भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

owing to Ashoka’s ban, the Vedic Hindus had not been able to perform any sacrifice whatsoever for the last forty or fifty years. But soon after the Vedic states were established in Kalinga and Andhra, this horse-sacrifice, the first of its kind, was celebrated in total defiance of all the injunctions of Ashoka on the Vedic religious practices, immortalising the crushing defeat inflicted on the Greeks, the national enemies of India. Another Greek Invasion 182. Seeing that Kharvela had returned to the south, Menander, who had so far stabilized his position in Kamboj and Gandhar, and who was furious at the disaster met with by Demetreos on his march against Magadha, once again invaded India within a period of four years. As at the time of the invasion of Demetreos, so also at this time, the Greeks did not meet with any opposition worth the name in Panchnad, which was dominated by the Buddhists and, as such, had become pacifist, the weak descendant of Ashoka on the throne of Magadha, too, offered no effective resistance. The Buddhists Sympathize with the Greeks 183. On the contrary, Menander could enlist the sympathy of many of the Buddhists in his campaign. For, he openly said that he approved of many of the Buddhist principles and that he was soon going to become a convert to it. So, many Buddhist preachers began to publicise that the Greeks had come to fight with the Vedic Hindus alone, and that if they conquered India, there would be a Buddhist rule! The Buddhists were not much concerned with the alien nationality or the Greeks. Buddhism did not recognize the differences of caste, race or nationality! This was the anti- national and anti-Indian wicked way in which the Buddhist preachers began to delude the people of India! As their sympathetic assistance was so useful to Menander, he too began to circulate through his Greek agents, that this campaign of his was directed solely to nip in the bud the conspiracy of the Vedic Hindus to snatch away the imperial power from the hands of the weak Buddhist rulers of Magadha. Menander came once again, reducing Panchnad and other provinces right up to Ayodhya. In order to avoid the repetition of the sad plight of Demetreos, who had made undue haste at an inopportune time, Menander spent some time in Ayodhya, consolidating the newly won territories and replenishing his army before he launched an attack on Magadha and waited for the auspicious moment. But there in Pataliputra...?

184. The Vedic community and their leaders in North India had already experienced a surge of heroic spirit because of the victory of the brave Kharvela of Kalinga. To add to it, the news arrived of Menander’s menacing invasion! Besides, the Indian Buddhist populace showed clear signs of defection and betrayal of their co-nationalists to Menander. The nationalist Indian leaders, therefore, formed a revolutionary body with a view to dethroning the vacillating and weak Brihadrath Maurya from the royal seat of Magadha, and replace him with one of the Vedic sect, who was of proven mettle like Chandragupta Maurya. But everybody was confronted with the difficult question, as to who was there so bold and powerful, to take the lead in this national revolution and to destroy the Yavanas (the Greeks) completely. Pushyamitra
185. Amongst the remnants of the Magadhan warriors in the army of the above-named Brihadrath Maurya was one, named Pushyamitra. He was a Brahimin by birth. He was, moreover, a staunch supporter of the Vedic religion and Indian nationality, and a devotee of Lord Shiv. His family name was Shung. Even in the Magadhan army, he had attained so much importance because of his military exploits that Brihadrath Maurya himself had appointed him, not very willingly but only out of necessity, to the office of the Commander-in-Chief of the forces in the face of the deadly war with the invading Greeks. The moment he got the reins of the highest military authority, Pushyamitra began to enlarge and reorganize the army of Magadha, and equipped it with all the weapons. This focussed the attention of all the patriotic Vedic populace on Pushyamitra, the general of the army. Everybody anxiously hoped, if General Pushyamitra should lead the political coup...? Who else, they thought, was at that time fitter and abler than this valiant hero, to ascend the traditional imperial throne of the Indian empire?
186. From the historically established facts of this Magadhan political revolution, which are going to be related very shortly, it will be amply clear that General Pushyamitra must have accepted the leadership of the future conspiracy. It is very likely that he must have secured, in advance, at least tacit consent of his army and some of its leaders before he acted openly. Assassination of Brihadrath Maurya
187. While all these preparations were going on, one day it was decided to hold a grand military review in the vast courtyard of the royal palace in the

capital city of Pataliputra. Emperor Brihadrath Maurya was present there to witness the march-past and receive the salute of the army. But while as per Pushyamitra’s orders, the ceremonial movements of the four-fold army and their different formations were going on with all pomp and show and noise and bustle, for some reason, not known to history, some trouble arose near the place where King Brihadrath was sitting. In the excitement of the moment, General Pushyamitra marched on Brihadrath Maurya, who had come to be merely the titular head of the empire, and beheaded him. 188. This chopping-off of the head of Brihadrath put a stop to the dynasty of the Mauryas! The Buddhistic Mauryan Empire met its doom that day. 189. This unexpected and horrible turn of events caused a great furore in the large crowd assembled there. But did any of the armed warriors or anyone from those of the royal household, who were sitting near King Brihadrath attack General Pushyamitra? No, not at all. On the contrary, the whole army hailed him as their leader. 190. For, General Pushyamitra had done exactly what the soldiers themselves and many others wanted to do but could not, as nobody in the whole of India dared shoulder the responsibility for such an hazardous deed. Pushyamitra had simply done the unavoidable national duty of killing Ashoka’s descendant, Brihadrath Maurya, who had proved himself thoroughly incompetent to defend the independence of the Indian empire. Pushyamitra and Chandragupta 191. Chandragupta and Chanakya had to assassinate, as an unavoidable national duty, Samrat Mahapadmananda, who had proved himself thoroughly incapable of repulsing the Greeks for the protection of the Indian empire and its independence, at the time of the first Greek invasion of Alexander. Just for the same reason, Pushyamitra had to cut off the head of Brihadrath Maurya, the nominal Buddhist emperor, simply as a national duty. Emperor Pushyamitra Shung 192. This momentous event took place round about 184 B.C., and with all the Vedic rituals, Pushyamitra was appointed Emperor of India on the throne of Ashoka in Pataliputra. It marked the end of the Maurya dynasty and the beginning of the reign of the Shungas. Emperor Pushyamitra’s Campaign Against the Greeks! 193. First of all, Pushyamitra stabilized the administrative set-up and consolidated his position in his capital and the regions around it, and after

mobilizing a strong four-fold army, eager to fight, he fell upon Menander, who had so far dug in his feet safe in Ayodhya. Finding it extremely difficult to hold their ground before the mighty arms of the Indian army, the Greek general Menander began to retreat. Earlier, Demetreos had not been pursued, but this time, Pushyamitra was not going to be slack. He chased and hunted down the Greek army. Inflicting defeat after defeat on the Greek army and causing confusion in their ranks, Pushyamitra drove the dispirited and vanquished Menander far beyond the Indus. The Indian empire right up to the Indus was once again set free from the Greek political dominance. The Greek sword was broken, the Greek shield shattered, the very root of their Political power dug up and Destroyed! 194. This was the last of the Greek aggressions on India. This terrible defeat inflicted on the Greeks by Pushyamitra consumed their strength so much, that they never had the heart to strike again at Bharat any time in future! Bharat, thus, annihilated this Greek enemy that had been a source of constant trouble since the time of Alexander. 195. Pushyamitra annexed all the territory liberated from the Greek hands to his own empire. He appointed at Ujjain his son, Agnimitra, as the viceroy of the region. General Agnimitra was a brave and able commander like his father. He forced the land up to Vidarbha in the South, to acknowledge his overlordship. But later Vidarbha refused to do so. Hence, Agnimitra attacked it. In the battle, Vidarbadhish (the lord of Vidarbha) was defeated. Amidst all this confusion, Princess Malavika, the daughter of the Vidarbharaj, was enamoured of the bravery and other virtues of Agnimitra, and was very eager to marry him. So with the consent of Pushyamitra, the King of Vidarbha celebrated her marriage with Agnimitra. This not only created the bonds of friendship but also the bonds of blood-relation between the two royal families. On this romantic theme itself, Kalidas composed his famous play Malavikagnimitra. A Horse-Sacrifice in the very Pataliputra of Ashoka! 196. Pushyamitra, who had completely destroyed the Greeks, the age-old alien enemies of the nation, and rejuvenated the Indian empire, had acquired with his own splendid victories, the right to perform a horse-sacrifice according to the Vedic tradition. About this right of Samrat Pushyamitra, Vincent Smith writes in his Early History of India (1924), “The Yavanas and all other rivals having been disposed of in due course, Pushyamitra was justified in his claim to reign as the paramount power of north India, and

straightaway proceeded to announce his success by a magnificent celebration of the Ashvamedha sacrifice at his capital (p. 212).” 197. This declaration of celebrating a horse-sacrifice by Samrat Pushyamitra thrilled the whole country, barring the minority community of the Buddhist with national pride and martial triumph. In the very capital of Ashoka, who had deprived the Vedic Hindus of their religious freedom by means of his supreme political authority, was this Ashvamedha of Samrat Pushyamitra to be performed. This horse-sacrifice of Pushyamitra was, in fact, a public imperial proclamation of Samrat Pushyamitra, that all the restrictions imposed by Ashoka on the religious freedom of the Vedic Hindus were withdrawn. 198. Emperor Pushyamitra’s grandson, Vasumitra, was also a spirited young prince, as his father, Pushyamitra’s son, Agnimitra was a veteran army-leader and an efficient royal administrator. When Samrat Pushyamitra let his sacrificial horse loose on its triumphal march throughout the land, the task of protecting that horse with a strong army was entrusted to this brave young grandson, General Vasumitra. The horse was not obstructed in his free ramble right up to the banks of the Indus. But on the banks of the Indus, he was opposed by a certain Yavan King which, according to the conventions of the time, meant that the sovereignty of Pushyamitra was challenged. So the young General Vasumitra fought with the ‘Yavan’ enemy and after defeating him completely, got released the ceremonial horse. The boundless joy that was universally felt in the capital, when after a year the invincible and unconquered General Vasumitra tiumphantly marched into the city, can very well be seen in the formal invitation sent by Pushyamitra to his son, Agnimitra, which is still available to us in almost the very same words of the Emperor. Kalidas has practically reproduced it verbatim et literatim in his aforesaid play, ‘Malavikagnimitra.’ That letter in the drama is so interesting, that everybody might read it with pleasure. It is a living document of the thoughts of Samrat Pushyamitra and the common feelings of the people of those triumphant days. A National Festival 199. The festive occassion of the horse-ceremony was graced with the presence of the great sages and ascetics of India, Brahmins, well-versed in all the Vedic lore, the high-born Kshatriya kings and princes, the prominent officers and administrators of the empire, eminent citizens and leaders in towns. Patanjali, who was renowned as the greatest of the scholars, and who

has now come to be listed with universal approval, among the world’s greatest scholars—including the western ones—was also present on that glorious occasion. With the blessings and participation of such celebrities the festival of that horse-sacrifice naturally came to acquire the dignity and grandeur of the Indian national victory over the Mlenchchas. Totally Annihilated Asian Greek Stock 200. After the Greeks were driven away beyond the Indus by Samrat Pushyamitra round about 190 to 180 B.C. and India was rid of all Greek dominance, the Greek race saw the beginning of their extinction. Beyond the Indus in Gandhar and Bactria (Balhik), they had some small states dragging on their uncertain existence. And about the beginning of the first century of the Christian era, when a great tide of the fierce war-like race of the Sakas from Central Asia dashed against Bactria, Persia and Gandhar, the Greeks knew not where to flee in order to escape the terrible impact of ‘Sakas’ sharp swords. They fled with wives and children, the old and the infant. At last, they crossed the Indus and entered India to save their lives. But now they came as displaced persons seeking shelter! What a tragic irony! This influx of theirs was a far cry from the triumphant entry of their forefathers under Alexander and Seleucos! The latter rushed in crying hoarse for war, while the present Greeks came in begging for shelter!! 201. But India gave them shelter very graciously in those most unfortunate days, forgetting all enmity. These runaway Greeks settled severally, wherever and whenever their separate batches could find any shelter. Some of them became converts to Buddhism while some courted Hinduism. But as Vedic Hindus alone had their states everywhere in India, these Greeks, whether they were Buddhists or Vedic Hindus, were not able to cause any sort of political trouble. They adopted the Indian languages, Indian customs and swiftly, they were merged completely in the Indian society. And because they had marital and other social relations with the Indians, within a century or two, they completely lost the sense of their separate existence as Greeks—the sense of their separate nationality! Just as a lump of salt dissolves swiftly into the torrential current of the Ganges, in the same way, their Greek extraction was totally merged into the tidal wave of Indian life. The Mlenchchas Merged into our Civilization 202. Most of the western historians, and our own too, have completely missed one point in this connection, which, for that very reason, must be

made explicit here. It is this, whether it was the Greeks or other foreign aggressors, whoever came flashing their swords, were ultimately conquered and engulfed, and completely submerged in our society, leaving not a trace of their separate existence behind. In every case, it has been amply proved that it was only when the aggressor’s insolent sword was beaten down—it was only when the aggressor was vanquished completely in the deadly armed conflict on the battlefield—that those foreigners became so very tame and pliable as to be easily overwhelmed and dissolved in our society. This was achieved not by peaceful persuasion, but by the stronger and deadlier weapons. No Religious Persecution—but the most Appropriate Punishment for Treason! 203. Some of the old Buddhist books, in the loquacious style of the Puranas, enlarge upon the cruel treatment meted out by Pushyamitra to Buddhist bhikksus, upon the outright massacre of some of them, and the destruction of some of the Buddhist monasteries. Even the European historians have set aside all these references as exaggerated ones! Still, some of them have stated, that there should be some grain of truth at the root of these exaggerated accounts that Pushyamitra might have been guilty of some slight persecution of the Buddhists by way of revenge. We also feel that Samrat Pushyamitra might have taken good many of the Buddhists to task, but not for any philosophical or theological difference of opinion. 204. The Buddhists were not persecuted as a class simply because they believed in nihilism or agnosticism, or because some of them were atheists while others were non-violent on principle and condemned the Vedas, or because their religious rituals were in many ways different from those of the Vedic Hindus. Lord Buddha himself experienced no obstacle in the propagation of his faith! Let that alone! The Buddhist faith had been more or less three hundred years old by the time of Chandragupta’s succession to the throne! In his undivided all-India Hindu empire and also during the tenure of the ministerial office of the staunch Arya Chanakya, no Buddhist persecution of any sort was reported by the Greek ambassador, Megasthenes, who had stayed at the court of the first Maurya Emperor for years together. Megasthenes does not refer to Buddhism even by name, for they had not till then formed any anti-national and political alliances detrimental to the interests of the nation, either with Alexander or with Seleucos. It was not then possible for them! That is why, along with many

other religionists, the Buddhists also could observe their own rituals according to their own beliefs and likings. Besides, they could openly preach by sweet persuasion and discussion. 205. Subsequent to the invasions of Alexander and Seleucos, when the Greeks came raiding for the second time under Demetreos and Menander, and when advancing as far as Ayodhya, they were about to dethrone the reigning king of Magadha and endanger the independence of the Indian empire, the Indian Buddhists played a brazen-faced treacherous role, as is seen from the fact that these Buddhists swore their loyalty to the Greek Emperor, Menander, whom they called Milind. When the latter adopted the Buddhist cult, they accepted him as the King of the region conquered by him. The Buddhist scholars and 'bhikksus' proudly struted in the Indian courts of those Greeks, as if they were moving in some national court. In order to put down as sternly as possible these highly objectionable treacherous acts of these Indian Buddhists, the plots hatched to undermine the national independence, and the open instigation to do anti-national acts, which went on incessantly through various Buddhist monasteries and viharas, Pushyamitra and his generals were forced, by the exigency of time when the war was actually going on, to hang Indian Buddhists, who were guilty of seditious acts and to pull down the monasteries, that had become the centres of sedition. It was a just punishment for high treason and for joining hands with the enemy, in order that Indian independence and empire might be protected. It was no religious persecution. As the supreme authority in the imperial administrative structure of India, it was Pushyamitra’s duty—a religious and kindly duty, according national legal code—to chastise perfidy, whether it was on part of the Buddhists or on that of the Vedic Hindus! Ashoka and Pushyamitra 206. In traditional historical writings, mainly based on Buddhist myths, Ashoka has been extolled as tolerant of different religious sects, while Pushyamitra wholly conniving at his efforts to establish religious freedom, is generally imputed with intolerence and persecution of the Budhists. This false notion has to be corrected. If any body is at all guilty of religious intolerance, it was Ashoka himself. For not only with verbal propaganda but with the abuse of his regal authority, he declared illegal all the fundamental religious rituals, such as sacrifice and hunting by the Vedic Hindus, who formed the majority of his subjects. But Pushyamitra did not issue any royal

decree enforcing any performances of sacrifices in the Buddha Viharas or the worship of Vaishvadeva in every Buddh household, even as a fitting retort to Ashoka’s junctions. The Buddhists were as absolutely free as all other religious sects, to perform their religious rites and enjoy religious freedom, so long as they abstained from any anti-national foreign contact. It is likely that in the troubled times of national war, the chastisement of the disloyal Buddhists might have affected some of the innocent ones. But it was not a rule—but an inevitable exception! 207. What Pushyamitra really did was to reinstate the religious freedom, which was annulled by Ashoka. If anybody is to be called intolerant of religious difference, it should be Ashoka and not Pushyamitra. 208. In this context, the words of Vincent Smith, who shows no particular partiality for the Vedic Hindus, and yet writes judiciously, are worth remembering. 209. However, Vincent Smith, too, like other historians, has not realized that the main reason of the general animosity that the Vedic Hindus feel towards the Buddhists, and the persecutions that the latter suffered at their hands from time-to-time, culminating in the total annihilation of Buddhism in India, is that the Buddhists, often times betrayed the cause of Indian independence and Indian empire. In spite of the fact that Vincent Smith never realized this main reason of the downfall of Buddhism, he has held the Buddhists responsible for the religious persecution mentioned in various Buddhist writings. An extract from his Early History of India (1924) (P. 213-14) will bear out the above remarks: 209A. “The memorable horse-sacrifice of Pushyamitra marked the beginning of Brahmanical (Vedic?) reaction which was fully developed by centuries later in the time of Samudragupta and his successors... if credit may be given to semi-mythological stories of Buddhist writers, Pushyamitra was not content with the peaceful revival of Hindu rites, but indulged in a savage persecution of Buddhism.... it will be rash to reject this tale as wholly baseless, although it may be exaggerated.... That such outbursts after all should have occurred is not wonderful, if you consider the extreme oppressiveness of the Jain and Buddhist prohibition, when ruthlessly enforced, as they certainly were by some Rajas and probably by Ashoka. The wonder rather is that the persecutions were so rare, and that as a rule, the various sects managed to live together in harmony and in the enjoyment of fairly impartial official favour.”

210. Pushyamitra who, with his armed might, completely exterminated the Greek intrusion, which from the time of Alexander had often caused great harm to India, and who, therefore, rightly deserves the title, ‘Yavan- destroyer’, protected ably for 36 years not only the independence of India, which he himself had won, but brought about the many sided development of his country, and then died peacefully in 149 B.C.
211. In the sense in which Chandragupta’s rout of the Greek pockets of influence in India is said to be the first glorious epoch of Hindu victories over aggressors, this total extinction of the greeks in India at the hands of Yavan-destroyer PUSHYAMITRA becomes necessarily, THE SECOND GLORIOUS EPOCH of Indian History. ❑ .

3^RD^ GLORIOUS EPOCH 3. Vikramaditya, the Annihilator of Saka-Kushan Menace 212. After the total destruction of the Greeks, India saw another foreign aggression, which has to be reckoned with in the Indian history rather conspicuously, and which was in some respects more ominous and extensive than those of the armies of Alexander or other Greek generals. I mean the incursions of the Sakas and Kushans. 213. Although the Sakas and the Kushans in some respects differed very widely and although they fought each other very furiously, from the Indian point of view, they had such a striking similarity that they appeared almost identical. Hence their hordes, which dashed against India, like tidal waves, one after another, were generally called Sakas by the common Indian people. At some places in the Indian literature, they are referred to as ‘Kushs’. For this very reason, in this book too, both of them are mentioned as Sakas. 214. The Sakas lived in Central Asia beyond Bactria (Balhik) in large wild gangs. The region beyond them was occupied by tribes, equally wild and ferocious. Even beyond this region right in China, there were still wilder, more ferocious, but braver nomadic tribes of the millions of Huns (Hsiung Nus), which were always at war with one another. These Sakas, Kushans and Huns entertained bitter enmity towards one another and were constantly at war. 215. About a hundred-and-fifty years before Christ, tribal feuds amongst these nomadic tribes flared up in such terrible manner as were never heard of before. One of these tribes, the Huns or Hsiung Nus of China, who were the most pertinacious desperados of all, fell with all their ferocity and might upon the neighbouring tribe of the Kushans, driving them off completely out of their homeland towards the west. So the Kushans in their turn, fell in repeated violent tidal waves upon their next neighbours, the Sakas, who were then happily ensconced to the north of Bactria (Balhik), and after exterminating the latter from their abode, they founded there their own kingdom, instead. The Sakas faithfully forwarded that kick to the adjoining

Bactrians, whom they attacked instantly. In Bactria (Balhik) were at this time, small Greek states, maintaining their precarious existence since the time of Alexander. But against the repeated attacks of these wild tribes in which the women too, on horseback, fought shoulder-to-shoulder with men, these Bactrian Greeks were absolutely unable to hold on any longer and were, therefore, completely destroyed, their land being overrun and occupied entirely by the Sakas. But even there and within a short span of a hundred years or so, came in hot pursuit their inveterate enemies, the Kushans, whose lives were spent, as those of the Sakas, more on campaigning on horses and in fully armed military camps, than in stabilized and prosperous cities. The Huns again attacked the Saka-Kushan and ousting them even from Bactria and other countries, established their own rule there. The exterminated Saka- Kushan, being blocked from behind and from the sides, had to descend into the region of Baluchistan, and along the route through the Bolan Pass they dashed avalanche-like on the Indian territories of Sindh, Kathiawad and Gujarat. They trampled under their horses’ hoofs adjoining Indian territory, rushing violently, plundering and burning towns and cities, sparing neither women nor children. History, unfortunately, does not know for certain what Indian states existed there at that time, or whether or not, they could arrest this irrepressible aggression of these Mlenchchas. However, it is not necessary to discuss the problem here as it does not fall within the scope of this book, which has been outlined in Paragraph 7. It is enough to state here that round about the beginning of the Christian era, these Sakas had occupied the Indian territory of Baluchistan, Sindh, Kathiawad, Gujarat and some parts of Aparantak (Konkan) to the south, right upto Ujjayini. And the whole of India was extremely uneasy at the gruesome prospect of the possible incursions of the Kushans and Huns, who were to follow the Sakas! South India was absolutely free from the Mlenchcha Aggression 216. Foreign aggressions, at least in the ancient period of our history, being launched through the north-western frontiers, it was mostly our north Indian brethren, who had to bear the whole brunt, opposing them as best as they could and in the long arduous run, destroyed them completely. That is why during this period, no foreign enemy could cross the Vindhyas and penetrate into the Southern half of India. Barring one solitary, transient and half-hearted Arab invasion. Southern India continued to enjoy unhampered complete liberty, sovereign imperial authority, and material prosperity; for almost since 500 B.C., no foreign aggressor had been able to cross the

Vindhyas and stop into the South. Right from Kalinga to the Pandyas, the Cheras, the Cholas and other South Indian rulers of the time had always kept in readiness, strong naval forces, fleets and flotillas to protect the Western, Eastern and Southern seas against all foreign incursions. Naturally, the Indian seafronts remained absolutely inviolable throughout all this period. On the contrary, the strong South Indian naval powers had carried their invincible and conquering armadas to Burma, Siam and other countries right up to the Philippines and established their overseas political, cultural and commercial empire. 217. As the foreign aggressions through the north-west frontier were successfully opposed there and then, by our north-Indian heroes, those various enemies could not even reach the Narmada river. But the Sakas having entered India through the Bolan Pass in Baluchistan, the coastal provinces of Sindh, Kathiawad and Gujarat were comparatively exposed to their attacks. This foreign aggression on South India also proved abortive. Why? The Awakening of the Andhras 218. Fortunately, at that very time, were rising to prominence the two States of Kalinga and Andhra, who were staunch followers of the Vedic religion and were nationalist in their outlook. Like all other nationalist Indians, the Andhras were beside themselves with mortification and indignation at the foreign Saka attack on the vast Indian region from Sindh to Ujjain, and at the sad and humiliating fact that there should be no Indian power to resist it. Moreover, since some of the Saka hordes had reached as far as Aparantak (Konkan) after having crossed the Narmada river, the safety of the Andhra kingdom itself was seriously endangered. For these various reasons, the rulers of Andhra marched with a mighty army against the Sakas with a view to annihilating them completely, and for the first time they challenged the Saka might, driving them back beyond the Narmada river. Simultaneously, with this impact of the Andhras, the Sakas, who had till then spread upto Ujjain in the north, suffered another defeat at the hands of the Youdheyas and Malavas. It has already been described (in paragraphs 38 to 40 and 50 to 62) with what invincible valour, these two republics had offered sanguinary battles in the defence of Indian liberty, even at the time of Alexander’s invasion. So, being attacked by the Andhras from the South and in the North by Youdheya-Malavas, the very sting of the aggressive fang of the Sakas was completely blunted and devenomed. Their progress

stopped forever, they were never able to establish a unitary and powerful rule of all the Sakas anywhere in India, Whatever stray kingdoms they had founded so far in India were unable to face successfully the two-pronged drive of the Indian retaliation. The Victorious Malavas 219. The above-mentioned Youdheyas and the Malavas attacked the Sakas, who had spread round about Ujjayini. An allusion has been found to have been made to the fact that the Malavas had invested the fort of ‘Uttambhadra’ round about the year 57 B.C. The then celebrated King of Sakas, named Nahapan, had forced the Malavas to lift the siege. But soon after, the Malava forces encircled Nahapan with his whole army from all quarters. Naturally, a decisive battle was joined, wherein the Malava republican army showed the limit of its valour, but not being content with the destruction of the Saka forces, which were considered to be second-rate, they killed in the war, their very King Nahapan. Malava Samvat 220. Because of this crushing defeat at the hands of the Malavas, the Saka military might’s morale was so much shaken that they seemed to have taken a fright of their lives to face pitched battles with the Indian armies. This battle is conspicuous in another respect too, inasmuch as the Malavas started a new era of their own in the year of this victory, to commemorate their signal success over the Sakas, which had resounded throughout the length and breadth of India. They named this era as ‘Krut’, but on the coins that they struck on this occasion, are inscribed in the Brahmi script, legends such as ‘Malavajayah’, ‘Malavanam Jayah’, ‘Malava Ganasya’ and so on. This is the Same Vikram Samvat of ours 221. In our country, good many emperors started new eras in their own names. It was a traditional ambition, and a kind of right of such victorious kings and emperors to style themselves as ‘Shakakartas’ (the starters of new eras). The latest instance that can be cited is that of Shri Shivaji Maharaj. He too commenced his own era, the ‘Shiva-Saka’. Most of these various eras ended with the termination of these royal dynasties. However, of the two of three eras, which have attained a national character and which have been adopted by the Hindu world, although region-wise, and by which not only our mundane affairs but our religious rites also are dated for more or less two thousand years, the Malava Samvat should be

remembered rather particularly, because this very Malava Samvat later on became our famous Vikram Samvat. 222. The celebrated historian, Dr. Jayaswal, in his ‘Hindu Polity’, has ably upheld the view that Malava Samvat is the same era as our Vikram Samvat. However, he maintains that Malava Samvat was also called Vikram Samvat (era celebrating a victory) from the very beginning. But from the historical incidents that we are going to cite here, it should be clear that another view of the matter is more acceptable. This second view claims that it was to celebrate the all-India character of the Gupta Emperor, Vikramaditya’s victory over the Saka-Kushan, which wiped out their separate existence from the Indian soil, when the victorious king began to rule from Ujjayaini. That Vikram Samvat became, as years elapsed, more and more widely known throughout the nation and equally popular, so that throughout the whole of north India, millions of Hindus are even now observing it in their religious rites and ceremonies. Origin of Vikram Samvat and Shalivahan Saka 223. It must be made clear here and now, that there is yet no agreement reached amongst the historians about the origin of this Vikram Samvat. There are very wide differences of opinion about the chronology of various important events in our ancient history. So are they on this point too! Even in respect of the birth of Gautam Buddha, the dates suggested by different historians vary at times by fifty or even a hundred years. The same can be said of Kanishka’s times. Some maintain that he ascended the throne in 78 A.D., while others put up the date of his succession to the throne as 120 A.D. Even about this Vikram Samvat a third opinion is still sponsored by some historians that the Vikram Samvat, had nothing to do with the era started by the Malava Republic; that it was the one started in 58 B.C. by Azes I, one of the Chief Kshatraps (Satrap) of the Sakas, who had by then entered India, and the one which later on people renamed as Vikram Samvat when the Gupta Emperor, Vikramaditya completely uprooted the power of the Saka-Kushan. There is also the fourth one that in 58 B.C., a certain valiant emperor, named Vikramaditya, who ruled there at the time, won a great victory over the Sakas and started this era in his own name to commemorate that victory of his. It had again nothing whatever to do with the Malava era or that started by Saka Satrap, Azes I. But as no rock inscription or any other evidence has been found that refers to Vikramaditya, who ruled at that time, or again as no coins of the Vikram

Samvat have yet been found, this myth about the aforesaid era had not so far attained the veracity of a historical event. 224. If, however, any coins or rock inscriptions or other evidence were to come forth any time and if anybody were to propound a new theory about the origin of this Vikram Samvat, we shall be glad to accept it. 225. What is said about the Vikram Samvat can very well be said about the Shalivahan (Salivahan) Saka. The advocates of the first opinion about this era say that when the first King of the Kushans in India, Wima Kadphises [Wemo (Ooemo) in his Greek coin legends and Yenkao-ching of the Chinese historians—of Smith OHI p. 147], whom our people considered no other than a Saka, ascended the throne (of his father) in 78 A.D., it was he who started this ‘Saka’ era. But another class of historians hold that it was not Wima Kadphises, who ascended the throne in 78 A.D. but it was his successor Kanishka who did that, and that it was that Emperor Kanishka who started the Saka era in order to perpetuate the memory of his accession to the throne. Later on, when the Salihavan emperors of Paithan conquered the Sakas, they turned the Saka era into the Salivahan Saka to signalize their victory. Besides these two, there is a third opinion held by some historians that the Salivahan Saka is in no way connected with that of Kanishka or any other Kushan King. They maintain that about 78 A.D., King Hal, who wrote the Gatha Saptasati, himself won a glorious victory over a Saka Satrap in Gujarath or Sourashtra, and to perpetuate this monumental success over these Sakas, he started the Salivahan Saka. 226-229. Since there is no need to discuss this topic here at any great length, it will be quite enough to mention two or three important points from whatever little is written here about the Saka era. They are: (a) Whatever opinion about the Saka and Vikram eras is accepted, it is agreed beyond doubt that both the eras signify the decisive victories the Indians won over the Saka-Kushan. (b) In our count of time, Samvat is a more acceptable term than Saka—We have all along been using right from the Vedic times, Samvatsar and Samvat for the measurement of time. The word ‘Saka’ has not been generally used in that sense. It is quite clear, therefore, that the word must be a corruption of the name of foreign aggressors like the Sakas and the Kushans. ‘Shalivahan (Salivahan) Saka’ is not a pure name of Sanskrit extraction as Vikram Samvat is. So the name ‘Saka’ of our Mlenchcha enemies should be eliminated and only ‘Salivahan Samvat’ should be used at the time of the

celebration of our religious rites and the words ‘Shalivahan Saka’ or merely ‘Saka’ as wrongly used in our religious ceremonies, should be banned. (c) That both the national eras, namely the Vikram Samvat and the Salivahan Samvat, should be closely connected with the glorious memory of Indian victories over the Saka-Kushan is not merely a queer coincidence; it is of great significance. Many eras like those of the imperial Guptas and others, although greatly honoured during those particular periods, are lost in the abyss of time. Only these two, which recorded the Indian victories over the Saka-Kushan, have enjoyed immortality. This may give us a fair idea as to how our Indian Vedic people had to suffer grievously at the hands of the ungovernable hordes of the Saka-Kushan. For, otherwise, these Vikram and Salivahan Samvats, which were started to perpetuate the memory of the victories of the Salivahan and Gupta emperors over the diabolic atrocities of, and political subjection by, the Saka-Kushans, would never have attained so much importance vis-a-vis the extinction of many other victorious eras, and could never have been observed even after the lapse of two thousand years as the chief national eras of the Hindus. Indian’s Martial & Religious Victory over the Sakas 230. Just as the Malavas firmly checked the aggression of Sakas by killing their king, Nahapan (cf: Para 219), in a similar way and at the same time, did our Andhra warriors march from the south towards the north and destroy the Saka kingdoms in Gujarat, Sourashtra, and Sindh. Harassed by the repeated offensives opened against them by the valiant Salivahan Kings like Vilinayankur, Gautamiputra Satkarni:, Vashishthputra Pulamayi and others, the Saka kings upto Ujjain ultimately reconciled themselves to the sovereignty of the Salivahan Emperors. There exists a rock inscription that tells us that a Saka Satrap ‘Rudra’ even gave his daughter in marriage to a Salivahan King as the Greek King Seleucos had years before given his daughter to Emperor Chandragupta! 231. It must also be borne in mind that because of incessant fighting with the Indians on various battlefields and the consequent destruction during this century or a half, of thousands of their original number of soldiers that came to India, the Saka power suffered great numerical losses. 232. As the Saka military might thus began to lose strength because of the Indian resistance, the highly developed Indian civilization began more and more effectively to impress itself on the foreign Sakas. As a natural result of the constant warfare with the Indians for over a hundred years, the Sakas

seemed to have surrendered completely to the Indian civilization. From the common man to their royal families, the Sakas abandoned their own original Saka names and adopted purely Indian ones like Satyasingh, Rudrasen and others. It is strange to note that most of them embraced the Vedic religion. In fact, ever since the Sakas crossed the Hindukush and entered Baluchistan and Sindh and settled there permanently, they had come in constant contact with the Buddhist population and the Buddhist centres there, preaching and propagating the tenets of Lord Buddha from the time of Ashoka and Menander. Moreover, the Malava-Youdheya republics, which fought with them furiously at that time and defeated them, and also the valiant armies of the Satavahans were Vedic Hindus. The Buddhists had never resisted them with or without arms. Under these circumstances, it would have been but natural, had the Sakas hated the Vedic religion of their powerful enemies and accepted the Buddhist cult of those who ungrudgingly submitted to their political domination. But what happened was exactly the opposite of this natural expectation. The majority of the Sakas, right from the commoner to the royal prince, got themselves converted, most willingly to the Vedic religion. The raison d'etre perhaps was that the Sakas being originally of a warlike disposition, whose blood always rushed violently through their veins at the thought of a battle, looked with awe and respect at the valiant Vedic warriors, who fought and defeated them, enemies though they were, and the Vedic religion, which inspired such fighting spirit amongst its votaries, that it must have exerted a great fascination for them. 233. The Sakas came to love the Sanskrit language too. The kings of two or three feudal Saka principalities that were left in their hands, patroinized Sanskrit studies. One of the Saka kings made Sanskrit the official language for all correspondence of his court and administrative department. Their correspondence with the other Indian states, big or small, was also carried on in Sanskrit. Their social customs and manners too, underwent rapid changes and they got themselves attuned to Indian Social life. The Kushan Invasion 234. While the Indians were, thus, gaining victories over the Sakas in military, as well as cultural fields and were uprooting their aggression, the locust-like hordes of the Kushans dashed against the northern frontier of India towards the Hindukush. These Kushans were ousted from their homeland by the Huns along with their women and children. As such,

fighting troops of millions of Kushan, men and women violently entered Southern Asia shedding blood, plundering and burning towns and cities and spreading destruction everywhere. Throughout the whole Asiatic region, right from the Chinese frontier beyond the Hindukush to that of Greece in the west, they literally played havoc. Some of their troops in hot pursuit of their old enemies, the Sakas, overran the Bactrian Kingdom, and, crossing the Hindukush, entered the Indian north-western provinces of Gandhar, and extirpating the smaller Saka principalities that still were there at the time, they pushed themselves ahead into Punjab. They founded there a kingdom of their own. The name of their first king in India was Wima Kadphises. 235. The might of the northern Youdheyas, Malavas and other republics and that of the Salivahanas in the South having been put to its last extremity of endurance in successfully resisting and ultimately putting down the Saka aggresion for more or less a hundred years, they could not immediately and successfully stem the overwhelming onslaught of the Kushans, who were crueller and more bloodthirsty than even the Sakas, till they came to occupy Punjab. However, even in those miserable days, the Indian resistance to Kushan aggression gradually became so hot and determined, that the Kushan hordes could not make any headway in the Indian territories this side of Punjab. Emperor Kanishka 236. After the death of Wima Kadphises, Kanishka ascended the Kushan throne in 78 A.D. (in the opinion of some historians in 120 A.D.). His achievements were unrivalled; his ambition was boundless. It is needless to give any detailed account in these pages. Some events, however, have to be recounted here so far as they fall within the scope of this book. Kanishka subdued all the nomadic, plundering and marauding bands of the Saka-Kushans on both sides of the Himalayas (Hindukush?), as also all the smaller or bigger centres of political power, and forged them all into an extensive empire. He proclaimed himself as the Emperor of the Kushans and founded his capital at Purushpur (Peshawar of today). Thereupon, he marched on the Sakas, who had established their power from Malava to Sindh and who, being defeated by the Andhras, had acknowledged their paramountcy. But the same Indian states that had been incessantly fighting the Sakas for over a century and had been by now thoroughly exhausted in their attempt to put down these aggressors, had to face this new calamity of the Kushan onslaughts and, as such, they found it

extremely difficult to do so. Being defeated in one or two battles, the Satavahanas themselves had to withdraw their forces from the north of the Narmada river to the south, in order to build up a strong defence for their own territory against Kanishka’s conquests. By that time, Kanishka had conquered all the Saka states of Malava, Gujarath, Sourashtra and Sindh. Naturally, the Sakas in those regions renounced their allegiance to the Andhras and paid the obeisance to their new lord, Emperor Kanishka. Over and above, Kanishka’s army crossed the Narmada in order to march upon the Andhras themselves and subdued a corner of Aparantak (north Konkan). But mindful of the concentrated armed might of the Andhras, Kanishka dared not attack them. So, he withheld his southern conquests forthwith. Thereafter, he marched with a huge army to oppose the Chinese general who had invaded his north-Himalayan territories. After a series of battles, he vanquished even the Chinese general and annexed the Chinese provinces of Kashgar (Tashkand), Chaskand, and Khotan to his empire. The test of a Nation’s Prowess and its right to live 237. The propriety of recounting this whole incident here is to show clearly that this sudden eruption of the Saka-Kushans throughout Asia did not convulse India alone; it discomfited even the then strongly-built and well-organised empire like China too for a time on the battlefield. But just as it is torn-foolery, born out of jealousy, to say that the Chinese nation had been weak throughout all these years and had never been better fitted for anything else than to be rotting in slavery simply because they suffered temporary defeats against the Saka-Kushans or at some such other times, it is equally foolish and jealously blind to say, as some of our enemies do, that the Indian national life was a series of defeats. It only shows that they cannot read history properly. 238. It is not the number of foreign aggressions over a nation that is the last criterion of deciding its vitality or virulity or the absence of both, but the query, whether that nation was destroyed as a result of those aggressions, or whether in the final phase of that national struggle, that nation was able to overcome those foreign aggressions, that determines a nation’s prowess, its vitality and its right to live. 239. Let us see which of the three, the Sakas, the Kushans or the Indians, passed this test successfully, and who passed out of existence. Kanishka Embraces Buddhism?