SST NOTES- CHAPTER-2 - NEW KINGS AND KINGDOMS

The emergence of new dynasties -:

➔ By the 7th century, there were big landlords or warrior chiefs in
different regions of the subcontinent. Existing kings often
acknowledged them as their Samantas .
➔ They were expected to bring gifts to their overlords, be present in
their court and provide their overlords with military support
➔ They declared themselves to be maha’-samantas when they
started to gain power. They started to assert their independence
on their overlords
➔ Rasthrakutas were subordinate to the chaukalyas.
➔ In the mid eight century Dantidurga, a rashtrakuta chief overthrew
his chalukya overlord and performed a ritual known as the
hiranya- garbha
➔ The hiranya garbha ritual was performed to lead to the rebirth of
the sacrificer, who would be made kshatriya, even if he was not
one by birth
➔ Men from enterprising families used their military power to carve
out great kingdoms.
➔ Many new kings adopted high sounding titles like maharaj adhiraja
and tribhuvana-chakravartin, but they still shared their power with
samantas traders, peasants and brahmanas.
➔ In each of the states resources were obtained from the producers
- that is peasants, cattle keepers and artisans, who were often
persuaded to surrender part of what they produced. Sometimes
this was claimed as rent due to a lord who asserted that he owned
the land. Revenue was also collected from traders
➔ The resources were used to finance the king's establishments as
well as for the construction of temples. They were also used to
fight wars, which often resulted in the acquisition of wealth in the
form of plunder and access to the land and trade routes.
➔ For the army and the functionary posts, the positions were often
hereditary and given to high profile families. Mainly close relatives
of the kings family held these positions
Prashastis and land grants
➔ Prashastis contain details that may not be literally true, but they
tell us about how rulers wanted to depict themselves.
➔ They were composed by brahmins who occasionally helped in the
administration. Kings often rewarded them
with grants of land. They were recorded on
copper plates, which were given to those
who received the land.
➔ They were written in Sanskrit and tamil. The
ring holding the plates together had the
royal seal, indicating that they were
authentic documents.
➔ Kalhana was a poet who wrote a long Sanskrit poem containing
history about the kings. Unlike the authors of the prashastis,
kalhana was critical about what he wrote about the kings and their
policies.

Warfare for wealth -:

➔ One of the prized cities was Kanauj in the Ganga valley. For
centuries, rulers belonging to gurjara-pratihara, rashtrakuta and
pala dynasties fought for the control over Kanauj. Since there were
3 parties, this event is known as the Tripathi struggle by historians.
➔ Rulers tried to demonstrate their power and resources by building
large temples. So, when they attacked one another, they often
targeted the temples as they would be very rich sometimes.
➔ Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, Afghanistan was a ruler who controlled
parts of central asia and iran and north western of the
subcontinent.
➔ He raided the subcontinent almost every year and his targets were
always rich temples including the ones in Somnath gujarat. Most of
the wealth he collected was used to make a splendid capital in
Ghazni.
➔ He was also interested in knowing about the people he
conquered. He entrusted a scholar known as al- bihruni to write an
account on the subcontinent. This arabic work is known as the
Kitab-ul hind.
➔ The chahamanas, later known as the chauhans ruled over the
region around Delhi and Ajmer.
➔ They attempted to expand to the west and the east, where they
were opposed by the chalukyas of Gujarat and gahadavalas in
western up.
➔ The best known chauhan ruler was prithviraja the third, who
defeated a muslinm ruler known as sultan muhammad ghori but
got defeated the very next year
A closer look- The cholas
➔ A minor chief family known as the mutharaiyar held power in the
kaveri delta. They were subordinate to the pallava kings of
kanchipuram. Vijayalaya, who belonged to the ancient chiefly
family of the cholas from uraiyur, captured the delta from the
mutharaiyar in the middle of the 9th century. He built the town of
thanjavur and a temple for goddess ninshubhasudini there.
➔ The pandayan and plaalva territories were made part of the
kingdom.
➔ Rajaraja i, was considered the most powerful chola ruler, became
the king in 985 and expanded control over
most of the empire.
➔ His son Rajendra i continued his policies and
even raided the ganga valley,sri lanka and
countries of southeast asia, developing a navy
for these expeditions.
➔ Chola temples often became the nuclei of settlements which
grew around them. These were centres of craft production.
➔ Temples were also endowed with land by rulers and others. The
produce of this land went into maintaining all the specialists who
worked at the temple and very often loved near it. Priests, garland
makers, cooks, sweepers, musicians, dancers etc: In other worlds,
temples were not only places of worship; they were the hub of
economic, social and cultural life.
➔ Chola bronze images are considered amongst the finest in the
world. While most images were made for deities, sometimes
images were made of devotees as well
➔ Channels of the river Kaveri overflowed frequently while
depositing fertile soil on the banks. Water from the channels also
provided the necessary moisture for agriculture,particularly the
cultivation of rice.
➔ In the 5-6 century, Tamil nadu had opened up for large scale
production. Forests were cleared out in some regions, land had to
be leveled in the other areas. In the delta region embankments
had to be built to prevent flooding and canals had to be
constructed to carry water into the fields. In many areas 2 crops
were grown once a year
➔ It was necessary to water crops artificially. A variety of methods
were used for irrigation. In some areas wells were dug in other
places. Huge tanks were constructed to collect rainwater.
➔ Irrigation work requires planning- organizing labor and resources,
maintaining these works and deciding on how water is to be
shared. Most of the new rulers as well as the people living in the
village, took an active interest in these activities
➔ Settlements of peasants known as ur became prosperous with the
spread of irrigation agriculture. Groups of such villages formed
larger units called nadu
➔ The nadu performed several administrative functions including
dispensiring justice and collecting taxes.
➔ Rich peasants of the vella caste exercised considerable control
over the affairs of the nadu under the supervision of the central
chola government.
➔ The chola Kings gave some rich landowners titles like
muvendavelan, araiyar as markers of respect, and entrusted the
with important offices of the state at the centre
➔ We have seen that brahmanas often received grants of land or
brahmadeya. As a result, a large number of brahmanas
settlements emerged in the kaveri delta as in other parts of south
india.
➔ Each brahmadeya was looked after by an assembly or a sabha of
prominent bhramana landholders.
➔ These assemblies worked very efficiently. Their decisions were
recorded in detail in inscriptions,oten on the stone walls of
temples.
➔ Associations of traders known as nagarams also occasionally
performed administrative functions in town.
➔ Inscriptions in chingleput district in uttaramerur tell us about how
the sabha was organized.
➔ The sabha had separate committees to look after irrigation works,
gardens, temples etc-; Names of those who were eligible were
written on tickets of small palm trees. These tickets were put into
an earthen pot from which a young boy was asked to take out the
tickets one ny one for each committee.