A Comprehensive History of India
Lecture – 8
February 12, 2012
Buddhist Empires
End of the Ancient Age
Maharaj Mukherjee
© 2012 Maharaj Mukherjee
Recapitulation
• Where we left off: Golden Ages (0 – 400/500AD)
– Golden Ages of the Great Indian Thinkers
• Arya bhatta, Baraha mihir, Bharkara Acharya
• Kalidasa, Sudraka, Bisakha Dutta
• Advancements of the Saka Tribes
– The Kushan Dynasty
• Kanishka (the king with the headless statue)
• Started the Maha Yana Buddhism (god worshippers)
– The Gupta Dynasty
• Chandra Gupta – 1st, Samudra Gupta, Chandra Gupta –
2nd , Kumara Gupta
• End of the Golden Ages
– The Advancement of the Hun Tribes
© 2012 Maharaj Mukherjee
Map of India
NORTH
Himalayas
WEST
Bindhya
Arabian Sea
EAST
Bay of Bengal
SOUTH
Indian Ocean
© 2012 Maharaj Mukherjee
End of the Gupta Empire
(500 – 600 AD)
• Hun-s established several small kingdoms in the
North-Western part of India
• Rest of the India were divided into small
kingdoms
• The kingdoms used to fight with each other all
the time
–
–
–
–
Stopped trade and progress of art and culture
Travelling became difficult
People’s life was at danger
General chaos everywhere.
© 2012 Maharaj Mukherjee
The Buddhist Empires
600 – 800 AD
• Even after 1500 years after Buddha’s death
– India was still the center of Buddhism
– Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world came to
prominent places in India
– Buddhist scholars from all over the world came to
Indian universities to study
• Buddhist Empires
– Harsha’s Empire at Kanauj
– Pala Empire at Bengal
© 2012 Maharaj Mukherjee
Harsha’s Empire
• Harsha became king at
a very early age.
– After death of his brother
Rajya Vardhan
• He converted to
Buddhism
• He is known for his
great charity
– Used to donate his own
expensive clothes that
he was wearing and put
on a simple cloth from
his sister Rajyashree.
© 2012 Maharaj Mukherjee
Shashanka:
The first historical Emperor of Bengal
(590 – 626 AD)
• Ruled over almost whole of Bengal – Anga, Banga,
Kalinga
• Arch enemy of Harsha
– Killed Harsha’s brother Rajya in a war
– Also fought many wars with both Harsha on the West and
– Bhaskara the king of Kamrup on the East
• Established the common Bengali Era or Bangabda (???)
at 593 AD
– Currently 1418 Bangabda
• After the death of Shashanka, both Bhaskara and
Harsha conqured Bengal and divided the whole kingdom
between themselves
– This created another 100 years of chaos in Bengal (650 – 750
AD)
• This time is known as Matsanya – The rule of the fishes
© 2012 Maharaj Mukherjee
The Pala Empire
The last Buddhist Empire in India
750 – 900 AD
• The Pala empire
started in Bengal
– With kingdom in Gaur
• The word Gaur is
derived from the sugar
syrup or Gur.
– Main emperors of this
era:
• Gopala
• Dharma Pala
• Deva Pala
© 2012 Maharaj Mukherjee
Places of Buddhist Learnings
• Nalanda Maha Bihar (University)
– Become most prominent at the time of Harsha
• Vikram Shila Maha Bihar (University)
– Became most prominent at the time of
Dharma Pala
Vikram Shila
Nalanda
© 2012 Maharaj Mukherjee
Exchange of Learning between
India and Far East
• Hiuen Tsang from China visited Nalanda at the time of
Harsha
– Kept a long record of the customs and rules about the life of
Harsha
• Sreegan Atish Deepankar went to Tibet to spread
Buddhism in Tibet
– He was the head of the Vikram Shila Maha Vihar (University)
– Crossed the Himalayas to go to Tibet when he was 80.
Hieuen Tsang
Atish Dipankar
© 2012 Maharaj Mukherjee
Different Eras of History
• Pre historic Ages – Time before the recorded
history (15000 BC – 700 BC)
– Hunter Gatherer, Indus Valley, Aryans, Time of the
Epics
• Ancient Ages – Time of initial recorded history
(700 BC – 900 AD)
– We just finished studying the ancient ages
• Middle Ages – We will start from the next class
• Modern Ages – Time we are living in now
© 2012 Maharaj Mukherjee
© 2012 Maharaj Mukherjee