Unit 6: Post-Mauryan Empire

I. Orientation

The post-Mauryan period (c. 200 BCE–300 CE) followed the decline of centralized Mauryan power and witnessed the rise of regional kingdoms, foreign-origin ruling houses, expanding trade, and new religious movements. North-western India was shaped by Shakas, Parthians, and Kushanas; the Deccan by the Satavahanas; and the far south by the Chera, Chola, and Pandya kingdoms described in Sangam literature.

• Chronological setting: The period begins after the Mauryan decline in the second century BCE and extends to approximately 300 CE.
• Political pattern: Large empires gave way to regional states, feudatories, and ruling houses of varied ethnic origins.
• Economic basis: Agriculture, craft production, coinage, inland trade, and maritime commerce connected India with Central Asia, Rome, and Southeast Asia.
• Religious environment: Buddhism, Brahmanism, Jainism, and devotional traditions developed together, often receiving royal and mercantile patronage.
• Historical sources: Inscriptions, coins, monuments, foreign accounts, and Tamil Sangam poems provide complementary evidence.

II. The age of Shakas, Parthians & Kushanas — Political expansion and cultural exchange

This age was marked by the establishment of Indo-Scythian, Indo-Parthian, and Kushana powers across north-western India and the Gangetic and Deccan regions.

A. The age of Shakas, Parthians & Kushanas

The Shakas, Parthians, and Kushanas entered India through north-western routes and created states that connected India with Iran, Central Asia, and the Roman world.

• Shakas: Also called Indo-Scythians, they established satrapies in regions such as western India. The Western Kshatrapas, especially the Kardamaka line, ruled Gujarat, Malwa, and Kathiawar.
  • Rudradaman I: His Junagadh inscription, c. 150 CE, records the repair of the Sudarshana lake and is an important early Sanskrit inscription.
• Parthians: The Indo-Parthian ruler Gondophernes controlled parts of north-western India during the first century CE. His coins and inscriptions reveal Iranian political influence.
• Kushanas: Kujula Kadphises founded Kushana power, while Vima Kadphises expanded it and issued abundant gold coins. Kanishka I created a large empire extending from Afghanistan and Central Asia into northern India.
• Imperial geography: Kushana authority included Gandhara, Punjab, Mathura, and sometimes the Ganga-Yamuna region. Their position on Central Asian routes encouraged commerce.
• Administration: Kushana rulers used titles such as devaputra and governed through provincial officials, local elites, and subordinate rulers. The Shakas employed the satrap system, with mahakshatrapas exercising substantial autonomy.
• Religion and art: Gandhara art combined Buddhist themes with Hellenistic-Roman techniques, while Mathura developed a more indigenous red-sandstone style. Both contributed to the human image of the Buddha.
• International connections: The Silk Routes linked Kushana territory with China, Iran, and the Mediterranean. Roman gold coins found in India indicate active trade, particularly in luxury goods, spices, textiles, and precious stones.

B. Administration & religion

The political systems of these ruling houses combined Central Asian traditions with Indian institutions and supported several religions.

• Administrative flexibility: Satraps, governors, military commanders, and local chiefs shared authority; this allowed large territories to be governed without a uniformly centralized bureaucracy.
• Royal ideology: Kushana rulers represented themselves as universal monarchs and associated kingship with divine legitimacy, visible in titles and coin imagery.
• Religious patronage: Kanishka is traditionally associated with support for Buddhism, especially Mahayana developments, although Kushana coins also depict Iranian, Greek, Indian, and Buddhist deities.
• Buddhist institutions: Monasteries at Mathura, Gandhara, Taxila, and along trade routes functioned as religious, educational, and economic centers.
• Cultural synthesis: Coins bearing Greek, Iranian, and Indian deities demonstrate political accommodation and the blending of artistic and religious traditions.

C. Material culture

Material culture in this period reflects urban growth, expanding trade, technological change, and artistic innovation.

• Coinage: Kushana gold coins facilitated long-distance commerce, while Shaka silver coins often imitated or adapted earlier Indo-Greek forms. Portraits and legends made rulers publicly visible.
• Architecture: Stupas, monasteries, railings, and sculptural panels expanded at sites such as Mathura, Gandhara, and Sanchi.
• Crafts: Bead-making, metalwork, ivory carving, textiles, and stone sculpture prospered in urban centers.
• Trade goods: Archaeological evidence includes Roman coins, amphora fragments, glassware, and luxury objects, especially in western coastal settlements.
• Urban life: Towns such as Mathura and Taxila served as political capitals, craft centers, pilgrimage locations, and nodes in commercial networks.

III. Satvahana phase — The Deccan’s regional empire

The Satavahana phase (c. first century BCE–third century CE) represents the consolidation of a major Deccan power between northern and southern India.

A. Satvahana phase: aspects of political history

The Satavahanas, also called the Andhras in some sources, ruled large parts of the Deccan, though their territory and capital shifted over time.

• Origins: The dynasty emerged after the decline of Mauryan authority. Early rulers probably established power in the western Deccan and the Godavari-Krishna region.
• Important rulers: Simuka is traditionally regarded as the founder; Satakarni I expanded westward; Gautamiputra Satakarni became the most prominent ruler; Vashishthiputra Pulumavi and Yajna Sri Satakarni maintained later power.
• Gautamiputra Satakarni: His achievements are described in the Nasik inscription of his mother, Gautami Balashri. He is credited with defeating Shakas, Yavanas, and Pahlavas and restoring Satavahana prestige.
• Conflict with Western Kshatrapas: Control of Malwa, Gujarat, and western Deccan trade routes produced repeated wars between Satavahanas and Shakas.
• Political structure: The kingdom included subordinate rulers and local elites. Titles such as maharaja and dakshinapathapati expressed imperial claims, but direct control varied by region.

B. Administration & religion

Satavahana government combined royal authority, local administration, land grants, and religious patronage.

• Officials and local units: Administrative divisions included ahara or districts. Officers, military commanders, and village leaders helped collect revenue and maintain order.
• Feudatories: Local chiefs, including the maharathis and mahabhojas, retained authority while acknowledging the dynasty.
• Land grants: Grants to Brahmanas and Buddhist institutions strengthened political alliances and helped extend cultivation.
• Brahmanism: Satakarni rulers performed Vedic sacrifices; the Nanaghat inscription refers to rituals such as the ashvamedha.
• Buddhism: Satavahana territories contained important cave and stupa centers at Nasik, Karle, Bhaja, Amaravati, and Nagarjunakonda. Merchants, guilds, officials, and women made donations.
• Religious coexistence: Royal patronage of Brahmanical rites did not prevent generous support for Buddhist establishments.

C. Material culture

The Satavahana economy rested on agriculture, craft specialization, guilds, and inland and maritime trade.

• Coins: Satavahana coins were commonly made of lead, copper, and potin; some carried animal symbols, ships, chaityas, or royal names in Prakrit.
• Agriculture: Irrigation, wet-rice cultivation in river valleys, and expanding settlements supported population growth and taxation.
• Guilds: Craft and merchant guilds organized production, preserved capital, and funded religious buildings. Inscriptions record donations by textile workers, metalworkers, and traders.
• Architecture: Rock-cut chaityas and viharas at Karle and Nasik show advances in structural planning. The Amaravati stupa became famous for detailed limestone reliefs.
• External commerce: Ports on the western and eastern coasts connected the Deccan with Roman Egypt and Southeast Asia; textiles, spices, gems, and ivory were important exports.

IV. Sangam age and Sangam literature — Early Tamilakam

The Sangam age refers to the society and political culture of early historic Tamilakam, conventionally dated c. 300 BCE–300 CE, though the surviving texts were compiled over a longer period.

A. Sangam age and Sangam literature

Sangam literature consists primarily of Tamil poems that illuminate kingship, warfare, love, economy, social values, and landscapes.

• Major collections: The Ettuthokai (Eight Anthologies) and Pattuppattu (Ten Idylls) are central bodies of poetry. The Tolkappiyam is an early grammatical and literary work.
• Themes: Poems distinguish akam (interior themes, especially love) from puram (public themes, including war, generosity, and kingship).
• Landscape system: The five tinai landscapes—kurinji, mullai, marutam, neital, and palai—associate geography with occupations, emotions, and social activity.
• Historical value: Poems mention named rulers, battles, ports, bards, gifts, and trade. They are literary compositions rather than straightforward chronicles and must be read alongside archaeology and inscriptions.
• Trade evidence: The port of Puhar, known as Kaveripattinam, and the western port of Muziris indicate maritime exchange with the Roman world.

V. The three early kingdoms: Chera, Chola and Pandya — Political geography of Tamilakam

The Chera, Chola, and Pandya kingdoms formed the principal political groupings of early historic southern India.

A. The three early kingdoms: Chera, Chola and Pandya

These kingdoms were not always centralized territorial states; their authority depended on royal prestige, kinship, warfare, tribute, and control of productive and commercial zones.

• Chera: The Cheras ruled much of Kerala and the western Tamil region. Senguttuvan is a celebrated Chera ruler in later tradition. Their prosperity was connected with pepper, forest products, and western seaports such as Muziris.
• Chola: The Cholas controlled the fertile Kaveri delta. Karikala is associated with military victories and the development of irrigation, including the traditional account of the Kallanai or Grand Anicut.
• Pandya: The Pandyas ruled the southern Tamil region around Madurai and controlled pearl fisheries on the Gulf of Mannar. Madurai was a major political and literary center.
• Kingship: Rulers depended on warrior groups, retainers, poets, and chiefs. The ideal king was expected to be generous, victorious, and protective of productive communities.
• Warfare: Cattle raids, territorial conflicts, dynastic rivalry, and campaigns for tribute are recurring themes in puram poetry.
• Economy: Rice cultivation in the Kaveri and other river valleys existed alongside pastoralism, fishing, salt-making, hunting, and craft production.

VI. Society & the Tamil language — Social organization and linguistic development

Early Tamil society combined ecological specialization, clan and kinship ties, occupational groups, emerging social ranking, and a rich literary language.

A. Society & the Tamil language

The evidence shows a socially differentiated society in which Tamil became a major medium for expressing political, ethical, and emotional life.

• Social groups: Rulers, chiefs, warriors, priests, cultivators, merchants, artisans, fishermen, hunters, and pastoralists appear in literary and inscriptional evidence.
• Kinship and status: Clan ties and hereditary leadership remained important, while wealth from agriculture and trade created sharper social distinctions.
• Women: Women appear as poets, lovers, wives, mothers, workers, and religious donors. Avvaiyar is a prominent female poetic voice in the Sangam tradition.
• Occupations: The tinai system links people to ecological work:
  • Marutam: Wet-rice cultivation and settled villages.
  • Neital: Fishing, salt production, and maritime trade.
  • Kurinji: Hunting and hill produce.
• Religion: Murugan, Korravai, hero stones, ancestor practices, and local deities coexisted with Jain, Buddhist, and Brahmanical influences.
• Tamil language: Early Tamil developed a literary standard represented by Sangam poems and grammatical traditions such as the Tolkappiyam.
• Writing: Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, found in caves and pottery from sites such as Mangulam and Arikamedu, demonstrate the early use of writing for personal names, donations, and commercial activity.
• Linguistic significance: Tamil preserved a distinct Dravidian grammatical and poetic structure while absorbing limited vocabulary and cultural influences through contact with Prakrit and Sanskrit traditions.