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

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?

240. Although busy with his campaigns right upto China and the consequent wars, Kanishka’s mind was always preoccupied with religious and cultural things. He, in the meanwhile, proclaimed his conversion to Buddhism. In consonance with this new creed of his, he built several stupas and vihars at various places in his empire. At that time also, as it was during the Ashokan regime, Buddhism was burdened with innumerable fads and fanciful therories. The different Buddhistic sects were at enmity with one another. So, in order to do away with all these differences and to bring about a general agreement, he, like Ashoka, convened a great council of all the Buddhist sects. But instead of a general agreement, there appeared a new sect called the Mahayan, which virtually changed the nature of the Buddhist cult. Since the all-embracing precepts and practices, which were agreeable to Kanishka, but which had no base in the original form of Buddhism, were incorporated in this new Mahayan sect, some others refrained from joining it and eventually founded a new sect, which came to be called Heenayan. Kanishka helped spread the Mahayan sect extensively in his trans-Himalayan demesne. This great council recognised Sanskrit as the language of their religion. Hence, Buddhistic scriptures, which were formerly written in Pali and Prakrit only, were translated into Sanskrit. Many new books like the Buddha-charit and others on varied subjects were composed by learned scholars, who enjoyed the patronage of Kanishka. Naturally, not only in India but even amongst the Saka-Kushan population in the Asian empire of Kanishka, the old as well as the new Sanskrit literature and civilization began to spread briskly. Thus did this new Kushan world, which had come as a conqueror, willingly became subservient to this Indian civilization and culture, as did the Saka world before it, in respect of Indian religion, Indian language, Indian thought and Indian customs.
241. Since Buddhism itself was an Indian religion, India could boast of a religious victory when Emperor Kanishka embraced it. Although this was all well done, it must be borne in mind that Buddhism, which was embraced by Kanishka, was not the unadulterated original one of Lord Buddha nor that of Ashoka. It was the Kanishkan edition of Buddhism. For example, although the Emperor had surrendered his loyally to Buddhism, he still worshipped the Vedic deities like Rudra. Kanishka’s Buddhistic faith had nothing to do whatever with the non-violence (अहिंसा) of Ashoka, which declared ‘Abstain from violence to animals’ or ‘Not the victory of the battlefield, but the religious victory is the only true victory’. While, on the

one hand, he was spreading the Mahayan sect, this avowed Buddhist was, on the other hand, attacking his enemies with huge armies. In order that he might be called the Emperor of China, he passed ten years of his life in bivouacs with armed soldiers all round him. In the end, tired of his lust for incessant warfare, his army revolted and killed him. Death alone could put a stop to his insatiate lust for war. 242. One more thing to be pondered over: How could Kanishka spread Buddhism in the Chinese territory beyond the Himalayas? It was possible because he had first conquered those provinces with his weapons of war. Spread of the Buddhistic cult there followed his martial glories on the battlefields! That is why it spread there so rapidly. He sent hundreds of missionaries there, built various vihars, fed and fostered thousands of Bhikksus! All this was possible for him, because he had under his command a very powerful empire i.e., he had a mighty armed strength.Wasn't it? 243. In fine, it will have to be said that the statements like, ‘Armed victory is superior to religious victory’ or vice versa are untenable. 244. Without armed support, religious victory is tame and insipid, whereas martial glory without a strong religious footing becomes grossly diabolic! This alone is true. Hereditary Disloyalty of the Buddhists 245. A Buddhist or a Vedic Hindu, Kanishka was after all a foreigner belonging to the Kushan aggressive tribe, and had founded an empire on the north-western frontier of India by force. His empire was, in fact, an aggression on India. His was, not at all an indigenous Indian empire. So the patriotic Vedic population of India fought furiously with Kanishka, as it did with the Sakas, in order to overthrow his empire and to liberate all those Indian provinces, which had the misfortune to grovel under his political domination. But what were the Indian Buddhists doing at that time? They tendered their submission to the Mlenchcha enemy, the Kushan emperor, as soon as they courted the Buddhistic cult and began to perpetrate acts of treachery against the Indian nation and the brave patriotic Vedic people, who were fighting for her liberty! As has already been described (in paragraphs 204 to 209), the Indian Buddhists had, formerly in the time of Emperor Pushyamitra, who fought for national liberty, sold their loyalty to the Greeks led by Menander and others, and committed treason against their native land. In the very same manner, they

did not hesitate this time to act treacherously towards their motherland when the foreign Kushan aggression was at her throat. 246. Had the Indian Buddhists put down the Sakas and founded a kingdom of their own, the Buddhist King would certainly have had the rightful claim to the credit of liberating India like any other Vedic King, and like the Vedic King Salivahan or Emperor Pushyamitra, we would have gladly felicitated them. But how could the Buddhists ever show this staunch national spirit! Even when Vedic patriotic republics and states like the Youdheyas and Satavahanas were engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the Saka-Kushans for a hundred-and-twenty-five years or more, these Indian Buddhists did not trouble themselves in the least for the cause of national liberty. But as soon as the strongest of these national enemies, Kanishka, proclaimed his conversion, albeit half-heartedly, to Buddhism, the whole of the Buddhist population submitted their most affectionate loyalty at the feet of that national foe. They extolled him like a God to the skies! They prayed fervently in their vihars for the everlasting existence of that Saka-Kushan Mlenchcha State. What wonder, if the inevitable consequence followed! As a result of the extreme hatred, which the Vedic Hindus felt towards the Buddhists for their high treason, Buddhism continued to decline, as it had begun to do right from the time of Pushyamitra, in spite of the royal support of Emperor Kanishka. Kanishka’s Grandson Embraces Vedic Religion 247. Moreover, when Kanishka was killed, as has already been told, by his rebellious soldiers while he was fighting in China, the Indian Buddhists were in a miserable plight, as they found themselves utterly lost both ways. For, the successor of Kanishka, his son Emperor Havishka, remained comparatively cold in his sympathy towards the Buddhists. And after Kanishka, Kanishka’s grandson, who became the ruler of the Saka- Kushans, actually abandoned Buddhism and embraced the Vedic cult with a public ceremony! He even changed his original name and took for himself the purely Sanskrit appellation, Samrat Vasudeo and struck coins with the images of Siva and Nandi imprinted on them! After Kanishka’s Death 248. As soon as Emperor Kanishka died, his Indian empire fell to pieces. His rule in India was not far extended even in north India. It was never very strong. It had covered only a small north-western strip of India, which comprised Punjab, Malava, Sourashtra and Gujrat and a small

ribbon like piece of land from the north-Konkan, which had formerly been in the hands of the Sakas. Now after the death of Kanishka, the two or three Saka kingdoms that formed part of this Kushan empire threw away the Kushan sovereignty and once again became independent. During the century-old Saka-Kushan aggressive wars, the Satavahanas had maintained the independence of their entire Southern India unimpaired and now the north-Indian states also, who had so far accepted the nominal overlordship of Kanishka, renounced it and regained their independence. In this very confusion, the principality of Pataliputra in the eastern part of India also became independent. Once Again rose the Sunken Sun of Pataliputra 249. Pataliputra has been called a small principality in the previous lines. Our readers might feel that it is a slip of our pen. But it is not so. For during the deluge of the Saka-Kushan aggressions at the beginning of the Christian era, the throne of Pataliputra, which was adorned by the celebrated Emperors like Chandragupta, Ashoka, Pushyamitra and others, and from which were guided for centuries together the destinies of the all-India empire from the Himalayas to the southern seas, was lost all of a sudden, just as the setting sun vanishes while we are still looking on and know not when it has set. During the century-and-a-half of incessant Indian war with the Saka-Kushans that followed, the separate existence of Pataliputra or Magadha was never felt. Some non-entity of king from somewhere ruled and lived within the four walls of Pataliputra. 250. But about the year 300 A.D. was established on this very principality of Pataliputra, the rule of Lichchavi Republic, which was known in Magadha from the times of Lord Buddha. 251. The daughter of the chief of this Lichchavi Republic, Kumardevi, was wooed and married by a promising youth, son of a feudal chief named Chandragupta in 308 A.D., With the strong support of the same Lichchavi Republic, he established his sway over the surrounding territory and in 320 A.D. he founded an independent kingdom in Pataliputra. Let not this Chandragupta be confused with the famous Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, because of their similar names. Emperor Chandragputa belonged to the Maurya dynasty, while this promising Chandragupta was born in the Gupta family. His achievements, however, were as brilliant as would have befitted the glorious dynasty of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya. During his short

reign of ten or eleven years, he extended his small kingdom of Pataliputra wide enough to include Magadha, Prayag and Ayodhya, so that the epithet of Maharaj should be applied to him deservedly. Entrusting his kingdom into the able hands of his son, Samudragupta, who was ambitious of uprooting the Mlenchcha power of the Saka- Kushans in the north-western part of India, and of establishing an extensive Indian empire, Chandragupta died in the year 330 A.D. This Gupta dynasty was a staunch adherent of the Vedic religion—Shree Vishnu being their chief God of Worship. Emperor Samudragupta 252. As soon as he came to the throne, Samudragupta planned to conquer the several independent Indian states in the north as well as in the south, and establish a strong Indian empire like the Mauryan Empire of Chandragupta and Chanakya, and then to sweep over the still lingering Mlenchcha power of the Saka-Kushans in the north-western part of India with all the might of his empire. Accordingly, he conquered Kamrup, Samatat, Nepal and all the region from north-eastern frontier provinces to the Vindhyas. Thereafter, crossing the Vindhyas, he entered South India with a powerful army. He conquered twelve prominent kingdoms in South India. Many of the defeated kings, after having been brought captives and after having accepted his overlordships, were granted their kingdoms and were allowed to go free. About these glorious campaigns of his in the north and south of India, many western historians have spoken with eloquent praise, giving him the best of their current phrases, ‘The Indian Napoleon’. After such an extensive military expedition, Samudragupta returned to Pataliputra. Then in order to proclaim to the world his acquisition of this new Indian empire, according to the Vedic religious rites, he celebrated the horse sacrifice, on a grand scale and was rightfully appointed a Samrat (an emperor). Thereafter, he began his extensive preparations for his dash against the Saka-Kushans. The Final Surrender by the Kushans 253. At the fearful reports of this impending attack of Emperor Samudragupta, whatever small kingdoms of the Kushans like Gandhar and others were, still leading a precarious existence in the north-western regions of India, voluntarily sued for peace and accepted the Gupta paramountcy. Our Indian ancestors at that time called these Kushans ‘Kush’ also. As a token of their surrender, those Kushans sent rich offerings along with their personal envoys to Samudragupta. Thus, after an incessant warfare for a

century-and-a-half or two, the Indian sword ultimately cut asunder the very root of the Kushan power in India. The Kushan problem was finally disposed of, here and now! 254. But the Saka kings from Malava to Sindh who, as has been told in paragraphs 236 and 248, had thrown off the yoke of Andhra domination when the latter was engaged in a life and death struggle with Kanishka and later on, after the death of Kanishka, declared themselved free, did not on their own initiative talk of any submission. Samrat Samudragupta’s Death and After 255. While he was just preparing to march upon the Mlenchcha power of these Sakas, this powerful Emperor Samudragupta breathed his last in 375 A.D. He had expressed his wish that after him, his younger but valiant and virile son, Chandragputa II, should be crowned emperor. But discarding this dying wish of his, the elder son, Ramgupta, ascended the throne on the strength of his seniority in age. But he was so weak that almost all efficient officials in his military and civil service and his ministers too began to hate him secretly. Just at this juncture, a strange thing happened, which galvanized the popular feeling against Ramgupta’s feebleness. Although some historians consider this to be a hearsay anecdote, still ancient writers like Vishakhadatta and Banabhatta have credited it with truth, and a reference to it is to be found in the copperplate grant of King Amoghvarsha. Again as in the comparatively recent times, the Rajput warriors had faced a similar situation against Alla-ud-din in respect of Padmini, the opinion of some other historians that this anecdote about Ramgupta must be substantially true is more acceptable. The incident in question may be summarised in the following manner: 256. Emperor Samudragupta having died and a weakling Ramgupta having ascended the throne after him, the Saka kings became fearless and began to behave insolently with the Magadhan empire, which was at inimical terms with them. An impertinent and mean-minded Mlenchcha king of these Sakas commanded Ramgupta, in order to humiliate him, that he should send his young and beautiful wife, Grahdevi, to him or else be prepared for war. This insolent and wicked message convulsed the whole political atmosphere of the Magadhan empire with shame and indignation. But Emperor Ramgupta had become so utterly imbecile and shameless, as to start preparations to send his queen, Grahdevi, to that Saka Satrap with the sole intention of avoiding a conflict. This infuriated his younger brother,

Chandragupta. Flouting Ramgupta’s orders, he took Grahdevi under his protection. Then resorting to guile, Chandragupta sent word to the Saka king that, according to his commands, Queen Grahdevi was being sent to him, but that because of natural womanly bashfulness and modesty, she would like to go in a curtained palanquin. She was also to be accompanied by a retinue of her maids in similar litters. The Saka king was mad with joy to hear this message, and he replied that the queen might be sent that way. Chandragupta, however, himself donned the female attire and sat in the Queen’s palanquin, while in the accompanying ones, too sat the chosen warriors in feminine garb. As the train (procession) of those covered palanquins drew near the capital of that Saka King, the latter, beside himself with joy, came forward to the queen’s palanquin to receive her in person; whereupon out came Chandragupta, in the guise of a woman, and pouncing on the unsuspecting Saka King, slew him instantly with his sword. From other litters too, issued forth the warriors with drawn swords, and before the shocking news of the slaughter of the Saka King could spread out, they vanished along with Chandragupta, quite out of the enemy’s reach. 257. The whole capital and the nation itself was resounding with the praise for Chandragupta, when the glad news spread that Prince Chandragupta had returned to Pataliputra after accomplishing this unprecedented daring feat and punishing with his own hands the Saka King, who had insulted the nation, with instant death. There was a great agitation to dethrone the cowardly Ramgupta, who had ascended the throne of Magadha, setting aside the last wish of the deceased emperor, Samudragupta, and to crown Chandragupta in his place. In that commotion, Ramgupta was killed. Immediately Chandragupta was crowned emperor and he married the same Grahadevi, whom he had with his exceptional valour, saved from humiliation at the hands of the enemy. Later on, with a well-equipped huge army, Samrat Chandragupta marched upon the Saka satraps. Saka Satrap Rudrasingh Killed: the last phase of the war with the Sakas 258. When the war came to closed grips on the Gujarat-Malava frontier of the Saka dominions, the Saka kings offered tough resistance at every place, and at every place, the Indian warriors crushed the enemy! In the last battle, the remaining Saka Satrap, Rudrasingh, the son of Satyasingh, himself was killed by Chandragupta.

Thus Ended the Saka Rule 259. Having thus vanquished the Sakas completely, Chandragupta liberated the provinces of Sindh, Kaccha, Sourashtra, Gujarat, Malava and others under their domination and incorporated them into his Indian empire. After such a total destruction of the Sakas, when Emperor Chandragupta entered the ancient and renowned city of Ujjayini, which till a little while ago was the capital of the Saka kingdom, the people there celebrated his entry as a grand national festival. Samrat Chandragupta assumed the title of Vikramaditya. In order to immortalize his glorious and crushing victory over the Sakas, he renamed the so far universally current Malava Samvat itself as Vikram Samvat after his own name (cf: paragraph 222). He made Ujjayini the capital of the western part of his India-wide empire, and there he lived like a crowned King. 260. How far can one describe the satisfaction and pride that the people all over Bharat felt at this decisive victory won by Vikramaditya over the Mlenchchas? The whole of India became free from the foreign domination and became ‘Ekrat’, united under one King! How profound must have been the joy and pride of Vikramaditya himself when he saw that the strenuous efforts and successes and failures of a hundred-and-fifty years or so of the Youdheyas, Malavas Vilivayankur (Vilinayankur?), Satavahan and other great warriors for the destruction of the Saka power, and of the valorous achievements of his grandfather and the national aspirations of Vedic Hindus had, at last borne such glorious fruit! 261. Of this, the English historian, Vincent Smith says, though rather grudgingly, “We may feel assured that differences of race, creed and manner supplied the Gupta monarch with special reasons, for desiring to suppress the impure foreign (म्लेच्छ) rulers of Western India. Chandragupta Vikramaditya, although tolerant of Buddhism and Jainism was himself an orthdox Hindu, espeically devoted to the cult of Vishnu, and as such, could not but have experienced peculiar satisfaction in violently uprooting the foreign chieftains.” The Sakas too Vanished 262. In paragraph 230, it has already been described how the Sakas adopted the Vedic faith, Sanskrit language and Indian customs and manners. Now that Vikramaditya had utterly destroyed their political power with his ‘mailed fist’, they, hereafter, lost their separate existence as the Sakas as distinct from the Indians. Only within two or three generations, there was

hardly any Saka to be seen in India, as it previously happened in the case of the Kushans. 263. In the historical past, there lived and ruled good many emperors in India, but there was hardly any as suprisingly popular as this Emperor Vikramaditya, who exterminated the Saka-Kushans so thoroughly, that not a trace of any of them is found today. Even a foreigner, the Chinese traveller, Fa-hien (or Fa-hsien), who visited India in his reign, has paid a glowing tribute to the prosperity, happiness, wealth and contentment that had reached its height, throughout the whole of the Indian empire under the Guptas. Even today in the innumerable Indian villages, the name of King Vikramaditya, and his high sense of administration and justice is lovingly sung in folk-tales and ballad. After having defended the powerful unitary Indian empire and having developed it in every respect for more or less thirty-five years, Samrat Vikramaditya died in 414 A.D. 264. The epoch, which began with the royal seal of Samrat Vikramaditya, the proud Victor of Saka-Kushans, is THE THIRD GLORIOUS EPOCH of Indian History.

4^TH GLORIOUS EPOCH 4. Yashodharma, the Conqueror of The Huns The Hunnish Onslaught over the whole World 265. A reference has already been made earlier in this book to the Huns who routed all the Saka and Kushan tribes from their original homes and themselves occupied the vast tracts of lands. These very Huns, fiercer and far more cruel than their predecessors, now menaced not only the whole of Asia but also the whole of Europe. Every one of the then well-established, civilized, and strongly built nations and kingdoms of the world, right from China to Rome, was rocked to its bottom at the very thought of this impending doom. There was no limit to their number, nor were their raids limited to this region or that. 266. When their armies marched out, thousands of their men and women carried fire and sword to every city and every village they entered and to every human being, young or old, child or woman, whom they came across. Not only by day, but even at the very dead of night, did they carry on these nefarious activities, shouting wildly like beasts and engulfing the enemy lands like wildfire. At the end of every bloody battle, they celebrated their victory then and there, dancing wildly, and drinking strong liquors in cups made of the very skulls of the slaughtered enemy soldiers and their women or children. 267. Being very close to the original Hunnish territory, almost all the provinces of the vast Chinese empire were rendered desolate because of their terrible raids. The great China Wall of today is a glaring testimony to prove the incapacity of the Chinese Emperor to ward off these Hunnish locusts. The one great wonder of the world—this China Wall-is indeed the greatest monument to Hunnish Terror! 268. One of the leaders of these Huns, Attila, organized these horsemen, who pillaged Central Asia and made straight for Europe. His various marauding armies dashed like an avalanche into European Russia through whichever inlet they could find and wrought havoc everywhere. Universities and art centres, houses and churches, the poor men’s huts and rich palaces, towns and cities—whatever they could lay their hands on,

these Huns went on reducing them to ashes. Whoever came in their way was ruthlessly cut to pieces. After trampling down Russia, they rushed into Poland, thence attacking the Goths in Germany and France. Army-after- army of the once invincible Roman Empire was put to rout. These Huns loved not victory so much as they did ruin and destruction for its own sake. Consequently, the whole of Europe was not only defeated in war but was virtually bathed in blood and laid utterly waste. For a harrowing description of this devastation of Europe at the hands of these barbaric Huns, one should read Gibbons, ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’. Even today, most of the European languages use ‘Hun’ as the foulest of abuses, indicating thereby, the horror they looked upon these devilish Huns with. 269. In the very same manner, did another avalanche of these Hunnish horses, which hovered for some time round about the Himalayas destroying whatever remained of the Saka-Kushan strongholds, dashed against regions like the Gandhar and others to the north-west of India. With the very same energy and devilish ambition with which they devastated the empires of China, Russia and Rome, did these Huns march impatiently to trample down India from end to end under their horses’ hoofs, and began to force their way to the Indus. But 270. But, fortunately, India was no longer being ruled by any coward like Dhananand, who brought disgrace to the land at the time of the Greek invasion of Punjab. It was now under the sovereignty of Kumargupta, the illustrious son of Emperor Vikramaditya, the avenger of the Saka-Kushan domination. India at that time enjoyed the century-old Golden Age of the Gupta era. The Mauryan Golden Age saw, towards its close, the Indian military strength disorganized and powerless, because of the foolhardy Ashokan policy of total non-violence (ahimsa). But the Vedic India of this time under the leadership of Kumargupta did not allow the imperial army to degenerate in the least. Being always aware of the avalanche-like Hunnish onslaught, which was expected sooner or later, Emperor Kumargupta kept a very strong war-like and well-organized army, ever prepared to defend its frontiers. The first Hunnish Onrush Paralysed 271. The moment he learnt of the Hunnish aggression on Gandhar, Kumargupta sent his valiant son, Skundgupta at the head of the four-fold

(चतुरँग) army to uproot the Hunnish menace. With their special technique based on their unlimited number, which had so far been unmatched for its efficacy, these Hunnish invaders began to make short work of the Indian frontier guards. No sooner did the Indian soldiers destroy one Hunnish army at a place, than would they emerge up from all other quarters, like ants pouring forth from their anthills. Even if these were completely wiped out, there would appear a fresh one, creating confusion all over the land. The armies of Skundgupta fought battle-after-battle with the irresistible Huns, destroying them steadily but surely for years together. The result was that even the innumerable forces of these Huns gradually lost their strength and energy and dared cross the frontiers of the Gupta Empire no more. Why, they could not even defend the places they held so far against the aggressive and fierce impact of the Guptas. The remaining troops of the Huns, therefore, fled clean out of the Indian frontiers through the very passes they had come in. This crushing defeat kept the Huns away from India for the next forty years or so. The Brave Skundgupta 272. After having fought continuously for years on end and having defeated the most powerful enemy, who had already brought to their knees the greatest empires of the world, Skundgupta proudly returned to his father at Pataliputra, where the victorious Prince was greeted with unprecedented enthusiasm, pomp and glory. Old Emperor Kumargupta’s joy can easily be imagined. It knew no bounds. In order to celebrate this singular success, Kumargupta performed the horse sacrifice (अश्वमेध), according to the age- old Indian tradition. Death of Kumargupta 273. Shortly after this, the old Emperor Kumargupta died, having satisfactorily fulfilled his life-mission. He was succeeded by his eminent son, Skundgupta, many of whose memorable deeds showing his rare abilities cannot be recounted here for want of space and also because they do not directly bear upon the present theme. 274. While Skundgupta was thus ruling in India, another Hunnish adventurer, Khikhil by name, organized their scattered forces in Asia, as Attila before him had done in Europe, and founded another kingdom and styled himself a king. Towards the end of Emperor Skundgupta’s career, this new Hunnish adventurer marched towards India at the head of a

powerful army, with a view to avenging the ignoble defeat the Huns had earlier suffered here. Second Hunnish Invasion of India 275. During the very first encounters, the Huns overthrew the imperial frontier guards and drove them back at one or two places. No sooner did he hear of this fresh Hunnish aggression than Skundgupta, in spite of his old age, left his capital and marched as far as the Panchnad (the modern Punjab). While he was thus preoccupied in his military camp, organising the overthrown imperial frontier forces for a counter-attack upon the enemy, he learnt that his step brother, Purgupta, was busy treacherously planning to usurp his throne. Nevertheless, the patriot Skundgupta, disregarding his personal interests, kept on fighting the alien invaders, instead of speedily returning to the capital to settle his domestic trouble, as some others in his place might have most probably done. Had he done so, and left the imperial army fighting without his guidance, the Indian soldiers would have, in all probability, lost courage and the invaders would have swept over the whole of Punjab and at least the half of north India. As he was convinced of this impending calamity, he rather preferred fighting against the barbaric Huns to returning home! 276. And even as he was fighting in the defence of his motherland, this aged warrior-king died about A.D. 471 in his military camp, like a true King that he was! An Emperor must die Standing 277. An interesting anecdote is told about a well-known Roman Emperor who ruled in those ‘palmy days of Rome,’ that while he was lying on his deathbed in his royal palace, he once suddenly got up, sword in hand, and said to the frightened attendants, who suspected it to be a delirious fit, that a king must not die in his bed. “A Roman Emperor”, he said, “must die standing”. 278. In the same manner did this great Indian Emperor, Skundgupta, die in a small military camp fighting relentlessly, in spite of his failing years, the very enemy on whom he had inflicted severe defeats in his earlier career. Renouncing all royal comforts and pleasures, he spent almost fifteen to twenty years of his life, suffering all the discomforts and hardship of a camp-life for the sole purpose of defending his empire and preserving the independence of his motherland. And when he did die, he did so fighting the arch-enemy of his nation, far away in a bivouac in the farthest province

of Punjab—not in his royal palace in the capital! If ever there was an ideal emperor, it was he! 279. If the Huns were hemmed in one small corner of the Indus and if India was saved from all the indignities, massacres and wanton destruction at their hands to which Europe had been subjected almost contemporaneously, all the credit must go to the armed strength of Skundgupta. Although he died before the Huns were completely annihilated, his exemplary valour brought forth another generation of warriors, much stronger than before, to take the field against these once war-intoxicated but now enfeebled Huns. 280. Hence, we bow down to the memory of Emperor Skundgupta, with as much reverence and pride and a sense of national gratitude as we might do to any other conqueror like Vikramaditya. After the Death of Skundgupta 281. Subsequent to the death of Skundgupta, the throne of Magadha was usurped by his rebel brother, Purgupta, whose lack of every sort of ability encouraged the Huns once again to push forward under their King, Khilkhil. In the reign of Torman, who succeeded Khikhil, Huns once again let loose the dogs of war and Kamboj, Gandhar, and Punjab suffered most from their horrible depredations and arson. The world-famous University of Taxila was razed to the ground. Thousands of its invaluable books only served to make bonfire for the Huns. 282. This is another instance that shows how even the national literature, civilization and culture are destroyed at the hands of foreign invaders, if they are not defended and supported by the nation’s mailed fist. 283. In the meanwhile, those Hunnish hordes that had so far overrun the kingdom of Persia, and in A.D. 484 put her King, Phiroz, to death, were now free to join the army of Torman in his work of reducing India to the same miserable state. With his army so suddenly augmented, Torman pushed ahead of Punjab into Malva and captured it round about 511A.D., along with its capital Ujjain. When tormans son, Mihirgula, who was braver and more atrocious than the father, succeeded to the Hunnish throne, strangely enough, he became a sincere devotee of the Vedic God, Rudra and held the cult of Buddha in the greatest spite. Mihirgula, the Devotee of the Vedic God 284. Strange as it may seem, the Huns were speedily attracted to the worship of the Vedic God Rudra at least from the time they entered the