Eastern Indian Dynasties - Palas and Sena

Eastern Indian Dynasties - Palas and Sena

For 350 years Palas were rulers of Bihar and Bengal for next 100 years thereafter Sena's were rulers of Bihar and Bengal.

Palas Dynasty :

• It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal in the eastern region of the Indian subcontinent, all the rulers bearing names ending with the suffix Pala, which means protector. The Palas were often described by opponents as the Lords of Gauda.
• Gopala was the first ruler of the dynasty. He came to power in 750 in Gaur by a democratic election. This event is recognized as one of the first democratic elections in South Asia since the time of the Maha Janapadas. He reigned from 750-770 and consolidated his position by extending his control over all of the Bengal.
• These were the patronizers of Vajrayana Buddhism. These are the last rulers of India to patronize Buddhism. These ruler's propagated Buddhism in Tibet.
• One king `Dharmapala' - He built Vikramashila University', Bihar. This is a Vajrayana University.
• His son and successor `Devapala' was next king. He shifted the capital from Pataliputra to Monghyr - Nalanda copper plate inscription. The context says, "A Vihara at Nalanda was built by Balaputradeva (A Buddhist Indonesia King). For its maintenance, Devapala donated five villages to this Vihara.

• Monks (patronized by Palas) who propagated Vajrayanism in Tibet were    

         - Padmasambhava

         - Atisadeepankara

         - Shantarakshita

• The last king 'Madanapala' was assassinated by Kannadiga Senapati 'Vijayasena'. Then he founded Sena dynasty.

Sena Dynasty :

• The dynasty's founder was Hemanta Sen, who was part of the Pala dynasty until their empire began to weaken. He usurped power and styled himself king in 1095 AD.
• Capital was `Laknauti'

Lakshmana Sena:

• Very important and as well as last king of this dynasty was 'Lakshmana Sena'.
• A Vaishnava saint was in court called 'Jayadeva'. He wrote a Sanskrit book called 'Geetagovindam' (For Vaishnaivism this book is considered as authoritative).
• He was the last Hindu ruler of Bihar and Bengal.
• 1194 — Bhaktiyar Khilji (One of the officers of Md Ghori) marched into Laknauti and scored an easy victory because Lakshmana Sena didn't offer any resistance.
• Bhaktiyar Khilji after conquering he destroyed all the universities in Bihar(both Nalanda and Vikramashila). Not only destroyed but massacred the Buddhist monks taken shelter in those universities. This brought an end to Buddhism in India.This is often referred by Historians as a deathly blow to Buddhism and deems Khilji as the person who nailed the last into the Buddhist coffin. 
• By the end of 12th C Buddhism completely disappeared froth India. After Palas, no other kings in India patronized  Buddhism.

Related Posts: http://www.indianhistoryarticles.in/2016/04/chauhan-chahamana-and-gahadavala.html

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Economic System in Indus valley civilization

7. Economic System in Indus valley civilization

Economic System:

• Agrarian (Agricultural) Economy.
• These people got two crop seasons Rabi and Kharif In Rabi, Wheat, and Barley (Mostly food grains, the staple food) were produced and in Kharif Cotton, Mustard and others were produced. There are certain controversies in historians.

               - Rice available is either grown or flew?

               - Did they use plough?

               - Domestication of the horse?

       But recent excavations prove that all the three existed and they all existed but                 used only to very limitation.

• Only two cities were rice grain was found

                - Lothal, Gujarat (Rice grain was found)

                - Rangapur, Gujarat (Rice-husk was found)

• At every site a digging hoe was found but not plough; only at two sites plough was found.

               - Kali Bangal, Rajasthan (Furrows were discovered — a filed which is ploughed).

               - Banvali, Haryana (Banks of River Saraswati) (A terracotta / burnt clay replica of the plough was found).

• The horse was known to Indus people but it is domesticated on a limited basis.

               - Lothal, Gujarat ( A terracotta replica was found)

               - Surkotada, Gujarat ( Skeletal/original remains were found)

Industries:

• Textile industries both cotton & wool (At every site)
• Shipbuilding industries at Lothal.
• Jewellery/Ornaments [Indus Valley Civilization made jewellery largely using beads and shells]

              - Lothal, Gujarat

              - Chanhudaro

              - Dholavira (Beads of goldware found of very small size)

• Brick Industry
• Carpentry Industries
• Copper & Bronze Industries

Trade and Commerce:

• Indus Valley Civilization has both internal & international trade. The mode of transportation for internal trade was bullock cart and river boats majorly. International trade was regular with Mesopotamians. It is sea-borne trade and Lothal played an important role.
• Large no of seals were found in Mesopotamian civilizations and vice-versa. Mesopotamians used cylindrical seals.

              - 3 cylindrical seals were found at Mohenjodaro belonging to Mesopotamians.

              - The script used by Mesopotamians called as cuneiform.

              - An inscription dated 2200 BC was found and deciphered. It says Sindan (cotton) was imported from Meluha (India).

Related Posts: http://www.indianhistoryarticles.in/2016/04/vedic-aryan-civilization-1500-bc-600-bc.html

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Advent of Denmark and French(Part-2) - Second and Third Carnatic War

Advent of Denmark and French(Part-2) - Second and Third Carnatic War

Second Carnatic War

• This war was fought from 1749 to1756, almost for 7 years. This time, the root cause was indigenous reason i.e. the war of succession in two states of southern India. They are Carnatic and Nizam.
• In Carnatic, then Nawab was 'Anwar-ud-din' and his rival was his cousin 'Chanda Saheb' who was trying to usurp power by deposing the Nawab. French were supporting 'Chanda Saheb' and British 'Anwar-ud-din'. In Nizam, then Nawab was 'Nazar Jung' and his rival was nephew. (sister's son) 'Muzaffar Jung' who was trying to usurp power by deposing the Nawab. Here French were supporting 'Muzaffar Jung' and British his counterpart 'Nazar Jung'. In the end, four got killed and nothing happened to British or French.
• In 'Battle of Ambur 1749 'Anwar-ud-din' was assassinated by 'Dupleix' and Nawab's son 'Mohd Ali' ran away from the battlefield and hide in Tiruchunapally. Thereafter Dupleix seated Chanda Saheb on throne scoring a victory over British.
• In 1750, 'Dupleix' hatched many conspiracies and finally got killed 'Nazar Jung' and thus seating 'Muzaffar Jung' on the throne. For the protection of Muzaffar, a contingency of French army led by commander `Busyy' was stationed at capital Aurangabad. (By this time Nizam's haven't changed their capital from Aurangabad to Hyderabad). This was the first phase of war where French scored an absolute victory over British under the leadership of 'Dupleix'.
• British who were not much concentrating on the south were immediately alarmed after these two incidents. So these started retaliation by ending huge army stationed in Bengal to the south. A British officer 'Robert Clive', a powerful warrior and intelligent in cracking conspiracies was appointed for this task. 'Robert Clive' is often referred as Jackal by his colleagues.
• In 1752, 'Robert Clive' killed 'Chanda Saheb' whereby 'Mohd Ali' was called back and given the throne. Next, 'Muzaffar Jung' was also killed by a conspiracy when he was in Cuddapah visit. 'Salabath Jung' was made the ruler.
• This war came to an end with 'Treaty of Pondicherry' in 1754 and 'Treaty of Tiruchunapally' in 1755. In this phase, British scored an upper hand over French. French government immediately called back 'Dupleix' and he was imprisoned for causing such loss.

Third Carnatic War

• This war was fought from 1756 to 1763. Root for this war was an international reason. French and Europe was fighting for establishing power in 13 independent states in Northern America (The USA was yet to form). Both nations want to make these states as their colonies. This war was fought for seven years so it is referred as 'Seven Years war' till today. So this third Carnatic war was simply an extension of war being fought in America.
• In the course of war in 1760, a battle called 'Battle of Wandywash' (Vandavasi) fought in which French governor 'Count De Lally' was defeated thoroughly and imprisoned by a British officer 'Sir Eyre Coote'. Thereafter all French settlements were captured and demolished.
• This war came to an end when Seven years war came to an end by means of a truce made in Paris by French and British which is popularly known as 'Treaty of Paris'. With this treaty, French lost all its power in America and also in India. One such provision relating to India was - French were given back their settlements but they shall remain as only mere merchants but not as masters. They shall maintain no army, no fortifications etc shall be maintained.
• Till 1954, these settlements remained in possession of French. By diplomatic means, all these territories were surrendered to Indian union. (All settlements were made as UTs except Chandranagar where a plebiscite was conducted and people opted for merging in Bengal). 

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Chauhan (Chahamana) and Gahadavala dynasties

Chauhan (Chahamana) and Gahadavala dynasties

Chauhan or Chahamana:

These were the masters of Rajasthan ruled with 'Ajmer' as capital.

Prithviraj Chauhan III:

• He is the last king and great king of this dynasty ruled from 1179 - 1192.
•  A scholar in his court 'Chand Bardai' - He wrote a book called 'Prithivirajaraso' (it is considered as Early Hindi literature and earliest available text of Hindi language).
• Two battles were fought between 'Prithviraj Chauhan III'  and 'Mohammed Ghori'. Both battles were fought at Taneshwar, so these battles are called Battle of Taneshwar or Battle ofTarain. In the first battle around 1191 Ghori was humiliated and defeated. Later in second battle around 1192 'Prithviraj Chauhan III' was killed and Ajmer was conquered. Thereafter, Ghori left annexing the empire and installing one of his governors 'Qutub-ud-din-Aibak' as in charge of Ajmer.

Gahadavala Dynasty :

• These were the rulers of parts of North-India with Kanauj as their capital.
• 'Chandradova' founded the Gahadavala dynasty at Kanyakubja after defeating a chief named 'Gopala'.
• After Gurjara Pratihara decline these came to power. 

Jayachandra:

• The last king of this dynasty was 'Jayachandra'. He refused to aide Prithviraj Chauhan III when Ghori invaded. This is an irrevocable mistake he committed.
• A Sanskrit scholar named 'Sri Harsha' was in his court. He wrote Naishada Charita (Kavi Srinatha translated this into Telugu and named it as 'Sringhara Naishadam').
• In 1194 - A battle was fought at Chandvar,UP between him and Ghori. Md Ghori invaded and defeated Jayachandra. Ghori killed Jayachandra and annexed the kingdom and ended the Gahadavala dynasty.

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