperity and trade in the 4^th century, Kushans Empire was reduced down to Kidar (Little) Kushans dynasty. The capital was now at Peshawar.

During the 5^th century, Gandhara was once again invaded by the White Huns; originally they were horse-riding nomads from China, who came from Central Asia. Buddhism started to disappear from the northern Pakistan due to the declining prosperity and the sun and fire worshiping Huns ruling the area. The Gandhara School of art lost its glory with the decline of the rule.

Huns were defeated by Sassanians and Turks in the year 565. Most of the area was left to be ruled by small Hindu kingdoms, while the Turki Shahi rulers were the major people who were controlling this whole land from Gandhara till Afghanistan. The raja of Kashmir as ruling northern Punjab with areas east to the Indus. As the most of people were converting towards the Brahman Hindus, the decline of Buddhism continued.

The Central Asian Hindu Shahis overthrew the Turki Shahis and ruled this land from the year 870 till 1008. The capital of their Empire was established at Hund on the Indus. They extended their rule from Jalalabad in Afghanistan to Multan and they covered as far in the north as Kashmir.

Reference: http://storyofpakistan.com/ancient-empires-of-the-sub-continent/

Author: Waqas Ali

waqas_ali_90@hotmail.com

Ancient Empires of the Sub Continent

Soan valley near Rawalpindi has been the part of earliest relics of Stone Age man which is dated back to nearly 50,000 years. It has been an agricultural region; the people learned to domesticate animals and also used to cultivate crops about 9000 years ago. The Farming villages have been excavated in Baluchistan, Punjab and the North West Frontier Province dating back to 6000 BC.

Indus Valley Civilization is considered to be evolved around 2600BC. It was built on the remains of towns near to Kot Diji. Now it is believed that this civilization was emerged from the farming communities. Indus Valley Civilization further immense historical cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. The towns were very well planned; there were wide main roads, watchtowers, assembly halls, multistoried houses and food warehouses. People of these towns developed an advanced script that no one has been able to understand till date. The decline of Indus Civilization was around 1700BC due to the foreign invaders, they violently destroyed the cities at some sites. But the exact reasons of the decline of this civilization are unknown to the researchers and historians

Around 1700 BC, the rough cattle breeders from Central Asia came to seek the grass land for their herds, named as Aryans. They developed their religion with gods identified from the elements of nature. They had a strict cast system which later on became Hinduism. The first book of Hindu scripture was written by Aryans named as Rig Veda. It was a collection of hymns (Religious songs) that was remembered through several generations. Some anthropologists believe that the coming of Aryans to this region is a myth because there is no strong evidence.

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People of the region were strongly dissatisfied with the Hindu cast system. In sixth century BC, Buddha, son of a Kashtriya king preached about equality among humans. Teachings of Buddha were quickly accepted n the whole northern part of the subcontinent. Gandhara, the eastern province of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia became a major power in the region at the same time.  The two cities of this province named as Pushkalavati (Present day Charsadda) and the capital Taxila, they were the center of civilization and culture.

In 327 BC Alexander the Great Invaded sub continent. He conquered the Kalash calley by crossing the Indus river at Ohind, which is sixteen miles north of Attock. Afterwards he defeated the elephant army of Porus at Jhelum, moved forward towards Ganges plain. However, he was forced to sail back home when the war-ewary troop-s of his army refused to move forward. While fighting the Mollai people at Multan he received a serious wound on his way back, finally took its toll. His conquest was left among his officers when Alexander died in 323 BC.

Reference: http://storyofpakistan.com/ancient-empires-of-the-sub-continent/

Author: Waqas Ali

waqas_ali_90@hotmail.com