lists, and dates of succession, but of proving a common foreign origin of the royal race from Sassanian or Persian invaders, in contra-distinction to the more ancient Aryan dynasties which had no coinages. These Indo-Sassanian kings, as the Gooptas, form a separate group of themselves in the medieval period of India, and the ancient Aryan dynasties appear to have been absorbed by them, except that of the Pálás of Bengal, and to some extent the Andhras. In the foregoing summary of the northern dynasties of India, only those have been mentioned of which authentic details exist, gathered from inscriptions and coins. These details are being followed up by discoveries from newly-translated inscriptions and from coins, so that the subject is, as yet, not by any means as complete as it may hereafter become. Besides those already enumerated, there were others in northern India at the period under review, a valuable table of which is given by Mr. Elphinstone,' which contains the following names:— -Maghada (Andhra), Gour, Malwah, Guzerat (Sáh and Goopta), Kanouje (Goopta), Mithili, Benares Dehly, Ajmere, Mewar (Bullabhi), Jesselmere, Jeipoor-the last three still existing-Sinde and Cashmere. These probably comprised the whole of the major States of Northern India, and existed from periods extending, in the cases of Maghada, Gour, Malwah, Mithili, Dehly, Kashmere, and Sinde, far beyond the Christian era, down to the tenth, twelfth and thirteenth centuries A.D., that is, until subverted by the Mahomedans. Over these States, at various periods, and by monarchs of different Emperors of dynasties who were powerful enough to assume and maintain it in turn, the authority of Maharaja Adhiraj, or emperor, was exercised. There never appears to have been any confederation of States with an emperor at its head, nor did the authority of emperor belong to any line or dynasty by hereditary right; but the power exercised may be assumed to represent that of the strongest for the time being. The following detail, quoted from Mr. Fergusson's 'Chronology of the Medieval Period,' shows not only the persons, but the States, which exercised the privilege of emperorship at various periods, and the comparatively short intervals between some, may serve to show the rapid fluctuations of power, and the perpetual contentions of the kings of India with Hindoo India. each other. This list contains four names of kings of Kulyan, a State which has not as yet been alluded to, as it belonged to the southern group of Indian kingdoms, and its history will be explained hereafter. CHAPTER XIV. OF THE SOUTHERN MEDIEVAL DYNASTIES: HINDOO-B.C. 900 TO A.D. 800. Southern history. THE progress of the Aryan Hindoos southwards is involved in the Obscurity of last degree of obscurity. In regard to the northern Indian Aryans, there are at least some historic points upon which, as will have been understood, no doubt can be cast. Others, uncertain in many respects, perhaps, but still seeming to illustrate each event, may be accepted in general terms until the advent of the Greeks; and the progressive communications with them, for several centuries, furnish historical particulars and dates, which tally with those of foreign sources, and cannot be refuted. For the south, however, there are no such data. The conquest of Ceylon by Ráma, King of Oudh, though admitted as a remote historical fact, may nevertheless be open to as much doubt as the siege of Troy. There are, however, many portions of the Ramayana which, putting aside more modern Brahminical interpolations, bear a strong impress of truth. It is not to be gathered from the Ramayana that the northern Aryans had any previous knowledge of the people of the south. Their progress southwards had been stopped apparently by the central forests and jungles; and, in like manner, the southern people seem only to have reached the southern boundaries of those tracts. Ráma, however, is recorded to have established kingdoms at Kishkinda, a small district near Beejanugger, on the Tumboodra river, still held sacred by Hindoos, and also in Lunka or Ceylon; and after the Ceylon war, intercourse between the north and south no doubt increased, and may have been maintained for many centuries before the Christian era; but there is no record of any kind on which historic dates or facts can be based, and the whole has to rest, necessarily, upon conjecture or inference. All the royal races of the south evidently trace their origin to persons of northern origin. The Seevaic faith and worship had extended to the south at a very early age, and though Brahmins are not mentioned till a later period, the people appear to have been divided into castes. In Chapter VIII. a speculation was hazarded as to the original invaders of the south being Turanian or Scythian, as Languages of well because of analogies in languages, as on account of the south. existing prehistoric remains. The original language, whatever it may have been, became converted into Tamul as the head, Teloogoo, Canarese, Malialum, Tooloo, and some other minor dialects. Each of those named possessed, and still possesses, a geographical limit of its own, which has probably never varied; and though all differ in many respects, yet their family likeness to each other, as a distinct group, has never been questioned. Mr. Elphinstone, 'History,' vol. i. ch. ii. book iv., adopts the opinion of Mr. Ellis in regard to the great antiquity and perfection of the Tamul language before the Aryan Sanscrit; and if this hypothesis be tenable, it opens out a length of period which defies speculation. The original literature of this language has a character which is not Aryan, and it was only affected by Sanscrit at a later period, when that language was introduced by Brahmin missionaries. The ancient Tamul literature possesses no tradition of its antiquity; but, on the fact of its existence, and the concurrent testimony of the Ramayana, it may be accepted that the earliest settlers in Southern India were at least as civilised as those of the north. Ceylon. Three separate conquests of Ceylon, subsequent to that of Ráma, were noticed in the last chapter as claimed by Successive Hindoo monarchs of India. The first by Chandra conquests of Goopta, about A.D. 400 to 401; the second by Mégháváhaná, of the Gonardya dynasty of Kashmere, A.D. 430; and the third at a probably much later period, by Devá Pal Déb, king of Bengal. These circumstances are mentioned to prove that intercourse was maintained between the north and south at these, as at earlier, periods. The Chinese Boodhist traveller Fah-Hian sailed in a 'great merchant vessel' from the mouth of the Ganges to Ceylon about A.D. 400. The Boodhist relics had been transferred there at an earlier period; and probably Innocent. about A.D. 600, the island, "ecording to Boodhist chronology, was Pope F 6 invaded and taken possession of by 'Vijayo,' who crossed from There can be little doubt, also, that at the period of the Early connec- Mission and 1 death of the of India was maintained with Egypt, and perhaps with Arabia; and though absolute corroboration is wanting, the visit of the Apostle Thomas to Southern India, his conversion of large numbers of the inhabitants to Christianity, and his martyrdom at Malliapoor, near Madras, are supported as well by local tradition and the observance of the anniversary of his death, as by the fact that the Christian Churches founded by him continued to exist until, about the fifth century, they placed themselves under the spiritual authority of the Bishop or Patriarch of Mosul, in Armenia, and still remain subject to his jurisdiction. In these early ages, the Indian Christians do not seem to have suffered persecution by the Hindoos. Cooroorangon Perumal, probably a king of Madura or of Chéra, in the sixth century, is recorded to have afforded protection to the Christians, whose merchants were rich, and traded with Egypt and Persia. Apostle Thomas, Of the southern kingdoms, the Chôla was undoubtedly the Chôla largest, though not perhaps the most ancient. Its alleged dynasty. founder was Tayaman Nálé, who came from the north of India, and appears to have gained possession of the country near the modern Arcot. Kunchy, or Conjeveram, which afterwards became the capital, was founded by Adánda. About 350 B.C. the Chola dynasty merged into the Pandya by marriage, and so continued for 570 years; but in 214 A.D. the States became separated again, and the Chôlas removed their capital to Tanjore, which was founded in that year by Kullotunga, the head of a new dynasty which flourished there till A.D. 886. Grants and endowments by separate Chôla princes can be traced down to the fourteenth century; but the Jarius Ochus Leo emperor historical facts are rare and obscure. There is no question, however, that the Chôla dominions were very extensive; Their domithey met those of the Andhras on the north, the Pan- nions. dyas and Chéras on the south and west, and on the east they were bounded by the sea. To this dynasty countless temples and other works may be traced by their inscriptions, and the peculiar style of architecture - Dravidian, which was founded in the south, is recognised by Mr. Fergusson as one of the distinct orders of India. It is possible, also, that some of the excavated temples of Ellora, especially that of Kylas, the most modern and most magnificent, may, from its style, have been the work of the Chôlas. - Pandya The founder of the Pandyan dynasty is named Pandya, a person of the agricultural class, who came from Ayodya, or Oudh. From him, seventy-four successions are reckoned up to dynasty. Kuna, or Guna, in the third century A.D., which, on the generally assumed average of sixteen years to each, would place the establishment of the Pandyan dynasty about the ninth century B.C. Their first capital was Kurky, which is mentioned in the 'Periplus,' the second Kalyanpoor, and the third Madura, founded by Kulasikhárá. In the third century A.D. the kingdom was ruled by a princess, who was conquered by an incarnation of Seeva, whom she married; and this event probably records the introduction of the Seevaic faith, which, both in the Pandyan and Chôla kingdoms, appears to have been the established religion. Both these dynasties, however, lapsed into Jainism at various periods, and a conversion of the Pandyan king Kuna, in A.D. 1028, forms the subject of a special inscription. The Pandyas reigned over the whole of the extreme southern portion of India, and the dynasty was prolonged until its final extinction by the Mahomedans. The Chéra dominions embraced the western districts of Mysore with Malabar, and may have been separated from the Cholas about A.D. 500. Little, however, is known of the dynasty. In these southern Turanian kingdoms, the science of architecture was developed at an early period, possibly before, but certainly soon after, the Christian era; and more progress was made in it, by the execution of temples and other great public monuments, than in the north. Not only were their dimensions larger, but their style was more confirmed, and their ornamentation richer, and of a more distinct character. But as an almost higher proof of their civilisation, it may be adduced that artificial irrigation of the soil had been commenced upon a scale of extended usefulness, which existed probably in no other country except Babylon. The exact period at which the system was commenced is not known; but existing inscriptions relate to periods shortly after Chéra dynasty. |